It was another beautifully clear morning when the sky is one vast expanse of brilliant blue. From the east, the first few little white clouds sailed across the sky before a gentle wind.

They wandered in over the edge of the horizon, moving slowly and purposefully before the soft breeze.

Along with them came happy little Sirius.

As long as he could remember he always found mornings cheering. Sirius never really gave much thought to the past. Nor anything.

Never worrying about yesterday or where he might be going. ‘What was the point of worrying about something you can’t change’, he thought. Besides, it was such a glorious day that no one could have any worries at all. He was happy just drifting above the world along with the rest of his friends.

Sirius and his souffle drifted west over a green and brown patchwork land.

In front of the group came Erasmus – a cloud that always needed to be first. He had shuffled his way to the front, even though he had left late from the place beyond the edge of the horizon where they had spent the night. Next came Hector, a very self-opinionated cloud. A cloud who always needed to be in charge.

Hector would let everybody know if his authority was threatened. He bossed the other clouds around as though he was Lord of Clouds. No one of his group was allowed to step out of line. Those wispy, undisciplined young things in the other packs weren’t for Hector. For Hector was a cloud with a puffed-up sense of self-importance held together with an over-inflated air. Some of the other clouds feared him. Some thought him rude. Most just quietly sniggered behind his back.

Over the edge of the horizon, the rest of the group followed. Small clusters of clouds crossed the clear blue sky, some still half asleep. Now and then Hector would thunder back blasting the stragglers to move. He would bluster and rumble to bring them into line, for today was an important day. Today was Assembly. Assembly is what all clouds do and is something that they have done since before remembering.

Assembly is the culmination of a cycle of patterns that change with the seasons.

Every cloud plays a part, and every cloud understands their role in the grand scheme in the sky. Though for most clouds, it was something they all just did. There were a few clouds that could organise themselves, but most groups had a leader. This group’s real leader, despite all Hector’s puffing and blowing, was Ramulad.

Ramulad had been sailing the skies for longer than anyone could remember. A leader by age than ability he happily let Hector do all the organising. This particular group of clouds, despite an attempt at order, still straggled over the horizon.

Next came Ezerkhent, a wispy youngster if there ever was one. Ezey (as his friends called him) could never ever get himself together. No matter how often Hector roused, Ezey always had a little bit of himself trailing off to one side or the other.

Next came Scalliard, a shape changer in the making, constantly forming and reforming: a morphing bundle of nervous energy never sure whether to be cirrus, cumulus or stratus. Once, Hector had caught him misting when it wasn’t time! Scalliard would spread out, then bunch up always out of sequence. He often bumped into the other clouds – much to their ire. Amongst all this rabble, floating serenely, was Anthea, Sirius’s favourite. She was a beautiful young cloud.

Perfectly formed, neither too plump nor perky. Her gentle smile always looked kindly on Sirius. Anthea was Sirius’s heroine, and he hung about her during the day like a faithful puppy, bobbing along just within her sight. If he ever floated off too far, he would hurry back to hang within her shadow.

Though the day had begun with some structure beneath a clear sky, many clouds were gathering over the mountains. Soon a great cloud city had started to form, rising and tumbling with each new addition. Those not entirely familiar with the ways of clouds may not have realised that every cloud has a purpose. Usually, it is hard to discover their true purpose, as clouds tend to keep to themselves.

The sitting of the cloud council is part of an Assembly. Discussions are had regarding the cloud’s regional business. Assembly is as much a social gathering as for decision making. Clouds meet to swap stories, trade gossip and catch up with friends, all mixed with an element of quiet confusion. Whenever there is a gathering, however, tempers can rise. Inevitably there are tussles between the groups jockeying for the best position closest to the great council. Some roll and turn on each other, and it isn’t uncommon for clouds caught in the squeeze to suddenly break up and shear off. Sirius wasn’t sure why they had all gathered today, yet he still marvelled at the unfolding spectacle. He hovered about the edges of the Assembly. He watched the wondrous sight of the rolling clouds milling higher and higher into the blue. Sirius was happy being a cloud. One could even say he was simply happy just … being. Although he couldn’t remember most of his life as a cloud.
He wasn’t the type for remembering things. Thoughts such as ‘why’ or ‘where’ never entered his empty head. He was just happy floating far above the ground.

