Their destination was only a few blocks away, but the blocks in this part of town were quite large. It would take quite a bit of walking to get there, and John was in no rush with his little addition on his shoulder.
A little over halfway there, however, John's pace stuttered a little in hesitation. He carried on another step or two, but backtracked after a moment.
It’s been a while since Bowman decided to dive from the clouds with his tiny human in tow. I know it’s been a while, but with Camp NaNoWriMo, I was putting all my energy into making sure I made my goal. I should be able to get back to projects like this one more often now!
I really like this part. It’s so cute.
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Jacob’s eyes were wide as a sense of weightlessness settled over him. Tucked next to Bowman’s heart, he could hear and feel the sprite’s excited pulse. The image of how high up they were stuck in his mind, even in the dim lighting Bowman allowed him.
Then they were falling and Jacob’s whole body froze.
Wind whipped past just outside the small haven Bowman made with his hands. Some gusts filtered past the huge fingers and whipped at him before they were gone again, and the water soaking his jacket became the least of Jacob’s worries. All he could think about was Bowman losing his grasp.
He could swear he heard Bowman’s wings wavering in the breeze. They weren’t flapping. They simply let the air slide past as the oversized sprite plummeted.
“B-Bowman! Stop!” he cried out, craning his neck back. He couldn’t see Bowman’s face. He was locked away in the sprite’s hands, unable to see their fall. Jacob knew Bowman had many skills in the air, but all that knowledge seeped away as the seconds stretched out. They were falling towards the earth, way too fast.
“Bowman, dammit,” he tried again. This time, he let go of the fingers around him and pounded his fists against the chest near him. Over and over, he punched at Bowman to get his attention, his eyes shut tight.
There was a loud crack. Things shifted. Gravity built and pressed Jacob against Bowman’s chest for a second while they came to a stop, from Bowman letting his wings fill with air.
Bowman righted himself and Jacob found himself lifting away from his chest. When he opened his eyes, he was in front of Bowman’s face again, with his other hand guarding him like a candle. Bowman’s brow was pinched with worry.
“Jacob, I didn’t … squeeze you or something, right?” Bowman asked.
Jacob glanced around. They were still well above the trees, but the forest was closer now. He shook his head distractedly. His heart was still moving back to its place from where it had crawled into his throat. “Nope,” he forced out. “Not squished.”
Bowman looked up with a frown, and then back at Jacob. “Too much?”
Jacob nodded emphatically and shrugged. “Just … just a bit too much, yeah,” he admitted. “Falling. Couldn’t see.”
They hovered at that height for some time while Bowman pondered the answer. Jacob slumped in his hand, glad he’d managed to get the sprite’s attention before he had a heart attack. At this rate, Bowman’s excitable nature would sap all of Jacob’s energy unless they got back to normal soon.
“I have an idea,” Bowman announced. Confident as ever, he waited for Jacob to focus on him. “I can hold onto you without blocking the view and I’ll glide down slower. That way you see where we’re going. No more dives.”
“That sounds a lot better,” Jacob answered with a grimace. “Diving looks more fun when you’re smaller than me. Holy shit.”
Bowman’s mouth twitched in a smirk, but he was actually more subdued than usual. “It’s one of the best feelings, but I have wings,” he admitted. One fingertip settled on top of Jacob’s head. “Gonna be alright?”
Jacob rolled his eyes. When he pushed at the fingertip, it lifted away before the hand curled partway around him as a guard. “I’m fine, Bowman. Just not a fan of falling blind, that’s all. We can forget about it, right?”
“Oh, I suppose,” Bowman snarked. Then he grinned reassuringly. “At least we got to see the clouds up close. Let’s get you back to the ground before you panic again.”
Jacob sighed and shook his head. “I’m not gonna panic again,” he insisted.
Even so, when Bowman angled his body to fly, Jacob clung to his fingers. Soon they were almost parallel with the ground, Bowman’s green wings spread wide. He banked in a circle through the air.
This time, the wind whipped at Jacob’s hair and hood, but the sensation of falling was almost nonexistent. He held up one hand to shield his eyes from the wind and watched the forest below. Bowman’s shadow flickered over the canopy, and once or twice Jacob caught a glimpse past the trees all the way to the ground below.
Back by popular demand, here’s the next bit of the size swap! Last time, Bowman decided to fly up as high as he could, with tiny Jacob in tow.
Poor Jacob.
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Bowman laughed as he cleared the canopy in one powerful flap of his wings. His wings had grown with him, and the ground below was buffeted by a huge gust of wind from his powerful strokes. Soon, he was high above the trees where no other wood sprite would dare to go. Up here, he was at risk of a hawk spotting him.
With his new size, that wasn’t a concern at all. A hawk wouldn’t be able to snag him in its talons now.
Bowman flapped his wings as hard as he could to soar even higher, leaving the ground farther and farther behind him. The forest spread out around him in all directions, a field of dark green waving in gentle breezes. In the distance, he saw the crown of a tree taller than any other in the forest.
That was where the village of Wellwood waited, hidden away from humans for generations. That Big Oak was the heart of the forest itself, the oldest living thing for miles. It protected the wood sprites with its stalwart boughs.
