{"id":78,"date":"2011-11-09T10:28:41","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T14:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/?page_id=78"},"modified":"2014-09-12T10:51:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T14:51:08","slug":"lori-learns-to-fly","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/j-m-brink\/lori-learns-to-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"Lori Learns to Fly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Spread before me was a spectacular view of the Caldenthakk Desert in bloom; the flowers vivid and colourful, the cliffs and plateaux brilliantly painted by the Creators and enhanced in the glancing rays of a setting sun. Malaika and Lenu were growing clearer and brighter as the day faded away.<\/p>\n

I’d really have been enjoying myself more if I weren\u2019t trying to convince myself I wasn\u2019t<\/em> two hundred kor\u0135ed <\/a>from the desert floor dressed for flying which Sal and Mikaila already were doing, swooping and diving over the \u2018scape. Varlisha was sitting a little ways off taking a breather and enjoying the remains of the picnic.<\/p>\n

I usually enjoy these trips, but normally they let me stay on the ground, choose a lower and less narrow cliff to jump from. Then <\/em>all I\u2019ve got to do is enjoy the view, enjoy my friends\u2019 stunts and fret one of them will succumb to gravity at any moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, Lor,\u201d Sal said as she landed next to me, \u201cIt\u2019s safe, and you’ll love it.\u201d Knowing me so well, she added, \u201cReally, it\u2019s safe. I promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before I realised what she was doing she\u2019d led me by the hand to the edge then asked, \u201cReady?\u201d<\/p>\n

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I’ve never been sure just why heights bother me so much nor how I had let them talk me into putting on this outfit, but I really did want to try it \u2026 flying always looked so beautiful, and free, and fun if more than a little terrifying<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to, you know?\u201d Sal said softy from beside me.<\/p>\n

I opened my eyes to see her looking at me still smiling, seemingly oblivious to the fact I\u2019d unconsciously started to squeeze her hand so hard mine <\/em>was going numb. \u201cI\u2019ll be right here, I promise. You can even keep holding my hand if you want, but you might want to loosen your grip a little; you\u2019d break Cardigen\u2019s hearts if you ruin that manicure this soon after he did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That made me chuckle and loosen my grip a little. \u201cI want to.\u201d I hesitated, torn between wanting the comfort of Sal\u2019s hand and my fear of plummeting us both to the desert sands below.<\/p>\n

Finally fear won, and just as I let go her hand I tipped forward with my eyes tight closed and fell into the air. I expected at any moment to feel the ground rising up to meet me, but I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

There was<\/em> a rush of air, but not as fast as I\u2019d expected nor, I finally realised, from the direction I’d expected. Keeping my eyes closed was making me so dizzy I felt ill so I opened them to find myself gliding serenely over the flower strewn, silvery painted, moons-lit ground. I felt a burst of panic as I realised I was defying gravity from less than half an hundred kor\u0135ed up, but I calmed as I realised I wasn\u2019t falling \u2026 well as I wasn\u2019t doing anything to prevent it I, technically, was <\/em>but quite slowly and very much controlled.<\/p>\n

A little tentatively at first and with growing confidence I tried banking and climbing and generally soared my way across the sky; my terror still there but buried under thrill and excitement. I would never bring myself to fly as fast or to dive and do stunts the way the others did, but the odd roll, and just tranquil drifting was soon a new found love.<\/p>\n

I still abhor heights \u2013 at least from near the edge of them, but if I\u2019ve got my flying clothes they suddenly don\u2019t seem so bad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spread before me was a spectacular view of the Caldenthakk Desert in bloom; the flowers vivid and colourful, the cliffs and plateaux brilliantly painted by the Creators and enhanced in the glancing rays of a setting sun. Malaika and Lenu … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-78","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P1Y5CS-1g","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":743,"href":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78\/revisions\/743"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/universal-nexus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}