Learning To Fly

Log Info

• Title: Learning to Fly

• Characters: Ravenstongue, Telamon

• Place: Lupecyll-Atlon home

• Summary: It seems Telamon has been conferring with his faerie dragon friend Jyndei about how to harness his magical talent to fly. Both Lana and Tel have, in fact, figured out the trick, and so the two take a nighttime flight across the skies of Alexandria, talking about what the future might hold.

Lupecyll-Atlon house, evening.

The rapidly fading light of Daeus is further blotted out by pockets of billowing, dark clouds, like Maugrim chasing His brother in another chapter of their eternal conflict. The chill air, however, sends them on their way before they can fully blot the night sky that contains Eluna and the stars around Her.

Despite the patchwork status of the sky at the moment, Cor'lana finds herself admiring the stars that manages to shine through anyway. The half-elf is dressed in a comfortable-looking cotton dress and a woolen bolero, knitted for her by Grandfather in one of his many displays of love and care for his grandchild's wellbeing. As she sits in the garden at the familiar table, she casts a look at the remains of their 'picnic dinner' and smiles at her fiance. "That was a lovely sunset," she says. "Shame about the clouds, though. I know you prefer when the stars are out fully."

Telamon is seated next to Lana, legs stretched out. He's dressed casually as well, in a simple linen tunic and canvas trousers tucked into workman boots. Looking up at the clouds passing, he turns to smile at her. "They can't all be clear nights. And besides, the company more than makes up for it." He reaches over to take her hand, squeezing gently.

"Somehow, I suspect your remark isn't about me, milord," Jyndei quips from his perch on the edge of the roof, head hanging down so he can peer at the couple.

"Probably not," Pothy remarks as he looks down at little Jyndei next to him. "I mean, they tend to forget that other people exist if you leave them in the same room long enough and they start looking into each other's eyes. That's when you break into the pantry and take the snacks."

Cor'lana, of course, had been charmed and smiling sweetly at Telamon's comment, but the peanut gallery (albeit situated in an unusual location for any venue) commentary makes her snort. "I only hope you'll continue to think my presence makes up for the absence of the stars as we grow older," she says, grinning. "And I'd say how many more days we have left to go, but it seems like it's just restating the obvious--I mean, it's basically all either of us can think about at this point, right?"

Telamon snorts. "Always, love. There's no point to the stars unless I have you to share them with." He gives Pothy and Jyndei a roll of his eyes. "Of course, we'll always have the colorful commentary, but I can handle it if you can. But yes... I think we -both- need a distraction." He adds with a crooked grin, "Not quite like -that- kind of distraction, but something a little more utilitarian."

He looks at Jyndei. "I think we can test it out, Jyndei. The book you directed me to was very helpful, as well." Tel stands up, brushing off a few errant crumbs.

Meanwhile, Jyndei preens. "Of course. Magic and flight have been studied extensively, and there are mortal treatises which are considered well written even by the lords of the skies."

Cor'lana flushes a little at the mention of a distraction--but her flush quickly abates a little when it becomes clear that Telamon doesn't mean something else. "Flight?" she asks. "I mean, I can turn into a raven a bit larger than Pothy, but... do you know anything about flying magic?"

"Well, of course you're bigger than me. You're my big sister," Pothy says merrily. Then he peers down at Telamon with those big blue eyes of his. "She does have a point, though. Jyndei, what have you been teaching Telamon behind my back?"

Then Pothy notices Cor'lana giving him a /look/. "Our backs? ... Lana's back," he then says quickly, appeasing Cor'lana. She nods, but she doesn't look accusatory, only curious, in her expression.

Jyndei sits up straight. "In defense, the Lord Lupecyll-to-be did inquire, and I was of course honor-bound to assist him -- presumably he will be teaching you as well, my lady." The little dragon hops off the roof, and glides down to perch on the back of Telamon's vacated chair. "Why don't we start simple, my lord? Cast the spell."

