Warren lands and groans.

"I thought I was the best at flying but look at her."

Etana is wheeling in the sky, a black dot in the blue sky. As I watch, the wings fold up and she plummets, spinning and then they open so she skims over the top of the lake. A single beat and she zooms up fast into the sky. I hear a laugh snatched by the wind. She's climbing, higher and higher and I can sense her joy. On the ground she's graceful but in the sky, she's elegant, agile, lithe, supple, flowing, willowy and just…beautiful. She's a creature of the sky, like those birds that only touch the ground to breed. Compared to when she's in the air, she's clumsy and awkward on the ground. And if she's clumsy, then we're all ungainly, inept, blundering and lumbering. Then suddenly she dives, heading straight for me and she catches me under the arms and climbs then shifts how she holds me. And we're back in the War, flying together in the twilight, joyful and free of all the responsibilities that weighed us down. She's climbing again then stops, hovering like an eagle.

"This is where the air starts to get noticeably thinner. I can fly higher but this was the highest I could go with my wings broken."

Eighty-three microfractures were required to reset her wings to Mike's exacting standards. She refused a general anaesthetic, taking only a local and I'm pretty sure it had worn off halfway through. Mike did as she asked. He handled her wings with a great deal of respect and yet the whole time, you could tell he was the doctor and she was the patient. I stayed at her request. Mike seemed amazed she hadn't gotten gangrene in her wings and Etana had went quite defensive, stating that she may have not gotten them set, but she had the injuries clean and bound. He told me later that parts of her bones had been completely shattered and he was amazed they'd healed up at all. She's been going around with casts on her wings for a month. This is her first flying session after the operation.

She grins at me.

"Hold on tight Discus-Boy."

Her wings fold up around her and we fall, spinning around, faster and faster. Then the black canopy opens and our acceleration slows. She glides in a large arc and grins.

"Thermals are superb for hovering. I used to have so much trouble learning how to hover. I fixed that by flying with an eagle."

I glance down and suddenly realise quite how high up we are.

"Er… 'Tana…?"

"Do you want to go down Steve?"

I nod slightly. The wind is cold and strong up here and the X-Men are all dots on the ground. The descent is slow and graceful, and my feet brush the grass before she sets me down gently and wheels up to land herself beside me. Pulling her close, I breathe in her ear.

"Can we go somewhere private?"

She nods slightly and then we're standing on top of a mountain. I bite my lips. Etana's so…well, Etana that I don't know how she'll react to this. She'll either be extremely offended and will disappear, leaving me on top of this cliff; angry and refuse to talk about it ever again or just smile slightly and say 'What took you so long?'

I close my eyes, trying to remember exactly what Anna told me. Slowly, falteringly, I start to speak in Hebrew.

"Etana Bat Aleka?"

She responds in the same language

"Yes?"

"I…I love you and I would really, really quite like it if you would…er…"

One silver eyebrow is raised ever so slightly. Other than that, her face is blank. I gulp, then drop down on one knee, hoping against hope I'll pronounce the next sentence right.

"Will you marry me?"