NoQS Agent Round: FIRST5 - YA Epic Fantasy

Name: Candace Davenport

Twitter Handle: @Candace_OLBooks
Title: FIRST5
Genre: YA Epic Fantasy
Word Count: 96,000

My Main Character's Most Stressful Relationship is:

My MC is Inhikiod, one of the winged race on the planet Aardee. Hikala’s most stressful relationship occurs when her Inhikiod family banishes her to the surface, her wings locked. There, she has to befriend and live with the non-winged Dawk, the indigenous race enslaved by the Inhikiod. Hikala has to mature from a self-centered, sixteen-year-old with centuries of ingrained racism against the Dawk to realizing the Dawk are individuals with hopes and dreams – all while dealing with the Dawk's hate and anger against her for being Inhikiod.

Query:

Sixteen-year-old Hikala is an Inhikiod, one of the winged race who live high in their mountain cavern hives, never bothering to look down. Her life is flying the skies and competing in the Inhikiod flying competitions. But after her reckless challenge results in injures to a higher-ranking Inhikiod, she’s banished to the planet’s surface for a year, forbidden to fly.

Never having set foot on the surface, Hikala struggles to enmesh herself with the indigenous, non-winged Dawk—a race enslaved by the Inhikiod millennia ago. Only knowing the Dawk as servants in her hive, Hikala fights their hatred with the help of Tid, a Dawk who sees her as more than just an Inhikiod. He teaches Hikala how to fight against the surface’s vicious predators and navigate the planet’s bi-annual flooding.

Yet, as their friendship grows, so do the rumblings of a revolution. The Dawk want Hikala to become a linchpin in their fight to free themselves from their Inhikiod masters. But if Hikala stays to help the Dawk, she must give up flying forever, ripping out her soul. If she returns home, she’ll break Tid’s heart and abandon her new friends to the vengeance of the Inhikiod.

First 250:

Cradled by wind and sunlight, Hikala spun through the sky, a mirror to Sarwa’s flight. With a final flip, their colorful wings merged and they ended their sky dance with a flourish. Reluctant to release all that joy and freedom, Hikala floated on her back and screamed her elation to the sky, blue wings cupping the air beneath her. Sarwa only laughed in response, a wide lopsided grin spread across his face. He rarely expressed his joy as unabashedly as she did.

Hikala sighed, thinking the same thought she always did after every perfect sky dance. I want to forget the world and keep flying with Sarwa forever. But they had finished their doubles routine and needed to return inside for their score. Sarwa offered his hand which Hikala reluctantly took as they flew together to the King’s landing pad, the staging platform for this year’s Inhikiod Games. As they landed on the entrance platform to the huge cavern, raucous cheers erupted, surrounding them like a blanket. Hand in hand, Hikala and Sarwa strode across the stone floor while observers trailed behind them. Others touched them as they passed, awe and amazement reflected in their eyes.

From the silence of their dance and the whisper of their wings, the inside noise buffeted Hikala, heightening her sense of elation. With her wings tight to her back and twitching with excitement, she walked to the awards area to wait for the announcement of the winners.