{IC} The Edge of Everything

[Hymusia]

Quietly her feet gripped to the cold metal struts that formed the walk ways on the ship. It was an amazing piece of technology in her opinion, all that metal and yet it floated like a cloud and yet was tethered in place by no more than a chain. It baffled her in the kind of way that made her glad to be alive, a feeling she hadn't often acquired outside of her books. She imagined it would be rather difficult to navigate this place if it were bathed in silence and devoid of life, however with the voices that drifted down the passages acting like beacon's she found her way quite easily to the place where many others seemed to have gathered.

She heard enough to understand that all were confused, disorientated and a little scared, they were asking sensible questions, questions that until she passed through the doorway into that main room she had not thought of at all. Why were they here? What was wanted from them? How long had they been here? In the most philosophical part of her soul she realised that these questions were superfluous, what use would how and why be now? They were here and that fact could not be changed, dwelling on the how was not going to figure out the why and clearly there was no one to explain the why so that too could, for the time being, be ignored.

With all the company gathered so deep in thought and conversation with one another she took a moment to take in the faces, search for a hint of familiarity, a hint of recognition. There was a rather passive aggressive woman, a rather nice girl, some men of differing personalities but no one who immediately stood out for her. Leaving them to their formalities she took a seat upon a ledge made by the bowing metal before the fish bowl styled window, drawing dainty legs up to her body and glancing outside for any familiar landmark or cloud shape, registering shapes far below them and contemplating what rested just beyond the barrier.

Of course she kept her attention likewise on the conversations flowing around her but as of yet she had no part in them and nothing she knew was going to shed any light on the subject. Introductions were being passed around and occasionally her intelligent but detached eyes slid from the scene outside the window to the motley crew, matching voices and faces to the names being provided. There was every chance they would find her rather anti-social if she didn't speak up, perhaps they'd write it off as a bad attitude? Her body language suggested no such thing though, it instead was an oasis of eerie calm, a still and calm sea during a raging storm, an oasis in the desert. It was intense and yet it was serene, though more often than not that vibe alone made people uncomfortable, uncertain how to approach or even confront the dreamy eyed girl. Detached as they were they seemed to possess a deep knowledge to them, as if they'd seen beyond the barrier to what was on the other side of the monster.

Certain there was meaning to being bought together like this she decided that regardless of her own inward discomfort, should she be asked her name she'd answer, if included in the conversation she would speak.

[Irell Starling]

Miromi’s eyes narrowed at Iadalis. There was just no point in running around trying to find answers. Sometimes in life there just weren’t any answers and you had to learn to just deal with it. Perhaps this is why she was different than them, her life had been a series of unanswered questions. Why had her father killed her mother? Why had he tried to frame his daughter? Would the world ever return to normal? Who was going to die next? It seemed childish and naïve to keep looking for the answers especially when there were other more tangible problems to focus on. Miromi supposed she could humor them for now, it wasn’t like there was any place to go.

”You should really should learn to listen better,” the woman said, her tone remained indifferent as always, ”like him.” She pointed briefly to Kale. ”I’m not in a habit of repeating myself but I’ll make an exception since we just met. I. Have. No. Idea. How. You. Got. Here. I do however know I got here. I walked on and I assume you all did as well or perhaps someone carried you or maybe someone threw magic fairy dust on you and you just teleported here. There? Does that make you feel any better? Unfortunately it doesn’t solve any of our problems. Simply knowing that we can walk off doesn’t fix anything,” her voice turned dark as he annoyance finally showed, ”unless of course you’re suggesting we should just simply walk off the ship an into the planet’s atmosphere. Now that’s foolishness.”

