After everyone settled into the airship, Northern and Eisha went down to say their goodbyes to Anike. It wasn't going to be final—Northern had a feeling they would see each other again. Anike said as much herself.
But he most certainly wouldn't get the chance to visit here again for a long time. His mother too, since they wanted to stick around now that they'd found something worth staying for.
Afterwards, they ascended back to the airship as it groaned to life. The storms surrounding its hull crackled with contained fury, and the engines roared to life—silently, somehow, that contradiction of power and quiet that still unsettled him.
As soon as Northern and Eisha arrived on deck, the massive Thunderhead pierced forward with its bow, drifting across the sky. First with a slow movement, like a colossal sky beast testing the wind. Then it vanished with incomprehensible speed, swallowed by distance in a heartbeat.
