Chapter 8

The next morning, Eliena awoke and, still groggy from sleep, wondered why her back and shoulders felt weird, almost as if something was stuck on to them. She sat up, and caught a glimse of her wings in the corner of her eyes, and she her back felt weird. That's right, I have wings now. It feels so weird, but I'm already starting to get used to them. She flapped her wings, once, experimentally, and she rose up a few inches and sat back down. That's so cool, she thought as she stood up, I wonder what will happen after a couple more flaps. She started to flap her wings and slowly rose up off of the ground. This is going great! She hit her wing tip on the stump that Molento had been sleeping on, but was not there now. She fell, screaming in surprise.

"Aah!"

"Heh, and that's the reason why I always jump first, I think," Molento said from the top of the tree behind Eliena. She turned around, searching for Molento. "Where are you," she called out, not finding him.

"Look up," Molento said calmly.

Eliena looked up, seeing Molento at the top of the tree. "What are you doing up there?"

"Testing you."

"Testing me?"

"Yes, I have decided that I'm going to teach you skills to defend yourself if you're ever caught,” Molento explained, waving back and forth with the branch he was on, "first lesson, always look up when looking for someone that you cannot see.”

“Is that going to happen often,” Eliena asked.

“Probably not,” Molento admitted.

“Then why…”

“Because it could happen.”

“Ok, ok, what’s the second lesson?”

“Second lesson is: always get to the high ground,” Molento explained, “first, try to get up to the tree next to me.”

“Ok, that’ll be easy,” Eliena scoffed, starting to flap her wings, but then remembered what had happened with the stump. She walked over to the stump and stood on top of it. She jumped up and then she missed the small opening to gain maximum lift, wobbled and fell.

“How do I do this?”

“Well, I think your problem is that you are trying to ignore the new instincts the spell gave you, try just letting go and not thinking. Your new instincts will take care of the rest.”

Eliena tried again, but failed. She tried over and over for the next hour.

“Shouldn’t we be going,” Eliena asked, looking up at Molento, who was still in the tree.

“We have a little time to spare, flying is much faster than walking,” Molento replied, “so, as a result, we can spare time to teach you how to fly, to save time in the end.”

“Fine,” Eliena said wearily, trying again. She was so sick of trying that at first she didn’t notice that she was rising up to the level that Molento was on.

“Hi,” Molento said, startling her.

“Whoa,” Eliena exclaimed, “I’m doing it!”

“Yes, you are. Now try to land on that tree there, and remember, don’t try to over think it.”

Eliena swooped over to the tree and landed on a branch, surprisingly gracefully.

“You’re a real natural once you get off of the ground,” Molento commended, “Now try to take off from the branch and land on the ground.”

Eliena launched herself off of the branch and slowly descended to the ground, where she landed with hardly a bump.

“Good job,” Molento said, landing next to her, “Now we can go.” He picked up the packs where they had left them last night, next to the stump. Tossing her pack to her, he folded up his wings and put his own pack over his shoulders, then extended his wings again. Eliena, however was having trouble putting on her own pack, trying to put it on over the wings without first folding them up.

“Argh,” Eliena growled, frustrated, “I can’t get it on.”

“Try folding up your wings first,” Molento chuckled, very amused at Eliena’s attempts.

“Oh, right,” Eliena muttered, embarrassed. She folded up her wings and slipped the pack on, extending her wings once it was on.

"Well, let's go," Molento said, turning to the east, "Elves, here we come."

Molento jumped into the air, wings beating, and he rose above the trees. Eliena did the same, only she got much less altitude on her original jump, and had to stand on the stump again.

"How can you jump so high," Eliena asked, exasperated.

"I think it's because I'm part elf, aren't they supposed to be much faster and stronger than humans?"

"Oh, yeah, you're right," Eliena replied, feeling stupid because she forgot that Molento was part elf, "Yes, they do."

"Then that's your answer."

The pair rose above the treetops and soared away, towards the elves and the hope of answers and training.