24. Wings #2
“There must be,” Aeden snapped. “They can’t be truly damaged beyond repair.” He pointed towards her. “In the cave, she used her magic and our connection through the weave to help mend my ankle. If that’s her power, could she not use it on herself?”
“As much as that shows how strong your bond was at such an early stage, no magic can repair her wings. Even magic has its limits.”
“What if we tried?” Aeden raised his hands, willing himself to hold the same magic as Nyra so that he could help her. If he could soothe her pain, if he could help her wings to move freely, he would do whatever it took. “We can train until her magic is strong enough.”
“You can train as hard as you want, lad. I’m telling you, there is no amount of magic in this land that will help her” – he cut himself off from finishing his sentence.
“Fly,” Aeden finished it for him. “Nyra is never going to fly, is she?”
Lyric simply shook his head.
“ I will find a way, Nyra, I promise ,” Aeden said through the weave.
“ If this is the way it is, then so be it ,” Nyra said.
Aeden could only admire the bravery she was showing with the gravity of the news.
She would never fly. They would never fly.
The very thing that came most natural to Aer-Kin was to fly, and Nyra would never experience that.
She was grounded for the rest of her life through no fault of her own.
She was also naive when it came to the cruelty of this world and the people who inhabited it.
Aeden had never in his life heard of a single Aer-Kin rider that could not patrol the skies.
After all, what use was a rider who couldn’t fly?
“There are a couple of options,” Lyric said.
“Nyra is in a considerable amount of pain whenever she tries to move her wings. That will only serve as a weakness. My advice in this situation would be to either sever them entirely from her body, or bind them tightly. It will take her a while to get used to it, and it will be incredibly uncomfortable for her, but once she gets use to it, things will get easier for her.”
Cutting them off simply wasn’t an option. If they did that, they wouldn’t have any chance of ever healing them. If they bound them, though, there could still be the chance that one day, they could heal them. Either way, it needed to be Nyra’s decision for what they did next.
“ Do you understand what Lyric just said? ” Aeden asked, reaching out once again through their weave.
“ I think so ,” she said. “ As much as my wings hurt, I don’t want to lose them completely .”
“ So you want to bind them? ”
“ Yes, as much as Lyric says it will hurt, I think this will be the better option .”
“She says she wants to bind them,” Aeden said. “Are you sure this is the best thing for her?”
“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t.
” Lyric was a picture of sadness, his shoulders slumped, his eyes vacant.
“It’s good that you allowed her to make the choice.
I think if you asked many riders what they wanted to do, it would be them making the decision, not their bonded Aer-Kin.
I respect that, and I am sure she will too.
I’ll just go and grab the tools that we need. ” Lyric made to leave.
“What, we’re doing it right now?”
“If you don’t want her to suffer any more than she already has, then yes. It will be a difficult experience for her, but I agree that this is the best course of action for her.” And then he walked off towards the far side of the hatchery.
That hit Aeden in the chest like a sucker punch.
He had been so distracted by everything that was happening that he hadn’t considered the discomfort Nyra was enduring, and a heavy knot formed in his stomach.
Was he being selfish to want to continue with his own personal mission?
He couldn’t only think of his needs now.
He had to train harder for Nyra, too. He had to fight for her, and that was something that had become intrinsic to his very being.
It was a compulsion, an overwhelming urge to do right by her, to make sure she was okay.
That was what made hearing Lyric’s words even harder to bear.
She was in constant pain and discomfort because of her wings.
He had to do whatever it took to ease this, even if that meant pushing back his other plans.
His parents were no longer here, but Nyra was.
Aeden turned to face Nyra once more, and this time he pressed his head against hers.
“ You’re going to be okay ,” he said as his and Nyra’s breathing seemed to sync together. Her height already dwarfed his own, but he had to remind himself that she was still just a hatchling. The way she was handling all of this drew nothing but admiration from Aeden.
“ I want you to be the one to do it ,” she said, “ I want you to bind my wings . ”
“ But I don’t know what I’m doing ,” Aeden said. “ Surely Lyric is the best person to do this? ”
“ He may well be, but I want you to bind my wings for me .”
“Are you both ready?” Lyric said, startling Aeden.
He spun around to see that Lyric had a large pile of fabric in his arms, much like bandages, but on a scale that was clearly meant for Aer-Kin.
“She says she wants me to do this,” Aeden said, still unsure about this himself.
“I figured she might. It goes to show how much she trusts you already. Your bond is strong, I’ll give you that. I can talk you through everything.” Lyric held a concerned expression on his face, however – one that told Aeden there was more to this process than he was letting on.
“What is it?” Aeden asked, rightfully concerned for Nyra.
“The binding will push you both. Your feelings and hers are shared with one another, and that runs a risk on its own. This process is dangerous, especially with your bond being so young.” He looked at Nyra with a pained expression.
“That said, it would be cruel to let her endure the discomfort that she has.”
“Then that settles it. I don’t care about the risk. She may be able to survive without me, but I can’t survive without her, and I certainly can’t let her continue in pain. Whatever it takes, whatever the burden on my body, I will do what I have to, as long as Nyra is happy.”
A flutter of happiness swelled in his heart. It was Nyra. She was scared and anxious, but Aeden’s words brought her comfort, and in that moment he sensed their bond had gotten that little bit stronger.