There was a time where I thought I might just have Fred and Angie get out of the Air Force and go back to making wine. We would just follow Matt's career; however, Angie sort of took over. I don't know if the American military will ever accept the transgendered. I suspect it will be many years before they do, and if they do, I'm sure that it will be with great reluctance. If there is an Angie out there, it will take someone like her to prove how foolish the current rules are. I deliberately downplayed Angies transition as the story unfolded, because in reality it was Angie the person who was important. The fact she was transgendered was important for the story, but as it turned out, as her career progressed it became less and less important. She was just a damn good officer and leader.

I knew early in the development of the story that Angie was going to be an important participant. I wrote the few paragraphs about her suddenly appearing as a new pilot at Aviano AFB before I ever wrote anything else. I then had to go back and fill in the previous ten years. It was those few paragraphs that I sent to Wren Phoenix.

It was a bit disappointing that the chapters about Angie and Fred's realizing how deep their affection was for each other didn't go over very well. I thought that that was one of the high points: Fred's realization that Angie had been there all a long, and as much as he liked and missed Angelo, he had loved Angela for quite a while.

I had decided on the title very early in this project, and I thought I would leave it at just that; a title. However, as I was writing the next to last chapter the title just appeared in a sentences as Angie talked about her gliding experiences at the Academy. Suddenly, it just fitted right in. There is an incongruity there as the Air Force Academy's mascot is a falcon, not an eagle. Any soaring eagles in the area would probably be golden eagles, not American eagles which are mostly fish eaters.

Anyway, the whole project was a lot of fun, and I'm very appreciative of the comments and PMs. Now, it's back to wizards, talking cats, and little girls growing up in a world of magic.