Rhoe blinked and twisted her fingers together. There was no more time. She had to ask now or it would be too late.
The Coalition Flight Academy was holding trials in the city of Nathrin, and Rhoe felt an urge to try.
She straightened her shoulders and walked through the settlement, toward the lake.
The dark swan shifters were enjoying the lazy summer day. Crops were planted, and the weeding rotation was out in the fields. They had plenty of time to put on feathers and sail around in the warmth of the sun.
Rhoe looked around and spotted her father.
He must have seen her urgency, because he turned and cruised over to her with effortless movements. Rhand looked down at her. What is it, daughter?
She sighed. She wished more than anything that she had inherited her father’s ability to shift, but when you were only half a shifter, you took what you could get. She had the skill to communicate with her people when they were transformed and the markings of the dark swans were on her body. Aside from her penchant for water greens, it seemed that was all she had inherited from her father.
Father, I wish to go to the flight academy trials at Nathrin.
He looked down at her clasped hands and cocked his head. Why, Rhoe?
Because I want to fly. I need to fly, and since I have no wings, this will be the best chance that I have to learn. It is something deep inside me that I cannot stop. The sky calls, Father.
He fluffed his feathers and stretched his neck. You are too young, Rhoe.
I am twenty years old, Father. Another two years and I will be too old.
He gave her a sombre look and shifted into his other form. “I don’t want to lose you, Rhoe.”
“You are not going to lose me, but since I can’t spread my wings like others do, I want to do what I can to become a little more of the woman I feel inside me.”
He sighed and turned her with an arm around her shoulders as they walked back to the settlement. His features were lost in thought, and she didn’t want to interrupt him. If he was thinking, he wasn’t saying no.
She gathered the supplies for tea once they were back home and quickly assembled a tray, following him out into the garden.
He had shrugged into the loose robe that their people favoured, and she kept her mouth shut while he sipped his tea.
“You will need clothing.”
Rhoe nearly fainted with delight. She threw her arms around her father and hugged him as he stroked her hair. “Thank you, Father.”
“Don’t thank me yet, flight training is not for everyone. If you wish to, return home and no one will dare to mock you.” He smoothed her hair away from her eyes as he had thousands of times since she was old enough to have bangs.
“I will not return until I have success. I will be a pilot, Father. Trust me.” She smiled, and she could feel her cheeks aching, she was so happy.
“Fine. Go to Lagala and have her kit you out with suitable gear. If I am reading my calendar right, you have a week to pack and head to the city. There is no time to waste.”
She nodded, hugged him again, got to her feet and ran to the only seamstress in the settlement.
Lagala blinked at her when she burst through the door.
“He said I could go!”
The seamstress grinned and pulled a bundle out from under her counter. “I cannot believe that Rhand said yes. Don’t get me wrong, the flight academy can use any volunteers they can get, but I never thought that it would be the headman’s daughter.”
Rhoe wrinkled her nose and started to try on the clothing that she would need outside the settlement. She had had one fitting already, but this was for the final setup.
“I didn’t beg or anything. I just told him that I felt I needed to grow.”
“Ouch. Nice. He felt the guilt of you not feeling complete. Very well done, Rhoe. Breathe in, shoulders straight. There.”
The fitting went on for an hour, including a round of underwear that was as uncomfortable to wear as it looked.
“Why do I have to wear
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