Ballooning

"Ready, Taziya?" Dilan called over the growing wind.

"No!" She looked across at the eastern edge of Amber Divide and tried not to lose her lunch into the great canyon. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Because you ought to see Chachtanima! Before you get tied down to some town in the north!"

"That's what wings are for!"

"Wings?" Dilan pointed across the canyon. "This canyon is eighteen miles wide! Do you think you can fly the distance without stopping?"

"There's nothing over there anyway! It's just scrub land and cacti!" She did not mention that the canyon was much narrower in some areas. Or that there were bridges across it.

"Oh, there's more than that!" Dilan asked.

"No!"

"They say I'm descended from them." He was right up next to her now. His body blocked the wind slightly, which made her feel better, even though she knew it was the wind they had come to the high plateau for.

"You don't even believe in those stories." She tried to make her voice stop shaking.

"It's just your nerves speaking. You'll be fine."

"You can't promise that. What if I fall."

Dilan actually laughed. Two years younger than her, and here he was, laughing at her. "That's what your wings are for, silly." Then he got serious. "I've got you." He spoke so nobly, he could have been playing the role of Duntan. If he hadn't been her brother. "Ready?"

Tazyia nodded. "Let's go."

The wind was picking up even more. Dilan stayed right behind her, guiding her arms into the air. "Raise both arms. And use the thickest silk you've got. Ready? Fire!"

At his command, Taziya spun silk straight into the air. She found it harder and harder to breathe, unsure of what would come next. Then the silk snapped in the wind. Her feet began to lift off the ground, and she scrabbled to find purchase, even though she knew this was supposed to happen.

"Relax, Taziya! Let the wind carry you!" It was the last thing she heard Dilan say before she was swept upward and out over the canyon, the wind roaring in her ears. Below her she could see the enormous Thorall River, like a single strand of silk. The wind tossed her further up, and then down again. She shrieked, but each time, she was caught by a new gust. Over the canyon she flew, past the great webbed cities, past the Fishers casting their nets, past the tiny canoers paddling up and down the Thorall. And then she was over the eastern edge. Below her was scrubland. Cacti, shrubs, and tough grasses grew from what looked like barren soil. But she knew better than to assume the land of Kivika was barren.

"Close your sigots!" She heard Dilan's voice call, and she did so, cutting herself off from her fairy silk ropes. They went flying away and she began tumbling to the ground.

I'm falling, she thought for a moment before remembering her brother's words. That's what you have wings for, silly. She spread them out and caught the wind again, allowing herself to coast to the ground, out of breath.

Dilan was waiting for her. "How was that?"

Exhilarating. "Terrifying." She paused. "How long did it take us?"

Dilan grinned. "Ten minutes, maybe? It's a lot faster than flying."

Or crossing a bridge.

"Look there." Dilan nodded ahead of them, and Taziya was stunned she hadn't seen it before. 

Not more than a hundred feet away was the biggest cactus she had ever seen in her life. She couldn't see the top. And it would have taken her whole family to encircle it. And then some. "I could have flown right into that thing!"

Dilan laughed again. "Why d'you think I told you to close your spigots?"

Taziya marveled at the cactus another minute and then crossed her arms. "We couldn't have crossed a bridge to see the cactus?"

"We didn't come for the cactus." Dilan turned her and pointed her in the other direction. In the distance was a city. It looked nothing like the Tailor Sprite cities. Rather than web, it was all made of stone. If they were still in the canyons, she might have thought the inhabitants had carved it. "That is the Khäslä," her brother told her, "the oldest Shaker Sprite city. And if you're really lucky, you might even get to see them dance."

He started walking toward the city, and she chased after him. "Is it true they move the stones by dancing?"

"Yup."

"And they really don't have spinnerets?"

"Nope." He paused and waited for her.

"Dilan?"

"Yeah?'

"Do we have to wait for an east wind to get home?" Taziya asked.

"Oh no, the east winds are the dangerous ones. They usually have the lightning."

"Then how are we getting home?"

Dilan shrugged. "We'll probably take a bridge."