The next couple weeks quite a few interesting things happen. Most surprising, perhaps, is that a whole bunch of laws are made, suggested, changed, or ratified, not only in Norway, but globally. Well, the EU has agreed an a few temporary laws and set about investigating better ones with the oh-so-close deadline of…. Two years.

Such temporary. Wow. Much short. Very soon. Memes aside, the actual laws in effect, or the ones that are relevant to me at least, are mostly just formal definitions of where and how people (which has gotten a wider definition now) can fly.

The short version is that everything below 20 meters above ground level is considered ‘ground flight’ and is treated as if walking or running or whatever. Buildings complicate ‘ground level’, so err on the side of caution. Above that you have ‘low-’ or ‘transitional altitude’, which around ‘settlements of notable size’ is ‘primarily to be used to transition from the ground to higher altitudes.

Yet above that, at 300 to 3000 meters, you have ‘medium altitude’, which is where you are supposed to fly ‘[during] self-powered, non-vehicular flight’ or with ‘[anything that can fly] no larger than a person’. Anything beyond that is just considered ‘high altitude’, and you need to get permission to go that high in any controlled or limited airspace.

There are some exceptions and whatnot, but tl;dr if you’re really low it doesn’t count as flying, and otherwise stay pretty high (but not too high) up. When in doubt, contact the relevant authorities.

Together with the guys at the space company I managed to make a mana-electric generator which is portable yet strong enough to power (most) smaller devices. The source of mana is be a swappable mana crystal, of course, and the two larger sizes have enchantments to absorb mana from the air.

The sizes are, unofficially, tiny, small, and big enough, and should be enough to power a smartphone or similar device, small appliance, and one or more proper appliances, respectively. The biggest of the three is about the size of a shoe box, and most of that is empty space to allow for air flow/cooling.

So now we’re working on making a more compact and mobile set of radio and transponder. The hope is to make it small enough that it can be used with/integrated into a helmet. The space company want to sell those ‘comm sets’,since there should already be a market with hobbyist pilots, and it might grow with New World magic and whatnot.

Personally I’m working on a navigation set with all I need to navigate, and plan to make it possible to use it while flying in my flight form. In other words, I must be able to operate the important bits and get the information I need without using my hands. Of course, magic use is allowed.

The basic components I need is a compass, an analog pressure altimeter, as well as a map. Ideally, I also want a compact package with the comms set, a digital altimeter, and a GPS, all on one screen, meaning it also needs a computer to manage it all.

That should give me accurate modern tech, with simple, but reliable, mechanical fallbacks, all in one neat little package. I’m gonna call it an ‘aeronav pack(age)’ -suite, maybe?? Yeah, that sounds sweet- since ‘aeronautical navigation package’ is annoyingly long.

I also practice my flying, pushing borders in terms of speed, altitude, and distance, and gain the [Cartography] ability by making maps, mostly of the cave system in the western mountains, and [Navigation] and the [Navigator] class by navigating using those maps, as well as the mechanical parts of my aeronav suite.

It’s still a WIP, with the electronic components not being finished yet, but I’ve hooked up a Raspberry pi with a small touch screen and started familiarizing myself with coding for it while working on, err, a functional (programmer art, ho!) UI for everything.

As for other things… Leda’s egg is definitely growing well, and the whelp’s mana is starting to be as monstrous as it’s mother’s. That worries me, for multiple reasons. Mostly that I might need to be in full defensive mode whenever interacting with it, but also that a child with that much power…

My mana has no way of sensing anything inside the egg, or so I thought until I realised Leda ‘feeds’ it mana. It’s instinctual behaviour, and she hadn’t realized she did it. I figured there could be two ways that work: One, her mana simply overwhelms it, but that seems less and less likely as it grows, and two, it somehow recognizes her mana.

Try as I might, I can’t attune my mana well enough to fool it, if that’s how, but I’m getting pretty good at linking and synchronizing my mana with her. In fact, we’ve gotten good enough that I can, if she lets me, control her mana through the link, and with that I’ve figured out that it is male.

