Free Whyt’s Plea by Viola Grace

 
     
    It was the third day of the week and that meant begging to go to the flight academy. Whyt made dinner, cleaned the house and sat with her parents for the meal.
    “Mother, Father, I would like to ask your permission to attend the Nathrin flight academy.”
    Her mother tensed. “I do not think that it is wise, Whyt.”
    Her father smiled brightly. “I have come up with an alternative, little feather.”
    Whyt’s heart sank. “Yes, Father?”
    “I have found a suitable mate for you. You meet him the day after tomorrow.”
    Whyt froze. “A mate? I thought I would have a choice in who I wed.”
    “There is no time. You are not getting younger.” Tevan smoothed his ivory hair back.
    “That is precisely my point. I will be too old to join the Planetary Defense Corp soon.”
    Her mother sniffed. “We are not authorizing you to go. You are going to settle down and be a good wife.”
    Whyt thought of a thousand things to tell her mother, but what came out of her mouth was, “Yes, Ma’am.”
    She sat through the final three courses of dinner and kept her disappointment to herself.
    After dessert, she asked to be excused, and when it was granted, she rose to her feet with her robe swirling around her.
    Instead of going to her room, she stepped into the library and out onto the balcony. The stars gleamed and glittered above her. The flight school was calling her, but her mother was not going to let her go.
    “I thought you would be out here.” Neewin, their housekeeper, crept out onto the balcony.
    “Of course I am. Can I ever stop staring at the sky?”
    The woman who had been her nanny, her tutor and her confidant put an arm around her shoulders.
    “No, you were born to look to the skies, chick. Now, clear off your face and listen closely; tonight, just after moonrise, you need to slip out your window and down to the garden. Run for the south gate, and there will be someone waiting for you. You will get to the flight school, but whether you stay there or not is your own problem.”
    The glowing orb was peeking out from behind the mountains. “It looks like I am out of time then.”
    “Good girl. Give them hell, chick.” Neewin squeezed her shoulders and left her alone.
    Whyt looked at the approaching moon, and she nodded. She would never be able to make it in this robe. This called for a quick change.
     
    She wore a dark brown tunic with a deep hood to conceal her white hair and loose trousers to hide the feather patterns on her legs. Dark slippers covered her feet, and a quick glance out the window showed the moon rising past the horizon. It was time.
    Music sounded from the other side of the house, and Whyt knew she wouldn’t get a better opportunity. Her parents were dancing together and would soon be in bed and very distracted. It was time to leave.
    The trip out her window was one she had made dozens of times. She moved as fast as she could across the grounds, slipping through the hole in the fence. The person waiting for her was not who she had been expecting.
    “Commander Arguat?”
    He was wearing dark colours and leaning against one of the newest air skimmers that the Coalition was testing on the surface of Athuuna.
    He smiled and settled onto the skimmer, gesturing for her to climb on behind him. It would be five hours of flight clinging to him, but if it got her to Nathrin for the flight school trials, she would do it.
    She settled onto the skimmer and placed her hands on his waist. He flicked the controls, and the vehicle rose silently into the air.
    The forward movement blew a cool breeze through her clothing. Grimacing, she scooted closer to Arguat and bracketed his thighs with hers. He banked right, and the sudden move forced her to grab at his waist.
    When she had first met him, she had pegged him as a jerk, but his agreement to take her to Nathrin overlaid her parents’ attempt at matchmaking and his arrogant attitude that she should be happy to have him.
    He pressed a headset into her