Dripping Wings

Yuugi tried not to choke as he looked at the book that lay before him. Ayana had literally dropped it into his lap, telling him that now, after months of magi training, it was time to hit the books.

Hard.

The Myste elf had decided that it was a good idea to start out with an in depth history of the religion of Sekesha and the surrounding areas. Currently, there was a list laid out on the pages in front of him that gave detailed descriptions of the 'Thirteen Guardians, the Goddesses Who Rule.' It was going to be his job to learn and memorize every single fact and concocted fantasy alike laid out before him. The rulers of the country had to know everything about the world that they governed. Yuugi knew this, and knew that it made perfect sense.

But why did there have to be so much to learn? It was no wonder the palace library put the Library of Alexandria to shame. Earth seemed to only have about five thousand years of documented history. Sekesha had nine thousand plus.

Yuugi's tutor laughed when she heard her pupil give a slight whimper. "Have a stiff lip, my Lord, for there is so much for you to learn. Crying about it will only make it that much harder."

Despite the maturing he had obtained since coming to this world, Yuugi stuck his tongue out at her. "Fine, fine, I'll start memorizing." He glanced down at the book on the table again, scanning the delicate scrawl of the ink. It looked something like this:

Goddesses in order of Heavenly Rank:

Tranquility: Goddess of the Moon, Healing deity, and one of the Divine Sisters.

Eternity: Goddess of the Sun, Warrior deity, and one of the Divine Sisters.

Divinity: Goddess of the Stars, Protector deity, and one of the Divine Sisters.

Ealian: Daughter of Tranquility, Mother of the Sekeshan Queens.

Ayenu: Goddess of the Hearth, Loving Goddess, Confidant of Tranquility.

Kyaneh: Goddess of Love and Life, Sister of Kyanah.

Assahineh: Goddess of the Earth, Protector of the Royals

Ahna: Goddess of War, Patron of the Militia

Kyaneh: Goddess of Ice, Sister of Kyaneh

Seyneha: Goddess of Midnight, Lady of the Dark

Sevenyu: Goddess of Time

Vahnsyeh: Goddess of the Dead, Protector of the Perished

Musenyu: Lady of the Elements, Guardian of the Magi

Yuugi did his best to understand each of the purposes of the Goddesses, but he knew that it was going to take him a long time to get all of this right. Not to mention that each deity had their own designated color, metal, element, symbol, and appearance. He moved his finger down the page, noticing a small note at the bottom that he seemed to have overlooked.

Senke, God of the Dark Side of the Moon, father of Ealian.

Wait a minute...a mention of a God?? Sine when? He'd been in Sekesha for nearly six months now, and had never heard any mention of a God, not to mention one that was the father of one of the Goddesses. "Ayana," he stated, "There's a God in here that's mentioned. I've never heard of him before."

"You must have seen the note for Senke. That's not surprising. He's not really seen as important. As I'm sure you've been told, it is always the first born daughter that inherits in families. The men really don't matter. He's not the only God that we know of, but he's the only one to have any affairs in Sekeshan stories."

"There are other gods?"

"Sure. The Goddesses have always had a grudge against the God of Queschtal, who dictates the country to be male-centric, and preaches cruelty against women."

"Huh. But why no other mention of Senke?"

Ayana shrugged, pulling a couple of more books off the a shelf next to her. "From what I know, Senke wished to remain quiet, and preferred to not receive prayers. He always said that his lover Tranquility was far better equipped to handle the problems of mortals, and wished to have little to do with them. He has no cults because he's always ignored them in the past."

"Now that, in my opinion, is fascinating."

"That's how I've always remembered the deities, by their strange quarks or their relations to others. Ayenu, for instance, is really not that powerful of a Goddess, and really has few special powers, but she is so highly ranked because of her relationship to Tranquility."

"Strange." Yuugi flipped the page, seeing the physical descriptions of the Goddesses laid out in fine detail. There were even drawings of them for visual reference. "So," he asked, "how am I going to be tested on them?"

"You'll invoke them."

"I'll....what???"

"You'll invoke them," the elf reiterated. "You will summon them and use a small portion of their powers. The consorts of Sekesha have to be able to invoke the power or the wrath of any Goddess they might need at the time. Summoning Senke, of course, will be extra credit."

Yuugi allowed his head to hit the book in exasperation. "Oh, man...."

