The Fairbanks International Airport was just coming into view as Will glanced up from his book. Peering out the small window, he could just make out the shape of the tall control tower, poking through the mist like a skyscraper above the clouds. Its light shined steadily across the afternoon sky, a constant beacon to incoming planes. He couldn’t help a small smile breaking out across his face. He was nearly home.
Leaning back into the seat slightly, he braced himself as the small bush plane began its descent. The small aircraft caught a tiny bit of turbulence as it dropped, but recovered smoothly, and with a rough bump, they hit the long tarmac. Now the plane was swiftly decelerating, and Will closed his book. He glanced to the side where an older native man was sitting, hands gripping the armrests of his chair with white knuckles.
“Not an easy flyer, are you?” Will asked, smiling reassuringly. He rode the motion easily. It wasn’t anywhere near the worst turbulence he’d ever encountered. “It’ll be over soon.”
The old man shook his head, letting out a short bark of laughter. “It’s madness, taking such a small plane into the skies. This wasn’t how our ancestors meant for us to travel.”
Will let out a quiet chuckle at that as the plane finally coasted to a gentle crawl, and the cabin was steady. “True that. But I imagine there are a lot of things in our life that our ancestors never meant for us to use. But they’re alright, aren’t they?”
“What do you know of the ancestors?” The man said grumpily. He looked Will up and down, a skeptical look in his eyes. Will knew that look. The man viewed him as an outsider. He couldn’t blame him. He looked like an outsider. To the eye alone, Will could have been a tourist. Except that he wasn’t, of course.
“Only what I’ve been taught over the past sixteen years, shcheyatda,” Will replied. The elder gave a little start as he used the Athabaskan word for grandfather, but recovered quickly, letting out another laugh.
“Alright then!” he exclaimed, his behavior turning on a dime. “You’re one of us, alright. What made you go to Anchorage, then?”
“I was just stopping at Anchorage,” Will commented, tucking the book back into his carry-on bag. “I spent the last few months in Japan.”
The elder’s eyes widened. “Japan, you say? Well, you young ones are just full of surprises. You speak that language too then?”
“Hai,” Will confirmed, laughing again. Seeing the man’s confusion, he added, “That’s Japanese for yes.”
His neighbor nodded his understanding, laughing in his own turn. “Never been outside our lands. Were you going to school there?”
“No,” Will said, heaving himself to his feet as the plane came to a proper stop. All along the small plane, the dozen other passengers were also preparing to disembark. “I just went for a tournament. Took some time to visit friends while I was there.
“Thank god that’s over with,” the elder muttered. He shook himself vigorously, then shakily rose from his feet, muttering almost too quiet to hear, “never again.”
Freezing air rushed into the cabin as the flight attendant opened the door, reaching even the back in an instant. Will, who had been seated towards the front, had only to wait for one person to get up, retrieve his briefcase from the overhead compartment, and start walking out before he could move himself. He snatched up the handle of his backpack and followed the man out, nodding politely at the flight attendant’s standard ‘Welcome to Fairbanks’ line.
The frozen air surrounded him at once, and he gave a faint little shiver. Three months in Japan had seen him grow accustomed to overall warmer weather, but he was at home in the cold, so he quickly readjusted. Even among other Alaskans, he was considered an oddity, with his perpetually rolled sleeves and thin sweatshirt instead of a jacket. At negative twenty, he knew, the winter was just starting. It would only get colder. He hesitated at the bottom of the small flight of steps. There were no gates in the Fairbanks Airport, as it wasn’t very large.
“Let me help you, grandfather,” he said over his shoulder. “There’s a bit of ice here.”
He offered the man his arm, and he gripped it gratefully. With Will’s help, they navigated the large patch of ice without difficulty, then went on their way towards the main airport building. It was a typical wintry day in Fairbanks, with the pale blue sky and not a cloud in sight. Snow was rare in Fairbanks, given that half of it was technically a desert. The sun shone almost painfully bright, high in the sky. This time of the year, it wouldn’t even go down.
The doors of the airport offered a reprieve from the blistering cold of the outside, and all the passengers of the flight moved gratefully into the warmth. Will found himself smiling once again as he took in the familiar building. The massive stuffed polar bear in its glass case, the wide-open space with a few waiting passengers, and the quiet chatter coming from the car rental desk. It was good to be home, he thought. It felt as though nothing had changed in his absence. Of course, it didn’t, he reminded himself. Alaska never changed.
“You look happy to be back,” the elderly man said, laughing at Will’s smile. “Smile like that, you’re either crazy or home.”
“Or both,” Will rejoined. “It’s a beautiful place, and I’ve been away a while.”
“Well, take care of yourself,” the man muttered, pointing one wrinkled hand forward. “My niece is here to pick me up!”
Will waved farewell to the man and his niece, a slender woman in her thirties, then let out a long sigh. Now that he was back, he had to find a way home. He pulled out his cellphone and turned off Airplane Mode. Immediately, notifications came flooding in. If his phone weren’t silenced, he would have disturbed the peace of the place with an avalanche of dings. Nothing important, but he did have a voicemail from his friend Kenta, whom he’d left in Japan. I’ll have to call him back when I get home.
