Felsite 19, 5012

Acorn and Oakley are lying in their bed in the morning. In the mountains, they are protected from the morning light. In the morning, they are protected from fresh air. Acorn starts to toss and turn as she wakes up, and due to her movement, she wakes up Oakley too. In imperfect unison, they get out of bed.

"Good morning Oakley," Acorn said reluctantly.

"Good morning Acorn," Oakley said.

After he got up and became fully conscious, Oakley walked out into the main room while Acorn stayed behind for a second as she untied her hair from the knots it accumulated in her sleep. These knots! Acorn thought. I wish they would just stop appearing. After she was done that, she went into the main room with Oakley.

"Hey Oakley, how long 'you think it will be until we have to get going?" Acorn asked sloppily.

"About three-fourths of an hour maybe. Or something close to that. Man, I miss having a sundial," Oakley responded.

"Oh, I should wake Summit up then," Acorn said.

"Why would you? It can't leave, it doesn't live a life, it doesn't matter if or when it gets up," Oakley said.

"Why do you have to be so mean to him? He's our son. He matters to me, he deserves to live as much of a life as he can," Acorn said.

"Well, the best way for it to live a life fully is to throw it into the wild. It's more alive than here," Oakley responded.

"Ugh, whatever. I already knew you don't care, I'll just wake him up," Acorn walked over to the door of Summit's room. "Good morning Summit!" Acorn said. "It's time to get up!" There was not a sound coming from beyond that door. She waited a couple of minutes, it was as perfectly silent in there.

"Hello? Are you in there?" Acorn waited another minute, but nothing. "Okay then, I'll go in and wake you up," Acorn opened the door to Summit's room. In the room, there was no blanket on his bed. His journal thing was not on his desk, and Summit was nowhere to be seen. Summit was gone.

"Oakley! Summit's gone!" Acorn shouted.

"Oh good, it listened to my advice," Oakley responded.

"Wow, great work Oakley, you made our child run away, and now he might have been killed out in the wild or even by the Indestructible City Guard," Acorn said.

"Who cares, it's not like it's coming back," Oakley said. "Luckily for us. It was nothing but trouble. Having a dragon around is just asking for punishment."

"I care! Summit was our only kid, and you made him leave us. You killed him! I don't care if it was dangerous to have him around. It wasn't his fault, just yours," Acorn said.

"Fine then, who cares? It's gone, problem solved. It's not like we can change what happened," Oakley said.

"Okay then, let's just get on with our day. Hopefully we – sorry, I, - have to figure out if Summit's okay," Acorn said.

Oakley walked over to the pantry to get something to eat in the morning. "Hey! It took our bread!" Oakley complained.

"Okay, at least we know that Summit made an effort to escape, that's probably why he took his writing things and his blanket, he might be fine if he managed to get out of the way of the guard," Acorn said.

"What‽ It took all of Summit's stuff? That thing is a parasite," Oakley said.

"That 'thing,' is Summit. Our son took the things he cared about with him. Maybe now he's even writing about how much he misses us," Acorn said.

"Whatever you want to believe. People don't turn into dragons, you're crazy!" Oakley said.

"I thought we were done talking about this Oakley. So can you shut up about this?" Acorn responded.

"Fine," Oakley said.

With only the minimum of communication, Acorn and Oakley get ready for their days. They ate breakfast and got dressed without a word. What's going on with Oakley all of a sudden? He's not usually like this. I know that he's still scared of dragons after t hat attack on Talisman, but was it so bad that he can't separate his own son from a murderer? Is he so unwell? Acorn thought.

After her repetitive routine, Acorn was ready for the day, but Oakley was not. "Where are you, Oakley? We need to go," she said.

After about 10 seconds of Acorn waiting impatiently, Oakley came through a door into the main room. "Sorry!" Oakley said. "I just needed a little more time this morning." "Now let's get going! If we're late, the store will have to open late!"

"They'll be fine, the other employees can cover for us."

"We shouldn't trust them to cover for us, it's too big a risk to make."

"It won't be the end of the world, just get going. Talking isn't walking after all," Acorn and Oakley put on their shoes and got going.

