The Sky Realm

Chapter 1

The cold breeze of the mountain did everything it could to throw her off balance. It howled and moaned, spitting out snow to cloud her vision. Grandmama, however, had prepared her for this—and more. She walked along the wire, stretching out her arms to help balance her delicate body structure.

One, two, one, two. She counted her steps mentally, focusing on the numbers instead of the wire underneath her small, yet stable, feet. Each step brought her closer to her destination, and so she eagerly began to quicken her pace. Her slow and focused counting had become a mantra that she was now chanting faster and faster in her head. She looked up to see the red flag and smiled victoriously. She was almost there. She was tired of walking the wire, and now she wanted to just rip through the air and capture the red flag. She hunched down on the wire, used her body weight to press herself down, and leaped. As she cut through the cold mountain air, she reached out and grabbed the closest rock she could find, securing herself.

Hoisting herself over the rocky edge, she stepped up to see what she had seen every day of her life for the past two years. Grandmama stood there twirling the red flag between her fingers, a smug smile on her withered face. Once again, as always, she had gotten there before Aaliyah could.

“You concentrate too heavily on the prize,” shouted Grandmama over the howling wind. “You must observe and calculate before taking the leap.”

Aaliyah stepped towards her and reached out to touch the fiery, red tip of the almost frozen flag. “I didn’t see you anywhere.”

“That’s because you were too busy watching the prize instead of your opponent.” Grandmama draped a hand over Aaliyah’s shoulders and began leading her home. “My dear Hummingbird, it will be too easy to lure you out. You must harden your heart and learn to sense and see things like a warrior, and not like my granddaughter.”

Aaliyah sighed. She had heard her grandmother’s instructions to strategize like a warrior multiple times, but could not bring herself to do so—especially not when her opponent was her own grandmama. The seventy-three-year-old woman was the only family she had left, and she wanted to remain the little girl her grandmama had raised her to be and not become the warrior she was currently trying to sculpt.

          “Maybe tomorrow,” she murmured, contemplatively. They walked towards the old village, the snow crunching loudly underneath their feet. She saw what they always saw on their walk back from Snow Mountain: loud vendors advertising the rainbow of freshly caught fish, a sprinkle of small huts depicting warmth as smoke escaped from their chimneys, and the familiarity of villagers as they prepared for the day. All of them were very fond of the couple, especially of her grandmama.

 Grandmama was the village’s healer; she had been taking care of the villagers for as long as Aaliyah could remember. Aaliyah loved the story of how they came to live in Shankshaw. It was their story, and she heard it every night after dinner.

“Good morning, Aaliyah,” Cercie shouted from his fish stand. “I have the usual ready for you.”

Aaliyah smiled and waved at him.

“Go get it.” Grandmama nodded her head in his direction. “I am going to go get the fire started. My legs could use the warmth, especially if I’m going to make it through tonight’s festivities.”