The Tree of Clouds

A flock of airships littered the sky over the enrapturing world of Mitris. Each ship was more ornate than the other, some with gilded glistening gold, stretching from bow to stern. Others with ebony wood, adorning their mast with silk sails. Though not every ship was powered by the wind, all ships did use a large pearl-like signal stone at their core. Once powered by steam, these pearl stones could lift the heaviest objects in flight with no effort.

One vessel was imperatively important, though by sight alone it was just an average passenger sloop, what was important about the ship was its contents. A particular passenger to be precise, a girl, no less ordinary, yet no less special to the common person.

Kova a fifteen-year-old girl dressed humbly for her bewitching beauty, her hair was a strawberry blonde that was hidden behind a red silk cloak. Kova had natural ruby red lips and emerald green eyes, she was a very inquisitive person, always pondering and muttering to herself. Kova peered through the tiny round window in her cabin. Squinting, she could only make out cloud formations and the occasional small floating island. She sat back on her bench and began to twiddle her thumbs. Kova was far from impatience, but something weighed heavily on her mind, a burden that no one her age should bear. She tried to forget those unpleasant thoughts, but only more worry clouded her mind.

“Woo Woo!” the ship blared. The elderly captain cranked a talk box and spoke inside of it. “Thank you again for riding the Treasure Sloop, we’re about fifteen minutes away from docking with Cloud City. If you look out your port view you’ll be able to see the crown of all The Seven Isles. The Tree of Clouds.” Kova jumped out of her seat, she rushed to her tiny round window. All she could see at first was the large ever stretching aqueducts that brought fresh water to and from the floating island. Then bewilderment overcame her when she saw the glimmering tower monolith.

The Tree of Clouds was a sight to see for anyone. The monolith reached the sky so far no one could see the end. The top was obscured by a constant cloud cover that resembled branches of a tree, hence the name. The tower ranged from a variety of different colors that blended. The silver mixed with the royal blue, which mixed with the onyx black. Even the people of Cloud Island found it bewildering at times, as the monolith acted as a sundial obscuring the light from parts of the city.

The Treasure Sloop came to dock on the floating island. Burly men began to cast ropes to the crew of the ship anchoring it to a vessel. A plank was pushed out for the passengers on board the ship to exit. Kova stayed behind and waited for the captain. The elderly captain nodded his head at her, she gave a graceful little bow, then handed the man a pouch. A leather pouch embroidered with the Initials “KTF” that jingled with gold, too much payment for a simple journey, it was payment for something else, privacy.

As Kova stood on solid ground again, albeit floating solid ground, she felt some sense of relief. The other passengers looked at the young girl oddly. No family or friends to greet this young girl, she was all alone. Little did they know, Kova preferred to be alone for the most part, though she was severely shy, she could feel the strangers look on her that chilled her to the spine. Kova took a deep breath and pressed onward. There was a reason she came to this tiny island, there was someone she had to meet.

Kova walked down the bustling street. The people here wore strange clothing she was unfamiliar with. Fashion didn’t seem important to these people, only what was practical. Plain dresses that didn’t fit quite right like hand-me-downs, and everyone wore leather boots, even the women. These strangers also had an unusual dialect, their words were clear enough to the ears, but everything they said was direct and to the point. Street vendors didn’t sell elaborate or expensive goods, mostly all vendors did sell was food. A powerful odor of stews, soups, and broths filled the air around her. Kova’s stomach grumbled a little. Kova politely paid one of the soup merchants a Cael, but the merchant refused the gold coin claiming it to be way too much, and freely gave her the meal.

Kova sipped on her stew until she heard a faint noise in the distance. She had heard this noise quite a lot in her life. It was the distinct sound of steam being released. She felt something pass her from behind in a flash, and then a rush of wind ruffled her hair.

