Winged: A Novella (Of Two Girls) (6 page)

The blimp-fin, without the charm and beauty
of the leo-fin, rolled hard to the right and Katherine steadied
herself. The winds were strong today.
Better than a calm
day
, she mused grimly, wrestling with the controls once more
and this time, the blimp-fin obeyed and stabilized.

Her ankle throbbed with the strain and she
wondered if she had to put ice on it. The pain just would not go
away. As she steered the blimp-fin on its designated course, she
let one part of her mind dwell on the strange conversation she had
with Doctor James Ash earlier in the morning, when the dour-faced
man caught her before she made her way to the Flying Field.

He had talked to her about her ankle, that
it was not merely a physical injury but a psychological one. It had
affected her, a niggling persistent problem; it would continue to
persist to hurt her, unless she chose to move on from the pain. She
was a little wary of the physician’s words, no matter how truly
concerned he came across. Who made him a phrenologist? Yet, as she
mulled on the topic, she knew that she was being petty. The man was
a doctor and he did have the welfare of the students at heart. And
she knew he was also an excellent Tutor-in-charge of College Azure;
he did care for the students. But why did he single him out?

Somewhere in her mind, a harsh cackle could
be heard. The cackle made her heart cringe instinctively. And the
throb in her ankle grew to a sharp pain.
Not this again
, she
raged quietly.
Oh hush, Miss Sharpton!
She pushed the mental
image of her old nemesis away and focused on landing the blimp-fin.
Perspiration was trickling down her back in a constant stream.

She was here at the Academy to excel. To
become a leo-fin pilot. She was not going to let some hoary old
schoolmistress stop her.

She could see the Flying Field now, with its
crowd of tiny people now growing larger and larger as she brought
the blimp-fin down. There was some faint cheering and it grew
louder as she landed the vessel with an audible thud.

For a moment, she simply rested her head
against the controls and breathed slowly. Her heartbeat was going
back to normalcy. Her knees felt like water. She had flown training
flights before but this one was so different. It would mark her
transition from Cadet to Intermediate Pilot-In-Training. If she
failed, all her efforts would go to waste and she would slink back
to Dorset with her tail between her legs. No. She would not want
that.

As she opened the door, letting the fresh
morning air cool her skin and fill her lungs, she could see
Pilotmaster Lee and Captain Sagan conferring amongst themselves,
their heads inclined towards each other in intense discussion.
Captain Sagan looked animated, gesturing and showing her notes to
Lee who shook his head and said something which made the House
Tutor for College Sable, Katherine’s House, more animated, even
forceful.

That is it
, Katherine thought as she
limped out of the blimp-fin.
I am done for
. Her heart lifted
at the sight of her friends rushing to greet. Alethia was there.
Even Thomas, pompous and competitive Thomas, was walking up to her
with a big grin on his fair face.

“A little shaky there,” the boy said to
Katherine, referring to the blimp-fin’s loss of balance. “But you
recovered right soon after!”

“The winds were strong today,” Alethia said
mildly. The blind girl could have ‘seen’ the colors as she had
explained once to Katherine. “It was a challenge, no doubt.”

“Well, Captain Sagan seems to be arguing for
you,” Thomas pointed out. He could be so blunt and cruel at times.
He was always constantly looking out for flaws in Katherine, no
matter how well she did in her studies and her training.

Alethia squeezed Katherine’s hand once,
reassuringly. The results would be made known publicly, right after
lunch.

~*~

Lunch was an anxious affair, with
surreptitious glances at the Administrativa building where the
results would be posted for all to see. Today was College Sable’s
turn with many of its students for the test flights.

Cook had made vegetable stew with fluffy
white rice and Katherine ate it with false gusto. She was that
nervous.

No more Dorset
, she cried silently.
No more mocking
.
No more tears
.

“You did well, Katherine,” Alethia’s voice
shook her from her reverie. “You just worry too much.”

“I just do not want to go back,” Katherine
said quietly, solemnly. “Not now. Never.”

Alethia’s forehead creased in a frown. “Is
Miss Sharpton really that horrible?”

Katherine could hear the cackling and the
cracking of the whip. And the tittering of the girls in the cramped
Dorset school-room.

“Yes,” she found herself hunching down. Her
ankle ached dully. She really needed to put ice and ointment on
it.

“Katherine,” her friend’s voice was gentle.
“It has been two years. Surely she has changed? People do change,
you know.”

A bitter, biting and sarcastic reply almost
came out of Katherine’s mouth. Alethia meant well. She had always
meant well, being so mild and gentle, a salve to her troubled soul.
She stifled it down and swallowed her stew instead.

“Look,” someone shouted and there was a
flurry of excited voices in the Hall. “They just put up the
board.”

Katherine’s heart lurched. It was time.

~*~

Captain Karlida Sagan nursed a cup of Lady
Grey, still faintly steaming and aromatic, reminiscent of home’s
comforts. She stood at the window, watching the students stream
from the Great Manor to the Administrativa.
Their thoughts would
be so tumultuous
, she sipped her tea,
I was.

Frantically scanning for her name on the
board…

With a sigh, she turned around and faced the
gentleman in the room. She smiled at him warmly, tenderly. They had
a heated argument a hour ago, debating on the fate of certain
students. She hated doing this vital part of assessment, even
though she knew it would differentiate the wheat from the
chaff.

“You were exceedingly harsh on Katherine
Riley,” she began and Pilotmaster Lee looked at her with a stern
expression on his face.

“She was exhibiting anxiety,” Lee said
curtly. The memory of their argument was still raw, fresh. “A
careless pilot makes a dead pilot.”

