Dreams Take Wing

Dreamer, a tiny blue and gold Faerie Techo, scampered up the tree as fast as her little legs could carry her. Shifting directions, she turned onto a branch running right to the end where she leapt high into the air! Spreading her wings wide, she caught the morning breeze and soared up to the clouds! "Hey! Dreamer, you hit me with your wings again!"

     The voice jerked Dreamer wide awake. She had accidentally hit one of her brothers with her wings and woke him up. "Sorry, Xavier."

     Xavier sighed. "That's ok, Dreamer, we should all be getting up anyway. Today's the big day!"

     Xavier turned and nudged their other two brothers, Wynn and Zephyr. Wynn slowly opened one eye and peeked and Zephyr, who was still half asleep and yawning. Suddenly Wynn jumped up and grabbed a stick he'd been hiding behind himself all night. "En garde!" he exclaimed, pointing his stick at Zephyr.

     Zephyr scrambled out of bed. "Hey! No fair! I don't have my sword!"

     Wynn chased after Zephyr until Zephyr was able to obtain a new stick. They began to play swordfight. Between the snaps of their sticks, Xavier turned to Dreamer. "Well, those two are obviously ready."

     "Of course we are!" Zephyr exclaimed, breathing a bit heavy.

     "Yes! I bet we'll be the best guards in all of Meridell!" Wynn replied.

     Xavier laughed at the two. "Muscle strength is all well and good, but you need knowledge to be truly strong! I am off to Brightvale to become a scholar. I shall be the smartest Techo there ever was!"

     Wynn and Zephyr both then collapsed beside Dreamer and Xavier, panting heavily. "What about you Dreamer," Wynn smirked, "still daydreaming about flying?"

     "Of course!" Dreamer exclaimed, gazing at them dreamily. "I will learn how to fly and shall explore all of Neopia!"

     "Right," Zephyr scoffed. "Well, unless you intended to fly a plane, you won't be going anywhere!"

     "That's right," Wynn added. "We may have wings, but we're made for gliding, not flying! You can't fly."

     "I can so!" Dreamer exclaimed. "I know I can, I feel it!"

     Wynn and Zephyr burst out laughing. "Come on, brother," Wynn said to Zephyr, "it's time we left our sister to her imagination. Let's go to Meridell!"

     The two Techos headed off towards Meridell without really saying goodbye. Xavier sighed and looked at Dreamer. "You know they are right. Our wings are not designed for flapping. We can't go any higher than we can climb. There's just no way for us to fly."

     "Xavier, you are smart, but you don't trust your heart enough," Dreamer replied. "I will fly. I just have to learn how."

     "I hope you are right, Dreamer... meanwhile, though, have you decided where you are going?"

     "No," Dreamer replied, her wings drooping a little, "I have no idea where to start. I already know I can't flap my wings like a Pteri or Eyrie. There must be something else, though."

     Xavier seemed to think for a few minutes. "Well, you know, I am going to Brightvale to study with some of the most intelligent Neopians in the entire world. Perhaps you could go see King Hagan; he is said to be the smartest in all of Neopia."

     Dreamer agreed that it was a great idea. Besides that, she'd always been more fond of Xavier than her other two brothers. She certainly didn't want to follow them. So she headed off with Xavier to see King Hagan.

     ***

     When they reached the outskirts of Brightvale, Dreamer was amazed. She'd never seen a more magnificent castle or that many Neopians all in one place! Xavier did not seem surprised and led the way straight to the castle. When they got nearer, they encountered a long line of Neopians. When Xavier questioned them, Dreamer discovered that this was the line to see King Hagan! "This could take all day!" she exclaimed.

     A nearby Eyrie turned to them and said, "Oh, don't worry too much; nearly all of them are just trying to impress King Hagan with their wisdom. He's not usually impressed, so the line moves fairly quickly."

     Dreamed thanked him for this information. She and Xavier stood quietly for a while, slowly moving closer to the castle. Dreamer spent this time thinking about how wonderful it would be if King Hagan knew how she could fly.

