Cyrus A. Darsel and the Astronomical Flight Delay SOLO Fin.

Cyrus had bid goodbye to all of his friends and family in the UK and Ireland over the past few days. He'd packed his life into a suitcase – not for the first time, and certainly not for the last – and he'd hopped on the Heathrow Express out of Paddington at the crack of dawn. As the sun had risen, Cyrus had stared with wide, shining eyes out of the train's windows, watching as Greater London passed him by until he finally arrived at the airport. His fingertips left small dots on the windows where his breath had not been able to induce fog.

He pulled his suitcase with him, the tiny wheels squeaking against the conglomerate stone flooring. The sound pleased him and made a small smile crack against his tired face; the early-morning sunlight streaming in through the big windows of the airport's entrance only made his smile widen. He happily put his information into the kiosk to self-check his bag and then let it be loaded onto the conveyor. A small twinge accompanied the memory that he'd packed his wand into his suitcase – of course, he'd rolled it up within a bunch of clothes, but the idea that it might snap momentarily dulled his countenance.

Once he'd managed to get through security, he had a look around the terminal. He tightened the straps of his backpack, slipped his hands into his pockets and ducked into a couple of shops. Most of the doo-dads were rather overpriced, but that didn't mean he didn't think they were cool! He ended up buying a teddy bear with a union jack. It didn't fit into his backpack, so he ended up carrying it around with him as he perused the rest of the duty-free shops. He also treated himself to about ten tubes of smarties. They were nothing like the ones he'd grown up with, a bit more like M&M's, really, except he was finding he preferred them to M&M's because the orange ones actually tasted kind of orange.

After a glance at his phone's clock, which read 8:40 a.m., he meandered over to one of the Departures screens. He expected to find his flight to Cairo towards the bottom of the screen, and while he did, what he found that was rather unexpected was that instead of saying it departed at 9:40, it now said it would depart at 10:30.

Well, that was all the better! More time for exploration.

He got a proper breakfast at a little restaurant – some tofu with salad and toast and marmalade, which was all super yummy and reminded him of Paddington Bear. Maybe he should've grabbed a plushie of Paddington while he'd had the chance! He looked at the bear that was on his lap and hummed to himself. Paddington was the only acceptable name. Maybe he could call him Paddy for short.

After his wonderful breakfast, Cyrus took a walk. He observed some large jets taking off, his gaze glued to the windows – it had been so long since he'd last been at an airport; he would have had to have been very little the last time he'd travelled via plane. A big 747 taxied, turning, and his eyes widened as colours danced in front of him. The Emirates plane had a special livery, and almost immediately, he had ideas for a poncho with a similar colour composition. He stared after the plane as it wheeled away, but once it was out of his peripheral vision, he hefted Paddy and his backpack over to a seating area and sifted through his things until he had a small sketchbook and pencil.

He began to sketch. Everything was black, white, cream and grey. Each stroke was gentle but certain. The model began to take shape: a young woman, a bit taller than average, with a kindly ease of movement to her and eyes that seemed to sparkle in and of themselves. In his mind's eye, strawberry-blonde hair whooshed around her beautiful, freckle-dusted face, and she beamed up at him. It was only then that he realised he was drawing his beloved girlfriend @Haven Bohannon. The speed with which he'd been drawing stalled, and he hesitated, half-tempted to flip his mechanical pencil over and erase what he'd drawn, but then he decided it: he'd design this for Haven. With any luck, he'd be able to gather the proper supplies to make it a reality and have it sent to her by Christmas.

Once he had the basic figure drawn, he drew swooping lines to illustrate the poncho falling over the model's arms like calming rainwater. Thinner, straighter lines emphasised its weight – it was something for cold weather, something that would keep someone warm. He drew jeans and ankle boots to pair it with. For fun, he added a little sketch of Paddy at the model's feet. You know, for luck and all.

Then, he took a picture of the page and uploaded it to an app on his phone. With his finger, he picked a semi-transparent brush and began to colour. First, of course, he ensured the model's colouring was not unlike Haven's, so that he'd have the right idea of how his design might look. Then, he began to dabble with various ways he could include the colours he'd seen on the plane's livery in the scheme of the poncho. He started with a neutral navy blue, adding hints of gold near the collar and hems, and then putting velvety red bows down the front. If nothing else, it was cutesy and tasteful, and hopefully not too much. He imagined the faux fur (because he would never use real fur) on the inside would be a cosy shade of brown – maybe burnt umber.

It was now 10:20. He glanced upwards at the Departures board and sighed. His flight had once again been delayed, now to past noon! He simply tucked his legs beneath him and got comfortable, deciding he might as well continue to work on the design. He made the jeans black, but with some distress and fading to add character. The boots would be brown to match the faux fur on the inside of the poncho. He added a bit of red to the brown on the boots, though, to bring out the hints of red in Haven's hair. Maybe if he...