The commute to work was stressful for Acorn. There were so many people in such a little area, but usually being with Oakley calmed her down. Acorn got out of the house with Oakley, but Acorn did not feel okay with holding Oakley's hand that day. I can't trust him right now. I don't want him to think I'm okay with how he thinks of Summit. I love him, but I love Summit too. I told him that I would be strong for him, and I will still be. So Acorn walked alone. She didn't like being all alone in the crowd, but she made it work. She would be strong.

When Acorn got to her place of work, Skyward Sourdough, she dashed through the door to see that the place was already open. "Hey! Has Oakley already gotten here?" She asked her coworker who was working at the front.

"Yes, he already has, he got here about a minute ago. I suggest that you go upstairs and get working so you're not in trouble," the coworker answered.

"Yes, I know," Acorn jogged up the stairs to the top floor of the bakery.

Acorn hastily opened the door upstairs, revealing the kitchen. There were 5 wooden ovens cooking baked goods around the clock, and many containers with baking ingredients like flour, eggs, sugar, and much, much more. Acorn felt like each time she tried to grab something out of there was like a maize maze. She couldn't even begin to memorize how it was laid out before it was all rearranged with restocked food, and she hated it. Each baker had their table upstairs for mixing ingredients, and when Acorn was baking she would grab as many ingredients as she needed so she could minimize how many trips she made.

"Acorn, you're late," Acorn's boss said.

"I'm sorry. I woke up a little late this morning," Acorn lied.

"Okay, please don't do this again though," Acorn's boss said.

"Where do you want me to work today?" Acorn asked.

"You'll work at one of the tables today, I know you don't like to work at the ovens," her boss said. And she was right in saying that. Ever since she had run to the Indestructible City and saw firsthand what fire could do, she could not stand being near it.

After Acorn was assigned her job, she immediately got to work. That morning they had received a shipment of dates from towns in the desert, so everyone was focused on making date cookies with them before they went bad, including herself. She walked over to the sea of crates and containers filled with food. Bottles of milk, crates of eggs, barrels of flour, and a large wooden box with a label that said "20 kilograms of dates; Skyward Sourdough, Indestructible City." Acorn reached into the crate with her hand and grabbed a handful of dates that she took back to her table. She made a few more trips to grab the other things she needed like buckets of flour, sugar, salt, and butter, as well as a few eggs.

Acorn pulled out a bowl and put in the flour, sugar, and salt all at once. Then, she added the butter and eggs. But before calling it done and putting the dough into the oven, she needed to add the main ingredient: the dates themselves. So, she cut up the dates into little chunks dumped them into the batter, and stirred it all together.

"Oakley! I got a batch of dough for you to cook!" Acorn called.

Oakley slowly walked over to grab the big bowl. "Thank you," he said. Oakley brought the heavy bowl of dough over to the oven to be separated into little balls to be baked with a hunched back, but as he prepared his hands to grab some dough, someone was calling for them.

"Oakley and Acorn! A little boy named Dexterous is looking for you!" The person who worked at the front said. "Do you know him?"

"Yes, we do! He's a friend of our son, right Oakley?" Acorn said.

"Yes, he is," Oakley said.

"Okay then, go talk to him," the employee said.

Acorn and Oakley walk to the stairs. "So, what do you think Dexterous wants to talk about?" Oakley said.

"I'm not too sure, but hopefully he knows something about Summit," Acorn responded.

"I hope not. Like I said before, I don't care what happens to it. I don't associate with dragons."

"Can you at least try to care about Summit? He's still our son, I've told you that before, it wasn't his fault that he became a dragon."

"Like I just told you, that's a dragon. Humans don't turn into dragons. There is no way that thing is Summit. I don't know what happened to Summit, but I don't think that's Summit." And just like that, they were downstairs.

Oakley's left arm swiped up to cover his eyes from the direct sunlight; there were only a few lanterns and windows upstairs, making it darker. Acorn seemed to be better, but her eyes did squint for a few seconds.

After their eyes adjusted, they were greeted with the sights of the entrance to the bakery, and Dexterous standing in it.

