I took a deep breath.

Slowly, I opened my eyes.

The air stung like needles.

So I shut them, then took another breath.

Before she had a chance to mock me again, I opened them quickly and as widely as I could, crying out more from the surprise than from the pain. There was so much light. I thought was gazing into the sun.

Then in the next instant, the flash died away and all that remained was a sea of blue, green and violet. These were not the faint shades of colors I had seen before, but rather, a brilliant glow, moving and shifting like a writhing serpent.

I imagined myself under water with sunlight beaming through at strangely slanted and curved angles.

"Boo!"

A bright green silhouette-of-a-face jumped out, inches in front of me. I uttered an embarrassing gasp and fell backwards. She laughed, then perched beside me. "I can't believe you opened them! What do I look like? Am I ghost?"

"You're a green spirit," I said, for all I could see of her was a bright, green wisp with faint tentacle-like limbs I could only assume were her arms and legs. "The ether, it's so clear now."

The door opened and two figures rushed in. Curiously, they looked nothing like Kassashimei's wispy glow. They were dark and shadowy, as if there were an emptiness moving through the room.

As soon as they spoke, I immediately knew who they were.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Lai said taking me by the shoulder and guiding me back to the futon. "You're lucky Miss Nishio hasn't seen you like this. Lie down and close your eyes. Keep them shut or they may get worse."

"What do you mean worse?" Kassashimei protested. "They're perfect."

"You need to keep quiet," Mai said sternly ."It was probably you who pulled Terr out of bed and turned him into this mess."

"Of course I pulled him out of bed. He's not sick. His eyes have turned; that's all. Now he can see everything so much better. Probably even better than Lai."

"Mine are green, his are silver. . . or maybe gray," Lai replied calmly, ignoring Kassashimei's insult. "But whatever they are, they are not the color that proper chienkuu ko should have. It could ruin his health or worse."

"No. Nothing's going to happen," I said angrily. "You're trying to say that I'm cursed. But I'm not. These eyes were given to me in a dream. They're a gift. I'm sure of it."

"Listen to yourself Terr." Mai sounded like a mother consoling her child, but amidst my growing frustration, I only saw her belittling me. "Dreams don't grant you anything. You're just sick. When a shyo mu does not turn properly, when his eyes do not change to the right color, often they go blind, turn ill, or even worse."

"So that's what you think then?" I said as I took to my feet, and pushed Lai away. "You think that just because I haven't changed the way that you all expected, that I've lost my worth to this tea house? I heard what Madame Quoli said a moment ago. She wants to get rid of me. She wants to send me back to the temple. But I can see the Ocean of Ki so clearly now. I can see everything Lai can."

"But for how long?" Lai interrupted. "Many others have turned with black, red, even white eyes. They all ended up the same as you, but in the next moment, everything turned dark, and some became consumed by sickness."

"I'm not sick," I bellowed. "And I will not I let Quoli send me away."

I wanted to leave. I wanted to get away from that house, from all that doubted me.

My patience gone, so I headed wearily for the door.

There was a terrible, pulsing pain in my head, but I drew the strength to ignore it and carried on, all the while swatting away Lai's arms as he attempted to grab at my sleeve. Another pair of hands took me by the shoulder, but this time it was Kassashimei, as strong-willed as ever.

"You're right Terr," she said. "We should leave. I can't stand being in this dirty place anyways."

Despite Lai and Mai's vain protests, I took Kassashimei's lead and quickly went down the stairs. They followed us, but did nothing more than watch at a distance.

Meng blocked our path at the front door, uttering a few desperate pleas. I suspected that our outburst had brought the attention of all the guests in the main dining room. As painful as my second sight remained, I succumbed to the urge to view my surroundings.

There were shadows, small blotches of emptiness sitting at black, mist-like tables. Kassashimei remained the only figure with any amount of color. Her hazy form shined like the sun through a thin, green-colored cloud.

We shoved past Meng and made our way outside. All at once the Ether became known to me.