Oh, yes. He chuckled to himself as he added a small, green jewel to the buckles of the boots. Like her eyes, he thought with a grin.

A set of jewellery would go perfectly with this outfit! Maybe made of wrought gold... Ideas spun through his head, and Cyrus opened a new file, beginning to draw a few ideas out with his finger. He started with gold earrings, drawing lines to show wires twisting and crossing and ultimately ending with a green gem at the bottom. Light and beautiful. Whimsical. Like Haven.

The second was a necklace. He imagined golden filigree with tiny green gems between sections. There would be sixteen gems in total. It would only go down to about her collarbone level.

He toyed with the idea of adding a watch but decided against it. Instead, he started to sketch the shape of a scarf. He imagined it would be made of beige fleece so that it would go with anything, not just this outfit. He could put some green stones on the tassels to give it a bit of pizzazz!

Once he was done with the design, he started looking at pictures of ducks on his phone. He scrolled through each one, wondering why he hadn't thought of joining social media before! There were plenty of talented photographers who could get so many cool images. Ducks during golden hour, ducks in the sky, ducks swimming in a lake. Cyrus's next thought was that he really ought to invest in a nice analogue camera. Something old -- maybe a Brownie Six-20, if he could find one. And film! Maybe that would be a cool gift for someone. Still photos... that would intrigue most of the friends he'd made at wizard school.

He stretched. He bought some eyeliner at one of the duty-free shops. He took another walk. He glanced at the Departures board again. 'Goodness gracious!' he exclaimed, earning a few pointed glances from passersby. 'I can't believe it! Five p.m.!?'

Yes. His flight, initially schedulled for 09:40, was now meant to take off at five p.m. If Cyrus were less jovial, he would have been in the mood to shriek! As it was, he stared at the board in utter disbelief, clutching Paddy with all his strength. What the heck!

He'd no idea what was going on. Surely his flight should have been cancelled with so many hours of delay, he reckoned. A sigh rattled from his chest. All he'd wanted was to explore the world, to learn more about other cultures, to share joy. Yet here he was, stranded at London Heathrow. All he had to speak for his journey was Paddy, a tube of eyeliner and the design for Haven.

Oh, right! The design for Haven!

There weren't any owls at the airport -- that was a safety hazard, of course -- but Cyrus bought some stationery and some overpriced pens and sat down. He began to write.

Haven,

I hope this letter finds you well! I'm writing it at an airport. You know what that is, riiiiight? Well, if you don't, it's this funky little place where people can fly from place to place. That might sound like a Quidditch pitch, but it's not. Instead of brooms, we've got planes, these tubes of metal with lots of seats and sometimes screens where you can watch movies. And since you're inside the tube, you can see everything without having to worry about where you're going -- the pilots take care of that!

But the airport is where the planes stay between journeys, and where people go to board the planes. There are lots of shops where you don't have to pay taxes, although things are really expensive. I bought a teddy bear. It has a British flag on it. I named him Paddy, like Paddington. He doesn't fit in my backpack so I'm just lugging him about.

My flight got delayed. I was supposed to leave at 9ish, but it's after noon and my flight got delayed 'til 5 something. In the evening. At this rate I won't get to Egypt until tomorrow!

Anyway, that means I had gobs of time to think. A little about ducks, but mostly about you! I've been designing clothes, and I've made something. Obviously, I can't tell you what it is, or that would ruin the surprise. But once I get it actually put together, I really hope you like it!

Well, I guess that's all I've really done today. I mean, I plane-watched and bought a lot of chocolate and some eyeliner, too. but... that's not as cool as drawing a design for you!

Anyway, until later!



He folded it in half, and then did so again, and tucked it in his jeans' pocket. When he arrived in Egypt, he'd try to post it to Haven. Did they even have owls in Egypt? Would carrier pigeons work the same if necessary?

He ended up shopping a bit more. He bought a great deal of keychains and some colourful gel pens. The packaging said there was glitter in the ink barrels, although he didn't quite want to open the pens to double-check. He dropped into one of the toilets and splashed water on his face. He bought a latte loaded with sugar. Finally, at 5:45 p.m., he saw his flight was now boarding. Totally unembarrassed, he jumped with joy; his coffee nearly spilled. 'YES! YES! FINALLY!'

He was met with a few more glares from passersby, but by that point, he hardly cared. He scooped up Paddy and bolted to the gate, not even bothering to have a seat while he waited for his group to be called. He brandished his boarding pass at the person at the gate and practically skipped down the jet bridge, inhaling the long-awaited scent of plane. He found his seat, tucked his backpack underneath the seat in front of him and hugged Paddy to his chest as he awaited takeoff.