Read Online Sword Mountain by Nancy Yi Fan - Free Book Online

face.
    â€œLike you?” Dandelion was shocked. He nodded. “I’m miles away from even being acceptable here!”
    â€œNo, don’t you see, Dandelion?” said Cloud-wing. “Others call you a valley bird and take for granted you’re slow-witted and clumsy, when you obviously aren’t. They don’t see who you really are. They see a country bumpkin. As for me—they think I’m perfect, and I tell them I’m not. But they don’t believe me, and cry that I am wonderfully modest. All they see is Golden—an ideal eaglet of their dreams. They don’t see me. Cloud-wing doesn’t exist.”
    â€œRubbish. That was definitely Cloud-wing, not Golden, making that speech,” said Dandelion.
    Cloud-wing smiled faintly.
    â€œStill,” Dandelion added, “I think being thought of as perfect is a little more endurable than being thought of as a peasant.”
    â€œIs it?” he whispered.
    The two eaglets looked into each other’s face. Each wondered, for a split second, whether the other was a mirror image, even though the two looked nothing alike.
    â€œAlthough others make assumptions about your so-called perfection, they still support you,” said Dandelion. “They give you confidence, so you can take on tough tasks, like learning to fly, and—”
    â€œWait,” said Cloud-wing. “Can’t you fly?”
    Dandelion shook her head.
    â€œThen I’ll support you,” Cloud-wing said. “I’ll teach you how. There’s enough time yet before my examinations. I’m going to get something you’ll need to fly. Meet me at the boulders outside the castle.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œWhy not? It’ll be an adventure of sorts.”
    Dandelion thanked him and was about to turn when he called to her.
    â€œDandelion? I’m sorry about the way Pudding and the others acted. They … they don’t know any better,” Cloud-wing said. “But I hope you will stay awhile on the summit.”
    She couldn’t believe her ears. Though touched, Dandelion knew she needed to return home as soon as she could. She remembered Olga’s rose-scented envelope and presented it to him. His eyes widened.
    â€œOlga,” said Dandelion hastily. “Er … My lady, Miss Olga, sincerely wishes Master Golden the best of luck in the examinations!”
    â€œThanks … tell her thanks,” Cloud-wing said politely, but added, “Why are you running her errands? She’s your companion, she’s supposed to make sure you’re okay.”
    Dandelion took a deep breath and walked down a corridor. She supposed she’d better tell Olga that her note had been delivered before going outside for her flight lesson. The corridor wound into the interior of the castle. Instead of windows, there were rows of mirrors on the walls, hung between torches.
    All sorts of mirrors were there: round, square, silver, copper, most of them framed by painted wood, some with a rosy or blue tint, others uneven so that they would distort the viewer’s image.
    She stopped in front of one that had a metal plate over it: FLIGHT MIRROR . It was so wide it allowed birds to see every feather of their wingspan. What will flight look like for me? Curious, Dandelion unfurled her wings before it. Her wings filled up the frame, grand in their symmetry, so that she seemed five times bigger. The feathers that had frayed from her fall gave her the air of a flight veteran already. Dandelion lifted her wings up and down, angling them as if in a dive, imagining herself listening to every wind’s whisper, as the sky’s confidante.
    Dandelion was not the only one to be fascinated. As she continued on the corridor, she found Olga slouching dreamily in front of a sheet of glass labeled BEAUTY MIRROR .
    The mirror had a floral-design frame and was tinted gold. As Olga gazed into her lighter, yellower reflection, she breathed toward