Another slow chapter people. Sorry.
Chapter 14
John and Sarah were on the road home. The bright sun was high in the azure sky and its light glinted off the colored leaves on the trees that lined the road sporadically.
A breeze swept up a swirl of leaves and then rose up to ruffle John's longish, light hair and Sarah's loose, dark bangs that were growing out to the sides.
John looked over at Sarah with his head partially turned. She seemed to have recovered from the clothes shop and was now enjoying the scenery and the occasional cool breeze. Turning her head, Sarah caught John looking at her.
"Yes?" she asked, breaking the peaceful silence and starting what would hopefully be an unembarrassing and enjoyable conversation.
John gave her one of his gentle smiles, shook his head and looked down the dirt-packed road before replying, "Nothing really, I just noticed that you seem to enjoy the outdoors and nature."
Sarah smiled and said, "I do, it's one of the loveliest things. There are times when I wish I could capture a moment to look at whenever I want like a winter sunrise or sunset. They can be the most astounding and beautiful sights, with all the colors and the colors in between those colors. I try not to miss it all when I can help it."
John enjoyed how Sarah's face lit up on the subject and could see her remembering those colorful, beautiful moments of nature.
"Once, when I was little, I got to ride on an airship during one of my father's business trips. It was the first and only time I've ever flown. My father took me to Daedalus and we returned on horseback. I'll never forget seeing everything from bird's eye view. Buildings looked like incredibly small dollhouses and people were smaller than the tip of my pinky. Things looked so different. The fields were like a patchwork quilt and water looked much bluer than it does up close. Everything was just green around, and then it cut into and covered the tops of reddish yellow cliffs and short canyons…" Sarah stopped talking, shyly looked at John and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to talk so much."
"Not at all," replied John, thinking of Sarah's obvious enthusiasm. "I take it that not many fly around here."
"Yes, in fact I haven't seen any airships in these parts since the draft," Sarah replied carefully as if protecting herself from unbidden memories those key words brought up.
He wanted to reach out to comfort her, but did not and instead looked ahead, although he drew Ralley slightly nearer to Hessen's shoulder.
John was hunched over scattered parts on the wooden floor of the kitchen. He sat cross-legged on the floor and seemed to tinker with a mass of wires and screws and other unidentifiable metallic objects with a small screwdriver. The gutted stove sat forlornly in the corner with its open back facing John.
The young man carefully scrubbed greasy, corroded parts with an old rag and worked with ideas constantly running through his head as he modified salvageable parts and set aside useless ones. He often stopped to write notes on scraps of paper and take measurements.
He adjusted the dials on the top of the stove and noted the changes as it clicked in adjustment. A small number of patients watched the light haired man's activity with interest. When these left they were replaced with others until it became too late into the night for most to still be awake.
Some time past midnight a weary yet triumphant John stood up and stretched. He had just screwed in the back panel and cleaned up. The changes he had made should turn the stove into a more efficient energy consumer. It required less energy from the energist and now the cooking top could handle two independent temperatures, meaning that instead of just one whole plate, it now worked like two independent stoves and one could be turned off if it wasn't needed which would cut down on the energy used.
John had tested the stove with water and was fairly pleased with the results. In the morning he would have to explain the changes to Aunt Rena.
At that moment Sarah walked in bleary eyed with a jacket wrapped around her and she squinted in the light of the kitchen.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping John?" she asked tiredly.
"Sarah, you didn't need to come on my account. Go back to sleep," John chided gently.
Sarah could barely keep her eyes open, but she nodded, then asked, "Are you finished already?"
"Yes, I'll tell you about it tomorrow, or rather later today," he answered quietly.
Sarah nodded yet again and leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen, resting her eyes. John had washed his hands and turned to see Sarah seeming to sag. He walked up to her and touched her shoulder. She sluggishly responded and pushed herself up and tried to propel herself back to the hallway to meet her warm bed.
When she tottered unevenly John smiled lightly, then came up to Sarah and bent down a little, scooping her up into his arms. Her head willingly came to rest against his left shoulder, his warmth and hers seeping through their clothes. Sarah breathed in John's comforting masculine smell and mumbled, "I'm sorry… you should have been in bed… thank you."
