Join in the Flight

Have you ever flown through the starry night sky, the wind cool against your skin and the moonlight warm upon your back? Have you ever played amongst the clouds and shaken raindrops from your mane? Have you ever danced among the stars?

If you are listening to this, child, then you have not. But to do those things is your dream, you goal. Am I right? You want nothing more than to soar throught the sky, the earth small beneath your feet and your herd mates around you. What is that? Did I say your goal? Yes, I did. I have already reached goal, the goal to fly, as have all the others around you. It was once our goal, and now we pass it on to you. To fly...It is the most glorious thing in the world and the easiest. We all know how to fly, there's a knowledge that just exists within us. But in order to fly our best, we must understand our roots, our past. So listen well child, so that you may join us in the sky.

We call ourselves Aria, children of the air. At the beginning of time when the world was being created, Isis, the moon goddess argued with Apollo, the sun god. Isis wished to create a creature that would inhabit the skies and belong only to her. Apollo, covetous of his authority, forbade her to allow her creation to wander in the morning skies. And so Isis created the Aria, who fly only at night.

She fashioned us after earth animals named horses, but gave us wings to set us apart. She colored us white so that we would always bear the mark of our maker and gave us the intelligence to hide from Apollo's hunters. For Apollo, in a frenzy of jealousy, had given life to his own band of creatures. He named them humans and gave them one purpose in life: the domination of the Aria.

Centuries upon centuries, the Aria and the humans fought. Humans would catch Aria, but in their ignorance would kill them before they could conquer us. Aria would strike at the humans, but having an abhorrence of murder, would only succeed in angering the humans. It was a vicious cycle that went around and around until two wise ones decided that the time had come for peace.

From the Aria came Arya, shaman of our people. Her knowledge and patience were as great as the heavens from which she took her name. Her wisdom was renowned; her open-mindedness frowned upon. It only took a chance meeting between her and the "King" of the humans, Valerian, to spark reconciliation. Since that day, the Aria and the humans have coexisted peacefully.

Yet the day may come again, when the humans wage war against the Aria. For that day, that eventuality some say, we must be prepared. Humans say that "the best offense is a good defense." Our best defense is the ability to fly. Humans are afraid of heights and they are unnerved, by what they call our "unholy" compentence at flight. Their fright coupled with our excellent aerial strikes, causes them to falter in their attack whenever they sight us in the sky.

Flying is not all fun and games, child. For every wonderful moment spent in the heavens, there are two equally horrifying moments of terror. You have been sheltered all your short life. You have never been forced to flee swiftly, to watch your home being destroyed or to live when so many others perished. You are the summer children, born after the Great Winter and the Healing Spring. May Isis grant that you never live to see the horrors that we did, but if Isis deems that we need be punished, you must be prepared.

Aerial drills and escape procedures will become a daily part of your life after your first flight, and there will come a day when you will wonder why. Resentment will fester in your heart and rebellion in your breast. Pray that on the day you falter, we will not need you. Pray that you, in your ignorance of war and contempt for the old ones, do not commit the unpardonable sin of instigating a revolt, leaving your herd and your foals unprotected.

This may seem like a heavy lecture to be delivering to you now, just before your first flight, just at the moment when your heart must be light. But flying is not something to be taken for granted. It is a gift, a talent and a great power. With great power, though, comes great responsibility. King Valerian believed this and so do the Aria.

My child, look at me now. See in my eyes the wisdom of the old, the courage of the young, the confidence of the pretty and the humility of the homely. Look into my eyes and judge me. Judge my heart, my temperament, my life.

Not sure if you like what you see? Good. Why good? You see yourself in my eyes, child, the reflection of your true self. Now look into my eyes again. See again those things of which I told you and judge me now. What do you see? Am I anything like you? Do we share any common traits or values?

In order to fly, child, you must share some traits with me. Overtime you will gain them all, as I have, your character worn by the passage of time and life, strengthened by the joy of love and the laughter of friendship and sweetened by the sorrow of death. But on this, your first flight, you need only have one thing in common with me. You must have the desire to fly, the desire to soar through the night.

Do you have it? Is flight the foremost thought in your mind? Is dancing among the stars what you want to do? Is it? Good. Then come along child. Come and dance with me.