Kathryn watched the shifting sands of the great desert. The rise and fall of the reddish yellow sand dunes acting like a sea in slow motion. The large Fluyt ships sailing this sand sea as their copper prows in the shape of large knives cut through the sand with their large sails giving them momentum. She wanted to be an aeromancer helping pilot these magnificent ships. It was such a magnificent sight to see the ships cutting through the tops of the dunes, sending an explosion of sand out from were the prow cut through the cresting waves.

She sighed wistfully as she watched another ship launch from Veta’s sand harbor.

It was a palari ship with a two story house on the back end, on top of that was the steering wheel and it was crawling with sailors. Almost all had their chests bare with loose wrappings around their heads denoting them as part of the traveling folk of the desert. Traveling by Kutshush and Marils when the sands could be walked upon.

The Kutshush were huge beetles capable of holding a small house on their backs when fully grown with the Marils being lizards with short wings for forearms that helped them keep their immense speed to the ground like oars for the air.

Looking down she smiled as the bubbling sand bellow burbled a little up at her. She was still so fascinated with the fact that under the great desert was a gate or rift leading to the plane of air. The air of the plane spiraled out in hurricane winds and filled up the honeycomb of caverns and underground passages which then moved upwards, causing the sand to bubble and act almost like water for a year every five years as Imerith was brought into proximity to the plane of air and out of the reach of the other four planes.

Looking up she saw one of the rare air ships gliding through a cloud as it arrived from one of the dwarven cities in the west. Dhum Darihm she thought the city state was called. The needle shaped clipper grew wider at the end were the ether engines filled the hull with enough magic to float on the air despite their usually filled holds. Two oval like shapes were at the bottom of the aft part of the ship from which two sails came out off and housed the propulsion for the ship to move.

A huge sail served as the rudder for the ship as it not only sailed but somehow flew through the air. Blending together the movements of gliders with those of ships in a graceful manner that filled her with envy.

“Lady Arthegn.” The voice of her bodyguard dragged her out of her reverie from watching the ships. She looked over to the gruff dwarf, his half plate armor was enchanted to increase his speed and agility to the point of a fast human’s ability. With his natural stockiness, stamina and strength it made him a fearsome fighter. Only his stoic personality which made him call her lady all the time was the only thing that she’d change about the man. Then again he was sort of like her uncle so she guessed it was also mischief on his part.

“I’m not a noble Thordroki Shatterguard.” She said, using his full name to annoy him much like he did towards her. The slight raise of the corner of his beard told her that he knew just what she was doing. She ended up simply giving him a demure snort of annoyance.

“Besides, what are you trying to get my attention for? I thought I had the day off.” She said as she stood up from the pier she had been sitting on.

“I’m simply trying to make you get out of this area. It is dangerous not only because of the workforce tending to the ships and the chances of accidents.” He paused as he looked over to one of the alleys that separated the large warehouses in the pier district of the city. “There are other more unsavory aspects to the capital city.” He almost grumbled.

Kathryn almost rolled her eyes at him but had to dodge a worker carrying a few long boards for ship repair as he walked past them. She waved as the man hurriedly excused himself for almost slamming the planks into the side of her head.

The gruff dwarf laughed a little at Kathryn’s embarrassed face. “You have to look around you girl. Can’t have a merchant’s daughter with her head in the clouds now can we, eh?” He said as his teeth showed through his wiry brown beard his deep brown eyes equally shining with mirth.

Clenching her teeth in annoyance at the man. “Perhaps I should set your beard on fire… again?” She said threateningly but she flinched at the dark look the dwarf gave her.

“While I’m not against a shave little lady but I think any man will be angry if their facial hair is set on fire. So I’d say keep that in mind for your future husband prospects.” He said gruffly before gently nudging Kathryn on her way. All the while Kathryn was flustered and attempting to get away from his nudges though soon sighing heavily as the dwarf’s attempts had her marching out of the pier district.

Right as she was leaving the district she looked over her shoulder in exacerbation and noticed a peculiar sight. A raven was perched on top of one of the moon stone lamps that would light up the city once darkness fully fell. It was strange, a white beak and markings on it’s head almost as if it’s very skull was showing. The same white markings also flowed down the very edges of its wings, something she didn’t notice until it it spread it’s wings.

She felt a slight shiver run down her spine as the raven looked right at her, as if studying her closely before it took flight. For a split second she could swear she saw a small puff of black smoke right at the spot the raven flew away from.

“A familiar?” She wondered as the raven soared up into the air and headed deeper into the city.

“A what? Is your head still in the clouds Lady Arthegn?” Thordroki said as he looked from her and to were she was looking, noticing the raven right before it disappeared. “And now it’s flying birds.” She sighed as he continued to nudge her back on her way. “I think your father won’t be very happy with you always looking on at magic pertaining to the air and sky. Especially when you supposedly have a talent with fire magic.” He said while unconsciously brushing his hand through his beard, as if trying to make sure no embers had sneaked into it.

Noticing that Kathryn felt guilty, she had little to no control over her magic and the one time she had manged to manifest it she’d set her fathers eyebrows and Thotdroki’s beard a flame. She felt it build up every time she saw the few books singed at the edges at times as it had happened in her father’s study.

It was the entire reason they had moved parts of her father’s business to Veta so she could join the capital academy of magic.

She had grown up with a view over settler’s point and it’s expansive harbors. She’d fallen in love with the rare sight of sky ships over head docking at the huge tower built for that very purpose. When she had arrived to Veta she’d fallen in love all over again with the view of the sand harbor and the two huge sky docks were the eight sky ships of the Alocian empire docked.

She’d asked her father if their company could acquire one so she could see the view from their decks. Only to get a lecture on the incredible cost of the ether engines and the mana stone hogs that those very engines were. It was no wonder that the ships were so incredibly rare as the main component of those engines was a rod of a special blend of mana stones, Celestial iron and Stygian steel with an adamantium casing to contain the power this produced.

If those metals weren’t rare enough then the last ingredient was by far the hardest to obtain. Something called mimic gas, somehow created through a mixture of the blood of mimics and powerful flying beasts and a secret ingredient.

Thordroki simply shook his head as he guided his charge while her head was back in the clouds. Grumbling all the while about wanting to just sit by a fire with a nice steak and a fine wine in his hand.