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Chapter eight: The skies await!

Shiro covered his mouth as he yawned. Morning was a hellish slavering beast that had come knocking on his door all too soon. It had dragged him unwillingly from the pleasant depths of a warm bed and eager company. Only to have him stand in the cold air of the courtyard as his body struggled to make sense of itself.

Both He and Koji had been accepted without need for ceremony, and welcomed into the folds of the Azure Sky with no more than a: get your asses to the courtyard we start a dawn!

The sun's rays like gentle fingers tried to pry open his reluctant eyes. Shiro opened them slowly, yawning as he did so, only to find Kiara holding out a plain black leather collar to him.

"Here." She said. "Put this on."

The inside was inscribed with runes written in a language his mind simply refused to make sense of. It was much too early to even try and think about anything. "This collar." He held it tentatively. "It's just like Koji's.

"It is exactly like Koji's." She sniffed the air. Shiro had no doubt skipped his morning ablutions to be out so early and still smelled faintly of musk. She could hardly fault him for it, but it was better to be safe then sorry. "It will prevent you from having any, accidents."

Even his sleep fogged mind had more than a mere inkling of what she was talking about. In fact. It was down right suspicious. He looked at her sideways. "What kind of, accidents?"

Kiara leaned in and spoke without a hint of remorse. "The kind that involve waking up and finding yourself the father of a litter of kittens."

Shiro couldn't put the collar on fast enough.

Zeyd laughed mercilessly. "Not ready to be a father yet?" Shiro looked positively horrified by the thought. "Maybe you'll like this better." To Shiro he held out a golden bell. "This is a spirit bell."

It was beautifully crafted, covered as it was in ornate gold filigree. The elegant twisting patterns subtly disguised as vines engraved ino the surface hid the spell form from sight. To the unenlightened, it would look like nothing more than an ordinary golden bell.

Shiro shook it experimentally. "How come it doesn't make any noise?"

"Because it's not that kind of bell." Zeyd ran a finger down the seam and the bell opened with a sigh. Plucking a hair from an unsuspecting Koji he closed it with a word. "Simply place a lock of hair, or a drop of blood inside and it will allow you to communicate with your partner telepathically. It is limited by distance so . . ."

That is so cool! Koji's thoughts were coming through loud and clear. I wonder if that gryphon chick puts out.

Three pairs of eyes turned on him at once.

Koji's look was one of complete and utter innocence. "What's everybody staring at?"

Zeyd shook his head. "Until you both learn how to mindspeak properly never forget that you're not the only ones who can, listen in as it were. So remember to shield your thoughts and not leak them out onto everyone around you."

"I'll remember for both of us." Shiro used a spell to attach the bell to the collar so he wouldn't lose it. "So no worries."

"Just promise me you'll learn to guard your thoughts more closely than he does." Kiara rubbed her temples as the mental noise took on a distinctive flavor and color. "For everyone's sake."

* * *

While Shiro and Zeyd were preoccupied discussing the finer points of telepathy and its many uses Kiara took Koji aside. For him she had one final test.

Physically he was mature enough, but he needed something more. For personal reasons she needed to know if mentally he was mature enough as well. And if so, could he find the missing piece.

They fought hand to hand, letting their fists do the talking for them. It was a dance of sorts, their trading of blows. An exchange beyond the need for words. But still a question remained.

"You're good. I'll admit to that." Koji was in top form. He moved without wasting any movements. It was as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulder's. "But my pride as a werewolf won't let me back down."

Kiara was pleased to see the change in him. He isn't fighting for himself anymore. "What is he to you?" She caught him off balance with her question. "What makes you fight so hard for the sake of another?"

Koji remembered what Shiro had said to him the night before, while deep in the throes of his own drink. "I envy you Koji. You're stronger than I am. And I don't just mean physically. You have a goal, a purpose that drives you. And I know that someday you'll be able to achieve it." Shiro was busy staring into the bottom of his cup when suddenly, just like that he was looking ahead, to the next day and beyond it. "It's because of that strength that I can keep moving forwards. Just knowing that I have a friend who'll watch my back; makes even a weakling like me believe that I can become stronger."

She took advantage of his distraction.

Koji caught Kiara's fist. Shiro isn't weak. He's just, drowning. Drowning in the same darkness that I was. "Shiro is. . . Shiro is. . . He's pack!" Koji pushed her back. "Shiro was the first one to ever reach out to me. The first one to see me for who and what I really am. And, He wasn't afraid to save me from that darkness!" Koji clenched his fist. Just once . . . I'll make her acknowledge what it takes to have that kind of strength.

He came at her with everything he had. His intentions laid bare.

The anger that resided in his fist had been replaced by a quiet purpose, a silent intensity that could reach out to others.

Having come face to face with his own feelings of loss and despair the loneliness that had long since taken root in his heart was no more. Koji need only look ahead, to know that he was no longer alone.

Kiara caught his attack. It was childish and clumsy, but full of untapped potential. She smiled as she flipped him into the air.

