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Ahab, sitting way up high in the cockpit of one of the old rockets, marveled at the storm clouds coming in.
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Circe, his best friend in the whole world, had been gone for about a
year, and today she and so many others that had the talent for
whispering to the air were returning home.

Ahab had a scruffy pointy beard on his chin now and was very proud of
it.  He would never admit it aloud but he had spent most of his waking
thoughts for the last several weeks rehearsing seeing Circe again.  He
played around with different ways to quietly mention his recent
accomplishments.  He was now a well respected scholar and teacher after
all.

Ida, his precocious child prodigy genius student, had even helped him
design a computer program to analyze every piece of clothing he owned
and find optimal combinations.

At first he described it to her as just a fun idea for something to
teach the robots.  But at some point, she said, "You want this so that
you can look good for Circe when she and all the whisperers come back",
and Ida wore a mischievous grin.

He remembers Ida looking over at him while she adjusted circuits in the
panel of one of the machines. "Ahab, I can read it on your face!  And
don't worry about it!  What you're feeling is natural!  Everyone is
excited!  When they come back, it's amazing!"

Now Ahab sat in the cockpit and watched the storm.  He realized he had
never seen clouds like this before.  There were several clusters of
clouds in the sky.  Each was so well-defined, so tightly-packed that
they didn't dissipate against the open blue sky.  And each cluster was
like an ever-twisting and spinning knot of ribbons of different colors.
They moved faster toward the island than any clouds he had seen before.
He thought about the last time he saw Circe.  She and a few other adepts
sailed away.  They all could hear and feel the signals that the others
don't see.  They would go north and learn from the old witches how to
use their gift.

Circe had been his constant companion for years and years now.  He would
have gone mad with frustration trying to learn the bizarre culture here.
Ahab worried if these storms would prevent them from returning.  They
were coming in close.  Ahab watched the horizon for signs of sailing
ships but saw nothing.  The clouds in the sky were coming in from the
same direction, so maybe they ships would wait.

Ahab realized his heart was racing.  He said aloud "If they're not here
today, then it will be tomorrow.  I can wait another day."  And then he
exhaled and said "No I can't."

When she left, he was surprised by how much of a hole it left in his
heart. He doubted Circe felt the same ache that he did.  She was all
light and wind and joy always, and he imagined her with all the other
apprentices on the far away islands in the icy north learning from the
old wind witches and having amazing experiences, and he imagined she
forgot all about him.

And now, she wasn't even coming back. The line of the sea at the horizon
was stubbornly flat.  No sails.

Ahab went back to watching the purple and gray and green storm clouds.
They really were unlike anything he'd seen before.  He saw flashes of
lightning inside them.

There's no way they would sail with storms like that in the sky.  Ahab
sighed and looked around the dusty old cockpit.

He looked up at the tiny message Circe had painted on the inside of the
roof, back when they were younger.

"A AND C FOREVER"

He hoped it was still true, but worried it wasn't.

Thunder started him.  The storm clouds were much closer.  The speed was
amazing.  The power of the wind might uproot every tree on the island.
He felt the wind whistle.  These old ruined rockets might easily be
tossed aside.

Then he saw a very tiny dot above the clouds, in the sky, sailing,
somehow, floating, in the air.  Ahab grabbed the tiny telescope he had
attached to the cockpit for spying on the robots in their satellites,
and instead pointed at the dot in the clouds.

It was a person, wearing loose billowy robes, seemingly hanging,
floating, way up high in the sky.  He couldn't believe what he saw.
Ahab cranked dials on the telescope and watched.  Tiny iridescent
threads were attached all over the robes, and the threads connected to
what looked like tiny kites at the end.  He saw them all.  People were
flying in the air on top of these incredible storms.

Ahab thought nothing could surprise him, but he couldn't believe what he
was seeing.  This was more amazing than how he and Ida had taught the
robots how to dance with each other.  This was more amazing than when he
had met the giant purple octopus and then made a machine to translate
its language into something he could understand.

All his achievements seemed so insignificant now.

These were the adepts.  All the ridiculous legends about the wind
witches he had heard while living here must be true.  Circe was riding a
storm cloud home and he had planned to brag to her how he had figured
out all the giant cephalopods living in the sea loved to wear jewelry,
but of course couldn't make it in the water, so now the villages gave
them gifts as a symbol of their alliance.

He remembered his childhood as a bandit, hearing how bandits never
sailed to the icy north, because of the legends of terrifying witches
that could summon amazing storms and lightning to destroy their ships.
Ahab felt the rocket sway back and forth in the wind.  He quickly
climbed down the ladder.  He felt the static electricity in the air.
He stood on the beach now, feeling the wind and droplets of rain.  The
sky was dark because the clouds were all around now, and thunderous
noise was deafening.

He covered his eyes because sand was blowing around him.  Then he saw a
figure skating toward him just above the surface of the water.  He saw
up close how the robes were heavy, made of the same material of sails,
with lots of folds, and studded with metal rings, attached to the
threads that went up into the sky, connected to the kites.  Then seemed
to steer by pulling with their arms, waving them up or down or to
different sides.

Ahab saw other figures also skating along the water,

Their faces were covered by a mask, dark goggles, and a hood.
Then the one close to him made it to the beach.  Ahab shielded his eyes
and face from the wind and rain and sand with his arms, but peaked.
The figure made a gesture, and then the wind died down from a storm to a
gentle breeze near them.

Then it reached up, pushed back the goggles, and Ahab saw Circe.
They ran into each other, and grabbed each other, and Ahab felt her
tears on his cheeks while they kissed.