Standing on one of the many bridges passing over the Eastern river, I wasn’t even remotely close to the port yet I could still see the main gas bag of the airship looming over the building it was docked at.

I had spotted the airship once every month or so previously, but I never intently scrutinized it, as my interest in it ran surface level at best, owing to my obsession with the chained octahedron floating over Frosthelm still going strong back then, but judging by the color of the bag, a dirty, smudged white, the airship had very likely been in service for an incredibly long period of time, raising alarm bells in my head on just how safe such an old ship could really be.

At the image of the leathery skin of the ship that kept in the gas being shaved down with the passage of time, I froze, the rucksack containing all of my belongings and a change of clothes hanging down from my index and middle fingers, as a cold sweat ran down my back.

Aurelia turned back, evidently confused at why I stopped.

Closing up the shop today for the sole purpose of seeing me off, Aurelia had not only worn her finest, a silk, sleeveless black dress, but she had also paid someone to do her hair, braiding it such that it gently draped down her back.

“ … Are you sure that’s safe?” I questioned, pointing to the airship.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Aurelia confusedly asked, “Come, I want to meet this Thalric you spoke about.”

Convincing myself of Aurelia’s words, I nodded in answer, and began to cross the bridge once again.

Quickly, we reached the airship port, and standing in front of the great, pitch black stone brick building was Thalric, waving happily when he spotted me.

“Greetings, boy,” he exclaimed, forcefully pushing past a crowd of people as he approached, “I see you plan to take me up on my offer, but I do wonder, who is this young lady next to you?”

Snorting in dry amusement, Aurelia answered for me, “I’m his caretaker.”

“Wonderful!” Thalric clapped, “Then we wait for one more, before we enter. Care for a pine nut?” He suddenly asked, pulling out of his satchel a large sack, from which emanated a deeply rich, woodey smell.

Due to my not having eaten breakfast on account of stress, I was starved, and I gratefully accepted his offer.

Only when the nuts had just about been polished off did he finally spot the one we were waiting for, and just as he did with me, Thalric enthusiastically waved, and moved to where he spotted the other student.

Aurelia and I followed, coming face to face with a group of the city guard, surrounding and escorting some unknown figure.

At the sight of the approaching Thalric, the largest guard made way, revealing a young girl carrying a brown sack, who I was now slightly taller than by the slightest margin, but still had hair colored a ghostly white.

“Boy,” Thalric began, turning in my direction, “This is Lunia, Lunia, this is-”

“Thief,” I involuntarily muttered, recognizing her as the girl who had paid for a honey roll with a handful of odds and ends.

I kept the buttons and marbles on my nightstand, on account of them being pretty, but not knowing what to do with them, while still not wanting to throw them away on account of their beauty.

Head tilted, as if not knowing what I was talking about, her eyes suddenly lit up in recognition, “Bread boy!” she exclaimed.

“My name is Sol,” I immediately shot back, irrationally frustrated that she called me “Bread boy,” and not by my name despite never telling her what it was.

“I’m not a thief though?” she asked, confused, “I paid.”

“With marbles and buttons.”

“Yes,” she innocently smiled and nodded, “I paid.”

Feeling a slight headache coming on, I rubbed my forehead in exasperation, and gave up attempting to talk sense into her.

You could lead a horse to water, but you couldn’t force it to drink.

“I see you two are already acquainted,” Thalric commented, walking away, “Good, then we can leave.”

Past the large, wooden doors and the front desk where Thalric purchased 3 of the most expensive tickets, Lunia, Aurelia, and I entered the port building itself, the city guard having left as soon as they exchanged pleasantries with Thalric.

The building was in the shape of an oval, and on account of the inner wall being essentially just a large circular pane of glass, the airship docked in the middle was clearly visible.

Held down by only a dozen thick ropes and taking up nearly the entirety of the actual port, the floating airship’s hull was constructed from some unknown metal, shaped no differently from that of an ordinary ship, and looked to be about 900 feet long tip to tip, 100 feet tall without the gas balloon, 300 feet with.

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Windows dotted the bottom half of the hull, while the top half was covered in balconies that increased in outward quality the higher up they were. Despite the large gas sack attached to the hull casting its shadow over the main body of the airship, it did nothing to obscure, or otherwise hide the beauty of the hull’s pristine white, with golden highlights, color scheme.

With a stewardess guiding us, the four of us were directed to a private cabin to wait.

Fully furnished with high quality furniture made from the finest upholstery, the room was the very embodiment of the word gaudy,’ especially when one took into consideration the amenities offered, which included but was not limited to: an enchantingly translucent pink colored juice made from some freshly squeezed, unknown fruit; chocolates with hard candy shell colored the spectrum of the rainbow, with each color corresponding to a different flavor that complemented the chocolatey fudge within, and paper thin, wafer-like vegetable crackers that tasted as if they were deep-fried and made from chloric goodness, despite their apparently being healthy and good for you.