Telamon nods, and offers Lana a smile. "If this works, I'll teach it to you -- assuming you don't beat me to it." He takes a deep breath, his hands moving in a circular pattern. "Baras, kalag dana, i'iz," he incants. A shimmer of starlight forms, whirling around him before solidifying into a ring that hovers parallel to his back, hanging between his shoulder blades. Then, smoothly, lines of light begin to extend downward from the ring, shifting planes of force folded together to look like some kind of bizarre, arcane cloak.

Cor'lana smiles at Jyndei sweetly--an expression that, of course, earns a little bit of visible jealousy from Pothy, judging by the way that all of his feathers are puffing up. "Well, I'm not upset, simply just interested in what my husband has learned from you," she says, before giving Telamon a grin to see if he flushes a little from being addressed as such.

She watches him cast the spell, and she looks thoughtful as she watches him work. "Intriguing," she says, her violet eyes full of fascination. "I didn't think that a flight spell would... look like that."

Telamon does blush a little bit. "Not quite husband yet. But soon. Very, very soon." He keeps his hands in a focus position for a few moments, before relaxing. "Alright, the spell's in place, Jyndei."

The little dragon bobs his head. "Very good. Let's start with the first step, as we discussed. Slow and easy, milord."

Tel takes a deep breath, bringing his hands down to his sides, and exhales again. As he does, the 'cloak' of light shifts around him, splitting into... not exactly wings, but planes of ephemeral energy that swing out to either side of the ring -- one set pointing out beyond his shoulders, the other along the line of his flank, and the bottom two jutting downward.

And then, hesitantly... Telamon's feet leave the earth. Not far -- just a few inches... but he's hovering there.

Cor'lana continues to observe him, her violet eyes going from fascination to a slight awe followed by intrigue as he hovers off the ground. "You're /floating/, Tel," she exclaims--then she seems a little sheepish for pointing out the obvious.

Her hands by her side twitch a little, and she looks like she's about to open her mouth, but then she takes a step forward. She reaches out for him, her hand held out to his. "I think," she says cautiously, "I can cast it too. There's... a feeling in me. I'm not sure where it's coming from."

She shakes her head. "Probably safer if you learn how to get your bearings in the air first," she says. "Rather than Jyndei having to teach both of us."

Telamon drifts a little from side to side, then stops again, still hovering. "So, uh... yeah. I can fly." He looks up into the cloudy sky, then gives Lana a rather mischievious grin, flexing his hands.

Jyndei, for his part, looks unperturbed. "Well done, milord. Why don't you set down, and end the spell, so we can go over--"

Tel shakes his head. "...No, actually Jyndei, why don't you keep an eye out for me, while I take this for a spin? Make sure nothing's flying overhead, and so on."

Jyndei's eyes narrow. "-Milord-, there is still a great many things I need to impart about the mysteries of--"

Telamon chuckles. "Jyndei. Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."

Oh dear.

"Wait," Cor'lana says. It's said gently, but there's still a weight in her voice that Telamon knows well to be a command. "I think I can... go with you."

She lifts her hands up. But that's about where the resemblance ends, as she takes a deep breath and murmurs an incantation. It's... almost nonsensical-sounding, but the last word is a word they both know: the Sylvan word for 'feathers.'

Magic blooms around her and quickly forms around her back. It's a blue, shimmering sort of energy that finds two points on her shoulderblades and then jut outwards into ethereal wings--the tips of them fading from the blue of Nadina Branfeax's eyes into the violet of Cor'lana Lupecyll's eyes.

Then the wings lift up, and Cor'lana flaps up to meet her fiance. Joy lights up her face--just like when he'd asked her to marry her. "Shall we fly, then?" she asks.

Telamon's eyes shine with joy in turn, as he takes her hand in his. "Absolutely." And then they're ascending, going upward. There's a young boy three houses down staring in dumbfounded amazement out his window as he sees the two sorcerers take to the skies. As they fly upwards, there's of course differences in the way their magic manifests. Telamon's 'wings' are rigid planes, shifting and angling, while Cor'lana's pinions beat smoothly in a reasonable imitation of a bird's wings.

