Samantha Edwhan

Alita's Youth

Chapter 4

Spring 2827

It was a warm day on the beach. It had been warming up for a few weeks now and was nearly the perfect temperature. Alita and her friends were gathered on the grass bank, enjoying the weather as they discussed their most recent lessons.

“Flying lessons are definitely the best,” Erika said, fluttering her wings and prancing around. She stared up at the sky. “I bet I can impress our teachers with some cool tricks.”

“I don’t know if ‘cool tricks’ are what they want us practicing right now,” Matthias told her.

“I’m more interested in the obelisk,” Cloe said.

Alita followed her gaze to the towering obelisk several metres away. The sun shone on one side of it, casting a shadow onto the stone marked dirt patch nearby. It was how the dragons of Tribe-Ali tracked time. Alita remembered when they first learned how to read it.

The curving lines that ran parallel to the obelisk tracked the days and months. The line closest to the obelisk indicated the longest day of the year and the line furthest from it indicated the shortest day of the year. The intersect straight lines marked the time of day. All their teachers took great care to ensure everyone knew how to read the obelisk.

Alita stared at the shadow for a long moment. It was near the line closest to the obelisk and about one third of the way across. In a month or so it would be time for the summer solstice. But in a few hours it would be time for lunch

“Reading the time is boring,” Erika complained after a long moment. “Flying is way cooler!”

“Alright then, show us what you had planned,” Evelyn said, rolling her eyes with a quick glance at Alita.

Erika spread her wings and pranced a few steps away. She leapt into the air with an impressive beat of her wings and climbed until she was many, many metres off the ground. Alita stared up at her, or rather squinted, as the sun shone in her eyes. Erika hovered in place for a moment. Then she rolled forward and tucked in her wings. She spun in the air as she dove head first towards the grass. Just before she crashed, Erika spread her wings and zipped forward. Her speed took her across the beach, towards the ocean. She turned to glide back before touching down on the ground.

“That was awesome!” Alita gasped.

“Yeah, but it was too dangerous,” Cloe said. She frowned at Erika. “You shouldn’t be doing such risky moves.”

“Especially not to impress the teachers,” Matthias added. “I think they’ll be mad at you for doing anything like that.”

Erika frowned at him. “I will do whatever I want. So what if I want to do something risky? I never get hurt.”

Matthias frowned. “Just because you didn’t get hurt this time, doesn’t mean you won’t ever. What if you crash land while showing off?”

“Showing off?” Erika’s voice raised in pitch and she glared at him. “I don’t show off!”

“Yes, you do. What you just did was showing off,” Matthias said.

Erika squinted at him. “And what do you call your continued attempts to please Chieftain Clyde, suck up?”

“Hey!” Matthias snapped. A growl started to form in his throat.

Before anyone could say anything else, Alita jumped between them. “Calm down guys. It’s not a big deal. Let’s just focus on all of us getting some flying practice now. We don’t need to fight.”

“Not until he apologises for calling me a show off,” Erika said.

“That’s what you did though!” Matthias insisted.

Alita raised her wings, trying to block their view of each other. “Please, stop fighting!”

“He started it! Get out of the way.” Erika punctuated her demand by giving Alita a firm shove.

Alita stumbled a little, nearly falling over. Her wings splayed out before she thought to stop it and she whacked both of them in the face.

“Hey!” Erika snapped. She stepped back and glared at Alita. “You did that on purpose!”

“N-no! I’m sorry, Erika.” Alita desperately hoped Erika didn’t hate her now.

Evelyn suddenly shoved herself between them. “Leave her alone! Alita did nothing to hurt you. You pushed her! She was just trying to stop you guys from fighting.”

“Did you miss the part where she whacked me in the face?” Erika demanded.

“After you pushed her!” Evelyn repeated. “She was trying to keep her balance because you tried to knock her over.”

“Guys! Stop fighting!” Cloe yelled.

Everyone fell silent and turned to stare at Cloe.

“Just because we all have our own ways of pleasing the adults doesn’t mean we should fight each other about it,” Cloe said.

Alita turned back to Erika and Matthias. For one, tense, terrifying moment, she thought they would keep yelling at each other. But then Matthias sighed and stepped back.

“You’re right, Cloe.” He dipped his head to Erika. “I’m sorry for calling you a show off.”

Erika sat down, still frowning, but said, “I guess I’m sorry too, for calling you a suck up.”

Alita let out a breath she didn’t realise she was holding and stepped back. As much as Cloe’s yelling surprised her, she was glad for it. She seemed to have a way of stopping fights that Alita lacked.

“What about Alita,” Evelyn said, pointedly looking at Erika.

Erika eyed her, then sighed. “I’m sorry for pushing you, Alita.”

Alita blinked at her. She was a little surprised Evelyn thought she needed an apology at all. “Uh, thanks.”

Evelyn smiled and folded her wings. It was then that Alita realised she had even spread them out, perhaps to block Erika’s view of Matthias like Alita had tried to do.

Just as Evelyn was turning around to face her, Alita spotted Clyde and an unfamiliar reddish brown dragon walking along the beach nearby. The new dragon had her head down as she stared at the sand. Behind them, a pair of young dragons followed slowly. One looked to be just a little younger than Alita and her friends while the other seemed like a nestling.

“Who’s that?” she wondered aloud.

“Isabella!” Matthias cheered a moment later. He bounced over and grinned at them. “It’s been so long! How are you?”

Isabella stopped and stared at him. Her eyes widened, then she ducked her head and wrapped him into a hug with a sob.

“Wait… what happened?” Matthias asked.

Isabella didn’t say anything, only squeezing him tighter. Clyde glanced at the other fledglings regretfully.

“What happened?” Alita asked, echoing Matthias’s question.

Clyde sighed. “Isabella and her sons are joining Tribe-Ali. She lost her mate.”

“Wait… Odran’s dead?” Matthias asked. He pulled away from Isabella, eyes wide. “How did he die?”

“Winter was rough,” Isabella muttered, not looking at him. “He prioritised feeding us over himself. I didn’t even realise he was starving himself until it was too late.”

Matthias’s ears dropped and his eyes grew even wider. “He starved?”

“What a horrible way to go,” Cloe breathed.

Alita could only silently agree. She didn’t remember her time as a Wanderer, but she knew it was a hard life. The thought of starving to death scared her more than drowning. How could anyone deny themselves food for so long that they’d die?

“Matthias, I think it’s best if I take Isabella, Lathan, and Jason to the caves,” Clyde said gently. “Do you want to come with us?”

Matthias glanced at his friends, then nodded. He joined Clyde and Isabella, quietly herding his two nephews along as they headed for the caves. Alita watched him go, sadness filling her heart.