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Chapter 39 - Flying Lessons II

Yssha was eager for her first lessons in true flying, now that Lokmoroyol was satisfied with her landings. As instructed, she brought Nevan and Odahviing with her. Sanguine and Malacath were waiting to greet them. "What's on today's agenda?" Sanguine asked.

"Lokmoroyol wishes Odahviing to demonstrate all a dovah's normal flight maneuvers," Yssha replied. "Then I will try to repeat them, after getting used to the freedom of the air. Once I am good enough at our routine maneuvers, Nevan will see if we can adapt any maneuvers he knows from his world. After all that, Odahviing and I will spar in aerial combat. That will probably take several days."

"I may or may not watch after today, then," Sanguine said. "I do have other things I should be doing, both on Nirn and here in Oblivion, but I'll stay in touch." He grinned. "You intrigue me, beautiful one, in both your forms. I haven't had this much fun in a couple of millennia."

Yssha nodded her head, then shifted. "You honor me, Prince Sanguine. Now, if you will excuse me?"

"Certainly. Fly well!"

Lokmoroyol chuckled. I believe he means that in both senses of the term, thuri, but you will need quite a bit of practice with free flight before you are ready for the shared flight of a sky-dance. And you will want to do that in Nirn, if you and your First wish to display your prowess.

Yssha repeated that aloud, to Nevan and the Princes' amusement, and Odahviing's considering nod. "She is correct," he said. "Linked flight is most enjoyable, but you must be quite proficient in solo before you can handle linked."

"Then let me begin my practice, please?"

Lokmoroyol nodded inside her head. Go, then, thuri. Fly in your own body, rather than as a passenger on another's neck or memories.

Yssha crouched, then launched herself with strong (if not yet familiar) legs, wings (no, not arms, in this form) grabbing air, and before she knew it, she was hundreds of feet in the air, wings spread wide, adjusting wing and tail angles to ride updrafts even higher, and she roared her joy at the feeling of freedom. She could go wherever she wished, see everything - it was wonderful!

Then Odahviing was flying beside her. "Watch me now, thuri. You know how to bank, but it is possible to bank all the way over, so you are flying on your back, balancing with tail and head."

Yssha was a bit dubious, but she followed his example, and discovered that inverted flight wasn't as impossible as it sounded. After that he showed her a loop, then a stall turn, then combining forms, like a half-loop followed by a half-roll, and several other variations. She followed his examples for a while, then began trying things on her own.

As she did, she discovered she was having more pure fun than she'd had since she was a kitten tumbling through the flowers of her mother's garden tussling with her sibs and friends. She didn't want to stop, but eventually, even her dragon body tired, and she had to land near Nevan, gape-grinning and trying to catch her breath.

Odahviing landed beside her, looking indulgent, and not tired at all. "You enjoyed yourself, thuri?"

"Oh, very much indeed!" She snorted a laugh. "That sort of flight will make immortality bearable, I think. I doubt I will ever get enough of it, and I will have to get Paarthurnax to teach me the proper prayers of thanks." Then she thought how that might sound to her host, and turned to Sanguine. "I do not mean to offend, so if mentioning the Divines here is improper, I apologize."

"Not a problem," Sanguine replied with a grin. "Your sub-realm, your rules. Actually, though I think she may not be too fond of the idea, I approve of Dibella. She's a bit restrained, by my standards, but otherwise just fine."

Yssha wasn't sure she wanted to hear any more of that, so she turned to Nevan. "Your opinion of our flying, vahriini?"

He grinned, shaking his head. "Clan Leras is the Terran Empire's standard for training aerobatic pilots, and I was one of the best of ours - though after this long out of the cockpit, I wouldn't trust myself with a cadet's lander." He paused, then grinned again. "That said, at my best, I couldn't teach either of you a thing."

Yssha gape-grinned. "Then, while I still need combat practice, would you say I am proficient enough to fly the skies of Taazokaan openly?"

Nevan nodded. "Certainly."

Odahviing rumbled agreement. "You fly alone as though born to it physically, thuri. You wish to demonstrate this to your vodov friends, of course."

"Of course," Yssha agreed. "And my dovah ones, as well. But High King Balgruuf first, I think."

"Not the Emperor?" Nevan asked. "Back in my old home, protocol would call for the Sovereign to be informed of something this important first."

Yssha shrugged. "It probably does here, too. But Balgruuf was my first friend in Skyrim, which is more important to me - and Dragonsreach has the Great Porch, intended for a dragon, where the White Gold Tower does not. The only place in the Imperial City large enough for a dragon is the Arena, and Titus would have to come to me for me to demonstrate my shifting ability."

She paused, gape-grinning. "Of course, the same goes for Balgruuf, of course ... but for him, it means only climbing one flight of stairs in his own home!"

She had learned that she could return from Sanctuary to any place on Nirn she chose, so this time she had Nevan ride Odahviing, and brought all of them to the sky well above Whiterun. Odahviing and Nevan flew to Lakeview, while Yssha herself concentrated on a smooth approach and landing on the balcony of the Great Porch. She was pleased with her touch-down, gape-grinning and fluffing her wings before settling them to her back.