     Eventually they did reach the great doors to King Hagan's throne room. They were led inside by a friendly-looking Kougra. "Hurry up there," King Hagan's voice boomed through the hall. "It's nearly time for my study session."

     Xavier and Dreamer hurried up to him. "What now?" Dreamer whispered to Xavier.

     Xavier put up his hand to quiet Dreamer, and then cleared his throat. "One should never assume that hard work is comparable to a peach," he declared astutely.

     King Hagan appeared to ponder this briefly before replying, "That didn't make any sense at all. Preposterous!"

     Xavier appeared embarrassed. King Hagan then turned to Dreamer. "Hopefully you've got a little more sense than that."

     "Well, actually, King Hagan, sir, my brother here told me that you were the smartest in all of Neopia. He wants to be a scholar, but I came here to ask you something."

     King Hagan sat up, puffing out his chest. “Why yes, I am the most intelligent Neopian,” he said with a slight chuckle. “Your brother must be smart to know that much but he's got a lot to learn. All right then, what is it you desire to know?”

     “I wish to know if there’s a way for me to fly! I have wings, but I can’t flap them like most winged Neopians; all I have managed to do is glide.”

     King Hagan harrumphed. “Fly, eh? Yes, yes, I think I could help you fly.”

     He picked Dreamer up gently and studied her wings. “Oh yes, they’d be perfect for flying! One moment please, dear.”

     With that, King Hagan swept out of the room, returning a few moments later with a length of fine string. He then led Dreamer and Xavier out to his gardens and handed her one end of the string. “Now then, all you have to do is hold on tight to that string and hold your wings out as wide as they can go, got it?”

     Dreamer nodded, a bit confused. The King handed over the other end of string to a Xavier and whispered in his ear. Xavier nodded and took off running suddenly. Dreamer barely had time to process this before King Hagan ran a few steps and threw her into the air. Scared, she gripped the string with all her might and squeezed her eyes shut. Soon she felt the wind press into her wings and then, lift! She was soaring upward! In her excitement, she opened her eyes and looked around. King Hagan was far below laughing happily and Xavier had stopped running but still held the string. “I’m a kite!” Dreamer exclaimed out loud and began laughing.

     She soared high into the air occasionally diving down before zooming up towards the clouds once more. Everything seemed so much more wonderful from up there, but her joy was soon cut short as the string snapped! After being buffeted by some strong winds, she eventually rolled so she could glide downwards. Slightly sad, she thought, “Well, it was a nice try. There must be a better way, though.”

     ***

     Dreamer glided far past Brightvale and over the forest where she was born. After a while she realized she was headed towards Meridell. She wouldn’t quite reach the main city, though; she veered to one side instead to land on the roof of a barn.

     Suddenly a loud sound buzzed just over her head, startling her. Dreamer glanced up quickly to see a plane flying low over the fields. After watching for a short time she thought about how the planes could fly without flapping wings or long strings. She waited until the pilot landed and she walked over to talk to him.

     “Excuse me, sir, but might I ask exactly how you can get the plane to fly without moving wings?”

     “Well,” the pilot said, “for fixed wings like a plane has, you’ve got to have a means of propelling yourself forward before you can get the lift you need. Smaller planes like mine just have propellers while some larger planes have various engines that push air through them, creating the forward motion. Then the air moving over and under the properly designed wings generates lift.”

     Dreamer realized she didn’t have a means of propelling herself like the planes did, nor were her wings quite suited for that type of flight. With a slight sigh she thanked the pilot and wandered off while he got back to work.

     Dreamer spent the night in the barn’s hayloft, dreaming stronger than ever about flying high above Neopia, exploring. The next morning she spotted a hot air balloon about to take off a few fields away. Dreamer decided to glide out toward the hot air balloon. Soon she landed neatly next to a Kau. “Well, howdy there, little one,” the Kau said. “Looks like a real nice day for flying!”

     “Too bad I haven’t figured out how to fly yet,” Dreamer said with a slight sigh.

