The Heart Fountain

 
Starmap
Morning comes.
I walk around the starship as it rests on the sand, not far from the waves of the inland sea.
Mayla’s new design is fast, elegant, and beautiful.
The ship is eighty feet in diameter, reddish-gold, black, silver, and green.

When the city was built, no one planned to launch ships from here.
Still, there are a few open places in the city large enough for the ship: the sand, the ocean, and the flat roofs of several buildings.

Any of these would do, since we can take off from any surface, without damage to the ship or its surroundings.

“Mayla?”

“Yes, Yagrin?”

“Why do you want us to launch from the beach?”

“It’s convenient,” she answers.

Mayla likes to pretend that she acts on pure logic, but she was built with a personality and emotions, and they color her actions.
Today, she remembers her friend, Shilann.
The ancient Jiku still loved the sea, long after they developed flight.
Even after they came to Siksa, the Jiku launched most of their airships from coastal harbors.

But there’s another reason that the ship is here.
Mayla wants to watch it let go of the beach, and glide over a stretch of sea, before rising toward an opening in the city’s dome.

“What do you call the ship, Mayla?”

“It has a ship code, but no name.”

“Then I’ll name it,” I tell her.
“We’ll call it Shilann’s Wings.”

“He would like that name, Yagrin,” she says quietly, and turns away.

[Continue reading: Star Shadow]