Miraculously, Leihen was able to dodge past the golden bell last second, still managing to give it a hearty ring as he flew past.

 Obora called towards him, “Time! Excellent. Return here, recruit.” 

 As he was told, Leihen returned proudly. He hardly looked phased by the course, and wore a smug look on his face as he landed beside Obora.

 Mazdall slowly opened her eyes when she heard a ring instead of a crash, watching as he landed.

 “Congratulations, Leihen. You passed with soaring colours. Fantastic job.” Obora praised him, a smile gracing her face. “You see, recruits- now that’s how a Talon does it. Take your peer here as a shining example.” 

 Mazdall could hear Leihen mumble under his breath, proud, “Barely had to try…”

 “Leihen, you’ll be moved to the advanced course for the day.” Obora stated, “For now, return to the group.”

 Leihen nodded and strutted back into the group, his shoulders loose and relaxed, but his chest puffed and convex as he entered the crowd.

 Mazdall couldn’t help but stare- he acted so effortlessly confident and capable. He must be some sort of prodigy, however priggish. Either that, or perhaps the course wasn’t so painful. Regardless, his confidence was stark and loud. It nearly made her ears ring.

 Obora spoke up again, “Excellence is what we uphold here at the Talons Perch, and flight is a part of who we are as Flocktics. As such, excellent flight should be considered a foundation of what it means to be a Talon. It is not only your aerial techniques, but your takeoff that is essential to this. Proper stance and posture when taking off is necessary. A proper takeoff stance consists of-”

 Immediately, Mazdall puffed her chest and spoke up, finishing Obora’s sentence. 

 “Bowed posture, fixed shoulders, wings back and low, tail relaxed, snout pointed, and eyes forward.” Many eyes turned to her, and she suddenly felt self-conscious about interrupting. She was simply quoting the advanced flight manual- was it so bad to show a little knowledge?

 Obora looked at her with some sort of wordless frustration. Or perhaps annoyance. Maybe this wasn’t the best time… 

 Obora sighed. Loudly. “That’s… right, I suppose.”

 Suddenly, her brow quirked, “Recruit, could you maybe show rather than tell?”

 “Oh- um, yes.” Mazdall hoped to save her pride by demonstrating aptly. Awkwardly, she tried to move out of the way of a few other recruits before bowing down into the stance as best she could. “Like this…?” She felt unsure of herself- especially with so many eyes on her.

 Obora tch-ed as she walked towards Mazdall. Mazdall didn’t move.

 Abruptly, a swift strike came to one of her legs.

 Wobbling from the strike, Mazdall tried to right herself so as not to fall over.

 “Fix your legs.” Obora said, sternly, “Launch power relies on not only muscle, but angle and precision.” Mazdall quickly adjusted and reangled her legs as Obora pushed them into place. 

 “Your shoulders too-” Obora said, pacing around her, “Tuck them higher, you’ll need your arms out of the way the moment you enter the sky. You should angle them up, not forward.” As she spoke, she used her hands to roughly shove Mazdall into position. 

 “Your tail is too relaxed, it’s going to create drag. It’s still a part of you, don’t forget to pay attention to its position.” As Obora continued to criticise Mazdall’s stance, Mazdall felt her face heat up from embarrassment. While she could find it in herself to be grateful for the feedback, she couldn’t help but feel incredibly vulnerable being shoved around in front of the other recruits.

 After a while, Obora backed away and contemplated to herself for a moment before smiling, “Now that’s better.” 

 “Actually…” She continued, “Why don’t you go next, Mazdall? Let’s see how that know-how attitude translates into actual skill.”

 Mazdall couldn’t help but taste some venom between those words.

 “I… I could go next.” Mazdall hesitantly rose from the stance and looked towards the platform at the start of the course.

 “Well then- what are you waiting for? Wow us, recruit.”

 Mazdall looked back towards Obora for a moment, nodding, and then taking off. 

 As she landed on the platform she could tell it was made out of high-quality wood. No splinters, no cracks. The course must have been just as high-quality. The Talons certainly cared about their training- taking it incredibly seriously.

 She looked at the course ahead of her, trying to study it while she recalled how Leihen had performed just before her. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

 “Ready your wings!” Obora called to her, and Mazdall entered into the takeoff stance, this time making sure to adjust based on Obora’s feedback as best she could. 

 “Begin!”

