7 June 2054
They spent the next month on the road, traveling primarily at night and camping during the day, when they slept, ate and talked. One evening, Ed sat watching a car going past on the highway they were paralleling, while Alaina lay asleep in the sun-warmed grass, naked, her blanket rucked aside.
She stirred and sat up, blinking about her. She rose and padded over to him on silent bare feet. “What are you thinking about, Ed?” she asked, putting her arms around him.
”About you, me, and the rest of the mutants. About whether this world will ever be safe for us again. About whether this putative community of mutants in the South is anything but a wish-fulfilling dream.” He put his arms around her, stroking her back. Her wings were already over five feet long each and the snow-white feathers brushed the backs of his hands.
She bowed her head until her forehead touched his. “We’ll make it, or we won’t. Right now, being with you is enough for me.” His grip tightened on her back as he stood, changing rapidly into foreplay as it so often did. She didn’t know whether he was still thanking her for saving his life or not, but she didn’t care. It felt so comforting to be with someone who wanted her! He picked her up and she accepted him into her body with a moan of pleasure. Her wings fluttered gently, maintaining balance as they rocked back and forth in their lovemaking.
He held her afterwards as she cuddled against his chest, legs still locked around his waist, sleepy and sated. He looked at her thoughtfully. “Alaina? You don’t feel as heavy as you used to. Do you mind if I hold you?”
She laughed softly. “You already are,” she murmured, unlocking her legs. He held her at arms length, frowning thoughtfully.
”Yes, you are a lot lighter than you used to be. No more than seventy-five or eighty pounds, at most.”
She looked puzzled. “Why, Ed?”
”Well, you have lost some volume, but that doesn’t account for anywhere near all of it. I would guess your bones are getting lighter; hollow, like birds’ bones. It would make sense, with your other mutations. If we were at my lab, I could check for sure, but it is a reasonable guess.”
They dressed, ate supper, and packed up. As they left the shelter of the trees, Alaina looked at him. “It’s windy tonight.”
”Yes. It’s been picking up all afternoon,” he replied. They reached the highway and turned south, walking into the wind. It gusted in their faces, pulling at her tightly furled wings.
They had been walking for over an hour when a particularly violent gust of wind buffeted them. Ed stumbled, then grabbed futilely at Alaina’s hand as she staggered backwards. Her wings instinctively spread for balance, and the boisterous wind caught her up and flung her high into the night sky.
She felt a moment of panic and vertigo as earth and sky swirled about her, then her wings caught the wind, cupped it, and set her gliding rapidly across the sky. Below her, she could see Ed, running after her and falling further behind every moment. She banked into the tumult and half-furled her wings, planing down the slope of the wind. Ed’s figure grew rapidly larger. Just before she landed, she furled her wings tightly shut and hit hard, going to her knees. Ed was there before the wind could sweep her up again.
He lifted her in his arms, holding her wings shut and ran for the trees beside the highway. “We’ll wait this one out!” he declared.
Her heart was still beating rapidly as he set her down in the shelter of the trees. Beneath their branches, the wind lost some of its rambunctious power. She held his hand tightly as they worked their way deeper into the belt of trees.
”Ed! I flew! Well, I didn’t fly, but I glided. It scared me to death! But it was fun!”
”I thought I’d lost you!” he declared. “Next time, let me know before you go kiting off like that.”
”Poor Ed,” she said, kissing his hand. “I promise, I won’t leave you without telling you first, and saying good-bye.”
He kissed her lips. “I won’t, either.”
They settled themselves in the middle of a copse of thick pines that sheltered them from the worst of the wind. “So,” he said, “your wings are useful, as well as ornamental. How do they feel?”
”They’re sore, but otherwise I feel fine. Oh, Ed, it was so exhilarating to be flying! Do you think I’ll learn to actually fly?”
He nodded. “Yes, I do. Right now, I don’t think your wings are strong enough to carry your weight for any length of time, but you can exercise them for a few minutes several times a day. If they continue to grow to a size to match your weight you should get to where at least short flights are possible. Even if they don’t, you should be able to glide some distance before having to touch down again.”
”Oh, Ed! I hope so!”
