Otto woke to the sound of the engines rumbling and her roommate, Sophie, bumping her head once again against the top bunk. They were the youngest of the crew, and it was their first adventure on the Clouddrifter. So far, it was proving very exciting.

Up on deck, there was the usual kafuffle of inflating the balloon, and getting it up into the air. The sun was shining, but Captain Appleton warned that she could smell a storm brewing. Gradually, the airship gathered speed and they were off into the unknown!

After a scrumptious lunch of Siobhan’s signature sky quail eggs and treetop salad, the sky gave a groan of protest.
”That… doesn’t sound good.” Otto mumbled to Sophie. The two girls packed away all the plates, whilst Captain Appleton starting ordering preparations for the approaching storm.

All of a sudden, the sky gave a huge roar, and the heavens opened- not gracefully like a fairy tale, but aggressive, as if the sky was releasing all of it’s anger onto them. Otto slipped on the wet wood, but she grabbed onto the railings just in time. The Clouddrifter gave a huge lurch, spluttered, and headed straight for the place they least wanted to be in that situation; the ground.

Captain Appleton made a dash for the wheel, but she was too late, the sky-ship had made up it’s mind, and sky-ships have a reputation for being committed. Wind thrashed at the balloon, thunder crashed, and lightning pierced the sky like a dagger. Otto and Sophie didn’t know what to do. Sophie debated going back down to their cabin, but Otto pointed out that it they wanted to become sky-sailors or captains, they needed to fight in a storm, not cower below deck, wishing it away.

After about half an hour of battling the ferocious weather, Otto realised that they had hit the ground. Staring up, she swallowed. The storm had tore a great, gaping hole in the deep red balloon. Other crew members followed her gaze, and they too were horror-struck.

Looking over the edge for the first time, Otto caught her heart in her throat. It looked just like her old home- before it burnt down. They were parked on a hill, overlooking a little hamlet. An overgrown gravel road led down the hill, and beside it on either sides, a cobblestone wall. About ten little cottages perched at the bottom of the hill, with thatched roofs and reddish-brown mud walls. It was still raining, but a little less ferocious than it was up in the air, and Otto could still hear thunder growling in the distance.

Captain Appleton was busy organising a group of people to go and search the place for residents and repairs for the balloon. Siobhan had already set off for supplies, as they had been running low. Otto and Sophie had been told by Captain Appleton to stay on board, alongside a few other crew members that could keep watch and look after the airship.
”I wish I could go and investigate, it looks just like where I used to live,” sighed Otto to Sophie, although Sophie, being the scared one of the two, was glad to have been assigned to be on board. She headed off down the ladder, mumbling something about reading her book, leaving Otto on her own, staring over the railings.

She watched in longing as the little investigation party peered in at cottages, and climbed up trees, and Siobhan picked wild cabbages and collected milk from a lost cow. Then she was rudely disturbed from her daydreams, as a shriek sliced the air, a crew member gave a shout, and a huge winged creature soared down onto the deck.