 Immediately, Mazdall launched off of the platform and through the first set of hoops. To her shock, the stance had helped tremendously, and she soared through them like an arrow through the wind. Her shock nearly distracted her from the first board, but she quickly righted herself and launched above it- perhaps a bit too high. No matter- she fixed her mistake by diving down sharply to quickly shoot under the second board. The third board was much higher, so it took her two strong flaps of her wings to make it over. The final board was very low- a tight dive- she practically let herself fall under it. Her technique may not have been as clean as Leihen’s was before her, but she was making good time as she entered into the sets of beams. She weaved between them as quickly as she could, tilting her body to sway away from each obstacle. 

 Unexpectedly, she felt a momentary sting against her tail. Abruptly, her focus retreated, watching out of the corner of her eye as her tail recovered from smacking against a beam. 

 Obora was right… It’s too lax… 

 As she righted her tails position and tried to pay more attention to it, her focus was lost on the course ahead of her. The beams had ended, and she nearly crashed into the set of small hoops. With a large thrust of her wings, she was able to stop herself just in time. However, she had lost all her speed. Maybe she was imagining it, but she felt Obora’s eyes burrow into her skull.

 Quietly, she cursed. Despite this, she righted herself and lifted her wings up, starting to flap them in a circular pattern to gather up wind underneath her. Using the twist of air she created, she angled herself and dove down through the hoops. The gust of wind helped to correct her speed, sending her soaring through the small hoops. This feat of correction was impressive, though time-consuming. Barely, she made it through the last hoop before losing speed, her back talon nearly snagging on the final hoop. With one more beat of her wings, she was headed towards the moving contraption.

 The contraption was intimidating, ricketting as each of the boards shifted in place. As Mazdall approached, she noticed a pattern in the machine- every vertical beam moved in sync, as well as every horizontal beam, the hoops too. While there was variety in the types of contraptions, the speed of them was mostly the same. Their consistent medium speed meant she could probably alter her path with them if she thought fast enough. Mazdall tried to create a mental pattern to follow, but she didn’t have time, for she was already at the first set. 

 As she reached the first one, she dodged past it during a shift to the left- the next one shifted down, which she leapt over. After succeeding at predicting the first few, she lost track and went to dive down into a hoop as it shifted up. Quickly, she corrected her path, righting herself upwards. It was clear after a few more misled predictions that she wouldn’t be able to rely on her haphazard mental pattern anymore. So, for the last few she simply watched them, mimicking their pattern as her own. At first it was jarring- foreign to her- but at the last set it suddenly felt natural, as though her and the contraption were one.

 Finally, she emerged from the last set, aiming for the side of the bell as she gave it a loud ring.

 “Time!” Obora yelled, “Return here, recruit.”

 Mazdall felt her heart race with anxiety at Obora’s acknowledgment. Quickly, she floated down beside her, her face stiff.

 “... How did you think that went?” Obora said coldly. 

 Mazdall’s eyes passed along the other recruits, trying not to look at them for too long. She gulped. “... It was not my best…” She admitted, “However… I also believe I demonstrated many essential skills. Such as…” She almost tripped over her tongue, “Correction and… path alteration.” She felt as though she might be fumbling this… 

 Obora stared at her, eyes cold and mouth firmly shut. Mazdall refused to look at the other recruits. 

 Finally, Obora spoke up.

 “Well, I’ll believe you when you say it wasn’t your best. But… you passed…” 

 Mazdall’s face lit up.

 “...barely.” Obora finished. 

 Mazdall’s face almost fell again, but her relief persevered.

 Obora looked Mazdall up and down, her eyes serious and stern. Obora quickly gathered Mazdall’s attention with a grunt.

 “It seems as though all those facts rolling around in your head don’t do your wings much good.” She paced closer towards Mazdall. Mazdall may have been taller, but Obora was FAR more intimidating. Mazdall subconsciously retreated into herself.

 “If it weren’t for that move at the small hoops…” She said, dangerously, “I would’ve probably sent you home…” Her sentiment sounded like a threat.

 Mazdall gulped without meaning to, her eyes fixated on the blue station leader. 

 Obora settled on the ground, retracting her head from Mazdall’s space as she did. “You will remain on the basic course for now. Show me you can do more than one aerial feat, and perhaps I’ll change my mind.” Despite her harshness, Mazdall could have sworn she saw the ghost of a smile beneath Obora’s unsettlingly stale eyes. 

 Mazdall took this as a challenge. Her eyes lit with a fire- the embers of her heart were stoked. Firmly, she nodded. 

 The moment they shared between their eyes was strange. No one else could see it, but Mazdall could feel it. Obora threatening Mazdall- or perhaps challenging? She herself couldn’t completely tell which it was, but it was certainly menacing. 

