"All right." My reply was solemn. I didn't want to aggravate her further; but Cel was perturbed by this revelation from the Elder, and I wanted to know why. "Elder Daleth told me that I had to go to Eden, so this tracks."

Her eyes went wide. She took an audible breath, stepping forward, cape fluttering by her agitated movements. "What? The Elder told you about Eden!?"

Ori muttered, "And his first name? I didn't even know that."

I ignored them and put a hand up in Cel's direction. "Hey, hey, calm down."

Her eyes darted past us, checking the exits. She was panicking.

I tried to keep myself approachable, but the fact that this knowledge caused such raw emotions in her was not a good sign. "Look, Celeste. All I know is that I have to go there. That's it. What's wrong? Is that something I'm not supposed to know?"

She took a deep breath, and the lights in her chest and forehead flickered for a moment. "No." She met my eyes, trying to collect herself "No, that's not it. It's not a… secret, as such. More like a truth that some sky children aren't ready for."

"Eden is that truth? Well, what is it?"

She winced. "That's the thing, Tom," she said insistently. "You're new. You're just a moth, barely hours old. And the Elder has already told you about the Eye of Eden. Judging by my experience and that of many others, that doesn't just… happen." She gestured helplessly, in a way I knew well.

"Well, it just did happen." I leaned against the wall, sticking my hands in my pockets. We were again talking in circles, and not one step closer to an actual answer. My fingernails dug into the palms of my hands, keeping me in the present. "So, does that mean that you're going to tell me more about it? Or am I," I glanced at Ori. "'Not special' enough?"

Cel gave Ori an accusing glare, and they held their hands up. "Hey, don't blame me, I was just judging based on established facts and trends."

Whitti stepped forward from where he'd been watching with a worried expression. "All right, everybody, let's just talk about this." He looked at me. "Tom, you want to learn more about the Eye?"

"Whitti, stay out of this." There was a growl in my tone, but I didn't care much anymore. "I deserve to know whatever the hell is going on."

Whitti glanced at me, brows furrowed, eyes begging me to calm down, but I'd had enough. I pushed off from the wall, and strode to Celeste.

"I… It's complicated. Please..." She backed up, away from me, voice growing desperate.

I didn't stop. "It's a place, I know that. Obviously, something bad happens there. On the top of that mountain. What is up there?"

With every sentence, Cel shook slightly, like a leaf being blown in wind, but unable to escape the thing holding her in place.

"What is so important about this, that you can't say?" My voice was edged now, hacking away at her frightened silence."Whatever it is, it's something that you know about, Celeste." I took another step forward, towering over her. "You're keeping secrets, and I need to know what I am getting into. What are you hiding? Tell me!"

My shout made her shrink into herself for a moment, eyes wide with fear. Then she clenched her fists, shut her eyes, and shouted. "You want an answer!? Fine! I don't want to bring you to Eden! There!" The yell was an explosion of sound that rang across the stone surfaces, echoing back to all of us.

I could feel my face twisting. That was it.

That had been an answer, but it wasn't the one I'd wanted; if anything, it had just made everything more confusing and frustrating. All I wanted was an answer, a single damn answer after this unbelievable day. It should have been easy. I hadn't asked for anything else from them. One answer to one question was all I wanted.

But this girl wouldn't tell me. Because of her, I wouldn't be ready or prepared for what was coming. I'd have to face it with that blind fear that I'd faced every day for the past eight months, and even more, now I'd have to do it here, in this inexplicable, ridiculous world. Well, I was done letting people leave me in the dark. How much pain would I go through before they finally understood? Before they understood that their withholding was only causing more fear and pain?! Well, now she'd know. Now she'd know my pain.

And when I would be done with her, she'd never hide anything from me again.

I breathed in, fanning the harsh retort that rose in the back of my throat, an acidic string of words ready to spit into the sky child's face.

My mouth was opening when I saw her.

Her fists, shaking. Her clenched eyes, and the small shards of tears nestled in the corner of them. Her posture, drawn tight, defensive, as if she feared I'd harm her. She looked so similar. I remembered the last time I'd felt like this. I remembered what my words had done. What they'd destroyed.

