Once the fright of nearly losing her junior faded, laughter came easily. Taniel looked out at the vast open sky before her and laughed freely.

“Ah, I really love this. This is my favorite. Flying makes me feel like my chest just opens up.”

Taniel hummed like she was singing. Her guileless joy was contagious. Once the initial fear settled somewhat, Rain began to look around with a little more ease.

“Wow……”

The wonder came out on its own. Everything was so wide, so distant, so unreal.

The fluffy clouds close enough to touch, the sky clear as colored glass, the tiny city far below looking like a toy, the feeling of being freed from the ground.

‘This is wonderful.’

And the warmth of the girl at his back, and the sound of her cheerful laughter, were dizzying in an entirely different way. A completely different kind of vertigo from before. It felt like being inside a dream.

‘I’m happy.’

He felt he could die right now without regret. No, that was a lie. There was no way he could die without regret. He was only just now finding happiness, and everything was so beautiful.

‘I wish this moment could last forever.’

Just the two of us, Senior and me, together forever in this endless sky.

I wish this blue sky all around us could be our home.

A fortress where no one else can intrude, where no misfortune can wedge its way in.

At that moment, he didn’t even want to think about his teacher. Rain’s mind was filled entirely with Taniel.

If Mirha gave him his first taste of salvation, it was Taniel who completed it.

“Rain, shall we do one lap and start heading down? It’s still your first time!”

Taniel called out from behind just then, and the dream broke. Every illusion had to end eventually, but the emptiness Rain felt now was particularly cruel.

“……Yes, Senior!”

Rain called back loudly. It stung that only one lap of dreaming was allowed.

“Watch carefully, Rain! To change direction in the air, you turn the reins like this!”

Taniel stayed true to her role as senior and explained diligently. Rain reminded himself of the original purpose of this time and focused hard.

Taniel flicked her wrist in a fl*id motion and shifted her weight, and the eagle changed direction. They flew at a right angle to the direction they were moving before.

Taniel traced a slightly larger circle than before, then descended slowly with Rain. When the bird’s feet touched the ground again, Taniel released the reins, but Rain sat frozen and didn’t move.

“Rain, how was it? Now that you’ve actually tried it, it wasn’t that scary, was it?”

“Yes, Senior. Not scary at all.”

Rain answered honestly. Flying truly no longer frightened him. Now it wasn’t fear but a different kind of ache that tightened his throat.

“Shall we go up one more time? This time you hold the reins.”

Taniel suggested. Before Rain could answer, Mirha approached with a proud expression and spoke.

“Good work, Taniel, Rain. Rain especially, this was your first time so you must have been very nervous. I’m glad you came back without getting hurt. Taniel, thank you for helping Rain so well.”

“Thank you, Teacher.”

“Thank you, Teacher. But may we go up one more time? I think Rain is ready to hold the reins himself.”

“Rain, do you think you can manage?”

Taniel asked for her teacher’s permission, and Mirha looked at Rain. Rain hesitated briefly, then gave a shy nod.

“Yes, Teacher. I’ll give it a try.”

If he could recreate that dreamlike feeling from up in the sky, he could do far more than this. Rain took hold of the reins with resolve, and Mirha nodded in approval.

“All right, then this time you hold the reins, Rain. Both of you be careful not to get hurt.”

“Yes, Teacher. Thank you.”

“Yes, Teacher!”

Rain took a deep breath and pulled the reins. He gave the eagle’s side a light tap the way Taniel did, and the well-trained bird understood the signal to fly and pushed powerfully off the ground.

The altitude climbed again. The ground fell away, and a brisk, stinging wind scraped across his cheeks. Rain poured all his focus into adjusting the reins so the angle of ascent wouldn’t grow too steep.

“Easy, easy.”

Once he judged they were high enough, Rain soothed the eagle the way one would calm a horse and eased off the speed slightly. The bird carrying the two children traced a path through the sky with steady wingbeats.

“Haha!”

