Flying was something that Bucky just did. It was simply part of being what he was. That wasn't to say he didn't relish it the first few weeks after casting off Hydra's shackles, but that was more freedom in general. Really, Bucky spent the majority of his time on the ground, only flying when necessary for food or fighting.
Toni reveled in it.
Snow-capped mountain range below them, the gradually lightening sky above, stars reflecting brilliantly off of gleaming metal, blue fire trailing from her gloves and boots, she was like some sort of alien goddess, bending nature's laws to her whims.
Bucky flew, using his tail to stay balanced, shifting his wings to maintain glide and positioning.
Toni rocketed forward, the suit screaming with power, nearly as loud as her own yells of excitement. She dove, too far, too fast, only to pull up at the last second, gloved fingers skimming over star-lit snow. She circled around and under him, popping up over his head with a delighted laugh, before ascending so high he could barely see her as a dot, just one star amongst billions. Then she fell back down, blue fire gone, uncontrolled and covered in ice, but still laughing. Bucky dove to catch her, heart in his throat, only for the blue fire to sputter to life once more.
"Well, that was unexpected!" Toni said, literally bouncing in the air.
"You're gonna give me a heart attack!" Bucky growled, circling her and keeping a wary eye on her suit. They were still high enough that a hard landing from this height would be fatal.
"Sweet of you to worry, darling, but I've got a handle on this." She did a barrel roll. "I'll work out the icing issue in the next version."
This time she did a spinning roll around his head, and attempting to keep her in his sight made him lurch off balance.
"C'mon, Buck-a-boo; I still think Steve's directions are sus, but if he's anywhere close to being right, then we should be nearly there." She gave a good tug to his ear before shooting forward.
Bucky rolled his eyes before following.
Maybe Steve had been a little - okay, a lot vague in the story he'd told, but his results spoke for themselves. It was all they had to go on, anyway. So, second star to the right and straight on 'til morning, it was.
That turned out to end up directly into the sunrise, which was generally something he avoided flying straight at. His vision was good, day or night, but not with the first rays of the sun stabbing directly into his eyes.
"Hey, Bucky! It's okay. I'm here; I gotcha."
Toni was right there, talking near his ear as he felt the weight of her land on the back of his neck.
"I've got a filter in my helmet, stops bright light from bothering me. I can see where we're headed now and it's not far, so close your eyes and let me do the navigating." She gave him a confident pat on the neck and Bucky immediately shut his eyes, happy to leave it up to her.
"Okay, good speed. About two degrees to the southeast-to your right."
He wasn't sure what a degree was, so he experimented until he had a good guesstimate of her terminology in relation to flying. By the time she had him head down a few minutes later, "Heading for landing now. Nose down twenty degrees, cut speed by a third," he would've been comfortable letting her navigate for him through a pitched battle with his eyes closed.
"Out of the sun," she said, unnecessarily. The second the brightness had vanished from his eyelids, Bucky had opened them.
A tall mountain rose up before them, a massive temple carved into its granite face. Fortunately, there was a large plateau jutting out away from the mountain face, else Bucky would've been forced to land and grip onto the mountainside. Instead, they landed in what appeared to be some sort of plowed field.
"Huh," was Toni's only comment as she flew down to the dirt path to the side of the field, the fire from her gloves and boots cutting out.
He didn't respond, too busy taking in what was, even to him, a truly big structure. It had to have taken centuries to hand carve such a thing from pure granite, and that was without knowing how far it went into the mountain. The timescale was daunting, regardless of how long lived one was.
Columns and statues and runes in a language he didn't know. Windows with wooden shutters, some open, with lights visible inside. A set of double wooden doors at the front which looked nearly large enough to let him through.
"Interesting."
"What a dump."
He looked at Toni and found her looking back, helmet visor up, eyebrows raised in amusement.
"Really, sweetheart? This is your idea of elegance?"
"It's intriguing. I've never met mortals, aside from you, who put so much time and talent into creation instead of destruction. This has history."
"What I'm hearing is it's old and dusty. My nose already itches."
Bucky huffed out a laugh, blowing rime across the field.
"Might as well go knock." Toni rested her hands on the suit's hips. "You'd think someone would notice a dragon and a flying person on their front lawn."
Bucky's stomach chose that moment to grumble.
"Yeah, same." Toni sighed. "I know it wasn't a long trip to get here, but it feels like I haven't eaten in days."