John reached Sarah's room and nudged open her partially closed door, then walked across the wooden floor of her dark room. A faint light from the hallway cast some light from the doorway to her unmade bed which provided him light to see by. He set Sarah down on the still warm bed and pulled the covers over her, carefully tracing a finger across her brow before tucking a stray lock of black hair behind her ear. He then straightened up and left her room, quietly closing the door behind him before heading to his. On the way, he checked in on the two little girls.
He noticed that Brittany's blankets were half off her and entered the dark room in a quiet shuffle, making sure there were no toys to trip on. He bent over Brittany's bed and straightened her covers, bringing them up over her curled form. Pausing a moment after this was done, he studied both girls in their separate beds, smiling slightly at their innocence. Lindsey turned from her side to her back. Her chubby, childish face was relaxed and a hand now poked out of her covers, and resting beside her on her white pillow with her fingers curled.
John smiled to himself and walked out of the quiet room before heading for his. He closed the door behind him and thought of Sarah. Despite her sleepiness she had gotten up to check on him. How very thoughtful an act. She often did things like that, not just for him, but for others as well.
'Perhaps it is part of being a doctor,' he thought.
Berin, Sarah's mother, did things that were much commended. John rarely saw her though since she was either doing some sort of paper work, checking on other patients, or being called to town.
John shifted his thoughts back to Sarah and recalled their conversation earlier that day about her fondness of flying, or at least her memory of it. He contemplated seriously before making his decision.
'Perhaps it would do me some good. I'm only testing,' he thought to himself.
John stepped to the center of the open space of his room and pulled his shirt off over his head. He tossed it onto his bed then hunched over as he tensed his back. He felt two knots, one along each shoulder blade. A sudden release relaxed his back and falling grey feathers brushed his bare shoulders and back.
He looked over his shoulder and saw the outline of his large wing in the moonlight as he experimentally moved it. His muscles shifted and drew the wing against his body. An itch on his other wing beckoned for his attention and he dug his fingers hesitantly under the thick, ashen feathers to get to the spot.
After this was accomplished he softly flapped his wings and made yet another decision. Turning to the window, John walked to it with his wings once again folded against his back.
A small voice in his mind seemed to call him with encouragement when he opened the window. It had an opening just large enough to allow him passage to the outside. Feeling the cold night air suddenly made him hesitate and rethink his decision.
'No, it's worth it. Besides,' he rationalized, 'I may need to be able to fly one day.'
With this thought he leaned out of the window, both hands tightly clutching the sill. He rested his hip along it and pulled his wings fully outside and spread them. He flapped them slowly, working muscles that seemed new, yet somehow familiar.
With his wings now fully stretched out, he finally brought his legs up and pushed off.
The ground approached John too quickly and he began to flap like mad. He crashed to the ground onto his right shoulder with the metal protecting him a bit, and tumbled away from the site of impact, his wings protesting their odd angle. John tried to push himself up and sharply cried out through clenched teeth, although it was somewhat restrained. His wings helplessly fluttered about him and shivered. He shuddered with pain from the right side of his rib cage and abdomen that had been injured by landing on his metal arm. John didn't think he had broken any bones. Thankfully, the worst seemed to only be some bruising. He forced himself to stand and then looked up at his window. With surprise, John noticed that he had actually put some distance between himself and the building. Flexing his wings carefully first to make sure there was no damage to them, he once again began to flap them. Soon he was off the ground.
Happy with his accomplishment, but fearing that his wings could give out at any moment, he flew as quickly as he could to his window and surprised himself with his accuracy. Catching the ledge of the window after half of his body was lunged into the room, John attempted to retract his wings. He could then feel his wings being pulled in, the muscles in his back shifting. A cloud of feathers fluttered down, and most of them strangely enough seemed to dissipate into the air. He finally finished pulling himself in, crashed onto the floor and froze at the sound.
He hoped he hadn't woken anyone. Listening carefully, there was only the stillness of deep night and the silence of the stars. Sighing in relief, he slid an arm out and pushed himself off the floor with a grunt. Once he was standing he rotated his left arm and rubbed it, trying to soothe his aching muscles and bones.
John was pulling his shirt back on when he heard his door creak. Turning around quickly, he saw the shape of a small child in the blue and black shadows of the night.
"Lindsey?" he asked quietly.
Lindsey ran to him and hugged his leg tightly. Her arms loosened as he bent down to pick her up and put her on his lap as he sat down on his bed, securely holding her in his arms.
