Cloud Kingdom

Ten-year-old Jiku walks fast. Rushing to the public garden near Kisato lake, he looks for his favorite spot and climbs the karahiro tree, looking for "jiku branch," the branch of the tree he believed was the strongest. He named it after himself. Jiku has this theory that the strongest branch of the tree will have the best view of the sky – and he was right. As soon as he got on his favorite branch, he lay down with his face towards the clear, azure sky and saw the thin, white clouds that surrounded it.

Jiku paid close attention to the clouds – how light they were, how they moved with the wind's direction in such a predictable way. Jiku wanted to be a pilot, but he was afraid for he wasn't just going to be any pilot; he was being raised to be the top flying soldier for the war. He was being mentored by General Arisimo himself, the hero of the Northern Hemisphere. Like his friends, Jiku was of course, excited to know how to fly planes, how to shoot with guns and how to develop a strong and flexible body. However, he remembered General Arisimo's discussion with him about the realities of war – how people die, how homes are destroyed, how cities are burned, how animals are harmed, how children become orphans, and how the sky turns black. "Would I still love the sky then?" Jiku asked himself.

It was when Jiku struggled with these thoughts that he noticed that the sky seemed to be coming closer and closer to him. It was as if he was about to reach the clouds, except that he did not have the chance to stretch out his hands to touch them – they were coming too fast. Before he knew it, the sky has closed in on him and he was falling on the ground. "The sky is heavy," he thought.

Jiku knew that the only way to soften a fall is to roll over, and that was what he did. To his surprise, however, he wasn't alone. As soon as his back touched the ground more steadily, he saw that to his side, there was a young girl with the softest, kindest features he's ever seen.

"Hello there," she said, sitting up and dusting off her gray dress, buttoned just a few inches below her neck. "Are you okay? Sorry about that. It's my first fall," she said smiling.

Jiku looked at her and was relieved that she was neither bruised nor injured. She had long sleeves and her dress extended up to her ankles, but she was barefoot.

"Oh, my name is Asari, by the way. How are you?" she said.

"I-Im Jiku," was all he could muster, managing to look at Asari's eyes very quickly. Unfamiliar with girls and astounded by Asari's confident nature in the midst of a stranger, Jiku felt uncomfortable.

There was a deafening silence between the two. Asari continued to wear a smile on her face as she looked around and noticed the tree from where they both fell.

"Where did you come from?" Jiku finally asked.

"Why do you ask?" Asari said, suddenly becoming serious. She wrinkled her forehead and had an intriguing look on her face.

Noticing Asari's suspicious glare, Jiku changed the subject. "I can't believe the jiku branch snapped just like that," he mumbled as he bent over to inspect his lauded "jiku branch."

"What are you talking about?" Asari asked, more interested in Jiku's side comments than his inquiries about her whereabouts.

"I'm Jiku, and this was what I call a jiku branch – the strongest branch of a tree."

"Jiku branch?" Asari asked, looking at Jiku as if he committed a crime. "You named it after yourself?"

"Yes, the branch is strong like me," Jiku said, turning red at his sudden and newfound bluntness.

Asari looked at Jiku from head to toe. He indeed looked like a strong boy! But Asari turned to look at the branch which he seemed to want to repair, and she chuckled at the sight of this broken jiku branch.

"Naming something after yourself. I didn't know you could do that," she mumbled.

Asari nodded towards the tree, and continued, "In that case, I'm naming this an Asari tree. It's my tree

since I fell on it."

"You can't do that. This one's already got a name, it's the fruit-bearing karahiro tree."

"Doesn't matter. I'm renaming it," she said with a smug look on her face, her eyes peering over her hair. "It's not my fault you only decided to name a branch after yourself. As for me, I'm naming the tree."

Jiku stared at her with disbelief. "Who does this kid think she is?" he thought. "How did you end up falling on this tree?" Jiku inquired.

"You mean the asari tree?" Asari excitedly answered.

Jiku let out a soft chuckle. Asari narrowed her eyes and seemed to whisper. She touched the tree with her unblemished fingers and looked up to its branches, its leaves. She felt a slight happiness in the view – an imposing tree stands in front of her with the sky as her backdrop. She took a deep breath and said:

"Listen, Jiku. I came from the clouds."