He wanted to point out all the exertion they'd had which neither of them were used to, but a new, condescending voice cut in.
"Reaching Kamar-Taj is meant to be about the journey itself, not taking shortcuts to get here as quickly as possible."
Bucky angled his neck around to look over his shoulder, and saw a man, human by all appearances, sitting cross legged on a boulder not too far from them. He was barefoot, dressed in plain blue robes, scared hands resting palms upward and open on his knees, eyes closed, the grey hair at his temples ruffling in the morning's light breeze.
"If I were a guy, that's the beard I'd wear. I have beard envy," Toni said, just barely loud enough for Bucky to hear, then she raised her voice. "Way I heard it, this place is here to find for anyone who needs it badly enough, 'short cut' or not," sarcasm had crept into her tone.
"Hmm. Getting here is one thing. Your 'needs' will be judged by the sorcerers as worthy or not."
"Is that right." Toni crossed her arms over her chest - which didn't look at all comfortable or easy to do in armor, but she persisted. "I guess we better go and find one of those. Hopefully they won't make the two of us sit out here and 'find ourselves'. Did you piss them off or something?"
The man snorted before opening his eyes, blue and sharp, and finally looking at them.
"I am Strange," he announced.
Neither Bucky nor Toni could hold back their snickering.
"Well, yeah," Tony said between snorts. "But I was trying to pretend to be polite and not say it."
The man sighed deeply, his lips thinning. "I can arrange to have you tossed off this mountain."
"Sure thing, stranger-danger, we're very threatened. We're gonna let you get back to contemplating this field of…" she sniffed and grimaced, "cow shit. Yeah, that is all yours." She pointed finger guns at the odd man before turning her attention back to Bucky.
"We're finding somewhere to hose you down before we go back home," she said seriously, pointing to where Bucky was sinking into the plowed earth.
Bucky winced and pulled his feet out one by one, shaking them free of what was, thankfully, dry dirt and manure and not mud. Then squeezed himself onto a path not made for a fully grown dragon.
"Maybe I'll just drop the both of you into the ocean myself." The man was off the boulder now, standing in the field, glaring between them and the mess Bucky had left.
Bucky wondered how much distance he'd get if he hauled back his tail and whacked the guy with it as hard as he could. Would he clear the plateau?
Before he could find out, the air between them was ruptured by orange sparks that quickly grew into a large, round, spinning portal, from which another human stepped out onto the path. Bucky caught a glimpse of wooden furniture and what looked like a shelf of books before the portal shrunk closed, just as quickly as it'd opened.
"Tea," the new human announced, back facing him and Toni. And he did look to be carrying a wooden tray with a small tea set on it.
"Like the drink or a whole meal?" Toni asked.
The man turned fast, managing not to unbalance anything on the tray. Even more to his credit, the sight of a dragon and a woman in armor only drew a raised eyebrow in response.
He differed from the first human in nearly every way; shorter, rounder, darker skin and eyes, actual clothing with a vest, belt, vambraces, shoes, and then there were the manners.
"Ah, guests." He bowed to them. "Welcome to Kamar-Taj. I am Wong. Would you care for tea?" He held out the tray.
The taller human scoffed.
Toni grinned, showing teeth. "That's really nice of you, Wong, but you should probably take care of grumpy hobo over there first."
The man made an indignant noise; Toni's grin widened.
"Bucky and I have a problem, sure, but we're not out here at the ass-crack of dawn, in our pajamas, standing barefoot in cowshit. The guy obviously needs more help than we do."
The man brought his hands up and fiery orange mandalas swirled into being around his palms.
"Huh," Bucky grunted in surprise.
"Wait, you're actually a wizard?" Toni frowned. "I thought you were just some condescending, overprivileged, spoiled, highborn prick, hanging out here 'cause daddy wouldn't buy you a new army and you wanted the wizards to get it for you."
"That's oddly specific," Wong said.
"I've met a few royal assholes in my time." Toni shrugged one shoulder.
"We are sorcerers, not wizards. I am Stephen Strange." The man lowered his hands, orange fire disappearing.
"Wong, Sorcerer Supreme." Wong bowed again.
This time Toni attempted to bow back, although she was made stiff and awkward by her suit. Bucky inclined his neck and head.
"Please, join us inside where we can discuss your problem."
"Um." Toni glanced between Bucky and the doors dubiously. Bucky wasn't feeling so optimistic about it either.
"There's room enough," Wong promised.