Freedom of Flight Ch. 04

Amy knelt next to Keira, she felt like she had to do something, she couldn't apologise for Temperance, only her daughter could do that but she could try to make things better. "Here, let me try something." She asked gently.

Keira shook her head and held the pieces tighter to her chest, although in pieces, they were still very important to her.

"I won't make it any worst." She promised comfortingly.

Keira hesitated for a moment before she gently put the pieces down on the rug. Sienna kept an arm around her for comfort.

Amy let her hand hover over the broken pieces. She willed them to go back to the way they were before the breaking. The pieces started to move; chips that had been missed rose into the air. Slowly, carefully the pieces went back together. Five minutes later and with a large amount of will power from Amy, the plate gently floated down to the rug. Keira carefully picked the plate up with hands that shook, in shock that it was whole and hoping that it would not disintegrate the moment she touched it. It was whole again with only fine cracks to show it had been broken. She gently stroked the plate then hugged it carefully to her chest. She stood and walked into her room, returning the plate to its place of pride. She then wiped her eyes.

Amy and Sienna watched Keira; they knew they could do little to console her. That plate was too important to her. They couldn't really chastise Temperance for her natural tendency as a cub to explore and learn but they knew that Temperance knew that she was not meant to go into Keira's room without permission.

*

"I don't care, have them here within the hour." Wolfgang ordered and slammed his phone down.

Thais sat on a rug playing with blocks completely oblivious to what his father was up to and he knew Serenity would be with Susan, either sleeping or playing. "Your sister has been naughty again."

Thais looked up when he realised his father was addressing him. Although all the cubs could talk, Thais rarely did so. He had tried to explain once that talking covered the invisible music all around him but Wolfgang hadn't understood him. He gave his father a resigned look as if saying, what has she done now?

Wolfgang smiled, amused at the serious look on such a young face and explained what his sister had been up to. "She broke Keira's plate."

Thais's eyes went wide and he packed his blocks away before going to Keira. Thais knocked on the door frame before popping his head into the room. Sienna smiled as she stepped out of the room.

"Ker." He said gently to her.

She glanced up from her pillow, she sniffled and pushed back her flaxen hair; her green eyes were glassy from crying.

"Ker, want a hug?" He asked softly; hesitantly, knowing that Keira may want no one near her at the moment.

She nodded and rolled onto her side, opening her arms.

Thais walked in carefully and crawled onto the bed and up to her. She pulled him close and hugged him. She loved her little cousins... well, Thais and Serenity at least. They knew about private space and things that weren't meant to be touched. Temperance, however, either couldn't grasp the concept or didn't want to. She would be angry with the little girl for days.

She had always been surprised by Thais, the way he always seemed to be in deep thought. She had asked Amy about it and she had explained that Thais was an old soul trapped in a young body, that he was no normal child. The world around him was viewed through eyes that, although were young, had all the memories, knowledge, wisdom and experience of all the different reincarnations of his soul. It made him exceedingly insightful and sensitive to the emotions of those around him and a very quiet, thoughtful boy.

Thais nuzzled against her. Normally Serenity would be here and would purr for Keira. Thais, however, could not purr: he was wolf whereas his sisters were sabres. No one understood why Thais wasn't like his sisters but at the moment no one cared as long as he was healthy and growing well.

Keira fell asleep holding her little cousin.

*

Amy frowned as she watched several men assembling a glass case an hour after Temperance had broken Keira's plate. "What are you doing?" She demanded of Wolfgang who was over-seeing the entire process.

"Making sure Temperance can't get her hands on Keira's plates." He answered.

"Plates? She only has the one!"

"No, she has all fourteen now. I had to pull a few strings to get all of her mother's plates but I managed to get the other thirteen. I had these made by Mryddin. He swears Temperance will never be able to get in and the door will only open for Keira. I'm irritated that I didn't think about this before, it might have stopped that plate being broken."

"I managed to fix it. The cracks are still there but the plate is whole." She told him then frowned. "Why are you setting up in here?"

"This is going to be Keira's new room." He explained.

"But she already has a room."

