Excerpt from
The Saluki - Ames the 3rd, 3E8 (Page 1)
The Windlords Who Wait
Windlords' Leadership Revealed
By Devorah Cline
For centuries, the Windlords of Aeros Academy have swept through Galeon, uncovering the secrets of the this land's most powerful figures for the good of the public. According to polls conducted by The Saluki, their purpose is perceived by the majority of Galean citizens to cut through the veils of secrecy itself and bring truth to every corner of the country. This reputation seems to be at odds with the secretive nature of the windlords themselves. For the entirety of their history, they have maintained that the dangerous nature of their work makes it necessary to protect their identities from potential enemies. But in a new age of uncertainty and change, transparency is more important than ever, even for the denizens of Aeros Academy.
It would seem that Ellie Skye, the acting Commander of the order, agrees. For the first time ever, a windlord agreed to sit down with us and reveal who she is and why she refuses to permanently accept her current role among the windlords. When she arrived to our scheduled interview, it was twenty minutes earlier than expected and she confessed that she was worried about running late. Her hasty apology included a promise that she had a lot to say, but the hour we spent talking afterwards was what proved this claim.
She began by telling about her own background as a spy, which began with her family moving to Galeon from the Restan city of Seres. It was in Bright Town, a district of Fides surrounding the Restan embassy, that the future Windlord lived with her older sister Julia and their grandmother, Helen Winstrom. Although Bright Town remains a welcoming neighborhood for Restan immigrants who wish to ease into the local culture, Ellie was eager to throw herself into the culture of her new home.
"I never felt any special attachment to Resta," Skye says, matter-of-factly. "So when we arrived in Galeon, I was ready to try being a Galean almost immediately."
Living in Galeon was a liberation of sorts for Miss Skye. It was in Fides, the windlord recalls, that she began to express herself in a way that she never could in Resta, due to their culture's archaic interpretation of gender. In her former homeland, she lived as a boy, but never found much satisfaction in blending in with her peers.
"I was just going through the motions, trying desperately to appear normal," she admits with an expression that could be interpreted as sadness. "In those days, I was only comfortable being myself around Julia."
But in Galeon, she found herself surrounded by like-minded people for the first time. Among them was her dear friend and current Windlord Commander, James Hawke. Hailing from Bright Town as well, Hawke was Skye's first friend and served as her gateway to the local community. The two bonded over many similarities, including their Restan origins, their respective experiences with gender, and perhaps the most important: the curse marks that signaled their windlord ancestry.
"It was practically fate for us to have met. It's one thing to have a friend who has so much in common with you, but it goes even deeper than that. James and I are the leaders specifically because of who our ancestors were."
Skye went on to explain that James Hawke was descended from the former leader of the windlords who were said to have found the mythical Skyres City over two centuries years ago. She confirmed this legendary exploit as truth while also admitting that her own ancestor was the former leader's lieutenant. When the infamous Broger the Betrayer, then the Avatar of Crane, arrived to break Crane's curse, Hawke and Skye were among his first volunteers. It was through the breaking of this curse that all of their ancestors' lost memories were transferred to the minds of their descendants.
"That's when I learned something about our curse marks," she says while showing off the dragon symbol etched into her lower back. "When our ancestors were cursed, these symbols appeared in the exact spot that Selon Res was looking when we were stricken with his magic. My ancestor was stricken in the back because he was commanded to flee. James' ancestor, on the the other hand, took the curse head on and so his mark is on the chest. His ancestor was an admirable man, and inheriting his skills in particular makes him the most capable among us."
This is where our conversation took a turn toward the Commander himself. Skye seems to talk about him with a mixture of both respect and a multitude of complaints. While he is remembered as a brave and comforting presence, Skye took plenty of time recounting specific instances in which she was annoyed by his displays of extreme confidence. But this leads to a very crucial question that Skye has stated is on the minds of most windlords. "Where is James Hawke now?"
As it turned out, Hawke was among the five people captured by the Betrayer during his eponymous betrayal. It is unknown whether he continues to live, but Skye refuses to believe he's dead.
"He was a survivor long before he acquired our ancestors' knowledge and skills," Skye insists. "We're going to find out he's alive any day now and that he's been collecting volumes of useful data on the people of Mennon while waiting for us to rescue him."
Skye has proven to be an effective leader, providing a professional and relatable face of the modern Windlord order. It is for this reason that her faith in the Windlords' official commander seems surprising. To understand why she holds on to the faintest hope of James Hawke's survival, we decided to go deeper. As our conversation spanned deeper into Ellie Skye's shared past with Hawke, she became more comfortable. Continued on Page 8
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