Dallin didn't see how any yeti was going to be able to fix this thing. Even most of the human engineers and inventors would likely be stumped by the unique device. There was only one person who truly knew how it worked-or rather, how it was supposed to work.

After he recovered from his initial shock and could think clearly again, he knew Dr. Laker was their best bet.

But the yetis were adamant that they at least try.

He stood in the back corner of the building they'd gone to, watching this yeti fiddle with the device. The S.E.S gathered around his table, offering advice and support.

But what if he was only breaking it more? Dallin moaned softly, hoping he wasn't heard.

But Migo looked back at him, and moved to join him. "Cheer up, Dallin. We're doing all we can."

"Yeah, I know, but…."

He flinched as an ugly sound came from the device. "What happened?"

The yeti working on it shrugged. "I'm not sure. I've been learning a lot, but I've never seen anything like this. Maybe you should take it to Ed. He's better at this than me."

Meechee sighed and nodded. "Okay. Thanks for trying, anyway."

She picked up the device, and led the group back outside.

"Can we go see Dr. Laker now?" Dallin tried.

"Hold on. Ed might be able to help us." Meechee gave him a glance as they walked.

"But what if he can't? Dr. Laker is the one who built it! Surely he's the best equipped of anyone to fix it…"

"But it could really save us some time if we fix it first."

Dallin huffed. Arguing wasn't getting him anywhere.

He suspected that deep down, the yetis were insisting on this out of curiosity rather than saving time. They were starting to realize that this situation offered a unique opportunity to answer questions that were hard to answer.

This was further reinforced by how much they had begun asking him about his life as a 'smallfoot.'

"Did 'Dr. Laker' build a lot of the devices you use in your village?" asked Migo.

"A fair number, I think."

"What about those shiny flying things?"

"Uh, the planes? No, I don't think so...he doesn't really do…"

He looked up as they approached another house, bigger than the last. "This is it?"

Migo smiled and nodded. "Yep!"

Dallin sighed as Meechee called to Ed through the door, asking for his help.

This is just a big waste of time. He kept himself from saying the words aloud.

At one point or another, they had to realize that they weren't getting anywhere like this.

Migo looked at him again, noting his frustration. "Hey, how about I show you around the village? They'll probably be done by the time we get back."

Dallin watched the rest of the S.E.S follow Ed inside. Might as well. Better than standing in the corner and stressing out.

"I guess." He said out loud.

Migo smiled and gestured for him to follow, walking in the direction of the big ice palace.

At first, Dallin didn't really pay attention, shooting glances back in the direction of Ed's house, and wondering what state the device would be in when he next saw it.

But he had to admit that he was curious too.

He looked up at the giant yeti face in wonder. How had they built that? Did they have different tools? Was that actual glass in it's eye windows?

Dallin looked up at Migo, who was talking. "This is where the Stonekeeper, Meechee, and her brother Thorp live."

"Meechee lives here?"

"Yep! It's the palace, where Stonekeepers have lived for generations."

"What is a Stonekeeper?" Dallin asked.

Migo paused, looking a little uncomfortable. "Well, before we met you, we followed the Stones. They were like our laws. A Stonekeeper interpreted and enforced the Stones, so we would be safe."

"Really? What made you give them up?"

Migo seemed to shrink a little more. "Well, we found out that they were lies, and we couldn't keep following lies. They told us smallfeet weren't real."

Dallin nodded. "Ah."

I should probably change the subject now. Migo looked ready to disappear at any moment. Dallin guessed the Stones were still a bit of a touchy subject.

He looked around again, and caught sight of something. "What's that?" He pointed towards the ropes with ice blocks.

Migo looked relieved as he followed his gaze. "Oh! We use that to get around faster. C'mere, I'll show you!"

Dallin followed Migo up a path towards the top of a hill, nodding to any yeti that looked at him.

At the top, a yeti sat on a rock with his tongue out while an odd contraption spun nearby, moving the ropes through a pulley system.

Migo looked back to smile at him. "We used to have yetis here, keeping these moving all day. But we learned a few tricks from the smallfeet, and we built this."

Suddenly, Migo slapped his hand along the yeti's tongue, making Dallin jump. "Then you just put your hand on, and you stick to it. Go ahead. Try it!"

You can't be serious. Dallin stared at him, unable to make himself move. "Can't I just use the snow?"

Migo shook his head. "This is what has always worked best. Go ahead."

Dallin was about to say, 'no way', but then he noticed the yeti's confused look. Of course, to him, Dallin was Fleem, and he had likely been doing this for years with no problem.

He cringed at the idea of trying to explain and prove again that he was a smallfoot in Fleem's body. That had been difficult enough the first time.

So he choked back his words, and forced himself to do what Migo said, trying not to think about it too much. But he still grimaced at the wetness now on his hand.

Dallin looked up and realized how high up the ice blocks were compared to him.