Bowman flew higher and finally came to a hover when he was looking down at the Big Oak. His wings beat steadily, and he finally checked on his hands.
The hand shielding Jacob from the wind remained near, a protective wall between Jacob and the sight from so high. Bowman held the human close to his chest and grinned down at him. “Not so bad, is it?” he asked.
Jacob’s face was ashen and his tiny eyes were wide. He didn’t relent in clinging to Bowman’s fingers and his tiny body trembled, but he tried a shaky grin in return. One little hand even flicked up to give the thumb-up gesture humans liked. “It’s definitely something,” he admitted. “H-how high up didja go?”
Bowman smirked. “You wanna see?” He didn’t want to show Jacob if the human wasn’t ready. His hand lingered as a shield while he watched the decision-making journey on that miniature face.
“Y’know what, why not,” Jacob said, his voice tight. “I’m already up here, so I might as well–holy shit,” his voice cut off as Bowman lifted his hand away. Jacob, all of four inches and a fraction, saw the world from over a hundred feet in the air.
“Bowman, what the hell,” Jacob breathed. He twisted around in one direction, and then the other, taking in the view. Bowman smirked proudly.
After a few seconds of awestruck staring, Jacob turned his face back up to Bowman’s. There was a smile there, far less forced this time. “Alright, dude. This is pretty cool.”
Bowman snickered. “Told you it’d be fun. But I haven’t even gone as high as I can yet,” he warned. He caught sight of Jacob’s eyebrows shooting up before he moved his hand over the little guy once again.
He might have heard a tiny yelp stolen away by the wind again when he surged upwards, but Bowman didn’t stop. He wouldn’t drop Jacob in his drive to fly among the clouds. He might become the only wood sprite in Wellwood to ever touch the sky.
He discovered not long after that the clouds drifted in layers in the sky. The higher ones were still overhead when he reached one wisp of white. The air was thinner at this height, and Bowman could see the edges of the forest in all directions. He even spotted human roads, lines that didn’t match the green around them. Cars crawled along them like ants.
Bowman was hovering next to a cloud.
He lifted his hand just enough to peek at his tiny passenger. Jacob looked up at him, clinging once again. His eyes were wide and his tiny chest moved quickly, but he nodded in greeting. “What’s stopped ya now? Get to space yet?”
Bowman rolled his eyes. “I found a cloud,” he announced. He moved his hand so Jacob could see it. The little guy shut his eyes tight for a second before actually turning around to look. Bowman held his hands closer to his chest when he felt the tension in the tiny body.
“Gonna fly through it?” Jacob asked, now with his own faint smirk.
“I will in a second,” Bowman groused. He narrowed his eyes at Jacob dubiously. “What are you smiling about?”
Jacob shrugged. “You’re all hyped up about just flying. Just kinda funny,” he excused.
Bowman scoffed. “I’m not just flying, Jacob,” he pointed out. “I’m flying as high as a cloud! “
He punctuated his assertion by drifting forward into the cloud and out the other side. He didn’t even cover Jacob with his free hand this time, so they both were covered with cool drops of water that clung to their clothes and hair.
Bowman whirled around in the air to glare accusingly at the cloud. “It’s raining inside the cloud? Is that how they work?”
Jacob, despite his jacket and hair being soaked by the little water droplets, laughed out loud. “Clouds are made of water, Bowman. That’s all they are. “
Bowman frowned critically. No sprite would know something like that, so he was torn between believing Jacob and arguing for the sake of it. He narrowed his eyes at the cloud now that they were on the other side of it, and it drifted lazily along, hardly even disturbed by their passage through it.
It was like they’d passed through a pond hanging in the sky. At least it made sense that rain could come from something like that.
“That’s just weird, though,” he decided. He glanced down at Jacob again and found the little guy grinning at him again. He nudged a tiny shoulder pointedly, but didn’t dare shift the grip around Jacob’s body. He didn’t want to cause a panic. “Are you happy now? Now you’re soaked, too, y’know?”
Jacob shrugged and snickered. “It’s cold but I think I’ll get over it,” he said. “You should see your face. And it looks like you got snowed on,” his little hand waved vaguely towards Bowman’s hair.
Bowman lifted his free hand to his head. When he combed through his messy green hair, thousands of tiny droplets clinging to him came away on his fingers. He shook them away with a frown, and then flicked his fingers towards his other hand.
Jacob took a drop of water right to his face and he shut his eyes tight. One hand relented from clinging so he could brush at his face. “Jackass!”
Bowman snickered. “If you’re done enjoying the view from the bottom of the sky, I know what’ll get us both dry,” he announced.
Jacob took that cue to glance around once more. The world was almost incomprehensible from such a height. Bowman could hardly believe it himself. Birds wheeled around in the sky below them.
“What’s your plan, then?” Jacob asked dubiously.
Bowman grinned without answering. Jacob took another face-journey to realization, and then shook his head. “Dude, no way. If you wanna do your crazy stunts in the air, fine, but I don’t wanna be involved-”
Bowman moved the hand with Jacob so it was against his chest. His free hand covered the small human just like before. Jacob’s voice muffled against Bowman’s chest, lost to the breeze.
Then, Bowman stopped moving his wings and tilted backwards, greeting the sight of the world rushing towards them.
