Karp and the Little Girl

On the outskirts of Gear City nearest the Upper Class district, a tall, slender man stood at the airship docks. A wide variety of airships dotted the docks, which were made up of pairs of towers between which airships could land. To one side of the grassy field there stood evidently more stable towers made of expensive and durable metals. Likewise, the generally large ships docked at these towers were made of expensive and durable material. To the other side were shoddily designed towers, a handful of which were made of wood, and smaller airships, some of which looked as if they may carry no more than ten passengers - and if you put one too many on board, the ship might fall apart.

The thin man’s ship rested in the middle are of the field. It’s dock towers, privately owned by him as opposed to most of the average dock towers which were commercially owned, were made of an inexpensive metal. Despite it’s material, it stood strong and steady, engineered by a well-educated man who had known the thin man for many years. The ship was of the same class as its dock - cheap, but safe. However, this ship was smaller than most of the middle-range airships. He was not intending on carrying many passengers.

A gray peacoat wrapped around the man’s body, chafing uncomfortably against his shoulder blades. A black fedora sat perched on his head, lowered to divert attention from his face, which held a sharp nose and bright eyes. From head to toe, the man’s dark dress contradicted Gear City’s sweep of brightly colored fashion.

The man pondered his ship as he watched dock workers load the supplies they would need for their journey. He almost had everything he needed; all supplies were accounted for, but it was his staff that he worried about. There was a cook, a doctor, an engineer, and a trustworthy handful of hard workers. He had food. He had fuel. He had spare parts. Hell, he even had gunpowder. He was only missing one thing.

A key.

The journey would be a big waste of money and time if he didn’t have a key. But how would he get that key? He could disguise himself and the rest of the men, but that wouldn’t get him where he wanted to go. They were smarter than that...

“Karp! Karp!”

The man turned his head to see a young girl no older than twelve, sprinting at him with a bushel of dark, tight curls bouncing about her shoulders and a ragged dress billowing around her shins. When she reached Karp, a wide grin split her youthful face. “Yes dear, what is it?”

She allowed a couple excitement-building moments pass before she revealed something from behind her back. A long, rust colored feather. Alone, this hardly merited Karp’s attention. But then he noticed that this feather was too big to belong to any kind of bird.

Karp raised an unimpressed brow. “So? You got a feather from one of the Avians, big whoop. I could probably nab one too, if I saw one. I thought they were all enslaved though…”

“But it’s not from one of the original hundred.”

Karp pursed his lips at the small girl. “Every Avian down here is from the original hundred, dear.”

The little girl shook her head vigorously, her face scrunched in frustration. Had this done by an adult, one would take the gesture seriously. Given that this was a young girl who sent her curly locks dancing with the movement, it was nothing but cute. “The Radomir was going to that tinkerer you told him to go to, right? But while I was shrouding him, I saw an Avian. He was working for the tinkerer. Guess how old he was.” The girl showed off a sly grin, watching Karp excitedly.

The man shrugged, obviously tired of playing her games. “I don’t know, you make it sound like he might be young. So… forty?”

“Sixteen!”

Karp looked at the girl sceptically. “He looked sixteen, or he was-”

“He was sixteen! I scanned him. And he gave me this feather.”

“Willingly?”

“Yep.”

“So you think we can use that feather to-”

“Nope.” Karp pulled a face at the girl’s interruption. He hated being interrupted, but his annoyance faded with the girl’s smile. “The first hundred came down almost fifty years ago, and no more have come down since, other than - well that doesn't count. He wasn’t born in Gaia’s reach, so he doesn’t have magic in his feathers. But he’s an Avian. And he’s not ‘tainted’. He’s our key!”

A slow smile spread across Karp’s face, and he rushed forward to grab the girl and throw her high up into the air excitedly. “We’re going home!” he cried as he twirled the little girl around and truly smiled for the first time in a long time.

Author's Note

Comment please. Like it? Love it? Hate it? Tell me.

I kind of only half proof-read this. But what's this? Details from this chapter and hte last not lining up? Hmmmm.

815 words