“Are you ready?” Ave asked.

“Yes. I’m ready.” Privati rolled her eyes.

Ave tilted her head. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Stop asking questions and-”

*Ka-Sloop*

Ave shoved the ball of Privati’s upper humerus back into her shoulder joint.

“Hnnn! Hyuu Fhhkinh Whhch!” Privati screamed as she covered her mouth with her good arm.

Ave patted her on the back. “Sorry. I didn’t want you to tense up.”

“Uhhh…” Privati slouched back into the chair she was sitting in.

“That was very good Ave.” Rosy nodded.

“Basic first aid is part of Guard training.” said Ave.

Privati was seated on a wooden chair in front of a snow cone stand. The stand was decorated with an exaggerated cartoon bear. The servers also wore bear costumes. The snow cone cups had little paw prints drawn on them.

“I brought snow cones.” said Alli.

Alli balanced multiple paper cones between the fingers of her hands. She handed a snow cone to Rosy, Ave, and Privati. Privati rolled the ice from her snow cone over her shoulder.

Alli bit into her snow cone with ravenous bites. Rosy took shy pecks out of hers. Ave scraped away at her snow cone with her teeth until the ice was even with the top of the paper cup that it was in.

Alli finished her shaved ice and dropped the paper wrapper into a garbage bin. Rosy held out her cone as an offering. Alli took it.

“Thanks. I haven’t eaten all day. Privati woke me up before dawn and told me to meet her on the top of the hill for a new test flight. I had to glue feathers onto that wax bird for three hours.”

“Try to take it easy. Those snow cones are nothing but water and sugar. There’s no protein in them.” said Rosy.

*Alli made a noise like an angry bumblebee*

Alli was dressed in a scrivener’s robe with wide sleeves made from soft wool. She was shorter than Ave but for some reason the robe seemed to have been made for a woman twice her size. The extra material was tied up around her waist with cloth cords. Her long sleeves were pinned up around her elbows. Her lower arms were ringed with a series of charm bracelets loaded with anywhere from thirty four to thirty nine charms. A bow and arrow charm dangled from the end of her horn-rimmed glasses.

Privati’s hair was pulled back in a tight braid that rested against her neck. She was wearing a custom faux leather jacket over a linen jumpsuit. A pair of welding goggles dangled from a strap around her neck.

Ave chewed the paper of her snow cone. “Alright, I’m curious. What were you doing on top of that giant wooden goose?”

“I was flying.” stated Privati.

“She was attempting to fly.” said Alli.

“I almost made it over the middle of the city.”

“Until you crashed. Like you do every time!”

“You’ve attempted this before?” asked Rosy.

“Don’t get her started.” Alli crumpled her snow cone wrapper.

Privati held up two fingers. “I was close this time. I only have to figure out the proper weight to materials balance. We’re very close. The wax was working until it melted and then caught on fire.”

“I keep telling you it is impossible for a bird to fly with a person on top of it. Even a bird of that size.” said Alli.

Ave’s hair fell in front of her eyes.

“I’ve seen an eagle carry a goat over a mountain. I know that it’s possible for a flying creature to carry another animal under its own power. If we can discover the correct size of bird we can finally unlock the secrets of flight.” said Privati.

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“You crashed into a building!” shouted Alli.

“That building was due for demolition anyway.”

“No it wasn’t.”

“Well it should be. Terrible balcony placement. And I almost managed to steer out of the way.” Privati tilted her torso to the side.

“So the two of you are working together?” Rosy pointed a finger between Privati and Alli.

“I’m not. I’m being financially blackmailed.” said Alli.

Privati held a hand up over her mouth. “Alli works at the Ocean’s Bounty. I use her to siphon funds away from the Gambling Hall to support my experiments.”

“Wow. You just told us something incredibly sensitive without any hesitation.” said Rosy.

“You two look like Adventurers. Since neither of you are from Kaseihgaeu so I’m not worried about it.”

“And what do you get out of all this?” Rosy asked Alli.

Alli pulled her sleeves down over her arms. “Nothing. No one. I’m only an observer. That’s all.”

