Chapter 27
“Where were you yesterday, Rick?” Orion asked his brother. They were both in Joshua’s bedroom with him, talking about all they had learned since Orion and Joshua’s birthday, four days ago. Joshua had just woken up that morning, and was anxious to show off his new wings.
“Oh, uh,” Rick thought fast, “I was out, uh, for my private studies.”
“Okay, bro,” Joshua said, “who is she?”
“Huh? Who’s who?” Rick asked, bewildered.
“Don’t play dumb with us, Rick,” Joshua said accusingly, “We both know what you really do during you’re ‘private studies’.”
“Y-you do?” Rick panicked. If they knew what he did, he could be in big trouble.
“Yep. You go to see your girlfriend,” Joshua said, matter-of-factly. “And I want to know who she is.”
“Oh! Uh,” Rick hadn’t expected that. He didn’t have a girlfriend, but he supposed that it must look like he did have a secret love, the way he kept sneaking off alone all the time. If Joshua wanted that to be Rick’s excuse for taking off, then that was fine with Rick. It would keep his brothers from finding out what Rick really did. “Alright, Josh, you got me. Her name is, uh, Natalie. Just, don’t tell Mother, okay? Please?” Rick knew that if their mother got word of Rick’s ‘girlfriend,’ she would want to meet her.
“Okay, Rick,” Josh smiled triumphantly, “I won’t tell. You won’t tell either, right, Orion?”
“I don’t know.” Orion frowned. “When I snuck off to be with my girlfriend, Mother grounded me. It’s not fair that you can go see your girlfriend when I got in trouble.”
“It’s not that you got in trouble for seeing a girl, Orion,” Rick explained, “It’s because you snuck out of the palace on your own, when Mother told you not to, and you were attacked. She was only trying to protect you.” Orion’s frown deepened.
“Why are you allowed out on your own when neither of us are, Rick?” Joshua asked. “Why does Mother trust you and not us?”
“Well,” Rick decided to tell them the truth, or part of it, anyway, “Actually, there’s an advanced school in the city that teaches certain things that I can’t learn from the palace. I go there so that when I become emperor, I’ll know everything. Except,” Rick hung his head a little, “I’m not going to be emperor, now, but,” he looked cheerfully at Orion, “at least I can be the emperor’s counselor, right, Orion?” Rick smiled, hoping that his explanation was enough. Orion smiled and nodded. Rick breathed a sigh of relief. He had told his mother about the advanced school in the city, but he didn’t say which city. The school wasn’t on Lunspae at all. He had been sneaking off to Olhoe, disguised as a telblec, and learning ninmisn in Royal City. Because of fysimae, he could breath in space, and grow large wings to fly. Although, he thought, I won’t have to shape shift to get wings anymore, since finding out that I’m jisbae and have wings of my own, now.
“Rick! Wake up, bro,” Joshua said, waving his hand in front of Rick’s face, and disturbing Rick’s daydream.
“Wha? Sorry, bro,” Rick said, “I guess I was thinking about that school.”
“And the pretty girl you met there, huh?” Joshua chuckled. Rick grinned sheepishly.
“Are you boys ready?” Kelia poked her head into Joshua’s bedroom. “If you are, I’d like to show you how to fly.”
Kelia took the three of them to a high, rocky cliff side near the ocean for practice. Orion was itching to get off the ground, but one look over the edge and Joshua wanted nothing more than to get back inside. Demonstrating proper gliding techniques, Kelia leapt off of the cliff, waiting until she was halfway down before spreading her wings and landing gracefully on the sand below. Orion was next. He leapt off the cliff without fear, but had difficulty spreading his wings with so much wind forcing them closed. The result was a painful crash landing. After seeing Orion crash, Rick was determined to show him the right way to land, and he did. Rick, having had lots of practice previously when he shape shifted, had no problem with his wings. Joshua, on the other hand, had turned green and refused to stand up, let alone jump off the cliff. Rick practiced gliding while Kelia worked with Orion and Joshua on flapping techniques. They stayed out until dark, returning only when Orion claimed that he would miss his training session if they didn’t return.