The elf laughed. "You won't have to do that for at least a year or two, however, For the mean time, all I want you to do is to create a visual display from the pictures on the page with your light powers."

"Illusions? I can do that." Six months of practice with his elemental powers had proved fruitful for Yuugi. He turned out to be particularly gifted, and kept baffling his tutors on his abilities time after time. Any more he could practically feel his energies flowing through his blood stream, and could allow it to seep through his skin at a moment's notice.

He decided he'd start out with not the goddesses, but rather, what he thought Senke might look like. He flipped through the pages, finding no descriptions of the elusive God. Dark side of the Moon, right? Yuugi imagined he'd probably look like the typical tall, dark, and handsome creature, with penetrating eyes, and perhaps long black hair.

Light would do little good. Shadows would be needed to created this illusion. Light would be too bright for what Senke was supposed to represent. Opening up his palms, Yuugi summoned the shadows that were always flowing around within him. He watched pleased as they extended upwards about six feet high, and slowly, surely, a figure began to emerge from the blackness. He imagined that the figure would wear a long black coat, sparkling like the stars in the night sky. Senke would probably also have black hair, perhaps with silver strands running through his tresses. After all, this was a moon god that he was creating, not a god of a black abyss. Silver accents were practically required. Dark skin, too, with glowing eyes starring out from his mess of black silky hair.

Ayana looked shocked, but at the same time pleased, when she saw what Yuugi was attempting to do. "Thinking ahead already, are we?" She walked around the figure that stood motionless and expressionless, sizing up the appearance. She whistled appreciatively. "Good work today, Yuugi. Now, I want you to tell me the importance of learning about these deities, then you can have the rest of the day off."

Yuugi waved away the figure, causing it to disappear from sight. "The importance of learning of the Goddesses of Sekesha comes from the fact that the government, the traditions, and the lifestyles of the people of this country are directly influenced by the start of this world over nine thousand years ago. All future laws must also coincide with what the Divine Sisters dictated before their mortal deaths and their Ascension to the Heavens. It also has a vital link with the history of Sekesha, and the wars that have taken place and the wars yet to come." This statement had been drilled into his head ever since he'd started with his training.

The elf nodded. "You're learning quickly. Now go on, get out of here, the rest of the day is open."

"Score," he replied happily. He closed the book and headed towards the door of the library, flinging it open. He stopped short, however, when he saw a body blocking his way. "Atemu," he asked. "I thought you were in court today?"

The Prince smiled at him sweetly. "I was. We've been in session since sunrise this morning. It's over."

Yuugi grinned, flinging his arms around him. "So...you have some time off?"

"Yes. And you'd better be ready for it."

Yuugi raised a playful eyebrow. "Oh?"

Atemu brought Yuugi back into the library and closed the door. "I'm taking you outside today."

Yuugi stumbled, but recovered quickly. "What? Outside? But...I can't go out there. My wings." The Prince looked at him thoughtfully. Suddenly, it all clicked. "Oh, I see. I'm going to learn how to hide them?"

"That's right."

"So soon?" the voice of Ayana asked them from putting books away.

"It's been six months," Atemu stated. "Had he stayed at the Compound, he'd have been forced to learn how to hide them in a month or less."

"Good heavens! But the dangers in hiding wings! So many things can go wrong!"

"I know."

Yuugi's mind was abuzz with questions. "Just how do I hide my wings? What happens? Why is it so dangerous?"

"The best way to understand it is to be shown it," the Prince replied. He pointed to a ceramic bowl on a lower shelf that contained book marks in it. "You remember learning about this technique, right?" Atemu raised his palm upward, and suddenly the bowl on the shelf disappeared in a wave of color and heat, and then reappeared in the same way in his hand.

Something in Yuugi's brain clicked it all into place. "Ah ha. I see. Apparation Displacement. The method of transporting things through the in-between place. Something that is also comparable to limbo, or the dimension that is unmeasurable by time and space."

"Exactly. This method of Apparation Displacement is a little different from the one that you're used to. It's easy for you to transport one object, or perhaps even a multitude of objects, from point A to point B, but when we hide our wings, we leave them there in the in-between until we want to take them back out again. So they're always there, but at the same time they're not."

"Hm."

Atemu handed him the bowl. "Push it into the in-between dimension, but I want you to leave it there for a moment. Then, walk across the room, and summon it again."

