Feathers of Bravery

Aihla

"Come on sweetheart, show me your stance." Sending the slightest of nods to my brother. Who replies with his own remark. "Easy there father. Be careful with my baby sister. Mother would be crossed if she doesn't have every little cute feather as neat as when she last saw her."

I sent my brother an evil glare by first calling me a baby, then cute and finally by suggesting I'm too pampered to do this properly. This only made him chuckle more. But quickly my gaze returns to my father who is patiently for me in the center of the arena.

He lets me take my stance in front of him. My brother and the rest of our warriors haven't left and are perched watching us. My nerves are escalating by the second. I don't know what my father is planning or why but I know that I need to do better than perfect. If I fail or embarrass myself, it'll be another excuse for the training isn't for me. I'll resume my painful image of the little owlet.

No, I need to stay focus. Don't focus on what will happen only what's going on now. So, with my best calm, don't have a care in the world I woke up like this face I join in the center with my father. Oh, goddess Lakshmi please help me!

For the longest time, we both stay still. He wants me to make the first move. That's how he fights, he lets his opponents take the first strike so that he can learn from them. Their movements, how much force they use for each strike, their speed. He taught my oldest brother the same way. My second oldest fights differently as he is always the one to make the first move. Not out of being reckless but usually to surprise his opponent.

All three of them have one thing in common though. They favor the sky more and I know exactly how many seconds they stay on the ground before they fly up again. I also managed to memorize their flight pattern. So undoubtedly, I will be using this to my advantage as well as them never having actually seen me fight.

Please Lakshmi let this be right.

I've trained with my flight abilities as well as my blades but nothing much more since I'm always being watched except for the two hours I can steal every now and then. I sneak off at night every once and a while as well when my guards aren't looking. And thanks to my tutors who taught me about the old magicks of the world, I based my style off of them. Wanting to make a good impression, I'm gonna give them just a little taste.

Staring back at my father, I give him a smile before closing my eyes and lowering my wings almost like they're sagging but at the same time stretching out my feathers. Taking a few deep breaths, I focus on all my other senses. I can hear my father's breathing change, there's a stutter in his heartbeat. He's confused. I can hear my brother's voice. He's hushing the soldiers who had started mumbling about what I'm doing.

Slowly I start circling my father, eyes still closed and my wings still down. But I'm not done yet. I begin to slightly limp then walk normally again. Limp then normal, limp then normal. Finally, I give my back to him and drop to a crouch.

With this, he lunges at me. Almost wild like. Dodging him swiftly I spin around and with my talons curved in, as to not accidently cut him, I hit his left wing. It wasn't enough to hurt him but just enough to stun him. Of course, I'm not always going to wait for him lunge at me. My sharp ears and the sensation of my feathers allow me to know exactly where he's at and where he's moving to.

Rearing one wing in front of me like a curtain to obstruct his view of me I slide underneath and swipe his feet from under him. Now that is always a risky move to do because yeah you block your enemy from seeing you but you also block yourself from seeing them. Not to mention that you're completely exposing your wing to any oncoming damage.

So, after I successfully pull that off, I take two more jabs to his wings. He made a faint clicking sound I remember the nod he gave to my brother. Any second now, he's going to join in or start firing some arrows. Either way I'll be facing both of them.

Sure enough, I hear the whisper of air whooshing indicating he's in the air. When he reaches his preferred altitude for a dive bomb, I use that as the perfect opportunity to jump on my father's back and launch off him to meet my brother in the air. He wasn't expecting that so he faltered and slowed down. That gave me the chance to hit his side like a missile and use that force to dive back towards my father's shoulder.

I can hear him grunt and shake his wings. Those jabs from earlier are starting to be felt now. Now I only have to worry about one bird in the air, not two. As fast as I can, I retreat right smack in the middle of the arena so that one is in front of me and one is behind me.

With this technique, it can either really pay off or backfire. Kind of repetitive theme with the old tactics. Making sure I keep myself in between them, I listen in on their heartbeats.

Which is one going the fastest?

Gotcha!

With what I'm sure looked like a blur, both of them charge. Crouching down and onto my back, I grab the straps of my brother and swing him full force to my father who can't stop in time and takes the entire weight of his son's body crashing into him. Leaping up I fly behind them and jab both behind their necks and retreat once more.

Waiting for them to untangle themselves, I keep a smirk hidden as I can hear their grunts and annoyance. Readying myself, I got back into my original stance I had in the beginning. But the attack never comes up.

"Open your eyes my sweetheart, it's alright." Father. He sounds a bit wounded. I open my eyes slowly but don't leave the stance. Never once did I open them while we were facing off. When I'm sure it's not a trick I stand up right away.

"Um, excuse me! My beloved baby sister, but you mind telling me what that was? Where did you learn any of that? Why would you have your eyes closed? None of us have ever used that..." I hold my small wing to his beak to silence him. I could barely understand his rambling.

This is payback for his taunting from before, "That dear brother is what a loss looks like. No offense father. As for your other questions, well it's like mother always says. A girl's gotta have her secrets." This time I don't hide me smirk.

My father is beaming with pride while my brother still has his beak on the floor. Without a word, he straightens up and takes off. No doubt to tell our brother everything that just happened. I swear those two gossip more than pigeons do. Once he's out of sight I return my gaze to the king. "Well, my daughter, I agree with your brother. I may not know what that was either but I am indeed impressed. Go on and clean up for dinner."

Turning around, never been in such a hurry to reach my chambers. I noticed the face of all the soldiers. For the first time, they're not looking at me like some little hatchling. Instead just like the king and prince, they share looks of awe and confusion.

Thank you, Lakshmi!