And then I saw Celeste, the kind girl who'd done nothing but help me since I'd met her. I remembered the patient guidance, the almost motherly concern. Now, I'd seen the fear, her fear, and it wasn't just because of me. There was much more going on here. She's keeping secrets from you, said a part of me, but it had lost strength before the truth. There was no excuse. I was hurting her.

I opened my fists. I took a deep, jagged breath, and fought the rage down.

She opened her blue eyes, and they were wet. "I'm… I'm sorry, Tom, I don't want to talk about it right now! I promise, I will, but I… but I…" She turned to Ori and Whitti. "Take the moths through the Fields, meet me in the Sanctuary Islands."

"But, Cel," Ori began, more hesitant and unsure than I'd ever seen them.

"I'm coming with you," Whitti stated firmly.

Cel met his determined gaze for a moment before nodding.

Ori tried again. "But what about—"

"You said you wanted to see them one more time, didn't you?" Her words were fast, commanding, yet desperate. "That's where I'm going. You can meet me there, or keep going without me." She looked at me again, harried, but said nothing before turning and flapping away, back through the door. Whitti followed her a moment later.

Then Ori and I were alone in the stone room; a tall human and a very short skykid.

"I… I should have apologized," I said, looking at the floor.

Ori huffed a sigh. "You can say sorry later. Follow me, Tom the Moth."

I did without further words, feeling sick to my stomach.

We entered the Elder's chamber, and to my surprise, the fence-like structure behind the statue had opened, revealing two massive walls of gleaming white clouds. The moths were arrayed along the edge, some evidently having just failed to stop Whitti and Celeste on their way out.

Ori looked over them all, took a short breath, seeming to collect themself, then stepped forward. "All right, you bunch of moldy discarded autumn leaves, we're leaving!" They backed up at Ori's approach. "If anyone wants to stay here, they can, but the rest will be heading to the Daylight Prairies. Question, you're personally invited."

"Personally invited by who?" Question asked.

"Why, me!" The petite figure stomped past the moth, then turned around to face us all. "Ori of the Thousand Strings and Master of Assorted Pipes, the greatest musician in the Sky Kingdom." They stood up straight, which was just past my knee. "You should be honored."

The other moths made sounds of awe, except for Question, who'd started squinting suspiciously at Ori since the elongated title had begun, "Do you have a license or something that can prove that?"

Ori's uplifted expression reversed course. "Why, in fact, I do!" they stated haughtily. "It's just not with me."

"Uh-huh, sure," Question nodded skeptically.

"Well, when you get to the Valley of Triumph and become an awarded musician, then you can go to the Hall of Songs and see for yourself, you little scamp."

I allowed a smile, grateful for the back-and-forth distraction while it lasted. As for my opinion, I knew I'd want to hear some more audible proof of this alleged musical skill set later.

"All right! We're going now. I'm not running a taxi service, so it's every skykid for themselves! And for those of you that are worried at that prospect, look down there."

I, who was firmly in that camp, followed their finger.

"Those clouds will automatically recharge your wing power, so if you're paying attention, you won't fall below them. And don't sweat the landing, either, the Prairie dirt is like a cushion. Just don't land on your face. It took me days to get all the mud out of my hair the first time. Follow me, and you have nothing to worry about. Questions?"

"How far is the Prairie?"

"Less than half an hour."

"Why was I personally invited?"

"Because the people in the Valley have openings for hired nuisances."

"That's not a real—wait, I'm going to the VALLEY!?"

"No more questions! You two are staying? Igyotl, and Kreflyn, was it? Elders bless you and may the Winged Light favor you, because I'm definitely never going to see you again."

The mentioned moths rushed forward and gave everyone in arms' reach hugs, and I fit both of them in one.

"Goodbye, Tom."

"It was nice to meet you!"

