My heart is beating, a tiny, fluttering sound, just like the sound that, soon, hopefully, my wings will make. I've waited for this moment for so long. To feel the wind under me as I soar through the air, the current lifting me up until the air gets so thin that I have to drop down once more. To smell the salty ocean as I dip as close to the waters surface as I can, just to catch a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror-like liquid. To taste the freedom of my finally complete life on the tip of my tongue as I open my beak, calling out to everyone around me, telling them I'm finally free.

I turn to look at my mother, her beautiful white feathers almost glowing golden in the setting sun and her pebble black eyes smiling kindly at me as they seemed to do always. I watch as she dips her head, the look in her eyes clearly saying "Go on, it's time, little one." It was time. It really was.

I turn back to face the vast open space in front of me and, suddenly a tingle in the back of my neck makes me realise something. I'm scared. I'm so, so scared. This could go horribly wrong. I could die. Splat. Goodbye world. All my life so far, I've spent up here, on our own special mottled brown precipice, looking out across the ocean, safe with my mother. Now I had to jump, take the leap of faith as it were...but, more literal than that.

It was our test, I suppose. No, my test. They should be with me, you see - my brothers. But all three of them got taken from us by that sadistic hawk, the worst day of my life that was. I shake my head, clearing the memories of them out of my mind. I needed my concentration for this, for my first flight. I start to edge towards the end of our tiny cove. My claws make a scraping sound as they hook around the edge of the drop, a sound I have never noticed before. My breathing is shallow. It was now or never. I had waited long enough.

I lean forward, not trusting myself to actually jump, and almost immediately felt my mother place her beak behind me. I was content with that, I was fine with her helping me. No. I catch my self just as I have the thought. I need to do this on my own. So I do it, I jump.

At first my whole, albeit tiny, life flashes before my eyes. My mother, my brothers, everything I'd ever known. Then, suddenly, I notice something vital that I'd forgotten. My wings. I should open them. I do it and, all at once, the wind catches in them, stopping my fall. I soar forward, the air currents carrying me every which way. I don't try to resist them, I let them take me wherever they want. Honestly, I don't care where I go, as long as I'm flying. I flap my wings, earning me an exhilarating burst of speed. I open my beak, letting out a cry of pure ecstasy. Somewhere above me, my mother replies. I was finally flying.

It was wonderful, amazing, everything I had ever dreamed of. I was free.