Garin, a sixteen-year-old boy in an oil-stained white shirt too big for him and green cargo shorts flew feet first through the busy street with copper fly boots. Garin had a slim body and face, he was an olive skin color with curly black hair and hazel eyes. As he glided down the alley at an alarming pace, he twitched his feet to steer him away from the random passerby. All the while, Garin had a child-like smile carved from ear to ear. Garin nearly missed a man toting a crate. He tilted his feet toward him and began to ascend to the heavens. Kova saw this boy flying into the sky; she was astounded by this feat. Garin reached the sky and hit a point of zero gravity. He bathed weightlessly in the shining sunlight. Even from this distance, Kova could see that goofy-looking grin on Garin’s face. She had never seen someone so happy and carefree in their entire life.

“PSSSST!” Garin’s shoes screamed, he peered down at the gauges to see that they were in the red. His weightless drift begins to descend. As he began to fall at a faster pace, Garin started clicking his heels together to knock any steam left in his boots out. Kova watched onward frantically. Finally, he was jerked by a sudden stop, then another freefall. Garin continued this until he was close enough to the ground to fall safely. He knocked both his boots together hard that he was jolted up a little in a lift, this little jolt was so unexpected that Garin landed head first on the ground.

Kova raced to see if he was okay, the only thing that could come to her mind was a question.

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?” Kova shouted at Garin. Garin still a little shell shocked gave her the stink eye.

“Depends who’s asking.” The sneer on Garin’s face was palatable. “And frankly, it’s none of your business.”

“My business? My business is to study under the great inventor Garin Longarm!” Kova paused for a second, in her anger she may have revealed a little too much information to this stranger. Garin laughed hysterically at her. “And what do you find so funny about that?”

“Not much, just the fact that you’re belittling him.” Kova’s face turned a pale white, she stepped back. Could this be the great master?

“I-I’m so sorry Mr. Longarm, please forgive” She paused, a thought came to mind. The Great Master was always spoken of as an elderly man, not some snarky brat.

“You little trickster, you’re nowhere near old enough to even be his son! You’d have to be his grandson or something!” Kova shouted.

“Oh, that Longarm…” There was some solace in his tone.

“You know him? You must be his grandson then!” Kova chirped with enthusiasm.

“Yeah, I am.” Garin for the first time tried not to make eye contact. “I can take you to him,” Garin said.

Kova followed Garin down the busy winding road. Thoughts raced through her mind about how to properly address the Master, what she should ask first, and how she could convince him to become his apprentice. It all seemed like fate had come together, that the road ahead wasn’t such a long and hard journey, life would be simple and easy now. But, all-and-all, Kova was truly happy for the first time in a long time.

As they walked along the housing district dusk had fallen, Kova noticed very functional homes that were quaint townhouses. Off in the distance, she spotted the most peculiar-looking home. It was three stories, Victorian in style; it sported steam-powered whistles for doorbells and an Automaton rooster on the very top of the roof. The house was built on top of a hill overlooking the Town Houses. As Kova came closer to the home she noticed the whole house had been tiled with copper plating. Most of the copper had begun to earn a green patina with age.

Garin pulled on the heavy door unlocking it. From the outside, Kova could see the amber color of the incandescent light bulbs filling the home with the warmth of daylight. Garin held the door for Kova, as she took her first step into this home of wonders, she was bewildered. Tack, tack, tack, the noise came from Kova’s red satin flats on the green copper floor.

Kova was surrounded by all types of ancient artifacts, airstream maps, telescopes, oscilloscopes, and microscopes. If it ended in “scope”, surely you could find it in this home. A golden globe of Mitris hung from the ceiling. It charted out all the continents, floating islands, and even the ocean floor crevasse. As Kova let out a gasp of air, she could hear the hundreds of handmade clocks tick on the wall. Garin just let her stand there in awe, even though he was used to it, the plethora of relics was still sometimes overwhelming to him.

“He’s in the backroom” Garin said with some reservation.

Kova had a hard time just leaving this room, so much knowledge in one place. Reluctantly, she followed Garin down the hall.

The Fireplace roared as they entered the room, on the mantle was a portrait of an elderly man with a wild long white beard. Bookshelves lined the walls of the room. Garin stopped in place and just stared at the portrait, there was admiration, longing, and a touch of regret in his eyes.

“That’s him.”

“Where?”

The blood rushed out of Kova’s face. Panic and fear overtook her. She fell to her knees. Thoughts raced through her mind of failure as Garin pointed at the Urn.

