Up and Out

The first topic of conversation between Aila and Kuléo, when they returned to Paris, was the idea that maybe they should start looking into moving somewhere else. Both of them had grown up in the city and lived there all their lives, but there was something that called to a winged person out in the countryside, in the mountains, away from the smog and the noise (mental and otherwise). It was an addictive sort of thing. Aila wondered at how many Na’aulele had managed to stay in Paris as long as they had; but she supposed that the change of pace was interesting to them, too.

“Let’s go somewhere south,” Aila said to him one day. This was not the first time the subject had come up.

Kuléo had already finished his secondary school education; Aila still had a little bit more to go, but she had applied herself to it with gusto, thoughts of life beyond her current situation spurring her on. Somehow, with her hectic life and all of her immediate worries, she hadn’t spent much time wondering what kind of adult she might be. And now that it was upon her, she found that she was more concerned with it than all of her worries about Na’aulele bickering over what she was, or even her parents’ continuing strained relationship with her.

She had beautiful, functional, and, after the long trip, very strong wings; she had magic; she had a new culture and language in which she was quite conversant; she had a devoted boyfriend who was more than she ever could have asked for. Aila gave Kuléo one of those perplexing mystery girl smiles at that thought, and he looked suitably confused.

So it was a strange feeling, for once, when she had stopped fighting an eternal rearguard battle over her body and her identity, and she could honestly approach the future as a more or less normal person.

“Let’s apply to a university somewhere near the mountains,” she continued. “Or maybe somewhere near a pretty beach, on the ocean.”

“For me,” Kuléo said with mock seriousness, “I’m still really interested in that North Pole–Hey! Oww!” He had grunted when she whacked him on the chest.

“I’m being serious here!” she said, but still smiling. “I’m being serious here,” she continued in a quieter voice. “Let’s look at some places and start applying.

“Do you have any ideas on where, specifically?” he asked her.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Aila replied, and pulled out a stack of brochures.

Two voices were talking excitedly, and Aila thought, very fondly, in one of the residence rooms in the Catacombs. The room was slightly open, but she knocked anyway, and waited for Audrey’s shouted “Come in!”

Audrey was perched on a stool, and sitting there on her bed was another woman of about Audrey’s age... without wings. The two of them had a sort of similarity, a certain something about them that spoke of connection... but obviously not a sisterly one.

“Oh hello, Aila,” Audrey said to her. “I’d like you to meet Christine... my partner.”

Aila could hear the joy in that last word as she spoke it, and she smiled at the two of them.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Aila said.

“Aila was there on that first scary day,” Audrey said to Christine. “I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. In some ways I’m still not. But we’ve been friends ever since.”

“Were you... the... from before...” Aila stumbled, not knowing how to say what she wanted to say without prying or being rude.

“Yes,” Christine replied soberly. “Yes, that was me. I haven’t been the best family to Audrey. I’m glad you watched out for her though. And... did you also...”

Aila smiled at her again. “I did. We were both there for testing, actually. I was just a little kid then... strange to think of how far we’ve both come.” She lazily beat her wings a little bit, just enough to make a breeze. Audrey did the same in response.

“So I take it that you two have become friends again?” Aila asked. “Or maybe made up more than that?” There was a hint of sly elbowing in her voice.

Audrey turned a little pink.

“Yeah,” Christine said. “It’s time for us to make up lost time. I’ve had a lot of time to think about what’s important. And who’s important.” She reached over and took Audrey’s hand fondly. “I tried to picture my long-term life without her, wings or no wings, and it just didn’t work somehow.”

“That’s so sweet, you two,” Aila replied.

“And guess what?” Audrey said excitedly. “I figured out an answer to my little wing problem. I can’t seem to fly with them on my own still, but I’ve worked with a friend of Christine’s... we think we might have come up with a way to use hang glider tech to make something that would let me. A little like a wing wheelchair, or something like that.”

Aila’s mind was spinning with the possibilities. “That’s brilliant, Audrey! You realize that you could possibly help older and injured Na’aulele, too? They may end up having a lot to thank you for.”

Clearly Audrey had not thought that through, because her face went a little still with shock, and then happiness.

“I’d be so honored to give something back,” she said. “And you and Kuléo; you two are totally marriage material!” Audrey winked at her.

Aila went red as a beet at that and spluttered a little. “It’s.. uh.. we’re a little.. it’s too early for that yet,” she finished lamely. “We’re talking about going south to a university after I graduate,” she continued, trying to change the subject. “I might study dance and music.”

