Everyone accompanied Alecie outside, squinting in the bright sunlight. Alecie reached into her pouch and took out the six stones. As she handed the stones out to them, large wings sprouted from the back of their shoulder blades as a tiny blue E appeared on each of their right shoulders. Alecie scanned the types of wings of each person as she raised an eyebrow in surprise at the variety. Ryo and Sakura each had white angel looking wings, like hers, except that Ryo's wings were tipped in red and Sakura's had a lighter shade of red to show that she was his wife. Sage and Cye had wings that connected to the person's arm, (think like a harpy's wings). Anubis had large leathery wings resembling those of a dragon or bat. But what really surprised her was Rowens. His wings were like hers, but his looked large and powerful, each feather having a thin golden lining. She stared in amazement as he stretched his new wings, getting used to the feel of them.
'He…he has the wings of royalty.' She thought in amazement. 'But…how…how can that be?'
Alecie shook her head clearing her thoughts. She didn't have time to think about that now.
"Hey, Alecie." Sakura said as Alecie turned to look at her.
"Yes?"
"How come we all have different wings?" she asked observing Cye and Sage's then turning to Anubis' "And what is with the blue E?" Alecie smiled.
"Because when an earthwalker uses a soaring stone to get wings, it's like you become a cloudrunner, each person gets the wings that you would have had had you been born a clourunner. The E is there to show that your wings aren't natural." She said in explanation.
"E for earthwalker," Rowen said in conclusion.
Sakura nodded as she fluttered her wings.
"So there are more than one type of cloudrunners?" she asked.
Aleice nodded. "Yes, there are many types of wings, there's the royalty, the raiders, the soarers, many kinds."
"What kinds do we have?" Sage asked.
"You have the wings of a raider." She said. "Raiders are the only type of cloudrunner that don't lose their wings during a full moon." Cye and Sage looked at each other.
"We're raiders!" Sage said as Cye gave him a high five. Alecie smiled as she turned to Ryo and Sakura.
"You two have the wings of soarer." She said looking at the red tips.
"A soarer?" Ryo asked.
"Yes, Soarers can fly higher than any other cloudrunner, because they can get closer to the sun without their wings burning. That's why they have red tips, to absorb the heat." Alecie explained.
How come my tips are a darker than Sakura's?" Ryo asked looking at his then to Sakura.
"It's to show that she is your wife." Alecie said. "A soarer boy is born with dark red tips and a girl with orange. When she is married, her tips change from orange to a light red to show that she is married."
"What about mine?" Anubis asked giving his dragon like wings a flap. Alecie turned to him, studying his wings.
"You have the wings of a darkrider." She said.
"What is a darkrider?" Anubis questioned.
"Darkriders are cloudrunners that prefer to come out in the night." She said trying to remember. "Because of the black color of the wings, they are almost invisible at night." Anubis seemed please with his wings as she turned to Rowen.
"And mine?" he asked expectantly. Alecie paused, not knowing what to say. His wings had the golden outline of royalty that much she was sure of, but it just wasn't possible. It couldn't be, it defied the cloudrunner law, and yet she was staring at his wings with her own eyes.
"You… you have the wings of a…a clouddancer." She lied. She couldn't tell him what his wings really meant. Because she still wasn't sure if she believed it herself, and if they really were his then that threw everything she had been taught out the window.
"What's a clouddancer?" Rowen asked interested.
"Clouddancer are the fastest flying cloudrunners." She said finally. Rowen smiled brightly as Alecie pushed her thoughts away, but not before giving his wings one final look.
'If those really are wings of royalty, then father is going to be more than upset.' She thought nervously. 'But they can't be, I must be mistaking them for something else. I bet once we find Athena again, she'll know what type his are.'
"You okay?" Rowen asked looking at her facial expression. Alecie looked up suddenly and gave a small smile.
"Yeah, I was just thinking. Come on. It's time to go." And then she kicked off from the ground and rose into the air. The others followed her movement as they too were airborne. They turned in the air and waved good bye to their friends as they grew smaller the higher they rose into the sky.
