James trotted along with all the fine grace of a dressage horse, the braids that kept his mane and forelock out of the way swinging and bouncing with each graceful step. The sound of hooves echoed across rock and stone, and he turned a corner, wings poofed up and tail flared out behind him like a peacock's.

"Oh Jampa!!", he called out, "Flying lesson today~!"

He was so excited that his next stride was a prance, all four legs pushing him forward as he tossed his head, braided tail swishing back and forth like a whip. He spread his wings half-way and stopped in his tracks, looking back and forth for the fawn, ears pricked and eyes wide, searching for his sibling.

Flying as a horse or a deer, he'd learned, was much more complicated than flying like a bird. They were built for flying, but a distinctly equine shape posed more problems than James had originally anticipated going into this. Balance was an issue, though their tails served to assist with that, and weight was another. Birds were small and tiny, whereas they were distinctly larger and heavier, meaning turning and stopping quickly placed an immense amount of strain on their wings if they weren't careful.

This would take some delicate instruction and demonstration, and a lot of training and exercise. With his muscle gain it was much easier to fly and do those quick maneuvers, and he was more durable and able to fly for hours rather than just a few minutes. With a few breaks? He was confident he could fly for days. And hopefully, Jampa would be able too. She was smaller, lighter, and more bird-like than he, so she'd probably have an easier time of it than he did.

Hopefully.

@Jampa

There wasn't much to Orion, now that she'd had time to acclimatize to the area and investigate small patches. Maybe the areas Pride let her tour were the safer ones, or maybe the whole place was properly abandoned - it looked messy at the best of times, with many of the odd isometric caverns having collapsed upon themselves. There were holes where doors ought to be, small portal-style windows with stones missing from the eaves, and many did not have rooftops at all. The best part of Orion was the ceiling with its distant-but-bright shards of stones in place of stars, and Jampa had spent the past few nights fixated upon them.

When James came calling for her, it wasn't that Jampa had forgotten about the plans they'd made - she just thought they were a few more days off, having lost chunks of time to daydreaming and long naps as she'd stayed up late each night, wanting to understand the shining deposits of quartz overhead. The best way was to fly, of course. She didn't know how to get up there yet, that's why James was here.

James' voice roused her from a drowsy state. She'd only meant to stop and rest for a few minutes - but that turned in to an hour or more - so Jampa was suitably late in arriving to her own lesson, and only returned to the land of the living because of her friend's voice carrying between the ruins.

She hastily got to her feet and shook out her feathers, a fine layer of dust puffing up all around her as if she were a moth; the filaments of her primary feathers looked the worst, as she'd used her wings as an impromptu blanket while napping. She shook her wings out with a swat or two of them, the resulting downdraught causing tendrils of detritus to rise from the nearest soot-pile like a column of smoke, through which she plunged on a direct route towards James.

"@James?" Jampa called out, tasting the dust and coughing afterward.
"I'm here-- !"

James trotted forward, ears pricked and tail swishing, "Hello! Did you take a nap?"

He reached out a win to gently brush off the last of the dust, "You're all dusty- but that's alright, you'll get it all off once you're in the air."

He spread his wings wide and grinned, flexing them a few times before trotting forward.

"First things first, we're going to get a running start," he said, and closed his wings, "You need to run as fast as you can before jumping into the air, and once you have that down, I'll demonstrate how to take off."

James took off at a gallop and leapt into the air, wings twitching as they strained, wanting to spread, but he landed again and cantered away, prancing back to Jampa and stamping a foot.

"Now, your father said that he wanted to practice over water, but with how long it would take your wings to dry out, a few bumps and bruises ought to teach you a much better lesson. Not to mention all the water is freezing now," he said, "But come on! Let's go run!"

He nudged her and took off running, mane and tail trailing behind him like streamers.

@Jampa

He didn't seem to mind the veneer of dust matting her feathers, dulling her color. James took one look at her and brushed off some dust, which sort-of tickled, making Jampa smile. She was still pretty sleepy, but it sounded like James wanted to go straight in to the lesson, thus Jampa did her best to listen and understand.

"Run and.. Jump? That's all?" Jampa murmured. It sounded like a very simple exercise and when he demonstrated it himself, Jampa couldn't help but think about her accidental bouncing from when they had played tag together. That's what he wanted her to do - run, bounce, but keep her wings tucked. Hadn't she already demonstrated such abilities last time they met?

She took a deep breath and pushed her thoughts away, settling her mind. If running and hopping was on the menu, that's what James' get. Jampa positioned herself at a long stretch of path, squaring off as if she were setting up for a race, and after a moment to gather her bearings she took off at a canter.

The beat of her rear hooves created a soft tempo against the dirt. Her wings were up and wanting to spread out, but she kept in mind the goal was to jump, not to fly yet. She tried to tuck them close to her body as she went, and then at the last moment she took a leap, landing deftly a moment later. Her cheeks were wind-swept and she was breathing quickly.

"How was that?" She puffed between breaths. "When do I get to use my wings? They're really big and in the way when I run." They were light, though. Most of her body was structured with hollow bird bones, so she didn't weigh much at all. One flap of her wings would have probably granted her enough lift to make any bounce spell superfluous.

@James

James offered a soft smile, "Not yet, Jampa. We have to wait for Pride to come so he can see. He wants to be here too."

He pointed off towards a pool of water, "You'll be aiming to take off over that. If all goes well, you'll fly! If it doesn't, you'll land safely and only get some wet feathers. Much better than scraping your knees on stone."

James trotted forward, "While we wait, we can continue practicing. You don't have to wait for much longer, I'm sure your father will be here soon."

Another smile and he looked around, searching for the deer, hoping he showed up before Jampa could become impatient. There was only so much practicing one could do before it stopped being fun and started being repetitive and boring.

@Pride @Jampa

Pride had hoped to find Tenzin. While James was winged, and a better teacher for flying than he--a non-flying deer--he had wanted to offer Jampa's other father the opportunity to be present.

He had called down into the main Lagoon--voice and mind carrying into the icy depths, where Tenzin's unseen ice and gemstone undoubtedly yet lurked. Was he sleeping in his chrysalis again, or simply sleeping? Pride didn't know, and he hadn't been able to rouse him enough to get an answer.

He still hoped that Tenzin might turn up, but for now, he forced cheer as he trotted along the wet path to where James and Jampa were making their test runs. "Doing well, I see," he offered, his call friendly. "Having fun yet-?" He was trusting James with the mechanics of it all--with the timing, the procedure. He didn't know if James had taught anyone else to fly, yet, but he knew that the horse's own learning was still fresh in his mind; his fledging hadn't taken place all that long ago. "I'm here if you fall," he added as he drew up closer, and slowed to a halt, the click of trotting hooves falling silent. He offerd friendly nudges to both daughter and friend, and added, "I'm sure you'll do fine, Jampa." Not that she needed the encouragement--she was impatient, he thought, to begin.

Pride stepped back, then--still hoping that perhaps Tenzin would show, but he didn't mention it; he didn't want to disappoint his daughter, in case she was hoping for his arrival, too.