Some say the Airfolk were never real.
Some say they simply went extinct.
Some… the smartest, the bravest, the best… know for sure.
The Airfolk were tiny, nimble, creatures, more like birds than people. They were notable for having a pale purple skin tone and purple, gray, or black hair and eyes. Their wings and tails were huge and feathered, the same color as their hair, but paler. They are believed to be a common ancestor of Storm Fey and Fae.
Little is known about their culture, but they lived on the highest mountains, and could “communicate” with clouds and air currents.
Below is a documentary written by one of the last Airfolk, over five thousand years ago, who lives to see his story passed down.
- Hilda Wishstone, Archivist, Keeper of the Book, Professional B**ch
Huiyun[]
Standing on clouds breaks all laws of logic.
I know that, of course, because Baiyun told me. Who else would say something so crazy? I can see him now, yelping and scrambling down as he gets even ten feet above the ground. It’s ridiculous. We’re Airfolk. What kind of Airfolk is afraid of heights?
Him, apparently.
I’m Huiyun, by the way. And I am nothing like my brother. I like him, sure. But I can’t say I respect him. Nobody really does.
“Baiyun!” I call, shifting lightly on my cumulus, Cirro, so it doesn’t crumble. Still, a bit of white-gray smoke crumbles off and fades into mist.
It’s fine. He’ll grow back later. “Hurry up!”
My younger brother glances up, then stares back down again, shaking his head. “No! And you should shift around! You’re putting too much weight on one side and Cirro needs a moisture filling and-“
I bury my head into the white puffiness to drown out his talking, waiting for the jabbering to subside before popping back out with a sound like a muffled suction. “Just have fun! Jeez. Chill out!”
I laugh hysterically at my own pun, willing Cirro to float down and land next to the ground. I hop nimbly onto the cloud-and-rock ground, wispy cirrus nibbling at my ankles.
“Besides,” I continue, “there’s no way you’ll ever leave the village if you can’t take care of a cloud. Cirro here is huge, and white, and he gets his moisture every day.”
I run a hand across his wispy surface, before pushing him along to the nearby waterfall trickle, Shuipiao, where other clouds slowly collect the cold steam.
Baiyun frowns. “Huiyun, do me a favor and shut up. Contrail is fine. The whole reason she was assigned to me is because she’s shy and hates heights.”
I burst into laughter, playfully shoving him. “A cloud that hates heights? You’re delusional.”
He scoffs and rolls his eyes. “We need to find Fengfeng anyway.”
“You need to,” I grumble under my breath. Somehow, the two nerd-brains were lucky enough to get put in our clan, Chaolei, together.
“Shush,” he snaps. His misty gray eyes, identical to mine, light up as he dashes towards Fengfeng, his best friend. She’s a significantly younger girl, but that doesn’t seem to bother either of them. The two explode into conversation, and I head off to Shuipiao to chat with Aeolus.
One clear trickle of water catches my eye and I hold my cupped hands under it, taking a large sip and watching Cirro gather up moisture.
My lavender hair peeks out from under my aviator cap, messy and unkempt, unlike my brother’s immaculate perfectness. He never gets hat hair.
I use the trickle as a mirror to clean up, unwrapping my scarf and taking off my thick jacket. My tail lashes in the air, and I unfurl my large wings. They’re a purple so pale they’re almost white, blending in well with clouds. My skin has turned paler, less violet. It’s a sign of maturing, which is, ah… not fitting of my personality.
The cap goes back on, along with the coat and purple scarf. It’s cold up in the mountains.
I glance upwards, brushing my hair behind my ear absentmindedly. Eagles the size of me circle in the sky, dark brown wings spread out. I turn a front flip and spread my wings before I hit the ground, flapping harder and soaring into the air. I whoop with glee as I tumble flips and handsprings over the clouds, swan diving through patches of stratus and falling backwards into cumulus before twirling through patches of nimbus, dispersing the cloud that would’ve otherwise brought an annoying amount of rain.
Eagles swoop above me. Chaolei doesn’t eat them. They’re too much like us for our taste. I’m about the same size as a full-grown one, and their wings and claws and feathers resemble ours. Apparently, so do their anatomies, according to Piaofei clan. Down to the skulls and legs. Dadian eats them, yes, but they’re known for being more barbaric.
A mountain goat nickers in alarm and tries in vain to outrun me. I laugh and fly higher before dropping into a dive, snatching the goat and snapping its neck cleanly. The tallest mountain peak, Guaiwujia, looms over me. I usually meet Aeolus on its cliffs, so I flap down lightly, beginning to skin the hunk of meat.
“Aeolus!” I call, holding up a bloodied hunk of flesh. “You want food, don’t you?”
The eager flapping of wings alerts me, and I spiral out of the way, settling down lightly onto an alto cloud.
Aeolus dashes out eagerly, his four feathered white wings flapping. Loose white fur covers his pale purple-pink skin, and his four feet are more hooves than our claws, but he has one claw sticking out of each hoof.
I should probably back up. Aeolus is half Hundun. Which means he doesn’t have a face. Only a mouth and ears, which Hundun don’t have, and he runs on four feet. He’s a strange person to make friends with, I know, but… it was accidental. And besides, I’m friends with everyone.
“How you doing?”
He mutters a rough response. “Good. You?”
I smile. “I’m very good! I was hoping you could join this clan soon. Or at least live in the village. It must be lonely up here.”
“No. Have you.” “Well, you need to meet people besides me.”
“No. No. No. No. No. No.”
“Hey, Aeolus, it’s fine.”
“Aeolus. No. Is sad.”
“Really?”
“Hungry. Later?”
“Fine,” I say, sighing. I pick at the meat. I prefer mountain goat steamed or baked, but of course, I don’t have much of a choice. The two of us eat in silence, easy to do when Aeolus only knows about twenty words. I can’t imagine being that limited.
He finishes, blood staining his fur and mouth. “Good. No hungry. You?”
I smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Aelous.”
With that, I fly away, diving through a curtain of clouds, swooping past a twittering cloud of startled pigeons, and landing on the outskirts of Chaolei village. It’s bustling per usual… not with people, but with birds.
I make my way around a flock of pheasants, duck under a flapping dove, and stop to pet a peacock who must be a noble’s pet.
Wait…
“Leilei! Your peacock!”
“Hmph,” the girl grumbles, pushing her way through some swifts, “Huiyun, she has a name.”
“Which is?”
“Piaolian!”
I raise an eyebrow, “Unlike you.”
“Hey!”
She moves to hit me, and I fly backwards, a sandgrouse chirping in complaint. “You could’ve chosen a cooler name.”
“This is perfectly cool,” she says, sticking her nose in the air in an impression of her father.