Falcon's Formations

"I'm sorry, only students and teachers…", before the clerk finished, I showed him my feather. "Ah, I wasn't aware you were a top student. You must head towards the back of the Falcon, it's that way", he said while pointing with his hand. "You should reach a place guarded by soldiers. I assume that's where the Formations and masters should reside", he added.

"Thank you", I replied and headed in that direction. Soon enough, a few soldiers stopped me, and asked to turn around. "I'm a student of the Academy, this is my feather", I replied while displaying the feather. "... I'll ask someone to attend to you". The soldier went somewhere further in the back, while me and another few soldiers remained behind.

"Young lady must be talented. Such a young age and already a top student", "Hehe, please don't flatter me. You guys look strong as well, I'm sure you trained hard to reach where you are", I replied with empty flattery myself.

"Hahaha, a lot of people don't see this as an achievement, but let me tell you, we are one some of the strongest soldiers the Empire has on offer", "He's right. If you ever need a hand, do let us know. Maybe we could have dinner together, or a drink", the soldiers replied. Before their fantasies ran too far, the soldier returned with an older man, and saved me from their rubbish efforts to ask me out.

"I'm master Christopher, are you really a top student?", he asked. "Yes, here's my feather", I replied while passing the feather to his hand. "... My, my. Such talent is rarely seen. Were you asked to help us out on board?", Christopher asked while handing me the feather back. "Ah, no, no. I'm on my way to the Imperial City, and this is an opportunity for me to witness some great Formations. Would that be possible? To have a look?", I replied.

"Hehe, sure. Follow me… A twenty-odd year old, and already a top student… The world changes for sure", he whispered the last part under his nose. "Anna, could you show me some of your Formations?", he asked on our way. "I don't see why not, where should we go for that?", "Eager to shine, eh? We have a private room just around the corner, let's go there", he replied.

We arrived at a spacious room, where Christopher told me to show off as much as possible. I decided to start slow, and showed him a few Formations from the third floor. Then I began drawing the top floor Formation, though didn't finish it on purpose.

"Wow, just… Wow. I'm amazed, you know? Not only are you young, but your skills are great. Even your Runes are exquisite. Tell me, does the Academy have more talented students like you?", he asked. "Hehe, I'm not sure. There are a few talented people, but I'm not claiming to be the best", "No need to be humble. Your skills are proof, and you should be very proud of them, Anna. With such talent, you'll surely reach mastery", he replied.

After that little demonstration, we left the room and headed to check out the Formations. "We are responsible for the Formations which allow the Falcon to fly. There are a few rooms, and two other masters who supervise these Formations. I'll introduce you in a while, but let's check out the rooms first", he said.

We entered another room, but the room was different. Not only bigger, there was a large Formation in the middle, glowing lightly and illuminating all the Runes. Moreover, there were large links spreading out to other areas of the Falcon. Humans didn't hide their Formations like Northerners did. We had means to hide our Formations, or mask them and therefore make others unable to copy them.

Humans didn't do that, their Formations were mostly on display. Or rather, they stood guards on the outside, and made sure no one was there to see them. Of course items had some sort of masking, but it wasn't as developed as the one used in the North. That was one way, but my preference was obviously different.

There was another peculiarity about the Formation. "This Formation, there are a few elements I can recognise, but there are a few I don't… They seem pretty new to me, this isn't the Raising Storm Formation, right?", "That is correct, this Formation isn't displayed on the top floor of the library. We don't teach it to our top students or teachers for one simple reason. The applications are really limited", Christopher replied.

"I'll explain. This Formation requires a lot of energy to work and lift something as heavy and big as Falcon. You might wonder, how do we power this? The answer is in the core room. We don't know what's inside the core room, because no one's allowed inside. Though we three masters have some speculations, there's no way to find out. Anyway, there are no real uses for this Formation outside, hence teaching it to others is rather pointless", he explained.

"Why can't we access the core room? You guys are masters, the best the Academy has on offer, right?", "Hehe, no one can access, because the secrets inside are simply too valuable. I believe it's some sort of ancient Formation, and therefore really valuable. They prevented others from accessing, just to keep it safe", he replied.

"The core room powers this whole Falcon, and as you know, there are four of them. We had a fifth one, but we lost it. That's an old story… I'm sure your next question will be; Why don't we build more? I'm not sure. Perhaps the core room is too valuable, and the Imperial Family doesn't want anyone to access that. The construction of Falcon isn't a small project, and therefore it wouldn't be wise to display the secrets", he added.

"I see. I heard from other students that there are defensive and offensive Formations here. You mentioned that this Formation is responsible for the flight, where are the other Formations?", "Ah, young ones are really curious. Who knows, maybe you'll get a chance to view them one day. With your talent, it's certainly possible. To answer your question, these Formations are under the care of Imperial Formation masters. We don't have access to these Formations", he replied.

That was the same story John and Peet told me. The Academy, albeit the place for Formation masters, wasn't actually all that it seemed. Imperials had their own Formation masters, of course a much smaller number of them. They were responsible for the Falcons, and the affairs inside the Imperial City. They didn't share their knowledge with the Academy, though they had access to the Academy and their knowledge.

I decided to study the Formation inside that room for a while, but then we moved to another room. The room wasn't any different, the same Formation sat in the middle, while links extended outwards. I had a proper look at it again, and noticed something off. "This Formations, it looks the same but feels a bit different for some reason. Can we return to the previous room?", I asked.

"Hooh, now I'm curious. Sure, we can go back", Christopher agreed. We went back and forth between the rooms, and I finally figured it out. "These links are positioned differently… Moreover, the Runes are placed in different orientations. Not by much, but there is a difference", I said. A sound of clapping reverberated through the room, "A talent indeed. I can't believe my eyes, but to be so talented".

Christopher clapped a bit more with a smile on his face, then continued. "That is correct. The reason for the placement of those links is simple. There are six Formations in overall, and all six are responsible for a different part of the Falcon. Each Formations has different links, to provide a different directional push. That's how we can fly forwards, backwards and to the sides. We can also fly up and down, but that doesn't usually happen. The towers are at pretty much the same height, therefore we aren't required to do that", he explained.

"That's actually amazing. I didn't know you could direct the wind in that way. Moreover, the ride aboard Flacon is really smooth. These Formations must be working together to stabilise everything", "You never cease to amaze me. That is also correct. The ride is very smooth, because we disperse the wind energy in different directions. Damn, I wish we had more students like you", he praised.

Christopher decided to introduce me to the other two masters next. He was impressed with me, and that was a good thing. So long these people liked me, they'd share a lot more with me. I had the urge to copy these Formations, but of course they wouldn't allow me that. I also wanted to know what was in that core room, but refrained myself from doing anything stupid. Nonetheless, they taught me something new.