Over the Edge

The first skycutter bound for Azeroth rested at the edge of Zephras Isle beneath a constant rush of wind, surrounded by crew, officials, supplies, and enough curious onlookers to make the departure feel like a holiday. Everyone understood the significance of the journey. For ten thousand years, Azeroth had existed for the Skyborne through stories passed from one generation to another. Now, for the first time, a delegation would leave Skywall and make contact with the Kirin Tor.

Akiri had been watching the preparations for most of the morning. "That's the first one?" she asked.

Neptua kept her attention on the work in front of her. "Yes."

"The first skycutter actually going to Azeroth?"

"Yes, Akiri."

"Actual Azeroth."

Neptua finally looked at her. "There is only one Azeroth."

Akiri thought about that for a moment. "That we know of."

"Akiri..." Neptua said, sounding exhausted.

She had already turned back toward the skycutter. The delegation had begun boarding, and Akiri looked far too interested. Her ears lifted slightly. Her eyes narrowed with intent.

Neptua knew that expression. "No."

Akiri looked back at her. "I didn't say anything."

"You do not need to. You have that look."

Akiri frowned. "What look?"

"The one that makes being your older sister a full-time job."

Akiri drew herself up with injured dignity. "That is incredibly rude. I am an adorable and perfectly behaved little sister." She folded her arms and looked away with a mischievous smile.

Neptua pointed at her and spoke in a stern tone. "No."

Getting onto the skycutter turned out to be remarkably easy. Security was not especially tight because this was not something anyone here had done before. Akiri waited until nobody was looking and slipped aboard, curling up against the inner hull with her satchel in her lap and a look of tremendous satisfaction on her face.

The satisfaction lasted for roughly three minutes. Stowing away, Akiri discovered, involved a great deal more waiting than she had anticipated. She shifted position, then shifted again. Eventually she opened her satchel and took inventory of everything she had brought with her: bread and three apples.

A well-planned adventure indeed.

A few minutes later, the hull moved. Voices carried through the cargo hold as the crew called to one another, lines were released, and the skycutter began to pull away from the island.

Akiri stopped fidgeting.

For eighteen years, Zephras had been the entire physical world she knew. Everything beyond it belonged to Skywall, an endless expanse of air and elemental forces with no distant continent waiting past the edge and no earth beneath the island. Azeroth had always existed somewhere outside that reality, preserved in stories so old that most of the people telling them had inherited them from someone else.

The flight did not last long, but neither did her patience. She could feel the moment they passed through to Azeroth. The ship flew differently. Then it began to descend. Descending meant there was something below. There had never been anything below.

Her eyes widened. She was there. Or at least close enough. The realization lasted all of a few seconds before her need to see overwhelmed her ability to remain hidden. She climbed over the nearest crate, nearly knocked another one aside, froze when footsteps paused beyond the cargo hold, and waited until they continued. Four seconds seemed sufficiently cautious.

By the time the skycutter approached Dalaran, the Skyborne delegation had assembled near the boarding ramp. The people waiting below were representatives of the Kirin Tor. For everyone involved, the moment carried the weight of history. Everyone but Akiri.

The skycutter drifted into place. The ramp was lowered. A Skyborne emissary stepped forward and regarded the waiting mages of Dalaran. The Kirin Tor representatives welcomed the delegation and began leading them inside.

A laugh rang out from somewhere above them. It was bright, delighted, and completely out of place. A few of the emissaries stopped and looked back while the rest continued inside with the Kirin Tor.

Akiri stood balanced on the upper rail of the skycutter, copper-red hair whipping in the wind, one hand gripping a rope as she leaned out over the side with an expression of absolute wonder.

One of the delegation members narrowed her eyes. "I think that's the younger Cloudsong girl. I know her parents."

She glanced back toward the main group, who did not seem to have noticed the interruption, then looked up at Akiri. "Cloudsong! Get back in the cargo hold and do not cause us any trouble!"

Akiri released the rail, threw both arms into the air, and shouted, "AHAHAHAHAHA! IT'S REAL! AZEROTH IS REAL!" She looked down at the delegation, grinning so broadly that any hope of reasoning with her died immediately. "I'M FREEEEEEEEEE-!"

She jumped.

The delegation member pinched the bridge of her nose as Akiri floated off into the unknown, drifting through the air with her arms spread wide and her copper hair streaming above her.

"-EEEEeeeEEEeeeEEE!" Akiri laughed all the way down. Her bare feet touched Azerothian grass, then she was running.

The emissary hurried to the edge of the platform and watched her disappear into the distance. After a moment, she turned back toward the only other delegate who had remained behind. "Let's... not mention this to anyone until we get back."

Back on Zephras Isle, Neptua Cloudsong paused in the middle of what she was doing. Something felt wrong.

She stood quietly for a moment, listening. The house was silent.

Neptua frowned. Akiri was rarely silent. Even when reading, she muttered to herself. When practicing magic, something invariably hummed, snapped, sparked, or exploded. When she was bored, everyone nearby generally became aware of it.

Neptua slowly looked toward the doorway. "It's quiet." Her eyes narrowed. "Too quiet." Then she remembered what had departed that morning. Neptua went very still. "Oh." Her gaze shifted toward the distant edge of the island. "Oh, no."

She closed her eyes. Of course Akiri had. After a long moment, Neptua exhaled through her nose and began gathering her things. Someone was going to have to go get her sister.