Two days passed without incident or excitement. The third brought their first windstorm, and as theorized, the winds it produced were stronger, as the windstone in the heart of it had had less time to weaken. It was with some anxiety that Fenric engaged the purewind stabilizer to counter those winds, fearful that his beloved invention would fail them the very first time it was needed. But his fears were unfounded, for the device performed marvelously. Once the stabilizer had been activated, the turbulence cleared at once, granting the shuttle such steadiness that it seemed as if it weren't moving at all. Fenric exhaled the nervous breath he had been holding upon activating the stabilizer, and his anxiety was replaced with excitement. Knowing that they now sailed in skies that no other human had in the seven centuries their species lived above the clouds--and that it was his invention that allowed them to do so--lifted his heart and put a proud smile on his face. That pride was only magnified upon the praises of his friends for his invention.

"So, how long do we intend to fly?" Eldin asked later that day.

"We have fuel and food only for seventy-five days," Fenric said. "If we can't find anything shortly after a month, we'll be forced to turn back."

"And then what?"

"Then I make modifications to the purewind stabilizer so that it can protect a larger shuttle with a greater capacity for fuel. Then we send another expedition out. Although, it might take a year or more to improve the device enough to be able to achieve that."

Eldin frowned, clearly displeased. "We don't have time to go back and forth like that."

"Then we better hope we find something," Inpheria said idly while writing in her journal.

Eldin groaned in annoyance, then collapsed into a seat. He closed his eyes, as if to nap.

"Fen," Inpheria said, "what is the rate of windstone consumption in your purewind stabilizer?"

"Just over point zero one two eight," Fenric answered.

"That is remarkably efficient for what surely requires a great deal of energy. How did you manage that?"

"By diverting some of the purewind exhaust from the engines to the stabilizer, I was able to offset some of the energy costs from the machine itself."

"Oh? How much?"

"The addition of the purewind diverter led to an increase in efficiency of just over seven percent."

Inpheria nodded appreciatively. "It truly is a marvel of engineering."

"Why don't we talk about something interesting?" Eldin interjected. He still lounged in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, but had apparently been listening.

"Oh, hush now," Inpheria said. "The smart people are talking."

Eldin shot up. "Hey, I'm smart! It took a long time to memorize the patterns of a windstorm."

Inpheria barked a single laugh. "Yes, congratulations--you know one thing and nothing else. I wouldn't be surprised if your brain is just one giant windstone."

"It'd be a giant windstone brain put to good use at least! I have the highest capture rate of all the Windchasers. I work very hard for the ship."

"Is that why you spend so much time napping in between windstorms?"

"Windchasing is very taxing work. My body needs rest after a hunt."

"You work for twenty minutes twice a week, El."

Eldin wagged his finger at Inpheria and said, "Just goes to show how hard I work during those twenty minutes." She laughed and they smiled at each other--holding it just an instant longer than what would be considered simply friendly. Fenric smiled to himself at the exchange, always amused at the flirtations between his friends, but perked up when Eldin said, "This stabilizer thing--is that what you've been working on all year, Fen?"

"Mostly, yes."

"I've barely seen you lately. I thought you were working on something, you know, cool."

"If my wonder of windstone engineering does not impress you, El," Fenric began, huffing a bit at Eldin's insinuation that his purewind stabilizer wasn't cool, "then perhaps this will."

That got his attention. Eldin sat upright, watching Fenric dig into his travel bag before retrieving from it a thin metal tube set into a wooden base, curved slightly at one end and adorned with some metal attachments.

"This is a little side project I've been working on alongside the purewind stabilizer," Fenric said proudly.

"What is it?" Eldin said, frowning.

"Why, it's a pistol!" Inpheria exclaimed.

"Yes, it's a-- Wait, how did you know that?"

"You forget who manages the books in the Ventus's archives," Inpheria said. "Some years ago I found an old text on warfare from before the Ascension. It was a very interesting read."

"Can someone tell me what a pistol is?" Eldin interjected.

Inpheria closed her eyes and smiled in the way that she always did before giving some educational lecture. "It's an ancient weapon that was formerly used by humans before we took flight on the Ventus. With it, one may fire a small projectile at great velocity to pierce one's target from afar. However, the ammunition and gunpowder required to operate the weapon are resources that we can no longer readily obtain, living above the clouds as we do, so pistols quickly fell into disuse after the launching of the Ventus."

