The Eyebright's Dimension

Chapter Fourteen: Kasity's Flight

Both Clouds, of course, fought to take the blame for the fight, and as a result Sylph and Wyvern were only very severely lectured about it and given two months’ work of cleaning chores as punishment. The Clouds accepted their punishment with pride, and Sylph and Wyvern students could be seen, each defiantly wearing their Cloud color, toting trash bags or sweeping the paths crisscrossing the Centre Quad. Tensions were running high about the Final Round. Everyone wanted it to be all-Cloud, but the teachers, perhaps sensing this, made it a four-on-four tag battle. Gautier, Channer, Kael and Calixte were battling. In fact, the Council meeting on the evening of the fight had been to decide who would be participating in the Final Round. The Council chose Calixte over Devon, who was a seventh step, and there was much gossip over than particular development. Yetta still was suffering from supposed injuries, although she looked perfectly fine, though much more bad-tempered, and there was a rumor wandering around campus that Yetta’s “injuries” were just an excuse to put Calixte in for Yetta.

Sylph awoke early on the morning of the Final Round and flew as one through the thick morning fog that drifted over the entire school. Kasity could feel excited chills trickling down her spine, for this was her first Final Round, and also her first time flying down from the cliff. Although the first steps weren’t good enough yet to manage flying up, they could manage the flight down, and were finally allowed to, as long as they didn’t “do anything stupid”, as Kael had said. She jumped with the others, and felt the surge of pride that came from knowing that she was part of this silent, mass of sky blue that could so often strike fear into the hearts of their opponents. She found her air current quickly and drifted, Lander doing flips above her and Karynn next to her also trying to balance herself on the same current. Gautier at the head of the group started the slow descent downwards, and Kasity flapped her arms wildly, propelling herself forward. She felt so full of tense, buzzing energy, and turned little loops in the air as she waited for Karynn to catch up. From the corner of her eye, she spotted the older steps doing neat dives in the air currents above them, and got an idea.

“Hey Karynn, want to see something cool?” she yelled.

Karynn saw the wild look in her friend’s eye, and shrieked, “Don’t you dare—”

But her voice was lost in the wind, for Kasity had already dived, mimicking the older steps, and added a spiral to her lunge, just for kicks. She shot past Aidan and Shant, and even Lander, before leaving them far behind. After she had gone far enough, she pulled herself up, flailing her arms (she still hadn’t figured out how to change direction without looking stupid), and tried to settle on an air current. Concentrating, she thought she found one when a whoosh of wind shrieked past her, thrusting her forward and making her lose her air current. She turned a couple somersaults in the air, wind ripping at her face, and frantically tried to find her balance, but she couldn’t, because her concentration was in shambles. She tumbled forward with a jerk, and lost her grip on flight all together; the other Sylphs disappeared in the muted fog; she was falling, the fog was ice on her skin, she couldn’t even utter a cry, for the cold had clamped her mouth shut, every sense in her body screaming—

And then two supple arms were around her, pulling her close, breaking her out of her fall. Kasity caught a whiff of some flowery smell as she slowly rose in the air, higher into the dense fog, until the she saw the glimpses of sky blue that indicated the other Sylphs were near. She twisted around and almost knocked her forehead against Eunae’s.

Eunae’s grip loosened a little around her stomach, and Kasity clutched to her shakily, buried her face into Eunae’s shoulder, and smelled that faint flowery smell again. Kasity felt Eunae’s arms tauten, but she let Kasity shudder into her shoulder for a while.

“Are you alright?” Eunae asked in her soft voice.

Kasity barely nodded, hastily trying to clear the unwanted tears from her face.

“There’s a strong current right here,” Eunae said with a bit of hesitation in her voice. “Do you want to…?” Kasity gripped Eunae even harder. She knew that it must be tiring for Eunae to hold her for such a long time, and she knew Eunae wanted her to get off her—but she also knew that if Eunae let her go, she would fall again.