I looked up at the endless sky and saw a vast, turbulent, lively world where brightly colored currents moved like slithering eels. Vast, spinning pools far in the distance formed and dissipated in the shadows of strange, storm-like celestial clouds. Mesmerized, I realized for the first time what it truly meant to see this hidden world with such scope; with such wonder.

How strange this feeling was, to be moving through water, but to only feel air against my skin.

It was then, after traveling a good distance from the tea house, that I realized I was sweating and that my lungs had begun to heave. I smeared away the sweat with the cloth of my sleeve, but as Kassashimei lead me on, dizziness consumed me my every step and I began to stumble about uncontrollably.

In the distance there was a glimmer.

It seemed to hover in the sky, then grew larger as it approached, rippling massive waves across the ether. At first, it was a small, dim mass glistening ominously over the horizon. As it took form, I began to realize with great fear, its familiar shape. It was the dragon from my dreams, coming for me like a vengeful spirit. I reeled at the sight, but Kassashimei continued to tug earnestly at my wrist.

The looming creature rumbled closer, adding to the merciless euphoria that plagued my body until suddenly, the silhouette fell away to reveal not a dragon, but a common airship huffing and smoking as it lumbered over-head. It swooped just over the tops of the buildings, recklessly billowing steam through the streets below.

I cringed instinctively, afraid to be swept away in its wake.

As the air cleared, I realized that Kassshimei was no longer leading me on. She'd let go of my wrist and the wispy glow of her body stood there, frozen like a statue. Somehow, I was glad for the brief moment to catch my breath, because the sickly sensation in my head, legs and stomach, grew steadily worse.

"Did you see something just now?" she asked.

"I thought I did, but it was nothing."

"You screamed like something was coming at you. Was it the airship? Did it scare you?"

"I told you. It was nothing. Now let's go."

I reached out for her, but she slapped my hand away.

"No." Her voice was strangely solemn. "Terr, I have a confession to make. I think I messed up. I wanted the both of us to run away, but I don't have any place to take us. How pointless is that?

I've been acting so foolish. All this time, I wanted to feel important, to be of use to someone, but all I was able to do, was lead you out here to tell you that I've never been useful to you, that you never needed me."

Her words were almost like sister's shortly after my mother died. I remembered how she came into my room to confess how unskilled she was, how utterly meaningless it was for her to ever hope to be like my mother and take care of me as she did.

It was at that moment that I grew a little, and I told Kassashimei what I told my sister.

"Whatever happens, both of our lives will go exactly as they are supposed to. So there's no sense in making us feel any less than we really are."

I wish I could've seen her reaction, as my newly formed sight hid her face behind a shimmering blue.

For what seemed like an hour, the both us lingered while I wondered what had caused her to be this way so suddenly.

In the next moment, I felt all my energy leave me and my legs finally gave out. The pain in my eyes died away as my feebleness shut them from the world.

There was no dream this time, no images of fire breathing serpents passing wisdom to me. There was only a moment of dark silence, and then the tired agony of waking up. I found myself lying on a bed in a metal room. The walls hummed from the vibration of some distant, clattering engine.

I wiped away a small bit of perspiration from my forehead and looked around with curious eyes. Feeling well enough, I got out of bed and shuffled to the steel hatch on the other side of the room. I pulled the latch and as it opened I was greeted by Meng's surprised face.

She was holding a bowl full of water and a damp cloth.

"Miss Nishio, he's awake," she called out.

"Good, then go get the old man." Her voice reverberated from the room next door.

"Please, wait here," Meng said, before scurrying away.

Still in a daze, I stepped out into the corridor and stuck my face into one of the portholes. Gazing beyond the glass, my instincts were confirmed. I was aboard an air vessel. Below hung a loose blanket of clouds and just below them, was the rippling sea.

Behind me was an open door to a room next door to mine. Inside, was Miss Nishio, writing away on official-looking papers. She glanced at me with a small bit of annoyance, then reached over and shut the door.

"So the little trout has had enough of sleep," the old man said as he approached. "Let's go back to your room. There are things that need to be discussed."