Though not vain, he did remember that just yesterday it had been clearly pointed out that he was indeed a cloud – a bewdiful cloud.
He recalled floating low over a large pond surrounded by a tall stand of trees. It was a pleasant place where water squirted in the air from the mouths of stone dragons. He saw that the area was surrounded by tall, dry rectangles that towered towards the sky.

He overheard someone call this place a park. The park was full of children – laughing, playing and crying. One moment he was hovering close to the ground, the next he felt a sudden rush of freedom. He rose above the ground, stopped to hover for a while then drifted high above the heads of the children. Wafted by the breeze he remembered a crying child pointing at him as he floated out over the pond. When Sirius reached the other side of the pond a few of the children came running after him and tried to catch hold of him.

“Look Mummy! Up there – a bewdiful cloud,” a child called.

The mummy person chided, “Don’t be silly dear. That’s a …”.

But the rest of her words were lost in the breeze. Sirius savoured ‘bewdiful’. He also enjoyed leaving the ground behind, drifting higher up into the sky where he really belonged. After reaching a great cloud-height, Sirius followed a long silver line that led away from the park. The rectangular rocks soon gave way to open fields of green. Wandering aimlessly for some time he met up with his souffle. They had found each other quite by accident, for you see Sirius had been drifting along watching his shadow play across the patchwork ground below, when, without looking where he was going, he had literally bumped into Erasmus! Most clouds don’t take kindly to being bumped into, especially by insignificant upstarts. Erasmus grumbled, and it all could have turned nasty if not for the intervention of Anthea. She was able to calm the storm-faced Erasmus and shuffle Sirius out of harm’s way. You would have thought that Sirius had learnt his lesson, but again without meaning to, Sirius, who was having the time of his life listening to all the different clouds discussing matters of misty importance at the Assembly, scudded into Rajeevi!

Rajeevi, the mean-spirited leader of a gang from the north-west, was insulted by Sirius’s affront to her personage. Most of the clouds were sensible enough to steer clear of Rajeevi and her cronies. Sirius tried to apologise, but this dark puff would not listen to reason. As her cronies began to close-in around little Sirius pressure began to mount, and a rumble or two was heard.

Then Rajeevi, who was swirling around berating poor Sirius accidentally backed into Erasmus! Erasmus turned sharply. He disliked being interrupted while lecturing a weedy cumulus on the value of Order. The objectionable Erasmus puffed himself up and started accusing Rajeevi of being out of line. He demanded an apology, at which Rajeevi took offence (as she did with most things). Soon flashing sparks arced between the two.

Sirius took this opportunity to sneak quietly away. His tactical move was made easier as other clouds began to gather-in around the growing brouhaha. Some of Rajeevi’s gang started harassing onlookers, and it was around this point that lightning was thrown. Two of the committee’s controllers quickly arrived on the scene to try and restore order. This met with little success. Small scuffles had begun to break out amongst those who had gathered to watch.

Old arguments resurfaced. Caught in the melee Scalliard was having a difficult time keeping himself together. It was during one scuffle, that one of Rajeevi’s clan – Ragnar – noticed Sirius hiding behind Ezerkhent.

Ragnar hurled harsh words at Sirius. Others joined in the heckling which Ezerkhent thought was directed at him. Ezey (being wispy) began to weep. First, he let loose valuable moisture before rapidly bruising. Some of the others saw Ezey darken, and thinking it was time, began to turn dark as well.

Quickly the mostly white Assembly began to develop a dark, shadowy stain. This early and untimely change caught the attention of Cloudius, a Great Council organiser. He was just about to start an important speech with Hector by his side when the gathering turned towards the growing scuffle. They all noticed the dark spreading patch, Cloudius realised that this uncalled-for change was not part of the grander scheme. He double checked his notes.

It was listed that the Assembly would only turn pink at sunset, not to darken. Cloudius angrily ploughed his way through the rabble down towards the centre of the growing storm, closely followed by Hector. The small squabbles had rapidly grown out of hand. Loud rumbling and crashes could now be heard across the Assembly. Some were arguing about turning dark, while others, who’d first turned grey, were in the process of turning back, while others had begun to break out of line and gather closer to watch. Cloudius turned grim with anger and dropped down to where Rajeevi and Erasmus were bumping madly into each other. Hector’s efforts to restoring order were futile, while others sent sparks flying. Cloudius bulldozed his way through the masses, parting all before him. He pulled Rajeevi and Erasmus apart.

