A long, long time ago there was a land blessed by the Sky spirits. Like the spirits they revered, the people there lived their lives touching the sky. It was said this was a land beyond the clouds.

Under the watchful eyes of the spirits, there was no illness or hunger or pain. No discrimination or conflict. Sorrow and hatred washed away like spring rain washes the earth clean after winter.

Then one day, these people - the sky people - fell to the earth, unable to return. At first they bickered among themselves, seeking someone to lay the blame on. That was when the spirits gave the clans a key split to six pieces, one piece to each. A key that would open the path back to their home.

They also said that a messenger bearing the symbol of the Sky spirits would appear once they were ready. Ready to return to the people they once were. Then and only then would the key illuminate the way.

"It sounds like pretty standard religion material," Kress commented. "A lost paradise, people in despair, a prophesied chosen one."

Aidan didn't seem insulted. "This is not about a 'religion'. The blessing of the spirits is a very real thing."

Lucas nodded. "Yeah! I saw it happen with Kress! All lights just went out all of a sudden."

Aidan smiled. "With you too, Lucas. You, me, your mother and sister. Both I and your mother are keepers for our clans. We were guided together by the spirits and honestly speaking, I was sure either you or Leyla would be the messenger."

"Eh? I can't do anything special." He remembered his mother calling rain down from the sky, though.

"You were only 2 years old when you found your first ore vein. That is your gift - you hear the voices of the earth. You could always tell different metals apart just by looking at them too."

"That's so cool!" Mrei exclaimed.

"Yeah..." Lucas mumbled, embarrassed. He had always thought it was something anybody could be taught. "I guess it is."

"You're cool too, Kress," the girl hurried to assure the older boy.

Cool, right...Cool enough to die for. "What's this keeper you mentioned?" he asked to take the conversation to some other topic. With the pain it caused him, he just couldn't think of this power as a "gift" or a "blessing".

"Keeper of the key. Or rather, a piece of it. Six pieces for the clans, remember?" He paused. "There are only five clans, though. Two probably merged at some point in the past. We may live far apart from each other, but we're not complete isolationists."

Lucas brought his hand to his pendant. "So I'm a keeper now too, since I have this?"

"In a sense, yes. After those soldiers took Romi and Leyla, I thought it was safer if you held on to it. We never registered you, so there's no proof you have any ties to either of us. I hoped it would be safe in case they came back also for me."

Mrei felt sad. She couldn't believe daddy would just take people and lock them away.

"I think you should go to Mereia and talk with Rolan," Aidan continued.

"Uncle Rolan?" Lucas asked. Uncle Rolan was his mother's brother.

"Yes. The shrine of the Sky spirits is also there. That underground building under the ocean, remember, Lucas?"

"Uh huh. What about it?" He had been 5 years old back then. Mother and uncle Rolan had dressed him in fancy clothes and taken him there to be formally presented to the spirits. He didn't really remember the details what had happened or who else had been there, but the place itself had been so spectacular that it was still clear in his memory.

"If Kress is indeed the messenger, the shrine will confirm it."

Kress was skeptical about that. "How?"

Aidan smiled. "You'll see." After a small pause, he added, "I don't know specifically how. That's just how the lore passed on through generations says. I do know how it just...came alive at my and Romi's wedding, though. The spirits will make their blessing known to all bearing witness."

He stood up and started gathering the empty plates. "But that's tomorrow. I'm sure you're all exhausted from your journey and it is getting late. Mrei can sleep in Leyla's old room - it's still unused. Kress, you'll get Lucas's bed."

"Then where do I sleep?" Lucas asked. He wouldn't have minded sharing, but Kress was touchy about his personal space.

"On the floor. I'll get you a mattress from the storage. And blankets, since you took my sleeping bag without asking -and- apparently lost it."

"I didn't lose it. Soldiers took it," Lucas pointed out. "But mattress is fine."

~*~*~

Mrei woke in the middle of night, feeling scared, but not sure why. She quickly looked around, already about to call for Tamaris, before she remembered where she was. The room was dark, not even her usual night lamp to softly illuminate it.

She sat there on her bed for a good while in silence. Nothing moved in the room. The only sound to be heard was the wind whispering outside. But she was still feeling too agitated to fall asleep again. Quietly she swung her legs over the side of the bed and dropped to the floor. The carpet covering it was nicely soft and warm between her bare toes.

The stone floor of the hallway and the stairs was cold, though, but only briefly, as she soon made her way to the living room on the first floor, only stopping once to roll the legs of the pajama pants she was borrowing a little higher before she'd trip on them.

It took her a moment to find the light switch in the dark with no prior knowledge where it might be. She instantly felt a little better when it was no longer so...dark. There was the television, so...where did Lucas's dad keep their RDs...

RDs - or "recording discs", as the official name went - were the primary means to distribute television programs. In Delavia big events were sometimes broadcast "on the wire" in real time, but all in all it was easier to first record the program and then distribute the discs to all corners of the kingdom. Or at least that's what her teacher had said when they had gone on a field trip to the recording studio once.

"Who's there?" a man's voice suddenly called out.

Mrei almost jumped in surprise.

