High Up And Above The Clouds

It was a few hours till it was afternoon. A large, black and rigid airship flew across the skies, people call it a zippin. But it was no ordinary zippin. This particular zippin often hold the most important people of this country's land. They called it the "Deluxe De' Veue" The De' Veue was heading to one of the main capitals of the country called Churvensdelle.

Many of the De' Veue's passengers were the crew of the zippin, while the rest were executive chefs and other important people. There were plenty of rooms and stations inside the De' Veue. The lounge, the dining room, The bedrooms that are also connected to each of their own bathrooms, the kitchen, where most of the executive chefs were, the storage, two lounges, and many more. All of the main rooms were on the top deck while the less important ones like the storage or the generator room.

Inside the dining room, most of the people inside the zippin were socializing there. Men wearing different kinds of suits and women wearing different kinds of dresses and flashy clothing talk about politics and business. Some talk as they look down the windows near the promenade, while others sit down at the dining tables.

"Is she making any kind of problems?" A man in a yellow suit asked the two large built men in front of him, who most likely are some sort of bodyguards. They wore the same black suit but what the distinct difference of facial hair and haircut is what could be told apart from them.

"No, sir. There wasn't any problems." Said the man on the left, that had a thick beard. The man in the yellow suit nodded.

"Good. Let my assistant watch over her. Go ahead and take a break." He replied. The two men left his field of vision and walk away. The man in the yellow suit proceeded to sit down and socialize with the other passengers.

A few rooms over were the private rooms and bedrooms, though there were only two there while everyone was out. It was a small girl and a woman that looked older and more mature than the girl, the woman wore a formal black suit, a white buttoned shirt and a grey formal skirt. She had light brown hair and a very attractive face. She had sharp dark green eyes and an alluring body, her clothing perfectly showed off her feminine curves, it was probably a smart decision to stay inside since she probably would have been swarmed by all sorts of men.

The girl on the other hand was beautiful as well. Though instead of expensive-looking or formal clothes, she only wore a nightdress. She had beautiful dark blue hair and her eyes had two different shades of light blue, along with her somewhat almost pale skin, it was almost like if the sky became a whole person.

The small girl turned to the woman, who was sitting down on a chair across the room. "..Miss..?" Her quiet voice barely reached the woman, but she heard it.

"Yes? What is it?" The woman replied, it sounded like she was tired or troubled, but the girl couldn't notice it.

"Where are we going? We were riding somewhere then I fell asleep. When I woke up I was inside this room." As the clouds cleared out, the sun shined down the room's window. Illuminating the room with a bright orange color which made the girl's hair glow as if it was producing light.

The woman looked at her, then sighed. "We're in what's called a zippin. We're going to a different town away from where we came, but it's a bit bigger."

She tried to simplify it to the extent that she could understand. The girl understood and nodded. The woman sighed and continued to watch over her silently, the girl just stared at her which only made the atmosphere awkward. She averted her gaze away from the girl and tried to do something else, but there was only so little to do in a room that didn't really have anything much inside.

A flock of birds were flying right outside the room's window, the girl watched as the birds were flying past and sighed.

"I wish I could be as free as those birds." The girl placed her left hand on the window, with a gloomy face.

The woman looked at her with pity, she crossed her arms and watched her look through the window. Her eyes weren't as lively as they should normally be, it almost looked like it had no life, no emotion or soul.

The girl looked at her, "Miss..?" She said gently. The woman turned to her in response.

"What is it?"

The girl's stomach growled, demanding something to eat. At the same time, the girl's face turned bright red.

"A-Ah.. I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms around her stomach to stop the rumbling.

The woman got up and nodded, she opened the door and looked around the hallway. There wasn't anyone around, as expected.

"Wait here, I'll grab you something to eat." The girl nodded as her stomach grumbled. Her face growing redder by the second. The woman sighed and walked out and closed the door. She pulled out a key from a pocket and locked the door just in case anyone else was thinking of coming in or the girl leaving the room.

She walked through the hallway, past a few rooms, and made her way to the dining room, where there were all sorts of people were talking to each other. She made sure to not have any eye contact with anyone and just grab a plate of food and go, as she walked past a few groups of people, she could sense a few stares coming from a few people. Though her instincts told her they were mostly men.

She scoffed at the thought, "Men, as always." She mumbled under her breath.

Finally, after going through past a few groups of people she made it to the table to where the food was. They were all placed down neatly on a large table, large servings of sweets, meat, and all sorts of dishes were there. She grabbed a plate and picked the ones that she thought the girl might like.

The plate was quickly filled with chocolate and other sweets, and a few pieces of meat and vegetables. She stood still staring at the food for a few seconds then her stomach suddenly growled.

"..Maybe I should get one for myself too." She said as her face flushed with red.

She grabbed another plate full of meat, and a few pieces of sweets, and a few vegetables that were covered with some sort of sauce. There were a few footsteps from behind her then a voice.

"What are you doing out here, Nelle? Aren't you supposed to be watching the girl?" It took her a second to process what she heard, but that voice unmistakable. A jolt went through her spine, she slowly turned as a bead of sweat slid down her face.

Nelle could see a man in a yellow suit and 2 bodyguards, one at each of his sides. The man crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, waiting for her response.

"Hello sir, the girl was a bit hungry so I was going to bring her food." She said in a calm manner, but inside herself, she could feel her heart pounding extremely fast.

"I'm assuming that she can eat two plates filled with food?"

She then realized that she was holding two plates in her hands, she shook her head regaining composure, and took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"No, sir. I felt hungry myself so I grabbed some for my own."

