Matheau and Beijore XXI:: Failed Flight
Matheau And Beijore XXI:: Failed flight
Once again, another no yiff story. Matheau, Beijore, and their children are copy written to me, do not use them without my permission. Ideas, requests, and constructive criticism are always welcome.
Aurokhan had not slept a wink the night before. He had far too much on his mind. As he had laid away from his sisters last night, it was an easy task for him to sneak outside without waking them. As he sat on the edge of the cliff, watching the mountains begin to stir with life as the new day began. He remembered the first time his mother had brought him outside, he had laid with her in almost this exact spot. Just as the rosy fingers of the sun began to rise over the mountains, Aurokhan heard a stirring behind him, and turned his head to see his father approaching. "Good morning father." Aurokhan greeted him. "Did you sleep well?" Matheau laughed softly and rubbed his eyes.
I slept as well as a father with three new children could. Where are your sisters?" He looked about for a moment as if just noticing they weren't there. "I told all of you that I was going to teach you to fly this morning." He moved to sit next to Aurokhan and turned his head to study his son for a long few moments. "I think that we will let your sister's sleep for a while longer." He said at last. "It seems to me that you have some things on your mind that you would like to discuss." Aurokhan started visibly, and turn to look into his father's crimson gaze. He couldn't believe that his father had read him so easily. But he wasn't going to lie to his father, nor had he ever intended to.
Your right, father, there are some things that I wanted to talk to you about. But I......." He scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I don't know where to begin."
"Aurokhan, I would think that by now, you would understand that you can talk to me about anything." Matheau smiled softly, butting his son affectionately with the tip of his muzzle. "Now, let's take this conversation one step at a time, and as we talk more, I am certain that the words will come easily. Besides, I have a feeling that most of what you want to talk about, I already know. You may not realize it, but your eyes and your demeanor give you away." Aurokhan was dumbfounded by his father's perceptions, but he lowered his eyes and took a deep breath before he began.
"Dad.....Sasha, Jocelyn, and myself.....We are not hatchlings anymore. Your going to teach us how to fly today, and then the world will be completely open to us. There isn't anywhere we won't be able to go." Aurokhan stopped for a moment, trying to gauge his father's reaction before he continued. "I guess what I'm trying to say is....The three of us are going to want to move out on our own soon." Matheau was quiet for a good span of time, which worried Aurokhan some, but then his father started to laugh, much to his surprise.
"What, did you think that I was going to be angry with you? It is inevitable that sooner or later, all children must become adults and move into the world themselves, to make their own lives." Matheau spread out his wings and closed his eyes as he let the early morning breeze caress his body. "Your mother may not be as eager to see you go, because you were her first children. But I understand that you want to make a life for yourself, and all of you have my blessing. Me.....my place has always been and will always be here with your mother. This is not your place.......But I do hope that your place in the world is somewhere close enough so that you can make frequent visits."
Aurokhan responded by nodding eagerly. "Of course it will be father. Once my brothers and sister are old enough, it will be fun to hang out with them." Aurokhan sighed inwardly. One subject down, two to go.
"Dad.....I've....I've chosen my mate already......"
"And you think I was ignorant enough to not know that by now, Aurokhan?" As Aurokhan stared at him in horror, Matheau couldn't help but laugh. "As I said before, my son, your eyes and your actions give you away every single time. Your mother and I have been watching all of you for a long time, and we knew that the three of you would end up together." He patted his son's back and smiled. "You, Jocelyn, and Sasha will all be very happy together. You are my son, and I know you will take good care of them." Well, he father was understanding of that at least. Still, he pawed at the cliffs edge, a nervous action that Matheau picked up on immediately. "There is more to this story that I don't know, isn't there?"
"The only part of the story that you don't know that you would have found out eventually is that Jocelyn is pregnant. She will bear my children soon." This was something that he knew he should have been prepared for this at some point in time, but Matheau could never have foreseen that it would be this soon, and he tried his best to hide his shock, so as to not alarm his son.
