Masters of the Sky

Chapter 4 Time's up

Trigger warnings: violence, death, crude language

15 years ago

Celia sat on the floor under a thin, patched blanket, hunching over a book so old it almost fell apart at the touch. She put her fingers on her temple and squinted her eyes, trying to decipher half-faded letters in a fleeting light of a lone candle. Even though the volume had deteriorated, and half of the pages were useless, it was a priceless treasure for Celia, as it was a scientific treaty about airships. The girl found it one day abandoned and forgotten in a pile of trash. But as soon as she saw the vehicle depicted on a torn cover, she knew it was a jackpot.

Even though, after all her excitement, she discovered that most of the book was indecipherable, Celia still cherished every little piece of information she could get. It was not easy as the book was written in a way her young brain could not comprehend most details, and cold and hunger gnawing at her belly did not help with that.

A child wailing all the time did not help either.

Celia sighed and looked up from her book. Her mother paced with a baby in her arms, trying and failing to comfort it for the past hour. She was pretty, but her forehead was creased with wrinkles of worries, her face became gaunt over the past couple of weeks, and deep shades under her eyes hinted she was not sleeping well.

Life became even harder since Celia's father lost his job as a fisherman.

"Mum, is Levi all right? He keeps crying all the time," Celia asked, closing her book gently.

"No, he's not. He's burning up." Her mother walked up to the small window looking out. "And your father should have been here an hour ago with a medicine."

"Maybe the Alchemist Quarter is busy?" the girl guessed.

"I'm sure it is," the older woman replied, but the cold in her voice hinted it was not what she was thinking. "You should go to bed, Celia. You need to start before dawn tomorrow. If you're late again, Madam Maude will kick you out."

"As if I could fall asleep with all that crying," Celia murmured under her nose. She had to pick up a job as a helper in the nearby bakery to help her family. She didn't mind the work much, but the role demanded starting in the middle of the night, and the lady running the place was not kind to latecomers.

The girl got up, tucking the book under her arm, and stepped behind the curtain that separated her little bed from the rest of the room. Their tiny house contained only one room that accommodated them all, so privacy was non-existing here. But it didn't matter much for Celia. She didn't have anything she would like to hide from her family. The book was her most prized possession, and no one would spare a glance at that old thing.

Before Celia got to bed, a thud of a door opening with more force than necessary sounded, and a gust of cold wind forced its way to a little apartment.

"Simon! Where have you been?"

"I've been... around...." Father's voice was slurred as if he had a hard time articulating the words.

Celia peeked out from behind the curtain just in time to see him clumsily shutting the door and fumbling with a lock. Her mother stood in place, her eyes narrowed and brows knitted. Even Levi stopped wailing for a moment as if he, too, was holding his breath.

Father finally finished with the locks and turned around, resting his back heavily on the door. He squinted his eyes and looked at his wife. "N-Nora, my love. You look l-lovely today."