“Hast du deine Kleidung? Deinen Rasierer? Deine Zahnbürste?“ Do you have your clothes? Your razor? Your toothbrush? Josef asked.

“Ja, Ich habe alles, was ich brauche. Und du? hast du deine Sachen?“ Yes, I have all that I need. And you? Do you have your stuff?

“Ja! Sollen wir gehen?“ Yes. Shall we go? He said as he put on his pack. Because of flying wolves’ wings they can’t wear normal backpacks. However most bag makers have designed packs to allow flying wolves to carry stuff with them on their flights. It’s one of these special packs that Josef was wearing. The bag itself was similar to that of a backpack but the straps on this pack went around the neck and lower back.

I put mine on. Then I rubbed my wing’s ‘wrist’ joint. “Ja! Mein Rudel wartet.“ Yes! My pack awaits. I answered and headed out the front door. It was the fourth of October. It had been a month since the accident and my wing had healed. The doctor warned me not to do too much flying after he took the cast off, a week ago. Well I decided to build up my wing strength again so I started with just small distances and worked my way further and further. The doctor advised me to leave earlier than I did to get to Colorado. He wanted me to rest frequently and not to fly more than 100 miles at a time. The flight to Colorado was faster than driving, but compared to a commercial airliner was fairly long. It took a feathered flying wolf, on average eight hours to fly from the San Diego International Airport to Denver International Airport. Which was about a half an hour away from my house by car.

“San Diego Tower, this is Foxtrot-Whiskey-Charlie zero niner five five six three and Golf one-three zero zero niner one requesting permission to take off from our home.” I spoke into my headset. When the event occurred the FAA took it upon themselves to Identify and register every flying anthro out there. My personal registration code was FWC095563. The First two letters were species type, the third was the first letter of your last name and then a randomly assigned six digit code. Dragons were DR-, Birds were AB-, Bats were MB-, and obviously flying wolves were FW-.

“Tower to Foxtrot-Whiskey-Charlie zero niner five five six three, please hold. The traffic in your area is too thick. What’s your vector?”

“Initial Vector is zero-five-one-point-three.” Five seconds passed before we heard anything.

“Your go for takeoff, Charlie-five-six-three, Gulf-zero-niner-one. Don’t over work those wings, boys.”

“Thank you, Tower.” I finished as I flapped my wings down at the same time I jumped. It took me ten flaps to get ten feet of the ground. Josef took eight. Since I was 6’4 ½” my wingspan was 12’9” or three feet longer than my arm on either side. Josef’s wing span was wider at 14’4.” The general rule with winged anthros is that their wingspan is twice their height. Those extra two feet gave him slightly more lift than my wings and therefore it took him less wing flaps to go the same distance. I looked at him smiled and we both increased altitude to cruising altitude for our flight, 3,500 feet. In general, the FAA suggested that all winged anthros should fly in groups. It was because of bandits. Who often times would assault the fliers and steal their things. That’s why it was required that every flier knew how to handle a weapon. There were so many different weapons that fliers chose. I carried two with me: a Colt Semi-automatic, magazine fed, recoil operated pistol, designated the Colt M1911A1 and a traditionally hand forged Japanese katana. Using a weapon in the air took years to master, but once you got the hang of it, it wasn’t that much different from firing on foot.

“Nikki, wir haben zwei Vogel, die aus Los Angeles kommen. Sie möchte wissen, wenn sie unsere Gruppe beitreten können.“ We have two birds who come from Los Angeles. They want to know if they can join our group. Josef told me.

“Ihre Nummer?” Their numbers I asked.

“Alpha-Bravo-Mike-five-seven-seven-zero-five-three and -Viktor-zero-zero-zero-one-zero-two.”

“Alpha-Bravo-Mike-five-seven-seven-zero-five-three and -Viktor-zero-zero-zero-one-zero-two, this is Foxtrot-Whiskey-Charlie-zero-niner-five-five-six-three and Golf-one-three-zero-zero-niner-one, you may join us if you wish. What is your Echo Tango Alfa?”

