https://firebirdschild.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] firebirdschild.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] 31_days2013-05-05 11:24 am

[May 5] [Honor Harrington Novel Series] - Flight Dreams

Title: Flight Dreams
Day/Theme: 5. I want more than this kite will soar
Series: David Weber’s Honor Harrington Novels
Characters: Honor Harrington, Jacques Chou



Honor slide one finger fondly across the contours of the sail-plane plaque. It was a bit battered, but still, she loved it dearly. A reminder of better times.

Most of the junior officers who saw the plaque thought that it reminded her of her academy days, of her time as sailing master for the Osprey, of victories won. But then, her junior officers liked to think of her as the tough-as-nails commanding officer who’d stared down Havenite ships of the wall with nothing but a heavy cruiser and a handful of LACs.

That wasn’t what the plaque stood for, though Honor was certainly willing to let it do so for those who didn’t know her. Her juniors needed the myth, needed the morale of being led by the famous (and infamous) Salamander from the newsreels.

For her, the plaque was a reminder of home. Of Uncle Jaques and the Copperwall Mountains. Of meeting Nimitz for the first time. Of a time when all she’d wanted was one more flight, one more moment airborn with the wind running its fingers through her hair. Of the time in Honor’s life when flying had made her crave more, yearn for the stars. Of a time when she hadn’t realized how very high the cost of achieving that dream would be.

She knew that she could never regain that innocence. But that didn’t stop her missing it. Didn’t stop her vehemently wishing sometimes that she had stayed on Sphinx, taken Uncle Jaques up on his offer of a career in legislature, not known about how terribly the universe could be.

What she wouldn’t give for just one more flight.