Ingrid waited on the deck of the Ten Skies and watched the horizon. The fur coat was not quite enough to keep her warm in the wintery morning air. A thick layer of clouds blanketed the landscape below, hiding all but the snowclad peaks. The only sound was that of the wind.

This silence was slowly broken by the increasing hum of propellers. Three warbirds flew overhead and broke formation to begin their approach to land. They had low wings, angled slightly upward along the length, a single propeller in the front, and a small wheel under the tail. When the first one landed, the tail seemed to float above the runway for a while before dropping.

After the first airplane parked along the side of the runway, the canopy opened and Ivan climbed out. Ingrid waited until the propellers on all three airplanes had stopped spinning before she approached.

"I brought a spare," Ivan said, pointing to the third aircraft. "Just in case you break yours."

"How thoughtful," Ingrid said.

"The thing to remember is to not slam on the brakes when you are moving fast. If you do, the airplane can flip over on its nose and destroy the propeller. Landing and stall speeds are marked on the airspeed indicator. Any questions?"

"No, I think I should be able to figure it out."

Ingrid climbed inside her airplane and closed the canopy. Because the tail was resting on the small wheel on the ground, Ingrid was leaning back and the console was above her to some degree. The airplane had a stick and rudder pedals like a fighter jet, long levers to control the flaps and the landing gear, and two trim wheels, one for the rudder and one for the elevator. Inside the cabin it was cramped and everything was colored a somewhat drab gray. There was a gun sight directly in front of her at eye level.

The airplane was equipped with a hydraulics system to aid in control at high speeds, and Ingrid summoned the standard five Elementals to get the warbird started: fire, water, wind, life, and an ocular demon. Ivan had left a magenta Colored Orb summoned for communications. It pulsed.

"Just float off the front of the airship at full power and point the nose down to pick up airspeed," Ivan said. "The trick is, to not let the airship smack you on the way down."

Ivan's airplane began to roll along the taxiway. He did not bother to line up at the far end and gain speed. Instead, he simply flew over the edge of the airship and dropped straight down. Ingrid took her time and lined up at the far end. At full throttle the engine produced an extreme torque, causing the airplane to veer towards the other parked aircraft on the deck. Ingrid attempted to use the rudder to counteract the engine torque, but the nose left the deck before it had any impact. She used the stick to maneuver once airborne, avoiding a collision with the command tower and causing the soldiers on deck to run away in fear. Once she cleared the edge of the airship she used the rudder trim to counteract the torque, allowing her to fly with some semblance of control.

"I thought I should be able to fly any airplane after flying in a fighter jet," Ingrid mumbled.

"You should see some of the airplanes I have flown," Ivan said. "There was one with a propeller that broke the sound barrier at the tip, it was so loud it made people on the ground sick, even though they were standing twenty-five miles away."

Ingrid rolled the airplane over and began to chase Ivan's warbird. It handled well and was quite responsive, even though it was slower than a fighter jet. Rolling with the torque of the propeller was quick and easy.

"I am going to fly head-on," Ivan said. "Do not hit me, please. Stay to the right as we merge then veer to the right."

Ivan barely missed hitting her with a whoosh. Ingrid rolled right and pulled up on the stick, making a tight turn. She could see Ivan's warbird in the mirrors above her head. He turned to his left. This caused them both to eventually loop around and point their noses at each other again.

"This is a one-circle," Ivan said. "Nose-to-nose. Keep looping but do not hit me, please."

Periodically they would point their noses at each other, and Ingrid was certain to stay on the outside of his motion. They continued to loop around and around, his nose pointed at her for a few fractions of a second every rotation.

"In a one-circle, the only thing that matters is turn radius. You can use geometry to gain an advantage, because you can use the vertical dimension to reduce the radius of your turn. Watch..."

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Just after their noses were pointed at each other, Ivan flew up and made an inverted roll.

"My nose is pointed at you now," he said. Ingrid craned her neck up to look back at him. His nose was pointed at her far before she could react. She continued her turn. "Go out, we can merge again. Turn in the same direction."

This time Ivan turned to his right. They remained chasing each other through the sky, however they never crossed noses. In fact, Ingrid was chasing his tail, and he was chasing hers. This went on for several rotations.

"Good, this is called a two-circle. What matters here is not radius, but turn rate. The better your aircraft is at turning, the better you will perform in a two-circle. Pull hard on the stick and reduce power to try and put my airplane in your gunsight."

Ingrid did so, however she lost a lot of airspeed in the attempt. The stall horn even began to blow, and she was forced to point the nose at the ground to recover airspeed. The thick blanket of fluffy clouds below dominated her sight.