Turning back to Kale, she smiled. It didn’t reach her eyes but it was genuine non-the-less. ”Yes, we need to find a key. Once we do that I might be able to get this thing up and running. Mind you, I might. That is unless someone else has mechanical skills.” She had been contacted, by note, a few days ago. Someone had found a mysterious ship that they hoped would be able to travel off the planet. In exchange for passage they required that she help get it up and running. Since she was one of the few people still alive and decently well off on the planet with a range of mechanical skills, it only made sense to Miromi that she’d been chosen. She’d arrived to find the ship’s door open and a few of her fellow passengers snoozing away in the lounge. Their sleep seemed…unnatural and when she tried to wake one that’s when everything had gone black.

Miromi’s eyes flicked around until they settled back on Iadalis. ”So, leader, where should we look first?”

During the discussion, Callefine slipped out of the control room. She passed small built woman with long dark blond hair. When their eyes met she waved at Inaya before heading deeper into the ship’s interior. One of their companions hadn’t woken up like the rest of them, but that made sense. Taking the wooden, creaking stairs two at a time she came upon a hallway with several locked doors. She stopped in front of one which was as unlabeled as the rest of them but she knew instinctively that the last member of the group lay sleeping behind it.

Taking out a lock pick from a hidden pocket in her pants, Callefine began to painstakingly work on the keyhole. When the tumblers finally turned over, she pushed through the heavy wooden door and locked it quickly behind her. This room like so many others looked old and worn. The paneling here was whitewashed but the light coming from the fixtures above shed a harsh glow. The walls were filled with locked cabinets and scattered on the counter were various used medical tools. In the middle of the room were two simple beds, one empty and one occupied. Under a thin white sheet slept the one to burn.

[Hymusia]

Continuing just to listen to the arguments and confrontation around her she let out a barely perceivable sigh, brushing back her thick locks with one set of digits. It was a conundrum, what to do, what not to do, would anything make a difference until someone decided upon a course of action. They were at the edge of the world but surely, up here where the sky looked blue, where the ruin of below looked so far away, surely the air was safe. What were they supposed to do? That was the real question, no one would go to such effort to take such a random group of people, to place them on a ship that ought not to have existed at the edge of a city that barely lived just because they could.

There had to be a reason, some thought or functions. She knew many stories, since she sat and listened like this even in the caverns of her home. The older a person the better the story usually and since most stories usually had an element of fact in them she'd always paid attention to them. It was the best way to learn after all. She always thought best while listening to music though and quite by habit she reached for the folds of her skirt, to the chord she used to tie the squeeze box upon her belt. Lifting the old looking

squeezebox and freeing it from her skirt it only then hit her what luck it was to have it. The people who had picked her up must have allowed her to keep hold of them.

Without further thought on what was obvious fact she closed her eyes lightly and began to play the odd little box, squeezing out a tune she weaved along as she went, thinking back on each story to see if there was any semblance of the present in the past.

[AmongHeroes]

Iadalis ran his fingers through his long raven hair and sighed; arguing with Miromi was proving to be a fruitless endeavor. He recalled momentarily a quote his mentor often repeated regarding confrontations with fools, but he pushed the thought from his mind.

He returned Miromi’s gaze, “Very well. If we are to get the ship operable, I think it would behoove us to learn more about our current home. I would suggest that we split up and do a search of the ship, and return to the control room after a set time. After we search we can meet up and piece together what we’ve discovered.”

Iadalis raised his shoulders in a “what if” expression, “Miromi perhaps you could investigate the engine room; there might be a way to run the ship by bypassing the key if we cannot find it. I am no engineer, but that could work in theory, yes?”

She responded, and he nodded at her answer.

“Well regardless, I’m going to go see what I can find. I’ll be back here in thirty minutes. Anyone else up to the challenge?”

Iadalis waited for the replies and then he set off out of the control room. He was inside of the deck that he had initially awakened on. It was a large space, and several open doorways led off of the deck. He made his way to the closest from the control room, and entered it. He now found himself standing on a gratework companionway that seemed to run lengthwise from the fore of the airship, to the aft. The space was dimly lit with a greenish hue by sunlight that filtered through widely spaced, circular porthole windows. At regular intervals spiral stairs of the same metal grating led up and down from the companionway.

