23rd Searing 101 Year of the Age of Steel¤
Quickly the game had turned into a sport of tag as well, chasing each other around on their legs now and trying desperately to also get away. One of the children, the youngest and closest to Saej’s own age, was still growing into their wings which could be clearly seen as the wing tips trailed on the ground behind them. They had run too fast and tripped over the tip of their wing, sending them sprawling face first onto the wooden dock. This is what Saej was laughing at.
“Look at you! You fall! Ha ha!”
Saej teased.
The other kid got up and puffed out his chest, then flexed his grey wings and flapped them at Saej, causing her curly red hair to blow around her face wildly. She stared in awe at his natural power before laughing again and giving him chase.
“You’re the last one! If I get you, you’re it!”
She chased the child left and right, dashing on tiny legs with stamina only children have. They both zig-zagged, a trick Saej had picked up from these kids, the child trying to get away with varying his running.
Finally she caught him and the game was over again. This time is was Saej’s turn to hide and as the young child counted from thirty the other three children found their hiding spots. Saej was taking the longest and found herself deep within the high boxes of the shipping dock. Finally she found a box that was slightly askew, inside was hay and some copper goblets. Squeezing her tiny body into the crevasse she used her small hands to move the boxes lid back into place. Counting down she waited for someone to find her. Time ticked by but no one came.
‘Wooowww! Good spot!’
She thought to herself, satisfied. But still, no one came. She was starting to get worried that they had forgotten about her. It was uncomfortable to be shoved among the goblets and one kept pressing on the base of her spine. Shifting around a bunch to get adjusted she finally thought she had a good position and that was when the lid to the case fell down with a huge thump. In front of her were all three of the other children, it would seem that they had all decided to help their sibling in finding Saej. Whipping around to look at the noise when they saw her they descended on her, pulling her from the box and dragging her onto the ground. They began tickling her and she laughed out loud in more hysterics, everyone was having a great time.
“I’m done with this game now!”
Saej proclaimed. She didn’t want to be “it” again. The kids talked about other games to play such as pretend knights with Saej as the dragon or they said if they could go back to their house they had tops and jacks they could play. Asking both of their parents if they could go to their house both pairs of parents said no, not this time. It was very disappointing. Saej tried not to cry as all the children looked around at each other, wondering what to do. Her parents never let her make friends, this would be another time where she would play wonderful games but never see these kids again.
“I know what we can do!”
Said the eldest, a girl,
“Parkour! It’s easier if you have wings but Saej I bet we can show you how to jump over these boxes! Our aunt taught us and SHE said this is like flying without wings!”
All three children then took flight in a flurry of feathers and leaped over to a railing, where they vaulted it using their entire bodies. Saej just stared in awe again at her winged cohorts and studied their movements. They never showed her how in explanation but in her child-like mind it was a quick game to pick up. Again they didn’t use their wings so much as just jumping and leaping over boxes like tiny ninjas. Saej watched as they used both their hands and feet to steady themselves.
It was time to stop standing around and give it a go. Running towards a dock railing she leaped and grabbed with both of her hands, raising her leg up to be the third point of contact and soon found herself perched on top of the railing. Letting out a huge laugh she leaped off of the railing and collapsed on the ground, her legs giving out beneath her.
“Kids, it’s time to go.”
Came the pigeon children’s parents. Saej bit back the need to cry as the children gathered around their parents, leaving now and away from Saej forever. She knew in her heart she would never see them again even though she was trying to tell herself the opposite. Her parents were now doing ledger work and told her to keep playing, almost as an afterthought. Saej went back into the box with the goblets to cry for some time.
When the tears were out of her system she crawled out of the box, it was quiet in the docks now with the sounds of her friends long gone. She decided to pretend to be a Rathari, trying again to use the “parkour” that they had done just moments ago. Some of her attempts went badly, body slamming into boxes causing the whole thing to shake. This got her disapproving looks from her parents so she went farther into the shipping area and away from their judgmental eyes.
Using her entire little body she was eventually jumping over boxes and could be seen perching on them left and right. Alighted on top of one now she heard footsteps and thinking it was her parents gave the person a wild look. It was this time a male Avialae. She grinned at the man shamelessly and told him,
“I have wings like you!”
He looked at her nonplussed and told her to get off of the boxes and she listened, a bit sheepish. Slinking away from him she went farther still into the docks storage continuing to jump over the boxes and well away from any adult’s sight.
It was so much fun. Many times she fell and wiped out but there were a few times where she stuck the landing, the shock from the jump going through her bent knees and allowing her to take off at a dash away from the landing site. At this point she was clearing railings, boxes, statues, and other objects all with very little skill but a whole lot of laughter. She wanted a challenge now, something dangerous and maybe a little bit breakable to test her new found “skill”. That was when she saw a large ornate table made from some kind of deep, black grainy wood that was highly polished and inlaid with stones. It was perfect. Starting with a run she tried vaulting on top of it, coming to rest on top now. Running with her little legs she ran over top of the table and tried to jump off of it onto higher boxes. She came down with a hard crash barreling into a box and smashing it to pieces with her body.
Scared and hurt she started to cry, huge tears falling down her face from the shock. Her parents must have heard and quickly found her, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her back to where they had been inspecting their ledgers. They scolded her then and the Avialae from before came to speak to them, looking at Saej with large amounts of ire. Saej sat and cried as her parents scolded her even more, telling her now they had to pay for what she had broken. Trying to show them her skinned chest and the blood pouring out of her elbow they ignored her cries and told her to get back in the airship and go to her room. Holding her bleeding elbow she ran at full speed back into the ship, wailing the whole way in indignation like only a child can. She spent that night without supper as her parents said it was her repayment to them for breaking someone else’s things.
