Work Text:
There are many animals that Albert knows supposedly exist, but only three he’s ever seen: humans and birds, once a squirrel. Based on his experience, he believed they came from very different worlds. Feathery and elvin the birds flew high up in the sky, cutting across skies and decorating sunset backgrounds with the flap of a delicate wing in the air. Humans were large and flightless creatures bound to the Earth as its cage, no feathers or fur and neither do many flock together and sing, Albert looked at the sky and wondered about the birds. He had nothing to do at the moment, as was often the case, and so he headed off back inside in search of a book. There was no particular book he was after, only a topic and so off he went into the small room of Stonemoor, the largest birdcage he’d ever seen, that served as a poor excuse for a library.
Desiring to find not only differences but similarities between a human and a bird he had stayed there for hours, barely moving anymore than the sharp ticking of the clock hands on the wall. He tried to understand the anatomy of a bird, to know not only what set him apart from them but what merged them together. Humans and birds roamed Earth in coexistence after all, they breathed the same air and walked or flew past each other all the time. Inside the great castle of his imagination, he pictured himself becoming like them and being just as free, to join them would he have to grow wings and feathers as well? Is that really what makes the difference, or is it something else? May it be something changeable, abstract and as immaterial as the soul itself? Daring himself to dream, he visualised in his mind another version of himself: just perching on the precipice of a human and a bird in mind and thoughts, he was as fearless as the songbirds that sang within Stonemoor’s walls and just as human in his physical form as he is now, still human in his capabilities to dream and discover. Albert closed his eyes and saw himself in places he had never seen before, with people he’d never met and a life of adventure and the confidence of a strutting peacock that allowed him to feel like he could conquer the world.
The best part was when he opened his eyes and saw just that, Joe and Sal’s intense and wild frenzy of cheats that made up their card games, the sweetness of Ettie as she doodled away all sorts of imaginative figures and of course his best friend Scarlett, who he could see sitting right next to him. The warmth of the inn flooded his senses and brought him into a peace that would have been incredibly foreign to him back then. It was midday, the sky was clear and the temperature was just on the brink of a comfortable balance between summer’s blaze and winter’s frigidity. Excusing himself from the company of his friends, Albert walked outside of the inn and stood still for a moment, gazing up into the sky. As his admiring gaze tilted upwards, he felt a gentle breeze brush against his face, ruffling his hair and lifting his spirits. The expanse above him appeared endless, a vast canvas of possibilities and dreams. Painted on it were the beauty of the birds soaring freely through the air, their wings carrying them to distant lands and unexplored horizons. As he watched them flutter and sing, he no longer felt jealous nor did he long for anything at all, instead he felt connected.
He could fly, you may not be able to see it, but he really could.