“Charlie-five-six-three, we’ll join you; Echo Tango Alfa in twenty seconds, arriving on your seven-o’clock level.” Came an all too familiar voice.

“Jade? Is Mike-zero-five-three, Jade McCarl?” I asked.

“Nick? Is that you?” Jade answered.

“Jade, you’re a bird?”

“Yup, Specifically a Corvus corax sapien. Or anthro raven.”

“Who’s the bloak?”

“He’s my boyfriend, Michael. You like?” She said and finished with a sly smile.

“For a bird? Perfect.” I joked.

“Who’s this hunk of a wolf?”

“My current boyfriend. Josef, sag, ‘hallo’!”

“Good day, miss. I’m Josef Johannes Gutenberg, III.”

“Nick, you’re kidding me, you nailed a Gutenberg?”

“Well yeah. Why?”

“They’re currently the richest family in Germany.”

“Oh that!”

“Wow! You didn’t care.”

“I didn’t even pay attention to the money.”

“Good Boy!”

“I’m not a…Oh damn it!” I said realizing technically I was a dog. Then chuckled and started panting.

She laughed, “Oh, Nick!”

“So… a raven? What’s that like?”

“It ain’t bad. Though, grooming is a bitch.”

“I can’t tell you how annoying all this fur is, Jade. I go through a bottle of shampoo in two days, not two weeks.”

“Hell, Nick, I have to buy special products for my feathers, and don’t even talk to me about molting. I know your wings molt, but my entire body does. It’s really fucking annoying.”

“Tower to Foxtrot-Whiskey-Charlie-zero-niner-five-five-six-three and group, you’re leaving San Diego Airspace. I wish you luck.” Came over our radio.

“Charlie-five-six-three to Tower, thank you,” I responded on the radio, then to Jade, “So why were you in LA, Jade?”

“Well, I was actually shopping for a present for you. I didn’t think I’d run into you till the ceremony.”

“Why didn’t you come visit us?”

“I just thought, like I said, I’d see you at the party and your initiation ceremony.”

“Oh. Ok, let’s get to the party shall we?”

“Let’s!” All three of my traveling companions said.

“Alright people, Finger four formation, now. Josef, an meinem recht. Jade, Michael, my left.”

“Roger.” They all responded to me at once.

***

“Tower to Foxtrot-Whiskey-Charlie-zero-niner-five-five-six-three, welcome back Nick. Happy Birthday. Final Approach vector for Denver International is zero-three-zero. For your house., zero-nine-five-point-five.”

“Charlie-five-six-three to tower, adjusting heading to zero-nine-five-point-five. I repeat new heading of zero-nine-five-point-five.”

“Hey Jade, will you join us for dinner?”

“Sure, Nick. I’ll do that.”

“Cell Phone, call Mom Mobile” I said into the mic.

“Calling Mom, Mobile” said the computer voice.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mom, I’m on final approach to the house. I’ll see you in like five minutes.”

“Who are you flying with?”

“Oh, let’s see, Jade McCarl and her new boyfriend, and Josef. So mom, I invited Jade to dinner. Is that going to be ok?”

“Of course, can you make it so I can talk to your group?”

“Sure thing…cell phone, incoming call to group.”

”Incoming audio to group.” Came the computer voice.

“Ok, Mom, you’re go for group comms.”I said.

“Hi Jade, you may join us for dinner tonight. Josef, is Nick’s wing really OK to fly?”

“Natürlich, Patty! He’s healed quite nicely.” Josef responded.

“Good, because I wouldn’t put it past Nick to fly with a newly healed wing.”

“What? Mom, c’mon, you know me! Health comes first. Then school; then work; finally friends. You know that.”

“I know. However, you sometimes do stupid stuff, Nick.”

“I’ll be home in a few minutes, Mom, bye... Cell phone, end call.”

***

“Coulter to group, Start descent.”

