Chapter 19: Cities in the Sky

The sand skiff cut through morning air like a blade through silk, each moment carrying them further from the mountains that had changed everything. Hannah kept one hand steady on the controls while the other found Thomas’s arm beside her, his small warmth a constant reminder of everything they’d gained and everything they still had to protect. The mountains behind them painted memories against the sky – peaks that had witnessed their transformation from desperate travelers to keepers of legend.

Thomas leaned against her side, Sebastian clicking contentedly in his pocket, while the wind played with his hair in ways that reminded Hannah of James. But there was something new in her son’s bearing now – a quiet confidence that seemed to have taken root during their mountain stay, sprouting like those stubborn plants that found life in stone.

“Do you think they have cities in the sky?” he asked suddenly, his voice carrying notes of dream and wonder. “Where Galdor comes from, I mean. Cities where skyrazers nest in towers and children learn to ride before they walk?”

Hannah smiled, remembering how Galdor’s tales had painted pictures of impossible beauty in the crystal-lit darkness of his sanctuary. “Perhaps they do, love. Perhaps they do.”

“I can almost see it,” Thomas continued, his words full of dreams and hope. “Buildings that touch the clouds, bridges made of morning light, and everywhere you look – skyrazers, gleaming like living jewels against the sun.” He spread his arms wide, nearly bumping the controls in his enthusiasm, mimicking Kyra’s magnificent wingspan. “And no one there ever has trouble breathing, because the air is so clean it feels like drinking starlight.”

The Wastes stretched endless around them, but somehow it felt different now. The sunlight caught the sand in ways that made Hannah think of Kyra’s feathers – that impossible sheen that spoke of worlds beyond their knowing. Even the air seemed different, as if their encounter with beings of legend had altered how they perceived the ordinary world.

Thomas pulled Sebastian from his pocket, holding the mechanical mouse up to catch the light. “Do you think Sebastian would like to ride a skyrazer?” he asked, his voice thoughtful. “Maybe we could build him tiny wings, like Kyra’s, but sized for mice instead.”

Hannah laughed, the sound carrying away on the wind like scattered gems. “I think Sebastian is perfect just as he is,” she said, watching the mouse’s copper whiskers twitch in the morning light. “Though I suppose a mechanical mouse who is friends with a skyrazer isn’t any stranger than anything else we’ve seen.”

They fell into comfortable silence, broken only by Sebastian’s gentle whirring and the steady hum of the sandskiff’s engine. Hannah found her thoughts drifting back to the crystal-lit cavern, to Galdor’s tales of his homeland. She wondered what other wonders existed beyond their knowledge, what other impossibilities might become real if only they dared to believe in them.

“I’m going to learn everything about healing,” Thomas declared after a while, his voice carrying that tone of absolute certainty that only children can truly manage. “Not just people-healing like we thought before, but beast-healing too. And someday…” He turned to her, his eyes bright with purpose, “someday we’ll go back to those mountains. We’ll heal Kyra’s wing, and maybe… maybe she’ll show us how to touch the sky.”

Hannah felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes, but they were different from the tears she’d shed so often in Coghaven. These were born of hope rather than despair, of possibilities rather than limitations. “That’s a fine dream, love,” she said softly, pulling him closer against her side. “A fine dream indeed.”

The sun climbed higher as they traveled, painting the waste in shades of gold that seemed to hold echoes of their mountain adventures.

“Mama,” Thomas said suddenly, his voice carrying the weight of important thoughts, “Do you think Papa knew? About Galdor and Kyra, I mean. When he hid the crate there?”

Hannah considered this, remembering James’s careful directions, his precise maps. “I don’t think so, love. But your father always said the mountains choose what they share, and with whom they share it. Perhaps they chose to share their greatest secret with us, because they knew we needed more than just crystals to find our way home.”

As Steelwatch’s distant spires began to emerge from the horizon’s embrace, Hannah felt something settle in her soul – a certainty as solid as mountain stone. They carried more than just power crystals from their journey. They carried stories that would shape Thomas’s dreams, memories that would light their way through whatever darkness lay ahead and promises that had been witnessed by heights where earth and sky exchanged their oldest secrets.

The Wastes might stretch endless around them, but they were no longer the same people who had crossed it in desperate hope just days before. Now they carried mountains in their hearts, and the whispered knowledge that somewhere in the world, skyrazers danced with clouds while their riders dreamed of home.

Hannah steered them toward Steelwatch with steady hands, understanding that sometimes the greatest treasures weren’t the ones you set out to find, but the ones that found you along the way – like mountain sanctuaries, mechanical mice, and the unshakeable certainty that magic still existed in the world, wearing faces both beautiful and fierce.

In her heart, she held each memory like a power crystal, knowing they would light their way through whatever challenges lay ahead. For now, though, she simply savored the warmth of her son against her side, the rhythm of his breathing matching the pulse of their journey home, while behind them, the mountains kept their ancient watch, holders of secrets and keepers of promises yet to be fulfilled.