Yuugi took a deep breath. Displacement was always a pain in the rear, simply because he was forcing every molecule of the object in question into another reality entirely. He concentrated hard, imagining every grain of the bowl as it simply disappeared from sight. Suddenly his hand felt a lot lighter, and noticed, now that his vision wasn't fixed inward, that the bowl was no longer on his hand. Magick seemed to work like that here. All he simply had to do was imagine something hard enough, give it a little mental nudge, and it suddenly did whatever he wanted it to do.

Atemu looked at him and nodded in approval. "Now summon it elsewhere."

Yuugi dropped his hand and walked about five feet away, extended his hand again, and tried to concentrate. "I...I can't sense it in the in-between. How am I supposed to bring it back?"

"In a sense, Yuugi, it never really left your hand. There is no gravity in the limbo dimension, so when your hand dropped, it was still there. That's how it works with your wings. They're always there following you, but then again they're not there at all."

Yuugi shook his head. It was like trying to discern from the real world and the world ghosts lived in. It was the only way he could try to make sense of the mumble-jumble that he was being taught. "Oh...wait....so that's how travelers can seemingly pull things out of thin air. Because they put them there only to be brought back out later."

"Exactly."

Yuugi could do this now. His mind didn't have to sense it. All he had to do was push his hand through the dimensional barrier, grab, and pull the bowl back out again.

He managed it easily.

"Very good, love. Do you think you can do that with your wings, too?"

"I think so," Yuugi stated. He now realized why this could be dangerous. Sometimes things were put into the in-between that were never able to be recovered. Minds had gotten lost in that realm before, and one needed to be very sure of their abilities before hesitant steps were taken to enter it.

Yuugi stretched his wings once more, feeling the now familiar weight on his back, and imagined the void opening up around the appendages and suck them in. The void closed, and the weight vanished. Yuugi opened up his eyes and turned his head around. "They're gone," he said. He turned, not feeling the feathers catch the air and slow him down. "Weird. It's the first time I've felt like a normal human in months."

"Now bring them back. Once you get the hang of this, you can leave them hidden for as long as you like."

Because it was apart of his body, Yuugi felt a small tingle around his shoulder blades, and he knew that it was the void of the in-between world that had not been closed off entirely. It ticked a little bit, but otherwise it was almost unnoticeable. He pushed the void back with his mind, and felt the weight of his wings return.

"Excellent, love. Very good. I'm surprised you got it on the first try. I remember it took me at least three tries before I got it down well."

Yuugi smiled back and hid his wings again. "Were there ever any royalties that couldn't hide them?"

"Sure. There are always a few that are quite incompetent. They usually had confidants that would hide their wings for them."

"Huh."

The Prince came up and hugged him fiercely. "Come with me. Fall is just about over, so the warm weather is nearing an end. There is a treat I'd like to share with you before winter fully comes."

Yuugi, once again, was awe struck. The palace stables were about as big as a football field. The building was longer than it was wide, and instead of being constructed out of marble like the palace, it was in fact created from wood the color of deep cherry. The ground around it was still covered in green grass, despite the lateness of the season. The grass here in Sekesha was always a vivid blue-green. The leaves on the trees were now in full fall colors; bronze and gold and maroon and fiery reds alive and vividly bright. He knew that the capital city was a huge metropolitan area possibly the size of Chicago, but there was a huge emphasis on plants and greenery, and the trees and grass of the area were always tended to with an infinite care. To Yuugi, it seemed that all of the building simply sprung up from inside the canopy of the tress, and the vegetation was hardly disturbed. At times it was hard to believe, especially considering he'd seen what an advanced society can do to an earth.

Atemu walked ahead, opening up one of the oversized doors of the stables. Yuugi walked in behind him, the smell of hay and dirt and horse hair greeting his nostrils. Random neighs from creatures that he couldn't see yet drifted down the long isle of the stables, Yuugi's eyes straining to see all of the way down. "Atemu, just how many horses are in here?"

"Full capacity is about a thousand, but currently we only have about eight hundred here."

"Holy cow," he breathed.

The Prince raised an eyebrow in subtle question. Every now and again Yuugi would say some bizarre things when in shock. Certainly, this would be one of the times, for cows were anything but holy in Sekesha. Shrugging, he walked down the dirt covered isle till he came to a long silver rope that was hanging on a hook. He tossed it to Yuugi, who caught it easily. "There's only one way you'll be able to ride a horse here."