“I-I traveled all this way for nothing…” Kova said with a stuttered whimper. Kova placed her hands to her face trying to hide the tears. “Everything was supposed to change, I was supposed to study under the Great Master; I don’t know what to do now.” Garin took pity in her. He kneeled next to her.

“Become your own master!” He whispered in her ear.

“How can you say that? I don’t even know how the ship that flew me here works!”

Garin pointed at the colossal bookshelves surrounding them. Books of all different sizes and colors, it was overwhelming. If the old man left anything in this world, it was his knowledge, and an abundant amount of knowledge it was.

“My grandfather wrote every idea, every thought that crossed his mind in these books. He spent more time with them than he did with me.” There was some bitterness in his tone.

Kova’s face lit up as she crawled toward the giant library. Maybe there was still hope. Maybe this wasn’t so crazy after all. She gently pulled a large leather-bound book from the shelf. Carefully opening it up as to not damage the binding, Kova began to skim through the book. Arcane symbols are drawn on every other page, diagrams on ship designs, automaton schematics. Engulfed by the sheer number of books, Kova felt stunned. As she looked back down at the book she had in hand, she noticed something peculiar about it.

“This-This is amazing. But, this book is coded” she muttered.

“I never said it would be easy.” It was a stern tone he used, but uplifting. Kova knew he was right, it wouldn’t be easy, but for that moment, she knew it was possible. The road ahead would be wild and winding, but the hardest paths are always the most rewarding. Unfortunately, at this very motivating moment in Kova’s life, her stomach betrayed her by giving a loud grumble.

“I guess you’ve got to be a little bit hungry,” Garin said with a smirk on his face. Kova just nodded and tried to hide her embarrassment.

As night fell on the copper-tilled house, the amber glow of lights shined through the windows. Garin was in the kitchen chopping onions and celery. The kitchen was almost as impressive as all the other rooms. Copper coils with a water unit pumping through them acted as a fridge box for storing food, something very handy when most people stored their food underground. The stove was iron-cast black, and next to it were boilers running off of steam. Garin pulled out a quarter of flash steamed chicken and began to debone the meat.

Meanwhile, Kova lay on the kitchen floor with her feet swinging back and forth. She had three books open and a quill and parchment trying to decode any sentence she could. The whistles and chops from Garin didn’t seem to bother her. She was enraptured in her work. As she came close to decoding a sentence, she went back and read what a scrambled garble of words was. Kova crashed her head on the open book in defeat.

“Ugh! Why did your Grandfather have to write everything in code!?” Kova muttered in disgust.

Garin had a sneer carved on his face. He had heard his Grandfather tell him stories of rival inventors who would stop at nothing to plagiarize his work.

“Many people wanted to steal his secrets.”

Garin stood over Kova with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Kova looked up at Garin with a fuzzy expression. Garin placed the soup in front of her with a wooden spoon.

“Eat.”

Kova took a sip and gave a silent nod. She found Garin to be fascinating, he was disarrayed. Garin’s face had dirt masking his expressions from time to time. He had the look that said he didn’t see a good bath but every few weeks. Kova pondered on how this boy could be related to such an astute man, how Garin could survive if his Grandfather wasn’t around, was beyond Kova.

“If-If your Grandfather is gone, who takes care of you?” Kova thought there had to be some adult supervision.

“I take care of myself.”

“How?”

“At first I stole, but then someone taught me how to fish. Now I deliver goods to people.” Garin tried not to go into much detail about his shady past, but memories of him being a pickpocket and street thief for food lingered in the back of his mind, a past he regretted and wished to forget.

Kova realized that she was all alone again, she preferred being by herself, but not like this. Nobody would want to wander the streets on this little island. She had to ask for help, but her pride couldn’t let her.

“I have nowhere else to go…” she muttered, hoping Garin wouldn’t hear her.

“You can stay here, in my Grandfather’s room,” Garin said without hesitation.

Kova was bemused. No one was ever so kind to her. But this stranger fed her and welcomed her into his home. Kova felt ashamed to take so much from Garin, her pride wouldn’t let this go.

