Sketch: Eterna

I'm probably going to take a bit to figure out how I want to format "content" on this blog. For this first post, I've obviously started with a quick intro. After the piece there'll be a bit of director's commentary where I talk more about the process & my ideas behind the content. So without further ado, here's one of the first pieces I ever wrote for the story!

In her memories, Eterna was a city of light, aflame in Rosa’s warmth. She saw broad strokes of color, soft aching hues of reddish gold, gleaming in the dawn. Someone had her hand, maybe her mother, guiding her through the streets, blurred in a viscous dreamy trance. There were people, tall and dark like her mother, content to drift by in slow motion as she tipped her head up, up to the sky, the tiny ornate peaks of buildings so far away, up in the wispy white clouds, where big round airships trundled lazily by, or dozed as they lay in those big creaky cradles. Dazzling mirrors would shine searingly bright if she watched them too long, rubbing her eyes as her mother gently scolded her, reminded her to see the fuzzy, shapeless forms around her, and not the glowing towers with their shiny glass windows, not the shooting stars that glimmered towards the aircourt, or the faint marbles hanging in the sky; beyond the funny airships and the ghostly clouds, out in the high sky where only the fastest ships could go, she imagined she could run and dance and play with those little marbles, holding them all in the palms of her hands.

Although she is not yet named, this is our protagonist, Noira Luazinha Isabel, still a small child at the time of this little sketch. I didn't have any particular major event in my mind when I wrote this - I just wanted to explore the world through her eyes. She comes from one of the small family-run subsistence farms on pr'Sefone, but her family's livelihood, like so many others, is threatened in recent years as industrial agriculture begins to outcompete them. Noira's mother Telma knows this all too well, and although Noira has many young siblings, the proverbial eggs are in her basket. Telma will encourage Noira to pursue a career beyond farming, and ultimately beyond her homeworld. Noira will find such a livelihood, but her sense of belonging, her concept of home, will suffer as she moves away.

Rereading this passage, I feel like Telma is pitted against Noira's natural curiosity. In reality I imagine she's just busy, a young girl in tow as she tries to get something important done. Still, it's quite possible Telma takes some time to realize that Noira will only be happy beyond the life that surrounds her at the farm; wanting the best for her daughter can take many forms, and I know she will ultimately nurture the light of wonder that sparkles in little Noira's eyes.

Incidentally, this piece also contains a lot of description of Eterna, pr'Sefone's capital world and primary spaceport. The low angle of Rosa on the horizon means a forest of buildings will quickly cast itself into shadow, so I envision mirrors at the rooftops casting Roselight down to the streets below. I tend to imagine the city comprised of ornate, glasslike architecture, glittering like a mosaic in the eternal dawn. The "aircourt" is a network of towers linked by high skybridges and platforms, allowing enormous airships to drift into port while clearing the delicate skyline. One day I will be able to draw these images accurately, but writing helps me conceptualize the setting in the meantime.