I felt a pang at their words, and wondered why. I'd barely known them for a few hours, hell, I'd barely been able to tell them apart! I held them at arms length, and looked into both sets of eyes, maroon and dark blue. They were wide, pure, and saddened. They were sad to see me go. The pang grew deeper. "Bye, kids. Be good, ok?"

They nodded, and I let them go.

Ori spread their cape. "See you troglodytes on the other side!" They took off.

I watched them go, and took a deep breath. "All right, Tom, you idiot, no looking down," I muttered to myself. I turned to Question, who was also pondering the walls of shifting clouds. "Hey, Question."

"Yeah?"

"Will you… can I fly with you?" The words came out, and that was what mattered. I didn't want to worry about a stupid thing like pride right now; the situation was pretty simple. Question was good at flying, I was not. And if holding a little boy's hand kept the fear away, I'd do it.

"Sure!" He took my hand, and I couldn't deny how much of my anxiety fell away at his touch. The other moths had organized into a formation already, but Question didn't seem to notice. "Let's go!"

And then we jumped off the edge.

I quickly remembered Cel's words from earlier, and despite all the instincts that begged me to scream or curl up or flap my arms wildly I forced my legs behind me instead of under me, and it worked; we were flying faster now, and Question was more than capable of guiding us in the updraft coming off the Elder's tower. I took a breath, and looked straight ahead.

The flight passed in a blur, mostly because I was concentrating on not looking down and the hand holding mine. Question flew confidently, but thankfully without much flourish. We touched the clouds, and I could feel warmth flooding through me as my cape was lit; the things Ori had said made some sense now. As long as we kept flapping in the clouds, we would rise. I had a brief thought of what was below the clouds, but then I shook that thought away before it could hook its claws in my brain. We swooped around a particularly poofy corner, and then I gasped aloud, clutching Question's hand.

Before us rose a mountain. It dominated the sky, filling the entire horizon, huge waves of clouds rolling off of its summit, where a beam of piercing light rose into the deep blue of the morning sky. Eden. The place from my visions, the end of my journey, and the place that Celeste evidently feared. Was the Eye of Eden the mountain? Or its peak? And deep within the swirling clouds surrounding the summit of the mountain, a single point of light blazed at the base of the beam. It was hard to look directly into it, even at this distance.

We continued flying, and in the nearer distance I could see grass-covered hills and ruined buildings, much more distinguishable than the buried, eroded masses of stone back on the beach. These were rounded, with a lot of igloo-like spheres and tall lighthouse-like cylinders, all of which were broken and cracked, some partially sunken into the soft green ground. In the near distance I saw squat stone mountains, sheltering smaller collections of buildings from the winds. Some structures were in the shape of unlikely domes that made no sense to my construction-savvy gaze- they had no supports, how in the world did an unwrought stone dome support that much weight by itself!? Other houses were dug into the cliff, almost as if the spirits had scooped out homes for themselves in the rock itself, and small windows could be seen, peeking out into the sun-drenched hills surrounding the village. I also saw a Winged Light, on the top of one of those buildings.

Something spun past us, and I flinched before realizing it was Ori. They did a complicated midair flip to gain altitude, then called down to us. "Tom! That one's for you, go get it!"

I nodded.

Question glanced down, inquisitive, and I gestured in that direction. He gave another flap, and I wondered at why he'd looked to me for confirmation.

As we approached I caught glimpses of other sky kids, weaving through the clouds, doing tricks in them like a pod of sky-bound, kid-shaped dolphins. On a far hillside I thought I could make out the form of a spirit, gleaming with a dull light. The sun was higher now, and everything was awash in the brightness of noonday.

Question raised his arms slightly, slowing our approach as we neared the tall stone structure. I could tell this landing would be tricky, he was trying to land perfectly on top of the rounded, flat roof of the ruin. Another flap, I struck out my legs, and let them connect with the solid stones. Without a moment wasted, I plucked the much shorter Question out of the air, and set him down on the stonework gently.

A moment of stillness, as a breeze drifted around us.

"Thanks."

"Sure."

"I want to get better at landing, so don't do that next time, ok?"

"Ok. Sorry."