Eldin made a sound expressing fascination, and Inpheria's smile broadened at being able to interest someone with her scholarly instruction. Fenric knew she loved to impress that boy, though Eldin would die an old man before he realized it.

Fenric coughed, shoving aside the minor annoyance he felt at Inpheria for spoiling his surprise, and said, "Yes, yes, Inphy is right. However, I have modified the design to be able to use windstones as both fuel and ammunition. Upon pulling this trigger, the hammer falls upon this little part here. On the inside of the barrel the loaded windstone is given a sharp tap with a piece of metal made of an alloy that we have discovered serves as an artificial trigger for the windstone's powers. The windstone, upon making contact with that alloy, discharges six point eighteen percent of its purewind. Tucked inside of the chamber as it is, the massive pressure of that purewind propels the windstone out of the barrel at deadly speed."

"Wow," Eldin said. "That is pretty cool." Fenric beamed at the praise. Perhaps he was no different than Inpheria. Eldin had always been the beating heart of the Zephyrs and was revered by the other two, each in their own ways.

"What inspired you to make this?" Inpheria asked.

Fenric glanced at Eldin, considering telling the full truth. Unlike Eldin, Fenric had no affinity with the windstones whatsoever. As a child, he tried over and over to summon great blasts of purewind, but could never manage even a single knot. It devastated him, even more so when he befriended Eldin and was forced to watch his friend soar into popularity and prestige for his expert handling of purewind. He wanted to do something great and earn the respect of others, so when his dreams of Windchasing were crushed, he devoted his time and effort into the engineering work he had discovered some talent for. His work on the stabilizer, the windstone pistol, and everything else has been simply to be able to stand side-by-side with the best friend he looked up to, and feel worthy of it.

He decided against admitting all of that, however, instead giving a more practical answer. "Our foraging teams struggle with hostile wildlife. Windchasers have the advantage of mobility in the sky, but those in the crew who hunt for the Ventus's food--those who can't use the windstones--have always had to rely on mere swords to defend themselves. It is dangerous work, so I made the windstone pistol to give us a better advantage during hunts. With just a pull of the trigger, anyone can shoot down a--"

"Cloudhawk," Eldin said.

"Yes, that's what I was about to say. With a pistol, anyone can--"

"No," Eldin said. He then pointed out the port behind Fenric, who turned around and struggled to see anything for a moment before spotting a vague white shape in the distance approaching at speed. "Cloudhawk," Eldin repeated, firmly, and Fenric now heard the tension in his voice.

"Damn it," Fenric cursed, rushing to the port. "And where there's one--" Before he could finish his sentence, a second cloudhawk, and then a third, descended into view from far above to join the first. A fourth and a fifth followed shortly after.

Fenric and Eldin eyed each other anxiously. Every man and woman aboard the Ventus knew of the territorial aggressiveness of cloudhawks. Larger and heavier than any flying creature ought to be, the great bulk of a cloudhawk's body--easily twice the size of a grown man--was supported by a pair of colossal wings, the wingspan of which measured several meters. The beating of those powerful wings propelled the cloudhawk at remarkable speeds to slam into shuttles and break the glass of the ports, allowing other cloudhawks to reach inside to grasp at the men and women inside. Many sailors and civilians aboard the ship had known one person or another who had been carried off by a cloudhawk, never to be seen again.

"Inphy," Eldin said, his carefree attitude dropped in an instant. "Stay at the back of the shuttle, away from the ports." When she obeyed, wide-eyed, he dashed to his travel bag, and from it collected a pair of Windchaser vambraces. Used for self-defense, the braces wrapped around one's wrists and were lined with a row of sharp metal blades on the outer sides.

Fenric went to the shuttle's weapon locker to strap a saber to his waist, then to his personal travel bag to fill his pocket with a handful of windstones. He loaded one of them into his pistol, then, at the helm, engaged the shuttle doors. They opened with a whoosh, the wind from the vessel's swift passage whipping through the shuttle to flutter Fenric's long coat and Inpheria's skirts. Eldin, in the windsuit he never seemed to take off, stood at the doors with a hand on the upper rail to steady himself in the rushing winds. In Eldin's other hand, Fenric knew he gripped a windstone. Eldin looked back at Fenric, nodded, then extended his arms outward to spread his wings before summoning a powerful blast of purewind to propel him out of the shuttle and into the open air, spinning several times until producing another gust from below to send him skyward to meet the enemy.

