On Wooden Wings

Zamboanga. 1756.

"No place like home, right Clarita?"

Had she lived in any other city, Clarita Leschot Esteybar might have suspected that Nur was being facetious. Even people who had lived in Jolo all their lives still marveled at its brass minarets, its narrow gauge wagonways, the retractable sheets over its smaller streets and alleys. The city of Jolo had been a center of trade and commerce even before it was integrated into the Qudarat Sultanate, but in the century since the Spaniards had been repulsed from Zamboanga, the nature of its goods had changed. Junks from China and prahus from Celebes now sought the Fleet of Wisdom's artifices and scholarly treatises more than the pearls and precious shells that used to be Jolo's stock in trade. Clarita took great pride in being a part of the Fleet, the strength of the Sultanate. She just hoped that she'd be able to remain a part of it after today.

"Look at them all." Clarita looked at the crowd which had gathered in the square before the Kutta Bato. Even if they still called it a "stone fort", the old citadel had been much improved over the years, its high walls bristling with the pneumatic and powder-based canons, the very latest of the War Makers' designs.

Nur patted Clarita on the back. "Don't be nervous. It's the same as every other time we've been here."

The most distinctive contribution of the Fleet to Jolo had nothing to do with its defense--the square was dominated by the Elephant Tower, a five story recreation of Al-Jazari's famed Elephant Clock. Sultan Qudarat himself had commissioned it to commemorate the union of Maguindanao and Sulu. It was by this Tower that a platform had been set up for students engaging in their Promotion Trials. Competition for patrons was fierce among the Çelebi, and many ambitious students chose to hold off their Trials until they had an audience saturated with the elite of the Sultanate; short of the capital of Maguindanao itself, Jolo was a prime hunting ground.

Another cheer went up from the crowd. From their position behind the platform, the girls could see an older student propel himself up a ramp and into the air. He flipped once, twice, then landed on his feet, smoke trailing from the rockets strapped to the sled-like conveyance on which he perched.

"Parlor tricks," Nur said, sniffing as if in the presence of something rank. "His ambition flies only as high as he does."

"At least his project works," Clarita said, unable to keep the bitterness from her voice. Even beneath its sheltering tarpaulin, her Auto-bird looked misshapen, hard angles pushing out the fabric without rhyme or symmetry. That they'd managed to put its pieces back in a semblance of working order was a miracle in itself, but Clarita knew that the chances that it would be flight ready were almost zero.

Nevertheless.

"I'll do it."

Nur's normally stoic face creased in concern. "We've run no tests on--"

"I'm sick of tests," Clarita snapped. She massaged her temples and took a deep breath. "If the weather stays fair, the wings will hold--and if they don't, well, that's why we added in the Homo Valens."

Nur set her jaw, but then inclined her head in the barest nod. "Then I shall inform the Çelebi that you've made your decision," she said, but before Nur could step on to the platform, Çelebi Husin addressed the spectators.

"While student Udtong prepares for his final demonstration, we have a very young candidate who has signified her intent to undergo a Trial today, one who hails from this very city!"

Clarita looked at Nur, but her friend seemed equally surprised. "We'll figure it out later," Nur said, before turning to wave a few nearby alipin toward the Auto-bird. "Get this up on the platform, quickly!"

But Clarita had more immediate concerns. She stepped up on to the platform, and was immediately greeted by a spontaneous round of applause from the crowd. Clarita ignored the noise, and Çelebi Husin's unnecessary introduction, her eyes scything through the crowd until they met a pair of hazel eyes identical to her own. Her father gave her a grave nod, acknowledging her without communicating an ounce of belief in her endeavor. He already seemed resigned to having to enforce their bargain, "for her own good".

Then, to Clarita's surprise, her father looked up and away from her. The rest of the crowd followed suit, and it was only then that she realized that Çelebi Husin was still speaking.

"--yes, at the very highest point of your fair city, we find the brave young man who has volunteered to pilot student Esteybar's machine in its first ever flight!"

It was as if the Çelebi's words had stretched out time: it took an hour for her vision to travel from her father to the top of the Elephant Tower, a year for her recognize the face of the boy strapped to a machine that she had not created, a century to whisper his name in horror.

"Domingo..."

And then he began to fall.