(Author's note: Images are on temporary hiatus for the next few days. I had... technical problems with this week's batch that I only discovered this morning. Yay!)
My worldview... has expanded. Substantially.
Before I left home, there was one world. That world was Villeinville, may it rest in peace. After I left home, there were two worlds: 'everything else' and the castle. May it... also rest in peace. Once I'd died, the worlds multiplied - Pubton was a world, the Indy Plains were a world, the territory of the Non a world... and everything out west, yep, a world.
Now I'm on a cloud. I've come to the conclusion that there are just thousands of worlds, and I should give up counting.
Above The Sky, which I've come to call this particular subset of creation, is weird and fantastic. I've never been anywhere so utterly alien in my life, and for all its dangers, I wonder if I should retire here. I rather like this place.
We'll start with the ground. The ground is white. The ground is soft. The ground is bouncy, and pliable, and pillowy - yet firm. There's never any risk that you'll suddenly fall through the ground, plummet a few miles, and hit the real ground. This is exactly what I'd always imagined of standing on a cloud.
But there more than just clouds up here. There's running water. And rocks. And plants that look like they're made of soap bubbles. And grass that's so velvety red you swear you're staring at roses. Above The Sky is a complete ecosystem, one watched over by the sun regardless of the time of day (I don't know how that's possible, though), and as you move from one fluffy island to the next you begin to realize that the people who live on the ground have no idea what they're missing. I certainly had no clue what it was like to travel on the clouds.
Kinda sucks to run out of air so quickly, mind. Oxygen's reeeeeeeal thin up here, and you have to rest often. But I can handle that much.
We spent most of today getting our bearings. We did our best to keep our location comparative to Rodentia in mind, as you can't see the city from up here, but the battle with the dragon last week threw us off. We need to know so we can figure out where to begin the search for Libby. Not a great beginning, I'll admit, but no one wants to scramble back down the Stalk to check. I'm not sure how much knowing would help us anyway - Libby's Micro-Dragon could've carried her anywhere by now.
(... hrm. Didn't think of that before. The damned thing better still be up here... surely she woulda unsaddled herself, or something...)
Nevertheless, the search begins in earnest tomorrow. Antonio says he's used to the thin air already, and Grylock didn't seem that bothered in the first place, so we humans should catch up relatively quick. As soon as we get past huffing for breath every time we go for a walk we'll be ready to hunt my wife down and drag her back to the Dauphine.
It's a shame we don't have the whole of Pubton with us. I'd make 'em clamber up the Stalk and set up camp here instead. Maybe just burn up the Stalk and live here permanently, where the Non and the Imperium can't get at us.
Hm.
An idea to consider.
Best you pardon me, now. There are many dragon leftovers, and my stomach is rumbling. Gonna need half an hour to spark up a fire... stupid thin air...
Sincerely,
Dragomir the Wanderer
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