He smiled. "But not her own bathroom. She can lock this room up easily and Vivian said she'll put wards up to keep Temperance out. Sienna and Gillian agreed since she's turning eleven this December and soon she would be a teenager. We're moving her stuff in as we speak. Thais is doing me a favour and keeping her asleep..."

"Wolfgang, you know I don't like the cubs to use their powers. They are only four year-olds!" She told him, angry all of a sudden. She didn't want the cubs to grow dependant on their powers. As part Ancient, part Were, what they could do was limitless. She wanted them to learn to use their minds and think of solutions before taking the sometimes easy route of magic. "Especially on Keira. How is she meant to trust us if she can't trust us not to manipulate her? It's not like she can defend herself or pay Thais back for what he is doing..." She waited for him to react.

He glanced away suddenly, feeling guilty for what he had done, he hadn't thought about the ramifications of what he was trying to do. "I was just trying to surprise her. To... to make things better." He stuttered as he tried to find the right words to explain what he was doing. Keira had come to mean a great deal to him and he didn't like to see her hurting.

"When did you ask Thais to do this?" She demanded.

"They were napping, I slipped into his mind and asked him, since she was already asleep all he is doing is keeping her asleep." He explained guiltily, wanting her to know that he hadn't asked him tomakeKeira sleep only to keep her from waking for a little while.

She felt a little better about him using his magic, at least he hadn't forced her to do something against her will. "Fine, but you take the blame. Tell her you asked Thais to keep her asleep." She spun on her heel and left. She walked into the kitchen and glared at her daughter. Temperance had spent the last hour sitting in the naughty spot but there was still a hint of defiance in the way she sat.

Amy picked her up, "You and I need to talk." She told the toddler after taking a deep breath to calm her self.

She walked them into Temperance's room and sat her on her bed. "Temp, do you know why you were put in the naughty spot?"

Temperance hesitated for a moment then nodded. "I broke Keira's plate."

"That is only part of it, Temp. You were in her room without her permission. Then you broke her greatest treasure." Amy waited to let her words sink in. Temperance remained quiet. "How would you feel if Keira came in here and tore up Cuddles?"

Temperance shot around to look at her beloved teddy, seeing that he was okay, she knew what her mother was trying to get through to her. She would be devastated if anything had happened to her Cuddles, and she had gone and done just that to Keira's plate.

"Now stay in your room until dinner is ready and think about what you are going to say to Keira." Amy said as she stood and left the room, leaving Temperance to think.

Her cubs weren't stupid; they learnt faster than their year mates. All of them could read and write which almost all cubs could do by five and were well on their way to completing their compulsory Were education, at least what they could complete before their sixteenth birthdays. They were required to have memorised two books before they turned nine, Were and Other history volume one and two, which was a complete unbiased account of history. They had those books already memorised and were only waiting to take the test to prove it. They had to get every question right in order to pass. After that test there was no real book lessons; more social lessons, learning their place in the pack and how to control the beast within.

She just didn't understand why Temperance never used her mind to think things through, never reasoned out her actions before acting like she did when she worked on her school problems.

****

Tarval cornered Sage the next day in one of the inner hallways of the keep, the air being cooled by stones. It was a little too cold during the early morning but during the afternoon, the temperature was perfect. "I need your help. Dominic is taking a party to the markets and I need help finding Alanna a gift."

She studied him for a moment as they made their way out of the deeper parts of the inner keep; she was still trying to find out what was going on between them. "Why?"

"Because I want to get her a gift but I don't know what. Besides you and Dominic, I haven't bought birthday gifts for anyone else." He explained slowly.

"But why do you feel compelled to buy Alanna a gift?" She asked getting curious. He and Alanna had been spending a lot of time together lately.

"Because she's a friend and I want to get her a gift." He responded honestly, leaving out the part of not being able to get her out of his mind or that the mere mention of her name had his heart skipping beats.

She couldn't fault his reasoning. "I'm going to be looking for my own gift for her, so I can't help you. All you have to do is look until you find something that screams Alanna." They started to walk along the open hallways of the outer keep. The keep was literally carved into the cliff side with miles of hallways that both received light and didn't. The keep was separated into two halves, the outer keep; where the rooms and halls were affected by the heat or received direct sunlight and the inner keep; where the sun and heat could not reach.