Probably. I think. Leda thinks so too, and while she should be a better judge of it than me, it seems to be 100% intuition. It’s not like he’s got his stuff hanging out, mammal style. Either way we’ve started throwing around potential names. Like Kyle, Bob, Ola, Dreadwing, Soars-into-sky and all sorts of other naming styles.

I say we, but I’ve decided that we will either go for something that has an easy and obvious non-harmful nickname, or boring ol’ western human style naming. She’s still a bit hung up that I said no out of hand to ‘Toothless’, though.

Also using the synchronized mana link, together with a deep mind bond, I’ve been studying her mana physique, as well as that of her puppets. Her main body and puppets are different in some key areas. Specifically, the puppets are (magically) a lot weaker, and if she goes full power they will be severely burnt by her mana. Inspired by that I’ve studied my own, but I have found no real difference, probably because I intentionally, if a bit unconsciously make them as good as possible.

And then there’s her quest, ‘Learn to live in human settlements’, which is about fifty percent done. In tasks, that is. Now she ‘only’ needs to learn to read, write, do basic math, and -to ‘graduate’- actually live in a human settlement for a while.

In other words, not gonna happen until the egg hatches and the whelp grows enough to not be a menace and/or to live alone. Presumably the latter comes first. Also, she must actually ‘live’ there, not just go there to beg for waffles, which means a house. Or big shed, I suppose.

With the mobility magic gives me, I wouldn’t mind living a bit outside or at the edge of the city, so I’ve been looking into possibilities for moving to a bigger plot of land. I want enough land to make a building -a hangar?- for Leda or just my own bigger forms, and obviously the place would need electricity, running water, and pretty good internet.

In other words, it doesn’t exist. And building new… can be expensive. I might be able to make some sort of interest group sponsor me for some sort of human/non-human equality cause, but while I’ll keep my eyes out for that, I’ll assume that’s not gonna happen. Building could be cheaper with magic, but the building still needs to be up to code.

I can see it be something like an apartment, and then you use that as a wall for a hangar. Since the hangar will be pretty tall (and they tend to be), the apartment can be that fancy two-floor type. That’d be pretty cool. And the hangar could double as a workshop for all sorts of things, even those requiring a bit of space. And as opposed to plane hangars it doesn’t need a huge runway outside.

Yeah, That’d be cool. Expensive (probably), but cool.

“““Trick or treat!””” say the kids, a group consisting of Leda, Philip and four of his friends. Why am I taking care of them? Because all the other parents wanted to have a social gathering, and I was ‘volunteered’ as an apology for Leda’s… accident.

I mean, it’s not bad, but I know it will be once they get some sugar going and really get into it. Kids, especially in groups, are super tiring over longer time periods. Of course they put some limitations on what Leda is allowed to do.

For one, she’s not allowed to use any magic. In addition she had to coordinate with Philip’s costume, which is why she’s in the form of some dragon from ‘How to Train Your Dragon’. Scaled down, of course, as she can’t exactly walk the streets the size of her main body. Her egg, in stealth form, was loaded onto me.

“Oh hi. Welcome home. Did you have fun? Err, enjoy yourself?” That sounds more like what you’d say, yeah.

“Thank you, yes. Did the kids behave? You look exhausted.”

“Oh yeah, they behaved as well as I’d expected. Introvert plus bouncy kids plus long day equals very tiring, though.”

“And Philip went to bed when he should?”

“Oh yeah, he got tired a while before and tucked himself in when I told him it was bedtime. ” Yaawn. Oh, that made a cracking sound

“Speaking of which, is Leda considered forgiven yet?”

Philip’s mother sighs. “Yes. After we got over the initial reaction we realised she meant no harm, and Philip was just as careless as her. It’s just… you can’t just let something like that go, and she’s… I’ll admit, she scares me.”

He husband nods. “She can seem like a lovely young lady, but at times she can be frighteningly inhuman.”

“Oh, yeah, I can see where you’re coming from. She is… the single most powerful being I’ve seen, maybe with the exception of- nevermind that. I will tell Leda that she can come here and ask to play again. Oh, and by all means, do make some rules to avoid another… incident.”