"Hey, Acorn. Hey Oakley," the gloved boy asked.

"Hey Dexterous, why are you here?" Oakley asked.

"I'm sorry to say, but I have bad news. Summit's wanted by the Indestructible City guard," Dexterous held up a poster that crudely depicted Summit from a side-on perspective saying that Summit was wanted, and if anyone caught him, they would get 10000 gold pieces. Enough to last Acorn and Oakley years without working at all.

"Egads!" Acorn cried. "They saw him! They could be hunting him right now!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. I think you should go home to protect him," Dexterous said.

"I would if he was there," Acorn said.

"What do you mean Acorn? Did they already find him?"

"No, Oakley and I think Summit escaped," Acorn explained.

"I don't," Oakley interjected. "I don't think that dragon was Summit. It makes no sense! Unlike a dragon wanting to go out into nature. That's natural."

"Three moons! Are you okay Acorn? I know how much you cared about him," Dexterous said.

"I'm pretty scared, I was thinking of walking along the walls to find him, do you want to help search for him?" Acorn said.

"No thank you," Dexterous said. "As much as Summit was a friend to me, I'll be fine without him. Plus, I don't want to explain to my parents what's going on with Summit."

"That's okay, it makes sense, you're busy, you have better things to do," Acorn said. Why doesn't anyone care about Summit? Is everyone that scared of dragons? Am I so out of touch? No, it's the others who are wrong, Acorn thought.

Dexterous' eyes quickly darted around the room. His nose was breathing in and out. "What's going on Dexterous?" Acorn asked. "Why are you so uneasy?"

"Oh, oh, oh... I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," Dexterous said. "I... told the Indestructible City Guard about Summit," he said after a large gulp.

"You did what‽ How dare you do that to my son! If Summit hadn't run away, the guards would have killed Summit, and maybe even Oakley and I for keeping him with us!" Acorn was furious.

"Three moons! I'm sorry that I told them. But the weird thing was that they didn't do anything. They just laughed and said they didn't believe me," Dexterous said nervously as he tried to explain himself.

"So, they wouldn't have hunted him down?" Acorn said.

"I guess so?"

"So I guess they didn't have the posters put up because of you, Dexterous."

"So, I didn't do anything wrong?" Dexterous asked.

"Of course not, you made a mistake. That's all," Acorn responded.

A guard came running into the bakery, out of breath. "You, little boy, were you the kid who saw the dragon yesterday?" He said.

"Yes, that was me. Why do you want to talk to me now?" Dexterous asked.

The guard pulled out a scrap of paper, it was the same poster that Dexterous was presenting to Acorn and Oakley. "Did the dragon look something like this?" The guard asked.

"Yes, very similar," Dexterous responded.

"Well then the Invincible Lord needs to see you. You may be the city's saving grace or something. I don't know why the Indestructible Lord needs to see you outside of it having something to do with the dragon," the guard said.

"Well, goodbye Acorn! Goodbye, Oakley!" Dexterous waved goodbye and the guard took him away to wherever he was needed.

"I'm sorry for how I acted Dexterous!" Acorn squirted quickly as Dexterous followed the guard outside.

The room was silent now, Acorn and Oakley stood in the room awkwardly. "Well, do you want to get back to work?" Oakley said.

"Not right now, but we can go upstairs. Meet me in the closet, I want to talk to you," Acorn said.

Acorn began to walk up to the top floor, and Oakley followed suit. "What do you want to talk about?" Oakley asked.

"Nothing I can talk about in the open," Acorn said.

"Oh, okay then," Oakley said. Well, I guess we're talking about the dragon, agai n, Oakley thought.

Acorn guided Oakley down the stairs, and into a little closet containing a broom, a mop, and other cleaning supplies. Acorn closed the door once they were both in there.

"Oakley, I know you don't think that dragon in posters all around the city is your son, but I do! So, can you help me? I want to find Summit, wherever he is in the world," Acorn said.

"You'll die out there alone! And I don't want to go back out there. It was horrible out there last year, and I don't want it to become a tradition. I don't feel comfortable with going out there, I'm not coming," Oakley said.