"Oh, uh, let me give you a boost." Migo said. He interlaced his fingers and held his hands out. "Ready? Don't forget to get your whole hand onto it."

Dallin sighed and stepped onto his hands. "Yup. Knock yourself out."

Migo waited for an ice block to get in position before he hoisted Dallin up and towards them in one move. Dallin almost missed it as he flailed, barely slapping his hand onto the block. It stuck, leaving him dangling as the rope moved over the ground far below him.

Don't look down.

Dallin glanced behind him, where Migo followed on the next block. "How are we going to get off?" He yelled.

"You'll see!"

The ropes moved slowly and steadily, getting higher and higher. Dallin kept his eyes up. He wasn't terrified of heights, but he didn't exactly feel safe right there.

He was relieved when he got to the other side. Another yeti sat waiting with a pot of hot water. He flung it at the ice block with a sort of ladle, and Dallin came free and fell back to the ground, landing on his feet.

Migo followed, grinning. "Cool, right?"

Dallin shook off his wet hand. "Yeah. We don't have anything like that in my village."

The tour resumed. Dallin managed to relax somewhat, though in the back of his mind, he was still aware of the device in Ed's house.

He recognized much of the yeti village from Percy Patterson's descriptions.

And he was one of the only humans who would ever get to see it!

Hours passed as Migo showed him as much as he possibly could. It was evening by the time Dallin had been around the whole thing, so on the way back towards Ed's house, Migo and Dallin stopped for some more rock fruit, red this time.

Gwangi, Kolka and Meechee were outside the house when they returned. "What's going on?" Dallin asked anxiously. "Ed is trying some things. He just needed some space to concentrate." answered Kolka.

Dallin sighed and sat down on a nearby rock.

The other S.E.S members came to join him.

"In the meantime, could we ask a few more questions?" asked Meechee with a smile.

Dallin folded his arms. "Sure. Ask away."

"Dallin?"

Dallin jerked awake to darkness. When had he drifted off? He sat in front of the rock, and Kolka now knelt in front of him, gently shaking him.

Dallin looked at her in dismay. "It's night?"

Kolka nodded, looking a little guilty. "We got the device back. Ed doesn't know what to do with it."

I told you! Dallin thought.

Kolka gently pulled Dallin to his feet. "It took a while. It's late. We'd better go to bed and get some sleep. We'll have to figure this out tomorrow."

A murmur of agreement came from the others.

Dallin's response was cut off by a yawn and a wave of grogginess.

Why did you have to be so curious?

Now Dallin was stuck here for the night.

Kolka steered him away with a hand on his shoulder. He stumbled as they moved.

After a few minutes, he recognized Fleem's home in front of him. "You'd better just sleep in Fleem's room." said Kolka.

"Mmhm." Resigned, Dallin bade her good night and went in on his own.

Another yeti stood in the front room!

Dallin jerked backwards, about to run right back out the door, until he remembered who it must be.

"Fleem. There you are." Fleem's mom looked up, looking tired.

"Uh, yeah. Hi, Mom. Um...how are you doing?" Dallin fidgeted, unsure how to act. He didn't know anything about Fleem as a person.

"I'm just a little tired. It's been a long day." Fleem's mom rubbed her eyes as she responded.

"Yeah, me too. I was just going to bed."

Fleem's mom nodded. "Allright. I'll see you tomorrow, Fleem."

Yawning for effect, Dallin headed through the hallway to Fleem's room.

The mammoth fur bed sheets were still on the floor from their earlier search. Dallin picked them up.

So he would have to make the bed. Great.

Dallin looked from the bed to the blanket and threw the furs over the rock. Was that how it had been earlier?

Whatever. He was too tired to mess with it too much.

He climbed onto the bed, putting his head on the rock pillow.

It definitely wasn't as comfortable as his bed back home. How could yetis be comfortable sleeping on a rock? The mammoth fur blanket helped, but he still felt it's hard roughness under it.

Dallin grunted as he shifted positions. Well, he'd better try to get comfy anyway. He was stuck here for the night, after all.

Fleem:

Fleem was ready to pass out from exhaustion.

He and Percy had been out for hours, looking for that house, long after Brenda had gone home to her room under Percy's and darkness had fallen. But the smallfoot village was way too big and mazelike, and Fleem couldn't tell one street from the next while he was a smallfoot.

Especially now, while his exhaustion made it nearly impossible to focus enough to see straight.

Percy was obviously frustrated with his incapability, but he didn't take it out on him.

Fleem barely noticed when the snowmobile came to a stop. They were back at Percy's home. "We're not getting anywhere." said Percy. "Do you even know what the house looks like? Is it possible we passed it through all that time?"

Fleem sagged even more. "I don't know. I didn't really look at it before I left it."

Percy let out a soft sigh. "Well, in any case, it's too late to keep going. Let's go get some sleep and leave all this confusion for tomorrow, yeah?"

