"This might be confusing." Jane chuckled. "But... aren't you your own size?"
"I suppose I am!" Ty trilled. "Okay. So instead of trying to make myself back into a full sized human... let's just try to make myself a little bigger each time. Then I can change back when I'm big enough."
"There!" Jane nodded her approval. "You're so clever. Just let me get out of the way so we don't have any mishaps." She promptly fluttered her wings and flapped up to the bed to stare down at Ty.
"Okay. Let's do my thing." This time, it came much easier. With a thought, he enlarged himself a little more. The next time that was easier. And so on. As Ty grew in spurts, he found his power restoring to its prior potency. About three feet seemed to be the magic point where it returned in full. The now giant blue jay paused, and took a deep breath, turning to Jane.
"So that's what it was." She confirmed, nodding slowly. "How good that we learned this now, huh?!"
* * *
A few minutes later two average sized blue jays - one male, one female - stood on the window sill of Ty's room. The window and screen were thankfully open. They stared down at the ground below and Ty seemed a little nervous.
"Okay." Jane began. "So this will be your first time actually flying. If you promise you'll give it an honest shot and not use your power to just magically know how to do it, then I promise I won't let you fall. Deal?"
Ty broke out into a laugh. "Okay!" He nodded decisively. "Deal!"
"All right!" Jane stepped forward. "So watch me, okay? The first thing you need to know is that your body is made for this. So even though you don't know how, and you were just a while ago human, and you have none of my natural instincts whatsoever, we can do this!"
"How very encouraging." Ty said dryly.
"Oh, hush! Watch!" Jane said cheerfully, and thrust herself off the sill. The ease with which she took off and soared into the morning sky was humbling. She gracefully turned an arc and dropped down into a perfect landing almost on the spot she had been standing moments before. "There."
"Okay." Ty took a deep breath. "Show me how."
"First thing is the takeoff, obviously. Put your wings out straight to your sides."
Ty did so, gulping.
"Good, nice and straight. So, the front of your wings, those are called the leading edge. The back of your wings, those are the trailing edge. Point your trailing feathers at the ground."
"You know your stuff, huh?" Ty laughed, taking her instructions.
Jane smiled at the corners of her beak. "I should hope so! So now, swish your wings downward. Flap!"
Ty did so, and was amazed as he lifted off the ground. It was like jumping, he found, and the more he pulled his legs in, the higher he could go in one flap. Until he was suddenly getting higher and higher into the air with each flap.
"There you go!" Jane laughed with glee. "You're doing it, Ty! You're doing it! Great job! Now come back down."
Ty let himself fall, somewhat roughly, and landed clumsily next to Jane.
"We'll work on that, don't worry. So!" She pointed out to the yard below, and looked at Ty with a twinkle in her eyes. "You ready?"
"Oh, man. I don't know. That's a long way to fall."
"I won't let you fall." She put her wing on his back and shared a reassuring glance. "Okay? Now do what I do! Watch!"
Ty stared, feeling his courage rise. This was the real deal! He was going to fly!
"Wings out!" Jane demonstrated. "Body straight. And we're going to glide down below. Okay?"
"Okay." Ty nodded. "No big deal. I can do this."
"Wings out..." Jane repeated, watching her pupil do the same. "Good. Body straight. And... then... we jump off the edge." She smiled at his hesitance. "What you're going to do is try to keep your wings as straight as you can. You'll feel the air push them up. And you want to try pushing back. You ride the air. If you tilt your wings down, you'll fall down, if you tilt them up, you'll rise. Push your wings left or right, and you'll turn accordingly. For now, let's just try and get down there. A nice gentle glide, wings nice and straight. We'll get into the fancy stuff later. Okay?"
"Okay." Ty closed his eyes, relished the excitement in his gut, and readied himself. He was going to jump off the window and land a hundred stories below on the grass. Wings out... he took a deep breath. Body straight... he let his breath out... jump off the ledge. He pushed his bird feet forward, opened his eyes, and squawked a scream as he saw the ground rising. Then... incredibly, he felt the current. Like Jane had said, the air was pushing against him.
She was right beside him, at his speed, and stared at him with a mentor's gleaming pride. "Wonderful job!" She said softly. "So now, you're going to set yourself down below. Gentle movements, nothing sharp. Okay?"
"O-Okay!" Ty realized he was floating down in the air, the feeling unlike anything in the world. The rush of adrenaline, the feeling of euphoria, the freedom he felt was amazing. He gently angled his wings downward, a little too sharply at first, and found it was childishly simple to control his descent as he pleased. He landed on the grass first, a gentle thump as he stuck his legs out, Jane landing a moment later.
"Not a bad landing, rookie!" She laughed, and they threw each other into a winged embrace, laughing like fools.
"That was... that was awesome!" Ty laughed, the rush of emotion filling him. "More! God, more!"
"All right! Next up... take off! And true flight. Ready?"