“Hey you!” Privati shouted at a passing Street Bee.

“Yes?” The merchant looked over at the group.

“You got any grade one anti-inflammatories?” Privati asked.

“Uh, yes?”

“Good. Give’em here.” She held out a hand.

The Street Bee gave her a handful of sprigs.

“And sugar?”

The Street Bee handed her some more sprigs.

“And caffeine?”

The Street Bee handed her even more sprigs.

Privati elbowed Alli. Alli paid the vendor from her purse. Privati tore the ends off of the wax sprigs and squeezed the jelly out into the last of the syrup in her snow cone. She mushed the slurry together and then drank it all in one *Gulp*.

Rosy pulled at a twist of her hair. “It’s probably none of my business, but why are you doing something so clearly dangerous like attempting to fly?”

“You’re right. It is none of your business.” said Privati.

Ave raised an eyebrow at Rosy. Rosy raised a finger to her lips and winked. Alli hunched over and played with the charms on her wrists.

“Have you ever heard of l'appel du vide?” Privati asked.

“No.” said Rosy.

“It’s something our tutor from Franz once talked about. It’s part of why I was sent to live with Aunt House.”

Privati sat back and rubbed her shoulder. “Ever since I was little I had a fascination with high places. I would climb trees and stand on the edge of rooftops. My parents were always mad at me because they thought I was trying to jump off of a building when they weren’t looking. I couldn’t explain it to them. I only knew that I needed to be up in the air. I even used to have constant dreams about falling through the clouds.”

Privati looked up into the sky. “I assumed that maybe I was just crazy. That there was no fixing me. But then one day I saw a painting of a dungeon pictogram. Someone had carved a bunch of weird figures into the wall of the dungeon. They were naked women but some of them had animal features. Girls with cat ears or the tail of a fish. Stuff like that.”

“Archeologists like to say that they’re pictures of ancient shadowbeasts but I’m not so sure.” Alli pushed her glasses up her nose.

“One of the pictures caught my attention. It was a figure with the body of a woman, but she had the wings of a bird instead of arms. Someone somewhere had seen or maybe only dreamed of a winged human. Either way I knew that they had felt what I felt. That was when I knew I wasn’t crazy. I was born to fly.” Privati closed her eyes. “The problem is how. I already tried putting feathers on my arms. That idea went nowhere and got me sent to live with my aunt.” Privati kicked a pebble with her boot. “My new plan is to use a giant bird replica and ride it like a tarpan. But as you saw today, steering is… a problem. If only I could find a bird big enough to carry a human rider.”

Ave chewed a fingernail.

“Maybe if you didn’t wear such high heels while you piloted your glider?” Rosy looked down at Privati’s boots.

Privati angled her foot to the side exposing her eight centimeter heels. “Anything to get me away from the ground.”

“You wear those all the time?”

“I don’t even spit on the ground.”

Alli nodded. “She’s not kidding. She even showers in sandals.”

“I won’t even be buried. When I die I’m going to be set out on a platform in the mountains so that the birds can take me.” said Privati.

Rosy shrugged. “I would tell you that this is a dangerous course of action, but you’ve clearly indicated you have no interest in taking my advice so I’m not going to say anything more.”

“What about you? Do you have any judgements?” Privati said to Ave.

Ave blinked. “Sorry. I wasn’t entirely paying attention. You said something about hating the ground?”

Privati pouted. “Yes. I’m trying to unlock the secrets of flight. But it’s only my life’s goal so whatever.”

“It seems like an unnecessary risk for a form of transportation. What if you get stuck in the air?” Ave said.

Privati rolled her eyes and rubbed her shoulder.

Ave looked up at a mockingbird flying overhead. “However, I admire your tenacity for exploring the possibilities of aerial travel. I respect anyone with a strong resolve.”

“Uh, thanks.” said Privati.

Ave looked across the street at the snow cone stand. Gilt Hommage delivered another sheet of ice to the costumed bear that was working at the front counter of the stand. Ave folded her paper snow cone wrapper in half, then in half again, and again, until it was reduced to a sharp triangular sliver.