Dragon's Wings

Chapter 3

When Rashmi was younger, her mother sat her down in one of their tribe's tents and told her what the black moving tattoo on her body meant. Rashmi doesn't remember much from then, she had been young after all, but she could still recall—even at the age of sixteen—the feelings of awe and excitement that wound through her body at the time. Not because she really understood what her mother meant, but because Rashmi was going to be able to fly one day.

Flying, it turned out, was not an activity that Rashmi enjoyed. She assumed it would be something smooth, but no. It turned out that an animal's body moved with their wings, rather than staying stationary, and so for the entirety of the long flight, Rashmi was finding it difficult to keep herself from being sick. The nauseous feeling in her stomach never subsided, and just when she thought she was used to it, Damián would swoop and all her efforts would be useless. Neither Kim nor Amor could do anything to help her, and so she was forced to suffer through it, eyes tightly closed and forehead resting against Kim's back.

The moment Damián landed, Rashmi rushed to dismount, jarring her legs as she did so, but not caring. Sinking to her knees, she concentrated on breathing, muscles trembling. Kim crouched down next to her, "It's over for now," he told her. "Sorry that you had to get through that—it'll get better. It's easier when it's with your own partner."

Rashmi nodded and attempted to standing, wobbling as the land seemed to sway beneath her feet. "What's happening?" She asked nervously as she leaned against Kim, who easily supported her. Then, a second after considering his sentence, she added, "It better."

"Flight legs," Amor said, having walked over sometime when Rashmi wasn't looking. "Like sea legs, but you know, for flying—you feel like the land is moving beneath you, the motions exactly like the motion of the animal flying you somewhere."

Rashmi gathered her determination and willed her weak legs to stay steady as she stopped leaning on Kim. "I didn't think flying would be like this," she whined.

"It'll get better," the pair chorused as if that helped Rashmi currently. Still, it was hard to hold onto her worry and fear when there was so much happening around her, and the excitement that she'd thought had been replaced with air sickness returned.

Damián lowered his head and nudged Kim before spreading his massive wings and taking off, Amor's partner Noemí a beat behind him. Rashmi gratefully picked up one of her bags, slinging it over her shoulder, "Thanks," she told Amor as the older woman picked up the other bags. "Where are we going now?"

"We'll get you checked in," Kim explained. "Since this is around the time everyone starts coming in, you'll be put in a hall with a few others. Each hall—which are dorm buildings—contains four floors that can house students. Each floor contains two toilets and two bathrooms that are shared by those who live on that floor. There's no real order to how people are organised in the residential halls, aside from the time they reach campus."

Kim and Amor led Rashmi to a massive group of people, joining a line that is rather small. Finally able to stand still, Rashmi used the time to look around at everything. She had never seen so many people in one place—even at tribal meetings! The massive variation of people as well was nothing to laugh at. It was similar to when the Fae came by, except there were even more different people, not that Rashmi could attempt to label them all. Most people in Rashmi's line appeared to be Ret Ka elves, similar to her. She was also able to spot Pathik elves and humans.

"Can anyone come here?" Rashmi asked Kim and Amor. It wasn't like prejudice existed between the different species, since everyone was equal after all, but most people lived in different areas that made it near impossible for others to see them—like vampires and Holallóð elves, and merfolk, but then they couldn't very well live on land.