Page 120 of Ruby
“No,” she insists. “Lost yours. I get? Not right.”
She looks at me now, black eye and blue-green eye fierce and wounded. “Notfair.”
Fair.
Such a strange human concept. I switch to her language so we can speak of it. “My wings were taken,” I say evenly. “Yours were given.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“It does not make it worse,” I counter.
She shakes her head. “I don’t want something you don’t have.”
The statement is so utterly Ani, and nothing like her old feathers, that I almost laugh, but I know she wouldn’t understand why and it would wound her, so I take a long breath before continuing.
“You think I cannot take joy in seeing you fly? That I would take your joy because I cannot?” I ask gently.
“No,” she says, drawing out the word.
I shift my body so I can run a hand down the strong lines of her wings. “Then do not steal joy from yourself.”
She frowns, considering.
Before she can argue further, Thivoll approaches, heavy steps deliberate on the packed ground.
He has been listening.
He always is.
“You brood too much,” he rumbles.
Ani glares at him. “We’re having a moment.”
“Yes. It is very dramatic.”
She almost snaps at him… almost… but then she smirks.
“Jealous you don’t get your own moment? Ree too busy to keep focused on Mr.Kitty?”
He chuffs. “I do not require drama. But pets are never turned down, of course.”
Thivoll turns to me.
“You know,” he says thoughtfully, “with proper resources, there is no reason you could not have wings again.”
I blink.
“What?” Ani blurts out.
He shrugs one massive shoulder to Ani, the human expression looking odd moving along his fur, but still addresses me. “Your primary flight muscles are in your back. They are intact. Strong. The Genali cut the bone and feather, not the foundation.”
My breath catches.
“Prosthetics,” he continues. “Artificial wings. Reinforced frame.Mechanizedextension. It would be a simple fabrication after a few minutes with the righttechnology.”
I stare at him.
“That is… possible?”