     “Well, you’ve got wings now, don’t ya? Ah, never mind that, I haven’t got wings at all, but I still fly just fine with a little help from my balloon here. Wouldn’t happen to want a ride now, do you?”

     Dreamer accepted the offer and spent the morning rising slowly upward in the beautiful balloon. “It sure is nice to be up here,” Dreamer thought, “but it’s just not quite right for me. There must be something else I can do.”

     Dreamer turned to the friendly Kau. “I really appreciate the ride up,” she said, “but I think I’ll just glide back down. I need some time to think.”

     “Well, good luck little one!” the Kau replied and waved as Dreamer jumped out into the open air.

     Deep in thought as she drifted downwards, she didn’t see the white Hissi flying just below her until she crashed right onto the Hissi’s head! “WAH!” exclaimed the Hissi. “Watch out! Hey I can’t see a thing here, mind getting off my face?”

     The Hissi descended quickly towards the ground as Dreamer scrambled onto her back instead. “Sorry!” Dreamer exclaimed.

     The Hissi neared the ground and with a few strong flaps of her wings landed safely in a field. “Wow! Sure gave me a good scare there, didn’t you?”

     Dreamer blushed. “Sorry about that. I wasn’t paying attention because I was too busy thinking about how to fly.”

     The Hissi laughed a bit before replying, “Looks to me like you were flying just fine.”

     Dreamer hopped down off the Hissi’s back. “Gliding really. I can’t fly, though I’ve been trying to learn how. I can’t flap my wings, you know, so all I can do is glide down from high places. Or be made into a kite, but that didn’t work out so well either. I can’t even propel myself like a plane.”

     Dreamer let her wings droop a tiny bit, exhausted. The Hissi studied her for a few minutes the turned her head towards the east and flickered her tongue, seeming distracted. Dreamer glanced towards the east too. “My name’s Dreamer, by the way.”

     “Dreamer? Hum. Well, my name’s Sentrosi and I think I could help you with your problem there.”

     Dreamer looked back at Sentrosi, astonished. “You can? Really?”

     Sentrosi looked back at Dreamer again. “Yes, I really think so. I don’t know if it’d be exactly like flying but I could at least help you get some proper lift, no strings attached.”

     Sentrosi and Dreamer burst out laughing together. As their laughing subsided, Sentrosi straightened herself up. “Now then, we need to relocate. I’m thinking of a place with a nice ocean view! Hop on up here and I’ll get us over there in no time,” Sentrosi said.

     Excited to try again, Dreamer hopped onto her back and they took off towards the east. It took a little while to get there, but Dreamer just spent that time reveling in Sentrosi’s flight, hoping she was right.

     Soon they landed atop a cliff high above the ocean. “Wow!” exclaimed Dreamer. “The ocean is so big.”

     Sentrosi smiled. “Right and it’s that big ocean that’s going to help a tiny little Techo fly.”

     Dreamer paid close attention as Sentrosi explained to her how the winds off the ocean hit the cliff face which shifted them upwards creating a lot of lift. “All you need to do is take a little leap of faith.”

     “Jump off of the cliff?” Dreamer asked, startled.

     “Mhmm,” Sentrosi nodded, “and don’t worry too much; if you start to fall, I’ll catch you. Trust me, though, that wind will take you up high.”

     Dreamer stepped close to the cliff edge and looked over warily. She was buffeted by the rising wind, but it gave her confidence to feel it. Dreamer took a deep breath and jumped out into the air, spreading her wings wide. Sure enough, the wind caught in her wings and sent her flying upwards! With a laugh, Sentrosi hopped off and followed Dreamer upwards. “What did I tell you?” Sentrosi asked through her laughter.

     “I was right!” Dreamer exclaimed. “I can fly!”

     The two new friends spent the day flying around Neopia catching rising thermals of air to stay aloft. Dreamer had never been happier and thanked Sentrosi for helping her realize her dream. The pair made it their new mission to travel around helping others realize their dreams.

The End