Feathers and Courage

Previously

…He expected a soft thud, perhaps a slight bounce. Instead, there was a jarring impact, a rustle of leaves, and a feeling of being tangled in something soft and yielding. He had landed. But it wasn't the landing he had dreamed of. It was a clumsy, uncontrolled tumble into a thick patch of ferns, his wings still splayed awkwardly. He lay there for a moment, stunned, the scent of damp earth filling his nostrils. He had tried to fly, and he had, for a few heartbeats. But he had also fallen, and the ground, so close and so real, felt very different from the sky. He was safe, but he was also very much on the ground, and the soaring freedom he had glimpsed felt impossibly far away.