Page 16

Neith

W atching Griff teach is fascinating. He obviously knows a lot about what he’s teaching and enjoys it as well, which makes a big difference to the quality of a teacher. A teacher who likes the subject they are teaching can easily get the class to engage with it, unlike one who doesn’t and loses them before they have even started teaching. The students clearly respect him as they all listen intently to what he’s explaining. There’s no fucking about or talking when he talks. They are all listening and paying attention. To be honest, that could have something to do with their ages. By the time that you reach your mid-twenties, like I would guess these students to be, you really should be behaving like adults and not children.

I also really like that he doesn’t just stand in front of the classroom and talk, he actually demonstrates and gets involved. It's easy to see how much his students appreciate that. I know I would if I were one of his students. I have seen Griff in action when he fought the hybrid in my town, but he still takes my breath away when he’s fully shifted. His wingspan is huge, his wings dark grey and leathery, with veins of copper going through them. Incredibly, he grows in size, his skin turning a dark grey color to match his wings, and I know that if I were to touch him, he would feel smooth like polished marble and just as hard. The same copper that threads through his wings is echoed in the patterns threading up his arms like tattoos. They look so cool, and I desperately want to trace them and ask questions about what they mean.

Well, he did say all you had to do was ask, my inner voice reminds me, and I repress a shiver of desire as I watch Griff do a particularly intricate move, pulling it off with deadly precision that I find undeniably attractive.

The only thing that lets down this experience is that I’m not up there with him. I would love to be fighting in the air like they all are, although I am pretty confident that I would never look as graceful as they all do.

“So you're on Griff’s team?” a woman around my age asks, as she stands next to me and sips a water bottle.

“Yeah. You’re really good. You pulled that dive off pretty much exactly the same as Griff,” I say, recognizing her as one of the Valkyries that I was watching a moment ago.

She smiles proudly, “Thank you. I know you’re human and probably don’t know much about flying, but was there anything that you could see from down here that you think I could improve on?”

Her question shocks me, but I answer her honestly because I would be doing her a disservice otherwise, “Actually yeah. So, you know when you go into the second dive?” I ask and she nods, actually looking like she is interested to hear what I have to say. “I think if you pulled your wings in a second earlier, and I really mean only a second, then you would do it perfectly.”

She grins, “Thanks. I’ll try it now. Will you watch to make sure I’m doing it?”

I nod, “Yeah, of course.”

My eyes follow her as she jumps into the air and shifts before she comes back down. So, fucking cool. It’s incredible how quickly she can do that. She’s going to be a fantastic agent. I watch as she takes to the air and does the same dive again, this time pulling her wings in a second earlier and getting the dive perfect. She does a victory spin and then swoops down to me again, she doesn’t bother shifting back as she pulls me into a hug.

I chuckle, “That one was perfect and maybe even better than Griff, but don’t tell him I said that.”

She steps back with a giggle, “Thank you so much. I have been trying to get that perfect for ages and I couldn’t work out where I was going wrong. I’m going to go and practice more.”

I wave as she launches herself back in the air.

A gryphon lands in front of me, shifting back into its thankfully clothed human form. I smile at the man now standing in front of me.

“Would you be able to help me with my backward dive roll? I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, and I saw how quickly you helped Yaz,” he asks me, a hopeful look in his eyes.

I’m honestly so shocked that someone else wants me to help that I almost forget to reply.

“Yes, of course. I will do what I can, but I don’t fly, so it’s only a suggestion and might not work.” I explain, I don’t want him to build up false expectations.

“That’s okay,” he replies with a smile.

“Well, alright then,” I grin, “show me what you’re doing, and I’ll see if I can help.”

He nods and shifts before running and launching himself into the air, he glances down to make sure that I’m watching and when I nod, he does the move for me.

I frown, something is off, but I can’t quite tell what.

“Can you do it again for me?” I shout up to him, and he nods.

This time I see it, and I nod that I know how to help him, and he flies back down, shifting midair and landing on his feet with such ease that I am momentarily in awe.

When he stares at me expectantly, I chuckle, “Sorry, that was really cool.”

My unexpected reply makes him laugh, and replies, “Thanks. Do you know how I could improve?”

I nod, “Yeah, you’ve actually got a couple of problems, but it should be really easy to fix. Your first is your tail, it’s creating drag and slowing the rest of the movements down, so it is having a knock-on effect and making you wobbly. If you tuck it in more, you should be able to fix that.”

His eyes widen, “Shit, of course. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that, thank you. What is the second thing?”