Koji looked up at her from the flat of his back. "Congratulations." She said to him softly. "You've just taken the first step forward." She offered him her own hand. "Welcome, to the Azure Sky."

* * *

Avalon's shipyards were unusually quiet. A few solemn golems, ever silent moved about their tasks as if in a dream.

The docks were all but abandoned, merely waiting for the moment when some ship would drift in to be resupplied. Or one that would bring with it trade goods and cargo.

Then the docks would surge with life once more, the noise all but deafening. But for now, it was calm.

"Kind of hard to believe that the Azure Sky gets their own personal airship." Said Shiro as he and Koji stepped out onto the bow. The Delphinus class was a marvel of engineering and design. Sleek, elegant, there was no doubt in his mind it would move as gracefully through the skies as a dolphin would through the water.

Koji was equally impressed. "Shiro, this thing . . . this thing has everything! Individual sound-proofed quarters, and the size of that galley. I think I'm in love." He started looking around for somewhere to 'mark' as his territory.

"Hey you brats, get down from there!" A grizzled looking old man flicked the ash from the tip of his cheroot. "That ship is the personal property of the Azure Sky."

"Guess what old man!" Koji held up the badge Kiara had given him. A falcon with wings spread amongst an endless sky was emblazoned on a starburst. "We are members of the Azure Sky. So nyaah!"

The old man wasn't impressed. "Couple of brats like you. Probably stole those badges."

Musashi walked past carrying a satchel slung across his back. "Relax Chief. I can vouch for them."

"Hmph. Wasting your time if you ask me. Couple of greenhorn brats. Looks like the Azure Sky is really hurting for applicants if they decided to let those two join up." He chewed on his cheroot. "Listen up you two. This ship is still just a prototype. She's the first of her kind, a delphinus class airship rolled fresh off the assembly line and modified specifically to fit the Azure Sky's standards. Put one scratch on her. Just one. And I'll make both of you wish you were never born."

Koji flexed a clawed finger and started whistled as he carved a curl of wood from the railing.

"Oi! What the hell did I just say!" The chief of all of Avalon's shipyards was suddenly turning as purple as the smoke that surrounded him.

Koji just started laughing maniacally as he began to add his initials.

* * *

Shiro had followed Musashi into the engine room. It was a fascinating place to be sure, filled with things he could barely put the name to. He had only spared a cursory glance before. The engines had seemed lifeless and dull then, but now that Musashi was here. The room, the whole ship seemed only to be waiting for something.

"Musashi." He said. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been hired on as the ships mechanic. Me and Forty-Nine were asked to join the crew personally by Kiara Areyo herself." He adjusted something with his wrench. "A little bit of fine tuning to the engine and this ship will be ready to fly." He sighed happily. "It'll be a sight to see."

"But what about your side job?"

"Well, problem was no one wanted to apprentice in golem repair anyway. Shame, since we don't often get new golems around here. So its steady work." Musashi slid an etherium crystal into place. The stone took on a steady azure glow as the ship's engine stirred to life. "Besides. When a living legend seeks you out personally and asks you to serve as a mechanic aboard a whole new class of airship. Who could possibly say no to that?"

* * *

Leaving Musashi to finish tuning the engines Shiro was passing by an open door when he spotted it. The picture was just sitting there, on top of a dresser. "Its . . . my Master."

"Hmm?" Koji was suddenly behind him, looking over his shoulder. "And Renia. And look. That's Kiara too."

* * *

Shiro found her in the galley having a drink with Zeyd. "This picture." He held it out Her. "He's younger. But it's still him. It's my Master, Monk Tetsu."

Kiara saw the hunger in Shiro's eyes, the need to know. "That picture was taken, oh; about sixteen years ago I'd say." She clicked her beak. "How quickly the time has passed! It almost seems as if it was taken just yesterday."

Zeyd picked up where Kiara had left off. "I wasn't a member yet, but I recall that the Azure Sky had been called in by the Imperial family of Seirei to help provide relief to the survivors of the Honsho massacre."

Shiro paled at the mere mention of the name of his lost homeland.

"Shiro?" Said Kiara, concern was etched into her avian features.

"I'm alright." He gave her a smile he didn't feel. "Just some. Bad memories." He could feel the familiar nightmares reaching out to him. The fragments of painful memories that he could never quite place. They were the ones that always seemed to belong to someone else. To have happened to someone else. He fought them back and slammed a door shut in his mind.

Color returned to his face.

Kiara knew that look. She'd seen it on the faces of soldiers and refugees alike. There was no doubt in her mind. Shiro was one of the few to have survived the massacre.

"Please." Said Shiro. "I'd like to hear the rest of the story."

Kiara nodded before continuing. "It was, a dark day in Seirei's history. Arcadia had invaded only a few years previously and the fighting had taken its toll on both sides. Honsho was rumored to be harboring soldiers amongst some of its civilian population." So says the official history. Thought Kiara bitterly. The real reason is much simpler than that and much worse.

Koji looked at Shiro and Kiara, both of them were drifting through their own worlds, their own memories.