Trying to think logically, Iadalis moved towards the front of the ship, intending to travel as far forward and as far up as he could, and then work his way back and down. The metal floor rang dully as he walked down the narrow passage. He passed one of the spiral staircases as he continued to make his way forward, but he did not encounter any other doorways or passages until he came to the very end of the companionway. The grating stopped abruptly at one of the circular windows, and Iadalis took a moment to peer out of the small green opening. Outside he could make out the island to which the airship was tethered, and in the bright sun he could clearly see the clock tower that stood prominently at the center of the floating landmass. From his vantage point he could see no movement among the cobbled streets far below.

Perhaps the island holds the answers, he thought before turning away from the window.

To his right an open passage ran perpendicular to the companionway, and he followed the short passage to where it ended at yet another companionway. This second companionway trailed straight back towards the rear of the ship, seemingly identical to the first.

These companionways must be main passages to access the rest of the ship. If I’m right and they’re identical, I should be able to access the main deck just like I did on the other side.

Iadalis set out down the second companionway towards the aft of the ship, passing a spiral staircase in what appeared to be the mirror location as the one he had passed on the opposite side of the airship. With a chuckle of gratification he found himself standing at an open doorway, and putting his head through it he was greeted by the large main deck, and to his right the entrance to the control room. Satisfied with his search, he made his way into the control room and peered out of the main viewport, leaning against the large control wheel as he did, and waited for the others to return.

[Hymusia]

Briefly she glanced up from playing as one member spoke of an idea. Explore the ship? Surely there was an easier way to go about things. They all woke up together so one could deduce right away they were not meant to stay here. She did not know how they worked but she gathered by it's simple construction it wasn't just a matter of wiggling sticks or pressing buttons. Wherever they were supposed to go they were there and now it was simply a matter of finding out why they were here and what to do about it.

However as many began filtering out the rooms to explore she took a breath and slipped her bare feet to the grill before. It was uncomfortable but it did not register on her face as she walked towards the door closest to where the land mass was. She'd heard tales of a place like this, the edge of the world, the ruins of the last civilisation, slipping her squeeze box to her hip and clipping it in place she pulled open the door and shut it behind her.

The wind was brisk and the dust that flew stung like little shards of glass, it was no wonder everyone spent their time underground, even this far up above the surface the air was still dangerous. Below them was their world, no doubt they had all come from that place, somewhere below the dirt and pollution filled clouds and dust storms were their lives. Yet here they were, breathing the fresh, clean air, looking at the beast close up. For a moment she stood mesmerised at all she could see and all she could not see, it was truly beautiful and yet horrifying at the same time.

With all the silence she had upon arriving to the little argument she moved towards the ships front, one foot in front of the other and brushing her hair from her face as the wind whipped it about like a playful child. The bouncy curls heavy against her face though offering her a little protection against the wind as she found where the ship joined to the land. There she stood in awe, a quiet smile upon her face, perhaps it was not as her ancestors had once known it but there was a patch of oil where the grass wasn't withered and dry, where the flowers were not covered in briers but soft white petals with yellow centres.

Surely it was all a dream for nothing so beautiful as this could truly exist, a fanciful and terrible dream from which she was doomed to awake. Still as she stepped down from the ship with the aid of the railing she felt the cool dew between her toes and was instantly transported to a pleasure she had never quite known. Of course she did think about calling the others but they seemed far too busy bickering to listen to what any one thought or had to say. A brief glance behind her at the floating ship, even if it somehow left before her return it did not seem such a bad thing.

The wind where she stood had died down, not more than a gentle breeze now, it was not cold nor stifling hot but warm enough to be relaxed and content. With grass and flowers there was likelihood of food and water as well, it certainly didn't seem to be a bad place to be stuck. Of course the others deserved to know about this, perhaps though they would find it on their own, once they were done fighting about the right way to go about figuring out why exactly they were here.

