Chapter 4
He knew procrastinating was a bad idea, but Tristan found himself caught up in it anyway. Several days passed and with each one he woke up to the sounds of the city drifting in through the window. Each day he pulled the pillow over his head and groaned—not because of the clamor of the city, but because of the fact that he needed to tell the rest of his family about the egg. And each day he rose, prepared for the day, tended to the egg, then went down to the restaurant for a cup of coffee to wake him up. Then his mother would find him trying to blend in with the breakfast guests. She would scold him, pull him into the back, and put him to work, just like the old days—the days before he'd left for Canyon City for Skybax Rider training.
Each day as Tristan tied on an apron and rolled up his sleeves, he resolved that he would tell the rest of his family about the egg that evening. But evening would come and it never felt like just the right time to bring up the subject of the skybax egg.
Celesta helped him keep an eye on the egg, but she often urged him to tell the rest of the family about it. "At this rate, it's going to hatch before you tell anyone else about it, and then everyone will be shocked and upset that you never mentioned it earlier." She warned him.
Also, Tiana persistently brought up the subject of Treetown, but Tristan didn't want to hear about it. And every now and then his father mentioned how beneficial it would be to go back to Canyon City and try again. It seemed as if only his mother was perfectly content to have him back home, 'safe and sound,' as she put it.
Tristan tried to hide out in his room when he could in order to keep a close watch over the egg. However, most citizens of Sauropolis spent little time in their actual homes, preferring to attend various events that were constantly going on in the city. Because of this, Sarilla grew concerned and tried to get Tristan to open up more and talk about what happened with Twilight. She did not know that he was watching over a skybax egg. Tristan dodged her questions in any way he could.
One evening after making sure the egg was well tucked in and warm, he decided to escape for awhile and enjoy a stroll along the busy city streets. This way his mother couldn't corner him in his room and try to get him to talk.
He dressed in a nice set of clothes, clean pants with no patches, a long sleeved white cotton shirt, and a classy button up vest. He donned one of his finer hats, a tricorn with a fine archaeopteryx feather adorning it. He reluctantly removed the bandanna, deciding that it clashed with the finer clothes, but after a moment's contemplation, he kept the carnivore tooth necklace on. The citizens of Sauropolis generally dressed in their finest clothes for socializing outside of daily chores and hats were always the fashion, almost a mandatory accessory for any social event. Not only were they fashionable, but also practical for shielding against the rain showers which frequently blew in from the ocean.
Once outside, Tristan took a deep breath, enjoying the crispness in the evening air since an afternoon rain shower had blown through earlier, cooling the air and glossing the streets with water. The cumulonimbus clouds above were parting, letting in the last of the sun's golden rays.
He heard music drifting in on the evening breeze and he soon wandered on over to the source of the pleasant sound. There, parked in front of a flower shop, was a small band of street musicians, each dressed in bright colored clothes in order to attract the attention of a potential audience. A young boy pounded out a beat on a small hand drum, a tall girl piped out a merry tune on a flute, and a teenage boy strummed on a mandolin, while another girl danced to the music, swaying and swirling a colorful scarf in the air as she moved. The dancer did not wear a hat and her sandy blonde hair flowed freely down her back, swirling along with the scarf.
Next to the musicians stood a fidgety gallimimus who wore a soft saddle with several bags strapped to it. The creature's head was adorned with a tall looking hat which matched the one the musicians wore. At the creature's feet sat a basket in which passers by occasionally placed something in it as a gesture of appreciation for the entertainment.
The dancer turned a circle and Tristan stopped short in surprise as he recognized the girl. It was Tiana. He could tell by her expression of concentration that she had not noticed him.
So maybe this is why his sister had not returned home until so much later the day he had arrived home. He remembered their conversation and how she had not filled him in on the details of why she had returned home so much later than her dance lesson would've kept her. Hmm. He knew that his mother would much rather see Tiana performing on a prestigious theater stage rather than in the streets. Tiana was probably doing this without her parents knowing it.
Glancing around, Tristan did not see Sekani anywhere, which meant that the deinonychus was either keeping Celesta company at the moment, or was hiding nearby so as not to make any passers by nervous and spoiling the effect of the performance.
Before he could contemplate on the matter much further, Tristan felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to find himself looking into a pair of familiar blue eyes peeking out from under a wide brimmed straw hat which was adorned with a ribbon of colorful orchids.
