"Easy does it..." In the garden in front of Flio's house, Garyl was up in
the sky, struggling with his balance. The flight magic was working properly,
but he was wavering fearfully back and forth.
Elinàsze ran up beneath her brother. "Incredible, Garyl!" she cried. "You
learned how to cast Fly!"
"I-I dunno..." Garyl said. "This is still the best I can do... I can't fly as
well as you or dad. Ah, careful..."
"Well, I think it's plenty incredible!" Elinàsze said, her eyes shining
with pride as she looked up at Garyl. "You couldn't fly at all before now!"
She spoke an incantation and cast Fly herself, rising into the air. "Over here,
Garyl!"
"W-Wait, sis! I'm still not good at balancing in the air..."
"You'll be fine! I raced with big sis Wyne my very first time flying,
remember?"
"B-But I'm not as good at magic as you, sis! I'm better at fighting and
running..."
As the siblings were having their conversation in the sky, Wyne burst
out of the front door and came running up beneath them. "Gare-Gare,
you're flying!" she shouted. "Wow! Wow! Let's all have a race! To the top
of the clouds!" A pair of great dragon wings appeared on her back, and she
took to the sky. She flew up and up and up.
"You won't beat me so easily this time!" Elinàsze declared, flying up
after her sister.
"Hang on!" said Garyl. "I... I don't know if I can do this! Easy... Easy..."
Still wavering back and forth, he flew up after his sisters. He was much
slower than them—Wyne and Elinàsze were gaining distance by the second.
But Garyl kept at it, flying upwards as best he could.
Just then, Tanya ran out of the house after Wyne. For some reason, she
was clutching a pair of the dragonewt's underpants. "Young Mistress!" she
shouted. "You've gone outside without your undergarments again! You
won't escape this time!" Brandishing a broom in one hand, she manifested a
pair of white feathered wings and flew up after the three in hot pursuit.
"Hwuh?!" said Wyne, noticing Tanya. "It's Tan-Tan! Race with us, TanTan! Race!"
Tanya sped up. "This isn't a race, Young Mistress! You need to put on
your undergarments!"
"B-Big Sis Wyne, did you go out without your panties again?!" Elinàsze
said, blushing furiously.
"What?!" said Garyl. "Oh jeez, I'd better not look up!" Garyl, who had
been angled upwards for the race, hastily turned his head the other way.
Flio watched from the window of the second-story hallway as his
children played and laughed in the sky. "They seem to be enjoying
themselves," he said, his usual affable expression on his face.
Rys stepped up beside him. "Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves
lately," she said. "Although Tanya seems to lose her temper fairly often..."
"Well, Wyne keeps taking off her clothes, after all," Flio said.
"Dragonewts have a high body temperature. Maybe that's why she doesn't
like wearing clothes. Maybe I should try making her some clothes
enchanted with a cooling spell..."
"Perhaps," said Rys. "If it gets Wyne to wear her clothing more often,
I'm all for it." The two watched their children fly for some time before Rys
continued. "They really are growing up fast, aren't they? I can't use flight
magic at all, and now it's not just Elinàsze, but Garyl..."
"You don't need to worry about that, Rys," said Flio.
"Oh?"
Flio scooped her up in his arms and flew out the window. "You can fly
with me!"
"My lord husband..." Rys held her husband close as she looked around.
She could see the house below her, and the pasture and farm sprawling out
in all directions. "This is...our home," she said, smiling. "Perhaps you
should take me flying more often."
Flio held her close as the pair looked down over the lives they had built
for themselves.