“That’s great!” Christine said. “And... Kuléo?” she stumbled ever so slightly over the Ka’aulele name.

“Kuléo doesn’t really know what he wants to do yet,” Aila replied. “He’d really like to study alchemy, but there’s not anything on this side of the aurora yet. Almost no one takes it seriously.”

“Then it’s real?” Christine asked. Then she looked at their wings and said, “That was a silly question, wasn’t it?”

Aila smiled. “It’s just a misunderstanding. So many people assume that turning lead into gold is the end-all of alchemy. It’s been done on Hunéa, but in a larger context, it’s a metaphor.” She suddenly looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I can go on and on about it sometimes. I’ve studied with Dr. Halalo a little bit.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Audrey said drily to Christine. “She’s studied more than a bit. Dr. Halalo is our resident alchemy master. He’s responsible for this whole operation.”

Aila perked her ears up a bit at that. “I never really asked about the background of L’aide Alchemique. I always wondered where they got all of their money for the operation, and for... getting access to politics in certain places.” Aila thought back to her ID card, the one that had the right name on it in spite of her legal name still being on file as Aile Molyneaux.

“Yeah,” Audrey said. “You just spoke the answer a moment ago. I’m sure you can figure it out.” She winked. “No one believes that it’s possible, so no one investigates. I heard him saying to one of his administrative assistants once that if he ever stopped having pure intentions, it would all vanish like smoke. But he truly wants to help, and he’s following his dreams, so it keeps working.”

“Wow,” Aila said. “That’s so... so... sneaky! And cool! I don’t know why it never occurred to me.”

“Probably because you’re someone for whom it would work,” Audrey replied. “A true seeker.”

Aila blushed at that.

“There’s something else,” Audrey said quickly, as if she didn’t want them to lose track of an earlier topic. “I think I might have mentioned to you that we’d talked about trying for a baby.” She got a big smile on her face and took Christine’s hand, looking at her, too. “I think we might go ahead with that.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Aila said. “Who gets to be the lucky waddler?”

They all laughed at that.

“Probably me, since Audrey needs to work on her wings and such,” Christine replied. “But we haven’t completely decided yet. And who knows... perhaps there will be others.”

Time flew by, and Aila’s graduation from the tutors at the Catacombs seemed more and more imminent. They had the ability to issue official certificates so that it would all actually count as normal schooling. And after that...

She and Kuléo had continued their talks about moving somewhere together and entering a university. She still wasn’t entirely sure, though. The Catacombs were dark and far away from their beloved sky, but they were still the only home she’d had for quite some time. On the other hand, she was still uncertain of her social situation; after the initial burst of argument on the topic, it seems that everyone had largely forgotten about it. After all, their only confirmed topic of discussion had seemingly vanished. But Aila hadn’t attended any parties or activities since that terrible day, afraid of what might happen. And she felt something... she felt a yearning to go south.

“You really are turning into a bird,” Kuléo laughed at her one day when she brought it up. But she wasn’t entirely sure he was wrong, in some ways.

Even so, it felt like something more than just that. Something tugging at her that could only be done down there. Time would tell.

That same undefined sense of tugging finally brought her one day to do something she never thought she’d do, but which felt as right and necessary as any of it.

She landed right on the street near an apartment building, and walked inside. The walls were still covered in bright paint, and there were still chandeliers hanging from the ceiling that were all old-Paris chic. Aila found the door she wanted, and then hesitated for a moment, her hand poised to knock.

The final choice was taken away from her when the door suddenly opened, and she stood there startled, with her hand still hanging in the air.

An older Ka’aulele woman stood there looking back at her, nearly as startled as Aila.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“Hello, Iola,” Aila replied simply.

“Aile? Can it be...? But...” Iola looked up at her wings with a sense of wonder, seemingly stunned into inaction. Aila gave her an awkward smile back.

“Come in, child, come in. But you’re not such a child anymore, are you?” Iola asked as she ushered Aila inside. “Have a seat.”

The old comfy chair that little Aile had sat in so long ago, drinking spiced coffee and confessing her innermost desires, was replaced by a new kind of chair that she’d seen becoming more popular among Na’aulele lately: it resembled the big, soft, cushioned chairs that one might see anywhere else on Earth, but the back was cut in a curiously curved way so as to allow for wings to fit through. There were other cushions on the back in a stepped pattern that were perfect for resting wings upon. Aila sat down in it and let out an involuntary sigh of contentment that convinced her that she needed one of these chairs, too.