"And the both of you are certain of this?" Matheau asked calmly. "You are certain she is egg heavy?" Aurokhan nodded in the affirmative. "What about Sasha? If Jocelyn is pregnant, I cannot help but think it to be a safe assumption that Sasha is too." Aurokhan could only shrug his shoulders.
"I don't know father." Aurokhan replied truthfully. "She hasn't mentioned anything to me, and if she is showing the signs, she is very good at hiding them. Though when I think about it, Sasha has been acting very strange as of late."
"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it, my son." Matheau stood and stretched, shaking himself after sitting for so long in the same position. "Things will work out on their own accord, and if Sasha has anything to report, I am certain she will not hesitate to report it." Matheau chuckled softly. "You've got enough on your plate to worry about as it is. Such as preparing yourself to be a father, finding and preparing a home for your family and you still have yet to learn to fly and use your breath weapon. So let's start with those two first. I'll go get your sisters. You wait here." Aurokhan nodded his understanding. He was glad that he had gotten to talk to his father alone. It sorted out a great many details, and it put his mind at ease. He knew now that at least his father wasn't angry with the current situation.
After twenty minutes or so, his father finally returned, followed a few moments later by his sisters. It was very clear that they were not ready for the morning. Perhaps like him, they did not rest either. As they sat down near him, Matheau began his lesson as any other teacher would. "Flight, and the power of our breath weapon. These two abilities give us advantages over the creatures of this world. The trick is to employ them affectively. Matheau paced back and forth in front of them, his eyes meeting theirs with each pass. "Of course, I do not demand perfection on your first attempt. However, I do expect you to try your best. We will begin with your flight. Now, I will go-....Sasha, what are you doing?!"
Sasha suddenly bolted past her father and leapt from the cliff. As the rest of them rushed to the edge, Sasha fell at an incredible speed for heart stopping moments. As they watched breathlessly, Sasha threw open her wings, and there was a loud snapping noise as she caught an updraft, rising back up quickly to mingle amongst the clouds. She circled around and flew back to the cliff's edge, landing gracefully, yawning as he walked past her father. "I already know how to fly." Sasha said, trying not to laugh by her father's baffled expressions. "I taught myself. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to go lie down until we learn to use our breath weapon."
"Uh......right, let's continue on then, shall we?" Matheau asked, staring after Sasha as she went to lay down under the shade of a nearby tree. "You could see what your sister did, and it's not very difficult. But there are different take-offs. There is the drop in take off, like your sister preformed, and there is also the vertical take off, though I wouldn't recommend that one. Your wings are still young and untried. So......are you ready for your first flight?" Aurokhan and Jocelyn stepped nervously to the edge and looked down.
"I promise, I won't let anything happen to you, Jocelyn." Aurokhan whispered softly so that only she could hear.
"I know you won't Aurokhan, my love. Let's do this together." She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and propelled herself from the cliff. Aurokhan waited a few seconds before he followed after her, and as he was falling, he heard his father, close behind. Aurokhan was quickly gaining speed, and with the air whipping past him, he was terrified. But what scared him even more was the thought of something happening to Jocelyn. He soon learned that he had nothing to fear. Her wings flared open, and she started a shaky, unstable ascent into the sky. Aurokhan likewise opened his wings and found just how difficult flight was. Even the slightest bit of movement from his wings sent him turning in a different direction. While his wings were open, he could easily glide, but his inexperience showed when he hit his first wind thermal.
He hit the thermal at a bad angle, and instead of rising upward as his sister had, he was sent careening towards the jagged side of the mountain. Trying to remain calm, he beat his wings madly in an attempt to rise, but it only served to push him towards the mountain faster. Before he could smash into the mountain however, his father rescued him. Grabbing Aurokhan about the waist, he hauled him upward toward the cliff's edge where they started from. Upset and completely humiliated, he hung limply in his father's grasp, his wings and tail drooping severely. When Matheau at last landed and set him down, Aurokhan scraped together as much of his pride that remained and folded his wings to his sides. Jocelyn was waiting for him wearing a worried expression. She approached slowly, reaching out for him and their eyes met for a scant second before he looked away. "Aurokhan...." She started softy, but to her surprise, he pushed past her when he ran into the cave, disappearing into the darkness.