"Oh hi!" Poppy Harper said in an energetic tone. "I almost didn't recognize you." The girl's eyes swept over him. "I mean, you look different without that bandanna and your clothes are so clean and there's no heavy looking backpack now. I wondered if I was ever going to run into you again and I was beginning to think you'd left the city for good. So where've you been hiding out?"
Tristan shifted uncomfortably. He jammed his hands into the side pockets of his pants and dropped his gaze to the cobblestones at his feet. "Well, I've been working a lot." He knew it wasn't a direct answer, but maybe it would be enough.
"So are you out this evening seeing the sights then? Those performers are pretty good, aren't they?"
Tristan nodded. Then, concerned that Tiana might catch sight of him, he moved out of view, stepping behind a parked cart piled high with fresh cut grass from the meadows outside of Sauropolis. Carts of meadow grass were a common sight along the streets of Sauropolis since the people made an effort to keep them stocked for the hard working sauropods of the city to graze on.
"I think it would be nice to be able to dance as well as that girl does." Poppy went on, trailing after Tristan. "Don't you think so?"
Tristan shrugged. He wasn't about to announce the fact that in his childhood his mother had forced him to go through some dance training and he could probably dance every bit as good as that girl who happened to be none other than his very own sister.
"It looks so fun, doesn't it? And what about the musicians? Have you ever wanted to play and instrument?"
Tristan shrugged again.
Poppy looked at him quizzically and Tristan could tell that she was dying to ask him more questions, but unlike the first time he'd met her, she was obviously trying hard to be polite and not pry too much. Tristan didn't feel like offering any more information so he decided to question her for a change. "So…what about you? What are you up to right now?"
Poppy's face broke into a huge smile. "I'm out with my family for an evening stroll. We like to do that sometimes, you know, as a family." The girl wore a pale blue dress with a skirt that fell just below the knee. It suddenly occurred to Tristan that her eyes were nearly the same color as the dress. Then it also occurred to him that his mother had taught him to take off his hat when speaking to a lady. Hesitantly, he reached up and pulled off his hat, briefly running his fingers through his hair, while wondering if the gesture even really mattered. So far Poppy didn't seem to be the 'stuffy manners' type, as some of the Sauropolis citizens could be.
When Poppy realized that the dark haired young man was looking into her eyes, she dropped her gaze and absentmindedly tucked a blonde curl behind her ear.
Tristan looked away then, scratched at the back of his head, and jammed the hat back on, feeling silly. He glanced around, wondering where this family the girl spoke of could be.
As if reading his thoughts, Poppy giggled. "They all went in there." She pointed to an antique shop next door with old relics cluttering the sidewalk in front. There were so many things on display crammed into the window that it was almost impossible to catch a glimpse of the shop inside.
"I was afraid I'd break something so I decided to wait out here. It's a good thing too, otherwise I wouldn't have seen you."
Tristan looked down and kicked at a pebble, thinking that it wasn't a good thing that she'd seen him.
"I see you're not carrying that huge pack anymore. You must've successfully made that delivery." Poppy went on, sensing that the young man might leave then, but she really wanted to keep him awhile longer. She was so curious about what mysteries those dark eyes held.
"Huh?" Tristan looked up quickly.
"The egg, silly. You must've gotten it to the Sauropolis Hatchling Nursery after all. You know, where it can be taken care of until someone can transport it to the nearest hatchery."
Tristan cleared his throat nervously. How was he going to safely answer? "Oh yeah, that. Um…well, the egg is good and safe now." He said, focusing his attention back to the cobblestones at his feet.
Poppy nodded. "Good." There was a moment of awkward silence and Tristan decided that now was the time to hurry away. "You know, I really should be—"
"So, are you a Skybax Rider?" Poppy cut in before he could finish.
Tristan's head shot up. "What? A Rider? No way. What made you think that?" He shifted nervously.
"Well, when we parted ways the last time, you said 'Fly High' with that showy salute that Riders always use. You did it so naturally too, like you'd done it all your life."
Tristan looked away down the street as he struggled to think of what to say. For now, the musicians and the unexpected dancer was forgotten about. "Uh, yeah, that." He muttered. "I was uh…messing around…just…being stupid, I guess."
Poppy was just about to ask another question when the door to the antique shop opened, creaking loudly on its hinges.
Tristan immediately jumped on the opportunity for a distraction. "Hey, is that them? Your family?"
