Two days later, Arvin had finished repairing his airship and he was settling down to a well-cooked lunch when someone hammered on his door. He went over and opened it.

“Arvin, finally. I wasn’t able to find you earlier, haven’t you heard about Matthew?” George asked and Arvin frowned.

“No? What’s happened?”

“He’s going to jump in Lake Casada from 100m.”

“What?” Arvin cried out and he immediately followed George to the airship deck. They each got their respective airships out of the storage system and set off. The highest that anyone had jumped into Lake Casada from was 60m, and even then the man had broken a leg and an arm. 100m was incredibly dangerous and Matthew could get himself killed. They flew 15 minutes down the river and arrived at Lake Casada as Monti stepped across onto Matthew’s airship.

“Matthew, this is too dangerous! None knows for sure how deep the lake is, and I don’t even know if you’ll hit the bottom from this height.”

“I’ll be fine Monti. I’ve done it hundreds of times,” Matthew said as he stood on the edge and posed for the crowd, who were waiting eagerly below.

“Not from this height! It’s always risky when you do this, but this is madness!”

“Please Matthew, listen to your brother,” Brenna begged him.

“We all do dangerous stuff Monti. Risky stuff. Why should this be any different?”

“Because it’s idiotic!” Arvin yelled and they looked at him. “Monti is begging you not to do it Matthew, you could die!”

“I don’t always do what Monti wants me to do. I take my own risks in life.”

“This is not risky. This just is madness. 100m is too high.”

“It’s not too high, and I’m less mad than all of you put together!”

“Stop this Matthew. Now,” Monti said and Matthew looked at him.

“I’ll be fine Monti. Stop complaining,” Matthew said before he jumped from his airship. Monti ran to the edge, and everyone watched as Matthew flew through the air. The boom that came from Matthew’s feet hitting the water’s surface echoed around the valley and everyone went quiet. Breanna glanced at Monti, and saw the devastatingly worried expression on his face as he waited for his brother to resurface. When Matthew did resurface, the crowd erupted in cheers of celebration and Monti sighed in relief. Arvin looked at his friend and watched as he let out a small amount of gas from Matthew’s airship before he stepped across to his own. Arvin, Brenna and George followed suit as Monti descended down to his brother, who was being helped out of the water and given towels to wrap around his body. People were cheering and clapping, but Monti was not happy. He got out of his airship and went over to him.

“You’re a moron, you know that,” He said and people around him booed.

“How can you say that? He just achieved something that none has done before!” Someone called.

“And there’s a reason why none has done it before!” Monti shouted at them before he looked back at Matthew. “You could have died.”

“I know. My feet touched the bottom,” Matthew said with a smile and Monti pushed him back into the lake. “I’ll do it again if it makes you feel better!” Matthew called.

Monti walked away and got back into his airship. It took off and Arvin, Breanna and George went to the water’s edge. People began chanting Matthew’s name and Brenna just shook her head. He’d gone too far this time, and if he kept pushing boundaries like this, one day he wouldn’t survive.

When Matthew climbed out of the water once more, Arvin was there to greet him. He and George took Matthew by his arms and lead him back to his airship. “Hey, I’m not done here. The crowd love me.”

“They don’t love you. Monti loves you and you could have just gotten yourself killed.”

“Oh, you’re just being overdramatic,” Matthew said as he enjoyed the cheers of the crowd.

“Are we?” Brenna said as they dumped him onto his airship and got into their own. “We’re going after Monti, are you coming with us?” Brenna asked as her airship began lifting up. Matthew watched as his friends took off, and he looked back at the cheering crowd. Everyone loved him, but those whom he truly loved were angry with him. He began rising up in his airship and took off after them. Soon, he caught up and found them resting on a high mountain plateau. “And here he is,” Breanna said as Matthew walked over to them.

“Yes,” Matthew replied before he sat down.

“I hate this Matthew,” Monti said after a moment. “I hate you, going after the crowds and doing dangerous stunts just for a few cheers. I love you. You’re my only brother and I. I can’t lose you.”

“I know.”

“I watch you climb without a rope, ski down glaciers filled with hidden crevasses and you don’t plan properly for your route. I don’t want to be called out for you Matthew, as I fear that it will not end well,” Monti said and Matthew felt guilt rising in his stomach. He knew that Monti worked as a leader for a rescue team, that he spent his life saving people and that he’d seen some pretty horrific things. So far, Matthew had been lucky, but he knew that his luck wouldn’t last forever. He was taking big risks, bigger ones than he should be taking, but he didn’t want to confront Monti about them. He didn’t want to lose him. Monti was his brother too.

“I know and I’m sorry. I don’t plan as much as I should, and I know that it is dangerous.”

“It’s very dangerous and reckless not to plan. It’s only a matter of time until something goes seriously wrong. I know why you do it Matthew. You want to prove yourself, and you want to go higher, faster, deeper, further. Look, I’ll always be there. Belaying you, skiing beside you and keeping you focused when you’re traversing round the edge of a cliff. Remember when you were younger? You were terrified.”

“I was.”

“And I helped you. I helped you conquer your fear, but now I’m the one that’s scared.”

“I know Monti. I know, and I love you. All of these crazy things, I don’t do them without you in mind,” Matthew said and Monti looked up at him. “I don’t want you to bury me.”

“Please,” Monti said as tears filled up his eyes. “Please, just. Just listen to me. Not all the time. Just sometimes. I know how much you love doing these things, but sometimes you just have to stop and think. Just plan. Plan a little for me and that will make it safer.”

“I will try to Matthew, I’m sorry,” Matthew said and everyone became quiet. They camped on the high mountain plateau that night and thoughts of risk filled Arvin’s mind. He couldn’t get Talia or Auksand out of his head. By the time they were all settling down to bed, a thought came to Arvin.

“We should visit them.”

“Visit what?”

“The cities.”

“All of them?”

“No, but some. We could start with Saoulhul to the north-west of us, then work our way to Lila and Seatle. This idea they have of MA being like a disease, infecting people and causing them to act recklessly, could be more widespread than Auksand. Seatle has become a skeleton city through poisonous air from the earth and not from an outsider spreading MA. This new form of disease, as they believe it to be, is nothing compared to the real disease that will come upon them if they lock themselves away.”

“You’re saying that we need to try and prevent them from killing themselves?”

“Yes. Seatle locked their gates not 100 years past, and now everyone inside is dead.”

“If they have made up their minds, there is not much that we can do.”

“We have to try George.”

“And how would we, a crew of outsiders, help in this pandemic where they believe that we are the problem?”

“By showing that we’re not. Not that long ago, they accepted us and welcomed us as a vital part of their society.”

“There may be hope for places like Lila and Saoulhul, who have a strong history with aeronauts.”

“But even the markets at Saoulhul are getting smaller and quieter, with less joy than years past,” Monti told Arvin.

“I am aware of that, but you also forget that to most cities, Seatle is only a myth. They do not see how eliminating all risk could be bad, and that actively seeking out something that is risky, could be good. They are digging graves for themselves in an effort to feel safe in an unsafe world. If we let them shut themselves off from the world, they’ll die.”

“I agree. We should at least try, or at the very least find out what’s going on.”

“Ok. We’ll start with Saoulhul,” Monti said and the others murmured in agreement.