"You had me at sleep." Fleem mumbled through his sleepiness.

He slid off the snowmobile and followed Percy inside, still clutching his blanket around his shoulders. "I don't have a guest room. So you can have the couch, if you want." said Percy.

Without a word, Fleem stumbled in and collapsed on the couch.

It wasn't like his bed at home, but it would have to do for now.

Percy shook his head and walked away, presumably to his own room.

Now, Fleem had just one last thing to take care of. Sitting up for a moment, he kicked off his foot covers, letting them fly across the room. He was about to pull off the socks too, but he hesitated, remembering the cold.

The socks could stay a little longer.

Fleem laid down and curled up in a ball, covering his body with the blanket. He looked forward to going back to not needing any of this just to stay warm. In fact, he had never given the cold much thought, when he had fur to eliminate the problem entirely.

He had taken it for granted.

He also had to wonder about the S.E.S. Had they noticed anything was wrong? What were they doing now?

Probably sleeping, like I should be.

Fleem woke up to the sound of clinking, clanking, and sizzling.

"Smallfoot?" He mumbled, still half asleep. As he sat up, he realized there was also a strong smell in the air. It was foreign to him, but not unpleasant. Definitely not unpleasant.

Fleem stood up from the couch, wrapping his blanket around him and followed the smell to Percy's kitchen.

Percy was cooking something, using one of the weird contraptions he recognized from the house he woke up in. "What's that?" He asked, tired words betraying his grogginess.

Percy looked up. "Breakfast. You hungry?"

Yes. That smell was enough to make anyone hungry.

But the hard part was that he was doing things the smallfoot way. Percy had him sit at the table across from him, with a plate of what he called 'pancakes', and a couple of weird smallfoot eating utensils.

Fleem watched curiously as Percy poured a thick brown liquid over his pancakes. "What's that?"

"It's syrup. You put it on the pancakes." Percy slid the bottle over to Fleem.

Picking it up, he eyed it tentatively before shrugging and dousing his pancakes with it.

Percy watched him in silence, still seeming uncomfortable with him.

Fleem did his best to mirror what Percy did with the eating utensils. "I know right? Of all the yetis this could have happened to, you ended up stuck with me."

Percy blinked. "What?"

"You would probably be having an easier time if Migo were here instead, since you two are such good friends. I get the impression you don't like me that much."

Percy sighed. "It's not that. I'm just still having trouble wrapping my head around all this."

Fleem finally managed to get a bite in. The syrup was sweet, and the pancakes were fluffy. They were good.

Percy glanced towards a nearby window. "Speaking of yetis, I think your village was planning on coming down today. Maybe they can help."

Fleem paused. He found he wasn't sure what he thought of that. What of the S.E.S? We're they looking for him? Did they know what had happened?

Did they even miss him?

Percy tilted his head. "I...expected you might be happy about seeing your friends again."

Fleem looked away. "I'm not sure I want them to see me like this."

"But they're your friends."

Fleem took another bite, avoiding Percy's eyes.

They think I'm annoying. But despite that, Fleem couldn't deny the terrible ache of homesickness in his stomach. For his home, the mountain, and the S.E.S. He didn't know what he would do if he was never able to go back.

Still, what would Gwangi, Meechee, Migo and Kolka think when they saw him? Would they think he deserved it? Would they laugh and leave Fleem to this fate?

The thoughts made him want to crawl away and find a hole to hide in.

"Things have really changed down here since you came down the mountain for the first time." Percy's voice brought Fleem back to the present. "Did you know that humans didn't believe in yetis before?"

Fleem took another bite. "Funny. Yetis didn't believe in smallfeet either."

Percy's eyes widened with interest. "But my yeti friend...or, Migo, told me he specifically came down the mountain looking for a human."

Fleem looked at him. "Well, most of them didn't believe, anyway. A few of us found evidence, and searched the mountain for a while before thinking to go below the clouds."

"And Migo was one of them?"

Fleem shrugged. "Not at first. Then he saw a smallfoot, and he couldn't pretend he hadn't. So down he went."

Percy smiled at some memory. "He surprised me. I sure wasn't expecting to see a real yeti."

Fleem smirked as Percy continued. "I ended up knocking myself out, and when I woke up in a cave, I thought he was going to eat me."

"Eh, can't imagine why."

This brought a chuckle out of both of them before they fell into silence again, finishing up their food.

"Alright, what now? I don't think we'll have any more luck finding that house today than yesterday." said Fleem.

Percy picked up their plates. "Well, we can ask your friends to help. More eyes, more hands…."

Fleem felt another twinge of dread at the thought. But Percy didn't let him argue. "Look, we're kind of out of other options. If you want, I'll do the talking. But you'll still have to be there."

Fleem looked away. But he nodded. Percy was right. But that didn't mean he was going to like it.