-- Once upon a time there was a kingdom. It was not an ordinary kingdom, it was not ruled by ordinary people; in fact, it was so extraordinary that anyone who had not seen it would not even believe you if you told them about it.

The largest portion of the kingdom was the three huge islands in the center: "Ohala", which means 'huge stone', "Wayata", which means 'wind stories', and "Tieste", which means nothing at all but was once the name of a queen of exceptional beauty. The islands were linked together by long cables whose ends were fastened to giant stone pillars.

In addition to the cables there were six giant stone bridges. There was a bridge between each of the islands and from the central edges to a very small island named "Ato" in the middle of the three. Each of these bridges was a work of art, the stone carved into intricate pictures of the birds and beasts that made this area their home.

On this central island, there stood a beautiful castle. During the day the sweet scent of the flowers that grew around the castle could be smelled for miles and miles, and at night the flickering light from hundreds of torches shined so bright that even at midnight the castle grounds seemed as bright as day. The island was named after the lovely flowers which grew only there, Ato flowers, and to simply stand anywhere on the island was to be bathed in their marvelous perfume.

Around the main islands there were several other, smaller islands. Some of them also had cables simpler bridges of rope and wood, some were only linked by a single slender cable, and some were not attached at all, but drifted along with the rest anyway.

You see, this kingdom was not on normal land, or even on islands as we know them in our world. No, in this strange kingdom the islands move, floating on the currents of the wind, miles and miles above an endless, beautiful ocean.

This huge ocean, which the people in the kingdom call "Bolan Kye", is also different from our oceans. Its water is sweet, pure, tasting as good as if it had just bubbled out of a spring high in the mountains. The water in the ocean evaporates, rising and then falling again as rain, keeping the pools and lakes on the islands full.

On the largest islands there are mountains high enough that they are always covered in snow and ice, which melts slowly through the year making streams and rivers. One of the most beautiful sights in the kingdom is the spray and tumble wherever one of these rivers leaves the island, falling hundreds of miles into the water below.

The islands were home to many fascinating creatures. There were birds of all shapes and colors and sizes, furry creatures, many of whom resembled cats and all of whom loved to chase the birds, huge slow-moving turtles with shells as blue as the summer sky, a beast that looked much like a horse but had a much longer neck and a beautiful spiral horn, and of course there were fish, hundreds and thousands of different fish.

During the summer you could find hundreds of tiny little Flickets, birds who were no bigger than bees. In fact, since the kingdom had no bees, it was the Flickets who carried pollen and made honey... their honeycombs were a bit strange, though. The same force that kept the islands floating was somehow replicated by the Flickets, and it was quite common to see a Flicket hive bobbing about in midair, dripping with lovely golden honey.

In the winter the whiteness of the snow became a lovely backdrop for the plumage of Auroras, which had tails like a peacock's but were ten times more colorful. Auroras are very vain, and can sometimes get into mischief because of it. They love to steal shiny treasures and bits of pretty ribbon, which they use to make nests. The best way to catch an Aurora is to set up a mirror out in the woods and wait. Any Aurora that comes past will stop and stare at their own reflection for hours.

All year 'round if you knew where to look you could see Cinders, small black birds who would often try to roost in chimneys or firepits because they loved the heat. They were born in the heat of volcanos when they still jutted above the water, and their feathers are fireproof. Every now and then when a volcano erupts high enough to reach the air whole flocks of them will dive and sport, playing in the lava the way ducks play in water.

One of the catlike creatures, the Nix, was the cleverest of all the felines. Any Nixi that grew up around people would quickly understand, and eventually be able to speak, their language. Nixi also had an extra toe on each paw that worked just like a thumb; this meant that they could easily open doors and cupboards, pick up objects and run off with them, climb higher and faster than their thumbless kin, and generally get in all sorts of trouble. A Nix is always quite devoted to anyone it considers family... but a guest in a house that has a Nix is advised to lock up their belongings and keep a sharp eye on the contents of their pockets!

There were three species that were considered sentient - that is, they could think clearly, read and write, communicate with words, talk out their problems rather than fighting, and if they DID fight, it was with tools and weapons, and with sadness, as none of the three species particularly liked war. Each group was most at home on one of the three main islands, though on any island you could find people of all three species.

The Yattan claimed Wayata as their home, and called it 'the land where stories live'. A typical Yattan looked much like a young human in size and shape. They usually had blue skin, although in some Yattan it was closer to violet or grey, and brilliant blue eyes. Often they would have a tattoo or several, the more tattoos the older the Yattan was likely to be, as each tattoo represented an important story he or she could recite by heart.

The Yattan loved telling and listening to stories; when a young Yattan was ready to leave home they were sent out with nothing but the clothing they wore and a bag containing a blank book, a knife, a pen, two large bottles of ink, and a few coins. The Yattan could not come home again until they had found at least one good story and written it in the book so that others could read it.

Tieste was home to the Heyta, also very human in appearance. The Heyta were the shamen and teachers of the kingdom; most of them would devote their entire life to one subject, finding out everything they could about it, writing down what they found (or paying a Yattan to write it down for them), and passing on the information to anyone who wanted to learn. Schools were staffed for the most part by Heyta.

The Heyta had a special gift: when each one came of age, they would have an incredibly intense dream. In this dream they would wander through the whole kingdom, searching, looking, not quite sure what they were hoping to find but unable to stop until they found it... and when they found it, it would be an animal of some sort. When they woke, they would always know when an animal of that species was nearby, would be able to communicate with them, and in rare cases, would even be able to change their shape to that of the animal they had bonded with. --