With her mind, mostly, settled on her choice of action she turned from the ship and with the hem of her dress gathering little droplets of dew she moved further into the garden, now, rather than her squeeze box she found the desire to hum lightly to herself. A tune befitting a place with such glory and beauty, a tune of serenity, tranquility and mystery.

[Irell Starling]

”Right,” Miromi thought to herself as she headed out of the control room. ”Go search the engine room.” That was a lot easier said than done especially since she had no idea where the engine room even was.

She walked down one of the many wooden floored hallways, which creaked under her steps. Echoing through the hallways was an upbeat tune, the kind that made you want to clap along. Miromi cocked her head and listened, trying to figure out what direction it was coming from. But the music bounced off the wooden paneled walls and ricocheted off the metal pipes above, making it more difficult. Just as she thought zoned in on the direction, the tune ended and the air was heavy with silence except for the occasional creak.

”Oh forget it!” Miromi said feeling a little more than exasperated, ”I’ve got better things to do.” With that the woman leaned against an empty part of the wall and began thinking.

”It only makes logical sense to put the engine either in the front or the back of the ship. It’s heavy, yes, but the shape of this craft should account for it. The view from the control room leads me to think that its situated near the back of the ship and since it’s easier to push than to pull, I suspect the engine room is in the back as well. But where in the back?”

Looking around. Miromi followed the hallway towards the rear of the ship. It didn’t take her long until she reached the end of the corridor where it met up with a mirrored one to form a bowed “V” shape. There was no spiraling staircase here, but instead a ladder attached to the wall and leading downwards into the ship's belly. Miromi laid down on her belly and tugged on the rungs she could reach. She wasn’t the type of person to put herself in a situation she couldn’t easily get herself out of but satisfied with the workmen ship, she descended the ladder.

The shaft didn’t leave much room for movement nor did it have good lighting. It felt like she had gone a few stories down before finally reaching the bottom. There were a few tiny windows here, barley bigger than her face that let in some light. The air was hot and the cramped space made her feel claustrophobic. Miromi was about to turn around and go back up the way she came when she spotted a wooden door with faded writing. ”Bingo! This has got to be it.”

The door was unlocked and when she opened it, heat and moisture pressed over her body. The room beyond was massive and filled to the brim with countless levers, wheels, and metal pipes. Gages strewn over the walls showed information about various parts of the engine, some of which Miromi had never heard of. Every now and then steam wheezed out of a crack in a pipe. Wiping of the sweat that was already forming on her forehead, the woman took one quick look around for anything obvious and then promptly shut the door. No. If there was a key hidden somewhere in the cracks of the machinery, she certainly wasn’t going to bake to death trying to find it. Feeling satisfied that she had, at least, tried to do her part. Miromi made her way back with a brief stop to look in on common room which was currently devoid of life.

”Well that was a whole lot of useless.” Miromi said to Iadalis as she entered. ”The ship’s running just fine but unless you feel the need for a sauna, I recommend staying out of the engine room. Did you find anything useful, yourself?” Looking around, Miromi was surprised that no one else had returned from searching. Had they found something? No then they would have come back. Did they get lost? Unlikely, the ship wasn’t that big. Did they lose track of tie? Maybe. That alternative didn’t seem much likelier. Perhaps, Iadalis wasn’t secretly a mass murderer. She studied him out of the corner of her eye, trying not to be obvious. He didn’t seem like an axe murder but then, one could never tell. Best to ask him strait and see his reaction. ”Where is everyone else?”

[AmongHeroes]

Iadalis turned to Miromi as she entered and began tying his hair up into a ponytail as he listened to her describe her search.

“The ship’s running just fine but unless you feel the need for a sauna, I recommend staying out of the engine room. Did you find anything useful, yourself?”

He shrugged, “Well your search sounds more of a triumph than mine; I merely found that the companionway that leads away from this deck seems to connect to passages that lead to just about every other part of the ship.”

