Page 26 of Stalk the Sky

But not quite yet. She was enjoying her time with Fieran too much at the moment.

“What about you?” She sat up on the cockpit seat, smoothing the wild tendrils of hair that had frizzed out of her messy bun. “Why didn’t you start flying before now? You could have bought or built your own aeroplane, gone to one of those flying schools, and become a pilot well before now if you’d wanted to. I know how badly you wanted to fly. So why didn’t you just do it?”

Fieran stilled, even his hands freezing for a moment before they took up fidgeting again by sliding over the side of the aeroplane as if he was petting his favorite horse. “I just wasn’t ready, I guess.”

He flicked a small, lopsided smile her way at the echo of her words before he dropped his gaze back to the aeroplane. “I thought about it. Lots of times, in fact. But while I don’t mind being involved with the inventing side of things, I don’t love it. So flying for the sake of invention didn’t hold as much appeal to me. And as much as I love the thrill of flying, I just couldn’t risk myself without a purpose. I couldn’t do that to my family. But the Flying Corps—defending the Alliance Kingdoms—that was the purpose in flying I needed.”

“You wanted to be a warrior like your dacha.” It was Pip’s turn for her voice to go soft with a shared understanding. “Following in his footsteps without actually following in his exact footsteps.”

“That too.” Fieran shrugged. “It was both the military and the flying that drew me. I needed both, together, to finally be ready.”

“I get that.” Pip pretended to be inspecting the control stick and the end of the wire she’d strung. “Were we ready, you think?”

“Probably not as much as we thought we were.” Fieran’s lopsided grin flashed again before he bent down and retrieved another roll of wire. “I brought the wire for the receiver and earpiece as well.”

“Good. We can string that, then I’ll need Merrik’s help to finish up.” Pip pushed off the seat, preparing to wiggle back into the footwell.

“With what do you need my help?” Merrik strolled over to them, a set of work goggles pushed up into the strands of his growing hair. Thanks to the fast-growing property of elven hair, it was now long enough past Escarlish regulation length to appear slightly shaggy.

“Securing the wires.” Pip ducked her head and crawled into the aeroplane’s body before Merrik could catch a glimpse of any kind of disappointment on her face.

Chapter

Nine

Fieran ran a hand over the canvas stretched over his aeroplane’s frame as he waited for his turn to take to the sky. With the entire squadron—both Flights—flying today, he had a long wait as a constant roar of aeroplanes taking off sounded from the airfield outside the hangar.

They’d barely finished assembling the final flyer and installing all the radios and compasses. Pip had even added a small elven light to the dashboard next to the new compass. The light included a sliding wooden cover that could be pushed down to cover the light as needed. Should they have to fly at night again, they could open the cover to illuminate their compass and switches but close it again to prevent being as much of a target.

Most of the aeroplanes had guns mounted. While Lt. Rothilion’s elven half of the squadron had the guns mounted on the upper wing with a track to lower it for clearing jams and reloading, the Soarwings flown by Fieran’s Flight had the guns mounted on the nose, shooting through the propellers. All the propellers had been reinforced with iron plates to help prevent the wooden propellers from shattering.

They hadn’t had a chance to paint the aeroplanes yet, and the tan resin-coated canvas appeared about as boring as it was possible to get.

But the aeroplanes were assembled, and right now that was enough.

A few yards away, Pip inspected one of the newly assembled aeroplanes one last time before she shut the engine compartment hatch, climbed down the ladder, and gave the ground crew a nod to let them know the aeroplane was cleared to take off.

So competent. So good at her job. Watching her did something inside him that he wasn’t ready to name.

Pip pushed her ladder across the hanger, halting beside Fieran and his aeroplane.

Fieran grinned at her, pushing away those thoughts. “Come to make sure my aeroplane won’t crash?”

“Making sure it won’t crash because of any mechanical issues.” Pip climbed the ladder and opened the engine hatch. “It will be up to you to get my aeroplane back in one piece.”

“Of course.” Fieran leaned against the fuselage as Pip inspected his aeroplane’s engine.

She finished quickly and closed the hatch. “You’re cleared for takeoff.”

Fieran grinned and stepped aside as the ground crew converged on his aeroplane to push it from the hanger. “I’ll see you when I land.”

“You’d better.” Pip propped a hand on her hip, giving him a stern look that made him want to do something stupid. Like wink at her. Or brush a strand of her hair behind her ear. Or lean in closer and…

Where had that thought come from? Was it hot in here? He tugged on his silk scarf. It must be all the layers of leather and wool he was wearing. Of course he was roasting while here on the ground.

Giving himself a good mental shake, he tugged his googles over his eyes and strode after his aeroplane.

Once he stepped onto the mossy green of the airfield, Fieran drew in a deep breath of the crisp air, trying to clear his head from whatever that had been a moment ago. The crystal blue sky arched overhead, perfect for a day of flying.

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