Winged: A Novella (Of Two Girls) by Joyce Chng Page A

Jubilee and a Great
Gathering had spread throughout the city like wild fire.
Extravagantly painted posters were pasted in prominent areas, so
that people would take note of the date and the time.
     
    Gossip was rampant in the salons, in the
coffeehouses and in Kew Gardens where spectators had gathered to
watch the blooming of yet another exquisite tropical orchid
species. Who were the nations invited? Japan? Austria? France? The
protectorates of the British East India Company? What kind of
flying marvels would be showcased? What kind of Fleet was Her
Majesty putting together? Was it solely Her Majesty’s idea or was
it by her ambitious Chamberlain and his cronies?
     
    One thing was for sure: they could hardly
wait to see the new flying vessels. A new design, purportedly by a
secret inventor. It would be grand. Magnificent .
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
Chapter Four

Earning The Wings
     
     
    She was in the same blimp-fin again, its
controls familiar to the touch. For this training run, the winds
were favorable – calm, without bustling gusts, considering it was
now Autumn and the wintry currents were arriving soon. She
self-consciously touched the half-wing brooch on her left breast,
the badge of an Intermediate Pilot-In-Training. Captain Sagan
pinned it on her chest in a private ceremony and whispered quiet
words of encouragement like “Work harder.”
     
    Beside her, Misato Kanaka took her place as
navigator. She was an exchange student from Meiji Japan, roughly
around Katherine’s age. Her jet-black hair was pulled back in a
severe bun and she wore the same kind of uniform as Katherine:
light brown, the color of a senior student. On her left shoulder
was the House emblem: she was assigned College Sable. Misato had
the same quiet mildness as Alethia but when it came to games like
lacrosse or even gymnastics, she excelled and positively
thrived.
     
    “Check the wind gauge,” Katherine said,
keeping her eye on their goal: a red-stripped flag. It was a
training flight, with an element of competition. They had to
collect ribbon-ed rings along the way. Misato was issued a pole so
that she could collect the rings positioned at certain
locations.
     
    “Wind gauge normal. Wind is easterly.”
Misato reported dutifully. They were coming up to a set of three
rings and Misato readied her pole.
     
     
     
     
    A flash of grey passed by beneath them. The
passage of another blimp-fin. The blast of air left by its wake
rocked Katherine’s own vessel and Misato stumbled, shouting
something in Japanese. She sounded alarmed and rightly so. It was
an illegal move and it had already gotten the rival blimp-fin ahead
of them.
     
    “You alright?” Katherine asked the shaken
Misato who nodded. That was not a nice way to fly. In fact, it was
not a safe way to fly either, not thinking about safety at all.
Thomas Von Dyke had gotten too cocky for his own good. She powered
the blimp-fin forward, furious.
     
    Thomas and his navigator – Edward – were
already in the act of collecting the rings – our rings , Katherine thought angrily – when she piloted her
blimp-fin towards the errant vessel. With a growl, she nudged it
against the other blimp-fin, knocking it out of its position. She
opened the pothole and shouted, “You do not have to cheat, Thomas
Von Dyke! You nearly got us killed!”
     
    The rings scattered, fell. Edwards almost
lost his balance and hung on for dear life. Thomas’s face emerged,
ruddy with anger. Katherine had enough of Thomas and his tendency
to needle her all the time. With a quick word to Misato to hang on,
she pushed forth and her blimp-fin barreled forward, approaching
another marker with two rings. A look back saw Thomas’s blimp-fin
pursuing her.
     
    “Ready the pole,” Katherine bit out and
Misato stood at the door. They reached the marker and with a deft
flick of her wrist, Misato scooped the two rings up with the pole.
The two girls grinned triumphantly and added the two rings to the
existing