Winged: A Novella (Of Two Girls) by Joyce Chng Read Free Book Online Page A

or
even relieved. Yet, no matter how she tried to feel joy, there was
a nagging sense of failure. Alethia would say that she did well and
it was good.
     
    I am my worst critic and enemy ,
Katherine could hear cheerful laughter and chatter from the Great
Manor. Perhaps Doctor Ash was right. It was a psychological
problem. My mind’s problem. How do I make it go away?
     
    She shivered as the breeze turned cold and
hurried on, glad for the imminent welcome warmth in the Manor. She
passed a tree, now almost bare of leaves, looking tragically gaunt
in the evening light. There was a nest, empty of birds. Something
dark on the grass beneath the tree drew her eye. As she moved
closer, it moved.
     
    It was a tiny goldfinch fledgling, looking
as if it had fallen from the tree. It chirped when she knelt down.
The little bird was almost fully fledged, with its feathers showing
signs of its adult colors of golden brown and bright yellow.
     
    Katherine picked the fledgling up, cupping
it carefully in her hands. It squirmed restlessly and made soft
chirping protests. One of its wings appeared to be crooked and
Katherine knew it might just be a broken wing.
     
    With a sigh and a rush of uncommon
compassion in her chest, she brought the fledgling indoors.
     
Chapter Two

Hardening The Wings
     
     
    The news of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee came
via telegraph code and was received with great excitement. Her
Majesty had invited delegates from all the nations of the Known
World to participate in the celebrations. Britannia would have its
own Aerial Fleet to show off to the visiting ambassadors and their
own flying machines. It was truly a stirring piece of news and it
went like wild fire throughout the Great Manor. Groups and clusters
of students huddled together, talking about it.
     
    Indeed there was already talk about a new
kind of flying vessel to be launched at the Great Gathering, as it
was termed by the broadsheet commentators and journalists. The
identity of the inventor was a mystery and so was the design of
this new flying vessel.
     
    The Academy was to send a small contingent
to join the illustrious Aerial Fleet with the brightest and the
best cadet pilots and handlers selected from the four Colleges of
Sable, Azure, Orr and Vert.
     
     
    ~*~
     
    Alethia was one of the fortunate few to be
chosen from College Sable and there was much felicitation going
around the dormitory. Katherine cheered and whooped; she was
initially disappointed that she did not make the cut. But it was
for the “brightest and the best” students the Academy could offer
and Alethia was one of the brightest, the most gifted.
     
     
     
     
    “My father will be there too,” Alethia said
laughing breathlessly as Katherine spun her around the room. Paul
Forrester was a gifted eccentric who adored his daughter. Katherine
had often seen the wonderful inventions in the Forresters’ house
whenever she visited them for Yuletide. The inventors would be
there, of course; their inventions would be showcased in a great
parade of magnificent flying fins, blimps and other air-borne
vessels from various nations.
     
    Soon the two young ladies sat down on their
beds to catch their breath and to rest. Katherine checked the
little fledgling in its little cage. It was eating well and the
feathers were looking healthy. The eyes were bright, shining.
Sadly, the injured wing remained slightly twisted and she fretted.
She had named it Tito and had grown fond of it. Captain Sagan had
already given permission; Katherine would have to free the
fledgling once it was healed and matured.
     
    “The wings look like they are hardening,”
Katherine examined Tito closely. The little goldfinch chirped and
waited impatiently for its juicy worm.
     
    “It has to fly one day,” Alethia cocked her
head to listen to the chirping.
     
    “It is the wing I am worried about,”
Katherine murmured, feeding Tito a fat white grub she found in
Cook’s vegetable garden.
     
    “Is it not