Agatha was so happy that she went straight to the hangar where her Grandpa works. Strangely, even if the house did not look so big, carved into the mountain, and also seemed quite poor but homely, taking the stairs downstairs, there was a huge hangar full of wood, utensils, second-hand boats to renovate, and other ships to work on for clients for repair and maintenance.
It is quite complicated for you to understand the physics of this air realm, but I will try to be as clear as possible for you to comprehend.
Ships and boats in the Sky Mountains float quite easily since the air is more like an ocean where you can breathe. It appears that you can actually fly, but in reality, you cannot. If you fall out of a ship or you jump from a mountain to the unknown, you might be stuck in the air with a low possibility of “swim”. It is quite hard to move because the air itself is not equal; in some parts you cannot move, in some others you can swim in the air, and in some others you can fall till the bottom of the mountains.
Because of these very different stages of air, ships must be equipped with different navigation systems: they must have sails made of Brenath silk, a special silk made from a type of bird that resembles a chicken, which is able to create this silk when building a nest for its eggs. Many sky men have entered this Brenath business, and at the moment the Sky Mountains can count on more than 200 shops, of which 7 of them make an industrial average product, while small businesses of artisans still make special and high-ranked silk.
Brenath are quite unique, magical creatures, even if, when you look at them, you honestly want to roast them for a Sunday lunch. They have wattles and combs that actually change color depending on what they are fed. Depending on the color, they are able to produce different types of Silk. There is a book going around in the libraries called “Brenath color..eat of Silk?”. It is a small encyclopedia that teaches you what to feed your Brenath in order to make them taste different or produce silk. But this encyclopedia is very basic. The reason why, among 200 shops, each one is quite special is that they are still creating their own secret recipes to produce their own special, magical Silk.
Some silks can make you go faster, some others can help you save you from a fall, some others can strike with electricity when hit by a magical creature or flying mercenaries. Other silks simply have a fancy color, and some others can slow down with a special maneuver. Artisans of Brenath Silk strive to find the perfect combination of ingredients to enhance their recipes. The most common have one property, and are called breakfast silk; the special ones with still one property are called elevenses silk, the two-property silk are called lunch silk, and so on till the most special ones that you can mostly find only at auctions in the capital are the buffet silk and the feast silk.
Agatha also has her henhouse. Her grandpa is not really interested in discovering the right food for them to create special magical Brenath Silk, but he uses them to create basic breakfast silks in order to sell his boats easily and quickly at an average price. He is more interested in wood carving than in silk mastery; he thinks of Silk masters as sick and is used to calling them silk rushers.
But Agatha does not look for a special silk to create; she loves her Brenath because of the splendid taste they have. And since her dream is to open a restaurant in the sky, she loves to try to feed them special food in order to find out which food will make them taste better. That is why she wants to find difficult food to catch for them, to continue her cuisine experiments.
The hangar was such a cozy place, and even if it was messy as hell, it still looked like a place of dedication and peace. Agatha ran towards her desk, where she was used to help her Grandpa draw boats, and picked up her bag. She then opened the drawer and took her wind and water bracelets. They both looked like carved gem bracelets made of one piece; one was white and the other was blue. Agatha then took her long bow with arrows, most of which had different feather colors, and ran towards the “Lighting Cloud”. She just jumped in and called, “Bracchius!? Where are you?? We need to go!”
Bracchius flew downstairs while still having a piece of egg in his mouth..meanwhile her grandpa walked the stairs slowly with a cup of fine coffee. If you may ask yourself if Sky men drink coffee, I assure you they do. They also have a very special production of coffee, due to the fact that some parts of the Sky Mountains experience minimal weather fluctuations. Sky men love drinking coffee in a way similar to a part of your world, which you call “espresso”. There are three major coffee production companies in the Sky Mountains, but since it is so highly regarded, these companies are subject to state regulation to keep the price affordable to all. Their names are “Coffee Nightfall”, “Bum bum spice”, and “Black Cloud”.
About minimal weather fluctuations? Yes, they are not so rare, but they are also not so widespread. You can find a lot of these minimal fluctuations, but next to them is a very high-risk fluctuation zone. Some of these zones are national treasures, like the coffee fields and the Dunethian swimming pool. The Dunethian swimming pool is not what you might think it is; it is a special place close to the small town of Runesath where some clouds form a circle, and in the middle, there is only air. However, this air has a special and unique natural wind that allows anyone to swim in the air from side to side. Families visit there during their free time, and every year, they hold a swimming tournament where athletes compete for the Cloud Cup.
Grandpa turns the sugar in his espresso and looks at Agatha with a warm smile:
“Agatha..do you have all?”
