Flight Read Free Page A

head for the piano.
    I pluck out a few tunes that have stuck in my fingers for whatever reason over the years, then switch to what I always end up playing once I take a seat at the keys. Asgarth. Maybe there'll be time for an opera when I'm on Earth?
    This makes me laugh out loud. Yeah, sure, Junco. Between rounding up the saviors of the avian race you can just slip into the opera. Wings and all.
    I dip into the deeper notes of the opening sequence, then stop.
    Why do I always play it from beginning to end? I can start wherever I want and I'm sick of the unhappy scenes. I hardly ever play long enough to get to the sweetest part of the tale. His salvation. I switch gears and begin playing the melody of the ascension and stop again.
    Asgarth just isn't doing it for me tonight.
    My mind goes back to the Enki and the World Order nargala and I begin the tedious recall of putting the notes from the Inanna scene onto the keyboard. It's a nice song. Of course I can't play all the notes the Ilat Nargalist sang, that was like an orchestra of instruments coming from her mouth, but I get a pretty good approximation going and before long I can almost play the whole thing. I am playing the high notes at the end that made me cry when I hear the applause behind me.
    I jump a little and turn. "Shit, Lucan. You don't have to sneak up on me."
    His face is bright and he looks happy. "I've been sitting here for thirty minutes, Junco. I didn't sneak up on you." He points to the piano. "You were engaged." Then he gets up and pushes me over and begins to play the song I just finished. "That's a pretty good approximation you did there, how do you do it?"
    "How do you do it? I didn't know you played."
    He grins but his fingers keep moving. "I don't, Junco. It's just a gift."
    "Oh, programmed learning? My father wouldn't let me do that. He made me practice."
    "Yes, I can see that. But your skill at finding the notes and putting them together is quite good. Why did he make you learn the hard way?"
    I shake my head, but I know the answer so I say it anyway. "He always said, 'Things worth doing are also worth learning to do.'"
    "He's right. No one cares that I can play this song. Because I cheat what it takes to really make it worthwhile. You, on the other hand, you just pulled it out from your memory and matched every single note with a key and then put them all together. That is something worth doing."
    Yeah, I get it. "I agree."
    "You will not see Tier this week, Junco. You will spend it with Ashur and the 039."
    I scowl up at him. "Ashur is ignoring me, I've tried to call him a million times. He won't answer."
    "I instructed him to stay away from you, but now you need to patch things up. He will be on the team for Earth. So you will spend this week with Ashur and the remaining 039."
    "Well, I'm not sad about that." I smile up at him. "You're not going to get a fight out of me. I miss them."
    He just points to my left hand. "Do you know why you can play with that disability and not hear the difference?"
    I look down at my missing fingers. "Why?"
    "Tier gifted you this when he healed you back on Earth. It's a special gift, Junco." He stops and sighs a little. "One I would have preferred he saved for something bigger, perhaps. But nonetheless, this is what he gave you."
    "What did you give him?" I look at him as he raises his eyebrows, maybe deciding if he will tell me or push it off.
    "Too many to list. But I am an Archer, so I have more to give away. Tier only had the one gift to give away and he gave it to you at that moment." He looks away for a second, then glances back at me. "It must have been some special moment."
    I think back to the hot springs and smile up at Lucan. "It was life-changing for me, really. I don't know what he thought about it, obviously, but everything turned for me in the time leading up to the nightdog attack. My whole world just – changed. It went from being one thing to being something completely different. And he told me