I looked at the Winged Light sharing the roof with us. I took a breath, then approached it. Once again, I felt that strange combination of pressure and weightlessness, but it was subdued, somehow. The intensity had been replaced by a gentle tugging sensation. I reached out to it, and the Winged Light looked at me.

This time, it wasn't an illusion. It wasn't something that I could have blinked and missed. I looked into the golden being's eyes. In them I saw… My fingers brushed its shoulder, and in a rush of light and tangible energy, the Light was absorbed into my cape,

Thank you for carrying me.

I managed to keep my balance this time. My cape flashed, and suddenly I felt… stronger? More full, seemed a better way to put it. The light was in me, deeper than it had been.

"Oh! You have two flaps now!"

"Oh, that's what it is?" I turned, trying to look at my cape, which I guess now had two diamonds on it.

"Yup." His face lit up. "I'm so excited to go to the Valley, I've heard so much about it! Ok, now it's time for more questions, I hope you don't mind, but I can't believe I forgot these questions I had!"

I sighed. I guess I owed the kid. "All right. Shoot."

"What is Earth? You mentioned it when I first met you. What was that little white candle you put in your mouth and smelled bad? Were you really going to attack me when I surprised you?"

I took his hand again, and looked down at the ground, a good twenty feet down. "Ok, kid, first things first. People can't answer your questions if you don't stop asking them. You understand that, right?"

He made a sound of exasperation. "Everyone says that but then they never answer any of them, so I want to make sure they hear them!"

I took a breath, then jumped off the edge, holding my arms out. My cape caught the air, and we descended gently. My teeth were clenched the whole way down, but when we'd landed, I looked at Question.

"Earth is where I'm from. It's a planet, probably really far from here."

"What's a planet?"

"No new questions until I've answered the first batch."

"Fiiiiiine."

I looked around, and saw that the building had an ancient doorway. "You want to see what's in there?"

"Ok. And?"

"The things I smoke are called cigarettes. They're really bad for you, but they help me calm down."

Question blinked at me. "Oh. Odd."

"Yes. And when I first saw you, I didn't know what you were and I was not in the best mood. But I don't think I would have actually tried to hurt you if I caught you." At least, I hoped I wouldn't have stuck the squishy strange alien child.

"Well, thanks, I guess." Our footsteps suddenly echoed in the stone chamber, illuminated by a beam of dust-lit light from a high window. A spirit's dull form glowed in the corner, gently illuminating the shelves stacked high with mounds of ancient wax and crumbling scrolls. A candle-making workshop?

I pulled out my lighter.

"So, what's Earth like?" Question asked.

We lit the spirit together. "A lot like this. Except the cities aren't dead, people don't have capes and fly, and… we're not all children, I guess." I thought for a moment. "There aren't any adult Sky children, right?"

"Nope, just the Elders."

"I got that. But some seem more mature than others, and are taller; is there a connection there?"

Question shrugged. "They think they're more mature. I don't know, honestly, but I know that height has nothing to do with it. If I had enough tributes I could be tall too."

The spirit became a flickering piece of blue light, twisting and shimmering in the air.

I scratched my head. "What does that mean?"

"We have to guide it now." Question took his candle back out, and the small blue thing darted to the flickering light.

"No, I meant what does that mean, what you said? Tributes?" The spirit ribbon flickered a direction, and we followed, our flames seemingly keeping it alight.

"When you gain a spirit's favor, or find candles out in the world, you can make tributes from them. When you're ready, you send them up into the sky and the spirits give you stuff. I thought I was asking the questions?"

"I mean, you can, but I have questions too."

He stopped walking and sighed exaggeratedly, narrow shoulders rising and falling, letting his candle droop. "Ahhhh fine! We'll trade then. So, Earth, there's real cities there? What's a city, anyway?"

"A place where lots of people live. "

"Like the Valley."

"Uh, sure?" We walked down some eroded steps, the small spirit ribbon waving gently in a breeze going a different direction than the actual flow of wind. "Are there lots of kids there?"

"Oh, yes. So many. You lived in a city?"