Floating over the rooftops, Telamon finally looks down. He doesn't bobble or flinch, but his eyes widen. "Wow. This is... very different. I should've learned how to do this a long time ago." He glances over at Lana, blushing a bit. "And sharing it with you is... well, it's perfection." He reaches up with a free hand to wipe away a tear of happiness. "Just the two of us, flying along."

But Cor'lana's hand reaches out to his face, too. The feytouched sorceress with strange ethereal wings gently puts her hand on top of his--the tear wiped away, in a symbolic way, by both of them. Her violet eyes twinkle, too, with the beginning of tears, but she's smiling from ear to ear. "I think we were only capable of it just now," she says, leaning closer so that she presses her forehead to his. "Right now, on what is practically the eve of our union. Before we paint the curuchuil forever on our hands."

She closes her eyes and smiles, her own tears of joy darting down her face. "I finally have wings," she says. "Just like Grandfather's children."

Telamon smiles into the touch, and his arms go around her. The two of them slowly turning, rotating through the air in an elegant dance unencumbered by such mundane things as gravity. "We both do. And we can fly as much as you want, love. You've spoken about how much you loved having wings in that dream we shared; now you do, and so do I." He kisses her cheek. "As a wedding gift from the gods, this is pretty good."

Tel takes a moment to get his bearings, peering. "Now, where... oh, there's the temples!" He points out the spires. "We must be passing over the gardens and the festival grounds. This is... it's so -strange- seeing it from above as opposed to at ground level. I'm not objecting, just... adjusting my thinking."

Cor'lana chases the kiss to her cheek down with a peck on the lips, her cheeks a pleasant rosy-red from her happiness, her tears, and just being close with Telamon on a way that they hadn't experienced before. "I'll take it, regardless of who it's from," she says with a giggle. "Maybe I shouldn't say that so loudly with the temples in sight, though."

She looks out with him across their view of Alexandria. "That's right," she remarks, "this is... your first time seeing Alexandria like this. I've only taken bird form a few times, but it was... it was like this, but this is /better/. Far better."

Then she looks at Telamon very pointedly as she says, "For one thing, I happen to think this view is better." Followed by a very innocent bat of her eyes and a grin.

Telamon laughs softly. "Well, I find the view quite spectacular as well." He returns her stare, and her grin with a playful one of his own. Arm in arm with her, they might as well be walking down the street, except... well, they're -not-. "Definitely better. I don't think we could do this with 'normal' wings." He cranes his head, trying to look back at his strange wing-sails. "Then again, I don't think my wings are particularly normal to start with."

"Still, it works, and that's what counts. Jyndei told me this spell lasts for -hours-, too. And it's good for thinking -- get a little altitude, and just glide around while lost in thought. There's a reason some wizards have towers that don't have stairs."

There's a gasp of realization as Telamon mentions towers. "I could fly around Grandfather's library!" Cor'lana says, her violet eyes twinkling in surprise and delight again. "I wouldn't need to ask him to bring me a book from the higher parts the next time we're there. Oh, this is /truly/ wonderful!"

She looks back at Telamon's 'wings' and smiles. "And your wings may not look like normal wings," she says, "but I think whatever gives you the ability to fly is wonderful. They do remind me of... The Watcher, in a way. How odd the Watcher's domain is, and how odd the way to get there often is in dreaming--things like that."

Then she seems to realize something. "...Tel. I think we left the remains of our food out. Pothy's probably gorging himself on them." Cor'lana snickers.

A sudden laugh like a bell. "You're right. Heck, neither of us will need to ask for assistance. Oh gods, Grandfather's going to be -so- annoyed if we start rummaging in his library like a couple kids searching for the cookie jar..." Telamon's eyes sparkle with amusement, and he gives Lana a squeeze. "I'm sure he'll get over it. He loves you too much to stay annoyed, and it pleases him that you've grown so much."