“Would you like something to drink?” Iola asked her kindly. “Maybe some of that spiced coffee you used to love so much?”

“Oh, I would love some tafaulé coffee,” Aila responded. Iola seemed a little surprised, but then shook her head as if dismissing a silly thought.

Not much else had changed about the apartment. There were still the various pieces of artwork from Hunéa, many with rainbow motifs, and other Earth pieces mixed in. A few had been changed out, but some she still recognized from many years ago. Some of them she now understood better. One curvy sculpture with hints of wings outstretched and human arms arched overhead, and a rainbow around the wrists and hands, was clearly a statement on the Ka’aulele creation mythology that she had heard several times by now. Of course, she now had good reason to believe that it was literally true: the Na’aulele as a bridge between above and below, symbolized by the rainbow, a hint of the above flowing down the rainbow and into them, giving them wings. Another she now recognized as a stylized and artistic map of one of the islands near the aurora, which Iola had probably lived on.

Iola walked back into the room with two mugs, ducking slightly after years of obvious practice. She handed one to Aila, then took a seat across from her.

For a few moments the two women looked at each other in a silence that was not entirely comfortable, but not entirely uncomfortable, either.

“My name is Aila, now,” Aila said finally. “I guess you can see that I decided to chase after my childhood fancies after all,” she continued with a smile. “Éloa, kuléiu éia lé,” she added. “Luania ta hilaila ri lélé fai, lémaki ké funa.” Peace, my friend. I hope happiness finds you on this day.

“Paiani ’uru,” Iola responded. That’s beautiful.

Iola shook her head and looked down for a moment, then back up to Aila. “I don’t regret many things about my long life,” she said in French again. “But how I reacted was one of them. I just... I never knew that it was so important to you, and so immediate and real. I’d heard rumors and I was upset about them because it sounded like someone spreading gossip about us. I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”

Aila nodded. “I know. I’m sorry I let it out like that, and then ran away. And then I lied about it later. I’m calmer now, a little older and much more myself.” She smiled and ruffled her wings slightly. “You were always so kind to me, and I may go south soon... I didn’t want to leave things like that.”

“And your wings. So beautiful!” Iola said with a hint of awe in her words. “Perhaps you really were one of us,” she continued with a smile. “A little changeling that we had to come here to find.”

Aila’s smile was like the sun coming up in the room. “You honor me more than you might know,” she said. “Though I wonder if the truth is actually a bit stranger,” she added, thinking of all of her childhood speculations about why she felt such a strong need for wings.

They talked for some time after that, catching up on their lives since Aila had left so precipitously, long ago. Eventually, Aila needed to go home, and Iola had some letter writing to catch up on.

As Aila got up to leave, Iola got a faraway look on her face. “There’s a power in you,” she said, surprising Aila. “A power born out of your kindness and your purity of heart. But something’s holding it back. Holding you back.”

Aila nodded. “Dr. Halalo calls it my ’soul complication’. I thought it had to do with running away from my parents, but... I think it’s something more than that. I don’t know. I hope I can find out some day.”

“You do that,” Iola said. “I have a feeling that it’s important. And please, please try to make up with your parents somehow. It hurts to be estranged from a child. Even if they don’t know how to show it properly.” Aila nodded to her and promised to try.

They walked to the door, and Iola opened it for her.

“Thank you for coming back to visit this old woman,” Iola said kindly.

“Thank you for visiting with this young fool,” Aila said with a smile.

“Fuwa ka’ala, little Aila.”

“Fuwa ka’ala, Iola.”

Finally, the day of the graduation party arrived. A room was opened in the same building that contained the screening clinic, so that friends and family could attend without risking the secrecy of the Catacombs operation more than necessary. Several seekers who had been at Aila’s level in schooling were there for their graduation, as well as quite some number of the Catacombs staff and residents. Dr. Halalo had taken some time away from his normal duties to come speak to them.

“I’m very proud of you all,” he said to them. “I don’t know where your lives will take you from here, but you carry with you a piece of deep magic; you will carry it for the rest of your lives. I hope that it will bring you joy in your lightest and darkest hours, and I think that it may drive you to do amazing things, as well. Fly high and cry loud.”

A cheer and a clap went up at his short, simple speech.

