Painting the Sky [6]

Of the two skies they saw in the Domain of Water, Vaska only painted one. She chose the sky above the ocean. It took several attempts to get the color right, that soft blue with a hint of purple. Bubbles of white and blue, a blue moon, the maze-like pattern of sand and deep sea, an island with a red pendant atop a wooden tower.

Vaska stood looking out the windows at the north coast of Taisia. Satisfied with the painting, Ingrid walked up behind Vaska and she wrapped her arms around Vaska's belly. She held the other woman tight, their naked bodies pressed together.

The airship followed a long arc over the ocean to avoid flying directly over the Ashe River Plateau. The dark stone spine rose abruptly from the ocean to the south. The familiar slopes of the volcano dominated the west, and a curious little desert occupied the highlands to the east.

"Is that a desert?"

"It's the world's smallest desert."

"Really?"

"Yes. The weather in the rainshadow of the Ashe River Plateau is very unique. There are plants and animals living there that are unlike anything else in the world. I have a book about it."

"Maybe we could fly over it in our fighter jet."

"Oh! You need to see the new design that I just finished."

Vaska gave Ingrid a series of diagrams for the new design. It was much larger than a normal fighter jet, and like some of the Ayaruan fighters it had two engines and two tail fins which were angled out slightly. Like the HY-7 Dodger the horizontal stabilizer was oversized. The cabin was short which indicated that there was room for only one pilot. Remarkably, one diagram depicted the craft with wings burdened by more missiles than Ingrid thought possible.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"What is that thing?" Ingrid asked.

"That's the HY-8 Fat Meg!" Vaska said happily.

Ingrid snorted. "Fag Meg? You named the fighter jet Fat Meg?"

"I did. It can carry up to twenty-two missiles on a single airframe. I designed it specifically to counter the soul-ejection devices that Ayaru has equipped on their important fighter jets. They only carry ten souls which means the Fat Met can kill two of them with dark-three missiles, while still having a pair of ice-two missiles on the wing tips just in case of a merge."

"That thing doesn't look very useful in a merge."

"No but it is aerodynamically unstable which means that it will have an advantage against the older designs of fighter jets, even if the airframe is a bit clunky."

"When are you going to build it?"

"When we get to the outskirts of New Heyl. I've sent Algot Gunn to the foundry to request an emergency shipment of metal ingots."

"Who is going to fly it?"

"Reese."

"She can fly fighter jets?"

"That's what she says."

"How old is that woman?"

"The Queen of Water used the phrase, 'immortal worshiper.' So who the hell knows how old she is. A thousand years old? Ten thousand? I didn't think it would be polite to ask her."

"When would she have learned?"

"Fighter jets have been invented at least two times. My father told me they had fighter jets a thousand years ago but the technology was erased deliberately."

"By who?"

"I don't know."

"Don't you think it's strange that Reese can speak our language?"

"The Queen of Water could speak our language too."

"And the Queen of Life."

Vaska went around the room searching for a book. When she found it she began reading a passage to Ingrid.

"Some elementals have been known to translate between languages. Every culture has stories of heroes speaking to the Elemental Queens, so it stands to reason that those elementals can speak any language. Among the lesser elementals this ability is generally associated with High Daughters."

Ingrid saw Vaska standing there holding the book, but she focused her attention on Vaska's naked body instead of the book. She grabbed the book from Vaska and set it down gently on the table. Then she pulled Vaska down into their bed and they made love.