After each of us found a seat, we watched the ongoing inspection of the airship.

Suddenly, one of the workers in the dock raised his hands to form a triangle, before closing his eyes and chanting, a translucent magic circle forming as he did so.

The light blue magic circle spun in place faster and faster the longer he went on for, until finally, it disappeared, and a green light was generated from his hands.

Following Thalric as he left the lounge, we found ourselves at an elevated metal walkway connecting the building to the floating airship.

Lunia and Thalric walked on ahead, while Aurelia stopped, no longer able to continue without a ticket.

As I turned to Aurelia, staring down at the ground unable to meet her gaze, memories of our time together played in my mind.

In the past, when the euphoria of newly gained freedom had begun to fade from my mind, I asked her why she stole me away from the Baron’s army, why she even gave me a home to live, why she even cared about whether or not I lived or died, and in response, I was told to not talk with a mouthful of food, as not only was it impolite, I risked choking.

Even when we weren’t eating and I repeated my questions, she deflected, diverting my attention and never giving me a straightforward, satisfactory answer.

Consequently, fear at what she might be hiding began to well up inside of me, not only from her unwillingness to answer my questions, but from an instinctual feeling of anxiety I got being around her.

I couldn’t change the fact that fundamentally, I was human; that which I did not understand terrified me. But just as that which brought immense joy was not always right, fear, despite being unpleasant to feel, was not inherently bad.

Fear of the unknown was what kept man alive when the world was not something to conquer, but rather an insurmountable wall of which we had no way to climb. Despite her seemingly endless kindness, I reasoned that the fear I felt towards Aurelia was in some way, shape, or form, warranted.

If Aurelia couldn’t be trusted, it was best to keep her at arm’s length, to never get close, and to always keep in mind the inevitability that I would one day leave her.

The Lieutenant once said to me that life was an unending series of conflicts, a war with no end in sight, and that we should treat every moment we’re alive with the requisite seriousness of combat.

On the battlefield, even a single moment of weakness was akin to an open invitation to all those around you to shoot an arrow into your chest.

But even still, in my heart, I desperately wished for how she presented herself as to be devoid of deception.

And I couldn’t change the fact that fundamentally, I was human.

I looked up at Aurelia, as she wistfully smiled and opened her arms out to me.

Futilely blinking back tears, I rushed at her.

While in her embrace, tears ran down my cheeks, but the thought that I still didn’t truly know her was still ever present, and gnawing at my psyche.

“No matter what you decide to do,” Aurelia whispered into my ear, “or what you become, I will always be on your side.”

Even so, I closed my eyes, and dug deeper.

***

Sol stood on his room’s balcony, leaning over the balustrade, and relished the frigid, winter wind hitting his face.

He wouldn’t say that he particularly enjoyed the cold, rather, it was the opposite, he outright detested it. No, Sol enjoyed possessing the freedom to enter the room, and escape the cold anytime he wished.

But, he had to admit, the view from up high was incredible, even if the gas balloon did slightly jut out over the top of the airship.

Looking down, the world was obscured by a layer of pillowy clouds, while above, there was only the inky blackness of the night sky, save the eldest and fading younger moons.

With the thought that he wouldn’t have been able to view such a wondrous sight had he stayed in Frosthelm in his mind, Sol lowered his head, letting his long black hair hang down.

Feeling a faint hunger that triumphed over the enjoyment derived from standing outside, Sol re entered the airship.

Sol closed the door to his room behind him as he walked out and entered the commons area that connected every 3 luxury cabins in the airship, noticing Lunia eating alone as he did so.

Sol, Thalric, and Lunia had eaten in the ship’s main dining hall earlier in the day, but ordering food from one of the ship’s many personnel to later be delivered was also possible.

Walking past Lunia, Sol greeted her out of courtesy, before continuing on, when suddenly,

“Sol, why do you want to attend Celestia?” Lunia asked,

Sol stopped mid stride, and turned to face her.

Having put down her fork and knife, Lunia casually twirled her snow white hair around her finger, and blankly stared forward at nothing, the air around her one of faint, near imperceptible desolate longing.

“Why do you ask?”

Seemingly regaining her concentration, “You don’t need to say why if you don’t want to,” Lunia dismissively waved her hands, “I was just curious.”

Sol, briefly contemplating whether or not he should tell her, finally answered, “It was the only option where I didn’t know what the end result would be.”

Sol stayed in place, waiting to see if Lunia had anything else to say.

Staring down at her half-eaten plate of food, Lunia became lost in thought, no longer even paying attention to her surroundings.

Rubbing his eyes in exhaustion, an intense wave of fatigue washed over Sol.

Sol sighed, and continued on his quest to satisfy his hunger.