“Your soup is terrible.” She had to bite the hand that fed her to keep some dignity. Garin just laughed, he knew her pride was something she cherished, luckily for Kova, Garin wasn’t a prideful person as well.

“I never asked your name,” Garin said.

“Kova--just Kova.” She said with a contrite heart. Garin took her by the hand and picked her up.

“One day that name will be followed with a title. But tomorrow, it will just be Kova the Delivery Girl.” Kova the Delivery Girl? Garin couldn’t possibly be serious, could he?

“What? How am I supposed to study and work at the same time!?” Garin laughed a little as if what he proposed was asking the impossible. Garin was worldly, he knew there was a right combination of work and study that made a balanced person. Garin didn’t respond with an answer, instead, he walked out of the kitchen to let Kova ponder.

As soon as she noticed Garin was gone, Kova quickly finished her soup. She placed the wooden bowl aside and went back to work on decrypting the manuscripts. She knew it was a simple transposition cipher, but what kind? A Columnar, route, or double transposition cipher; could have been any of these. The clocks ticked way past bedtime, and the harder she tried to think about the code, the harder her head hurt.

“Let me show you to your room.” Garin stood patiently above her.

Kova followed Garin up the spiraling iron stairs onto the second floor. Down the hall were three rooms, each door was painted a different color. Garin’s room door had a grass-green coat on it; the other rooms were red and purple. Garin opened the purple door to reveal the master bedroom. The bedroom was the size of a small house. A decorative floor rug laid next to the giant bed made for a king. The dresser drawers were made out of pure ivory. And all this was to be Kova’s new home.

“Tomorrow we’ll get you some new threads, can’t go around looking like that here.” Kova didn’t even hear what Garin said, she was so enraptured in this room. Garin began to close the door for Kova.

“Goodnight Kova the Masterless,” Garin said with a smirk.

“Goodnight Garin Longarm…”

The morning dew stuck to Kova’s window, palm trees in the front of the copper house swayed with a gentle breeze, dawn had just broken. Kova slept snuggly in the master bed, the first rest she had since her adventure began. Her rest was disturbed by the automaton rooster on the roof. It gave off an unnatural mechanical crow. Kova clasped her pillows against her head to drown out the noise. A few tacks came from the window. Kova rolled over, her hair a mess. She tried to see what the commotion was. Garin floated feet first rattled her window again.

“Hey get up sleepyhead, it’s time for work!” Garin said with a little too much enthusiasm.

Kova jumped to her feet and rushed toward the window. What she saw amazed her. Garin was able to sustain altitude in midflight, dangling in the air. Kova opened the window.

“You’re not even dressed. Well, no time like the present! Hop on!” Kova looked aimlessly at Garin.

“TO WHAT!?”

“My back,” Garin said without hesitation as if asking her to do any other menial task.

“No, no, no, no! I am not going to ride on that death trap you call your boots!” Garin laughed and pointed to the stack of boxes as tall as the average man.

“You’re going to make all those deliveries by foot?” Kova just stared at the towering boxes. This could prove to be a problem. But hanging on to Garin’s back was not an option. Kova’s pride let her have another foot-in-mouth problem.

“WHAT IF I AM?” She didn’t think that through long enough. Garin not wasting time for a rebuttal darted off in the sky. A faint “Whatever” could be heard in his absence. Kova slammed her window shut and looked back at the tower of boxes. She did make a promise after all, and Garin was letting her stay. She couldn’t just ignore them. With a heavy sigh, she gathered packages together and began to get dressed.

Kova juggled the cargo down the busy cobblestone street. Wondering aimlessly, she tried to find where the first package belonged.

Mr. Dryver Templeton

1720 Steamship Lane

NOTE: HANDLE WITH CARE

As Kova read the address, Garin buzzed past her at a lighting speed. He grabbed two of the packages on top and shot off with Kova none-the-wiser. Kova pulled out a map that Garin had given her the night before. She studied the map trying to find her position. An unfortunate sigh came when she realized Steamship Lane was across town. She examined the other packages noting that none of them had “Handle With Care” stamped in bold red letters. It would be wise she thought to relieve this package as soon as possible. Kova hauled the packages again noticing that they felt slightly lighter, this she thought, was her inner strength.