The man nodded, "Alright, you may go back." She bowed her head and walked back to the rooms, walking back with a sigh of relief as the pressure off her chest finally went away.

She came back to the room, she looked at the doorknob and realized that she was holding two plates. She sighed and slowly placed the plate down on the floor and grabbed the key from her pocket and unlocked the door, she picked up the plate from the floor and entered the room.

The girl wasn't at the window anymore, Nelle started to panic. She looked around for a few seconds then she found the girl sitting at the corner near the door, slowly dozing off. She sighed in relief and gently woke her up.

The girl could smell the aroma of the plates, she instantly woke up and looked at her. Nelle gave her a plate of the food she thought she might enjoy eating, the girl happily thanked her and started eating.

"Hold on," She took off something from under the plate she was holding, it was a spoon and fork. "Don't eat it with your hands."

The girl nodded and used the spoon and fork, it seemed like she knew how to use it. At least, that's what she assumed. In reality, she wasn't as good at using them so she had to help her how to properly use it.

"Thank you, miss.. um.." The girl always called her 'Miss' she never knew her name since she didn't tell her what it was. Nelle smiled, "Nelle. It's Nelle Lundmann." She said.

The girl smiled and nodded for the first time, Nell saw her eyes had glowed with life. "Thank you, Miss Nelle."

It was now a few hours past the afternoon. There was an afternoon toast in the dining room but Nelle didn't attend it and stayed with the girl. Nelle and the girl continued to talk to each other to pass the time, Nelle told her everything about the world and what it is. She told her stories as well, ones that had a moral to it. Then as she was telling her a story about a fox and a turtle, the girl fell asleep. Nelle gently placed her on the bed and put a blanket over her. She left the room to go out and meet up with the man with the yellow suit.

Once again, as she arrived at the dining room to sense people (mostly men) staring at her. She shrugged it off and met the man sitting down at one of the dinner tables, with the two bodyguards standing up behind him.

"Please, sit." The man pointed her to the chair across him, Nelle sat down and waited for him to start a conversation.

"So, how is the girl, Nelle?"

"She is doing fine, sir."

"Good, did she eat well?"

"Yes, sir."

The man nodded, Nelle had something she wanted to know for a while now, but she was too nervous to ask. But it felt like now was the time. With a serious look, she took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Sir, why did you take a girl like her to be your adopted child? Was there some sort of reason you're hiding from me?"

The man was taken off guard, he hadn't expected such a serious question out of the blue. But it seemed like it was going to be asked sooner or later.

"You've taken quite a liking to her, right Nelle Lundmann? Well, if you want to find out.."

The man told her some of his plans that had something to do with the girl, Nelle's face slowly grew pale, not being able to hear any more of it, she slammed her hands down the table and shouted.

"The project?! How would you even know that she would be the one that will make it work? You're risking the life of a little girl that you barely even got to know for something that has a chance of killing her?!"

"Calm down, Lundmann. You're making a scene," Nelle looked around to see everyone staring at her, she clenched her fists and sat back down. "She's not even your child. I'm the one that adopted her, not you."

"But sir! She-!"

"Are you going to keep talking, Lundmann? You and I both know we don't want any sort of trouble now, right?"

She clenched her fists and closed her mouth looking down in silence. The man scoffed and stood up, "I'm surprised, Nelle. This is the only time you're acting like this, so I'll let it slide for now." The man walked away and the guards followed him soon after.

Nelle was holding back her anger, her hands were shaking with rage and she couldn't stand there and do nothing. She stood up and closed her eyes, to herself she said, "I need to do something about this," she started running outside the dining room, and back to the room where the girl was inside, sleeping.

"I have to get her out of here somehow!"

The sun was an hour or two away from setting, Sho and his Uncle Kenji had just finished feeding all the animals and harvesting the crops. Exhausted, Kenji sat down on the farmhouse's stairs drenched in sweat. Sho came out of the farmhouse holding two glasses of water, he handed one to his uncle and sat down with him.

"Today was a big harvest, Sho! We should celebrate." His uncle said pridefully.

"Yeah, what did you have in mind?" Sho drank his glass of water as he watched his uncle go about the harvest.

"Why don't you buy those bread that you and I eat often at the town's bakery? I heard they were selling something else as well this week. Maybe get some of those too."

"B-But Uncle Kenji! The town's so far! A-And it's getting dark soon, aren't you worried that I'll get kidnapped or something?"

Kenji pouted, "Bah, I don't believe those things. The town's safe as it is, if there's anyone that wants to stir up trouble there they're gonna pay a visit to the chief's daughter, and she's a feisty one.."

The town was quite large, it was one of the few towns where the main roads connect. So many people came and went, thus leading to many opportunities for business and people alike, the towns population was also growing fast, which means they needed more food. That's where Kenji and Sho came along and helped provide food for the growing town, they managed to create a well stable income leading to a better life for the farm and for the two.

Sho nodded, "Hmm, I guess so. I'll buy it."

Kenji let out a big smile and patted Sho on the back. "Good. Make sure it's warm when you get back, yeah?"

Sho sighed as he went to the farmhouse and grabbed some money, he quickly came out after a minute then headed out. "Yeah! I'll make sure it's warm!" He said as he walked away and towards the town.

The town was a long walk ahead, so he had to hurry or else the night would catch up to him. Ever since Sho lost his parents, Kenji took him in and raised him like his own son. Kenji also didn't have the time to meet someone and start a family since he had to take care of him and the farm as well. Kenji was always busy tending to the farm so he makes Sho do all of the buying for him, it was the least Sho could do since Kenji was working all day with little to no breaks.

Sho sighed as he continued along the dirt path to the town, "It's already getting late." He said as he trailed off into the distance.