Landed Wings - By Skylhur Tranqille Page 0,8
she was born wingless.”
There is a look of surprise around the table. Most wingless have scars from the places they were removed. It leaves its mark. But as the girl was bending down to grab my feather, I saw a bit of her back…and there were no scars.
“How is that possible,” Persimmon asked, “Everyone is born with wings. Everyone.”
“Obviously not her.”
Sangria spoke up for the first time.
“I’ve heard some kids are born with a disability where they aren’t born with wings.” Cyanne offered. “It’s possible those kids still have the latent gene for wings and if they have children, their children might be born with wings. I heard that if a kid is born without wings they are sent to live with the LandBound. The parents are told the child died at birth but the children are just taken away. The only way to keep us separate is to break all ties, if the parents knew their children lived, they might sneak down to see their kids.”
“How would you know something like that?”
“Because Pepper, I read, I listen and I don’t close my eyes to the truth.”
Pepper is always skeptical of anything anyone says that
challenges our indoctrination.
“I read, I listen and I don’t close my eyes to the truth.”
She repeated with her voice full of contempt while rolling her eyes. She continued on to say…
“Well that so called truth is treason. Are you saying that our leaders are stealing children from their parents? Why would they do something so evil? Ohh, I almost forgot who I’m talking to, there’s a conspiracy right? An evil group sitting around a table hatching evil plots to….what? You never know with you conspiracy nuts. What’s the grand plan? Let’s see - Make our world a better place to live? Check. Make sure we have peace? Check. Make sure we are free. Check. Yeah you read, and you listen to people who just want to poison your mind and you don’t close your eyes to the lies.”
Cyanne is always ready with a comeback.
“What you call conspiracy, I call discovery. I’m surprised you feel so strongly about this, I wouldn’t have imagined you ever doing that much thinking.”
Raven and Obsidian always knew when it was time to step in, Cyanne could slay you with words but Pepper would beat him to a pulp if she got too hot.
“Whoa, okay – let’s call this one a draw okay?”
“Yeah, let’s just agree to disagree.”
“Ash, why do you want to go back down alone? I thought we were your flock – all for one?”
I can tell Ivory, Raven and Obsidian are hurt but I can’t go back with them.
“I don’t know but I need to know what that boy was talking about. Not knowing is making my feathers itch. So I’m going back down. Alone.”
“How can you go back alone, Ash? They know who you are now. You might have been reported.”
Ivory is always the voice of reason.
“I’ll go at night when it will be harder to see me.”
“We’re all half bird Ash. It won’t be hard to see you at all. Even the wingless still have the eyesight.”
“Ive, you forget that my wings are black, as well as my hair. And they’ll all be in anyway. Curfew, remember?”
“Still. I wouldn’t risk it. Sky Patrol will be out.”
Sometimes Ivory can be too cautious. Is she my friend or my mother?
“It’s better than going during the day.”
“I still don’t understand. Why do you want to go back so bad Ash? Curiosity isn’t enough.”
I wish I could explain it to Obsidian but I can’t even explain it to myself. The truth is that I feel a strange compulsion to go back. An irrational compulsion. If I believed in Cyanne’s conspiracy, no I forget, discovery theories, I would think someone put a chip in my brain or brainwashed me to make me want to go back. Since I don’t have an answer for Obsidian, I just ignore the question.
“Be careful Ash.”
I’m surprised. Raven and Obsidian spoke those rare words of caution.
“I know I’m in trouble if you guys are telling me to be careful.”
They don’t laugh. They just look grim.
“This isn’t a game. We’re not that shallow that we don’t
recognize that. We don’t want you to lose your wings.”
I wince inwardly. I didn’t mean to offend them. But a few
seconds ago they said this was an adventure and they wanted to come along. No matter though, I can’t go with them. I can’t tell them that the reason I want to go