SKY OF PAPER: AN ASIAN STEAMPUNK FANTASY

CHAPTER 21

I sat on the bed.

Though confused and scared there was some comfort in knowing that the old man was present. He closed the hatch, shuffled towards me, then carefully widened one of my eyes and gave a curious grunt.

"Silver," he uttered in triumph. "Definitely silver. If anyone tells you they're gray or the color of fish scales, you tell them that the old man says that they are a bright, glistening silver and nothing else."

He pulled a chair and settled himself down in front of me.

"Now little trout," he said, plopping his hands energetically onto his lap. "I hear you tried to run away. I don't suppose you knew where you were going."

"No," I confessed. "After we left the tea house, we just stopped. There was no place for us to go."

"Well in my opinion, you certainly did not run away. All you did was take a small stroll. I imagine being cooped up in a rickety building with nothing to do but chores surely warrants a bit of a refreshing walk through the streets of the capital.

Of course, convincing Miss Nishio of this is going to be a far more challenging matter. She see's you as an investment. And she certainly can't have her potential profits go running off when they please. I suppose she may forgive you in time, but Madame Quoli will most certainly keep a closer eye on you from now on."

"So I'm not going back to the temple?"

He gave an exaggerated chuckle as if he were hiding a deep feeling of concern for me.

"No. The only thing that waits for you there is a lifetime of servitude."

"But I heard Madame Quoli say that I was worthless."

"Yes, you probably did. But did you believe it?"

I gripped the sheets and tugged at them angrily.

"No. I’m not worthless. How can anyone think that of me? How can they?"

"And when she came to see me, that is exactly what I told her, little trout. How can she, a simple business woman, understand our ways? She may not understand what it means to bear the gifts that you have, but you are going to prove to her that there is truth in my claim and yours."

The hatch screeched open and Kassashimei sauntered in. She wore faded rubber overalls and her hands and face were smeared with soot and grease. To see her in such a slovenly state was certainly a rare and shocking moment for me. She had a frustrated gleam in her eyes that accented her dirty appearance, making her seem more wild than sane.

At first I was surprised to see her come in so suddenly, then it turned to feelings of concern, but that was only for a short moment as my pity gave way to a smirk that slowly crept across my lips. I suppose that annoyed her, because she threw a dirty rag at me and stomped incessantly like a small child.

"Do you know how selfish you are?" she growled. "You've been sleeping for the past three days while the hag has been making me do both your chores and mine. And now she has me cleaning the pipes on this stupid ship. It's not even hers. But the hag told the captain that I had a penance to work off. And now here you are, waking up like some prince and you have the nerve to mock me?"

Her tantrum only emboldened my heartless sneer.

"By hag, do you mean Madame Quoli?"

"She's not a madame, she's a stupid hag," she said, throwing another dirty rag, this time hitting me square in the face.

"Now that the both of you are together again," the old man said light heartedly. "It is time we put any doubts about your skills to rest."

The common man aboard a Rui Nan air vessel learns that it moves skywards with the help of powerful, steam engines which exhumes an unexplained, but vaguely scientific force that allows the ship to push forward through the sky. During the era of my youth, such explanations were only half of the truth. The engines certainly made the ship go much faster, but in reality, they really weren't needed. As a matter of fact, they did nothing to float the vessel. Such a task was given to us.