Chapter 14
The following day, once the last of the well-wishers had departed, Ando began his lessons.
He sought Wani’s guidance in handling the Steedraptors.
How to shift his weight when rising high into the air. How to signal a dive. How to read the wind from the tremor of a wing.
And above all—how to connect with them.
He spent most of his days in the Mews, cleaning enclosures, changing water, preparing strips of meat.
The blue Raptor that had lashed out at him during the ceremony was a young female named Kito.
For a time, she had been pitifully frightened. Ando cared for her as best he could, putting all his remorse into the smallest of tasks. (What he did not know was that Yuki—who had caused the commotion in the first place—had been just as intent on soothing her.)
Steedraptors could tell each individual Dracoserpens apart, no matter the form they wore. Every time Kito saw Ando, she would take flight at once, perching on the highest branch in the enclosure. But Wani noticed that she never stopped watching him.
“That’s a good sign,” he said. “Keep calling her name. Smile when you do.”
Days slipped by. Then weeks.
What had begun as careful, deliberate effort settled into rhythm.
Ando found himself looking for Kito first each morning.
In time, Kito began choosing lower perches—closer to the ground with each passing day. When he called her name, she began to answer.
When Wani judged that Kito had come to trust him, he finally gave Ando permission to ride her.
That day, with his own partner Soshi at his side, Wani led Ando and Kito up to the flight platform.
It was a wide wooden deck built out from the top of the Mews. At first, Ando had taken it for a watchtower—but this, he learned, was where they launched.
When he stepped to the edge, the wind surged up from below.
“Don’t be afraid,” Wani said. “They’re every bit as intelligent as we are. If you trust them, they’ll answer in kind.”
Ando nodded and looked up at Kito.
He placed a hand against her chest. Beneath the muscle, he felt the steady beat of her heart.
“Kito… I place my life in your wings. Will you trust me in return?”
Kito spread her wings wide and gave a sharp cry.
Wani swung up onto Soshi and launched first, cutting cleanly into the open air.
Ando set his foot in the stirrup and took the reins. He gave Kito’s neck a light tap—then paused.
“Let me start again,” he said. “From the very first day we met. You’re wiser and braver than any other raptor I’ve known. It’s an honor to have been entrusted with you, Kito.”
Ando mounted smoothly, gathering the reins in his hand.
He gave Kito’s neck a light pat, steadying his breath with hers—just as he’d been taught.
Her wings flexed at the base, the muscles along her back rolling in a powerful wave.
At his cue, Kito launched—
and soared into the wide, cloudless sky.
The platform vanished beneath him the instant his weight lifted. Vast wings caught the wind, and the world dropped away.
Above him—clear, endless blue. Below—deep indigo sea. Between them, white clouds drifting slowly past.
The sky felt different this way—sharper, clearer, wholly his.
Not borrowed. Not shared.
The wind touched him directly now—its warmth, its speed, everything unfiltered.
Each time Kito caught the air, the world opened wider.
Wani and Soshi swept past him, skimming low over the surface of the sea.
When Ando drew the reins, Kito answered with a powerful beat of her wings.
A shadow raced across the water.
His own.
He was no longer carried in another’s arms.
By his own will—he could rise, faster, higher, as far as he wished.
Not carried—but flying.
Together with Kito—