He dialed his father’s office phone, knowing that the man would be at work, and held the phone up to his ear. He moved politely to an unoccupied space by the wall so that he wasn’t interrupting traffic through the building, and waited patiently. After a few rings, his father picked up. The sound was garbled, and his voice cut in and out. Will clicked his tongue and moved a bit away from the wall. Finally, the connection stabilized.
“Will? Is that you?”
“Yeah, Dad,” Will said. “It’s me.”
“Calling before you get on the plane from Anchorage?” His father asked. He sounded distracted. He always sounded distracted. “Let me know when you’ll be in Fairbanks, and I can come to pick you up.”
Will laughed. “I’m already in Fairbanks, Dad. I just landed.”
“Oh fuck,” Cameron Andrews was a man without a filter and often cursed when he shouldn’t. But Will didn’t mind. “I thought you weren’t going to get in until later! Didn’t you say you’d land at 9?”
“That was JST, Dad,” Will explained patiently. “I also told you three o’clock. But it’s alright. I can call a cab.”
There was a short pause on the other end. “Are you sure, Will? I don’t think the boss would mind. I promised I’d pick you up and everything.”
“It’s fiiine,” Will said, dragging out the last word slightly. “I’ll stop by Fred Meyer’s and pick up some food for dinner.”
“Oh thank god,” Cameron replied, letting out a quiet laugh. “I’m getting tired of boxed food. Where you learned to cook so damn well is beyond me. I’ll wire you some money, pick up the good mushrooms.”
“Will do,” Will replied. “See you at home, Dad.”
“See you later. Welcome home, son.”
Will hung up the call and tucked his phone back into his pocket. He’d expected his father to be working still. He was a simple man and worked hard at his job with the Daily Miner. He was nearly Editor-In-Chief, and wouldn’t earn the new title if he didn’t put in the hours. Besides, Will had quite a bit of money left over from his trip, as he’d had most of his expenses covered by friends and his winnings from the tournament. So a cab was possible. But first, he was hungry. His layover in Anchorage had been too short to grab food.
He was in luck when he stepped outside, as a cab was idling in front of the doors, its light on to mean it was ready for a fare. Will made a beeline for the driver’s door and tapped on the window. “You free?”
It was a rhetorical question, but the driver nodded. With a quiet pop, his trunk opened, and Will deposited his suitcase inside, before climbing in the back seat. The driver gave him an odd look, then shrugged. Will remembered that in Alaska, cab drivers were more sociable, and sitting in the front was encouraged. No point in changing now, he thought. That would just be awkward.
“Where to?” The driver asked gruffly. “Which hotel you stayin’ at?”
“I live here,” Will replied. “I need to make a stop at Fred Meyer’s, then home. Ten-twelve twenty-second avenue.”
“A’ight then.” He put the cab into gear, and they were off. Will didn’t talk much, but sat in the back silently, only occasionally yawning. He’d have to get to bed as soon as possible for school tomorrow, he reminded himself. He still had to suffer through graduation week and the ceremony before he was free of school. No clue what he’d do for college. There weren’t Associate’s Degrees for Kendo or Aikido. Maybe he’d take a Japanese Studies degree, just for an easy time at college.
The trip to Fred Meyer’s was surprisingly short, and Will had half-dozed off in the warm car when the driver cleared his throat. “How long ya gonna be, then?”
“Should be about half an hour,” Will said. “I’ll try to make it less. Here’s this for now.”
He handed the driver a twenty-dollar bill. The fare would likely only take about seventeen bucks, but it was enough to keep the man there. If he was displeased by the wait, he’d just pay another ten. He climbed out of the cab and groaned, stretching his tired muscles. There were a few people in front of the store as always; some were waiting on the bus, some were panhandling, some were just employees having a smoke break. Two figures drew his interest, however, because they were arguing. Well, one of them was yelling, the other was cowering.
Will was across the concrete and putting a hand on the shoulder of the shouting man before he could take in all the details. “Excuse me, sir, could you please calm down? You’re disturbing everyone else, and scaring this poor man.”
The shouter turned at once to glare at Will, and it was only then that the man’s clothing became obvious. Fur coat, all black hides, going from shoulder to knees. Gloves and pants also made from tanned hides and a long cloak of reddish fox fur. Will hurriedly took a step back as he realized who the man was, and the fear began to set in. This wasn’t a normal person. He was a Nexian. That was obvious by the way he was dressed, but even more obvious by the fact that the air was considerably warmer around him. He was a member of the Fire Nexus, a group of people who could create and manipulate fire with their bare hands.
Well, Will thought, it had been a good life. A short one, but sometimes you fucked up. And intentionally irritating a Nexian was one such fuck up. Nexians operated on different laws, and there was no law forbidding them from attacking or killing someone who got in their way.