"What are you doing here?" he asked gently, looking down at her small form. Lindsey looked up from John's chest and said in her lilting child's whisper, "I heard noises and they scared me."
"Where's Brittany?"
"She's still in her bed. She didn't wake up."
"Do you want me to take you back to your bed?" he questioned softly, berating himself for waking and scaring Lindsey with his falls.
Lindsey shook her head. She stood up in his lap and wrapped her arms around John's neck as if intending to never let go.
'I see where this is going,' he thought with an understanding smile.
"You want to sleep here? With me?"
Lindsey nodded. John softly sighed then nodded to himself. Holding Lindsey with one arm he pulled the covers away from the bed and slid in with Lindsey beside him. She curled up beside the large protective body and drifted off to sleep, like in the days before the war had taken away her daddy.
John covered them both with his blankets and made sure that Lindsey would stay warm. The faint starlight painted her face in a pale glow and showed the young man beside her a faint smile.
John set his head on his pillow and closed his tired eyes, letting his dulled body aches fall away in slumber.
Sarah woke up gradually and found herself in a soft bed. Her covers warm around her and the ever so slight chill of the air made the bed quite comfortable. She squinted her eyes open and was about to close them and go back to sleep again when she sighed and pushed back the covers.
Shivering in the cold air, she hopped across her colder wooden floor and found a pair of clean socks to wear in a drawer a few feet away from her bed. She changed into loose, hay colored pants and a plain blue shirt. Sarah then brushed her wavy hair back into a pony tail then walked out of her room.
She stopped just outside with a stricken look on her face, and her hand on the doorknob, when she realized that John had put her to bed. Deciding that she needed to apologize and thank him (and also needing instructions to operate the modified stove) she walked to John's room with unsure steps.
Lightly treading the halls, so she would not wake someone, she reached John's door at the end of the hall and found that it was partially open. Sarah tapped on the doorframe and asked softly, "John? Are you awake already?"
There was no answer so she slowly pushed the door open and poked her head into the room. What she saw made her forget her nervousness and made her smile instead.
John slept with his arms flopped out on either side of him. He was facing towards the door with a thatch of his silky, silvery hair tickling the bridge of his fine nose and the rest of the light colored mass was mussed up. His mouth hung open, allowing him breathe better.
On top of John's stomach and chest Lindsey was sleeping peacefully across him, her ear near his heart.
Author's Notes: Well, if you haven't figured it out I might not be updating as soon as we all like because I'm a Senior in high school with a touch of "senioritis". I know that I'll be graduating soon enough so I want to very soon, but I know I'll miss high school. I have been accepted to all five of the colleges I applied for now: Western Oregon Univ., Western Washington Univ., Eastern Washington Univ., Washington State Univ., and Central Washington Univ. I also got a couple scholarships.
Also, I wanted to tell you guys that I might be making a humorous version of "Nail" where there will probably be bloopers of some of these scenes in this story, alternate outcomes, and just weird stuff that you normally don't see in this story using the characters in here. I don't know when I'll start writing it, but I'm just giving you guys a warning. It will be called "You Got Nailed" or something like that and it will be posted under Escaflowne.
And now for the comments!
Teal Huskie- Thanks for checking to see if I updated! And now that you left your e-mail, I can tell you when I put up more chapters. It'll be a little while more before Folken finds out who he is.
Kartos- Well, I've updated, but as you can see it doesn't really go forward.
Rai Dorian- Thank you very much. I still need to register to vote. Yes, plaid boxers! What else are they gonna be? Everyone is going to wear boxers in this story! HAHAHA! *ahem* Thank you.
Otaku Pitcher- Yes, I updated, but don't be too expectant since I'm rather random. I'll see if I can see a softball game. I might as well since I'll be there for several years. Thanks for the complement!
ShadowShapeShifter- Did you like the wings? Sorry there wasn't much for it. It's good that you start with the college stuff when you're a junior, trust me, it's that much less hurrying to do in your senior year. Thank you for the B-Day greeting and the oyster shucking. So you have family up here? Did they tell you about our snowless winter and how the snow came back last week? It's been crazy up here.
Kae Noel- Go ahead and demand more chapters! I do it anyway with stories I read on ff.net even though I haven't updated for forever. I read your story again a bit ago and I think I left a couple reviews. I have found it interesting how you had that molting scene. I liked the idea.
Thank you all for reviewing and I hope you guys will continue to do that!
-LSR_7