"I think it best that we leave him alone for awhile." Matheau said after long moments of silence. "He is upset that his attempt at flight ended in failure." Jocelyn wanted to go comfort her mate, and it made her angry that her father of all people criticized Aurokhan so.
"It was his first flight!" Jocelyn screamed at her father, the first time she had ever raised her voice in anger at her father. "You said you would not demand perfection! I didn't do much better, now did I?! I barely made it back up here! Are you going to chastise me too?!!"
"For one thing, you had better cool that hot head of yours, Jocelyn. I am not chastising anyone." Matheau took a deep breath to calm himself. Jocelyn had most definitely gotten her mother's hot-headedness. He spoke calmly but sternly, showing Jocelyn that he was in control of the situation, not her. "What I am trying to say is that Aurokhan feels inadequate. "How do I know this? Because he is my son, and much more like me than he will likely ever admit. Why does he feel inadequate? Well, its quite simple, actually. Sasha has seemingly mastered flight, and you Jocelyn, you had enough natural talent to land here on your own. Aurokhan, however, has neither mastered the art, nor does he yet have the skill to fly on his own. So he believes that if he could not fly, he could never do something so extreme as to be a mate and a father."
"Jocelyn gaped at her father in amazement, and even Sasha lifted her head in surprise. "But......How.....? I didn't even.....I mean......" As Jocelyn fumbled for words, Matheau just sat back with a coy smile, crossing his arms over his breast.
"You can relax, Jocelyn, your mother and I put the pieces together a long time ago. We knew from watching that you three would end up being together." Sasha lowered her eyes at this last, and though she didn't know it, her father's eyes flicked to settle directly on her for a moment. "You being pregnant however, I did not learn until recently. Aurokhan and I had a father-son chat this morning. He told me basically everything that I already know."
"Like what, father?" Sasha asked, coming out from under the shade of the tree at last. It wasn't as if she didn't already know, but she had to know if he knew about her own pregnancy as well. She had went to great lengths to hide the symptoms of her pregnancy. That was the reason that she had "mastered" flight in the first place. She had to be away from the cave when she got sick, and not only that, the constant exercise kept her in such fine shape that her swelling tummy was still easily concealable.
"He just confirmed everything I knew already, I told you that." Matheau said evasively. "I know that the three of you plan on leaving us soon, and that Jocelyn is pregnant." Sasha felt her father's eyes on her, but when she lifted her eye, he looked back to Jocelyn.
"Jocelyn, why don't you go check on Aurokhan and make sure he's alright? If he is crying, leave him be but stay close. He will want your comfort and support. The gods know I needed your mother's when I was learning to fly and failed." Jocelyn was amazed that her father would admit such a thing, but she was already running towards the cave, eager to comfort her mate. Sasha started to follow, but Matheau blocked her path. "You and I need to talk, Sasha." She had nowhere to go, and she harbored no illusions of out flying her father.
"What do you want to talk about, father?" Sasha asked innocently. "You said you knew everything already......."
"Except as to why you are acting so strangely as of late." Matheau started, sitting down. "You go off on your own to learn how to fly, you distance yourself from not only your brother and sister, but your mother and I as well. There is something wrong, and I want to know what it is." Sasha stared at her father for a long time, her eyes tearing up. She didn't want to tell him, but she didn't want to lie to his face, either. But she could only give him scant details.........
"There is nothing going on, Father." She said quietly. "I'm pregnant, just like Jocelyn. I just......wanted it to be a surprise." It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. "I guessed as much." Matheau said with a nod of his head. "For a while, I was beginning to get worried that it might be something much worse than that. Well, I guess we'll conclude our lessons for today. Besides, I want to get back to your mother and the hatchlings. Continue to practice your flight, and advise your siblings to do the same." When her father disappeared into the cave, Sasha sat down heavily, breathing a heavy sigh of relief.
"What on earth is going to happen next?"