Many hundreds of years ago my ancestors were one of the most respected families of Laputa. I am the heir of the Toel-Ul line of Laputa's royal family. Laputa was the floating island built by an ancient, technologically advanced upper class seeking asylum from the great war being waged on land. The science and technology of Laputa protected the people there from any disease or illness for centuries.

Eventually many other cities filled with wealthy and noble families escaping the great war were launched into the sky, all held aloft by Aetherium crystals. The cities formed treaties with each other and eventually formed the nation of Skye.

Seven hundred years ago somehow a mysterious disease struck the people of Laputa and all of the cities of Skye. First, those who had resided in the castles of Skye the longest and were elderly began to suffer major organ failures. Eventually the dead were younger and younger residents of Skye. The majority of people from each of the cities perished in a relatively short amount of time. The wealthy and elite of Skye abandoned their castles and immigrated back to earth. One of the cities of Skye was left airborne, Laputa, the home of my family's castle. Laputa was left protected by a manufactured hurricane, a storm designed to stop airships from finding Laputa and landing.

It was discovered that the Aetherium crystals caused the people of the Skye nation to suffer major organ failure after prolonged exposure. A government scientist theorized that sealing the Aetherium crystals deeper or with some other element, like lead, might reduce the impact on the people. However, the people had all assimilated back into the land bound populace. Eventually the stories of Laputa and the nation of Skye faded only to legend.

When I was a young girl, the government decided to investigate the properties of Aetherium crystals and search out Laputa. I was a child living deep in the northern mountains of Gondoa. My parents had perished recently and I was left alone to tend our small farm. I managed the animals and what else I could for a time. I worked alone, from dawn til dusk, and managed to feed and clothe myself for some time.

One day men from the government came and took me away. They stole an amulet my mother had left to me when she died. All I knew at the time was that the amulet was a family heirloom. I didn't know it then but my amulet was a pure Aetherium crystal seal, passed down through the royal family - my family.

I escaped from the army's airship and fell. I should have fallen to my death but I was wearing the amulet. The properties of Aetherium activated and I floated slowly down to earth. I don't remember it happening; I had fainted, I think. I came to rest in the arms of a boy named Pazu in the mining town of Slug Ravine.

Pazu kept me safe and protected me. His father had been an airship pilot. Pazu's father had seen Laputa and Pazu was determined to find the lost castle in the sky. Pazu wanted to prove that his father hadn't been a liar and Laputa really did exist.

Eventually the government and Muska Palo caught up to us. Muska told me that there were secret words that would activate the amulet I wore. I didn't know what the words were that Muska and the soldier needed but I pretended I knew and I made a deal with them to save Pazu. I sent Pazu away to safety. Days later I recited an ancient spell my grandmother had taught me when I was a toddler and my amulet flared to life.

An ancient robot the government had found came to me. The spell had been a request, "Save me." The robot acted on his old directives related to a royal on earth requesting aid and treated the situation as if it were a warzone. I was rescued but there was a lot of destruction. I still have nightmares about that night. Pazu teamed up with the pirates, lead by their mother Dola, who pursued the discovery of Laputa and they came to get me and my amulet. Unfortunately, in all of the confusion and destruction I lost the amulet but I knew where it had directed me to go. I knew which way we needed to go to find Laputa.

We decided to work together. I directed the course of the pirate's airship as well as taking care of the cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. Pazu worked hard as an airman. Early in the morning I joined him at the top of the airship while he stood watch for Laputa. I felt awful about the destruction of the military base and I confided in him about how afraid I was of my own power. As we spoke, we caught sight of the military airship. They had my amulet and they were using it to find the way to Laputa as well. We needed to get there first and stop them.

We rushed to Laputa and into the storm. Pazu and I were separated from Dola and her boys. Laputa was beautiful. The ground we walked along was covered in grass and flowers, like a meadow. The castle grounds had grown wild over the centuries. We were greeted by a functioning robot of Laputa and we discovered that many animals lived on the floating city. Some of the birds had no doubt arrived, confused by the storm. We also saw yellow striped foxes, which must have been left on the castle grounds when all of the people of Laputa had abandoned the city. These animals were cared for by the robots of the city, long after the people of the city had left forever.

We eventually reunited with the Dola and her family. They had been captured by the soldiers and Muska. The soldiers went to raid the treasures of the city but Muska had other ideas. Pazu had a plan and together we tried to rescue our pirate friends. Along the way, I was captured by Muska. Pazu rescued the Dola himself and then came to rescue me.

Muska betrayed the military soldiers. He lusted for the power of the amulet and the city, believing that he would be able to understand the power of Laputa's scientific knowledge to control the people and governments below. Muska took me deep beneath the castle, where the enormous Aetherian crystal kept the city suspended in the sky.

It was there that Muska told me his true identity. Muska was really Romuska Palo Ul Laputa, descended of a noble family of Laputa as I was descended from the royal family. We shared ancestors. He wanted to rule Laputa, and the world below it, as a king. He demonstrated the advanced military capabilities of Laputa, the fire of heaven that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Then he killed the general and many of his soldiers by opening the floor beneath them. He woke the sleeping guardians and gave them orders to defend against the invaders, the rest of the soldiers. He ordered the military ship be burned, still in the sky.

I have never been so scared in my life but I fought, stole the amulet, and ran from Muska. Somehow, Pazu survived everything and I heard him shouting in the old, abandoned halls. I handed him the amulet between a crevice in the wall and I told him to throw it in the ocean just before Muska grabbed me and dragged me off again.

Pazu came after me. Muska dragged me to the abandoned throne room. I expected it to be a tomb for both Muska and myself. I promised him we would both die there before I would allow him to rule Laputa or the earth. Pazu followed Muska and myself. He made a deal with Muska. Pazu agreed that he would tell Muska where the amulet was if he and I could have one last moment together. Pazu took my hand and asked me what the spell for destruction was and he told me not to be afraid. I told him and then we said it together.

Pazu had lied when he'd told Muska that the amulet was hidden somewhere. The amulet was in his hand, now in our hands. As we said the spell together the entire underground of Laputa began to collapse and fall to rubble around us.

I fainted again and woke in Pazu's arms. We were caught by the tangled in roots of the trees, still wrapped around the huge Aetherian crystal that had kept the city aloft for over seven hundred years.

We saved Laputa from the evil of Muska's greed and all-consuming need to control others by destroying the weapons of the city, including the throne room. Only the castle and its gardens survived. Along with the jewels that Dola had pilfered from the city while they were making their escape. Our friends saw us and we were reunited.

I told Pazu to come with me, to live with me in the mountains Gondoa. He wanted to see the farmhouse where I'd been born and he had no family to tie him to Slug Ravine. Dola and her three sons settled near us, using the money from Laputa's jewels to start farms of their own nearby. We have lived here, happily, since then.

But I cannot help remembering the lives lost and the destruction that resulted from Muska's unkind, unloving search for the power to control others. I know that the power of Aetherium crystals may be lost to mankind today, but if it was discovered once then it may be discovered again.

So I tell you the lesson I tried to teach Muska, for you are mine and Pazu's child as well as a descendant of Toel Ul:

Take root in the ground,

Live in harmony with the wind,

Plant your seeds in the winter, and

Rejoice with the birds in the coming of spring

No matter how great your technology might be,

The world cannot live without love.