Six

Hibis returned to her station, a skip in her step. Before she had departed from Alistair’s lab, he had mentioned that a form of meditating could help her balance midair without needing to use her hands to float. Now that she had his hand-made charm with her, Hibis felt like she was ready to accomplish something.

Ace was already there, checking on the fan systems to make sure they were secure with Glimmer. His eyes drifted from her beaming face to the pendant she had on her neck. “What…is that?” He asked, frowning.

Hibis waved a hand and giggled, as if shoving his suspicions away. “Oh, just a good gift from Alistair. It’s unlimited Hibiscus nectar, so I can easily access it anywhere!” She grinned, and Ace felt a twang in his gut, clenching him with a sudden emotional pain.

“You’ve already met him?” He winced, surprised. After all, the boy was especially busy, cooped up in the mysterious lab room of his alongside his sister.

“Yup.”

“Oh. Cool. How did I not think of making that…” Ace glanced back at the girl’s face, hers flushed from whatever had happened back there. His heart wrenched from jealousy, and he cleared his throat, feigning seriousness. No matter.

“Alright, let’s get you floating.”

Hibis drifted up, slowly, steadily, newfound knowledge and confidence in her. As she reached a staggering good height, Hibis exhaled out slowly, letting her wrists drift apart from the Lotus. It felt like the world was holding a breath, to see if she would ever so fall down, just like the previous night.

Stillness, and after a good 5 seconds, Hibis was still in the air. Happiness spread through the bodies of the spectators below at the sight of Hibis’s first attempt at flying without the Lotus. “Turn on the fan!” The girl commanded with a deep sense of bravery, and the sound of the distant whirring blades filled the room.

Adrenaline coursed through the girl’s veins as Hibis regained control almost immediately, flying against the wind and dodging obstacles, whatever they were, that came flying her way, grabbing ticket after ticket.

On to the last level.

The wind was intense, as if mimicking a storm in its climax. Hibis’s hair was wild as she struggled to see, eyes drying out every second. “You can do it Hibis!” A cheer from Glimmer.

Hibis pulled herself through, towards the shimmering gold ticket that was flapping, almost close to her reach…

Locking her eyes on the prize, she swirled around, grabbing the ticket miraculously.

A roar of applause surged through the crowd that had seemingly gathered at Hibis’s training station. Sheepish and stunned, Hibis floated down solemnly, stopping the urge to do cartwheels in the air.

“We haven’t seen a flier in forever!” One girl commented to her, hair woven with tree branches. Hibis smiled, pride blooming in her chest. “You did great for today, Hibis,” Ace patted her back, his grin big and wide, making Hibis share her joy with him. “We’ll be training more in the week to come.”

“Thanks,” she replied, her mind drifting off to something that was exclaimed before. “Wait,” she turned to the girl behind her. “What do you mean, ‘we haven’t seen a flier in forever’?”

Flow intercepted, nodding in the green girl's direction that she should take her leave, before explaining “Well, your element of flight itself…is rare… as you should know. The number of people to have your power is five in eight hundreds, so we haven’t gotten a lot of colleagues with an element of flight. So your station,” she jerked her head at the fans and obstacles “is quite run-down.”

Hibis thought for a moment. “You know, since you have the element of weather, why not just replicate yourself to the speed of wind via the fan? This way, you can work on controlling air movement and et cetera et cetera?”

Flow shook her head, her dark curls bouncing slowly, defying gravity. “No opponents to test it on, is there?” She glanced at Hibis, then at the fans. “Maybe,” she continued, “We could train together someday. Soon?”

“Yeah, sure!”

Hibis waved goodbye as she ascended up the lift. It felt more calming than the flight down, and she chuckled at the thought of her blazingly embarrassing reaction in front of Vincent. She stepped out into the calm atmosphere on top of the skyscraper, and cast a look out into the horizon.

Her thoughts were mashed with the future and the present. She was loving this place, and the new friends she was making. A hand fingered the pendant on her neck, a spread of warmth filling her at the thought of Alistair. She hurriedly brushed the flustered thought away, sipping a few gulps of the nectar, before descending down the steep stairs.

She collapsed onto the bed after the hike, feeling drained but excited.

Hibis couldn’t wait for the next training day.