Eletheria sat on a log close to camp slowly peeling open a Kwit fruit. She wasn’t going to eat all three but figured one would be ok. Then she and Thio could split the other two for breakfast. That is, if Thio’s attitude changed. As she sucked on the sweet fruit, she pondered waking up Acanthio possibly sooner than she should have. He had been avoiding her since their conversation last night and the way he tossed and turned in his sleep worried her.

Ele remembered, that when she was younger, she had commented on someone she liked and her mom’s immediate response was, “Wait and see dear Ele, I’m sure you will find someone equal to you to marry.” The “equal to you” part always frustrated her. While she was powerful in Quan, she was one of the weakest ones in her family. Luckily her people did not practice arranged marriages.

Of her people, Ele was probably in the top percentage of Quan users. Her father and brothers never treated her differently. While she advanced through Windmaster training, her father did not have the enthusiasm for her as he did her brothers. She always felt like she was just not enough for her family.

Briefly, she channeled Quan to make a little spark jump from her left hand to her right hand. That was another reason she was different from her family; where they were right-hand positive; she was left-hand positive. It was something you can change with practice; it annoyed her as things like lifts, airships, and even the doors at her family house were set to the right hand.

“Not powerful enough,” Ele grumbled quietly as she paced back and forth. “Not smart enough, not thin enough,” she stopped and kicked a tree with her left foot. CRACK! All further thoughts disappeared as a wave of pain filled her foot. The soft leather shoes she was wearing were not to protect her feet from colliding with trees. The shoe collapsed and her toes absorbed the blow.

“OUCH!” Ele hopped a little using the staff as a cane. Looking over to camp, her yelp did not seem to wake Thio. The shadow was close to the line he had drawn and the silence was just making her dwell upon old hurts. She hobbled back towards the campfire and gently nudged Thio with the blunt end of her staff. Slowly he started coming awake; when he looked at her, he smiled, but it immediately turned into a frown.

“Is it time…?” Thio asked with a brief pause in his voice, almost as if he was silently saying Windmistress.

“Close, you looked like you were not sleeping well. I hope a little early is okay.” Ele tried to keep her anger out of her tone. She pointed towards Thio’s line in the sand. The width of a finger or two was all that

“Yes, let us go…” Thio got up, that pause still there. Ele closed her eyes briefly, paused for a moment, and took a deep breath.

“Thio, wait a minute…,” she said as he got up and started to brush off the dirt and leaves he had slept on. He looked at her with a bit of puzzlement on his face. “Thio, I understand you are worried about my family. I swear by my ancestors, I will tell them the glowing and absolute truth that you were the perfect gentleman. They will hear how your exemplary deeds in saving my life multiple times and your utmost respect towards me and my family. I swear you shall fear no reprisal or discipline from my family as long as I breathe.” Thio stared at her with his mouth a little open.

“Ele, thank you. I um, acce.. Er.. Apprec.. I’m sorry.” Thio said, struggling a little to form words. When he was done, they both smiled at the same time. Ele pulled the two slightly bruised Kwit fruits from her leg pouch. Giving her most friendly smile, Ele tossed one of the fruits to Thio.

“Thank you,” Thio said as he caught the fruit and peeled it open. Together they enjoyed the sweet nectar. When they were done Thio started walking again.

“Wait, um… Thio,” Ele said before he could get more than two steps away. Thio stopped again to look at her. His youthful face lacked facial hair, but with the dirt that stuck to their cheeks after eating the fruit, it made him look like he was much older or at least able to grow a beard. Ele smiled and giggled as she said, “You look like you have not shaved in a few days.” Thio looked surprised at this and felt his face. Once he realized that she had meant the sticky dirt clinging to his cheeks, he smiled and replied.

“You look like you could use a shave, too.” He laughed and started walking towards the sea. Ele faked shock and laughed at their current appearance.

“Oh yeah, you smell like you…” Ele started to reply but Thio was already too far away to hear without her yelling it. She hurried to catch up to him as he walked towards where the sea and beach met. Ele left her leg pouch and the pack on the beach away from the water before following Thio into the water. Soon they were both just floating in the sea laughing and splashing at each other.

