A New Beginning

Chapter 10

His head may have been facing in the direction of the off-course scarlet youngster, but he still noticed me looking at his leg. He didn't say anything and began rubbing the scales on my neck and shoulders. Even without the oil, the massage was relaxing – and Taureen was well aware of it. He had used this tactic frequently in the past if I got upset or agitated.

Tessa squeaked and narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with Dirk. Her aerial evasion caused her to crash-land into the mat, barrel-rolling several times before coming to a slow stop. As she sat up, her head swayed side to side a bit.

I was glad that Taureen had found those soft floor mats so quickly. Technically, the fledglings didn't need them, but Taureen was also going a bit overboard in his own fashion. It would take months before they could fly fast – and their slow flight was keeping them fairly safe.

I knew that Tessa wasn't injured, so I didn't ask if she was okay. Her disorientation swiftly passed, and she promptly bounded over to the chair to get height for another flight attempt. I continued watching as they slowly learned to fly. Their attempts were a far cry from my own memories of learning to use my wings.

Admittedly, my mind had been that of a young adult, and my body almost fully-grown when I had hatched in the lab. I had also watched birds fly, so I knew the theory. Mentally, these two were like five-year-olds at this point. Physically, they were building up muscle as swiftly as they were devouring anything put into their food bowls.

They were still bumbling youngsters though, and the airspace wasn't going to be safe for several weeks...

   

       I glided beside Dirk as I gave him some advice, letting both Keegan and Tessa listen in. "Use smaller wingbeats more frequently, particularly if you are just flying straight. Yes, like that."

The wall was rapidly approaching, and I said, "Lean to the side and use your tail to turn. Your own speed will do most of the work for you."

Dirk's bank was rather wobbly, and he began to panic, causing himself to overbalance. Instinctively, he turned it into a wingover – which he had no idea how to come out of as he plummeted downward.

Dropping into a dive alongside him, I called out, "Spread your wings wide!"

He spread his wings just before Taureen caught him, further cushioning his fall. I pulled out of my dive, letting my momentum turn it into a climb as I circled behind Taureen to land on his shoulder. Taureen stood back up and waited while the blue youngster in his palm got over his shock.

Keegan was under the heat lamp, and Tessa had stopped pigging out on fruit to watch Dirk's latest flying folly. And there had been a lot of those since Tessa's first flight this morning. She had more practice than Dirk, so she hadn't had quite as many, although that wasn't saying much.

Dirk chirped a thank-you at Taureen before once more spreading wings and jumping. This time, Dirk glided carefully towards the end table, where he managed a halfway decent landing.

Keegan quietly commented, "That wasn't too bad. He would have pulled out of his drop even if Taureen hadn't assisted."

I jumped into the air and spread my own wings as I also glided for the end table, where I landed and bumped my nose against Keegan's. "Probably, although I'm sure that there will be quite a few more crash landings as the flying lessons continue."

He hummed in agreement, shifting his wings to make room for me to lie down and spread my own wings under the heat lamp. "Thankfully, their instincts and Blood Memories are helping them; otherwise, there would be a lot more impacts."