The group followed Alecie as she soared through the air.  Everyone still concentrating on staying in the air.

"You know, flying is a bit harder than it looks." Sage commented. Alecie turned her head to look at him and smiled.

"Yes, it really is. But don't worry, it will get easier. By the time we get to the palace you'll be flying like a pro." Sage didn't look reassured as he faltered a bit in midair before catching a draft. Sakura and Rowen on the other hand seemed born to fly. The two were flying a bit higher than the others, every now and then performing a loop in the air.

"Don't go to high." Alecie called up to them in warning.

"Why not?" Rowen wanted to know.

"If you get too close too the sun, your wings will burn, and trust me you don't want that."  Alecie said.

"What will happen?" Ryo questioned.

"Well, it's like getting a bad sunburn." Alecie said trying to explain it. "It hurts to move them and if they get burned too bad some of the prime feathers will be burned and you won't be able to fly."

"How do you know if you are going to high?" Anubis asked.

"You'll feel it. You'll start to feel a burn along the edge of the wings. That's when you know to come down. The longer you stay, the more intense the burning gets."

"But our wings aren't natural." Sakura commented lowering her altitude to be next to Alecie.

Alecie shook her head. "Doesn't matter. It will still hurt."

"You talk as if this has happened to you." Rowen said.

Alecie blushed. "Yeah, I ignored my parent's warning and tried to see how high I could go. After I came back down, my wings were so burned I couldn't fly for a week. I even have a burn scar." She said, remembering how long that flightless week had seemed and then the month grounding after words. "I was lucky it was only a week, cloudrunners have lost their wings completely by doing that."

"Did you get in trouble?" Rowen asked with a grin.

"Yeah, grounded for a month." She said with a grimace. "I never did it again." The conversation stopped as Sakura continued to fly a bit higher than the others.

"Sakura," Ryo called up to her. "Don't you think that you should come down a little?" he asked worried at how high she was going and what he had just heard from Alecie.

Sakura gave him a look.

"Aw, come on Ryo." She said. "What's the fun of having wings if you can't fly high?" she asked.

"You heard what Alecie just said." He said returning her look. "If you go too high your wings will burn."

"Don't worry about her, Ryo." Alecie broke in. "With the wings you and her have, she is nowhere close to getting her wings burned. She'll be fine. Why don't you go up there with her." She suggested nodding her head up. Ryo looked skeptical for a moment but flew higher. It wasn't long till the two were chasing each other in the air. Alecie smiled as she watched to the two. She loved watching little kids fly.  They chased each other flying through clouds and seeing how fast they could go. And Ryo and the others were like that. Once they figured out the basics of maneuvering, they were flying like little kids. Alecie turned her attention back to their destination. They had almost reached the Phoenix Mountains. A few minutes later she called to the others.

"Guys, come here." She said. The ronins gathered around her as she pointed to the peaks of the mountains poking through the clouds.

"We are almost there. Once we reach those peaks we fly up. Then we will be at the Palace."

"Is the palace in Skybax City?" Sakura asked.

"No, we thought placing the palace in the capitol would be dangerous, although there is one there. The palace is located in the city were the first cloudrunner king was born, Star Keeper City."

"Why is it called Star Keeper City?" Anubis asked.

"Because there is a legend that the first Cloudrunner king was a special cloudrunner, with the ability to fly to the stars. He flew there one night and when he came back he brought back a star. He hid the star somewhere in the palace and it is said that if the cloudrunner race is ever in trouble, that the hiding place to the star would be revealed to the one who is one with the sky, but lover of the earth." Alecie sighed.

"That has always been my favorite story." She said as she led them upward. A few minutes later they emerged from the clouds as Alecie gave a gasp of horror.