The royal red-and-gold Paperwing awaited the Abhorsen-in-Waiting and the cat, placidly sitting in its hangar. Lirael looked at it apprehensively, hoping that Mogget's confidence in her was sound. If Sabriel could fly it under siege and through Gore Crows, for her first time…well, it must not be incredibly hard, Lirael figured.
It was quite simple, really. Once she figured out the Charter Marks to activate the Paperwing, it was easy to whistle them and have the aircraft lift off. Mogget sat in the passenger seat, seeming quite at home there, and Lirael had stowed the bulging sack of supplies the sendings had give her—both necessary and quite unnecessary as well. She wore her Abhorsen clothing, the surcoat of golden stars and silver keys. The bell-bandolier she stashed with Mogget, along with her sword Nehima. Despite all this, Mogget seemed quite comfortable with everything, especially since Lirael had allowed him to bring a few sardine cans along, pre-opened for his easy access.
Lirael whistled the first Mark, and felt the Paperwing come to life beneath her. The prospect of flying had always unnerved her, and even just looking at Paperwings in the hangar on Clayr's Glacier made her shiver. She shifted nervously as the Paperwing slowly activated, until she saw its eyes blinking at her benignly, more like a large falcon than an aircraft made of thousands of sheets of laminated paper.
As the Paperwing lifted off into the sky, with Lirael continuing to whistle the Marks that would direct it to Belisaere, she felt the wind seem to almost tear through her. She didn't like flying, she decided, but she would have to put up with it until she got to the capital. She sensed no Dead in the air, for which she was grateful, but had some other sense at the back of her mind, tingling. It was the gut feeling you got when you know something is going to go horribly wrong. Maybe not right then, but eventually. And there's nothing you can do to stop it.
Lirael had that feeling now, but she tried to ignore it. It wasn't helpful that the wind kept coming into her face, drying her lips so that she would have to keep wetting them again in order to whistle properly. Nor did it help that Lirael could see dark clouds coalescing to the west. Hopefully, they wouldn't get in her way. The last thing she needed was a thunderstorm, on her first time flying a Paperwing, during an emergency flight to the capital.
But as the wind picked up, Lirael knew that she would have no such luck. "Should we land?" she shouted to Mogget over the sound of the gusts tearing at the Paperwing, which resisted.
"That would be recommendable, unless you wish to be struck by lightning," returned the cat's calm and sarcastic voice. "The Paperwing can withstand many things, but unfortunately, lightning is not one of them."
Lirael took the hint and whistled to get the Paperwing to land gently. There was a nice flat plain stretched out before them, which was fine for landing, but once the rain started, there would be no protection. They would just have to deal with it, Lirael concluded grimly, though she knew that Mogget wouldn't like getting wet.
The Paperwing descended easily, just as the clouds culminated and thunder began to sound in the distance. The air was thick with tension, and Lirael knew she had little time before lightning would begin to flash. Angrily muttering about storms and their ability to come when they're least wanted, Lirael landed the Paperwing on the grassy plain. It was middle spring, so the grass was long and green, and, unfortunately, thunderstorms were not a rarity at this time of year.
It began to drizzle, then to rain, then to pour. Lirael, miserable under the cold wetness, sat in the Paperwing, not willing to get out and land on what she knew would be a very damp and very muddy plain. Mogget had similar logic.
"This is the fourth thunderstorm of the week," the white cat said quietly.
Lirael turned, startled, then saw that all the sardine tins were empty. Figures, she thought wryly, before addressing the topic Mogget began. "How would you know?" she asked suspiciously.
Mogget gave her a look. "You think that I would spend my entire time in that stifling trap hole of a house? I've gotten rather tired of it over the millennia, quite frankly. I have freedom now, and I intend to use it. Unfortunately, every time I go out it seems that it's pouring. Why do you think I've been spending more time in sight than usual?"
Lirael, looking back, realized that although normally she rarely saw the cat inside, that this week he had been underfoot more often.
"What's causing the storms?" she asked quietly.
"Mmm," said Mogget. "Disturbance in the air, I would suppose…"
"What do you mean?"
The cat did not answer. Although Lirael repeated the question several times, she realized that Mogget was not going to give her any kind of reply. In fact, he was asleep, or pretending to be. When Lirael knew him best, he was under the influence of the bell Ranna the Sleepbringer, so he spent most of his time asleep. But had been a few years since he was released from Ranna's hold, so she didn't expect he would be sleeping as much—yet, she supposed, any ordinary cat would sleep frequently anyway.
Frustrated, she gave up trying to wake Mogget and get him to answer anything, which left her to ponder his remark. But, irritated by the rain and the delay it was causing her, and irked by Mogget's decision to sleep when she least wanted him to, she didn't get very far in her train of thought. "Disturbance in the air," Mogget had said. But what kind of disturbance?
Lirael soon got off track in her thoughts, and started thinking about Belisaere. It had been a while since she had been to the capital, and though she was called under grave circumstances, it would be nice to see her family again…her half-sister Sabriel and her husband King Touchstone I, not to mention Sam and his sister Ellimere…plus Nick, Sam's friend, who was learning Charter Magic from Sam and other Charter Mages around the Palace. Briefly, Lirael wondered how he was progressing with that. The Disreputable Dog (Lirael still couldn't think of her old companion without a pang of remembrance) had sent Nick back with a Charter Mark on his forehead, to balance out the Free Magic he had absorbed when Orannis had possessed him. So Lirael would be able to see all her old friends, her dear companions once again…although she knew that time for catching up with them all would have to wait. A council needed to be held first, to discuss Clayr's Glacier…and maybe even Mogget's hint of the "disturbance in the air."
Lirael sighed as these thoughts carried her away, traveling over and over in a repetitive circle, until she followed the way of Mogget and was soon asleep.