Falk waited on his perch for Seth, who had yet to return. The perch was built into the stone wall of the cave that was the temporary home base for Seth's wife, Ariel.

He actually hated his perch. It was demeaning. It implied that no matter what, Falk was always going to be no more than a bird. Just a zhenniao who had killed the King, but Seth still got all the credit.

Not that Falk mind much.

Ariel, Seth's mate, curled up and kissed her engorged belly, smiling. Her chestnut hair splayed out on her pillow, but Falk couldn't have cared less what she looked like. He let out an annoyed 'craw' and shifted uncomfortably. She was pregnant, as everyone knew, with Seth's child. Seth had told Falk many times since they started scheming, that he wished to make a better world for Ariel. But the timetable had moved up once she'd announced her pregnancy.

Falk didn't care much for sentiment. A new child, a new world, yes, it was fitting, but unpractical. Seth, however, loved the idea. He'd pushed the timing and now they lacked the allies they needed to win easily.

"You know, I don't care of you transform." Ariel announced, surprising Falk a little bit. "You've known me for long enough. I trust you." Her voice was full of compassion and love, like her joy was something she could project onto others.

"I'm glad." Falk croaked. If a human voice from a bird unnerved Ariel, she didn't show it. "But I don't think Seth will like it."

"Seth has no say." Ariel replied boldly. Falk chuckled, sounding like he'd just swallowed a toad, and he couldn't get it out of his throat.

Hopping to the ground, he uncoiled that tight line of control from around the mental hitching post he'd tied it to, and let himself transform back to human.

Falk was handsome, in the way that evil always is. His dark black hair was feathery, and it almost appeared green in the light. His beady black eyes had been replaced by curved, flint-sharp ones. His skin was tanned from the sun, but what veins that were visible ran an unnatural green color, like summer grass. He crossed his arms, grabbing up his dark shorts and putting them on.

"So. What do you want to know?" Falk said. Ariel was always trying to set him up.

"No, this is what you need to know. I found a Druid ne-"

"Ariel, no." Seth walked in, covered in blood. Ariel wrinkled her nose, but Falk didn't dare react.

The smell of blood wasn't uncommon these days, as many people didn't trust in Seth. He had to deal with them elsewhere. "The Druids are staying peaceful." He scrubbed at his eyes. "As are the werewolves. Bastards."

"We're lucky they're not moving against us, my love." Ariel cautioned.

"So, it's just the waiting game, eh?" Falk asked, the silence becoming awkward quickly. "See who breaks first."

"I'm running out of soldiers to fight." Seth snapped. "Sooner or later, it's going to be us who breaks, Falk. I don't have a solution."

"There's nothing I can really do about that." Falk told him. "I told you that-"

"I don't care about your analysis!" Seth snapped

"What about all the Mages outside of Ireland? Back home, in other Silver Lands." Ariel questioned, her eyes narrowed. "They're loyal to us. Why not use them?"

"All the people they can spare are here, Ariel." Seth said, rubbing his jaw. "There's no more troops."

"So? Legal age of battle is sixteen, by Silver Law."

Falk looked at Ariel, half disgusted, half shocked. "Ariel, you know that most mages consider that to be too young."

"Then why haven't they changed it?" Ariel challenged. "We draft any able-bodied Silver Mage over sixteen and if it falls through, we can blame it on the Inner Courts."

Seth nodded slowly, a smirk starting to form over his face.

Falk felt his blood run cold. Children. That's what Ariel was proposing. Child soldiers. There was part of Falk that wanted to make Seth see sense, but...

Who was he to stop a revolution?

***

He put the skin over the sleeping girl, and she shifted closer to the skin, like it was a safety blanket. Dani looked over at a clearing that he was in, and walked to the far end. Sitting down like Dra had taught him, Dani closed his eyes are started to meditate.

It was like how he usually did it, the release of his powers, trying to grab at the wind, but not jerking it around like he'd attempted before.

