Don't Fall, part 5

FIC START!

Kain instructed the Red Wing soldiers after he loaded all the stone the villagers said they would need to help rebuild. He would return to Troia after attending to errands abroad, and by the time it was all done, he expected to see the work taken care of.

As he was doing that, Sakinah and the soldiers of Troia loaded the airship with provisions. Lady Milala gave Sakinah another embrace, and the pair was finally ready to set off.

Kain started up the airship by pressing the ignition next to the wheel on the control deck. He knew how to steer, though it had been a while since he'd done it. He remembered how both he and Cecil had many lessons with Cid the Engineer back in Baron. Even though Cecil was more of a natural at it. "Sakinah," Kain said, placing his free hand on her shoulder. "You have never been on an airship, have you?"

Sakinah stood on the deck not far from him, looking at all the propellers above. When the motor rumbled in the back, she felt the whole ship vibrate. It reminded her of the earthquake, and she was ready to jump off and get right back on solid ground that very instant. "Airships are not common in Troia. If we have to fly, we rely on the black chocobos."

"But what if your people must retrieve the stone from the magnet cave?" Kain asked.

"We have ships, and chocobo carts to pull heavy things from the port," Sakinah replied, struggling to keep her balance. She pulled away from Kain for a few seconds. She wanted to stand on her own, without any assistance. When she started to fall over, he grabbed onto her arm and helped her stay steady.

"Do not be so stubborn," Kain said bluntly. "Once we are fully aloft, I cannot hold you up. I will need to steer with all my attention." He felt that sensation he always did when riding an airship launching. The entire craft used all of its might to rise against the gravitational pull of the earth below until it was parallel to the ground. "Sakinah, if you have a hard time standing, then sit. It will take a few times to get used to the sensation of takeoff."

Sakinah didn't want to sit. She was soon over by the edge of the ship, hugging onto the walls of the hull, watching as the clouds passed by the airship. Her feathered cap blew off in the wind, exposing her brown bun atop her head. Her skirt ruffled in all of the wind. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with excitement to be up in the sky!

"I am a Skyreader!" she exclaimed as she stuck her hand out over the edge of the hull. The adrenaline rush kept her on her feet, not even noticing the rumbling from the engine. "This is nothing like the observatory or my tower. Kain, this is something else."

"Is it?" Kain asked. He had spent most his life aflight, either on the backs of dragons or on airships, as they were invented in his hometown, and his father a close friend with their inventor. "You must not fall, Sakinah. I cannot save you again."

"You cannot jump this high?"

"If I needed to, I could, but as of right now, I cannot leave the steering wheel."

"If I wished to fall, this would be the opportune time, then." Sakinah said, looking back at him. She let her whole body take in the exilerating rush. She took a moment to let everything sink in. "Never would have imagined that if I had this opportunity that I wouldn't take it."

"It is a day's flight to Fabul, where I must see to my apprentice, Ceodore." Kain explained. "If you wish to rest, please go below deck. You may use my quarters."

"Won't you need your room?" She took a step to him, but soon his eyes were more distant than she had seen them since she met him. "Kain?"

"Sakinah."

"Perhaps we should not have left as soon as we did. Neither you or I have slept, and it's no doubt been a tax on you just as much as it has been on me." Sakinah said as she walked up to him. She put her hands around his right arm, holding on to him for a moment. "As much as I would like to observe the sky from here, I realize you're right. I would like to rest."

"I know for a fact that King Yang will certainly give us a place to rest," Kain said, putting his left hand on her head while his right hand stayed on the wheel. "If I recall, Princess Ursula will demand another day at the very least before I bring Ceodore back home to his parents." He noticed that she was smiling, but she was ready to cry. "Did I-"

"No, Kain." Sakinah's eyes overflowed with tears as she hugged him tighter. "I... when you mentioned your apprentice's parents, I... suddenly remembered my family, what little of it there was."

"You are an orphan, are you not?" Kain asked.

"I was being raised by my father, a white mage, in the town where I was born. Mysidia."

"You are Mysidian?"

"By birth, yes." Sakinah continued. She took in a deep breath. "There was a surprise attack one day by Baron's Red Wings. My father and I were in the prayer hall, and the Elder was telling me about studying the path that my father followed... when... the door of the prayer hall was blown off the hinges by a cannon, and in walked a dark knight." She shook her head. "My father told me to run, and I started to, but I didn't get far. One of the men that followed that knight grabbed me and screamed at the Elder 'this child will whet my blade if you continue your insurgence!' Inside the chamber, my father finally mounted a resistance when I was allowed to go away. Other mages tried to help him, but..."

"The Dark Knight slew all of the mages in the hall of the crystal, and the Water crystal was stolen," Kain continued, shuddering in sadness just as much as she was. "Sakinah."

"The Elder put me on a ship to Troia, as in Mysidia, orphans that are not a part of either school of magic are sent away. Girls to Troia, boys to Fabul. And there, I was all alone. I had no purpose. I had nothing until I prayed to the Earth Crystal for some sort of answer... and it came." Sakinah finished her story and wiped her face. "I became the Skyreader of Troia, an annointed person of the court, and... I thought that was the end. I never looked for more. I never wanted more."

"You must rest. Sakinah, for the good of your body and your heart, go rest now. Nothing will harm you as long as... I'm here."

She let go of him then and looked for the staircase that lead inside the ship, and there was a room full of beds right there. Instead of going further, she sat on one of the beds. She required no comfort. Sakinah fell asleep after rolling over exactly twice.

"Cecil, the echoes of your actions ring even now, all these years later," Kain whispered into the wind as he watched over the mast of the airship. "I... wonder if she even realizes that she now rides in one of the Red Wing vessels? Probably not. I don't think I could bear telling her that I am the current captain, either."