His voice thundered across the sky, “Who the heck started this?” Everyone started babbling at once, each giving their own opinion. Cloudius again boomed for quiet. Eventually, a badly ruffled Erasmus spoke. He blamed Rajeevi saying that she had been disrespectful to a superior.
Rajeevi protested that it wasn’t she who started the scuffle accusing Erasmus of having picked the fight. Rajeevi caught sight of Sirius. Turning and pointing accusingly she snarled, “Him! He’s the little upstart who started it all.”

The air was momentarily still. Sirius, who was cowering behind the sniffling Ezey, moved deeper into his shadow. Cloudius looked down upon tiny Sirius, and Ezey slid aside leaving Sirius exposed. Whispering clouds closed around the centre of attention. The stillness was pierced by anger. “You, you, you …”, Cloudius stuttered.

“You poor excuse for a cloud. You started this disruption of our sacred Assembly. You’re not worthy of being called a cloud”, Cloudius roared. “You have upset the great and defined order.” Sirius looked around desperately, but could not find the familiar face of Anthea to help him. Sirius pleaded his innocence saying he had no knowledge of any great or defined order. This riled Cloudius further. Some of the clouds sniggered as everyone knew about the great order. Cloudius yelled, more to assert his power, as much as from anger. “Get out of here! You are banished from this Assembly!”

Sirius tried to mumble something in his defence, but Cloudius turned black and burst, cracking the air with a thunderous roar. “Enough of your insolence.” Cloudius then spat a solid, cold hailstone which hit Sirius in the middle of his head.

“Exile!”

Other clouds joined the chorus. Some morphed and turned an ominous green.

The crowd then started pelting Sirius with hard, stinging raindrops. Weighed down, Sirius plummeted out of the sky. His eyes were blinded by both the raindrops and his own salty tears. The entire Assembly was now completely dark, hiding the sun and turning day into night.

Sirius raced down through the storm. He moved closer to the ground and sought shelter under the shadowy branches of a large tree. The leaves broke the rain’s full force while his tears from the shame for being exiled ran unabated.

By the time the clouds had spent their anger the sun had left the sky, with night deepening the shadows. In the dull light, Sirius could see the last of the clouds from the ruined Assembly drifting back towards the edge of the horizon.

Those that remained had turned around, and he was left looking up at their flat, dark grey underbellies. Heavy drops still fell to the sodden ground.

They dripped from the black leaves splattering over Sirius on the way down. A dank, sad fog blanketed the ground. “This,” Sirius thought, “must be the place all banished clouds come.”

Sirius emerged from under the tree and drifted through the brume up over a grassy hilltop. There before him lay the edge of an endless black ocean.

The sea is the birthplace of all clouds, but Sirius cared little for that. He drifted over the sea cliffs, away from the land and sailed on out across the deep ocean. The further from shore he floated, the few clouds hovered above. Eventually, he travelled far beyond the sight of any other cloud.

High above, the heavens hung dark and clear. In his sad loneliness, Sirius thought of disappearing beneath the cold, black water. As he moved down towards the waves, high above him among the great mantle of the crystal-clear, night sky, small bright stars began to appear. Little pinpricks of light twinkled in the night sky as Sirius moved closer to the calming sea.

He looked down and saw his sad reflection in the water. Now he clearly understood why he had been cast out. His round, pale body was not fluffy like other clouds. He was smooth and ugly, without a hint of softness. He even had a peculiar and uncloud-like, thin tail trailing in the water behind him.

It was then that he noticed a bright light rising in the east. Soon a full moon broke free of the sea to climb regally into the night. The stars around the moon faded in awe of her majesty. In the bright, blue-white glow, the night time ocean lightened its heavy cloak and glittered like hundreds of diamonds.

The moon’s reflection mirrored Sirius’s own reflection.

It was then that Sirius saw that the moon and he were both full and round. Then it dawned on him, he had been mistaken. He was not a cloud.
“How silly; how could I have ever thought such a thing!” A smile lit up his face, and his heart leapt as he drew away from the cold water. He rose quickly up into the night sky. Sirius ascending higher and higher still, closer and closer to the moon, higher than any cloud has ever travelled.

Far below, Anthea, who had been watching out for her friend, followed his journey into the night sky. She watched until Sirius, no longer a mere balloon, became a small bright point of light, just like the all the other stars.