Words: 4,954/32,011||Chapters: 2/13

Juudai wanted to go out and do something. Anything. He wasn't all that particular, as long as whatever he did didn't involve being in this receiving room, wearing one of his fancier outfits, and being introduced to the half dozen Flightless that lived in the palace.

Flightless. No one had used the word around him before, but ever since his parents promised to introduce him to others who didn't have wings, it cropped up more and more. Those who didn't have wings and would never have them.

At least they wouldn't if he couldn't figure out how to make it happen. Juudai hadn't given up that thought, no matter how 'nice' it was to meet others who wouldn't fly.

"Greetings, Your Highness." One of the nobles approached Juudai, their offspring in tow. They had a fine set of wings themselves, arching dragon wings, with gleaming silver-green scales to match their green hair. "I would like to introduce you to my offspring, Eirian."

Juudai blinked at them. Eirian stood a fraction shorter than the noble, with smooth dark red hair cut in a style neither male nor female, with dark green eyes that rested on Juudai thoughtfully. Like him, there wasn't even a hint of wings.

"A pleasure to meet you, Your Highness," Eirian said, voice not giving a single hint as to male or female. Juudai blinked again. He'd never met anyone like this before and the question was out of his mouth before he could change his mind.

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

The noble tensed and Juudai could all but see his parents wincing and his mother reached out for him… but Eirian only shook his – her? Head. There was a smile, so Juudai didn't think that he'd done anything wrong. Besides, he'd only asked a question. How could that be wrong?

"I'm not either one of those, Highness. Should I have to be?"

Juudai scratched his head and shrugged. "I've never met anyone who wasn't one or the other." But then, he'd never thought there were those who'd never grown wings until his parents told him. Maybe this was something like that?

"Now you have. There are always exceptions to everything." Eirian told him. "I hear that you want to make wings for people who don't have them?"

Juudai lit up at that. "I do! Everyone should have wings!"

"What about people who don't want them?" Eirian tilted their head – Juudai decided he was going to use 'they' until someone told him it was wrong. "There are some of us Flightless who are fine without wings."

Juudai wasn't sure if he could get his head around that. "But you can't fly… I can't fly."

"I know. But there are other ways to make things happen, and flying isn't the most wonderful thing in the world."

"It is too!" Juudai shot back. "I love flying with Mother and Father!"

Eirian tilted their head again, this time the other way. "Do you? Or do you love being with them, no matter what you're doing?"

Juudai started to open his mouth and then stopped it again. He did love being with his parents no matter what they did, even if they weren't flying. Sitting beside the fire in their quarters, sometimes going for little walks in the gardens – the gardens that didn't grow in the skies but on the ground…

He'd gone swimming before. His parents hadn't gone in the water with him; water and feathers didn't mix very well. But they'd enjoyed watching while he'd gone underwater and come back up again.

Could I do that if I had wings? He wasn't sure if he wanted to give up swimming.

"Do you know what might be a good idea?" Eirian asked. Juudai stared at them, far more confused than he'd been even when he found out he wouldn't have wings.

"What?"

"Finding a way to help those who do want to fly. Or those who could and can't now. Finding out what you can do to help people."

Oh. Juudai tried not to visibly droop. He'd heard this before from his parents. It was always 'find out what you can do and do that', not 'try to do the impossible'. Maybe it was just impossible because no one had done it yet!

"Maybe," he said, getting the feeling that they expected him to say something. "Thank you."

He was so bored. Meeting all of these people sounded exciting the first time Mother and Father mentioned it to him. Meeting others like him, who would surely want to fly as much as he did, who'd probably been looked down on, and he wanted to help them, to find a way for them to fly too, and none of them… none of them had shown any real sign of wanting wings.

There were five others there, two boys and three girls. All of them were different in little ways. Aras looked forward to marrying into a noble family that hadn't had a Flightless in centuries. That way, his offspring would surely have the wings that he didn't. Two of the girls weren't interested in marriage at all, but for different reasons. Sarnai intended to enter temple service, one of those temples where all the priests and priestesses remained unmarried and without lovers. Parisa, on the other hand, found herself far more interested in her studies and a future as a craftswoman to find a mate of her own.

The third girl, Kalea, expressed an interest in military service, while the second boy, Ilan, wanted to learn magic. At least that was interesting enough to Juudai; if he couldn't make wings for everyone, weren't there spells that could help?

"There are some," the would-be mage apprentice told him when Juudai asked about that. "I know one or two that can make someone fly for a little while. But those always end."

Juudai grumbled under his breath, tapping his fingers a little. "Why?"

"There are some spells that last forever," the other said thoughtfully, "but those are so rare that I don't know of them. Great wizards and sages might, though."

Juudai nodded at that and made up his mind on something: if he couldn't make wings for everyone, wings that worked, and he still hadn't made up his mind that he couldn't just yet, then he would use magic to do it. There had to be a way for it. Just because he didn't know the way didn't mean there wasn't a way.

He wasn't sure of how long they stayed there. But he at least tried to talk to everyone and find out about them. His parents wanted him to know these people. And the longer he talked to them, the more he found out that he wanted to know them to.

They weren't bad people at all. They'd mostly given up or accepted that they'd never fly, so that was it.

I'll never be like that, Juudai promised himself. He wouldn't give up on his goals. There would be a day when he could fly, no matter what.

Aodh relaxed in Kaien's arms and let out a long sigh. "That could have gone better?"

"It could have gone worse," Kaien corrected him, the trailing edge of one wing caressing down his side. "He at least knows that he can have an ordinary life whether or not he can fly."

Aodh nodded, though he still wasn't entirely certain everything had gone as well as Kaien thought it had. Juudai didn't seem to have let go of his insistence that he would fly for so much as a moment.