 Suddenly, Mazdall and Obora’s gaze broke from each other, and Mazdall was transported back to the training yard with the rest of the recruits. As she looked back towards the other recruits, she felt the crawl of chagrin up her neck. Slowly, she retreated back into the group. 

 Obora spoke up yet again, calling the next name up to be tested. 

 Several more recruits went through their testing- many moved on to the advanced course training, while a few were to remain on the basic course with Mazdall. Only one or two failed and were sent home. None shared the intimidating, unbroken gaze with Obora as Mazdall had.

 After several more attempts at running the basic course, Mazdall was consistently performing it at top speed- what with a few minor errors here and there. 

 Obora- with a smug look- witnessed Mazdall’s final attempt, where she performed excellently, adding an impressive aerial twirl between the contraptions. Finally, Obora moved her to the advanced course. 

 Mazdall tried to suppress her excitement.

 Finally, she stepped up for her first go at the advanced course… It was intimidating, between each board there was a hoop, between each beam there were boards, and most of the course was moving like the contraption on the basic course. To top it off, there were large swinging objects- eager to knock any slower recruit out of the sky.

 Mazdall… could not pass the advanced course. She tried several times, but each time her turn arrived, she would get stuck on the same spot, and a large swinging contraption would slam against her, sending her to the ground. She could have sworn she heard Obora laughing… 

 Mazdall was exhausted, her body weighing against her, making each run far more difficult than the last. Her muscles ached and screamed in agony, her bones were sore and bruised from the large wooden collisions. She just couldn’t get the timing right…

 Still, she was determined to complete it.

 They had been training all day. Several hours later, they were all sore and tired- even the prodigy himself was heaving. Even so, Mazdall wasn’t ready to stop quite yet.  

 Her legs pressed into position, her wings bent back and down. Her tail was lax, but not too lax. This would be the run, she told herself. Just as she prepared for take-off… 

 “Alright, that’s enough of that, recruits.”

 Obora walked towards some sort of crank or lever and disabled the course.

 Mazdall spoke up, “What? I was just about to go-”

 “Too bad, we’re done for the day.”

 Mazdall grunted as she flew to land with the other recruits.

 Obora addressed them all, “Since all of you here managed to make it to the advanced course, I’m going to call today a success. Not all of you passed the course, but I suppose we’ll work on that tomorrow.”

 She waved them off, “I’m done for the day, which means I’m graciously giving you the rest of the day off. I’m sure you can find your own way back.” 

 Without looking back, Obora began to walk away from the recruits. 

 “Of a feather.” She acknowledged half-heartedly.

 “Of a feather.” The recruits repeated back to her. 

 Mazdall huffed. There was not a single thought in her mind- she was too tired to think. 

 She had no interest in wandering around- she was going to get something to eat and return to her room to rest. It seemed the rest of the recruits had the same idea, as a parade of them started towards the exit of the training yard.

 Leihen took the lead. Even though his feathers were ruffled and he looked just as tired as the rest of them, he didn’t let that stop him from taking charge. Mazdall couldn’t help but roll her eyes. 

 Once they arrived at the kitchen, Leihen excitedly announced to the rest of the recruits, “To my fellow future Talons, dinner is my treat!” The recruits cheered.

 Mazdall seemed a bit taken aback. Maybe he wasn’t so bad afterall… 

 She couldn’t help but sigh with relief- she didn’t have her coin purse on her… 

 After all of the other recruits gathered their plates of food and found a seat, it was Mazdall’s turn. 

 “That’ll be 7 Silver.” The old cook said.

 “Oh, um- didn’t he say…?”

 “He didn’t give me enough Silver, then.” She shrugged.

 Mazdall turned innocently towards Leihen and called his name.

 “Um- excuse me! Leihen, was it?”

 Leihen- with a raised brow, walked towards where Mazdall was. 

 “She says there wasn’t enough for me to get any-”

 Leihen laughed, “Oh, yes. You see, I was paying for future Talons.”

 Mazdall just stared at him. Was he implying what she thought he was…

 “What, you don’t have enough?” He prodded, “Oh, well, I’m sure you could earn some extra Silver doing chores.” He mocked her.

 Mazdall’s face suddenly shifted to a quiet rage. She dropped the plate back on the counter and looked at the cook, “Thanks anyways.” She said to the cook before heading towards the exit. 

 Before she rounded the corner she stole one final glare at Leihen.

 She wasn’t that hungry anyways.