Ele swam towards the beach and the pack. As she stood up out of the water, she strapped her thigh satchel to her left leg and smiled. She tried to smooth her hair and dry out her shirt while she wore it. Looking back, she could see that Thio had his shirt off and was working on wringing it out. Without his shirt on, Ele could see how thin he really was and wondered if they fed the sailors anything at all! She quickly turned her head away so he didn’t think she was gawking at him.

“Well then, now that that foolishness is done, shall we continue?” Thio said as he walked up to Ele. He held out his arm for her to take. Ele reached a handover and held it.

“Yes, we shall. Perhaps after lunch, we will attend a play tonight?” Ele suggested.

“Sure, but nothing vulgar this time, as my tender stomach cannot handle such things,” Thio replied in a well-done affluent G’Aeris tone. Ele was sure he probably used it to mock people like her family in the past, right now hearing that tone in the shape they were both in just made her laugh. Briefly Ele stole a glance towards Thio and smiled as she was now certain they would be okay.

Towards midday they came across another kwit tree full of ripe fruit. Ele and Thio each grabbed several. As they were sucking on the fruit and walking when Thio spotted something in the sky. It was a dark blob once Ele was able to see it but it moved. Airship! They ran as quickly as they could trying to get to higher ground and see where the ship was heading.

A few minutes of running was all it took before their strides and breaths shortened. The longer they ran, the more Ele worried it was just an airship flying by. She kept telling herself that it was flying too low to be just passing by as most airship captains flew at cloud level to avoid birds, trees, and mountains hidden in fog. Soon they were back to walking. Ele was breathing heavily from the hurried pace they tried to maintain and felt an ache in her legs forcing her to walk a little slower than normal. The ache of fading hope hurt even more.

“Thio!” Ele yelled. He had not slowed down as much as she had and was a good twenty paces ahead of her. “THIO!” Ele yelled again, much louder, and Thio stopped. Ele caught up with him, and both of them looked in the direction the airship was last seen. The trees were not as thick, but they couldn’t see the general area where the ship went; the foothills blocked their view.

“They could be looking for you,” Thio said between breaths. Thio was hunched over a little using his stick as a staff to help support his weight. The silence was punctuated only by their heavy breathing and a faint ripple of water.

“The sun will be setting soon,” Ele said as she glanced at the long shadows on the ground.

“What if we are close?” Thio looked at Ele, and she could see both sweat and tears on his face. This looked so much younger right then. Ele had hit her 17th name day a few months ago and had assumed he was about the same age as her, but she wondered if he was much younger.

“If we are close, we will be just as close tomorrow. If they are searching they will see our campfire,” Ele said and gently placed a hand on Thio’s shoulder. “Come, I think there is a stream nearby. Let’s see if we can catch a fish.” Ele started walking towards the sound of water.

The source of the sound, a little stream running out of the hills deeper inland and out towards the sea. Ele set the glider pack down and waded into the stream. It was wide enough that she couldn’t jump across it and the water came up close to her knees. The fish swimming in it were not as big as the fish Thio had caught but still bigger than her hand.

“How did you catch the last fish?” Ele asked Thio when he got close.

“I speared it when it swam by. Since it was swimming upstream, it wasn’t moving too fast,” Thio replied. They both stood beside the stream holding their sharpened sticks. A few minutes passed, and they tried to spear fish as they swam past. Neither of them was successful. Ele began to watch Thio to see if there was a technique to it.

“How did you catch one?” Ele asked after a few minutes of Thio catching nothing.

“I, uh, I got lucky,” Thio replied, hanging his head a little lower. Ele smiled at his attempt to impress her that day.

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“You can stop, I have an idea,” Ele said as she walked over to the glider pack. She pulled out one of the metal rods wrapped in copper wire. When she had a length that was the same as her arm span, she beckoned to Thio to cut the wire. Once that was done, she folded the piece of wire in half and had Thio cut that too.