"What next?" He asked, though he didn't think there would be an answer. Only time could teach Juudai anything that they couldn't, at least where the topic of wings and flight were concerned.

"That, I don't know." Kaien closed her eyes and rested her head on his. Her lips moved faintly against his skin. "I almost wonder if we should try to find him a mage-teacher. If he can learn spells for flight, it might help. At least for a little while."

Aodh considered that. There hadn't been a Flightless in his family line, or Kaien's, for so long that he didn't think any of them knew how to raise one. Completely new territory here.

"Who would make a good teacher?" Aodh asked after a few silent moments. "Are there any Flightless who could do it?"

"There aren't any in the city," Kaien replied at once. He suspected that she'd already checked into this. "There are a few winged mages, but no Flightless ones."

He'd hoped for those few seconds that a Flightless teacher would be able to help Juudai in a different way, telling him in a way he'd believe that it was too difficult, or possibly even how it was done. Something to settle the question once and for all.

But perhaps a flighted one could do the same thing. If Juudai would be willing to listen to one.

"Let's check with them. Maybe one is willing to teach."

Given how stubborn Juudai could be, he wasn't all that certain that his son would be willing to learn.

The knock came quick at her door. She looked up from her book, curious as to who would want to call, especially at such an early hour. There were few who had need for he services, after all.

But there wasn't any need to turn away customers, not with how rare they were. She raised one finger and a gust of wind opened the door, revealing a well dressed servant of some sort.

A royal servant, she realized. Someone whose pay outranked her own so much that they could likely replace their uniform if it were dirtied without recourse to washing it. And from the way they held themselves up and looked around her narrow space, they probably wanted to do just that.

"You are the one they call Siren?" The servant asked, one eyebrow cocked.

"Yes. What of it?" The tips of her wings twitched a fraction at that. She tried to ignore the pain that shot through her at that. This was more important. Maybe.

"You are summoned to the royal palace. Their Majesties have need of you."

Siren didn't move. "Need of me?" She repeated the words with caution. What in the world could that mean? "To do what?"

"They will discuss that with you there. But I am empowered to inform you that you will be very well compensated for your time."

Siren pressed her lips together before she finally stood up. At least she didn't have anything to gather. Her magic came from the air itself and the air was everywhere. If Their Majesties wanted her in richer clothes, then they could provide it for themselves. They clearly had the wherewithal to do so.

Getting up to the palace from there took time. Siren's wings couldn't carry her for long periods of time and hadn't been able to for years, so flying wasn't an option. Her guide had a set of fully functioning wings, shining silver ones, and the longer Siren took to move, the more the guide sniffed and looked annoyed.

Siren ignored that as best that she could though. She'd learned to deal with what she had. She didn't have any real other options.

Besides, it was kind of fun to see the servant's reaction to having to go through all the varied roads and alleyways in this district. The guide had probably flown down, taking the quickest route, and now trudged back.

"I could carry you," the servant finally said after a few moments. "It would be a great deal faster."

Siren glanced over, a faint smile turning her lips up. "That won't be necessary. We're not on a schedule, are we?"

"No." The word ground out and Siren kept on walking. If she'd really wanted to, she could have used her magic for this, but she'd always been of the school that magic should be used when it was necessary, not for ordinary tasks that other methods could accomplish. She could walk to the palace. There was no need to use any of her spell-craft.

It hadn't quite been mid-morning when the knock came on her door. It was just past luncheon when they finally arrived at the doors to the palace. The guards let them in without protest as soon as her guide murmured something to them. Siren watched cautiously, wanting some sort of clue as to what was going on. This was all far more secretive than she truly felt comfortable with.

Again she was guided, but this time it wasn't her territory. The closer they'd come to the palace, the more splendid the homes and buildings around them grew, and she'd not known how to find her way. Being in the palace was ten times worse. There were hallways of finely cut stone hung with tapestries, with rich carpets underfoot and ornaments in niches. The hallways led into rooms and sometimes into stairs, all of them more than wide enough for those with the widest of wingspans to move through with their wings at full reach.

She didn't even try to memorize it all. When she left here – which she told herself would be soon – she would use a spell to lift herself out and get back home the quickest way. Whatever the King and Queen wanted couldn't be that important.

At last they came to a room guarded by two armored warriors, both with fine sets of wings, one of soft blue feathers, the other of gray-green scales. One of them opened the door, allowing them in. Her guide stepped in first, bowing low as soon as they passed the door.

"King Aodh, Queen Kaien, I present to you the wind mage Siren, brought here as swiftly as possible as you commanded."

Siren entered, bowing at once. She'd never met royalty before, but it seemed the polite thing to do. When she looked up, she wasn't surprised to see two finely garbed people looking back at her. King Aodh's wings were as dark as his hair, while Queen Kaien's shone deep chestnut red.

What really surprised her were the kind expressions. They didn't look arrogant or cruel or demanding or what she might have expected of people with their kind of power. She'd never really paid that much attention to their policies, as long as they didn't affect her. Now she wished that she had. It might have helped her understand what they wanted from her.

"Greetings, Mage Siren," the king said, rising to his feet and extending his hand to her in a gesture of greeting. "Welcome. We have a great favor to ask of you."

"What is it?" Siren wanted this out of the way as fast as she could. The longer she was here, the more nervous she found herself.

Queen Kaien answered her. "Please, teach our son to fly."

To Be Continued

Notes: World-building is fun! Also, Yubel next chapter! Also:
Eirian: bright, beautiful (Welsh)
Aras: eagle (Lithuanian)
Ilan: tree (Hebrew)
Kalea: joy, happiness (Hawaiian)
Parisa: like a fairy (Persian)
Sarnai: rose (Mongolian)