The Flying City

The Young Cròn

The warm summer wind blew peacefullyacross the meadow, the sun making the water-glistening grassesglisten, just sprinkled by a passing light rain. The soft sound ofthe shifting grasses echoed with the music of the crickets andcicadas.

The trees responded in the same way to the wind, theleaves creating a similar melody. The background was covered by asparkling, fiery stream, its crystal clear water trickling noisily,hidden by the cool shade of the trees.

A young girl, dressedin white, with light and transparent clothes, was running in herfields, the grass bending under her, her bare feet crushing theyellow and green strands. An innocent laugh escaped her mouth, achildish smile on her face. She listened to the melody of thismarvellous nature, as she made her way to her favourite spot.

Soonher feet were no longer on the soil, but on a stone path that wasstill a little wet. This did not stop her from running, on thecontrary, she accelerated, the wind pushing her from behind. Shebumped into a middle-aged woman dressed in similar clothes. Sheknocked over some apples from the basket she was holding, which fellto the ground with a slight clatter

"Ah! Sorry!"

Butnothing stopped her frantic running, and she only stopped for half asecond to say sorry before running again, the woman, with the wispyhair shouts at her to be careful, before picking up the contents ofher wicker basket and going on her way.

The girl laughedfondly, a slight feeling of guilt gripping her heart, quickly drivenaway by the wind that was pushing her along again. Her legs weregradually getting more tired, but her determination made her runfaster and faster, already out of breath.

At last she arrivedat her destination, on a small semicircular terrace, the floor pavedwith stone whitened by time, the gates carved in the same stone,decorated with gold, a little worn by time.

The balconyoverlooked the void, and without fear, she stepped onto it, rushingto the edge, leaning over the railing, a bed of thick clouds coveringthe void hundreds of metres below. It was a sea, an endless ocean ofwhite clouds, which let nothing of the ground below, metres andmetres away, appear. But she wasn't there to see the ground.

Birdswere flying above, in flocks, or alone, a variety of differentspecies occupying the skies.

After a few seconds of waiting, afamiliar sound echoed in the air. A song, repeated several times indifferent keys.

Suddenly, flying whales appeared, singing atthe same time, greeting the girl and the floating island. The whales'song was so beautiful. Dozens of them jumped out of the clouds inturn, side by side with the island, as gracefully swimming in the airbefore hiding again. The young lady leaned over the somewhat largefence, her feet leaving the grounds, to greet her animals from theair briskly

"Heey! Hello!"

The girlenthusiastically greeted the majestic creatures that sprang up, withmulticoloured skin, shining a different colour depending on thelight, almost translucent, shining because of the drops that theclouds left on them. The girl watched with passion as the group ofwhales jumped out of the clouds so that their huge bodies fellheavily back into them, but without any sound other than theirrecognisable song and calls. This splendid sight was well worth thefatigue her legs felt.

The girl laughed with joy, her eyesfull of this majesty. The spectacle lasted only a few minutes beforethe giants of the air disappeared again into the white clouds,leaving only the distorted clouds by gigantic crevices as a trace oftheir passage and their song still ringing in her ears.

"Leukas!Get down from there now!"

A panicked, breathless voice ofa middle-aged woman startled her, and immediately guessing who itbelonged to, the girl climbed down from the barrier, rubbing her arm,looking guiltily at the ground

"Sorry...

-How manytimes have I told you not to bend over?! "

Leukas staresat the ground, biting her lip, slightly ashamed

"I wantedto see the whales...

-Leukas... That's no reason to put yourlife in danger... Imagine a strong wind pushing you and making youfall into the void?

-Excuse me Philia... I didn't mean toworry you... I'll think about it next time

-That's what youtold me last month too...

-For real this time!"

Philasighs and shakes her head

"Be careful next time."

Thewoman thinks to herself that she was too nice to the girl, and takesher hand

"Come on, you're still on laundry duty"

Thegirl sighs too, but nods, holding back the older woman's hand. Shewisely follows her, looking around as she walks, saying hello toothers she passes on her way, all of them at different activities.

Some wove the white cloth with whichthe whole island dressed, making togas they often tied to theirshoulders with golden brooches. Others wove wicker baskets, workedwith wood or clay to make plates or useful everyday items, grewvegetables or watched over animals in the pastures. But all of themwere accompanied by sort of robots, intelligent automatons, withdifferent characteristics depending on their functions. For examplethose who cultivated the fields were often brown or copper-coloured,their hands a little rusty because it was with these that theywatered the plants. These automatons had been around as long asLeukas could remember. Some of the girls, because of their talent,were appointed to deal with any technical problems with thesemachines. It was an honour to be able to receive the knowledge old ofthousands of years, and to touch such ancient mechanisms. Even ifmost of their parts were replaced because of their age.

Leukas also greeted them cheerfully,and the automatons, although lacking a face and voice, greeted herwith hand signals. This is how they communicated, in sign language.

After crossing the city that covered agood part of the island, the two women arrived at the castle thatoverlooked the back of the floating island, a castle made of stoneand marble, with main doors made of solid wood, gigantic, with morethan 10 meters high; decorated with engravings and bas-relief of allkinds.

Leukas had never seen these doors open,and it was generally thought by everyone that they were onlydecorative and could not be opened.

Leukas and Philia walked beside it, toenter through a much smaller service door, barely the size of theolder one, weathered, the paving stones underneath filed and gougedby its movement over the years.

They passed through the wide-open doorand into an outer courtyard that ran along the castle walls. It wasimpressive, in its complex architecture, its stature, its size, itsmassiveness.

The grass on which they walked wastrimmed, but the flowers along the gravel path that ran next to thewalls, and the trees were left free.

Philia let go of Leukas's hand whenthey both met a young, blonde woman with sun-tanned skin, her wristscovered with gold bracelets

"Xanthos! I was just looking foryou! Since you're also on laundry duty, could you take Leukas withyou to the laundry room?"

The young woman turns around, her ambereyes glinting in the sunlight, taking on the colour of gold

"Of course. Come Leukas, let's gotogether."

The girl agreed and quickly joinedXanthos, and with a quick wave of her hand said goodbye to Philia,who was already going about her business

"You, you went to see the whaleballet again"

-Yes... But it's so pretty!"

Xanthos smiled and laughed tenderly

"You will never change"