“Lightning will sometimes kill sea life when it strikes. Perhaps if I channel quan this will kill or maybe stun the fish,” Ele told Thio as she held two wires, one in each hand. She dangled the end of each wire in the stream. Then she waited for the fish to resume swimming up the stream. When one got in between the two wires, she channeled. A spark jumped from the left-hand wire and arched to the fish then to the end of the right-hand wire. The fish stopped moving forward and bobbed to the surface. Thio, without thinking, stabbed the fish with his stick. Ele wasn’t channeling but realized she would have to tell Thio to make sure she wasn’t channeling next time.

“Thio, thank you for getting the fish but next time let me tell you when I am not channeling. Water amplifies the damage quan does.” She told him as he stood there looking at the fish he had skewered onto his stick.

The next day Ele woke up when the rays of the sun caressed her face. She had fallen asleep after dinner and Thio took first watch. She sat up and looked around and did not see Thio standing anywhere. Worried that something had happened or was happening, she grabbed her staff and got to her feet. Several quick glances around revealed no one around.

“Thio?” she whispered. After no response, she whispered again but slightly louder, “Thio?” Ele walked around the camp even going as far as to where she could see the stream from their little perch on a hill. Thio wasn’t there either. She headed back to camp and stood next to the fire pit.

“THIO! She yelled as loud as she could. Her words echoed a little before she heard a thump of something hitting the ground behind her. There was also a brief yelp of pain. Holding her staff out threateningly she turned around.

Lying on the ground holding his arm, was Thio. Ele’s gaze drifted from him on the ground up a little above. About 6 feet from the ground, there was a thick branch. Little branches of leaves blocked some visibility from below. She stifled a laugh at the thought of Thio sleeping up there and her yell waking him up.

“Ugh, is it morning?” Thio asked, struggling to get up. He cradled his left arm in his right.

“What were you doing up there? Why didn’t you wake me up for my turn at watch?” The questions just flowed from Ele, faster than Thio could answer or respond, “Are you hurt? Did you fall asleep up there? Did something scare you to make you climb up? Why didn’t you tell me…?”

“I fell asleep during watch,” Thio said, his head hung low and face tilted towards the ground. Sensing she wasn’t the only disappointed one here, Ele didn’t try to press the subject. She doubted she would have been able to stay up last night after that meal and the events of the other day. Her legs were still sore from pushing themselves to catch up to the airship.

“I am really sorry, Ele, I…” Thio tried explaining but Ele stopped him with a hand and shaking of her head.

“It is already forgotten. How is your arm?” Ele said as she approached Thio to look at his arm.

“Just sore. I caught the branch with it on my way down, and it just feels like I pulled something.” Thio backed away, still holding his arm, as Ele approached. “It will be fine; just give it time.”

“I just want to make sure it is not broken,” Ele replied as she tried to get closer.

“It is fine.” Thio kept backing up from Ele. Ele darted to the left, and he moved to his right to keep his left arm away from her.

Ele feint to the left, then rushed to her right. Since Thio went again to his right, he moved towards her. A yelp of pain and surprise from Thio as Ele grabbed his good arm and his injured arm with her hands. A brief struggle started as Thio tried to escape. Soon he stopped struggling with tears in his eyes. While Ele was not trained in healing or anything like that, she had grown up with some older brothers. She mimicked what she remembered her Mom doing after one of them would run crying into the house. Feel for a broken bone, something that seemed out of place, and verify Thio can move his joints. After she covered what little she knew, she released him.

“It looks like it will be fine with time,” Ele declared, smiling a little at what she had remembered and her hopefully accurate assessment.

“I could have told you that!” Thio shouted and turned away from her. Ele saw some movements of his good arm to his face and she realized she had probably caused him a lot of pain with her attempts to help.

“Thio, I apologize. I meant no harm, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Ele started to say and paused to hear some sniffling from Thio. “Look, I do not know what I would do without you.” Ele continued and Thio had stopped sniffling. He was starting to turn around as Ele finished. “I need you.”