He waited for what seemed to be an eternity before finally saying. "So what happened?"

"Arcadia wiped Honsho from the map." Said Shiro. "Even in Seirei people still refuse to speak its name. It's also the reason there are so few of us Nekomata left. Honsho; it was our homeland. And without it." Shiro paused, struggling to remember how long had it been since he had even seen another member of his own kind.

It had been, he decided, too long.

"Without our homeland the clans were all but scattered to the winds. Forced to try and find acceptance in lands that hate and fear our name." Shiro let the thought hang in the air. "We aren't even welcome in Seirei." The old hatreds take the longest to die. He thought without remorse. And what's worse, I began to believe in them myself.

Koji scratched himself behind an ear. "I'd heard rumors about Nekomata being these horrible monsters who devoured women and brought the dead back to life. I was taught that that was the reason for the war." He snapped his mouth shut as he realized what he had said. "Sorry Shiro."

"Don't be. There's enough bitterness left on both sides without me adding to it. Still. It would be nice to return to Seirei someday. There are still places struggling to rebuild. Who knows? With what I learn here, I might even be able to help them."

Kiara smiled. He really is just like Tetsu. The way he looks towards the future instead of the past.

"Well, as it happens. Once the surrender documents were signed." Kiara picked up where she had left off. "Tetsu was the one chosen as the go between for both sides. And was responsible for mediating more than his fair share of arguments between the races. In fact. He was so good, that people started calling him the silver tongued dragon."

Shiro, who had heard an entirely different version of how he had come to be called that, merely raised an eyebrow and decided to remain silent.

"Renia and I met him during our posting in Seirei. He was young, handsome, cocky. He swept Renia off her feet in a whirlwind of passion and romance." Kiara held the picture close to her chest. A rare thing on a battlefield. "Theirs was an affair that lasted all of two weeks. Something of a personal record according to him.

"That was part of the reason he was so good at mediating between both sides. He wasn't just a consummate lover, he was also an effective listener. And as they say. There are no secrets like bedroom secrets." Kiara smiled a secret smile as she remembered the many times they had spent alone together. It isn't just women who like to talk after sex. Men do too, and what they say, women repeat.

Shiro, who had long ago given up on finding some deed of his Master's that didn't involve illicit love affairs could only shake his head. "Master . . ."

"He was sleeping with the women on both sides! And they didn't hate him?" Koji whispered. "Shiro, no wonder you call that guy your Master."

Kiara laughed at the very thought. "Hate him? Hardly. Women would trip themselves in the hopes that they could somehow land in his bed." That made Koji's jaw drop. "He used the knowledge he acquired ruthlessly. Every advantage he pushed for he gained. Arcadia eventually wised up to what he was doing and recalled all of its female soldiers. But by then it was too late. The surrender documents were already signed and Tetsu had wooed over some two hundred women. All of whom wrote very glowing reports about how they would prefer to be reassigned to a permanent posting in Seirei.

"It wasn't long after that that this picture was taken. He even grabbed our asses while we were all looking at the camera." Kiara pointed it out to them. "That's why you can't see his hands in the picture. We left him sprawling on the ground with two black eyes. He said he would treasure them always. Because whenever he looked in the mirror he would be reminded of us."

Zeyd was struggling just to refill Kiara's cup without breaking out laughing.

She gave them a knowing look. "Silver tongued dragon indeed."

* * *

An endless ocean before them, a boundless sky above them and a ship that but waited to fly. The Azure Sky stood ready. Only one thing remained.

"You know." Said Zeyd. "This ship still needs a name."

Shiro spoke without hesitation. "Tsubasa no Mikomi."

Zeyd felt a stirring in the winds of fate. "Tsubasa no Mikomi. I like it."

Kiara nodded her agreement. "Helm. Set us a course for the distant skies." The engines roared to life, responding to her call. The wind raced as it passed around them, setting the chase. "Mikomi! Spread your wings and soar." They lifted into the air, to follow it wherever it may lead them. "We fly; on the wings of hope."

* * *

_When you dig up the past, all you get is dirty. . .

The truths that we prefer to hide, the secret sides of ourselves that we try to cover with carefully placed masks.

We garner illusion to ourselves, preferring to present the side which we feel will be most accepted. And in so doing, ignore who we truly are.

It is pleasant to think, that I could somehow begin to forget my own past. That if I just stayed silent about it long enough, it would have quietly begun to disappear. But I often forget, that others who have shared in such terrible circumstances as mine, can see beyond that mask.

No carefully tended illusion can disguise the burdens that we carry. The scars we try to bury deep within our hearts. They are as plain to see as if they had been written upon our very selves.

Etched indelibly into our souls our bodies betray us in a thousand ways, without words ever needing to be spoken, we give lie to all that we are.

We are those who have been broken. Those who have suffered great tragedy. And those who have done their level best to pick up the shattered pieces of our lives and go on._

But innocence is for us, irrecoverable, irretrievable, and irrevocably lost.