Interspecies Potion Solution Part 3 Chapter 5

Chapter 5: “Flight School Splash" The lake shimmered beneath the late morning sun, quiet and glassy except for the occasional splash of a la

Chapter 5: “Flight School Splash"

The lake shimmered beneath the late morning sun, quiet and glassy except for the occasional splash of a lazy fish. Birds chirped in the trees. A soft breeze drifted over the water, carrying with it the scent of moss, fresh air… and mild humiliation.

Kirika sat at the edge of the dock, legs crossed awkwardly under her, wings wrapped around a fishing rod like some kind of clumsy avian pretzel. It wasn’t working. It really wasn’t working.

"Okay," she muttered, squinting down at the rod wedged between the tips of her feathers, her wrist, and what little remained of her useless thumb. "All I have to do is hold it still. Just. Hold. Still."

The rod wobbled.

She tightened her grip.. if one could call it that. Her right wing slipped. The rod tilted. She jerked back instinctively and… splash! The line jerked and the rod soared right out of her arms and into the water.

Again.

From her perch a few meters out on the dock, Mero giggled softly, came over, reached for the rod and reeled it in with expert timing, catching the slack line before it fully sank. "Such dedication, dear Kirika~ I daresay the fish admire your generosity."

Kirika let out a long, wing-frustrated sigh. “This is so much harder than I thought it’d be…”

Mero gave her a gentle smile as she sat half-submerged in the shallows, her hair glistening like seafoam. She had caught five fish already. Four with Kirika's rod, the other just with her bare hands. Apparently, mermaids were really good at this.

"You know, I don't mind if we stop here." Mero said lightly. "I know you promised, but that was back when you still had hooves. You said you'd show me how humans fish. But I dare say the situation has slightly changed to make that more unrealistic."

“Yeah,” Kirika groaned, flapping one wing uselessly. “Too bad I’m not one of those anymore.”

Overhead, a familiar blue blur circled lazily through the sky.

“Papi’s bored,” came the distant call. “You guys are just sitting! Sitting and poking water with sticks! Boring!”

Kirika squinted up. “You don’t have to stay, you know!”

“Papi stays with husband! Even when husband is very, very, very boring!”

Kirika grumbled under her breath and tried once more to grip the rod. It flopped sideways again like a depressed noodle.

Mero, ever the graceful royal, floated beside her and placed a comforting hand on Kirika’s knee. “Perhaps the art of angling is not meant for wings.”

"Understatement of the year," Kirika muttered.

Above them, Papi spun another loop, then started flying even lower, just close enough to dip her talons into the lake. “Maybe we do something fun instead? Like flying! Or cannonballing! Or cannonball flying!”

Kirika exhaled slowly through her nose, watching another fish mockingly leap from the lake just out of reach. The rod, once again, slipped from her grasp and flopped uselessly onto the dock.

“…Okay,” she said. “You win. No more fishing.”

Papi twirled in the air above them, upside-down and flapping lazily. “Kiri should try flying! Papi can teach! We can zoom together like birdy sisters!”

Kirika sat up, brushing lake mist off her feathers. “Y’know… that’s actually not a bad idea.”

She glanced over her shoulder at her wings, her long, glossy, and powerful wings. She’d been careful with them until now, keeping movements gentle. Anytime she flapped them too hard, she stirred up gusts strong enough to knock over furniture… or knock Cerea’s sword out of her sheath. Probably best not to repeat that in the house again.

But out here?

“Alright,” Kirika said, standing up and giving her wings a cautious stretch. “Let’s see what these things can actually do.”

Papi whooped, looping joyfully in the air. “Yay! Just flap! It’s super easy! Even Papi can do it!”

Kirika didn’t find that particularly comforting.

Mero, graceful as always, swam a little farther out from the dock. She smiled and offered a supportive wave. “Go on, Kirika~ I believe in you.”

Kirika squared her shoulders, took a breath… and flapped.

A rush of air slammed downward with enough force to rattle the dock. Her feet left the planks by an inch… then plopped back down again.

“Whoa.” She blinked, momentarily stunned. “That was… not even full power.”

Papi was bouncing midair like a child on a trampoline. “More flapping! More flapping!”

“Okay, okay, calm your feathers,” Kirika muttered. She braced her legs, dug in her talons, and gave it another try.

Flap. Lift.

Flap. Wobble.

Flap. Float.

She was in the air. Sort of. Hovering like an uncertain duckling caught in a breeze.

She tilted forward, flapped harder to correct, overdid it, tilted back, panicked, and…

WHOOSH—SPLASH!

Kirika rocketed forward like a badly aimed missile and crashed beak-first into the lake with a magnificent ker-sploosh, wings flailing as they broke her fall and kept her bobbing like a very confused waterfowl.

“Blubbgh—ugh!” she sputtered, flapping soggily.

Mero giggled, swimming up beside her with a serene smile. “You made it into the air, at least. That’s a wonderful first step~”

Kirika groaned. “Yeah. And then I made it into the lake. Also a first step.”

“Do not worry,” Mero said, floating beside her and gently guiding them back to shore. “Even flight needs time. And besides…” She gave Kirika a teasing look. “You looked adorable in the air. All flustered and feathery.”

Kirika rolled her eyes, wings dripping as she bobbed next to her. “Great. Glad I could be everyone’s favorite new pond bird.”

Papi cheered overhead, making a spiraling dive. “Again! Again!”

