Wings and Things (Part 3)

I desperately tried to corral the rambunctious kits.  How could five things that size have so much energy!?  "Surf!?" I called.  "Help!"

He laughed and ran over to assist me in wresting the kits into one spot.  "How long has it been since they left?"

"Ten minutes," I panted.  "They really wanted to go hunting."

"I think I know why," Surf said as he grabbed an escaping Three by the ruff.

I shrugged.  I didn't think Espeon would do that...  Would she?  I contemplated my friend as Streak and Night glided into camp again.  Streak took a look at our situation.  "Having problems?"

I gave him a quick glance before attending to a giggling Five, who was trying to make a run for it.  "You could call it that."

Right on cue, Bolt and Inferno dashed into camp, kicking up snow.  Bolt bounded over to us.  "Let me help!"  Instead of actually doing anything, he just said two sentences.  "Hey, kits, Inferno and I are going ice skating!  Do you want to come?"

Five mouths fell open in excitement.

Inferno, already standing by the pond's edge, called out to his exploding partner.  "Come on, Bolt!  We're losing daylight!"

Bolt looked over his shoulder.  "Be right there!"  He then turned back to the kits.  "Come on!"

There was a small stampede that followed Bolt as he trotted to the frozen pond.  I closed my eyes and vented a sigh.  "I should go play lifeguard..." I muttered to Surf, Streak, and Night before dragging my paws to the access hole in the ice, sliding in, and positioning myself under it, in case any kit, Jolteon, or Flareon fell in. 

It was quieter in the water.  I took another sigh of relief.  It had been about a week since Umbreon's premonition, Streak and Night were assessing Clover's flying ability, Bolt and Inferno were wearing down their energy reserves by falling... I mean skating, and the Clan had several customers over the winter.  Things were looking good.  Umbreon's premonition still concerned me, but I was willing to take the good where I could get it.

I rolled onto my back on the bottom of the pond and watched seven blurs of color slide like crazy, one smaller brown blur running in place.  Bolt (glowing yellow blur) seemed to be sliding to one side of the ice, running as fast as he could, despite the lack of traction, and seeing how far he could go within a few seconds.  Inferno (big red/orange blur) looked like he was actually trying to skate well, and failing.  The five kits (small brown blurs/small near-invisible blurs/small glowing blur) just seemed to be having fun sliding around, occasionally bumping into someone.  I resigned myself that, if any of they got hurt, this was Bolt's fault.

A sleek blue blur entered the ice, skillfully sliding across the ice and to the access hole.  He stuck his head in.  "Splash?  Streak and Night say they think they know what Clover was doing wrong."

I did want to see that.  "Thanks, Surf."

"Do you want me to take over here?"  I loved him so much.

I nodded, and swam up to meet him.  We rubbed fins for a few seconds and touched noses before swapping places.  The ice wasn't all that bad, as long as I used my claws and went carefully.  After six near-crashes, I made it to the snowy camp ground.  Streak waved me over.  "We figured out what the problem is."

I sat down and curled my tail over my paws.  "Oh?"

Night nodded as Clover tilted her head.  "Clover, you're putting too much force into your downstroke, while trying to finish the upstroke as quickly as possible."

Clover looked lost.  "What?"

The female Staraptor took a few steps back.  "Watch my wings."  With that, she took to the air, staying low, but still flapping her wings.  "It's all about angle.  You have two issues, your stroke size, and your wing angle."

Clover turned to follow Night's flight around the clearing, keeping her own wings folded.  "Starting with the stroke size thing."

Night continued to fly as Streak explained.  "On your upstroke, your wings should almost touch at the tips."  He demonstrated with his own wings.  Clover looked at his position, then watched Night for a bit, watching her movements.  I had to give the Leafeon credit for dedication.

Streak continued his explanation.  "Then, on the downstroke, you keep your wings as far outwards as you can.  Press on the air until both of your wings are pointing straight down."  Clover watched Night, as Streak could not demonstrate on the ground.  "Finally, as you take your upstroke, you need to bend your wings a bit.  Sort of... half retract them."

Clover tried to follow, but I think she was just as lost as I was.

 

 

The flight lesson went on for about an hour.  It ended with Clover practicing the suggested wings movements on a branch, so that she could extend them all the way down.  I called up from the ground.  "Clover?  You might want to secure yourself to the branch if you're just practicing!"

 

The nervous Leafeon looked down at me and nodded.  Small vines wound around her paws and looped around the branch.  She gave an experimental tug.  It held firm.  She looked at her coaches.  "You're sure this will work?"

 

Streak shrugged.  "It works for us."

 

As Clover started flapping her wings slowly, using the tips that the Staraptors had provided, I looked over the fluff pile that had accumulated under the Emergency Tree.  Bolt, Inferno, One, Two, Three, Four, and Five were all curled up and asleep, Four carefully positioned with Bolt in between him and the others.  I couldn't help but smile at them.  They had all worn themselves out on the ice, with a surprising final of only six falls in the access hole total.

 

I heard Clover mutter, "This is hard..." under her breath in frustration.  Then, Espeon and Umbreon finally reentered camp with Snow, loaded down with prey.  I stood up and trotted over.

 

"Nice haul, you three!  In winter, no less!  Well done!"

 

All three put their prey down in the center of camp.  Umbreon spoke first.  "Well, apparently, after all these long weeks away from the prey and busy with kits, we've still got it."  He finished the sentence by touching noses with Espeon.

 

Snow just rolled her eyes.  "You two spent more than half of the time in that exact position.  I caught most of it!"

 

They pulled away from each other to refute Snow's accusation in perfect time with each other, as always.  Umbreon started.  "Hey, this was our first time alone since the kits."

 

Espeon finished.  "And the cold is more of your domain, Snow."

 

I chuckled.  "Well, it looks like you really do still have it!"

 

Snow, however, was distracted.  "Why is Clover tied to a tree branch?"

 

I sat down and watched.  "She's just finishing up her flight lesson.  She's trying out some corrections that Streak and Night gave her.  Something about stroke lengths and wings angles."

 

Snow nodded as Espeon and Umbreon turned to me.  Espeon was the one who asked this time.  "So, how are the kits?"

 

I gestured towards the fluff pile.  "Over there.  Asleep after a hard day of ice floundering with Bolt and Inferno."

 

Espeon smiled.  "Any markings of future Glaceons?"

 

I tilted my head.  "Not that I saw..."

 

Umbreon shrugged.  "Well, you never know.  Maybe we just can't see it ye-

 

He was cut off as half of our camp exploded.