Chapter 33

Carina slept for two days after the Flight touched down, insensate and exhausted. She managed the quickening, a soft rain of magic that only needed her to guide it, and collapsed. When she woke on the third day it was to the sounds of glee and when she stepped from her room it was into the midst of a flurry of wings. The children of the Flight were again aloft and the sight brought tears to her eyes. They all fluttered down when they caught sight of her and whisked around her laughing with shining eyes.

“My joy in you, children of the Flight.” She managed to hold the tears back, but only barely. “Fly as you wish, fly high and strong.”

One of the children tugged on her white gown and she crouched to be at the eye level of the child. “My Soul, will my brother come back to me now? Papa said he is dead, but I saw him at the quickening.”

“Yes child,” Carina ran a soft hand down the child’s face. “I will relieve him of his burden and he will fly with you before the day is out.”