Kirika sighed, then smiled in spite of herself. “…Yeah, alright. One more try.”

As Kirika sloshed out of the water, talons slipping a bit on the slick lakeside stones, something hit her.

Weight.

Not just emotional, existential weight (though sure, that too) but actual, physical weight.

She staggered slightly. Her arms… her wings felt like wet sandbags. Her legs weren’t much better. Even her neck tugged down, heavy with damp hair.

“Ugh—what the—?!” she groaned, pausing mid-step to try and shake it off. “Why do I feel like someone doubled the gravity?”

She flared one wing, or tried to—only for it to flop limply and dump a waterfall of lake water onto her side.

And that’s when it hit her.

It was the water. The feathers. Her entire body was now made of flight gear. And flight gear got soaked.

“Oh, great.” She hunched a bit under the weight. “Turns out being a lightweight harpy means you feel everything.”

A gust of wind kicked up, making her wobble a little.

That’s when a blue blur landed dramatically nearby, talons skidding on the grass.

“Papi knows what to do!! Papi knows what to do!!” she chirped excitedly, already beginning to demonstrate.

With a sudden burst of movement, Papi flapped her wings in tight circular motions… fwip-fwip-fwip… and began wiggling her butt like she was dancing to a rhythm only she could hear.

It was… a sight.

Kirika stared.

“…Are you doing a dance?”

Papi paused just long enough to grin and puff her chest. “Nooo~! That’s not a dance! That’s the water-go-away move! Papi invented it!”

And she demonstrated again. Flap-flap-circle, then a high-speed hip wiggle like she was trying to shake maracas with her butt.

Kirika continued to stare.

She just stood there, dripping and deadpan. “You want me to do that?”

“Yes!” Papi beamed. “Just flap and wiggle! Wiggle and flap! Water goes bye-bye!”

There was a long pause as Kirika processed the absurdity of what she’d just witnessed.

Then she sighed. Deeply. “You know what? Sure. Let’s just add ‘butt-wiggling bird dance’ to today’s ever-growing list of strange experiences.”

She raised her wings, did her best to circle them like Papi’s demonstration (which mostly resulted in her swatting herself in the back of the head), and then… wiggled.

The motion was awkward at first. But surprisingly, kind of satisfying. The water began to flick off her feathers in little droplets. Her butt wiggle, dignity aside, actually helped shake some of the heavier wetness out of her thighs and hips. Not to mention it just felt surprisingly good.

“…Okay,” she muttered. “I hate that this works.”

Papi clapped her wings excitedly. “See! See! Told you! Papi’s a genius!”

Kirika rolled her eyes and continued the motion, looking like a very grumpy peacock trying to dry off after a thunderstorm.

“At this point,” she said, “I’m not even questioning it anymore.”

With most of the dampness now shaken off, and her dignity slightly intact, Kirika flared her wings once more and gave it another shot.

This time felt… different.

The weight was gone. Her feathers caught the air cleanly, no longer dragging soggy clumps behind her. She crouched, focused, and flapped hard.

Once. Twice. Jump.

And just like that, she was airborne.

Her wings sliced through the breeze with practiced rhythm, even if the “practice” was exactly zero. But somehow, her instincts filled in the gaps. Each flap carried her higher, steadier. Her body rocked a little with each beat, like learning to balance on a bike with no hands, but she was doing it. Actually doing it.

She was flying.

Kirika blinked down at the trees below her, the dock, the glimmering lake. Her mouth curled into a stunned smile. “I’m… I’m doing it?”

“Bravo! Bravo!” Mero clapped from the shore, splashing excitedly in the shallows.

“PAPI KNEW IT!” came a cry from the sky.

Kirika had just enough time to look left.

Blue blur.

“Oh no—”

Too late.

Papi slammed into her like a feathered cannonball, wrapping her up in a full-body midair hug. “Papi is soooo proud of husband! Flying together! It’s just like the stories! Wheee!”

Kirika spiraled immediately.

The added weight, and the sheer chaos of a surprise hug, knocked her off balance completely. Her wings flailed, her trajectory dipped. She squawked, flapping wildly, but it was no use. They twisted midair like a weird birdy pretzel and…

SPLASH.

Straight into the lake again.

Mero dove forward in a graceful arc and caught the edge of Kirika’s fall, catching her under the arms as she surfaced and hauling her upright.

But as the water settled and Kirika caught her breath, something… felt off.

Very off.

Kirika looked down. 

Mero looked down. 

Both of their eyes widened in slow, dawning realization.

Their tops were gone.

Mero’s frilly swimsuit top floated by like a lost jellyfish. Kirika’s shirt was nowhere to be seen.

The two girls froze, chest-to-chest, hands and wings slightly twitching, cheeks going redder than the sunset behind them.

“…W-We are truly one with nature now,” Mero said softly, trying to keep some composure, though her voice betrayed a squeaky panic.

Kirika, ears burning and feathers puffed, muttered through gritted teeth, “I think… that was enough flying for today.”

Papi, still spinning happily in the air above them, shouted, “Papi agrees! Best flight lesson ever!”

Kirika groaned and sank until only her eyes and forehead poked above the water. “Please tell me I can go back to being a centaur now.”

Mero just giggled, floating closer to retrieve her wayward swimwear. "Don’t be like that, dear Kirika. I bet that even happens to the best of harpies."

Kirika didn’t even argue. She just closed her eyes and accepted her topless fate.

To be continued...

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First fishing and then a flying lesson? That must go great I bet~