Jasper Jaquin's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Jasper climbed the pyramid one step at a time. His claws found each worn edge. The sky serpent watched him from the platform, silver coils bright against the stone. When Jasper reached the top, his wings were still folded flat against his back. He had never opened them. He did not know how. "So you're ready to learn to fly," the serpent said. Jasper nodded slowly. "I've taught all the flying animals in the bayou." He said it before he thought about it. It was true. He had shown a winged green snake how to catch a thermal above the mangroves. He had watched dragonflies lift off his paw. He knew what flight looked like from the ground. The serpent's yellow eyes did not move. "You have watched flight. That is not the same." A shadow crossed the platform. A blue macaw landed on the far edge, small and alone, sandals scuffing stone. Behind him came the red macaw in the green robe, wings tucked, pendant swinging. "Azure has come to learn as well," the serpent said. "You will learn together." Azure looked at Jasper's folded wings. "You've never opened them." It was not a question. "No," Jasper said. "Then start there." Azure spread his own wings, blue against the sky. "Feel the joint. Push out. Don't think about lifting yet." Jasper tried. The wings on his back twitched. He pushed. Black feathers cracked open behind him for the first time. They were heavier than he expected. They pulled at muscles he had never used. He staggered sideways on the stone. The red macaw stepped closer and steadied him with one wing. "Being sure you know a thing is not the same as knowing it," the macaw said. "I mistake the two often. Watch for it in yourself." Quetzalcoatl lifted from the platform, slow, and hung in the air above them. "Today you open them. That is all. Tomorrow you jump." He looked at Jasper. "You came here believing you already understood. You do not. That is your first lesson, and you have learned it. Come back at dawn." The serpent turned in the air and slid away over the trees, leaving no mark on the sky. Jasper stood on the platform with his wings half-open and shaking. Azure folded his own wings neatly and sat down beside him. The red macaw watched the horizon where the serpent had gone. Jasper's shoulders burned. He could not fold the wings back. He did not know how to close them either.