Hi everyone!

The lovely drawing at the top is by @Into-The-Oblivion :) Thank you!
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Recap:

After finding out that Autumn has a pet peryton (Juno), Aiden, Hailey, and her decide to head to the forest to see her.

Chase has to go to a meeting with the king and thus cannot go with them.

At the end of last chapter, Aiden shares his thought that without Bree, Chase, or Carson to supervise the training field it is most likely that no one is training seriously and that at least one fight has broken out.

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Chapter 24

Even though Aiden really wanted to see if there were indeed any fights happening over at the training grounds, and, if yes, who was fighting and winning, Autumn decided it would be wiser to steer clear of that area and go around it and into the forest.

"Let's fly!" Aiden cheered. With one great sweep of his flame red wings, he was airborne and looking down at us, impatiently waiting for us to follow him.

Autumn opened her own dark purple wings.

"You coming, Hailey?" She asked, noticing that I hadn't even unfolded my own wings.

I nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah... I've just never taken off from low on the ground before."

Autumn folded her wings back behind her back, surprised.

"Really? Well, I guess it's true you are more used to using your legs than your wings as you haven't had them for a long time yet. Don't worry, it's not that hard. I'll show you."

Above us, Aiden performed some kind of airborne summersault.

"Come on, what are you guys doing?" His voiced reached down to us.

Autumn chose to ignore him. "Open your wings." I did as she instructed, and she continued, "Now try to copy what I'm doing." She drew up her powerful wings, pumping the air around her, pushed off the ground, and was up in the air.

I brushed away some hair that had been blown into my face and opened my own light green and white wings. I moved them up and down and tried jumping to give myself momentum, but I wasn't able to lift up high enough from the ground.

I shook my wings and rolled my shoulders. I wasn't accustomed to using my wings so much. Autumn was right, I still relied much more on my legs.

Aiden landed besides Autumn and I. "Everything okay?"

I grimaced. "I can't take off from the ground yet."

Aiden's eyebrows rose. "Really? Well actually, I understand. It's hard to remember because your wings are at their full size, but you haven't had them for very long. Here, let me help."

My friends showed me the right wing movements again, and I got a taste of what I must have felt like when I was still a toddler and learning to walk. Finally, with Aiden giving me a boost by carrying me a little so I could gain altitude, I was able to get airborne. Higher up there was more wind, and I was able to catch a draft of air that carried me even higher.

Aiden flashed a thumbs up and Autumn smiled at me praisingly.

We flew until we landed in front of a forest, from which we decided to continue on foot as it was easier than trying to fly through tree branches.

***

"Autumn," Aiden complained, ducking under a low branch, "We've been walking for almost ten minutes now. Can't you just call it over?"

"First off, Juno is a 'her,' not an 'it'. Second, stop whining like a little kid. Obviously I haven't let her loose in the forest, it would be much to dangerous for her."

"How long until-" I started, but didn't continue as I tripped over a protruding root and barely caught myself on a wide tree trunk. Aiden sniggered, and I playfully glared back at him. I couldn't help thinking that if Chase was here he would have caught me immediately.

I cleared my throat, "I meant, how long until we get there?"

"Five seconds," Autumn answered.

We reached a small rock outcrop.

"Here we are. Juno, come here, girl!"

"That was at least thirty seconds, which is twenty five more seconds than you said it would take us," Aiden commented.

"That's because I didn't count on you being so slow and clumsy," Autumn retorted, her eyes still on the rocky outcrop. "Come on, June, they're friends, you'll be fine." She cooed.

The reddish head of a doe peaked out from behind a rock, then her whole body emerged, and she started trotting towards us on her small hooves, daintily shaking her white and rose-colored wings.

Autumn petted her head, which reached a bit higher than her waist. The small peryton nudged her hip with the tip of her nose, but Autumn said, "Sorry, girl, I don't have a snack for you right now."

"Well," Aiden observed, "At least she doesn't have antlers, those things can impale a guy as easily as a spear. Her hooves are still small, so she can't crack your skull just yet."

Autumn gasped, "She'd never do that!"

"I can't decide if I really, really want one, or if I'm hoping I never come face to face with one in my life," I mumbled to myself.

Aiden chuckled, "You're weird."

"You're one to talk."

After finally deciding that the animal seemed to be fond of Autumn and wouldn't hurt her, Aiden said he would talk to one of his friends whose father had a peryton, and together they could all go convince Autumn's family that she was in no danger with Juno. Autumn wanted to see Aiden's friend as soon as possible, so we left Juno, who was instructed by Autumn to not leave the clearing and apparently followed her orders, and headed back towards the training grounds.

***

When we reached the training area, the first thing I heard was someone yelling. Around me, everyone was quiet and strangely very focused on what they were doing. Even a guy who was doing nothing more than polishing his sword was doing it as if he was doing the most important task in the world and nothing else was worthy of his attention. I soon understood why everyone was behaving so well when I saw that the person yelling at the top of her lungs was none other than Bree.

"-and if I ever see you idiots displaying this type of behavior again, your punishment will be so bad it'll make this one seem like a fun little stroll in the castle garden!" She threatened. "Now, I want sixty pushups from all of you, and then you're off on clean up duty! The last one to finish the pushups will also have to clean the kitchen floors!"

"See," Aiden said quietly to Autumn and I, "this is why we should have come back earlier. Bree always breaks up fights, and afterwards the punishment is so bad there isn't another fight for at least a month. We missed it all because you wanted to see a flying reindeer." I had a feeling these last words were meant at a jab towards me, but I ignored them.

Autumn and I rolled our eyes, but Aiden was too busy scanning the crowd to notice. He went over to a guy, talked to him for a minute, and came back grumbling.

"He's gone to another city. Couldn't he have left two days ago or tomorrow?" He complained.

Autumn laughed, "Is that the guy whose father has a peryton? Yes, thought so, but really, Aiden, it's not a big deal, and the guy couldn't have known we'd need to talk to him."

"I guess," Aiden shrugged.

"Aiden!" I jumped as Bree appeared behind us out of nowhere. "Weren't you supposed to be training this afternoon?"

"Yep, and I am here, right?"

"Well, I don't consider running your mouth as training."

Aiden shrugged. "Why not? I think all running is a form of exercise, whether it's running your legs, your mouth, or whatever. No discrimination."

I hid a smile, Autumn shook her head, and Bree looked at him blankly.

"Aren't you just hilarious?"

"Yes, I am, thank you for noticing."

"Just shut up and go get your bow."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Aiden saluted exaggeratedly, before marching off to wherever his bow was.

Bree turned towards me, and I froze. 'Please don't insult me, please don't yell at me,' I chanted in my head.

"You," She said.

'My name's Hailey,' I wanted to scream, but of course I didn't, because I didn't have a death wish.

"The king agrees that as a princess and possible heir to the kingdom, you need to know a minimum of self-defense and fighting skill." She whirled around, her red hair whipping the air behind her. She noticed I wasn't following and turned her head, raising an eyebrow. "Well, come on."

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