"Can I take the blindfold off now?" Mark was walking forward, following hesitantly where the knight led him. She giggled at his confusion, but kept leading him forward.
"It's just a little further, I promise." The two walked through the tall grass just outside the city's stables to where the surprise she had prepared for Mark waited. "Okay, stand right…here." She stopped the tactician in just the right spot, and took his blindfold off. "Ta-daa!" she beamed, and Mark recoiled backward from the sight in front of him.
An emerald wyvern was standing in front of him. Its tail moving from one side to the other, wings beating rhythmically low to its body. The scaled face looking straight into Mark's. "Cordelia, is your idea of a surprise that I'm going to be eaten by a wyvern?" The beast in front of him snorted, and bared sharp teeth with a large yawn.
"NO, you have to ride it." Cordelia walked towards the wyvern and stroked the animal's head. "You had told me you'd never flown, at least flown without assistance from me, or Sumia, Cherche, what have you." The wyvern turned to expose a saddle it was wearing on his back. "Well you're going to today. And Zeiss here is going to be your first mount." Cordelia was smiling wide and looking toward Mark expectantly. She was met with a nervous laugh and a few half formed excuses. But the stare turned stern, and Mark knew he wasn't getting out of this experience.
Gingerly, Mark mounted Zeiss, who seemed very compliant. Cordelia assured him, as she mounted Catria, that his owner claimed that the wyvern was the best-behaved of his species that the man had. Not a moment after Mark was securely fastened in the saddle, legs affixed in braces on the sides and now gloved hands gripped to the reigns, and the wyvern spread his wings and let out a shriek. This was quickly becoming a worse and worse idea by the second. And then the two mounts began to lift their riders into the air, with Catria getting a running start, but Zeiss merely pushing off with his powerful wings.
At first, Mark had his eyes shut, praying to Naga that they wouldn't fall off or get buffeted from his position by a strong gust. But, after having not died for long enough, he was able to open his eyes and look around. All around him was the light blues and oranges of sunrise. The wind wasn't as strong up here as he thought, and he looked down and saw the land under him, maybe a hundred feet down. Queasy at first, the man managed to hold his stomach down and looked forward again. There he saw Cordelia soaring, her Pegasus weaving through the air. Gripping Zeiss' reigns, Mark pulled on them to tell the wyvern to speed up. The beast complied, and soon he was flying past the Yllissian knight, smiling as he passed. With a laugh, Mark and his mount continued through the sky.
After about an hour of flying around, seeing villages below and forests that stretched farther than eye sight, Cordelia led Yllisse's strategist towards the mountain range east of the capital. Mark dismounted, legs wobbling at being used again. He waked towards Zeiss' head and patted it. The wyvern hissed in what Mark hoped was happiness, and laid down. Cordelia soon joined him, landing a few feet from Zeiss. "Well Cordelia, I have to tell you that…well that was kind of amazing." Mark laughed out as he approached the redhead. "I was wrong to be nervous I guess."
"I told you it'd be fine." She crowed, stroking her mount's mane. "I think everyone deserves a chance to ride in the skies the way we knights or Cherche do." She walked to the mountain's edge and sat there, looking towards the city. Mark followed her over and sat next to her. "I like coming up here in the mornings. It gives me room to think about the day, you know?"
"It's beautiful up here. Nice place to meditate." The man remarked. The pair sat there for an hour still, talking some but mostly just looking out towards the country they serve. Without doing it verbally, the pair got up and returned to their mounts, with Mark thanking Cordelia again for helping him break out of his standard routine before they saddled up and rode out back into the now midday air.