"How's that?"

"You rope it, you ride it."

Yuugi's eyes grew wide. "What??" He watched the Prince walk to the front of a stable door and put his hand on the latch. "No, no don't do that!" The Prince flung the door open, stepped back, and watched as a blue-green horse bolted from his stall. Atemu hurried over to another door. "Atemu," Yuugi pleaded. It was too late. The door was opened, and this time a bronze stallion ran out and fled from his stall. Yuugi could only watch as dozens of horses were freed, kicking up dust and dirt in their wake. Yuugi noticed that they were all heading towards the end the stable, where large double doors were fully opened, and outside it looked like a fenced in arena. They weren't going anywhere anytime soon. Yuugi swallowed, glaring at the Prince who now had a satisfied on his face. "You're horrible."

He shrugged. "This is the best way to make sure everyone gets the horse best suited for them. The untalented catch horses that are slow, lazy, or old, and the talented get horses that are young, strong, and sometimes stubborn. You probably don't know, but horses here can't be trained for every rider. Wild instincts are difficult to breed out of them, if not impossible. They'll only let you ride them if you've earned their respect. Although they can't do anything but neigh at you, they're direly intelligent."

"Hn." He supposed that it made good sense, but it didn't mean he was going to know what to do. "Can I at least use some magick to catch one?"

"Hence the talented and the untalented."

Atemu walked to a stall that had not been opened. Yuugi noticed that some of the stalls had symbols on them, and he was now assuming that it denoted an owner. The unmarked stalls belonged to horses that had yet to acquire a rider. The one the Prince had walked up to, however, was near the entrance of the stables, and had the royal seal on the door. This one had to be Atemu's. He opened it up, stepped aside, and unlike the other horses, this one trotted out in nothing short of an arrogant gait with his head held high. Yuugi was awe struck. It was a beautiful creature of midnight black. He was of rather small stature in bone mass, perhaps only about fourteen hands high, if not less. His hooves, however, were huge like a draft horse, and his muscles were something to be admired. "He's gorgeous," Yuugi breathed.

Atemu smiled at him. "He's not slim like the regular horse. He's not a runner, nor was he designed for speed. He's a war horse, powerful and practically unstoppable, but small enough to weave through a battlefield unharmed."

The horse tossed his head regally, waiting for the Prince to mount. He gave a firm slap to the horse's rump. "Get out there and run around with the rest of them. I'll catch up with you."

The creature neighed and took off with graceful speed.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to do this," Yuugi stated. "I've never actually seen a horse in person before, just in pictures. I haven't the faintest idea what to do."

The Prince wrapped an arm around his waist and led him outside to the arena. "You'll do fine. All you have to do is use your mage abilities to wrap that rope in your hands around the neck of one of the horses running around out there. Once the horse is roped, it will struggle. Hold on to the rope tightly, and once the horse realizes you're not letting go, it will run towards you. Jump up on its back, hold on tight, and in a few minutes you'll have a new riding companion."

Yuugi snorted. "Easier said that done."

Atemu smiled at him, but said nothing more. The sunlight caused them to squint as they entered the arena, a huge cloud of dust now floating thickly in the dry autumn air as the horses ran about in random circles. The fenced in area was in fact quite small. Yuugi supposed that if one was working with a horse that did not want to listen, a small arena would be a better choice, granting the trainer the respite from running a quarter of a mile just to catch a stray.

Atemu kissed him on the temple. "Good luck, aybu." He ran off into the fray of dust and horses. Yuugi was amazed as he watched the Prince catch the mane of his own horse, heft himself onto his back in mid-motion, then suddenly steer his horse in another direction, and start chasing some of the others running. Yuugi swore he heard a cry of glee from the black war stallion.

He looked around, attempting to spot a horse that looked like a nice one to ride. It seemed like a kaleidoscope of colors swirling about in front of him, and it was hard to focus on any one creature at a time. These animals were fast!

Fur and hair and specks of silver ran in front of him, and Yuugi found himself reeling back from the gust of wind that had just flown by him. There, off to his right, a silver-white mare was looking at him through olive green eyes, her head raised in aloof bemusement. Yuugi's jaw dropped in disbelief when he realized she was testing him.

He readied his rope. "Oh, we'll see about that..."