Crow

The Ground Floor

When Sage pushed the tiny blue button on her harness, the tangle of rope and straps came to life. A tiny parachute made out of the thinnest fabric shot out of the back and soon Sage and Hugo were floating above treetops, and, the ground. Sage had only ever been to two grounding festivals. She met Briar at the first. But she had never been on the ground in a forest, only in the large open field. Sage's people lived in the sky. It had originally been an effort or experiment to preserve wildlife as well as means to keep children safe from the dangers of the forest. The ships had a festival twice a year so people could experience things on the ground. Rivers and trees, animals that couldn't fly. Children were told tales of the forest dwelling beasts all the time. Sharp teeth with claws and fur or long, slithering worms with fangs. They were also told stories of elves, small creatures who lived in the deepest part of the forest, but this time the stories weren't true. As Sage's feet brushed the damp grass for the third time in her life, she felt a thrill of excitement and terror. Hugo and Sage had landed in the field that their community always landed in. Just grass, no trees or water. It was the perfect place to keep track of small children. The times Sage had been here before it had been filled with shops being repaired, families having picnics in the sun. Suddenly Sage missed her brother, Ollie. He had just learned to speak. His favorite word was 'sun', but he knew other words, like 'mum' and 'da' and 'say'. He couldn't pronounce the j sound yet so he used 'say' to get Sage's attention. 

"Well?" Came a voice from a few yards away. "How does it feel?" The air was slightly misty, and Sage could taste it. 

"You will never know how much I hate that you did this." Sage's voice was bitter, and she was startled at how bad she felt directly after.

"I thought you'd thank me. You always said how you wanted to find a crow's nest. I couldn't finish the project in time for your birthday. Now we can be explorers. Like the game when we were small. The fearless duo, capable of anything? We'll have the adventure of our lifetime." Hugo's words reminded Sage of when they had played together, pretending to slay beasts and climb trees. They found the elven city and lived there the rest of their lives. But that was a fantasy. Now there was no way to get back home. Hugo seemed to read Sage's mind.

"It will be a long journey, but a few weeks in that direction" (he pointed) "and there is another community that does the same thing we do. If we get there at the right time we can stowaway at their grounding festival and ride the messenger's ship home. It will only be a few weeks before we are living among the clouds again, Sage. Can't you see the potential?"

"Fine. As long as you know where you are going. We must hurry. If we miss the ceremony, we will have to wait six months and we don't know about the winters here."

And so they set off into the forest with nothing but some matches and a knife and the courage and hope of two young souls not perceiving how little they knew of the world of the forest floor.