Enslaved

Chapter 41

Kaida eyed Ryuu, her defensive stance not moving an inch and the adrenaline from the attack earlier still coursing through her. Ryuu's deep green eyes stared into hers and swam with a mixture of pride and happiness, making her heart warm. Kaida stayed still for a moment before Ryuu shook his head and opened his wings.

"Kajeel will be the one to test you on your fighting." Ryuu took off, stopping at a hover right above her. "But I want to make sure you can fly well enough to keep up with us."

Ryuu down flapped harder and she opened her wings, wincing slightly at the pain from them getting crushed before flapping off the ground and rising into the air. She flew up to Ryuu, stopping at a hover so they were eye to eye in the air.

"Your take off's are a little forced, Kaida." Ryuu's words were to the point but held a tinge of concern. "Getting into the air shouldn't take more than one flap, especially with wings of your size. You have to be able to do this to go on a raid."

He motioned back to the ground and Kaida reluctantly dropped back down, landing heavily before folding her wings and looking back up to Ryuu.

"You have to cup all the air you can as you flap down and use it to almost force yourself into the air. However, if you do that when you take your wings up then it'll cause too much drag."

Kaida frowned for a moment and looked away from Ryuu, opening her wings slightly and raising them above her head. Then she opened them and flapped down as fast and hard as she could, her wings forcing the air under her wings to work as a ladder and help her up. She felt her feet raise from the ground just as her wings skimmed the grass and she jerked her wings back up, flapping down and jerking her body into the air and rising back up to Ryuu. She looked off her toes and met Ryuu's gaze, frowning when she saw his puckered brow and frowned.

"You're forcing your way into the air, it shouldn't be difficult to gain altitude." He seemed to think for a second before changing his wing beats slightly. "Here, watch me."

Ryuu closed his wings and landed smoothly, flapping once before re-folding his wings and looking up to her.

"Try and copy me at first."

She watched as he opened his wings but closed them halfway immediately, drawing them up above his head and opening them again. He then curved his wings upward and flapped down quickly, closing them again to raise them before flapping back down. He rose into the air with two flaps, closing his wings halfway every time he raised them above his head before opening them again to flap down. Kaida watched until he was hovering right in front of her again, his wings mirroring hers. His eyes met hers and he raised an eyebrow, his expression slightly challenging as warmth swam in his deep green eyes.

She closed her wings and mimicked how he had landed, bending her knees slightly and keeping her wings open just a bit and was surprised when her feet landed smoothly on the grass and she didn't stumble. She heard a chuckle above her and frowned at him, opening her wings and tilting them as he had as she flapped down, hard. She jerked off the ground but continued flapping the way she had seen him do until she was face to face with him. He nodded, staying at the hover and looked her over, a smile playing along his lips.

"Hey, you do not get to laugh at me!"

Ryuu held up his hands in surrender, his smile widening and Kaida laughed as they hovered in the air together.

"I have a question for you, Ryuu."

Ryuu frowned at her slightly but tilted his head.

"Kajeel said your name means something." She watched as Ryuu rolled his eyes but smiled all the same. "What does it mean?"

Ryuu shook his head, flapping his wings harder and rising in the air above her.

"I will only tell you if you can keep up with me." She smiled at the challenge and rose to meet him. "Now let's see how fast you can actually fly."

***

Kaida huffed, her wings sore but not as bad as the night before thanks to Ryuu teaching her the correct way to use them. She turned around just as he flew over to her and she yelped, closing her wings and dropping from the sky just in time for him to miss and fly right over her. She snapped her wings back open and turned to see where Ryuu had flown to come face to face with him, his eyes lighter than they had been this morning.

"You've progressed very fast in just that one week I was gone, Kaida." He told her, smiling slightly. "You might even be able to keep up with me now. But I still won so you have to wonder about my name for a little longer."

She huffed but smiled at him and closed her wings, dropping to the ground and landing smoothly. Ryuu followed, closing his wings after he landed and giving her a smile.

"Don't get me wrong, there is room for a lot of improvement and you won't be able to fly in any type of intense storm but it'll do for a raid." He looked over his shoulder at the assembled front of armor-clad hybrids before looking back to her. "I'll find Kajeel and send him over to spar with you while I brief the others. It'll be up to him whether or not you get to accompany us."

She opened her mouth to argue but Ryuu had already taken off, arching his flight nearly sideways toward the lakeshore and she frowned slightly, flapping her wings once before folding them tighter against her back and watching as he landed and walked straight into the crowd and disappeared.

She watched the hybrids as they all greeted Ryuu and her frown melted slightly, her mind wandering back to Valik. She remembered the last things they had said to each other and she shuddered, her heart aching. What had been wrong with him? Why hadn't he just talked to her? She felt a singular tear fall from her left eye and drip down her face. She missed him.

"Kaida!"

She turned and came face to face with Kajeel's smiling face and she forced her expression into one of careful neutrality, swiping the tear off her face quickly.

"There you are, little dragon." He wrapped his arms around her. "The sun has almost fully risen but Ryuu delayed the raid till noon so we have some time to train. You want to go at it again?"

She pulled back and looked up at him. He gave her a soft smile.

"Are you ready for your last training session before your first raid?"

She grinned, thankful for Kajeel's ability to make her feel better despite the circumstances.

"Of course."