At the mention of Pothy, Tel just shakes his head. "Nah. He'll share with Jyndei, I'll bet. What concerns me is what kind of shenanigans a raven familiar and a faerie dragon might get up to together." He pauses to contemplate it, then shrugs. "Ah well, it'll work out. Oh hey, there's the Tornmawr!" He points to where the river flows through the city, under the twin bridges, shimmering and reflecting the moonlight when Eluna peeks through the clouds.

"Grandfather would probably just ask us to put things back where we found it," Cor'lana says with a grin. "I imagine he's used to children thumbing through his books--and having to clean up after them. I wonder if he even complains about it after so many years. I can't picture him complaining about changing a diaper, after all."

She looks out at the Tornmawr and she laughs in that sort of exhilarated manner. "It is!" she cries out. "Can you find our favorite spot--"

As she says it, she points to it. "There!" she says. "It's so weird to see it from so far away. I mean, that place seems like it's so... huge and important in my head, but from here, it's so small. My first kiss--/our/ first kiss--and then the proposal... Do you get what I mean?"

Telamon chuckles softly and happily. "Very true. I mean, he's had to handle this many times over the years. I imagine he's gotten fairly inured to the various problems." He ponders the image of Grandfather changing a diaper, then bemusedly shakes his head. "That is a very strange concept to envision. I wonder if he's ever had to do so?"

When Lana points out their 'spot' beside the river, Tel grins, and the two come to a halt, hovering in the evening sky. "Yes. It's probably not 'big' in the grand scheme of things, but to us? It's incredibly important." He looks into her eyes again. "It's like our house. There are bigger ones, but to us, our home is very much a central part of our lives."

Cor'lana leans into Telamon for that moment that they're hovering mid-air in the sky, her eyes still trained on that quiet place by the river where they shared two of their most important moments. "They're big, so long as they occupy huge... places is the wrong word for something without limited real estate, but they occupy such important and grand portions of memory. Of feelings," she says. "Within our minds and our hearts--so long as they do that, they're big."

She sighs contentedly. "I know it's been said before... But how many more moments will we make together?" she asks. "Call it a fit of poetry, but I want to make countless more--so many that, like the stars in the sky, you can't count them on account of being too mesmerized by their beauty."

Telamon's arms are around Lana, holding her close, and he rests his cheek against hers. "They're the moments that have shaped us, and it's important that we remember them. We aren't the same people we were a year ago. And I for one am thankful for it." He strokes her hair, happy to float above the earth, beneath the scudding clouds.

"We'll make as many moments as we can. There'll be good times and bad, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health... but they'll be ours, together." He leans down to kiss Lana lightly. "And I am humbled and thankful to be the one to share them with you."

There's a little shudder from Cor'lana as he makes his first remarks. Her violet eyes are glittering with tears, and she struggles to find the words to say for a moment, until she says, "I'm not the same person I was a year ago, yes--but I'm definitely not who I was two and three years ago, either, and for that, I am eternally grateful. I may have chosen to come here, Telamon, but it wasn't until we met as friends and we faced Grandfather that I became..."

She shakes her head, her lower lip wobbling a little as she leans in and kisses him again, just holding him there for a long moment. And while he doesn't need to breathe... She does, so she lets go of him once she really does need to draw breath, her smile holding true amidst the tears on her cheeks. "I became so much happier because of you. Us. Our families. Our friends. And I'm thankful you're thankful."

Cor'lana goes to wipe her tears with a chuckle. "Now I'm just not making sense," she says. "Maybe we'd better head back home."

Telamon leans down to kiss away her tears in turn, wiping them away. "It's all right, love. It's just like this. Learning to fly, around the clouds. You'll have uncertainties, and fears, but just remember you don't have to face them alone. Never, ever alone again." He hugs her to him, letting her regain her composure.

"It IS a little chipper out tonight, and we're up a little ways. I may not be fazed by it, but I should've let you put on a coat." He grins. "I think you're rubbing off on me more than we realize -- I was ready to go flying off into the air just to see what it was -like-. How oddly feytouched of me." Taking her hand, his eyes sweep the city below, finding the spires of the temples. "Ah. There we go. Those make a really good landmark. Let's fly away home, Lana."

And so the couple glide away on the evening winds.