"Oh. Well, maybe that's why they did it."

"Maybe! But it could be something else entirely. They might want a monopoly on flight." She wiggles her fingers menacingly.

"Oh no!"

"They'll raise the prices on wings! The fiends!"

"Can you buy wings?" asks Astrid.

"You can buy fake ones, but they don't let you actually fly."

"What's the point?"

"Pretending to be a thing that flies. A fairy, or an angel, or something. For a holiday like Halloween, or in some cases, just because it's fun."

"Oh. I guess. It would be better if you could get flying wings."

"I agree, and so do other people. That's why we have planes, because people wanted to fly. Though they might figure out ways to give ordinary people a set of wings so they can fly casually one day."

"Planes don't count."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't get to do flying. It's like being in a car."

"There are smaller planes, not just the commercial ones, ones that only hold one person. Hangliders, too, of various types. But I understand what you mean. It's not wings of your own."

"Yeah. But I can swim on my own." Swim swim swim.

"You can! Almost like..." She looks at Astrid 'suspiciously.' "you're a duck!"

"I am a duck!"

"I knew it! Your nose job and plucked feathers and ticklish toes couldn't fool me!"

"I've been saying I'm a duck!"

"Reverse psychology, of course. What duck would say they're a duck?"

"Ducks don't usually say anything."

"Exactly! And they don't proclaim to people they meet that they are ducks. So you had me fooled."

"I'm an odd duck."

"You are, indeed. But that's okay, all ducks are a little odd when you get to know them."

"They are?"