The wind felt more like water, fluid rather than racing now, and he was glad of it. He gently shifted the power to his hand, like he'd tried to do in the Inner Courts. But this time, he could feel the itch that he'd felt grow strong rather than fade.

Maybe not having a Dawn's foot on his chest helped, he thought.

Dani felt the wind in his blood, and flung out his hand towards a tree, whipping his power out.

There was crack, and Dani watched as the tree splintered into pieced. "Holy shit!" He yelped, then looked over at Amber, who wasn't very far. She hadn't moved, but Dani didn't want to wake her up, so he moved further into the woods.

Once he'd gotten far enough, Dani focused again, watching his palms, half hoping they would make some kind of visible sign that he wasn't making this up. But there was nothing, no sign, no magical summons from the heaven.

He sighed, and flicked his wrist absently, annoy as suddenly as he was excited. However, groaning with complaint, a rock cleaved off of itself, cleanly split in two pieces. Dani jumped back, not expecting that to happen.
"What?" He said, and flicked his wrist again. This time, nothing happened, Dani flicked his other wrist. There was an audible fump as a clean slice was cut into the earth. Looking at ground, Dani blinked.

"There is no way that I am imagining this." Dani muttered, crouching down to feel the scar in the earth.

It was real.

Trying it again, Dani forced magic into his palms, and flicked his wrists. Like a dart, a dent formed in a tree trunk. "Okay." Dani said, doing it again. "I totally don't feel like Iron Man." He laughed under his breath, sending more magic, faster now.

Dani paused, panting as he tried to regain energy. If his father was the god of air and wind, then was he able to... fly? Without wings, that is. Shrugging, Dani supposed there was only one way to find out. He pulled more air towards, and felt a twinge in his chest, right above his heart. Relaxing his shoulders, he pushed his chest forward, and took a deep breath. The wind picked up around Dani, but the leaves on the trees didn't move.

There was another twinge, sharper this time, but Dani ignored, pushing through the pain, working past to get where he wanted to be. Around Dani, the pressure on his feet left, as he floated.

Dani whooped, his excitement tangible in the wind that he was creating. He tried to move around, using twitches of his fingers to direct the wind to carry him.

Once he descended to the ground, he felt his shoulders twinge.

"Why not?" Dani muttered, and forced his magic into his legs and arms, feeling scales form on his whole body. His legs and arms knit together, surprisingly painless as his body became long and sinuous, full of thick muscles and bones. Preparing himself for the ripping torture of wings, Dani braced, but didn't stop sending more magic into his body, flooding it so it was impossible to fail. He remembered the diagram of wings, how the bones bent like regular shoulders and forearms.

When the searing pain cut through him, all Dani could remember way that Zammi had shown him how to control it, her hands like iron. 'This is how you must control your concentration and your power. With a feel of head of the beast, and gentle hand.' She'd said. Now, Dani felt the head of his power, and controlled it with a gentle hand.

This was his beast, no one's else, and it was his job to control it. Dani felt the teasing pull at his fingers, like a great animal was testing his resolve.

But he did not soften his hands or his will, because this was his battle.

He would tame this beast.

Wings tore his shoulder blades apart, the skin screaming in agony, but Dani wasn't about to break his concentration. When he finally stopped, he flexed his shoulders, and felt himself rise off the ground a bit, like he'd jumped. Slowly flexing them forward, Dani brought his wings around, curling himself into a ball of scales, covered by glittering, feathered wings.

***

When Dani had finished practicing with his air powers, he walked back to where Amber had been. The Selkie was awake, her skin in a pile at her feet. Now, instead of flickering with exhaustion, Amber's eyes burned with a raging fire. "Where are we?" She snapped at him. "This isn't Canada. We're supposed to be in Canada."

"No shit Sherlock." Dani said drily. "You wanna cover up before yelling at me?" He said, raising an eyebrow at the naked Selkie. "You might get cold."

"Why the fuck do I not have clothes." Amber demanded, looking down, but not doing a damn thing about it. "I know I had clothes when I transformed."