Each graduate was presented with an official baccalauréat certificate that stated that they had completed their prescribed secondary education, equivalent to that from any other public school in Paris. Aila noted, however, that they were not issued from L’aide Alchemique, but from yet another new name: Halo School. By now she was not even a little bit surprised.

They also received a separate certificate for their time spent working in the Catacombs. It was written in gracefully curving Ka’aulele script, flowing from one color to another across the rainbow. In the background was a stylized watermark depicting the Temple of Change in the Catacombs. It also stated to the certificate holder that they would always be family, and they could call upon Halo Holdings if they were in trouble or wanted to apply for funding for a special project. Aila wondered what kind of special projects they would fund; either way, it was an exciting development knowing that someone would be there to help out, potentially.

Punch and snacks were served, and Aila and her friends were able to meet each other’s parents. Aila was able to meet their parents, anyhow.

And then she turned around and received the surprise of her life: there, near the back of the room, were her parents. Jean and Adeline Molyneaux, large as life. They were looking at her, and it wasn’t entirely with their now-usual looks of upset and avoidance. She thought perhaps it was her imagination, but they actually looked sort of... proud.

Aila walked over to them. They surprised her further by both giving her hugs, careful to avoid her wings.

“Aile,” Maman said. “...Aila. We’ve been so lonely at home without you, and we realized... if something didn’t change soon, you’d have your own life and move away from us, and we might never be able to be a part of your life at all.”

“It was a wake-up call for us to receive a graduation ceremony invitation,” Papa said. “Graduation! I still can’t say that we’re completely happy with what you did, but... look at you! You’re all grown up.” He seemed close to choking up.

“Papa, Maman...” Aila was close to tears herself. It hadn’t passed her notice that Maman had used her chosen name. She knew that this was as much of a compromise as she could expect from them for now. But it was still a closure of something that she hadn’t known was sitting inside her heart; it made her feel so much better about moving on with her life. She hugged them both back. “Thank you for coming.”

They both breathed out a sigh of relief that their relationship hadn’t been damaged beyond repair.

Kuléo had seen them and walked over to them. “Monsieur, Madame,” he said, nodding to them, and then, catching the mood, shaking their hands too.

“So he’s the lucky one?” Maman asked Aila brazenly. Aila immediately turned several shades pinker and said “Mamannn!” in a hushed, scandalized voice. “There’s something good about a man who can stick with you,” Maman continued, unfazed, “through hard times and good. It’s plain from looking at the two of you, and that he came with you to all those birthday visits, that he loves you.”

Kuléo did his best to look like a harmless gentleman, smiling earnestly at Maman.

“Kuléo, was it?” Papa said to him, badly pronouncing the name, but Kuléo was pleased at his effort anyway. They had called him Pierre up until now. “And what are your plans now?” Papa continued. “Are you attending university?”

“I would’ve been,” Kuléo said. “But I decided to wait and apply to one together with Aila.”

“That’s good to hear,” Papa said. “You take care of her, ça va?”

“Hey!” Aila said, half indignantly, half laughingly. “I’m right here, you know. I don’t need taking care of!”

“You’ll see,” Maman said to her. “It’s not a matter of pride, but of joy. You’ll take care of him, too, won’t you? Well, there you go.”

“Are you planning to stay in Paris?” Papa asked Aila.

“We were thinking we might go south,” she replied. “Somewhere by the mountains and the ocean.”

“That sounds lovely,” Maman said. “But it’s too sad you’ll be so far away, now.”

Now that you’re bothering to talk to me again, Aila thought. But she didn’t say it. This truce was too new, and her heart wasn’t in it, anyway.

“Make sure you let us know where you are, and we’ll come visit you,” Papa said.

They hugged again, though it was still clear that Papa, at least, was a little leery of her wings still. They waved their goodbyes, and then headed out the door.

Aila turned to look at Kuléo with a wide eyed “phew!” expression, but she was smiling too. “Who would’ve thought?” she said.

Then they noticed that Aila’s mother had trotted back in the door and was heading over to them.

“I told him I forgot something,” she said quietly to the two of them. “I just wanted to say,” she added, her voice turning conspiratorial, “that I think they’re beautiful. I have ever since the police station. I just... never quite imagined them as part of my beautiful daughter. But I can see that they are, and you fit each other. So.”

She looked like she wanted to say something else, but in the end she just waved and walked back out into the hallway.

“I didn’t see that coming,” Aila said as she turned back to Kuléo. The joy and vulnerability on her face could have broken his heart.