Iadalis crossed his arms as he faced Miromi. His initial contact with the woman had been less than pleasant, but as he regarded her he found himself wondering if he had reacted too harshly. He still wished to discover his purpose up here in this floating construct, but he had to admit that her earlier points contained strands of validity. Trust was not something that came quickly to Iadalis, a product of his life as a thief no doubt, but given the circumstances it was quite possible that mutual cooperation was the only way for him to have any of his questions answered.

“Where is everyone else?” Miromi said as he continued to look at her.

“I hope that they’re on their way back up here,” Iadalis chuckled. “The ship seems fairly small, so I doubt that they got turned around.” He stopped to scratch at his chin for a moment. “While I was walking around I got to looking more closely out one of the forward portholes. I don’t know if you’ve been able to see or not, but we’re tethered to some sort of floating city. From what I could make out there’s no one down there, at least on the streets that is.”

Iadalis slid his hands into his pockets and sighed, he was somewhat reluctant to tell Miromi his true theory behind where they were at the moment. If he was correct the group was in a place that historically only those who were banished or imprisoned had been sent to, and even these individuals were shrouded in mystery and spoken of with almost mythological reverence. Maybe he was crazy, but he supposed that Miromi’s attitude of him probably couldn’t get any worse, so he decided that he would trust her.

“It might sound outlandish, but I think we’re on the City of Stars. The man who raised me talked of it with relative frequency, and as far as I know there isn’t any other place where the sky is said to still be visible besides the Infernal Isles. What do you think?”

He waited for Miromi to answer him and hoped that her initial response didn’t come in the form of laughter.

[Paragon]

Something came into the room. The young man lying deathly still on the bed opened his eyes, pupils constricting at the almost searing light directly above him. As his body began to catch up on what was happening since his mind woke up, the young man gasped and air travelled down his throat to fill his empty lungs. The steady rise and fall of his chest was the only thing he could make sense of at the moment, a rhythm he felt was the only thing which fit.

The area around him was unfamiliar. He had woken up, startled, in a pale white room. Was this where he was supposed to be? His focus slid to the corner of his eyes as he looked to his left, body perfectly still. There was an empty bed, with cover neatly made up and resting just below the pillow in its rightful place. His eyes pointed elsewhere now, to his right, and he saw a wall filled with racks holding up medical tools. He knew they were made of iron; scissors and scalpels and tweezers that he could only guess were all for surgery. But they were all clean. None were blood-soaked or dirty, except for one small blade held exactly on the centre rack. The only taint the young man could see on it were tiny splatters of blood, as if it had been used for some small-scale surgery.

There was a twinge of fear in his chest as he contemplated if whoever was here had used it on him. Looking straight up at the ceiling again, he tried to move, willing his fingers and his toes to heed his mental commands. He focused hard as if it was a task involving infinite difficulty, and his right forefinger twitched in response. His breathing quickened and he started to feel his mind begin to grasp the workings of his body again. As quickly as his finger had moved, he now moved his arm and held it up in front of him. He kept the rest of his body still as he watched the fingers of his hand flex and pivot on their joints; he drew circles in the air with his forefinger as if it was an entirely new feeling for him.

It was when he remembered that a noise coming from the door had woken him up that he decided to accelerate things. This time, he willed his neck to move without concentrating and it follow his command; he knew he was in such control of his body that he needn't even think about it, only perform the action. The young man lifted his head slowly and cast his eyes toward the door, only to see a small girl who seemed terribly familiar to scuttle back out of the room again. His eyelids twitched as he felt an intrusion in his mental processes, giving him a sensation that he was trying to remember something that hadn't happened. It felt like running through a wall and trying to get to the other side; he couldn't reach whatever he was supposed to reach. Though what his goal was in the first place, he did not know.