I heard three “Roger” calls on the radio and started descending myself.

When we landed, I looked at everyone, to make sure we had no injuries from landing. Then, I started walking up my steep driveway. The same driveway I had ran down so many times growing up. The garage was still as green as I remembered.  The house bringing back memories, was the house my family had lived in for almost fourteen years. It was a two story house with five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, a three car garage, and a finished basement. I walked to the garage door and entered the code on the number pad. I heard a rumbling from the garage door as it ascended on its tracks.

“Coulter to group, turn off your VisARs. It’s time to go great my family.” I announced over the radio before turning my own pair of Visor augmented reality glasses off. They were a branch off from the Google Glass project that were meant for flying Anthros. The screen showed GPS location, members of your current flight group and also stored and uploaded every radio conversation it had. This was for multiple purposes, but the main reason was for use by criminal investigation squads when a flier was killed. The other thing the Visor AR glasses did was connect to a flier’s cell phone via Bluetooth to allow for calling integration into the system. Not to mention they were great sunglasses. I didn’t like Google at all and would have preferred to use a Microsoft equivalent, but the FAA would only allow fliers to use the Visor AR system. It was a monopoly, but it was something that the FAA perpetuated. They had tested Flight AR systems from pretty much every company who made one. And narrowed it down to an offering from the company who pioneered wearable screen tech, Vuzix, Microsoft, and Google. Google won outright because of the simply innumerous things that their Visor Augmented Reality, or VisAR glasses could accomplish. Microsoft made appeals every year. Their system, known by the acronym FLARE or Flier’s Location and Augmented Reality Equipment was quite an amazing system but was heavier and less secure on some anthros than Google’s system.

When the garage had finally opened all the way, the entire group went into the garage. I got the expected reaction from Michael, ogling my dad’s 2009 C6 Cyber Grey Corvette. “Ya like?” I asked him.

“Your father’s?”

“yup.”

“Holy hell! Lucky!”

“Shall we go meet my parents? Oh and you all know the greetings, right?”

“Ivaran sem porok de shana lif onfon.” Jade said.

“Ivara sez terka i shnal” I responded.

“I ivarn ne yaguru sem terk anjitze” She finished.

“So let’s go.”

“Michael, don’t talk unless spoken to. We may be anthros, but we’re still hunters by nature. Hell, the greeting Jade just recited means ‘May your pray be found in the open;’ ‘May you kill it quickly;’ ‘And may the pack enjoy your kill.’”

“Mach ihm keine Angst, Nikki! Deine Familie ist sehr toll. Sie sind nicht so streng darüber.“ Don’t scare him, Nikki! Your family is really great. They’re not so strict about that. Josef said.

“Seriously, Nick! How did you manage to find him?” Jade asked.

“It’s more like he was found for me. My roommates introduced me to him. His father and Bowser, Sr. are good friends.” I responded.

“Oh. I see.”

“Yup. We’ve been together for nine months. Longest relationship ever, for me.”

***

“Nick! You’re home!” My mom hugged me, then to Josef, “Wie geht’s euch?” How goes it for you (guys)?

“Uns geht’s gut. Wir haben Hunger aber der Flug war glücklicherweise ereignislos. So, wie geht’s der Familie?“ For us it goes well. We’re hungry but the flight was luckily uneventful. So how goes it for the family?

“Also, wir sind sehr gestresst. Nicks Party hat uns sehr lang gedauert, zu… uh prepare.“ Well, we’re really stressed. Nick’s party has taken us really long to… um prepare. My mom responded.

“Sie hat euch sehr lang gedauert, um sich vorzubereiten, Ja?“ It took you (guys) really long to prepare.

“Yes, that’s what I was trying to say.”

“Oh Mutti! Du bist lustig.“ Oh Mom! You’re funny. I said.

“Shall we show the guests the rest of the house?” Josef asked.