"Yeah. It's called Seattle."

"Lots of people?"

"Hundreds of thousands."

Question turned to me, mouth dropping open. "WHAT!? How are there SO MANY!?"

I couldn't hold back a smile. "It's not that big a city, honestly. There are some that have millions of people."

Question made a sound that could only really be interpreted as, "?!" He flumped down on a step, eyes wide and dazed.

I stopped hesitantly, the spirit darting around my lighter's flame now. "Uh, you ok, buddy?"

Question reached out the hand not holding his candle, and pressed it flat on the sun-warmed surface of the stone step. "How many spirits were there, before the stars fell? When they died?" His voice had changed, subtly. The naive, inquisitive tone had become something more somber.

I looked at the small energy-like form of the spirit that beckoned us forward, then back at the small figure in a brown cape. "Question."

"Millions…?" Question breathed to himself, not listening. In his eyes I saw something familiar, and it wasn't something good.

"Question Mark!" My voice was sharp, perhaps too much, but it did the job.

The skykid jerked up, surprised. "What!? What's going on, Tom?" He looked around, confused. It was like a switch had been flipped in his brain.

I spoke slowly. "I need your help. I don't know where I'm going."

"Oh, yeah!" He jumped up, and soon his candle was next to my lighter, and we started walking down a stone spiral staircase. We walked in silence for a bit, and I gave Question some time to equalize. I knew how that felt. It seemed Skykids weren't immune to mental crap, either. I remembered Celeste's reactions to my anger, and felt even worse about what I'd said. I tried to shake it off, for the kid's sake.

Soon, at the bottom of the stairs, to be precise, Question looked up at me. "So, you have adults where you're from?"

I went along with it. "Some people would think I'm an adult. Legally, I became an adult four years ago."

"You're an adult?" The incredulity was back; it seemed like Question was feeling better.

I smirked. "I know, right? I'm still getting used to it."

"So, becoming an adult doesn't just happen?"

I laughed out loud at that, partially because I wanted to stay away from serious topics for Question's sake, also the question was really funny. "Of course not. There's all of growing up for that. It's quite the transition, from kid to adult."

Question nodded slowly, processing that. I needed some time as well; I'd assumed something was up with these kids, but they actually never aged? This was some serious Peter Pan stuff if that was the case.

We'd reached a statuesque figure, leaning against a doorway. The flickering spirit left our protective light and entered the dark silhouette. A glowing began deep in the form, then with a sudden brightening the hardened exterior exploded in shards of intangible darkness, and the spirit moved freely.

It was medium height, feminine, and was carrying what looked like a small bunch of scrolls and a rack of candles under its arm. A second smaller spirit had joined it, a child, and the taller knelt for a moment to embrace it. They separated, and the smaller figure nodded to the taller confidently.

We watched the woman stand and place a hand on its forehead, seeming to mentally brace itself for something. She took a long, deep breath. Then, after a wave to the child, she walked into the adjoining building, stride confident.

Question repeated the movement, and I followed his lead. It seemed like a tradition of theirs, to repeat a specific motion of the dead person. The spirit finished, then turned back into a ball of light, stronger now, that streaked up into the sky.

We stood for a moment, Question looking at the space where the spirit child had been. Then he spoke. "So you have parents? What is that like?"

Oh man. That definitely gave me questions. "Well…" I began, then paused. "They're people. They make mistakes. They can disappoint, they can be disappointed. Sometimes they don't listen, but sometimes you don't listen."

Question was watching me intently.

"They know more about the world than you do, though, so it's a good idea to hear them out. Sometimes they have expectations you can't reach, but sometimes they support your decisions." I sighed. "I guess I should just feel lucky that they always loved me, despite my screwups."

"That sounds amazing."

"It does?"

Question nodded fervently. "Sometimes I feel so lonely. It sounds so nice always having people that love you."

I looked down, hiding the pang of pain in my chest. "Yeah. It's nice." Then I looked at the kid beside me. "So… I guess that means skykids don't have parents?"

