Day 36

[from Project Sky]

Having accepted the elder's quest, it is time for me to leave. For now, my goal is to discover the location of The Ruin, somewhere within Alondis. If it's intact, as the elder supposes, then I can try and see if there's a way to reverse its effects. If it's broken, or can't be undone, then at least we will know, instead of eternally wondering whether there's a way to fix all this. But if there is…

"You can ride a pegasus, can't you?" asks the elder suddenly, as we cross the bridge that leads to the next island along. I tell him I can; my mother taught me how. "That's good," he says. "You'll be needing one for your journey. Tell you what: you can borrow mine. I'm getting too old to ride anywhere these days, but I'm sure you could make good use of her."

Pegasi were used a lot in the old days to travel between distant towns, especially when there were impenetrable forests or mountain ranges in the way that horses could not move through. Horses were far more common, and so were used a lot more, but with the devastation caused by The Ruin, pegasi have become ubiquitous up here. Even the smallest colony has at least one pegasus, so they can travel to other colonies for trade, and the larger colonies have huge breeding farms so they can supply the rest of the continent with them. It's strange how pegasi have become so much more common, and yet at the same time they've become so much more valuable.

Here in our village, we have only three pegasi, a fair amount for a village of around thirty-five people. The stables are on the island we're heading towards, the second-largest and centremost of the islands. It's also home to most of the colony's houses, and all of its shops and market stalls. It really is a tiny colony; if you run from the church at the centre of the island we just left, right the way through to the elder's house on the furthest of the islands, it'll take you about a minute. I'm told the largest of the floating islands out there can take you up to an hour to run across, or even more. Having lived here my whole life, I can barely comprehend the thought of having so much space to run around in.

With this in mind, it's not long at all before we arrive at the stables. My mother is there, waiting for me. I guess the elder must have told her he was planning to send me on this mission. She looks a little nervous, which is understandable considering her son is about to leave home for the first time. I start to feel a little nervous as well, as the realization sinks in.

"So, you agreed to go, then?" she asks me. My hunch was correct. I nod in affirmation. "I see," she says. "I know it'll be a long, and probably dangerous journey, but please, try and stay safe, okay? And come home as soon as you can, won't you? I'll be missing you every second you're gone."

Mother hugs me and kisses me on the cheek. I promise her that I'll return as soon as I can, and that when I do, the land will be restored. "I hope so," she says, sounding like she's going to cry. "I'll be cheering you on all the way."

She lets go of me, and she and the village elder help me climb up onto the pegasus, a fine white mare with well-groomed wings. My mother passes me up a backpack full of supplies, and a purse with some money in it in addition to what I already have. I thank them both for their help and support and, once more, I promise them I'll return as soon as the land is restored. I don't know whether it's a promise I can keep, but one way or the other, I'm going to find out.

I put my feet in the stirrups and take the reins. The elder un-tethers it, and it takes off, ferrying me up into the sky. I take one hand off and wave goodbye to my mother as I head out. The elder has his arm round her, comforting her. It's hard to say goodbye to her, and harder still to think that there's a chance it might be the last goodbye. But I can't think that way. I have to approach this task with the belief that I'll succeed, or else I won't.

As my home colony gets smaller and smaller, I turn round and face forward. I know that the closest colony is in this direction, only a few minutes' flying time away. I can already just see it, a faint dot on the horizon, with a faint shadow beneath it where the islands block the sun from reaching the shattered land below. There's almost no chance that the answers I seek are on that colony; it's simply the first stepping stone on what is sure to be a tremendous journey. But if I have to visit every colony in the sky, then I will.