A beefy looking man with dirty blonde hair and a thick, reddish beard stepped through the door, followed by a woman and two boys, one looking as if he were in his early teens and the other around seven or eight. The man was holding a squirming little girl that looked like she could be two or three.
"Yes, that is my family." Poppy said brightly. She bounded over to them. "Hey, Mama, Papa! Meet Tristan." Before he even knew what was happening, she had him by the hand and was practically dragging him over to meet her family.
The man shifted the toddler over to one side and practically crushed Tristan's hand in a hearty handshake. "Pleased to meet you, young man."The man said in a booming tone.
Tristan withdrew his hand and rubbed it, wondering how the man wasn't crushing the little girl cradled in his huge arm.
"The name's Brutus. This here is my lovely wife, Azalea, my boys, Kale and Lander, and apparently you've met Poppy already. Oh yes, and I can't forget little Daisy here, can I?" He brushed the tip of his wide finger over the child's nose.
The toddler smiled, tugging at one of her golden curls. She looked at Tristan with big, curious eyes which looked as blue as Poppy's did. "Ith-un." She said, pointing at him.
Poppy laughed. "Daisy is pretty good with names even though she can't pronounce everything right just yet." Then she turned to her parents. "Hey, Mama, Papa? Maybe Tristan could join us for awhile."
Tristan started to protest, but his words were immediately drowned out in the noise of the family voicing their agreement. Tristan was then swept away with the boisterous family, popping in and out of shops, stopping every once in a while to watch a street performer or to chat for a moment with a familiar acquaintance. Tristan did not see Tiana and her friends for the rest of the evening so he assumed they must've finished for the evening or else moved on to a street that didn't happen to be on the Harper family's route. Last of all they stopped at an overstuffed little diner for a treat of sticky buns and hot tea.
Tristan found himself squished in between Brutus and Daisy. By the time everyone was finished, his ears were ringing from Brutus's bellowing laugh and everyone's happy chatter. He tried to wipe off the sticky icing that Daisy somehow managed to spread all over herself and him, but he still couldn't get it all off.
During the conversation, Tristan learned that Brutus was a construction engineer and Azalea was a school teacher. Daisy, who wasn't quite two years old accompanied her mother to school while a struthiomimus kept an eye on her during teaching sessions. Lander was still in school, Kale was training be a firefighter, and Poppy, like her mother, enjoyed teaching, but taught a much younger set of students than her mother.
"So tell us about your family, Tristan." Azalea said as she leaned across the table to pour the last of the tea into his cup. She was a pretty woman with wavy light brown hair tied with a ribbon at the back of her neck. He realized then that Poppy had her mother's bright blue eyes. He started to shake his head to let her know that he didn't want any more tea, but Lander looked at him so seriously that he stopped, realizing that refusing the gesture might be a sign of disrespect in the odd traditions of this family. So instead, he smiled and pushed his cup forward. Lander's face immediately brightened.
"Yes, do tell us about your family." Poppy said.
Tristan cleared his throat. "Well, uh, I guess I could say they're a lot more fun to be around than me."
Everyone laughed and Daisy clapped her sticky hands together even though she didn't really know what was so funny.
Tristan realized that he didn't know what was so funny either.
"Oh, come now, Tristan." Said Azalea. "We all think you're wonderful."
Everyone chipped in their agreement.
"Tristan decided that they probably thought everyone they met was truly wonderful and loads of fun, but he kept this thought to himself.
"Well, my parents run the Sauropolis Star restaurant—"
Before he could finish the whole family interrupted, expressing their admiration over the fact that it was his parents that ran the fine restaurant. Tristan knew the restaurant had a good reputation, but the high praise that came gushing from the family seemed too much.
When there was a slight lull in the wave of praise, Tristan snagged the moment to move on. "Anyway, I have two younger sisters." He looked at Poppy. "They're probably about your age. One is seventeen and the other just recently turned fifteen."
Poppy smiled. "Yes, I'm seventeen. I would love to meet your sisters. But how old or you then, may I ask?" She giggled slightly. "No wait. I want to guess."
Tristan took a sip of tea and waited with an amused smile on his face.
"You're twenty-three." She finally said.
Tristan's smile wilted. "Do I look that old?"
"I wanna guess." Lander said. "You're twenty-one."
"No, but that's closer."
Lander shot a smug look at his sister. "Hah."