“Eunae!” yelled someone behind them, and both Kasity and Eunae turned around. Eunae’s hair rippled in the wind, and a couple strands of it stuck to Kasity’s face. She tentatively pulled them off, watching two small figures hurtle through the air towards them.

It was Kael, accompanied by Lander. Kasity’s heart started to pound again at seeing Lander’s expression. He was pale and his lips were thin and blue and stretched into a frown. First she thought he was just really cold, but she revised that idea when he started mouthing “You are dead when we reach the ground” behind Kael’s back.

“I’ll take her,” Kael said, and lifted Kasity from Eunae with his strong, wiry arms. Eunae nodded her thanks and rubbed her arms with an expression of pain on her face, which caused Kasity another surge of guilt.

No more words were said between them, and Kasity finished her first Sylph flight clinging like a baby to Kael’s lithe frame. They touched down next to the colossal stadium where the Final Round was taking place. Already Kasity could hear the roar of chatter that emerged from within the stadium, and the commentator’s voice rising above the crowd. Kael put Kasity on the ground, and, to her further embarrassment, she had to lean against him for a few seconds before her knees stopped threatening to buckle beneath her.

After she had gotten her footing, Kael cleared his throat twice and said, “Okay, I’ll be off.”

As soon as he was out of sight, Lander turned on Kasity.

“What in the world were you thinking?” he yelled. He paced a couple steps in front of her, and Kasity could feel the anger radiating from his very person. “Do you have any idea how embarrassed I am right now? Were you even thinking? What in the world were you trying to do with a crazy stunt like that? Just because Calixte had you moved up a flying class doesn’t mean you need to show off every moment you can. Right now, we are all late for the Final Round—my first final round as a Unit Leader, by the way—and…and…” Lander didn’t look remotely pale anymore. He was stuttering and turning red. Kasity couldn’t think of a single thing to say as she stared at her toes. She couldn’t remember ever feeling worse about anything else in her entire life, and could feel the tears welling up in her eyes for the third time that day.

Eunae put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright, Lander,” she murmured. Some latecomers were still filtering into the stadium, and casting them curious looks.

“We’ll talk about this after the Round,” Lander said finally, and stalked off into the fog.

Come on, Kasity,” Eunae said in her quiet voice, tucking her hair behind her ears. But Kasity continued glaring at the muddy grass beneath her. She wanted nothing else than to be left alone, or perhaps run back to the Dwelling, grab a cushion in the den, and sit by herself while the others watched the Final Round…it would be an appropriate punishment…

From inside the stadium, Kasity heard a loud roar, and the voice of a commentator rising clearly above the din: “Welcome to the first trimester Final Round! This round, not surprisingly, pits Sylph against Wyvern once again!”

But underneath the sounds of the commotion, there was a whispered, hurried voice, emanating from somewhere beyond the fog…

“Ah…Valorén,” said a distinctly male timbre.

“Teagan. It’s been too long.” This voice was female, and sent odd, pleasant shivers down Kasity’s spine.

Kasity looked up to see a tense, fearful look straining Eunae’s face, and beyond her, two shadowy figures coming towards them in the fog. Then, suddenly, Eunae wrapped her arms around Kasity once again, and they vanished.

At least it felt like she had vanished. She felt cold, and as if the rest of the world was disconnected from her. She could still see all her surroundings, but some kind of magic acted on her, disillusioning her…

“Kasity, it’s a concealment charm. Stop struggling,” came Eunae’s voice, far off and echoing. Kasity obeyed, although she had no idea what was going on. She could feel Eunae pulling her along, and she followed obediently…the magic around her was making her dizzy…a sound like a massive wave building in the ocean was growing in her ears…a sudden bright light filled her senses…

Then, as abruptly as it had come, the magic—the concealment charm—disappeared. She was inside the stadium; the Final Round was about to start; the crowd was roaring in her ears.