He pushed up against the bed with both hands and found himself sitting up. The young man watched how the cover slid back down his body as was no longer lying face up on the bed. Recollecting what he looked like, he noticed that he was wearing a black shirt, forearms exposed and looking pale against the light which shone above. He noticed the tiny green veins and arteries which led from his hand, up to his forearm and then disappearing into his shirt. They were familiar too, and he felt he knew what they were for. But where he had obtained the knowledge, he did not know.

The young man began getting out bed. Slowly manoeuvring his legs out of the cover so as not to throw it down on the floor, he noticed the dark blue trousers he was wearing and the black trainers which protected his feet. Where had he got these clothes from? Did somebody give them to him? He felt oddly attached to them, for objects with origins he himself couldn't remember. He shook his head, getting the troublesome thought to stop distracting him. Laid out on the second bed with no occupier was a jacket, neatly folded and somewhat clean despite its physical state. As if by instinct, he picked it up and wore it with a quick and practised swing of his arms; something that confused him even further. Why did he feel used to something he'd only obtained now?

Slowly, the young man began to walk towards the door. It was made out of wood, perhaps some sort of mahogany which had been carefully treated and cared for. As his hands rested on the door to open it, it felt like it had barely been used at all; he could feel no scratches or dents or any sort of imperfection. He took a moment to go through the texture in his mind, before twisting the door knob and opening it.

He came out on a hallway, filled with doors which went into different rooms. The corridor felt strange to the young man, as if its unlabelled doors were giving him a sense that they repeated for eternity until he could no longer see them. Instead of investigating each and every room, he turned away from them, frightened of what could be hiding behind every simple door. To his left was a staircase going up into the higher regions of whatever structure he was in. Silently making his way through the slight gloom, he walked up the stairs one step at a time. He felt anxiousness creep over him as he saw the end of the staircase, another short corridor which went somewhere else.

But it was as he neared the top of the staircase that he stopped in true fear. He could hear voices ahead of people he didn't know. He knelt down slightly, grasping onto the thin banister protruding from the wall. The young man's eyes flickered here and there, making sure he would see anyone who was coming before they even saw him. "I hope that they're on their way back up here," said one of the voices. The presumably male speaker went onto explaining something which the young man could not understand, but he did hear the part about being on a ship.

That raised a few questions. As the young man stayed very still, his mind raced to figure out why he was there. Was he a stowaway or a captive? Were those people the ones who had locked him in the medical room before the little one had freed him? He felt like he was making more questions than answers at this point. He needed to find out what was happening, and so he pushed himself up the last few steps. He kept walking until he was in view of some sort of control room, peeking around the corner at whoever was there. A man in a woman, both around his age. Finding a small droplet of courage in a raging sea of fear, the young man walked around the corner and into the odd-looking control room. Though he didn't think it, he somehow knew what to say and the right sounds emerged from his vocal chords. "Hello? Do you know where I am?"

[Antonkun]

A faint touch cleared the dark fog in her head. Her mind felt thick, as if someone had poured glue into her head. Breathing quietly, she slowly opened her eyes. She tried to move her right arm, but it seemed like her body had yet to awaken completely. A sigh escaped her small mouth and she gazed up in the ceiling, only to get even more clueless about her whereabouts. Sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, she let her body recover from the deep sleep she was awakened from.

She gathered strength and carefully tried to stand up, supporting herself with the wall. Her sky blue eyes curiously glanced around in the small room as she walked towards the small window at the back of the room. It didn't feel like she was controlling her body as she walked; the numbness from before still lingered in her body. Outside, she could see beautiful colors clashing in the sky and some kind of floating city. The sight made her smile and filled her body with a warm, comfortable feeling.

Another glance around the room made her realize that it was some kind of a storage room. There was a ladder leading somewhere dark on the wall beside the window. She shivered at the thought of having to climb up a rusty ladder into the darkness. Leaving the ladder behind her, she discovered a small door behind some stacks of boxes. Deciding to leave this room quickly, she skipped towards the door and fortunately, it was unlocked. The sight that met her next, however, made her stop skipping completely and left her speechless.

