Work Text:
A-through-L peered down his spectacles at September, before belching out a small gout of flame.
“My wings and scales hurt,” Ell moaned. Ever since the Marquess had chained his wings, he had suffered pains in them. Worse yet, he struggled to fly. His shadow, unburdened with such issues, had tried to teach him, but he had been unable to learn.
“I’m sorry, Ell,” September patted him gently. “Do you want me to put on the cream for you?”
Mallow and Belinda Cabbage had worked together to develop the cream, as well as a pair of wing braces to assist with flight. He couldn’t install the wing braces until the cream had set in for at least an hour, but it was well worth it for how it helped with the pain. September carefully rubbed the cream into his wings and his scales, taking special care not to soak the vellum of them too much.
“Thank you, my dear,” Ell knew his smile was pained, but that it would be appreciated nonetheless. “Perhaps you might read to me until I fly?”
September pulled a book out of the pocket of her green smoking jacket, and Ell lost himself in the story of it for a while. It was Mystery of the Blue Train. She must have borrowed Mallow’s copy of it, as this wasn’t a Fairyland book, but an earth one. It was nice to listen to her read. When they finished an indeterminable number of chapters, Ell nosed at September.
“I’m ready to fly,” he told her.
September strapped each of the braces around Ell’s wings, careful to avoid too much pressure on the joints. She adjusted the straps, before snapping the buttons in.
“There you go,” September spoke with an air of self-satisfaction. “All good to fly.”
When Ell took to the sky, between the braces and the cream, it didn’t hurt so badly. He let out delighted belches of orange and red and blue flames as he rose in the air, and September clapped for him from down below. Truly, this was what he had longed for, during all that time his wings had been chained. “Aha! I’m flying!”
It was hours before he grounded himself again to find September dozing on the grass. It had been a good flight.