“Yes, that’s a good Idea.” Mom replied and walked into the hallway that led to the family room, the kitchen, the entryway, and the living room of the house. We followed her to the kitchen table. It was Friday night. For my family that meant that dinner was ‘Happy Hour’ or a bunch of appetizers. I saw that many of the appetizers were already out and went to the peninsula and motioned for the rest to join me.

“Nick, it’s good to see you.” My dad greeted me, then to Josef, “Ivarn sem porok de shana lif onfon.”

“Ivara sez terka ne shnal” Josef responded, taken aback by my father’s formality.

“I ivarn ne yaguru sem terk anjitze.” My father finished the greeting, “Gutenberg-orit, an vertea sez?” Mr. Gutenberg, how are you?

“Dad, what the hell, this is Josef. There’s no reason to be so formal. He’s my friend, after all.” I said, understanding full well what my father was doing. He still had trouble with me dating a man.

“Vertan yatséh” I am well. Josef said.

“Josef-lun, esteo!” Josef, my love, stop! I pleaded. I barely ever spoke in my genetic tongue. Wolfyr was the only species specific language in the world. And it differed slightly in each variety of wolf. Grey-Flit-Wolfyr was the tongue my family spoke. The biggest difference with the not flying variety of the tongue was the opening phrase of the greeting. Where Flit-Wolfyr was, “Ivarn sem porok de shana lif onfon,” or May your prey be found in the open, ground-Wolfyr was, “Ivaran sem porok de shana shliefandan,” or May your prey be found sleeping. In general, these greetings were only used at family and pack meetings. Otherwise you barely ever spoke in Wolfyr at all. It was considered rude to use it outside of the pack.

“Nick, I’m kidding around.” Dad scolded, “I know what Josef is to you. As much as it disturbed me in the beginning, I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that my son is gay.”

“I’m not gay, dad. I’m bisexual. However, if it’s easier for you to think of me as gay so be it.”

“Sorry Nick, Dad’s been slowly coming to terms with the fact that your mate is a male.” Chris said as he walked up to greet me.

“Well, yeah. So are we ready to dig in?” I asked.

“Everyone’s here, Nick, so go ahead.”

“Ivarns ni Gozi de zanana fe ne terk.” I said. It was an old saying meaning May the gods be thanked for the food/kill.

“Fe Ne Terk! Zanas!” All the wolves in the room said.

“We may now eat.” Josef said to the two ravens.

“So Nick, Isn’t Terk kill?” Jade asked when she grabbed her plate. She looked at me worriedly.

“Yes and no. We evolved from wolves. Our quadrupedal ancestors were hunters. The only food they knew was a kill. So now, we wolves use the word to mean food as well as its original meaning of kill.”

“Oh, ok. Well it’s cool to see how the language came about.”

“Jade for you to properly celebrate tomorrow, you need to remember that phrase.”

“Ivarns ni Gozi de zanana fe ne terk?” She asked.

“No, no. Fe ne Terk! Zanas!” I replied.

“It’s part of the dinner ceremony. We wolves evolved from a species who didn’t always know where their next meal would come from. Our ancestors would often starve if they didn’t find food. So we now thank ni Gozi above for the food we get.”

“Ni Gozi?”

“Yup.”

“OK. Why isn’t it ne Goz? Isn’t your family Christian?”

“In this case, Gozi literally means ‘those who are holy.’” I answered understanding the confusion.

“So in a sense your saying, ‘May God and the Saints be thanked for the food?’” She inquired.

“Very good. This is a call to the other participants of the meal to say ‘grace’ before digging in. Fe Ne Terk! Zanas is their reply, it means: For the food! Thank y’all.”

“Or in a more feral sense: For the kill! Thank y’all.” Josef said in his deep baratone voice.

“Danke Wölfchen! There’s only the chant you need to know.”

“And that is?” Jade asked.

“Ne Goz man sehana, li sez sem pritérk terkat! Or: The holy one has watched as you killed your first kill.”

“Ne Goz man sehana, li sez sem pritérk terkat!” Jade repeated.