"That's okay Oakley, I get it. I know how bad it was for us to go through that. I won't go if you won't, like I said, so I won't," Acorn said.

All of a sudden, the door opened. Oakley quickly moved his body out of the way of the swinging door. "Excuse me, but why are you two in a closet?" Their manager asked.

"We were talking," Oakley responded.

"Okay then. Just please stop not working, you don't get a home in this town by standing around, you get it by working somewhere," their manager said.

After that stern warning, the three people dispersed to where they were supposed to be. Acorn went back to the table, and Oakley was at the oven.

"Hey Acorn, I need a new batch quick, the one you gave me before went bad already," Oakley explained.

"How? We were gone for only a little bit," Acorn asked.

"I guess that's why we cook it fast. I can throw it out, just make a new batch quick. We need to get through those dates fast," Oakley said.

So for the rest of their long work day, the two made as fast of work making date cookies and making work of the latest shipment. Making a batch was quick once Acorn figured out how to get it done as fast as possible, and Oakley did so too in his work. By the end of the day, the shipment had not a single date left in it.

Dexterous followed the guard in silence. Three moons, what have I gotten myself into? I was just following the rules. You see something dangerous, you tell a guard about it. Where was the step where you talk to the most important person in the city? Why did I have to do that to Summit? I didn't care what happened to him – I don't need friends – so why would I do that?

After about a minute of following the silent guard, Dexterous arrived at the large, ornate town hall. The whole building was made of wood with some gold accents, and it even had grass in the front! Which was very impressive for the whole building being underground.

Dexterous walked through the stone brick path and followed the guard through the large doors of the city hall. He walked on the velvet red carpet, it was so soft under his shoes compared to the unforgiving stone outside of there. It felt like walking on the dirt and grass of the surface!

"Hello, miss," the guard said to the receptionist.

"Why are you here? What business do you have the Invincible Lord?" The receptionist asked.

"I found that boy who reported a dragon yesterday. He's the one who needs to talk to the Invincible Lord, apparently," the guard answered.

"Okay then. Boy, what's your name?" The receptionist asked Dexterous.

"My name is Dexterous," he answered.

"Okay, go through the door to the right to see him, I imagine he is expecting you," the receptionist responded.

Dexterous creaked the door open slightly.

"Who is there? Show yourself!" The Invincible Lord said.

Dexterous slowly walked into the Indestructible Lord's magnificent office. "I am the boy who reported a dragon yesterday. I was told that I was wanted by you," Dexterous said.

"I did request you. Your name?" The Lord said.

"Dexterous."

"Okay then. Dexterous, take a seat," the Lord commanded.

Dexterous power walked to one of the velvet chairs and sat in it. It was so comfortable. Even in his rather lavish household, they didn't have anything like that. Stuff like that was reserved for the aristocrats. The Invincible Lord sat in his chair behind his desk.

"So Dexterous, the dragon you saw yesterday looked like the dragon that was found in the city yesterday?"

"Yes sir."

"Where did you see it?"

Oh no. I can't tell him the truth, but I can't lie either. What do I do?

"Where did you see the dragon?" The Invincible Lord screamed.

"I saw the dragon in a row of houses on the fourth layer. I was looking for my friend's house down there. When I spotted the dragon, it was scared of me and ran away," Dexterous said quickly and nervously. Oh, that will work, Dexterous thought.

"So, you didn't know anything about the dragon?"

"No sir, it's not like I can talk to it."

"So the dragon has nothing to do with your friend, the friend you were going to see?" The Invincible Lord began to pace around, slowly getting closer to Dexterous.

"I don't see why the dragon has anything to do with my friend."

"Your friend's name is Summit right?"

"How do you know that?"

"I speak with your father sometimes, he and his shop even made some of the rings I'm wearing right now," the Invincible Lord presented the many rings on his long and thin fingers just a foot in front of Dexterous. "And Summit's the only friend of yours, so your father mentioned it to me every now and again," the Invincible Lord said with his slimy voice.

"So what does this meeting have to do with Summit?"

"Well Summit has been gone since yesterday, so how were you going to talk to him?"

