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I'm surprised she hasn't blown a fuse yet walking the fine precarious line between contradicting choices. But I suppose when you're down to your last chance to do something, then it's not really much of a choice anymore, is it?

"When was the last time we even did this again?" Ria mused, stepping back, making space. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall if that's your concern. I'm very used to heavy loads."

Irene cocked a brow. "Heavy loads?" 

"Ah, whoops…" hissing in, Ria tried to endear her back with an apologetic smirk. "I mean, as heavy a load as natural, lusty beauty oughta be. Can't have those tasty curves like yours without also packing a little bit of fat, right?" 

You ask me, I think she was better off shutting her trap up for once. 

"Speaking of," I spoke, raising my own concerns. "How exactly do you plan on taking her up? Gonna hook her on your talons like a rabbit or something?"

With playful slits for eyes, she leered at me, "Just sounds like you're trying to make me walk into something, but alright - I'll bite. I'm gonna make her ride me, how else would we do it?" 

"But, um…" I hesitated, wondering why I was the only one questioning the utterly obvious. "Aren't you a little too small for her to get on top?" 

"Tsk, tsk, tsk - hey, size isn't all that matters, you know?" she shook her head at me. "That is unless that's all you got going for you. And hey, no judgment if it is. Can't help what you can't help, right?" 

"In your case, I think it does kinda matter a little," I said, ignoring her provocations as best I can. "In case you haven't noticed, she's grown up quite a bit since the last time you took her for a ride, so…" 

"Ria can change her size while in her other form," Irene chimed in, giving an answer finally. "She'll be big enough." 

Yet such an answer only raised more questions than it resolves, like - huh? 

"You can grow bigger?" I turned to the phoenix herself, meeting my disbelief with much smugness. "How? Since when? You've never - " 

"Getting bigger - that's where you draw the line," she sniggered. "But the fact that half my body mass disappears every time you see me transform, that's apparently perfectly normal in your eyes?" 

"That's…" 

Okay, damn. She's got me there. Right, fine, phoenixes are size-shifters too, I can roll with it.

"And unfortunately for you, I'm only big enough to be a one-seater, not two," she threw her head at me in mock regret, batting sorrowful eyes. "So you're gonna have to make do with admiring the view from down here instead. But you're fine with that, right?" 

I actually had absolutely no qualms with taking the backseat here. The thought never even crossed my mind. This moment, this whole thing… it belongs only to them. I had no place in it. 

And yet… turns out I wasn't the one she should be asking.

"You've been bigger before, Ria," Irene pointed out. "What do you mean he can't - ?" 

"No, I'm okay, it's okay," I quickly said. "Both of you  go, and you hurry - don't think the fireworks would last much longer." 

"But…"

"Hurry," I said again, softly, glancing at Irene. "You don't want to miss this, do you?" 

No doubt she wanted me along for the ride. For reassurance, for comfort, or whatever other reason she needed me with her for. And while it was indeed nice to feel needed - whatever I end up being, I know I'll just wind up being redundant… and strong competition.

Up there, at this moment, Ria was all she needed anyway. Lying about her maximum occupancy size was just her way of making sure of it.

It's high time Irene starts accepting that, instead of shutting herself away from it every chance she gets, and right now… she only gets one chance to try.

"I certainly don't," Ria said, taking a final step back. "Yeah, we've talked enough. Time to go." 

Suddenly, it was as if someone had momentarily turned the dial of the night from its lowest to the max. One second, Ria was just there, and in the next, her wide beaming smile vanished, overwhelmingly engulfed in an explosion of light. 

I had to close my eyes, and even behind tightly shut eyelids, all I could see was a bright, blinding yellow. 

There was a shrill cry, the flittering flutter of wings; I peeked through a squint, watching the light coalesce into hundreds of golden feathers. The imprints of feet in the snow had all but melted away and what took its place were three large talons slightly embedded into the soil. Up higher, much higher, suddenly I was staring into the big beady eyes of a much bigger bird than I was accustomed to seeing.

Got worried for a moment about just how exposed we actually were to the general public. All it'll take was for one gaze to go astray for tomorrow's news documenting the discovery of the century. But no, everyone was either too drunk or too focused on getting drunk to even see anything out of the ordinary.

So in short - need a cover-up? Get people drunk, I guess.

"Wow," I said, my eyes opening up a little wider. "You really are big." 

The closest comparison I could make was a horse… that is if the average horse had wings and was at least a couple of inches smaller. But Ria was no Pegasus, she was still very much all-bird in every aspect to her. She was just… much bigger. That's all.

Ria snapped her long neck to the right, cocked her head, and narrowed both deep amber eyes towards Irene. 

She squawked, flapped her wings a little before dropping her back, and then motionless, she waited for Irene to make her move.

For a few seconds, nothing. Then Irene squirmed in place.

"Just for a little while, right?" she asked.

Ria bowed her head, the end of her beak hitting the earth.

"This one time and… and then never again?" 

There were two ways to interpret that question. And both ways were just as valid as the other.

I don't know which one Ria had heard. Either way, the answer was a loud, affirming caw. 

For some reason, Irene turned her gaze toward me, as if expecting me to step in, as if I had a speech ready to cue and it was time for me to say something.

But I had nothing to say, nothing on cue, except a gentle push on the back, and a smile on my lips whispering the word, "go", once more.

It took another second but she eventually took a step forward. Another step, and suddenly she was lifting one leg higher than the other, scaling feathers, a little wobble, a little sway, and finally she was on top of her.

Ria squealed in glee, raising herself back up and stretching her wings in anticipation, dispersing bright embers in a ring of smoke as she did.

"Don't go too fast," Irene warned, leaning forward, and holding on tight. Once again, saying, speaking, in more ways than one. "You always go too fast."