I hesitate slightly, I’m not sure how he’s going to take my next words, but he asked me for my help so that’s what I’ll give him.

“Even if you fix the tail, you are still not going to be able to execute it properly until you lose the fear,” I say, and he tenses, “I’m guessing that something happened fairly recently?”

His eyes widen in shock, but he nods, looking away and slightly embarrassed as he replies to me, “Yeah, well, it was a few months ago now.”

I nod, “I thought so. Fear is good,” I start, and he glances up at me in surprise, I smile, “it is, fear is good so long as you don’t let it control you. If you want to nail this move, don’t let the fear control you.”

Determination fills his expression, and he nods sharply once before he shifts and launches himself into the air. He goes straight into the move, letting go of the fear and tucking his tail. He’s done it perfectly.

When he drops back down and shifts, his smile is huge, and the tension in his body is gone.

“I did it,” he grins.

I nod. “Yep, I didn’t doubt you for a second.”

“Thank you so much,” he adds.

I smile proudly, emotions swirling in me as I nod and smile, watching him launch himself back into the air. I actually helped someone. My advice helped someone, two people actually.

I’m pretty fucking proud of that.

“I don’t know how you did that, but thank you,” Griff says as he lands next to me, and I have to stop myself from leaning into him. “He had a really bad fall on a job, and he’s been hesitating ever since. He’s one of my best fliers, and honestly, today is the first time that I have seen him properly smile for a while.”

I grin, “I’m not going to lie, I feel really good that I could help him. He just needed to not let the fear control him. I have had to tell myself that plenty of times, it’s pretty easy to tell when it’s holding someone else back.”

Griff nods, “It’s impressive. You helped Yaz with her flight, too.” He glances down at me curiously, “How do you know how to help them fly?”

I grin, “You know I said that the dragon keep was one of my favorite places to be?” he nods, so I continue, “I wasn’t kidding. I spent hours and hours watching them do flight training, and I picked up a few things. I actually became friends with their flight instructor. He was one of the youngest dragons ever to achieve the status that he did; he was amazing.”

“Was?” Griff asks curiously.

I shrug, a soft kind of sadness flowing through me, “Yeah, I haven’t seen him for a few years, actually. I was never there when he was visiting, and then Draith said he got pulled away and was really busy. He became a SID agent, actually.”

“Oh, what’s his name?” Griff asks.

“Sorry to interrupt, I was wondering if you could help me with a sequence that I’m struggling with?” a guy asks, interrupting the conversation.

“Sure, I can,” Griff says, and adds, “sorry Neith, we can pick up the conversation later.”

I nod, but before I can reply, the guy interrupts.

Looking really awkward, he says, “Sorry, Griff, I was actually asking Neith.”

Griff smirks, looking really proud as he says, “I’m not surprised, she seems to have an eye for it.”

I grin, “I’m just that good.”

“I’ll go and find someone that does want my help then I guess,” he mutters, and I roll my eyes at the fake pout on his face and then giggle.

Once he’s gone, the guy says, “I’m Josh. You’re good for him. He’s never smiled this much in class.” Before I can reply, which is a good job because I have no idea how to respond to that, he continues talking, “I’m a demon. I don’t know if you need to know what I am in order to help me, but I’ll tell you anyway. Usually, I hesitate to say what I am because humans are really weird about demons, but you have Reed on your team, and everyone saw you walking next to him and Raiden, so you’re obviously not as touchy as most humans. Anyway, Griff taught us this sequence, where we have to keep our weapon on guard and be prepared to use it but suddenly drop. I’m having trouble keeping the sword at the right angle and not accidentally slicing myself while I do the drop.” He lifts up his shirt and shows a couple of slices that are healing. “Did you understand any of that? I’m really sorry, I ramble. I’m still rambling, aren’t I? Shit.”

I burst out laughing as he smacks his hands over his mouth and looks at me sheepishly, “Honestly, I ramble just as much as you, don’t worry. Because I ramble like you, I understood what you were trying to say. I think the best way for me to help you is to focus on your sword work down here first.”

He nods enthusiastically, “Yeah, I can do that. I have sword class later.”

I frown, “If you don’t mind, I can show you now if you would like? I think it’s a good idea to get a feel for what you should be doing now that it's fresh in your mind.”

“Yes, please,” he replies gratefully.

“Griff!” I yell, making loads of people stop to look at me, whoops maybe I shouldn’t have yelled that loud. Oh well it's too late now. “Do you have a spare sword?”