“For Jove’s sake,” Karlida put her cup down
on the side-table next to the window. “It is their first
test-flight. And mind you, Lee, the winds were strong today. She
did exceptionally well, controlling the blimp-fin. Many of our
students had luckier days with calm winds. Imagine them tossed into
a real situation.”

“You do have a point,” Lee replied, his
words still tense, and went back to his reports.

Karlida strode to him and sat down right in
front of him, forcing him to look at her. “Lee, how long have I
known you for?” Something in her tone made him glance at her,
momentarily startled. He gave a small smile and placed his right
hand on her knee, an expression of tenderness, of trust.

“More than a decade,” he said softly.

“How many times was I known to be wrong in
my judgment,” Karlida continued, responding to his smile and his
words with a wry grin.

“You know I have always trusted your
judgment, Karlida.”

“True.” Karlida nodded and stood up once
more. “I am glad we have both reached an agreement.” She walked
back to the window.

Lee rose from his chair and joined her. “I
am just concerned about biased perceptions…”

“… that Katherine is in my House?” She
chuckled. “I have thought about that too.” She said nothing else
and remained silent.

~*~

It was evening when the students finally
made their way back to the Great Manor. After the public
announcement of results, it was back to lectures and classes. The
evening air was tinged with an undercurrent of chill: Autumn was
arriving and the trees in the Academy were already donning their
vivid autumnal colors of orange and red. Even the steepled
Administrativa was covered with crimson leaves, rippling in the
breeze.

Katherine found herself walking alone on the
path leading to the Great Manor. She passed. She was now officially
an Intermediate Pilot-In-Training. She should be feeling happy or
even relieved. Yet, no matter how she tried to feel joy, there was
a nagging sense of failure. Alethia would say that she did well and
it was good.

I am my worst critic and enemy
,
Katherine could hear cheerful laughter and chatter from the Great
Manor. Perhaps Doctor Ash was right. It was a psychological
problem.
My mind’s problem. How do I make it go away?

She shivered as the breeze turned cold and
hurried on, glad for the imminent welcome warmth in the Manor. She
passed a tree, now almost bare of leaves, looking tragically gaunt
in the evening light. There was a nest, empty of birds. Something
dark on the grass beneath the tree drew her eye. As she moved
closer, it moved.

It was a tiny goldfinch fledgling, looking
as if it had fallen from the tree. It chirped when she knelt down.
The little bird was almost fully fledged, with its feathers showing
signs of its adult colors of golden brown and bright yellow.

Katherine picked the fledgling up, cupping
it carefully in her hands. It squirmed restlessly and made soft
chirping protests. One of its wings appeared to be crooked and
Katherine knew it might just be a broken wing.

With a sigh and a rush of uncommon
compassion in her chest, she brought the fledgling indoors.

The news of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee came
via telegraph code and was received with great excitement. Her
Majesty had invited delegates from all the nations of the Known
World to participate in the celebrations. Britannia would have its
own Aerial Fleet to show off to the visiting ambassadors and their
own flying machines. It was truly a stirring piece of news and it
went like wild fire throughout the Great Manor. Groups and clusters
of students huddled together, talking about it.

Indeed there was already talk about a new
kind of flying vessel to be launched at the Great Gathering, as it
was termed by the broadsheet commentators and journalists. The
identity of the inventor was a mystery and so was the design of
this new flying vessel.

The Academy was to send a small contingent
to join the illustrious Aerial Fleet with the brightest and the
best cadet pilots and handlers selected from the four Colleges of
Sable, Azure, Orr and Vert.

~*~

Alethia was one of the fortunate few to be
chosen from College Sable and there was much felicitation going
around the dormitory. Katherine cheered and whooped; she was
initially disappointed that she did not make the cut. But it was
for the “brightest and the best” students the Academy could offer
and Alethia was one of the brightest, the most gifted.

“My father will be there too,” Alethia said
laughing breathlessly as Katherine spun her around the room. Paul
Forrester was a gifted eccentric who adored his daughter. Katherine
had often seen the wonderful inventions in the Forresters’ house
whenever she visited them for Yuletide. The inventors would be
there, of course; their inventions would be showcased in a great
parade of magnificent flying fins, blimps and other air-borne
vessels from various nations.

Soon the two young ladies sat down on their
beds to catch their breath and to rest. Katherine checked the
little fledgling in its little cage. It was eating well and the
feathers were looking healthy. The eyes were bright, shining.
Sadly, the injured wing remained slightly twisted and she fretted.
She had named it Tito and had grown fond of it. Captain Sagan had
already given permission; Katherine would have to free the
fledgling once it was healed and matured.

“The wings look like they are hardening,”
Katherine examined Tito closely. The little goldfinch chirped and
waited impatiently for its juicy worm.

“It has to fly one day,” Alethia cocked her
head to listen to the chirping.

“It is the wing I am worried about,”
Katherine murmured, feeding Tito a fat white grub she found in
Cook’s vegetable garden.

“Is it not broken, isn’t it?” Her
pale-haired friend came over, feeling her way to the table where
the cage was.

“I certainly hope not,” Katherine watched
Tito hop around in a lively circle. She swore that she had seen the
little bird stretch its wings before.

“Stenton should know. He is quite
knowledgeable about birds.” Alethia suggested and smiled as Tito
chirped curiously at her. “He is such a charming little goldfinch.
All white, like a candle’s glow.”

~*~

Elsewhere in the Administrativa building,
Lady Judith Westmoreland was hurrying about, preparing notes for an
important meeting just announced out of the blue. She was dressed
in a fashionable blue dress and comfortable heeled boots; she was a
favorite with he first-year cadets, not only of her cheerful
disposition but of her kind heart as well. She would be
good-humoredly sarcastic, never heavy-handed in her teaching and
the younger students loved her.