Kova made her way through the town square, a maze of shops and street vendors. Her shoe snagged one of the cobblestones and she tumbled to the ground. Kova clinched the most important package as she fell. No harm had come to it, but the other boxes laid scattered in the street. Kova began to pick them up when out of the corner of her eye she saw Garin sneering at her.

“You sure you don’t need any help?” Garin said with a smirk and attitude.

“YES, I’M SURE!”

Kova reached down to pick up the other packages; she noticed that most of them were gone. The panic that someone might have stolen these people’s goods overtook her, she then noticed Garin soaring through the clouds with a handful of HER packages. At first angry, but then a little relieved. Kova came to her senses and realized it was for the best, still prideful as ever, she marched onward significantly lighter.

Kova crisscrossed the maze of streets to make her very first delivery, as she reached the small shack she noticed arcane symbols of protection drawn on the wall of the home. Some of these she recognized from Garin’s Grandfather’s journal. She scuffed at the notion that any of these would be good without a signal stone.

Kova knocked on the door waiting for Mr. Templeton to make the exchange. Kova had learned from Garin that “Runners” or as he liked to call himself “Fliers”, was paid by the speed of their delivery. Garin so much as boasted that he was paid a Ceal for each delivery he made. Kova had her hand outreached to receive the golden coin, though she wasn’t in dire need of money, a coin or two could buy her a lovely new dress.

Mr. Templeton was a hermit, he lived in the lowest ward on Cloud Island, not for lack of expense, and he preferred the quiet life with no one to bother him. He was an old lanky man with long silver hair and golden eyes. As he opened the door Kova’s face soured, this man practiced alchemy, and the stench of sulfur and toxins reeked from him. Kova tried not to sour her face as she exchanged the package with him. Templeton quickly grabbed the box and slammed the door shut on Kova’s face.

Kova couldn’t believe it, she’d been bamboozled! This would not stand, Kova knocked harder on the door pounding it in. Templeton cracked the door open and peered out to see Kova with her hand outreached for payment.

“You were late!” Templeton screeched as he slammed the door again. Kova was crushed, not even a single copper coin out of pity was given to her. It was already mid-day and she had two other packages to make both across town. Kova gathered her things and pressed onward, even if she didn’t get a reward, she would at least finish the job.

It was close to midnight by the time Kova made it to the copper tiled house. The cracked moon was full that night. It gave a strange glow to the Monolith. Kova was too exhausted to notice, all she thought about was resting. She had, after all, come home empty-handed. As Kova opened the door she collapsed on the ground. How could she keep this up and study at the same time? She sulked in self-pity until the strangest noise could be heard, a thud coming from the rooftop. Kova saw a ladder and trapdoor that lead to the roof, something she missed on her first examination. Curiosity got the better of her.

Kova tried to balance herself on the rooftop, in the corner of her eye she saw Garin in a deep stare. Garin was focused solely on The Tree of Clouds. Kova caught a glare of the monolith that the moons had given it a bewitching glow. It was like the first sight of a rainbow waterfall in your life, quite possibly the most divine sight you’d see in your entire life.

“It’s beautiful.” Kova admired. Garin’s face carved a crooked grin. “You know, they say no one has ever reached the top?” Kova came to rationalize.

“One day, I’ll be the man who reaches the top.” He said with vigor. Kova knew it was futile, no one ever returned from the journey, and the ones that did never made it past the two-mile marker. Strange things had been said about those who tried, that they went insane claiming that the monolith was a ladder to paradise.

“It’s impossible! Many people believed they could and they never returned!” Kova sat down. It was getting harder to keep her balance. “Just like decoding your grandfather’s work,” she said defeated. “I don’t believe we’ll ever know what’s on the other side, or that I’ll ever learn anything from those musty tomes.”

Garin broke his gaze from the monolith, he moved toward Kova with his hands in his pocket. Garin reached out with his hand and gently picked Kova up by the arm. He placed her hand to his chest. Kova’s face turned a bashful red. She could feel something, a strong pulse, beat-beat, beat-beat, beat-beat.

“This is what I believe in, and nothing else.”