“Yes, old man! You always have something to say ha?” replied Agatha
“Sure, you did not forget anything?”
“No, Grandpa, I am an expert hunter, don’t you know? I am well-trained and well prepared!” replied Agatha
“Ah! So I guess I should sell this very beautiful green stone that I found on the kitchen table..I am so lucky today!” said Grandpa
Agatha turned red, she forgot the awakened stone..what a shame.
She walked with her head down towards Humelian while he was playing with the stone, and she grabbed it in silence. Then she turned back to her ship, walked a few steps, and froze.
She turned back to Humeliam, who was looking at her, surprised. She gave him a small kiss on his cheek and turned back again towards her ship.
“Thank you, Commander. But I am still not at your service..”
Agatha pulled a lever, and the door of the hangar opened. The door was quite heavy, made of stone, and beautifully carved by artisans, featuring ships floating all over. Once the door was opened, a blast of wind entered the hangar, moving Agatha’s blonde hair like on an ocean trip. She pulled the three ropes towards her and sat at the rudder, giving a strong pull to the sail closer to her, and the ship moved forward.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Agatha turned her head towards Humelian, who was already at the level close to the gate.
“See you tonight Granpaaa!” with a huge smile.
And there she is, floating in the sky. The sun shines like a god kissing the land. In front of Agatha, Mountains, towers immersed in the clouds, some moving faster, some stiff like stone. Flying birds and creatures around in small flocks. On a cloud island farther, a herd of wild Hippogriffs is sleeping and eating some earthy grass. A river is falling down from another cloud down to the bottom ot the Sky mountains. It looks so good, it looks so beautiful.
Bracchius watches over the creatures while they sail, smiling at some and snarling at others. He sometimes flies around Agatha, but she is too concentrated on sailing at the moment to give him attention.
“I need to put myself into the emerald windy root first, then I should be able to check the map; now it is too risky.” Agatha thought
The “emerald windy root” is one of the thousands of stable roots that never change course. Like the ocean, it has water currents; in the Sky Mountains, there are the “windy roots”. Some roots are so large and stable that anyone knows their name and course without a map; many others are known only to locals, and some roots are accessible only at certain times, which are usually also the most treacherous.
Merchants usually use the main windy routes to avoid any accidents with goods. Their ships are also quite big, and it might be very dangerous to travel on a smaller windy root. Sometimes, if the commander is not experienced enough, they might end up in the open air with unstable winds, or sometimes they could be stuck in the windy root, blocking the traffic of smaller boats. Once, Agatha was so annoyed because she had to wait almost two hours for a merchant ship blocking the lighting windy root. The commander was quite old and forgot to equip the ship with the right Silk Sails in order to move in a smaller travel windy root.
It was not long before Agatha reached the “emerald windy root.” She then pulled her second sail, which made her boat rapidly turn left, and gently pushed her third sail while putting the rudder into position. The ship slowed down, and once it was inside the root, she pulled her first sail hard closer to the rudder; the ship then started to sail faster.
“Oooh, finally a bit of relaxation! Don’t you think Bracchius?”
Bracchius smiled like a dog in your world is used to do, with his tongue out, breathing hard.
“I need to check the map, if my calculations are correct, considering the weather of today, I think I might find some purple dragonflies in the cloud islands close to the Himerian’s lands.”
Cloud islands are mostly considered as moving pieces of land. Usually, cloud islands are not very big, but they tend to travel around the same mountains and rarely move to other locations. Agatha is looking mostly for these types of islands, even if skymen tend not to travel there. She believes she can find the rarest food there than in the civilized parts.
“Ok, Bracchius! Now we have a 2-hour flight..should we sleep again? Ahahaha!” said Agatha
Bracchius ignored Agatha since he was having fun making bubbles out of his snot.
The trip continued quite well. Some small merchant ships came from the other side, asking Agatha if she was in need of something, but actually the only thing she was desiring was Kuttles, which basically is a typical “street food” in the sky mountains, which consists of half potato smashed with mayonnaise, onions, and a pinch of spice, with on top some cruncy smoked meat. Very delicious.
The panorama changed quite often; the worst part was when a pure black cloud passed right through the emerald root, practically bathing all of Agatha’s clothes. Some birds came to sit on the “Lighting Cloud” in search of rest, but very soon flew away after Bracchius tried to catch them.
Bracchius then fell asleep like a baby, and Agatha decided to speed up a bit since the sun was already starting its course back to the other side of the sky. She pulled again on her first sail, and the ship started to tremble a bit due to its new speed.
“Wake up Bracchius!” said Agatha
“Wake up, you lazy animal! We need to make the maneuver!”
