Starfall

Chapter 10 - Ben

Watching Elyse sleep was not what I had in mind coming into this excursion, but it's all I find myself doing at the moment. Her hammock swings gently back and forth, and I let my drowsy gaze follow the free strands of her hair that hang out the side of the cloth. I can't see her face, but by the absence of her movements and the soft breath of her sleep, she seems peaceful.

Leola's in one of the extra compartments in the lower deck, snoring quietly. I sit beside the opened trapdoor, letting my feet dangle as I listen to the sky's low hum. Kamal is silent at the helm. The darkness of the ship is somewhat comforting, though, even with the slow passing of the night hours. It's a new environment for me, a new experience, and somehow it feels okay.

When I pull in a long breath to take a yawn, Kamal looks over his shoulder at me.

"Oh, I thought you were asleep," he says quietly, turning back to the deep navy sky.

I lean back on my hands and let my head dangle back. "I've always been sort of nocturnal." It's not a lie; I go after most of my marks in the night.

The soft hush falls back into place. Together, we exist—we exist in a kind of unity that doesn't need to be forced. Even though I'm new here, and even though I seem to have barged into this found family and ruined their plans, I don't feel like too much of an outsider. When we played cards, it wasn't awkward like it has been. It was more easygoing.

I just hope it stays that way.

We sit in comfortable silence until my voice, with a mind of its own, finds it necessary to break the harmony.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Kamal nods. "Go for it."

There's a hesitation in my throat before my voice reappears. "How do you know where to go?" His head tilts in confusion, so I try again. "I mean, like, how do you know where you are when you're flying? How can you tell where we are, or where we're headed?"

He glances back with a smile. "Ever heard of a compass?"

"Well, yeah. But what if you get . . . lost? Or you get off course?"

"We go where the wind takes us."

A frown furrows its way through my forehead. "Doesn't the wind change directions?"

Kamal is silent for a moment. I watch as the thoughts turn over in his head, one after the other. Then he stands from his seat, offering for me to sit.

"That's the thing about flying. Especially with Elyse," he says as I lower into the chair, setting my hands on the wheel. It feels resistant to move beneath my grip.

The world seems open to me from here. I can see below me, above me, all around in every direction. It's as if the night sky is mine—I am in it and it is with me. The stars move around us; the darkness pushes us forward.

"Sometimes the wind works with us," Kamal explains, turning the wheel slightly, "and sometimes it doesn't." He keeps turning it until the ship softly jerks, suddenly slowing down. We're still flying—just not as fast anymore. "Not everyone rides the wind. Usually the electric-motored ships don't, since there's less sail and more power. But with our last ship, we didn't have a motor. So we rode the wind. And that's what we'll keep doing."

He lets me readjust the wheel. When the sails catch the rest of the wind, we lurch forward, speeding back up.

"What if the wind currents don't take you where you need to go?" I ask, leaning forward and looking up at the darkest part of the sky where the stars shine brightest.

I wait for him to answer, but he never does. I glance his way and see that he's staring off, a smirk hanging off his lips.

So I turn back to the wheel and watch the world below us pass. I can't see much since it's so dark and we're so high up, but I can see that the plains have turned to an unending forest. It's still relatively flat—on the horizon, though, the trees swoop up and down, forming a hilly base for a monstrous mountain.