"But what if I get the wrong gift and she doesn't like it?" He asked, not wanting to disappoint her.

"Then she doesn't like it but if you choose a gift with your heart, she would never not like it." She replied.

Alanna joined them moments later. "Hey, your da said he's taking us to the markets." She wrapped an arm around her sister. "How am I going to get there and it better not involve a flight stretcher."

"No, we'll use a flight harness, like a fireman's chair." Sage answered.

"Cool. I was hoping to get you a gift but I don't have any money." Alanna admitted.

Dominic joined them silently while Alanna was talking. He handed a pouch to Sage then offered another to Alanna. Alanna gave him a confused look. "I give Sage an allowance, but only when she's training hard. I decided to do the same for you. You both have been training hard so I put a little extra in." He smiled at her. She smiled and put the money bag around her neck and into her shirt where pickpockets would have trouble getting to without her knowing.

"We leave in an hour so go put on your good clothes." He informed them.

"Good clothes?" Alanna asked, alarmed. All she had was training clothes and normal everyday clothes.

"Yes, good clothes... normally house armour. It prevents misunderstandings." Tarval explained.

"But I don't have house armour." She frowned.

Dominic chuckled. "Yes, you do. I had some made for you. I..." he hesitated for a moment as he didn't know how to explain how he felt about her. "I... you're Sage's sister, I... I think of you as family."

She smiled and on an impulse hugged him. Dominic smiled and hugged her back, pleased that she trusted him enough to touch him so causally. Tarval watched, surprised and a little jealous of Dominic as that was where he wanted to be. He wanted her in his arms but he also knew that outside of their lessons, she rarely touched him or got too close. This was a big thing for her and he shouldn't get worked up over it. But that doesn't stop him from feeling jealous.

Dominic released her, "come on, the smithy should have finished putting it in your room." He pulled Alanna towards her room. Alanna followed him into her room, her jaw dropped at the finely made silver mail that hung on a rack.

Sage nudged her and picked up the breast plate. It was made of polished steel and carefully etched with Dominic's crest: a phoenix in flight, etched onto the phoenix's chest was the same symbol that started in Amy's hair line and covered the back of her neck, the marks she had had since visiting the king's men. Dominic had seen it a few times when she would put her hair up and the very complexity had him believing it was a family crest. It was highlighted in the brightest green enamel the blacksmith could find but it sadly lacked the glowing quality of Amy's marks.

"Jewel will help you into it, she's had plenty of practice." Dominic explained and left with Tarval and Sage.

Alanna ran her fingers over the mail. Jewel smiled and waited for Alanna.

"Does everyone have armour like this?" She asked, still in awe at the sight that met her eyes.

Jewel shook her head. "No, only the Warlord's family. Most just have studded leather and a breast plate with their affiliation over their heart. Some of Dominic's sergeants have elaborate armour but those breast plates have been given to them by Dominic and therefore are a mark of honour."

Alanna blushed as her fingers brushed over the breast plate. After hearing what Jewel had said she felt all bashful about the armour. She didn't feel worthy of it, hadn't earned it through acts of bravery, and she wasn't exactly a member of the warlords family even if he considered her so.

"Come on, we have to get you dressed." Jewel started to tug off Alanna's clothes. Alanna sighed and let Jewel do her job. At first Alanna had been highly embarrassed when the woman started to insist in helping her get dressed, at first when she needed the help to keep from tearing her wounds open but after, it just made no sense to her. Jewel, however, would not take no for an answer and Alanna could do nothing but surrender to her will grudgingly.

Jewel got Alanna out of her normal clothes of shirt and breeches. Underneath, she wore a breast band and loincloth which also now doubled as her bathing suit. "Okay, pull the mail pants on. They are lined with cotton so they won't chafe or pinch." Jewel instructed as she pulled the mail shirt off the rack and put it on the bed so she could get it ready to be put on.

Alanna pulled on her mail breeches but the moment she released them they fell down. She pulled them up again but found no fastenings to keep them up or at least none she understood. Jewel chuckled and put the shirt down. She walked forward and reached around Alanna, grabbing the suspenders she brought them up and over her shoulders and attached them to the front. "These attach here and then you pull these." She pulled on the straps pulling the opening tight around her waist. "And tie them off. See now they don't fall down. They are made too big for a reason, well several, comfort is one, strength is another. Hold still let me get the shirt."