Rain laughed out loud. It was a soft laugh, like a breath finally released.

Even after more than a month as an official apprentice knight, he still couldn’t bring himself to laugh properly out of habit, always watching others’ reactions, but now, freed from the ground that bound him, he opened his mouth and let the laughter out.

Taniel startled. Her eyes went wide. Over the past month she saw this timid boy smile shyly beside her and their teacher many times, but a laugh like this was the first.

‘So he can laugh like this too.’

It was very faint, buried under the sound of wind slapping against her cheeks, but she heard it clearly enough.

This boy was laughing. The boy who, no matter how funny or joyful something was, always suppressed any outburst, seemingly afraid of being punished for it.

‘I’m so glad.’

Taniel felt genuinely happy. Hearing that clear, faint laughter bubbling up like a fresh spring, she found herself smiling without realizing it.

‘I’m really glad. That you can laugh like this too.’

Over the past month of eating balanced meals alongside the other apprentice knights, Rain’s gaunt frame filled out with some weight, and his thin face grew noticeably rounder.

Even so, Taniel still felt that her poor junior’s heart was bare and hollow. The visible malnourishment could be fixed, but the wounds that couldn’t be seen were harder to heal.

But hearing Rain laugh, she finally felt at ease. His ragged heart might be slowly recovering, just like his once-wasted body.

Rain traced a circle much smaller than Taniel’s earlier and descended carefully. The landing was quite stable. It was a successful first flight in every way.

“Good work, Rain! For someone on their first time, you were excellent.”

Mirha waited on the ground and greeted her apprentices with a wide smile. Seeing Rain’s expression, Mirha felt the same surprise Taniel did moments ago. The boy with laughter still lingering on his face was clearly different from his usual self.

“Thank you, Teacher.”

The boy answered. His once-pale cheeks were flushed with color and his eyes sparkled like scattered stars.

A child who found something he loved and was good at, who practiced to his heart’s content and received praise from a kind adult, looked this beautiful.

The boy who once nearly got sold off as a nameless slave no longer lived a barren life. It was no longer cold or squalid.

Now his life held things he wanted to learn, a fine teacher to teach them to him, and above all, a lovely girl at his side to practice and experience them with.

“Teacher, Rain really does seem to have a gift. He wasn’t shaking at all up there. It’s hard to believe it was his first time.”

“If even you say so, Taniel, then he must truly be remarkable. It’s a shame I couldn’t see it myself. I hope someday you’ll both be able to fly side by side up there.”

Taniel beamed with pride over her junior, and Mirha looked at the boy with a soft smile. Rain felt his heart might burst with joy. His chest was so full he thought he might genuinely suffocate from it.

“All right, come down now.”

Mirha stretched both arms out toward Rain. The once-timid boy no longer hesitated. Without a moment’s pause Rain let go of the reins and leapt down into his teacher’s arms. Mirha caught him, pulling him close.

“Good work, Rain.”

Mirha murmured. Rain buried his face deep in his teacher’s chest, the way a baby clings to its mother.

“Thank you, Teacher.”

His throat was tight. Rain learned for the first time, because of Taniel and Mirha, that tears come more easily when you are happy and at peace than at any other time.

Back when he was trampled at the slave auction, he didn’t cry. Crying served no purpose and only gave him a headache. Struggling and wailing required strength he didn’t have.

Now Rain often found himself fighting back the burning sting behind his eyes. Every time, he held on desperately, afraid that acting like a crybaby would be a burden to his teacher and senior.

The tears that couldn’t come out gathered deep inside him, pooling near his heart like a hot, still lake.

“We can come back and ride often from now on. It’ll be fun.”

Taniel landed lightly beside her teacher and junior and smiled brightly. She was very happy to have a friend to ride horses and eagles with. It truly felt like gaining a little brother.

At that moment, they really were no different from family. A precious moment that would shine as a beautiful memory even through the tragedies that came one after another in the distant future.

Days that would remain as memories so beautiful they ached.