"No." He took my hand, and I somehow managed not to panic as he took off. We glided a short ways down until we came to rest on the grass-covered hills.

"So, where do you come from, then?"

"The Isle." Question was subdued again. "We just… begin there. I don't know how."

"That's… rough."

Question shrugged. "I never really thought about it until now."

I was about to ask how they managed to survive without knowing anything or being raised and then I realized with a shock that even though I hadn't eaten in hours, I wasn't hungry. I wasn't thirsty, either.

How… and then Question took off again, and I felt my cape respond to his movements, flapping with him as we ascended a strange hill-like structure. Maybe it was the Winged Lights. Then again, it has only been half a day, maybe I'd get hungry later. On the other hand, I thought ruefully, even depression couldn't put a dent in my appetite so I was reasonably certain something supernatural was going on.

We stood at the top of the structure, and from this vantage we could see the rolling hills stretching out, mounds of grassy green with dots of flowered color, with the occasional ruin framed by walls of billowing clouds. "The Daylight Prairies," I said, half to myself. Then I turned to Question, whose eyes were still downcast. "I like rivers. They're almost always super cold, but they're very peaceful. The oceans are cool, awesome even, but also unpredictable. So I like the water from rivers."

He lit up. "Oh! I like oceans but I can totally see why you like rivers! They are definitely calmer but I like running around the waves a lot so yeah that's why I like oceans!"

"And I've never seen a baby Manta, so I'll have to say birds are cuter."

"WHAT?! I'll show you mantas, they're all over the place here, and the babies are SO cute!"

I was confused by this, as the only manta rays I knew of were in the water, but I moved to follow Question.

"Tom!"

I turned at Ori's voice, and the small skykid tumbled out of the air to land perfectly beside us. "Yeah?"

"Question, go on ahead, Tom will join you in a bit, yeah?"

"Why can't he come now?" Question asked, brown eyes narrowing.

"I have to talk to him, you little leafpile, now go on, we'll be right behind you."

Question sighed but let go of my hand and flapped away with an exasperated "Ok, Fancy Skykid of the Half-Dozen Soggy Blades of Grass."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME" Ori took off after the smaller skykid who hurriedly accelerated midair with a squeal of terror.

"The Fancy Skykid of the Half-Dozen Soggy- AHH!"

I couldn't hold back a laugh as a chaotic midair dogfight ensued, which ended with Ori smacking the larger skykid on the head. "Go on, shoo, you flapping mud puddle!"

Question's laughter echoed as he escaped the next half-hearted smack and swooped away. Ori returned, alighting daintily on the top of the round building. "That's enough of that," they stated primly.

I sat down with a sigh, the grass a soft cushion under my tired feet. Despite the bright world around me, Question's departure had taken away some of my enthusiasm, and there was still a deep tiredness in me. And the urge to pull out a smoke also hadn't gone anywhere. "What did you want to tell me, Ori?"

They sat down next to me, and looked at me. Their dark eyes were serious, and older than I had expected. I knew what experience looked like, and despite their size, Ori had seen things. "Tom, I just wanted to let you know not to take Cel's outburst too personally."

"Why not? I was the one getting unnecessarily heated."

"Maybe… Well, yeah, you definitely were that, but you didn't know what your questions would do." They sighed, and looked down at their small pointed boots. "The thing is... Cel. She has an unfortunate history with Eden, and the idea of it."

"Anyone could see that." I plucked a blade of grass and pulled it apart lengthwise.

"Maybe. Look." He tried to meet my gaze again, but he seemed uncomfortable. "She doesn't want to take you there, as she said."

I made a sound of frustration. "That was made perfectly clear to me. Why are you bringing this up?"

"Because I thought you should know." Their sudden earnestness caught my attention, and I looked at them.

Ori took a deep breath, furrowing their shapely eyebrows. "Don't tell her I told you this, all right?"

I was confused now. "All right. Don't tell her you told me what?"

"Tom, Cel's been to Eden. And she came back… broken. That's when I met her."

...

Song for the section- My Life, by Imagine Dragons