Griff nods and then grins he visibly looks around, and it becomes clear that he’s checking all of the other students are out of the way a moment later when he launches a sword at me. The whole room gasps, and those gasps turn into whoops and cheers as soon as I catch the sword and give Griff a look.

“That was so fucking cool,” Josh says, his mouth dropped open comically.

“Thank you,” I grin. “Alright, show me what you know. I need to see your form and all of that sort of thing so I know where you are going wrong.” He starts to move, and I shake my head, “Wings out. I know you aren’t flying, but they are just as advantageous to you on the ground as they are in the air.”

He frowns slightly like it’s the first time that he’s heard those words, which would really surprise me, but even if it is he still does as I ask, and his wings spread out behind him. They’re a lot smaller than Reed’s but they are still large.

We start to fight, taking it a lot slower as he gets used to fighting on the ground with his wings out.

“Use them for balance,” I say as our swords clash. “Don’t forget that you can use them to launch yourself backward and out of the way of the blade as well. They are your biggest advantage.”

He nods and despite all of his earlier rambling, he listens really well and does what I say, he’s also a really quick learner.

“That’s it,” I encourage.

We go for a while longer, and his confidence increases, so I start putting in some more complicated moves and then pausing and correcting his stances when he gets them wrong.

Finally, I say, “Okay, show me the move that you are trying to do.”

He nods and shoots into the air he does the move and barely misses slicing himself again.

“See, that was better than I have ever done it, but it’s like I’ve got too much to think about, and I forget what I am supposed to be doing with the sword,” he explains when he comes back down.

I nod. “Yeah, I can see that. Have you fought against someone and tried the move? I know it sounds weird, but maybe the threat isn’t big enough?”

He frowns slightly, “I haven’t, but I’m willing to try anything at this point.”

I nod, “Griff!” I yell again because, apparently, that’s what I do now, and no one here really seems to mind.

“What’s up?” Griff asks as he lands with ease next to us and I have to once again control my reaction to him, I can’t let my mouth run away with me and tell him how hot I think he is, that is not the impression that I want to send this class.

“Josh is having trouble doing the complex sequence that he’s trying to learn and remembering the move with the sword at the same time. We’ve practiced on the ground with his wings out, but now I was wondering if you could fight with him in the air,” I explain and then add, “I think he can definitely do it; he’s just overthinking it.”

Griff nods, “Sure, I can do that. Come on, man, in the air.”

I watch closely as they start to fight, and Griff talks him through a couple of things that he has noticed. They have a practice run, moving through the motions slowly before they do a proper run-through going at full speed. Well, not full speed for Griff. If he went at full speed, then Josh wouldn’t have a chance in hell of keeping up and executing the move that he’s trying to, and we aren’t doing this to make him lose more confidence. We want to help him gain confidence in himself and his abilities.

My smile is wide when Josh manages to do the sequence that he’s been struggling so much with now that he is under the pressure of having a sword coming at him.

His smile is huge as he lands in front of me, but he asks, “Why could I do it then?”

“You didn’t have time to think it over,” I explain. “It was only a guess, really, but I’m glad that it worked out!”

“Thank you,” he replies, “I’m going to see if I can do it without the extra pressure now that I know for sure that I can do it.”

“Good idea,” I reply and then add, “maybe keep practicing on the ground with your wings out as well?”

He nods, “Absolutely.”

“You’re really good with them,” Griff says from beside me.

I smile, “Thanks. I like helping them. It feels good, especially since I didn’t think that I would be able to contribute at all.”

Griff smiles, “A normal human wouldn’t be able to, but you’re not normal, are you.”

I grin and reply proudly, “Nope, I never have been.”

He chuckles and then heads back into the air to help the students. For the rest of the lesson, I actually end up with quite a few people coming up to me to ask me for advice. It’s a strange experience but one that I am thoroughly enjoying, especially since I have managed to help or improve all of them.

By the time that the lesson is over several of them yell out their thanks and that they hope to see me again in the next class.

“What do you say?” Griff asks me as we leave his classroom to meet the guys before we head to the cafeteria.

“About what?” I ask as I pull my hair back up into its messy bun on the top of my head.

“Coming back to my class?” he clarifies. “You were really helpful, offered a new perspective, and clearly knew what you were talking about.”

A swell of pride rushes through me, “Really? I would definitely love to come back. I had fun. It has been a while since I’ve been able to teach someone. I liked it.”

“Good,” Griff smiles.