Week 11, (I) Title: Sky bound

He blinks awake, eyes adjusting to the dim light. He sees his father work carefully by candle-light; meticulously tipping the candle to anoint the feathers with wax, laying the feathers in rows against the bigger structure. This newest machine is a thing to behold: a pair of wings to give mortal man the power of flight.

As he attaches the device to his arms and shoulders, his father says, “Remember: not too high…”

“I know, I know, if I go too high the sun will melt the wax, too low and the water will dampen the feathers.”

He gives his father a hug, holding onto the thought that they’ll be together again soon; even though the opposite notion sits heavy beside it in his heart.

He runs at the wind, moves his arms and lets himself be carried up and away. It’s an amazing thing, to soar, fast and free, the crisp breeze wild against his face.

But he doesn’t allow himself to savour too long. He needs to be careful, his father’s warnings ever-present in his mind, the potential grip of hades sitting in every heart-beat. He’s hyper-focused on the minutia of his movements; going faster when he sinks too low, and pausing when he moves too high. 

He keeps going and going and going, seemingly forever over the endless sea. And the constant vigilance tires his head, just as the weight of the structure tires his body. The strain urges his arms to drop, rest, sink downwards, and he pumps harder to fight against it.

And he’s still moving, the cold does well at keeping him awake. But he’s tired, so, so tired.

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Week 11, (II) Title: Sea bound

There are people across the water. And they’re starving and dying because of the sea: or rather the sirens who have begun to dwell upon it. The island people are in desperate need of supplies of food and medicine, but all ships who attempt the cross have been wrecked and now all are reluctant to try the treacherous journey.

She has no such reluctance: she has a plan. First: she’s planned a path that will have them avoiding as many rocks as possible, and also the areas that are well-traversed by the sirens. In addition to this she has taken precautions: ear plugs of course, but these sirens are beyond just sound, they show visions of whatever a soul most desires. And so she has also decreed that the entire crew be made of couples, happy ones. That they have plenty of their favourite foods and that no one who has someone or something they could long too strongly for is aboard.

She has picked her crew out meticulously, and done extensive checking, to ensure this is the case. She will answer the peoples’ plight. She will ensure they get their desperately needed food and medicines.   
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