"My nose is pointed at you again," Ivan said. He was above her then, chasing her as she fell. "You can always try to point your nose at the enemy at the cost of shedding speed," he said. "If you run out of airspeed to spend, you need to go down to get more. Do you know what that means?"

Ingrid thought about it for a moment, puzzling over the words in the question. "What happens if you cannot go down?" she asked.

"Then you hit the ground and explode," Ivan said. "That is called a rate fight on the deck. If you are too low to trade altitude for airspeed, then you are on the deck. If you have a higher turn rate, then you can drag your enemy down to the ground where they will never be able to afford to exchange airspeed for turn rate."

Ingrid looked down at the clouds. "Or, into the clouds."

"Yes, the clouds can be used to hide from human eyes, however ocular demons will still be able to report on your maneuvers. Also, Ice-Two and Dark-Three missiles will be able to follow enemies through the fog without any problems. "

"So what happens when you point the nose at the enemy?" Ingrid asked. "What if they are too close to use the Ice-Two missiles?"

"You use your cannons," Ivan said. "At close ranges you use your cannons, at medium ranges you use Ice-Two, at longer ranges you use Dark-Three."

"I need to get a cannon on my fighter then," Ingrid said. "I'll talk to Vaska."

They continued to rotate in a two-circle, chasing nose-to-tail. Suddenly Ivan pointed his nose at the sky and started flying up.

"This is called using the vertical," Ivan said. "If you were in a fighter jet with those big engines, you could easily fly so high that my warbird would stall."

Ingrid craned her neck again and watched him vanish into the sky. She tried to follow him, however he was pointed straight at the sun and she had to cover her eyes against the glare.

"Ivan?" she asked. "Where are you?"

Whoosh!

He merged with her again from above, looping around. "You are dead," he said as he pointed his nose at her. "We keep flying until you point your nose at me and I admit that you scored a hit."

She did not score a hit.

Every time she tried to point her nose at him, he simply rolled over the cone in front of her airplane and resumed his maneuvering. "I've been doing this a long, long time," Ivan said. "My guns are loaded, yours are not." He actually fired his cannons, a white-hot stream of bullets just barely missed Ingrid's wing.

"What are you doing?" Ingrid exclaimed.

"Emperor's orders, I need to make it look like an accident. I do hope you are a good student."

"Not funny," Ingrid said. However, Ivan was turning to point his nose at her. Glowing bullets lanced out at her. "Really, really not funny."

She desperately tried to stay in a two-circle fight with him as he dragged her down towards the clouds. Then, he broke off and merged with her again, catching her in a one-circle. She kicked the rudder to stay out of his cone of fire as they crossed their noses.

The clouds loomed closer and closer. Ingrid pointed her nose down and flew into the clouds, skimming the surface just out of sight. The world was consumed with a milky white shroud.

"My ocular demon says that you are about to crash into a mountain," Ivan said. Ingrid pulled up, just as a stream of bullets passed by her wing.

"I give up!" Ingrid said. "Can we go back now, please?"

"What am I going to tell the Emperor?" Ivan asked.

"I get it, I need to practice more. Drop the act."

Ivan flew in right behind Ingrid and pointed his nose at her. "Maybe we should continue this exercise after you have had a chance to eat," he said. "Hungry pilots do not learn as quickly."

Ingrid breathed a sigh of relief. "No, no, you need to not be shooting bullets at me when we do this again!"

"The enemy will absolutely understand your sentiment," Ivan said, dryly.

"Fair point," Ingrid said.

They flew back to the Ten Skies and Ingrid watched him land one time before attempting the maneuver herself. The trick was to bleed off speed and allow the tail to drop down onto the deck without using the brakes. The flaps were marginally helpful, and Ingrid ended up horribly off-center because of the engine torque.

Ivan waited in his airplane until Ingrid had left hers. When he finally did emerge Vaska had arrived. She slapped the old man, hard.

"How dare you shoot at her!" Vaska screamed. "What would have happened if you hit her?"

"I've been doing this a long time," Ivan said as he adjusted his belt. "She was never in any danger."

"New rule!" Vaska said. "All training aircraft will be inspected personally by myself to ensure that the weapons are not loaded! We cannot risk losing the only person in the world who can close the portals."

Ivan winked at Ingrid after Vaska left.

"The Emperor prefers to hunt his prey himself," Ivan said. "You were ever in any danger. I promise."

"That is not condescending at all," Ingrid said. "Next time, I get a real fighter jet, and you only get your warbird."

"Be sure to fly up then," Ivan said. "Go up, and lob missiles down at the enemy. No hesitation, no mercy."