This fic was originally written for Shadaras for the Kitchen Sink Bingo that was run on AO3.

It wasn't that I didn't know how to fly. I had flown before; Fly was only a third level spell. It was just that my magic was all messed up, between the way I had escaped the staff and how I had been "pardoned" for my so-called "crimes" against life and death. I was a wizard, but ever since the Raven Queen had transformed me from a lich to a reaper, I had been short on spell slots. At least I still had the basics of Evocation down-pat.

I couldn't fly in the way I used to, but I did have a pair of wings on my back. Glossy, black raven wings. My stick-in-the-mud mentor also had them. I was pretty sure that everyone who served the Raven Queen had raven wings. I wonder if there were any reapers who had almost as many wings as Krav's Birdmom does. I'm still not entirely sure how many wings the Raven Queen has, just that she has at least eight – six sprouting from her back, and a pair covering her eyes. She didn't need eyes for her piercing gaze to rip through my soul and deem me worthy of rehabilitation as a reaper instead of being doomed the Eternal Stockade.

"When you said we'd be training, I was thinking that you'd lay out some mats in a gym," I said. Instead of a gym, we were at the edge of a canyon. There seemed to be old buildings carved into the cliff side. "And then we'd try to hit each other with sickles."

"They're scythes, and we can do that later," Kravitz said, like he was itching for an excuse to beat cha'girl up with his fancy stick, instead of having been commanded by his goddess and the goddess of fate to take me under his semi-metaphorical wing. The feeling was mutual. At least he was using the least stupid sounding of his work accents. "But for now, we're going to investigate a cult that has set up base within these walls."

"Why?"

"Because they're practicing dark magic, magic that is an affront to Our Queen and –"

"No," I interrupted. "Why this canyon?"

"You'd have to ask the cultists – that was rhetorical – but my guess is that they're after the water magic. These walls had once been a city, and it had depended on a river that had flowed through the canyon, and in years of drought, they had used powerful magic to make sure everyone had survived."

"What happened to it?"

"The former goddess of magic died in the middle of a drought."

"What, did the gods of this world not have their act together for long enough that these people died?"

"Well, the goddess of magic had come back from the dead before!"

"Oh, I see how it is. When a goddess uses magic to bring herself back from the dead, it's a miracle that keeps cities from dying off. But when I do it –"

"That's besides the point." Kravitz closed his eyes and pinched his brow. "This cult has been pushing the limit of what constitutes an open container."

Oh. That was bad. That was potentially very bad. Create Water is only a first level spell, not an insta-drowner. But if the cult figured out how to change it, it would change the whole playing field!

(And if you're wondering why I didn't want it for myself when I was still so tragically low on spell slots, well, water is the opposite of cha'girl's brand.)

The ruins were only a hop, skip, and a Dimension Door downwards, but once more, cha'girl was frustratingly low on casting abilities. And it wasn't even like I had somehow been turned from a wizard or a warlock, either. They were just –

Not gone. Just temporarily missing.

"Do you have a ladder? Oh, are you going to show me how to do the 'rip a hole in the fabric of space' thing with my scythe?" I made sure to get the name right this time, because I genuinely wanted Kravitz to teach me how to do that. Teleportation without the spell slots was right up her ally.

"No, that's for later in your training," Kravitz said, like someone who knew all too well that I was a metaphorical flight risk who wanted to escape my community service. And no, I wasn't looking to set up my own cult. I just wanted to get back to my family. It had been ten years since I had seen them. I missed them, and there were some very big mistakes we needed to fix, both from a decade ago and ones that some of them were still making. Of course, I wasn't going to let Kravitz know that. Cha'girl had to keep up an air of mystery and all that jazz. "We're going to glide down."

I summoned my scythe and ran my hand down the staff. "What, does this thing unfold into a paraglider?" I hoped it wouldn't unfold like an umbrella. That was just too close for comfort.

"Your wings would get in the way of one." Well, good thing I didn't have any paragliding trips planned for the near future. Stupid wings. Stupid Kravitz. Stupid Raven Queen. "Now put your scythe away. We're flying down, and I don't want you to impale yourself on it."

"Aww, Kravvy, you do care."

He walked behind me. "Spread your wings."

When I was little, one of my uncles had tried to teach my brother and I to swim. Tried is a key word here. His idea was teaching was to throw us in the water. "Are you going to push me?"

"No, landing is uncomfortable enough when you're new at this." With one hand he pointed at a nearby, only somewhat-crumbled balcony. With the other hand, he adjusted one of my wings. "Try to land there. Now, jump."

I tried to will my feet to move, I really did. I had flown before. I wasn't afraid of heights. This should have been the most fun part of my deificly-imposed community service so far.

And it wasn't like I hadn't died before, either. I had died plenty of times. I had become a lich so I would still be able to help my family after death. And now? Hells, I was the immortal servant of the goddess of death! I shouldn't have been afraid of falling.

Back when my brother and I had been living with our aunt – our good aunt, not one of the crappy ones – there had been a swimming hole less than half a mile from her house. But thanks to our uncle, we had been scared of the water. No matter how hard we had tried, we just couldn't bring ourselves to jump into the swimming hole for years.

I couldn't bring myself to jump now.

"Lup? What's…" Kravitz dropped his stupid work accent. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I can't," I said, cursing the tremble in my voice. "I can't do it."

"Yes, you can. I'll be right there to catch you."

I still didn't trust him, so I don't know why I stepped off that ledge. What I do know is that Kravitz was and still is a cheating cheater (pro-tip: don't gamble against Death). He didn't glide down all the way with me. Oh, he took a few flaps, but then he pulled out his sickle and cut a rip through space that led to him walking out onto the balcony.

The balcony on which I crashed. I scrambled to get my footing, and Kravitz was somewhat true to his word. He grabbed my arm and made sure I wouldn't plummet to my, well, probably not to my doom. To my discorporation or whatever. He prevented the Raven Queen from having to make another new body for me. He gave me a bit over twenty seconds to catch my breath (and sure, I didn't need to breathe, but it was still calming) before turning away from me and walking towards the doorframe into the cliffside.

"Let's go," he said, stupid work accent back in place. "We have a cult to investigate."

Together, we walked into the dark of the cliffside.

Fun fact: ravens learn to fly rather quickly. It takes longer for them to learn to land.