Jewel lifted the mail shirt up over her head, her arms went into the sleeves. Jewel tugged the shirt down. The sides were flapped front and backed so that they over lapped over the venerable sides she tied the back flaps first then the front. "Now touch your toes and jump, see how you move."

Alanna did as she said as Jewel got the front and back plate ready. Normally there wasn't a back plate, merely a spine guard as wings were hampered by a full back plate, but because Alanna didn't have wings they had improvised the back plate. Alanna frowned as she walked forward her eyes focused on the raised marks that lined the back plate, recognising them.

"Those lines look like my scars."

Jewel nodded. "The blacksmiths asked me about them one day. I sketched them and they put them there." She saw Alanna's confused look, not understanding why they would even think to put her scars on the back plate. "Alanna, you don't know just how famous you are."

"But I haven't done anything." She stated. She had done nothing to warrant being famous in her eyes.

Jewel rolled her eyes and continued her argument, "People see you and they bow, they don't even do that for Dominic. When you talk to them, they think of it as an honour and a rare privilege. That little boy who you showed a different way to stand with his fighting style has just been offered more private lessons. Mark my words, he'll become a sergeant."

"All I did was show a little interest in a different fighting technique." She protested weakly.

"But your opinion matters. You showed interest in him and that made others notice him and see his potential." Jewel countered. "Now, be still and let me get these on." She lifted the back plate and placed it on Alanna's back. "Hold these." She instructed sliding loops of leather into her waiting fingers.

On closer inspection the back plate wasn't one continuous piece of metal. It was in fact, made up of more than a dozen panels that over-lapped and were joined together. If Alanna moved the armour would move with her; the breast plate was the same. The breast plate was connected and buckled together. Both plates hugged the body to the point of being a second skin.

"Move... see how you feel in it."

"Can't breathe." Alanna complained breathlessly.

Jewel glared at her playfully and unbuckled the plates, she had only just realised that she hadn't told Alanna to take a deep breath. "Deep breath Alanna and hold it until I say otherwise."

Alanna took in a deep breath and held it as Jewel buckled the plates back together; the more she wore the armour, the sooner it would be easier just to buckle to the used hole.

"Okay. Now move."

Alanna twisted her body and bent to test her ability to move.

"Good, now sit so I can get at your hair." Alanna sat as Jewel clipped shoulder guards on.

Jewel undid the plat and quickly brushed Alanna's long black hair. She then started to braid her hair, adding smaller plats to one bigger one. "Arms out." Alanna held her arms out and Jewel tied wrist guards to her wrists, tucking the mail beneath it. Jewel then slid on metal plated boots that had shin guards.

"Now stand."

Alanna stood and bent her body again, testing her mobility, she noticed that the armour wasn't all that heavy but she knew these were strong enough to withstand battle. Sage walked in dressed similarly, she eyed her sister over and smiled.

"Going all native, I wish I had a camera."

Alanna glared at her sister playfully.

"Come on... and don't forget your money." Sage urged as Jewel tied several sashes around her waist.

Alanna tapped the hip pouch Jewel had put the money into. Jewel had a cloth and was quickly buffing her finger prints off the metal. "Jewel, enough! You're worst than our mother."

Sage cracked up laughing as they left the room. Dominic was waiting and smiled at Alanna.

"That looks good on you." he commented.

"I feel like a fool. Is all this armour really necessary?" She retorted which made him laugh and nod.

Alanna tuned as she heard footsteps behind her as Tarval joined them. She felt her breath catch as she looked Tarval over. He didn't wear polished steel like Dominic, Sage and herself as the silver metal was reserved for Nephalim to wear. He wore enamelled black armour that had a matt finish so that it didn't reflect light and in battle didn't show up blood. His crest, four shining white feathers, that were placed in a fan-like pattern across his chest were the only different colour on him. Even the sashes tied to his waist were black. The breadth of his shoulders and broadness of his chest was only emphasised by the black armour and chain mail, making him look larger and much more menacing: she could see why early humans had called them the devil's angels.