Fenric walked to stand at the open shuttle doors, pistol in hand, watching the cloudhawks approach. They were close enough now for him to see the beasts in full, monstrous detail. Unlike regular hawks, cloudhawks possessed two arms in addition to their legs, and they used the talons of their forelegs like hands to grip their prey while tearing into flesh with their beaks. They had sharp, intelligent eyes that suggested a sort of higher understanding than that of a simple beast. The cloudhawks had evolved to possess feathers as white as snow to camouflage them in the sea of clouds, and it was only their yellowish beaks and black talons that deviated from this color.

Fenric watched as the first three took turns harrying Eldin, attempting to grasp him with their foretalons as they made swift passes. But the captain of the Windchasers was in his element in the sky, and with a pulse from his windstone, he was able to command blasts of purewind to fling himself out of harm's way each time. Once, at the same moment that he dodged a cloudhawk's swipe, he stabbed the creature with the three sharp blades that protruded along his vambrace. The cloudhawk's momentum kept it moving, causing Eldin's blades to be dragged across its body to open a gaping incision from its neck to its tail feathers. It managed to remain airborne for only three more beats of its wings before plummeting beneath the clouds in a shower of blood.

The two other cloudhawks fighting Eldin screeched in a pitch so shrill that Fenric could hear it over the sound of the wind whipping in the shuttle. At that moment, the remaining two cloudhawks from their flock caught up to the others, but instead of attacking Eldin with the other two, they instead soared directly for the shuttle. Fenric's heart leapt with dread and excitement, and he gripped his pistol so tight it hurt. The foremost of these two cloudhawks, seeing the open door of the shuttle, made straight for it. Fenric mustered his courage, stood directly in the path of the monstrous bird, and raised his pistol. When it was but a second away, he fired.

A sound like a gust of wind multiplied several times in intensity roared from the pistol. The discharged windstone, shot at a speed no one could track, shattered the cloudhawk's beak, continued traveling through the length of its body, and ejected itself out of its lower back. The beast died at once and was lost beneath the clouds an instant later.

Fenric couldn't help but laugh at the spectacular first performance of his weapon, until--remembering the still-present danger--he reached into his pocket to grab a windstone to load into his emptied pistol. A sudden jerk of the shuttle, however, knocked him violently to the ground, and the force of the impact flung the pistol from his grip. It slid across the deck to the open door, right in front of the frenzied cloudhawk that had slammed into the vessel. The creature was screeching its fury, gripping the shuttle's frame with one set of talons and reaching inside to grasp Fenric with the other. He was just out of the beast's range, however, and so he drew the saber from his sheath and hacked at the cloudhawk's claws wildly. A shriek of pain was followed by the monster withdrawing its talons, and Fenric used this brief opening to charge, blade forward and roaring. He slammed into the huge barrel-like chest, burying the saber to the hilt. The cloudhawk writhed and screamed, but seemed determined to remain hanging to the shuttle, so Fenric kicked at its chest until it released its grip and plummeted beneath the clouds.

Fenric watched the corpse fall until it was out of sight, then looked up upon hearing a shout. He had only an instant to recognize Eldin's quickly approaching form before the Windchaser had flung himself into the shuttle from the sky, hurtling into Fenric and sending them rolling together in a tangle across the deck to the other side.

Fenric allowed himself a few wild breaths before pushing Eldin's limbs off of him and rising painfully to his feet. He looked down at Eldin to find his friend absolutely drenched with blood, some of it his own by the rakes across his face and body. None of them seemed deep enough to threaten his life, however.

When Eldin had caught his breath as well, he asked, while lying on his back, "Did you get those other two?"

"Yeah."

Eldin lifted three fingers. "I got three. You should really pull your weight, Fen."

Fenric laughed, then said, "How about I pull your weight to make up for it?" He extended a hand and helped Eldin to his feet, then limped to the shuttle door to close it.

"Inphy?" Eldin said, making his way to the rear of the shuttle. Fenric followed, and it was there they found her, crouched in a corner and in a state of what appeared to be shock at first. But when Eldin went to help her to her feet, he saw only a quiet pensiveness on her features, as if in deep thought.

Fenric, sensing an opportunity, withdrew to the cockpit, leaving Eldin and Inpheria alone.