"What is this? A... ship?" Luna stared at what seemed like a corridor with an endless amount of rooms.

She didn't like the smell inside of this place at all, so she eagerly walked through the corridor, trying to find a way out. A thought hit her. "Maybe the people in this floating city knows anything?

A door placed very suspiciously near the land mass caught her attention. She carefully opened it and smiled as the wind hit her face, blowing her long pigtails around. She brushed some of her hair to the side and slowly stepped down to the ground, holding the railing with a strong grip. A small laugh escaped her mouth and she couldn't resist the urge to skip around and spin until she felt dizzy. She lifted her arms to the height of her shoulders and closed her eyes, enjoying the fresh breeze. Slowing down a little, she entered the garden, curiously following the faint sound of someone humming. The flowers covered with small drops of dew, lit up the lush greenness of the garden with their bright colors.

"Is anyone there?" she gently asked.

[Irell Starling]

Just as Miromi was done processing the information Iadalis had presented her with, a man entered into the control room. The woman tried to muffle her surprise but some shock managed to leak out into her features. She figured she had been the last one to board the ship, since she’d briefly seen everyone else passed out in the ship’s common room before she herself joined him. Yet, this man hadn’t been there earlier, nor was he there a few hours ago when they all woke up again. The gears in her head turned as she tried to figure out the answer. Out of the corner of her eye she took in the man’s tattered appearance and inwardly frowned again.

Somber umber flickered between amethyst and deep brown as Miromi’s mind continued to take in the implications. She didn’t want to believe Iadalis was right but not choosing to believe something didn’t mean it wasn’t real. ”We are apparently at the City of Stars.” she announced, threading a hand through her hair, an outward sign of stress. Logically, the explanation made sense.”Smack in the middle of the Infernal Islands…” Miromi’s voice caught and she looked around, before walking over and taking the captain’s seat. ”I never imagined it was real. My… someone once told me stories about it too. I figured it was just make believe crap- like fairies- and even if it wasn’t who would have guessed how it survived the Entity all these years. But if you say there’s really a floating city out there, well, I can’t imagine where else we could be. ”

A memory came to mind, the last time someone had spoken to her about the fabled islands. She was young, five maybe. She’d been happy back then, but then, she’d also been delusional. She hadn’t been able to sleep that night, so her mother had taken her star gazing. Miromi’s closed her eyes for a few seconds. She could almost remember what it felt like to snuggle into her mother’s lap, their ebony hair tickling her neck as they gazed up at the heavens. They had sat there silently drinking in the scene as the sky darkened into black and tiny bursts of light faded into view.

”Do you know that high up there is a floating island? It’s true. It’s called the City of Stars. The people there are always happy because there’s no fighting. Everyone has just what they need. There’s plenty of water and food to go around. Some people say there’s a beautiful church there and, if your pray at the altar, the gods give you anything you want…yes, Miro… someday I’ll take you there...”

Miromi unconsciously touch the area in the middle of her chest that housed the tattoo of her mother’s name. She never displayed it and no one ever knew it was there, just like the unhealable scars on her heart. Her mother, she knew now, was both incredibly innocent and altogether too optimistic. This in turn, of course, lead to both her own and her child’s downfall. But Miromi held no bitterness against Nirobi. No, her mother had been the only sunlight that had ever fallen across Miromi’s path in life. Nevertheless, the story about the City of Stars had not deceived her. A place without fighting where everyone was happy? Impossible. At church where your prayers give you anything you want? Yeah right. For if preying and hoping and tears and sacrifices were ever enough, Miromi would not have had to live her adult life alone.

”My name is Miro,” the woman said to the stranger, remembering herself at last. She gestured to the man next to her. ”This is Iadalis.” She turned to him, the memories and pain all but faded. ”Tell me, what have you heard about the city?”