I pause to take a breath as I stand up from the very comfy chair and stretch. “I’ve told her to ask an adult before going anywhere with her friends or doing magic -every time she asked to ‘play with Philip again’, in fact-, but please do remind her. And again, feel free to make whatever other rules you think is necessary. Or useful.”

Do I have everything I need? Bag, staff, water navigation kit… All here. Off I go then. I throw myself into the air and catch air under my wings, slowly rising as I turn north. Well, roughly north.

I have a pretty good idea of the cardinal directions just by looking at the terrain around here, but my internal magnet sense also gives me the same impression. It’s somewhat unreliable around other electromagnetic fields, notably power masts and other things with lots of electricity, and the magnetic north pole isn’t the same as the geographic north pole.

But it’s good enough. Preparations include making the two spatially enchanted canteens, holding a total of around two liters of water, and notifying the relevant authorities of my flight path. It’s not legally required (yet?), but making a flight plan is a good idea, and making it follow existing standards is good practice. Also, by ‘notifying the relevant authorities’, I mean sending the plan and some notes to Thomas.

As part of the whole ‘pushing my borders’ thing (in regards to flying), I’ve already done some day-trips to Bergen and Trondheim, but while driving there takes the better part of a day, it’s actually not that far and flying there takes about two hours, distractions included.

From that and just staying in the air for a long time around the forest, I’ve found out that I can comfortably keep an average speed of over 200 km/h, and tend to fly at an altitude of around two kilometers, plus/minus a few hundred meters, over the ground. It’s also really boring, but I’ve found a few exercises I can practice while flying, and sometimes I enter a trance-like state and time just flies. No pun intended.

Speaking of which, I’ve reached Trondheim already, huh. Mentally, it feels like the midpoint, but Norway is shaped roughly like a misshapen and curved guitar, with Oslo being ¾ between the center of the body and the south-eastern ‘corner’, and Trondheim being at the base of the neck. In other words, it’s more like one third of the way, or maybe more accurately like two fifths, I dunno.

The last few days I’ve tested how much I need to eat and drink, and have reached the conclusion that I can easily go a few days without eating. While I will get an urge to eat, it’s less hunger and more like wanting something for dessert even after eating yourself full during dinner. The trick for that, of course, is waiting a bit, or just plan ahead and not eat so much.

Stopping eating might make me malnourished, though. On the other hand, I get really thirsty, and given that a normal human can die from dehydration within a few days, I decided to err on the side of caution. Besides, with magic, drinking during flight isn’t that hard, I just gotta make sure not to get it in the wrong pipe.

Another bonus to this long flight is the november cold of flying far inside the polar circle. I have the owl Aspect to see in the polar night, and worst case scenario I can use bat puppets to echolocate, or just make some light. Well, beyond the lights at the front and back of my harness. Those are mostly so that others (notably planes) can see me, though.

It is indeed cold, but feathers are surprisingly insulating, and with my range of magic I have more than enough ways to stay warm. With the radio built into my headset I occasionally hear something other than the wind, and theoretically I should be able to broadcast up to about eight kilometers, but I haven’t needed to so far, staying away from airports and other busy airspace.

A bit of a shame, really, I even got my own radio callsign, and the practice would be useful before the flight to america. Well, some aviation organizations are working on a simple course and exam with the intent that you get a license for non-vehicular flight. After all, such a thing will likely be required by law when they’ve figured out how that’d even work.

Speaking of the flight to america, lack of sleep might be a problem if I do it in one session, like I want to. I mean, it’s about five times as far as this trip, so instead of five hours, it will take more than a full day. On the other hand if I succeed I will have several Guinness World Records, including at least three which cannot be beaten - first vehicle-less flight crossing the atlantic, the same record without landing, and first recorded full day of non-vehicle flight.

With some research I’ve found that the most ideal way to fly is probably to take advantage of the winds going west in the polar cell, but I will need to fly higher than I usually do, and I have to take a somewhat longer route to not get headwind as I near the american continent. Doing so should save time in the end, and I think I can safely stay at the needed altitudes.