“Ne man sehana, li sez demukat, ho sez vertea. Or He has watched as you became who you are.”

“Ne man sehana, li sez demukat, ho sez vertea.” Jade followed again.

“Ne sehan nuviz, li sez olifyr demuká. Or He watches, now, as you become a wolf.”

“Ne sehan nuviz, li sez olifyr demuká.”

“Rizo! Olyfir Nick-orimaya na Yaguru Coulter. Meno sem yeguru gunapró na sez. Or Rise Wolf Nick-orimaya of the Coulter Pack. Make your family proud of you”

“Rizo! Olyfir Nick-orimaya na Yaguru Coulter. Meno sem yeguru gunapró na sez.”

“Good. Now this sounds much cooler in the ceremony. Every wolf will participate in the chant. I will kneel in the center of the room, after the Torka or meal and The Pack leader will start the ceremony asking me some questions.”

“Like what?” Jade asked.

“Wez verteant sem pritérk? Yu man hafana no sem priterkshan? Ma sez akupetana sem po li eafa olyfir? The first two questions are confirming that you’ve had a pack-sanctioned ‘first hunt.’ The third is asking if I accept being an alpha wolf. That third question is the whole reason for this ceremony. Every 21 year old goes through it in the pack. It’s how we avoid feuds.

“Ok. On that last question. If I answer yes, the pack will start. No alpha answers no. Omegas will sometimes answer no. This is a test. What it is really saying is do you know your place in the pack. If they answer no, the pack leader dominates them. I think in the past thirty years, only two omegas have ever been so stupid.”

“Wow. Seems pretty intense. What happens if you haven’t had a first hunt?”

“Ah, that’s the fun part, you’re told to participate in one by your next birthday. The Pack leader dismisses everybody but those who are part of the actual birthday party and it then turns into a normal birthday party.”

“Interesting. I’ve gotta ask, when’d you go hunting?’

“This summer. Josef took me.”

“Really?”

“Ja, I took him. It was a fun trip.” Josef butted in.

“Cool.”

***

“Welcome, everyone. If I need to remind you my name is Nick. I am celebrating my Oisvandea today. First let’s bring out the food.” I said greeting almost half of my pack. It wasn’t a very large group, but that was ok. There were two hundred people there. I clapped my hands and out came five very large roasts. One for each table of forty wolves.

“Ivarns ni Gozi de zanana fe ne terk.” I said. As this was my party I got to say the phrases.

“Fe ne terk! Zanas!” I heard the entire place say at once.

“Enos!”

After the meal was over, I was asked by a fairly large wolf to come to the front of the room. The wolf in question was the current pack leader. My Father, Jack Coulter.

“Nick-orimaya muko zif feranen! Ne vertean ne sunampuk.” Nick-orimaya come to the front. It is time.

“Aya, papa. Wu mukan.” Aye, dad. I’m coming.

“Kenalo wum orimaya!” Kneel, my son. I knelt and bowed my head. He put his hand on my head and Opened up his wings.

“Wez verteant sem pritérk?” What was your first kill? My father asked.

“Peanhirn” A dear. I answered.

“Yu man hafana no sem priterkshan?” Who helped you on your ‘first-hunt’

“Wu men hafana ne.” I helped him. Josef responded.

“Ma sez akupetana sem po li eafa olifyr?” have you accepted your place as alpha wolf?

“Aya”

The entire group in the room chanted all at once:

Ne Goz man sehana, li sez sem pritérk terkat!

Ne man sehana, li sez demukat, ho sez vertea.

Ne sehan nuviz, li sez olifyr demuká.

Rizo! Olyfir Nick-orimaya na Yaguru Coulter. Meno sem yeguru gunapró na sez.

I got up and looked at my father. He looked back at me. He smiled.

“I’m so proud of you, Nick. You performed admirably.” He hugged me. The first hug the man had given me since I came out to him. He then said to the room, “Now the party may begin.”