Poppy rolled her eyes at her youngest brother, then focused her attention on Tristan again. "Well. My guess was based on my first impression of you a few days ago. I guess you looked a bit travel worn which made you appear older than you really were. Let me guess again." She paused, scrutinizing him from where she sat next to her mother on the other side of the table.
"You're…nineteen?"
"Almost." Tristan replied. One more month to go."
"Oh. Wow. How could I have guessed so far off? How embarrassing." Poppy blushed and shrank back into her chair.
Tristan wondered if it was all the rough stuff he'd been through during Skybax Rider training, which made him appear older. Training had been harder than he'd anticipated and the troubles he and the other Riders had run into during their trek through the Forbidden Mountains had been nothing short of traumatic. But he couldn't tell this family about any of that. Was he aging too quickly? He rubbed his forehead, hoping no premature wrinkles were forming there. Then he glanced down at his tea. Maybe he should switch to drinking more tea and less coffee.
Azalea noticed the troubled look that sprang into Tristan's eyes, but she chose to not press him about what was on his mind. "Tell us about your sisters." She said, smiling warmly.
"Well." Tristan said, glancing at Poppy, whose cheeks were still rosy. "You remind me of Tiana in some ways. She's bubbly and fun loving, friendly, and can be pretty talkative at times. Celesta, on the other hand, is much quieter and very shy, but she loves music and has the sweetest singing voice I've ever heard." He paused and smiled. "But she wouldn't like if she knew I said that. She rarely sings in front of anyone because she is too shy."
"Are they pretty?" Said Kale, bluntly and immediately received a cuff over the head by his father and a stern look from his mother.
Tristan smothered the impulse to laugh. Kale had definitely hit the stage of being interested in girls. Lander, on the other hand, wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"Actually." Tristan said, "They're not just pretty, they're marvelously beautiful. But," he added, looking pointedly at Kale, "They have a deinonychus friend who guards them closely and he isn't exactly what you'd call tame. He was an orphan from the Rainy Basin when my parents adopted him."
"From the Rainy Basin?" Kale repeated, his eyes huge now.
"Yup. However, since he grew up with us in Sauropolis, he does pretty good about remaining tame. Well, most of the time, that is. He's been known to get a little violent toward strangers that look like they could be a threat." Tristan knew he was going a little too far, but it was fun to see the boy getting so uncomfortable.
Brutus burst into a trumpet blast of laughter and gave Tristan a hearty slap on the shoulder, which caused the last of the tea in his cup to slosh out over his arm and onto the table. No one seemed to notice though, except for Daisy who reached out and stuck a dimpled finger in the puddle of the tea on the table top and tasted it.
"Boy, you've got a sense of humor after all." Brutus guffawed. "It was subtle though. We're going to have to work on you a little."
Tristan mopped up the tea with a cloth napkin and resisted the urge to touch his shoulder which felt like it might be bruising. Seriously, how was it that this whole family wasn't black and blue?
After they were all outside on the street again, Tristan immediately looked for a way to escape. "Whew, it must be getting late." He said, glancing up at the sky, which appeared like a black sheet. Due to a thick cloud cover, there were no winking stars.
Azalea voiced her agreement while she bounced Daisy on her hip. The toddler rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"Papa? Could Tristan come to my birthday celebration? And his sisters too? I'd love to meet them." Poppy said.
The whole family erupted in excitement and Tristan knew that if he turned down the invitation they would all be disappointed. "Well, uh—" He began, trying to find a gentle way to turn the invitation down.
"It's settled then." Brutus bellowed, offering another friendly slap to Tristan's shoulder.
Tristan gritted his teeth.
"An invitation will be sent to the restaurant." Azalea said with a pleased look on her face.
"Um..." Tristan said while the family smothered him with goodbyes. He wasn't even sure if anyone heard his reply. He could've just as well said "no" after all and none of them would've noticed.
"I'll bring the invitation myself." Poppy said softly so that the rest of her family couldn't hear.
"Uh, okay." Tristan replied, feeling confused and completely overwhelmed with the girl's vivacious family.
"Don't worry." Poppy added with a smile. "I won't bring them."
Tristan blew out his breath in relief as he watched the busy family move on down the street, the warm glow of the night lanterns spilling down on them while they chattered to one another.
Poppy looked behind her and waved. Tristan started to raise his hand to use the Rider's salute, but caught himself at it this time and since his hand was already to the level of his head, he quickly snatched off his hat and waved it before slapping it back down onto his thick dark hair. He turned around quickly and all but ran back home.