“Actually… I had something else in mind today.”
He tilted his head curiously. “What’s that?”
“Do you mind holding out your wing? The injured one?” I asked.
Noro spread out his wing. Up close, I saw how frazzled and frayed the feathers were. How much damage Neil had done in his misplaced fury. Anger boiled in my blood thinking about him, and how he’d pretended to be the only one on my side when all he did was hurt the ones I cared about.
I held out my hands, then paused. “Do you mind if I touch it?”
Noro nodded and brought his feathers closer, brushing them against my fingers.
“I’m going to try and heal you like I did with Eric,” I told him.
A look of surprise came over Noro’s expression. “You would spare that kind of energy for me?”
“Of course!” I said, alarmed at how genuine his shock was. “Why wouldn’t I after all you’ve done for me?”
Noro blinked slowly and wrapped his tail around his front talons. The gesture endearingly reminded me of a small housecat.
“All right,” he said.
I let out a deep sigh. “Okay. Here we go…”
Once again I shut my eyes, letting my stress and tension flow away. I focused the energy inside me towards my fingertips and willed the healing energy I’d felt before infuse itself into Noro. I imagined him with two fully-feathered and functional wings, soaring above my head.
A sensation that was neither cool or warm welled up in my body, streaming outwards. It coursed through me like ethereal water and flowed into my hands. I peeked my eyes open and saw the same faintly glowing vibration around my skin. Noro’s eyes were open too, wide and yellow, watching the magic happen.
We stood in dead silence as the clear magic danced over Noro’s wing, soaking into his skin and bone, muscles and blood vessels, bringing them back to life. Right before my eyes I watched the powerful flight feathers grow back, as if in hyperspeed. If I didn’t see it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it.
When it was over, I stood there breathless with sweat trickling down my brow. But the effort I expended was more than I’d spent on Eric’s simple wound. My knees buckled and I fell forward into Noro’s chest. He caught me, and I found his claws surprisingly gentle.
“Matheson, are you all right?” he asked.
“Fine,” I murmured. “Just need a second.”
He set me down carefully in the sand as I caught my breath. I knew from experience that the dizzy sensation faded faster the more I used my magic, so I was glad to have a few days to practice before I tried this. But as I waited, the dizziness didn’t pass like it should have--it became worse. I groaned as vertigo came over me and I collapsed into the sand.
“Matheson!” Noro cried.
“I’m okay,” I mumbled, though my vision was wobbly. “Just give me a…”
I huffed, too breathless to finish my sentence, and closed my eyes. I aggressively willed the dizziness to fade, because I was getting sick and tired of passing out all the time like a damsel in distress.
I didn’t know how long I laid there in the sand, breathing in and out to restore stability. Judging by the sun still shining on my face, it hadn’t been too long. But it only added to my sense of confusion when a stranger suddenly appeared. He hovered over my face with a furrowed brow and held something in his fingers to my lips.
That instantly sobered me up. I scrambled away with a yelp.
“Who are you?” I snapped.
The man blinked at me with golden eyes. “It’s me.”
My jaw fell open at his familiar voice. In my vertigo daze, I’d been too stupid to put the pieces together.
My voice cracked as I sputtered, “Noro?”
He smiled--a beaming, beautiful smile that made my heart flutter. “Yes, Matheson. This is my human form.”
Noro stood as a tall muscular man with broad shoulders and toned limbs. His tanned skin was nearly golden, and his eyes were like suns. His hawkish nose and light, feathery gold-brown hair should’ve given it away immediately.