"Mrei, it's bedtime for children," Aidan frowned. "What are you doing?"

"I...I wasn't going to steal anything!"

That made the man chuckle. "I didn't think you were."

"I couldn't sleep...And whenever I couldn't sleep, Tamaris would watch something with me until I got sleepy again. Do you have any episodes of "The Adventures of the Dawn King"? It's my favorite."

"No." He knew the "historical" children's show was popular elsewhere, but not in Skyfall territory. "It's political propaganda that twists history into how the royalty wants everybody to see it. Whether or not that was what really happened."

"Huh? It's just an adventure series."

"Adventure series that slowly brainwashes children to uphold the current situation."

Mrei really didn't get it. She had always thought it was a great show. It was supposedly based on many real events during the time the Dawn King had founded the kingdom, but it also added many fantasy elements like monsters to spice it up.

"Nevermind." Maybe Mrei was too young to understand how that series portrayed the Skyfall tribe as a lesser race and masked the invasion of their territory as some sort of savior being welcomed amongst them. "Watching television after 9pm is not allowed in this house in any case."

Her shoulders slumped. "But I'm too scared to sleep..."

Aidan knelt down to her level. "What are you scared of? You can talk to me about anything. Don't worry it would be a bother. It's a part of my job too."

She looked at him questioningly. "Are you a doctor?"

Aidan chuckled. "Do you mean a therapist? No. But I am the spiritual leader of this town in my wife's absence." Technically, since they were both keepers - although of different clans -, they had shared the responsibility, but she had been so much better at it. Like she could see straight into people's hearts. Gradually the role had fallen completely on her, and he had focused on the more practical matters, like the mines.

Completely on impulse she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely. "I miss daddy and Tamaris," she sniffed. "I've never been this far from home alone."

Aidan gently lifted her off her feet and carried her to the sofa. There he sat down with her on his lap like a father would hold his daughter. He had to admit it was a nice, nostalgic feeling. It had been a long time since Leyla was small, and Lucas was practically always on the move. He had never liked to sit still. "I understand that. I still miss my wife and daughter every day."

"Do you think Tamaris hates me for running away? I'm sure daddy is worried."

"That would depend on why you ran, I think."

"Daddy is sick," she sniffed again. "Really sick. Tamaris and chancellor Varlon both said that the best doctors are helping him, but he's just not getting better. When Lucas said that he's looking for..."

"The land beyond the clouds," Aidan offered.

"Yes, that. I believed him. I wanted to find something that would cure daddy."

"What about your mother?"

"She died when I was really small."

"So Tamaris isn't your mother? Is she your aunt then?"

Mrei smiled and shook her head. "She's my nurse. But we're really close. She's the only one who doesn't call me 'young highness'. Well, at least not -always-."

Young highness? He had thought Mrei was from a rich family based on the clothes she wore - even roughed up during their journey - and how clueless she seemed to be about housework. But that title was only used with royalty. "Mrei...are you the king's daughter?"

That earned him another questioning look. "Yes. Is that a bad thing?"

Aidan had to think over what to say before he replied, "No. Not really. But you don't want to let people know about it."

"Therapists are required to keep every secret they're told. Right?"

"I'm not a therapist. But you don't need to worry about me." He didn't like the king's way to treat his people as second-rate citizens, that was true. On the other hand, they had technology they wouldn't otherwise have and could get many benefits for the raw materials they provided. It was a duality made real in such things as the town's hospital - the equipment there was lagging several years behind those in the kingdom's main territory and the medicine shipments were sometimes late, but it was better than no hospital at all. Without the kingdom's influence they would probably still have been a bunch of agrarian communities.

Things had gotten worse over the past decade, though. People had been taken by soldiers with excuses or no explanation at all. The royalty had never really tolerated their faith - all public displays had always been strictly forbidden, forcing them to mask their ceremonies as tribal customs -, but lately it had felt like there was an active hunt for those blessed by the spirits. They had hidden all the items left by their ancestors, even hidden parts of their own lore from their own children and kept praying for the messenger to appear soon.

But none of that should touch Mrei. He didn't believe in children being branded for their parents' sins. And maybe becoming friends with Lucas would broaden her views. One day the people of this kingdom might understand.

"I won't tell anyone. You won't tell anyone either, right? Does anyone in Delavia know you're here?"

"I don't think so. Tamaris knows we were going to the Skyfall territory, but it's a really big area, isn't it?"

"It is. She'd have better luck finding a needle in a haystack than a single child here. I'll find you some local clothes in the morning and you'll fit right in." Her skin was too light, though, but blonde hair wasn't that uncommon in at least one tribe. They could always explain that her father was a cargo truck driver. Gone like the wind one day, never even knowing he had a son or daughter on the way.

"Thank you," Mrei smiled. "I feel a lot better now." She was also starting to feel very, very sleepy.

"Let's get you tucked back in then, shall we?"

She just nodded and was fast asleep, her head resting on Aidan's shoulder, before they even reached the bedroom. Aidan gently laid her down on the bed and pulled the covers over her.

"It's all going to work out, you'll see," he whispered before going. "Just trust in the guidance of the spirits. And - unlike Lucas - also think with your own head."