Christoff heard Crystal’s heartfelt wish. Something deep down inside told him that this was very important not just for him, but for her as well. She needed to know that one day she could fly as well and that her leg would not hold her back from achieving her dreams.
A shiver ran through Christoff’s dragon when he felt the symbiot form wings over his small, deform ones. His dragon shook, not use to the unfamiliar weight on his back. Focusing, Christoff sucked in a breath when he felt the wings spread out. He turned his head to stare at the golden extensions to his body.
He spent several minutes experimenting with the weight, feel, and movement of them. His dragon was impatient to lift off, but Christoff understood the overall importance of this being successful.
We need to make sure this will work, Christoff explained to his impatient dragon. This is about more than us, it is also about Crystal.
I know. I ready, his dragon insisted. Spark ready. We work as one. It is way we are made.
If you are sure….
Christoff never got to finish his thought. The moment his dragon felt him concede, he pushed up off the ground. The instinctive knowledge of how to fly filled the creature. It was the same knowledge on how to breathe dragon fire and to shift from one form to the other without thought that had been passed down through generation after generation of dragons. A wave of awe washed through him as he lifted off the ground. His golden wings moved in powerful strokes up and down and pushing him higher.
“Go, Christoff! Go!” Crystal yelled, laughing and trying to follow him. “Fly to the moon and back!”
The dragon released a low rumble of laughter that echoed through the crisp mountain air. For the first time in his life, he was flying! Really flying!
I free, his dragon whispered to him in awe. I like other dragons now. I not weak, unworthy.
You have never been weak or unworthy, my friend. You have always been perfect to me, he replied in a somber voice.
I wish my mate to see me, his dragon sighed.
She does, Christoff chuckled. Look to your right side.
Christoff felt his dragon’s love for its mate explode through him. He knew what it was feeling. He felt the same way whenever he looked at Edna. Slowing his speed to match his mate, the large male waited for the small green female to catch up with him. Together, they flew over the trees and up to the high meadow. Christoff circled around before gliding in for a landing along the powdered snow. He turned as his mate came in behind him, her soft rumble of happiness washing over him as he folded his make-shift wings against his side.
You fly, his mate breathed out in wonder.
Yes, I fly, he laughed. I fly!
*.*.*
Crystal turned to look at her parents. Tears burned her eyes, but she quickly blinked them back. It was true. If Christoff could fly, so could she. Walking slowly toward her parents, she didn’t think about the slight limp caused by her prosthetic. It was her symbiot. Her way of being able to fly.
“It worked,” she said with a smile. “Just like with me, his wings worked.”
“Yes,” Shelly whispered, brushing at the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh, Crystal.”
Crystal moved up the steps and into her mom and dad’s arms. She buried her face against her mom and sobbed. It took several minutes to finally calm herself to realize that they were all getting cold.
“I’m going to be okay now,” she said, wiping at the tears on her face. “I know I can fly, just like Christoff.”
“Yes, you can,” her dad murmured. “You always could.”
Crystal gave her dad a shaky laugh. “That’s pretty much what Christoff told me. Isn’t it cool that grandma is a dragon?” She added with a grin.
Shelly looked up into the sky and shook her head in wonder. Her mom! A dragon. How cool would that have been during some of the mother-daughter events when she was growing up, she thought in disbelief before a wave of sadness washed through her. Her mom had told her that she would be leaving soon, that she and Christoff couldn’t stay here.
“A woman came to me,” her mom had told them while they were inside after Christoff and Crystal went outside.
“A woman? What kind of woman?” Shelly asked, puzzled.
Edna looked down at her hands. She grasped them together when she saw they were shaking. A single tear ran down her cheek and dropped on it, but she knew what she had to do. In life, a child could accept that their parents would go first. It was time for Edna to go, but not in the way most parents do.
“She was like Spark, only more powerful I suspect. She explained that she sent Christoff here, but that he could not stay. It is too dangerous for him… and for me now,” Edna explained. “I belong with him, Shelly. I love him so much. I love you and Jack and Crystal, but this is different. It is more than about me. He is a good man.”
“I know he is, mom, but why do you have to leave?” Shelly insisted, rising from her chair and pacing.
“Shelly,” Jack murmured, standing as well and holding her. “He’s an alien. It would only be a matter of time before someone discovered him. You know what would happen to him, and your mom, if they did. We talked about this over the last few days.”
“I know, but why does she have to leave,” she insisted. “I need you!”
“No, you don’t,” Edna replied, standing. “And that is the way it is supposed to be. You have Jack and Crystal. You’ll always have me inside your heart. I won’t be truly gone as long as you remember that, just as your dad has never been gone for me. I can feel him in my heart. Just because I can’t see or touch him anymore doesn’t mean he isn’t there. I need to be with Christoff, Shelly. He makes me feel young and alive. He fills the emptiness left by your dad.”
“You love him, don’t you?” Shelly asked in a husky voice.
“Yes, very much,” Edna replied, walking around to hold her daughter’s hands. “Just as you love Jack and I loved your father.”
They all turned to look when they heard Crystal shouting out in the front yard. Striding to the door, they quickly grabbed their coats and slid them on before stepping outside. Edna was the first down the steps. She could feel her mate’s excitement and joy. Staring up at the beautiful sight of the male dragon in flight, she called to her own dragon.
Can we join him? She breathed out, staring in awe as the male flew higher.
Yes, her dragon whispered as she took over.
In the background, Edna heard Crystal’s excited laugh that she had the coolest grandmother ever at the same time as she heard Shelly’s gasp of disbelief. She ignored them all, focusing instead on her mate.
Lifting off the ground, she felt an intense wave of joy and happiness fill her as she raced to catch up with him. Her gaze ran over the golden wings encasing his shorter ones. The membrane of them was so sheer that she could see through them. His warm rumble of pleasure washed over her and she angled her small body up beside him.
My mate, she breathed.
Christoff turned and slowed so she could catch up with him. Together, they soared over the tops of the snow covered trees and up the mountain. From this height, Edna could see for miles. Now, she truly understood what the golden woman was saying. This is what her and Christoff’s dragons needed. Shelly and Crystal would be alright. It was time for her to move on to her next life.