Bracchius yawned with a full mouth while Agatha got into position. On her right, the beautiful lands of Himerian. Himerian was a land of farmers. Contrary to most places in the Sky Mountains Himerian had no mountains at all. Its richness came through the very productive earth that was generated from those huge Pure Islands they had. As Pure Islands Sky men considered the Islands without rocks and immovable, like the Cloud Islands, even if they practically look a lot alike, Pure Islands not only do not move but are also very large. Grass grows on those clouds like it grows on your own Earth. The specialty of Himerian is vegetables and oil. They account for approximately 40% of the production across all the Sky Mountains. Because of this, their mayor has more power than many others when it comes to voting. Each region aspires to have the title of “Wind Maker”, which means they are contributing to the realm so much that their votes count as two.
The Mayor of Humerian is called Vulnebath. In ancient times, they were nobles, but after the nearly 500-year civil war, all nobles lost their titles, yet mostly retained power by leaving their properties to the people. Redhis of Vulnebath is proud of its ancestors' choice; their castle has been converted into a national property and visited by many tourists every year. He feels good to be the administrator of the Island, probably in the past, they have felt dishonored or emotionally angry to change a castle to a typical Himerian farm, but nobody has ever forbidden anyone of wealth. In the future centuries that small farm became a real ranch treasure, and it's far more beautiful than a castle.
Every family descended from nobles has kept its symbol. The Vulnebath symbol is a Himerian white bird with golden feathers flying towards the sky. Agatha loves that symbol so much that she has always wanted to spare some money to make a tattoo of it on her arm.
“Keep tight Bracchius!” said Agatha
“For God Kloud! What am I saying? You can fly anyway..”
Agatha took all three sails in her right hand, while keeping the rudder with the left, and started to make the maneuver to get out of the emerald root. A turn to the right, some hard shakes for the boat, and here they are out of the root! The boat feels different; while on the root was stable and solid, it now feels like flying into a bubble. Here we go, Agatha pulls the levers on the right and left inside the boat.
“Mmmmh..I should have put some oil first, dammit!” argued with herself.
A bit of ruthless strength, and she finally pulled out the two majestic wings of the “Lighting Cloud”. When you are out of the root and you feel your ship like in a bubbling swim, you may better open those wings, or you might have to try some other risky maneuvers to bring the boat back to a safe position.
“Right on time, I guess!” said Agatha
The boat made a rapid move forward, so it seemed stable again, like on the root road.
“How come it's always so hard to sail in Himerian?”
She then felt some stronger wind coming, so she closed the wings and started to use the three ropes with two hands while she blocked the rudder in position.
“Aha, there is a cloud island! I wonder where it came from, let’s go check!”
She moved the boat in that direction, and with different maneuvers, she was able to arrive safely at the cloud Island. Once there, finally, the easiest part, dropping the anchor.
Agatha opened the back bench where she had been sitting during the maneuvering of the boat, and took out an anchor. She started rotating it with its rope and then threw it into the land of the Island, which immediately stuck into the ground.
It is quite easy to block a Ship or boat with its anchor, since the ship will still float into the air while being blocked on earth. The density of the air changes closer to the earth of an island, so you might risk the ship crashing on it unless it has a “moki” landing motor. Since Agatha’s boat is a traditional sailing sloop, it does not have a motor; it is something only larger ships, such as those of merchants or city ships, have.
Agatha is enthusiastic.
“Come Bracchius! We have to go! Maybe you will get a cookie if you make it before me?”
Agatha jumped out of the boat while Bracchius did the same just a second later. Both are heading towards the sky Island as gravity is on your planet. Air density is highly variable, especially near Cloud Islands. It is a very high-risk place of danger if you do not have a special perception of air density and wind. Usually, air is dense and will make you float, but when a whirl of dry air comes by, you may just fall..
“Oh my..what have I done?” cried Agatha
“Bracchius..help me, help me!” shouted Agatha
Bracchius was at first alarmed, but then he did not care; he opened his wings and slowly landed while Agatha fell towards the ground.
“Such a bad animal you are Bracchius! You never help me..ahahahah” said Agatha, faking herself angry, to then laugh
She pulled out of her pocket the green stone from Grandpa, held it tightly in her hand, and said: “Doarth Nemaenis.”
The awakened stone turned light green, and Agatha started to slow down her fall to a point where she just gently lay on the ground in the grass. Flowers around her, some bees flew away.
“Isn’t it fun, my beloved friend?” said Agatha, looking at Bracchius landing on her with an annoyed face.
“You never believe me..how come? Not even the cookie made you want to save me? Ahahahah”
Agatha hugged Bracchius and kissed him all over his face while he was trying to clean himself from those kisses.
“Ok, let’s go! Who knows what we will find here!”