“I need you too. Just listen to me, please,” Thio replied, looking at Ele. She noticed a slight sparkle in his eyes but couldn’t tell if that was from tears or something else. She gave him her best smile as they packed up what little they had and headed back toward the airship.

They passed the morning by in silence as they made their way through the trees and around the rocks. Off in the distance where the airship was last seen was a cliff. At one point they had to backtrack away from the sea to find a path up to the top of the hill. The sun was hanging high overhead, and Ele’s enthusiasm was waning as they came around a hill and saw a nice flat path to the cliff they had been looking at.

Seeing little trees and vegetation, Thio walked towards the cliff’s edge to look around. Ele hung back a little as the climb up had taxed her and from their experience yesterday, she didn’t want to waste energy on false hope. An excited yell from Thio, brought her running towards the clearing so she could see what he was pointing at.

There, in the distance below the cliff, was a little port town. A few buildings huddled near the sea were built up on stilts, and further inland stood some two-story wooden buildings and a bunch of other structures. She could see little people walking from building to building as they did their normal duties. The town had a few docks that went out into the sea with various sea vessels tethered to them. There were also two airship docks, attached below them to the same cliff they stood on. They were built halfway between sea level and the top of the cliff. Neither of the airship docks were occupied, though. Several days of travel and minimal food did little to temper Ele’s spirit once she saw the town.

“WOOHOO!” Thio’s enthusiasm was catchy. Ele moved swiftly enough that Thio had to rush to catch up. As soon as he caught up to Ele, they started talking excitedly about what they would do once they reached the town.

“Pinch me to make sure I’m not sleeping,” Ele asked.

“No, ‘cause if you wake up from this, that means I fall from the tree again,” Thio replied, and they both laughed. Navigating through the rocks and trees, they found themselves on a packed dirt road; a few carts pulled by animals and led by people were heading towards and away from the town.

“Good Sir, if you have a moment, please,” Ele asked. She looked at the face hidden behind the cloak and cloth that wrapped the figure. Looking back behind the hood were a pair of soft blue eyes. “I’m sorry, Miss, I did not realize.” Ele quickly corrected her mistake.

“SSSH! What do you want?” a harsh whisper came from inside the hood.

“Oh, sorry, what town is this?” Ele asked and started to take a step back but Thio pulled her forward and out of the way of a wagon passing the other direction. She yelped a little in fright.

“Miniscalon,” the hooded lady said, then pulled her hook forward more and sped up away from Ele and Thio.

“Hopefully the rest of the village is more pleasant and helpful than that lady,” Ele said as disgust ran through her.

“We probably look like beggars,” Thio answered, then looked as if he regretted defending the hooded lady.

“We are beggars unless I can find a Windmaster. Once I show who I am, things will be much easier,” Ele said, walking towards the village. She took about four steps before she realized Thio wasn’t following. She stopped and turned to see his head was down again and his shoulders drooped. Walking back to him and looking at his eyes, she asked, “What is wrong?”

“I guess here is where we will separate? I’ll find a new ship, and you’ll go back to your family?” Thio replied as his eyes started watering.

“You think I would leave you here?” Ele asked.

“Yes,” Thio immediately replied.

“Silly boy, you are not going to get rid of me that easily,” Ele told him, now holding his face with both hands. “I owe you a debt I am unsure I will ever repay.” She pulled him close and kissed him on his forehead. While her action did stop his tears, the mixture of his tears and the dirt on her shirt left a dusting of dirt around his eyes when she let him go so that his face looked like a gultak cub. It took everything in her not to laugh at him.

“Let’s get to town. A soft bed and hot bath await us.” She told him, and then they walked towards the village. Thio followed behind her in silence as they wandered through the town. This suggested they go to the airship docks, and Ele explained that sometimes an airship would land hard and tend to be noisy. The guild will have a house close enough to the docks for Windmasters to get there quickly but far enough that they are not woken by a hard landing. Ele would stop at each building read the sings on them. In the first few buildings, she noticed Thio would look at the signs briefly, but his gaze would shift to other things instead. Ele thought that when they were alone, she should ask if he wanted to learn how to read.