"I was going to Summit's house, but not to see Summit, but to mourn him with his parents."

"That makes no sense with what you said before, you must not be telling me the whole story. My advisors and I have been theorizing about if the two events are correlated."

"How so?"

"The dragon must have tried to replace Summit somehow!"

"How would a dragon go about replacing a human? They look nothing alike."

"The dragon must have convinced someone that it was Summit, I believe you were one of those people, right?"

"Uhhhh.. yes."

"Okay then, my conclusion is clear!"

"Why haven't Summit's parents gotten in trouble Indestructible Lord? They were keeping a dragon with them."

"I do not want the people to know that a dragon successfully infiltrated our Indestructible City. I keep them out of trouble; I keep the city from worrying. But please, if you ever see them trying to find that dragon, please tell me. I will never let someone try to ruin my empire."

"And I will be out of trouble as well?"

"Of course, your help has repaid what you did."

"Thank you, Lord."

"Please leave now, I have more important matters to attend to, child."

Dexterous quickly scurried away from the fancy room. Oh no, they know what happened, kind of. That's why they're looking for Summit I guess, they want to find out how the dragons are invading the Indestructible City, he thought as he went home after that nervous event. I wonder if they're looking for him.

Acorn was sitting in the main room at the table across from Oakley. Dinner was laid out in front of them. A baked loaf of bread, and some of the leftover chicken from two days ago.

"How do we still have this chicken? It's been days," Acorn said.

"We must have gotten a big one that day I suppose," Oakley responded.

"Well, I'm not complaining. It sure beats just bread," Acorn said.

"Indeed," Oakley said.

"So, how was your day?" Acorn asked.

"The same as yours," Oakley responded. They both laughed.

"We've been making that joke forever, haven't we?" Acorn asked.

"Almost definitely," Oakley responded.

"So, you still don't want to go out there and find Summit?" Acorn asked.

"I already said no. I'm sorry, but I just don't think that dragon was Summit. It's never happened before, so why would it happen now? I think it's more likely that he's gone, as much as I wish it wasn't true. That dragon killed him," Oakley responded.

"But how does the dragon speak our language? How does it sound like Summit? How does it act just like Summit? I think it makes sense, or at least makes the most sense," Acorn responded as she took a bite of dinner.

"I know that, but I'm still not convinced. I just don't understand how someone would be turned into a dragon in the first place."

"Me neither, but we've seen a lot of things that make no sense, haven't we? Dragons and humans working together, our home being destroyed out of the blue, none of that makes any sense, and yet here we are!"

"Even if that were Summit Acorn, I would not go out there into the wilds of Pyrrhia. We have jobs to do, those people depend on us Acorn. We can't let them down."

"I'm sure we could figure it out."
"But what if we can't? What about us making less food for the city? We should be here for everyone because we can't let them work for us."

"Oakley, if we want to go, we can. They are willing to help us, they can make up for us being gone."

"That's crazy! We need to stay."

"Fine then, I'll go out to the city walls and look out for Summit there, I at least want to see if Summit is near."

"Sure then, just don't get hurt! You know how common dragon attacks are at night."

"Thank you," Acorn said. "Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!"

"Now what do I do with this gross bread I made?" Oakley asked himself.

Acorn stood at the long, winding staircase to the large walls that surrounded the Indestructible City.

"So why do you need to go onto the walls again? I need to write it down here."

"I'm looking for something out there."

"Searching," the guard said out loud as he wrote it down. "You can go now, miss Acorn."

"Thank you," Acorn said to the guard.

The stairs to the walls put Acorn on edge. Each stair was very thin, they were only a few centimeters from her feet. She held on tight to the railing of the walls as she walked up. Her whole body shivered and shook as she walked up and did not look down. Don't look down, she thought again and again.

Eventually, though, she was on the top hallway of the walls, and she was looking down on the wilds of Pyrrhia. "Ahhh!" She exclaimed as she looked down. "That's too far," she said in terror.

Acorn tried to breathe in and out for a few minutes, and eventually, she calmed down a little.

It's not too far for Summit though. He's down there, and I want to see him, Acorn thought.

