L:   Both Iremacht and Wehrmacht's initial reactions were surprise. Iremacht felt a twinge of disappointment again that he himself didn't have wings to show off. But it quickly dissipated to pride for his father.

"Well, well." Iremacht elbowed Wehrmacht. "Looks like your wings finally got the recognition you wanted. How does it feel to have pretty wings for once, next to the Mandarians?"

Wehrmacht fluttered his wings and stood up a little straighter than before. Germany, knowing what his uncle was going to do, checked his watch and said, "Our ride will arrive in half an hour. We have time to spare."

"Perfect," Wehrmacht said. He switched to a knightly voice. "Young Poldara, your wish is my command. Would you like to come on a flight with me? I want to show you something special. With your parents' permission of course."

M:   Poldara and the brothers turned to Wehrmacht when he offered that, Mandara and MA looked surprised but Poldara looked confused and slightly sad.

"I can't fly anymore remember," the kid said, flicking his clipped wing.

Mandara had an idea of what the German really meant and clarified, "I think he means that he's going to carry you and take you on a little joy ride, would you like that?"

Understanding dawned in Poldara's eyes and he nodded eagerly, so Mandara patted his son's shoulder and took his plushy so he wouldn't lose it. Poldara ran to Wehrmacht and hugged him while saying thank you repeatedly.

"Since I gave Iremacht a chance to redeem himself, it's only fair you get another one too," Mandara said, referring to the times Wehrmacht wasn't so careful around the kid, "I'll go let Poland know, you two have fun now."

L:   Wehrmacht smiled gratefully at Mandara and hoisted Poldara up into his arms. Iremacht followed him as he carried the kid out the front door. Wehrmacht expected his son wanted to say something but Iremacht just watched silently as Wehrmacht spread his wings and launched into the air. He had a wistful and concerned look on his face; wistful for wings and concern for Poldara's safety.

But Wehrmacht wasn't going to do any fancy twirls today. He flew higher and higher.

"Look at this, Poldara." Wehrmacht gazed down at the aerial city scene unfolding beneath them. "You can see so much from up here. The higher you go, the more you'll see. The view is amazing. You don't have to be afraid."

M:   Unfortunately, Poldara looked completely terrified. He instantly regretted asking for this when he saw how high they were going. It's true that he partially got over his fear of heights the other day, but he was only about three stories up and was doing the flying himself. Now he was probably at least fifty stories high and was relying on Wehrmacht to not drop him, which was even more frightening than the distance.

"No no no no no, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, please go back down," Poldara exclaimed, fearfully hiding his face in the German's chest and squeezing the living daylights out of him to make sure he wouldn't fall.

L:   Wehrmacht held on just as tightly to Poldara. He definitely wasn't going to let him go but in case the kid squirmed too much and slipped out of his grasp, Wehrmacht was ready to dive at any moment. The way Poldara was clinging to him reminded him of the way Ireland had acted the first time Wehrmacht brought him this high.

"You just have to look around you," Wehrmacht murmured. When Poldara still hid his face, Wehrmacht said, "Let me show you what the world up here is like."

And he flew higher. Up, up, up to that place above the clouds. Mandara, MA, Poland, Kaz, they probably all knew about this place. For a moment, Wehrmacht wondered if he should be the one to show Poldara or let his parents do it. But since they were already up there, he made up his mind and flew into the cloud vapor, bursting out on the other side.

"Come on, kid," Wehrmacht said. "I promise it'll be the coolest thing you've ever seen."

M:   Poldara whined and shook his head a little, he knew that Wehrmacht went up even higher and all he could think about was all the things that could go wrong. Eventually, when the winged German hadn't moved for a while, Poldara's curiosity got the better of him and he slowly opened one eye to have a quick peek, and he was sure glad he did.

"Woah," the kid breathed out as he gazed out at his surroundings.

It was the most beautiful and astonishing thing he had ever seen, it was a whole other world up here and he couldn't believe he was on the same planet. The way the early morning sun shown on the clouds turned them beautiful shades of orange, yellow, and a few specks of pink here and there.

Poldara was no longer hugging Wehrmacht so tightly and his face never looked so astonished and mesmerized.

"Is this what heaven looks like, will we see Grandpa up here?" Poldara asked in all seriousness, still captivated by this hidden world above the clouds.

L:   Wehrmacht shook his head. "We're not in heaven yet. But I believe it is as close as we'll ever be while still in the living world." He smiled down at Poldara. "You should see the look on your face. It's exactly like Ireland's the first time I brought him up here."

Wehrmacht made sure Poldara was secure in his arms before steadily flying forward through the morning sky. His wings grazed the clouds, which felt like soft vapor on his feathers. The clouds below them moved like a stream, and he dove down slightly to glide inches over it.

"I come here often to take my mind off of things," Wehrmacht explained. "And to get fresh air. These days, the world underneath is becoming more and more polluted. It's hard to find a preserved spot like this that's still clean."

M:  Poldara just nodded, still too amazed to say anything. When Wehrmacht flew close to the clouds the kid reached out a wing to touch them. His wing tingled at the sensation and his feathers fluffed up in response to the cool air, little water droplets collecting on them like dew on grass blades.

"This is amazing," Poldara murmured, watching the landscape pass by below, "all this time I could have come up here, if I had known-"

A strong wind blew and cut him off, but Poldara welcomed the breeze and spread out his wings to catch it. He had never felt such wind before, it not reaching the airspace near the ground, and it felt absolutely amazing in his feathers. He was extremely tempted to jump out of Wehrmacht's arms to fly with him, but he had to remind himself that his feathers were clipped, so he just enjoyed the view from the German's arms.

"Thank you, Mr. Wehrmacht," he said, hugging his friend, "thank you for showing me what it's really like to fly."

L:   "Nein, nein, drop the 'Mister'," Wehrmacht chuckled. "We're beyond formalities. Just Wehrmacht is fine."

He adjusted his hold on Poldara to give the kid more room to stretch his wings.

"When you're ready," he said, "this whole space is yours. You can explore it all you want, alone or with family. You just have to fly high." Wehrmacht looked up at the blue above them. "Try it at night. It's quite beautiful."

A while later, Wehrmacht held tighter onto Poldara and folded in his wings. They were suspended in the air for a moment. And then it was free fall through the clouds.

M:   "Ok," Poldara chirped, "and I'll be sure to think of a nickname too."

When Wehrmacht stopped flying and the two started free falling, Poldara felt his stomach leap into his throat and threaten to exit his mouth. The kid's face turned terrified in an instant and scrambled to get a better hold on Wehrmacht, which consisted of wrapping his legs around the German's waist and his arms around the other's neck, which he inadvertently was squeezing the crap out of from how scared he was.

"Stop stop STOP," Poldara screamed, "keep flying, please keep flying, I don't wanna fall, I don't wanna fall!"

L:   Wehrmacht, realizing that he had startled Poldara, slowed down as soon as he was on the other side of the cloud cover. They were underneath the clouds now and very far away from the ground.

"It's okay," Wehrmacht wheezed from Poldara's grip. "We're far from hitting land. That was just a free fall. It's something to enjoy, nothing to be afraid of."

He had thought Poldara had gotten used to the height but now Wehrmacht wished he had given the kid some kind of warning.

"Sorry about that," he said. "We should land. Any more flying will worsen the scare you just got."

M:   Poldara just groaned in response, the short free fall and the jump from the abrupt stop made him feel sick to his stomach, like it was turned inside out, filled up with water, then tied into knots.

"Yes please," he murmured silently, any louder and he felt like he was going to throw up on Wehrmacht's chest.