Castle, Cave, or Cloud

Spark has been wandering all her life.  But her wandering had no purpose, until she began searching for a home.

Genre: Mythology, Fable, Fantasy

Excerpt: Spark had been traveling all her life. She’d never once landed in one place. But now she had. Now, she could be still. And she’d found this one place, this one twirling world.

Exploring was exciting. But Spark was not quite exploring. She was searching for something. A place. One place. To settle.

A home of her own.

What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but it’s connected to or inspired by a previous story through a character, a place, an object, a concept, a continuation of events (ahem, sequel), and so on.

The inspiration for this story is the Season 5 episode, “The Flight of Flea.”  The story is about a bird that grew so small that no one could see him. Everyone called him “Flea.”  But he knew that he had another name, a name he’d forgotten.  If he could find out what his true name was, Flea believed he could grow big enough to be seen.

NEW MERCH!Interested in merch, like mugs and notebooks, featuring my artwork? Please visit my Store page for updated info on where you can buy: STORYFEATHER STORE

MY FIRST BOOK IS OUT!Ever wonder how I’ve gotten all these hundreds of stories written?  I have a method. And I talk all about it in my book called Fictioneer’s Field Guide: A Game Plan for Writing Short Stories.

It’s now available as an eBook, paperback, and hardcover. The book title takes you straight to the book on Amazon. Or you can visit my Store page: STORYFEATHER STORE

 (Hint: The Store page has a sign-up form for my email newsletter, where you can get tales of my fictioneering mischief and writing tips from me for free.)

CREDITSStory: “Castle, Cave, or Cloud” Copyright © 2021 by Nila L. Patel Narration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production:  Nila L. Patel

Music: “Wide place” by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Intro and Outro) “Abstract Vision #5” by ANDREW SITKOV (Outro)

Music by NICHOLAS JEUDY (Dark Fantasy Studio)* “Scroll of the wind walker” “Haven” “In the shadows” “Wide place” “Shadows and flames”

Music by ANDREW SITKOV (MuzStation Game Music)* “Medieval Theme 5”

Music by JONATHAN SHAW* “A Tale of Peace”

*These tracks were part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market.

Music by Jonathan Shaw, Nicholas Jeudy, Andrew Sitkov is licensed from GameDev Market Sound effects from AudioJungle, GameDevMarket, and Soundly (through Hindenburg) Changes made to the musical tracks?  Just cropping of some to align with my narration.

Find more music by Andrew Sitkov, Jonathan Shaw, and Nicholas Jeudy at gamedevmarket.net Find more music by Jonathan Shaw at jshaw.co.uk Find more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com

Episode Art Description: Digital drawing. A castle at center with three main spires flying pennants, battlements, and flanking symmetrical towers. The castle stands in front of a cave opening through which light pours. Moss grows along the cave walls. In front of the castle in the foreground is a bank of clouds. Watermark of “Storyfeather” along cave wall at right.