The guard on Porch duty smiled at her and bowed. "You're here to see the High King, I assume, Lord Dovah. I don't recognize you - never seen a mostly gold one with red highlights before. May I give His Highness your name?"

Yssha rumbled the draconic version of a chuckle. "That would spoil the surprise I have for him, so no. And it is Lady, if you must use titles. But if you could ask him and Farengar to come up here, I assure you they will be grateful afterward."

The guard smiled, bowing again. "As you wish, my Lady. I'll tell them right away."

Yssha settled in to wait. Balgruuf, understandably, didn't like having his audiences interrupted - even less now that he was High King rather than simply Jarl. So she was rather surprised when she heard the guard speak to Irileth, and the housecarl did interrupt the proceedings. "My King, we have a dovah visitor. A beautiful gold with a surprise for you and Farengar, Gerd says. He's never seen or heard of her before."

"Then I suppose it would behoove me to greet her." Balgruuf rose from his throne, calling Farengar to join him. They were followed up the stairs and onto the Great Porch by anyone at the audience who could fit, which amused Yssha. True, at the moment, a huge golden dragon was a bit of a novelty, so it wasn't too surprising.

She ducked her head to Balgruuf. "I thank you for coming, High King. It seems good to me that you be the first to officially see my new ability, though my team and a couple of others already know."

"Your team?" Balgruuf shook his head. "You aren't telling me ... yes, I suppose you are."

"You are correct, my oldest Skyrim friend." Yssha shifted, her dragonscale armor now magicked to be the same color as her scales in dragon form. "I am the first, and perhaps the only, Aedric shapeshifter."

That got various reactions from her audience, everything from Balgruuf's impulsive hug to Farengar's almost predatory look of curiosity. "How long?" Balgruuf asked when he released her.

"About two weeks," Yssha replied. "For obvious reasons, I did not wish to make it public knowledge until I could fly properly." She chuckle-purred. "I have always had a dragon soul, but until recently, I had only a Khajiit body, which sadly lacks wings."

Farengar understood immediately. "So while flying is instinctive to one born with a dragon body, as Fusmulgar's dragonets have proven, but It must have been difficult for you."

"And rather embarrassing, though I only permitted a few to watch me practice. Falling on one's muzzle, as an adult, makes one feel extremely clumsy and incompetent. Being pregnant - egg-heavy, in dovah terms - did not make things any easier."

"Is the baby all right?" Irileth asked.

Yssha turned to her with a smile. "Danica assures me he is fine, though I did not mention why I was concerned. She will find out now, of course." Not that she'd really been worried, with Talos assuring her that her children would be safe, but she thought it unwise to mention that, when so many others lacked that direct protection for theirs.

Fusmulgar landed on the balcony rail. "It is good to see you a-wing, thuri," she said. "For such a small joor - ah, vodov, krosis - you make a rather large dovah."

"So Odahviing has told me," Yssha said. "Slightly larger than Alduin, he says. Which is hard to believe, after Helgen and having fought him twice. He was much larger than I was, all three times."

"Geh, of course. You were Khajiit then, so that is only to be expected. Had he met you in your dovah form, I daresay he would have been less ... overconfident of his Thu'um and physical abilities."

"Perhaps. Fortunately, I will not have to fight him again. He was ... as formidable as he belived himself to be. Had I not had considerable assistance, I do not believe I would have prevailed."

"But you did, fortunately for all of Nirn," Balgruuf said. "Ah ... you said I was the first you'd told, publicly? Don't you think you should've told the Emperor first?"

"Why?" Yssha paused for a moment, thinking, then shook her head. "He is not my thur. I am dovah and Stormcrown, so my priorities are different. But you do have a point, and I should tell him next."

Vaermina was getting frustrated. Even her closest allies were being difficult to convince that her plan to attack the Dragonborn by attacking her dragons would work. Worse, Sanguine was growing distant from her, cozying up to that weakling Azura, and Malacath was forsaking Mephala's interests for those of Meridia.

And worse even than that, Akatosh or Talos had granted the never-sufficiently-cursed Dragonborn the ability to shift into the form of a golden dragon even larger than Alduin. Hircine, rather than being jealous as she'd expected, admired the were-dovah and her relatively quick adaptation to such a different form. When she'd commented about that, he'd wolf-grinned at her.

"Why shouldn't I admire her? My were-creatures aren't anywhere near that far from their usual form or size, and most of them don't adapt anywhere near as quickly. Of course, they don't have other souls of their alternate forms living in them, either. And no, I won't act against her. I think you're foolish to try, actually. You're too likely to attract attention we don't want from the Divines."

Vaermina had to concede that, at least to herself. Akatosh was obviously keeping a close eye on his favored child, and would intervene if ... well, she couldn't know the circumstances, but was certain there were some which would anger him or Talos enough to strike back, as he had at the end of the Oblivion Crisis.

She briefly considered using a different means of attack, but decided her original plan was the only one that would work. However, it might be wise, considering the interest of two powerful Divines for certain, and probably Mara and Arkay as well, to modify her planned timing.

So. Wait for the tailed brat to be born, then. After that, her close allies would probably be more willing to give her the assistance she needed to penetrate the barrier between Oblivion and Nirn.