"That's a good fucking question. I don't know where they went. Only that we got here, then you passed out, I had to carry your naked self to this place, the go back for your pelt." Dani didn't mention Zammi's visit; best not to get Amber's hopes up just yet. "So, please, shower me with praise."

Amber looked at him, her mouth twisted in a look of disgust. "I would rather be ripped apart by Seth and his pride than ever do that."

"Please," Dani snapped, getting angry. "Be my guest." He knew he should keep calm, that arguing wasn't going to make a difference, but he had just been told to run by his mother, escaped a massacre, and found out he was a demigod, all with this girl tagging along. He was at his wits end.

"You're pissy." Amber snapped.

"If you'd just found out you're being hunted by many, many Silver Mages with good senses of smell, you'd be worried to." Dani shot back.

"I've been hunted my entire life, and I've never been as bad tempered as you." Amber growled back. Dani tried not to laugh.

"For some strange reason, I really don't believe that. How is that possible?" Dani tapped one of his fingers to his chin. "Oh, wait, I know because you're a bitch who killed a child."

"At least I'm stronger than you." Amber spluttered, obviously caught off guard. She hadn't expected Dani to hold that against her still.

"I seriously doubt that fact, considering I'm a demigod." Dani blurt out, then clamped his mouth shut. Amber blinked, her rage transforming into confusion and shock.

"What?" She said. "You're a demigod? You?"

"Yeah. A really powerful one, according to how I didn't manifest my powers until I was seventeen." Dani spat back. If he wasn't able to take back what he said, Dani guessed he'd just have to own it.

"I don't think you understand." Amber said, and Dani looked at her, not quite understanding. "You're a demigod child of Zammi Coatl."

"So? I don't get what's the big deal." Dani snapped sullenly. "Zaza's the Advisor, but so what?"

"You really don't know a thing about your mother." Amber said, sounding a little surprised. "That's very sad."

"I literally didn't know she was alive until a week ago." Dani informed her. "I was left when I was six years old."

"Okay, but this as a person who's known Dra and Zammi only in a professional capacity, even I know more than that." Amber said.

"Did I not mention the fact I didn't grow with them?" Dani said shortly.

"But, like I would have thought that Zammi would have informed you about herself." Amber looked thoughtful. "I don't know."

"What to tell my why me being a demigod Child of Zammi Coatl's is a big thing?" Dani asked the Selkie woman, she looked back at him, her eyes full of concentration.

"Because Zammi Coatl is the woman who's basically a living legend among Silver Mages." Amber said, like he was dumb.

"Yeah, I am aware of that. Zammi's super powerful and prestigious because she's the Advisor. And she's got war power." Dani said waspishly. Amber rolled her eyes, annoyed by his ignorance.

"Imagine the most important hero you've ever heard of, and add magical battle prowess, and you have Zammi Coatl."

"So she's a really powerful Mage, that's not really important, is it? I mean, Dra's powerful, so are you and so am I. Is there really any Silver Mage that's not powerful?" Dani deadpanned. "At least in the Inner Courts."

"Compared to you and Zammi, Dra and I are far behind you in terms of power." Amber told him.

"Me, I get, because I'm a demigod, but Zammi? Not really." Dani said. "She's just a regular Mage, right?"

"How dumb are you?" Amber smacked the back of Dani's head. "She's a demigod too, dumbass."

Amber is without shame. Or a filter.

Y'all get to meet Falk! What do you think of him? Tell me! (Maybe I'll draw him soon...)

Thank you for all the support I'm getting on this! I'm sorry for not getting to as many comments, my notifications have been weird.

QOTD: What hobby do you have, besides writing/reading?

Personally, I have a few, like baking, crocheting, drawing and watching anime.

Don't be a Silent Reader! Comment, vote, and share this story! It makes me feel less alone!

Oh, side plug, if you like superheroes and villains, go check out @fizzy_apples book, When Hell Runs Cold. I edit it and it's truly amazing!

Y'all are beautiful people!

C.J out!