The Windmaster’s Guild house was in the middle of the village. It was one of the few buildings that had two stories. The first floors built of stone and mortar. A few small barred windows were on each side of the building. As Ele started walking towards the entrance, Thio stopped and backed up.

“You aren’t taking me to the constable, are you?” Thio exclaimed with both fear and worry in his eyes. Ele went to him and grasped his right hand.

“No, this is the guild house,” she told him in the most comforting voice possible. She avoided asking why he was scared of jail but just pulled him forward. “Sometimes they have to store valuable guild-related things here.

“Who would choose to live in such a place?” Thio asked, allowing Ele to lead him towards the door.

“Ah, a Windmaster does not get to choose where their talents are best used,” Ele commented. She hoped she would always be flying. She reached up and knocked on the door.

The door opened a few seconds after Ele knocked on it. An elderly man with sparse white hair and a hooked nose opened the door and immediately closed it. Ele, quickly stuck her staff in the door to keep it from closing all the way.

“Nah, flotsam, leave before I call the constable!” The old man uttered sharply as he kept force upon the door to close it.

“My name is Windmistress Eletheria Zephyr of Ascalon, and I require aid,” Ele shouted at the old man while holding the staff in the doorway.

“I do not…” The old man started to say, but a male voice behind him interrupted.

“Bruno, allow them in. If she is a Windmistress then we must show respect,” the deep voice behind the door said. The pressure against the door weakened as Bruno ceased trying to close it. Ele could open it and the dim light in the building made it difficult to see. She stepped in so her eyes could adjust and pulled Thio behind her. Bruno beckoned them into a sitting room nearby still holding the door open.

“Wait here for the Windmaster. He will judge the validity of your claim,” Bruno said and nodded towards the door. “I am going to get the constable for when your lies are revealed.” Then Bruno stepped out of the building and closed the door behind him with a thud.

Ele was happy for the darkness, so Thio couldn’t see the worry in her face. She had her personal signet; she was still too young to have a family signet. The only thing she could prove was that she was a Windmistress of some power. The voice of Sal in her mind reminded her not to let her ego get too big. She was a Windmistress with power, but not as powerful as many others.

“Do not worry about Bruno, he is just old and angry,” the voice said from the other side of the sitting room. Ele’s eyes had to adjust to the dim light before she saw the man. He was standing in the doorway wearing dark-colored glasses, then Ele realized which Windmaster was here.

“Windmaster Martinus, I apologize for the intrusion,” Ele said, curtsied a little. She pulled on Thio’s arm, and he bowed a little. She remembered why some Windmasters were stuck on land. Age, injury, burnout, punishment, and sometimes physical disability will tie a Windmaster to the land. Martinus was powerful in quan, but at the age of twenty, he started getting debilitating headaches from bright light. The engine rooms needed light for maps, and sunlight could not be avoided while flying. “Is Bruno…?” Ele glanced back at the exit.

“No, he will not. He is mostly bark and little bite, he was heading out to get some things.” Martinus said, “I imagine if he had his way we would just spend the day relaxing in the study reading a book without any interruptions.”

“How do you read without light?” Ele inquired.

“Ah, you know of me, at least. Now let’s see if you are who you say you are.” Martinus handed Ele a stick with wire wrapped the metal tip. Hanging from the end of it was a string and a metal ball. Ele had played with these before; one channels quan through it and the tip would pull the metal ball towards it. In Ascalon there are multiple sticks with various weights attached to them. For those learning their power it was a way to test and teach control. Ele activated her power through the stick and pulled the ball towards the stick.

“Excellent,” Martinus said as he took back the toy. “Now I will send word that you are here and someone should be here to verify you in a day or so. Until then, let me extend my hospitality to you and your um, uh…”

“Acanthio, he is my friend and saved my life,” Ele responded quickly, not wanting the Windmaster to think Thio was a servant or, worse, a lover. She was certain that everything she said or did while they waited would be reported to her family. While her father would be delighted she was okay, Ele was certain her mother would be more worried about the scandal than relieved that her daughter was alive.