Acorn laid her eyes all over the vast landscape that was illuminated by the beautiful sunset as she searched for a little moving blue blob that she called her son. She could see all the different parts of the world she had to navigate all those months ago. The towering mountains that dotted the horizon, the swathes of forest that covered the peaceful landscape, the lakes and rivers and brooks where fish big and small fish swam, and even a beautifully dangerous waterfall, but no Summit in the parts that she had seen so far.

So Summit's not here, maybe if I keep looking I'll find him. It's only been a day, he couldn't have gone far, Acorn thought.

So Acorn continued to search for her lost son. Step by step, glance by glance, no Summit. Not even a single dragon on the ground or in the sky.

"Guards! Set up the dragon defense system!" A guard called.

Three Moons! I'm right in the middle of a dragon attack. Well, I guess I'm breaking the promise I made with Oakley, Acorn thought.

Acorn looked around to find the dragon the guard was talking about it, but it only took a second because the dragon was very large, about two and a half times as big as Summit from the quick view of the dragon, flying around.

It seemed to be a sea dragon as well but with a very different appearance. It was a lighter blue than Summit, and Acorn could see bits of pink on its wings. So that's what a normal sea dragon looks like, or I guess can look like. But why does it have to be here? Now? Wait, maybe I can ask it a question! Acorn thought.

So, she grabbed a large, thin brick from the wall and used a quartz pebble to scribe a crude message onto it. "Please dragon, let me know if you find my son, Summit. He is small, a bit more than a third of yourself, and his scales are darker than yours too. If you find him, please bring him here. I miss him a lot. Sincerely, Acorn," is what she wrote on it crudely. Acorn took a very deep breath, and with all her might, she launched the stone at the dragon with her weak arms. The stone flew magnificently like a stone being skipped on a lake on a lazy summer day. As it flew, the dragon caught a glimpse of the stone and started to look for it on the ground.

Three Moons! Maybe that dragon can find Summit for me, Acorn thought. The dragon went onto the ground and used two of its talons to pick up the comparatively little stone. It closely examined the stone and then held it in its palm. And that was all Acorn could make out before a trebuchet launched a big blazing ball at the stationary dragon and it flew off, into the sunset.

I think that was enough for tonight, Acorn thought as she started to walk back home. Sadly, she didn't see Summit on the way back either.

"Going back? I'm surprised I didn't hear more screaming from you! People are usually more scared than you," the guard that blocked the entrance to the wall balcony said.

"I did my best to stay calm," Acorn responded.

"Good for you, it makes it easier for the guards to work."

"Thank you for letting me know that I helped, I'm glad to do it."

"No problem. Also, please don't come back here. It's not safe to go in the evening or night anymore, that's become obvious to me."

"Okay, thank you for letting me know now though."

"It's my job..."

"Okay then, goodbye," Acorn made the long walk back home.

Oakley was lying in bed in his pajamas, ready to go to bed. Say, where's Acorn? It's been a while since she's been looking for that dragon, Oakley thought.

"Hey, Oakley!" Acorn said.

"Hey, Acorn! How was your look on the balcony?" Oakley asked.

"I almost died," Acorn responded.

"What‽ You almost died‽ How did that happen‽" Oakley asked.

"A dragon came by the city," Acorn explained.

"Three Moons! Is everyone okay? Are you okay?" Oakley asked.

"Everyone was fine. The guards launched a fireball at them, and that was enough to scare off the dragon. I also tried to send a message to it about Summit. I thought it would try to find him," Acorn explained.

"You're crazy Acorn. You know dragons don't understand what we say," Oakley deadpanned.

"It's better than not doing anything, maybe we do get Summit back," Acorn said.

"I guess so," Oakley said.

"Anyways, I need to get changed into my pajamas. See you in a bit!" Acorn said.

"Okay," Oakley said.

Oakley was alone as he waited on Acorn. He was trying to fall asleep. It felt cold in his and Acorn's bed. I don't want her to go, I miss her, Oakley thought. He did his best to fall asleep without Acorn, but he was unsuccessful. After giving up though, Acorn came in, and with her, Oakley had an easy time sleeping.