Chapter 17: Night and Notebook

Note: This chapter contains scenes of thievery. 

Moon watched from the window above the room as Planet fell asleep, or tried to fake it, at the very least. He angled a moonbeam on his hand and captured Sol's notebook on her waist, carrying it through the beam and through the cracked window. He found a new page with the current date: the forty-first day of the third month of Year 403, and a few words written in their first language scribbled in the margins. The words in Elven described the new town, their stands on gender, and how much he hated it. The words in their first language were interesting though. It took Moon a few minutes to translate it, but this is what he could read:

I don't trust that tutor. You shouldn't either. And if you want to know, because I'm sure that Planet will forget to tell, we have new names. Planet- Krea. Me- Auizia. You- Arche, because you used it before. You definitely have better names, though. I'm already planning to ask the man if he can get you night schooling. If not, let's continue the notes thing again. Steal each others' books, you know??

He pulled a quill from Sol's pocket, brought it to his hand, then remembered the ink. He stole that too, before he set both in the grass. He uncapped the ink and dipped the quill in it to write: okay in their first language.

Moon returned the items to where he had found them before he stood and began walking to the town's gate again. But on the way, he heard sounds of labor coming from behind a few buildings.

He found a nearby one and used the windows to climb it to the roof, where he lay in the shadows before Moon looked over the edge.

Men carried wood and stone over their shoulders, being directed by one on a chair that was pointing this way and that. They used their little sticks to lift and move/or move their items around the clearing, creating a little area for activities. Moon assumed it was for the children until he saw someone walk by with a variety of weapons in his hand. The thought dawned on him: Was this a torture camp?

He heard two men whisper near a wall and Moon stood to a crouch and leaped to the roof above them, rolling onto his back. He laid still, keeping as quiet as possible, but kept his ears open.

"What did he say?" one asked.

"There's the chance that Purest's war might bleed over to the other towns, or they might call for backup and we won't know what to do. Better to be safe than sorry."

"What happened to Purerest?" another man asked, walking towards them.

"Nothing, sir." one said, the grass shifting under his feet as he stood to praise him.

"Good. We better have this war camp set up by tomorrow. We can't have the conscripts walk into an unbuilt camp. Back to work, then!"

"Yes, sir!" they said in unison before they ran off.

The third man didn't move from his spot in the grass, and Moon became aware of his hair hanging off the edge of the roof. It wasn't necessarily long, but long enough to be noticeable.

"What's wrong, sir?" another man asked.

"Aye think someone's listening in," he muttered, pulling a weapon out of its leather hold.

Moon jumped, vanishing into the small moonray above him, turning to his Embodiment form before the small weapon could be thrown.

He willed the ray to carry him to the town gates as he mulled the information in his head. The Wizards were at war, but with who? That question was stupid. It was clearly the Witches. If everyone talked about them like that man Rustad had, then it proved their feud had pushed past the boundaries and pushed them into war. From what he had heard, it had started in this Purest and sent the rest of the Wizardly towns into a panic, leading to that 'war camp' being built.

The ray stopped just before the gate and Moon stepped out of it, turning back to his Wizardly form. He hid behind the wall, looking at the sleeping guard across. Thankfully, another ray crossed the large gate, creating a view that Moon could look through to see the other guard was also asleep.

"Again?" he muttered as he tiptoed by them and turned right, taking the same path from last night.

In a gap between the trees, he could see his Planetary Counterpart but was disappointed to see a sliver shining in the sky. He guessed he barely had five hours awake and decided to check on the firebird.

Moon kept his eyes away from the trees as he walked, trying not to think of the eyes that had scared them for a century afterwards. But he had to look at them when he heard wings flapping and a bird burst out of the leaves and flew straight for him. Moon crouched to the ground and it flew into another tree.

"What was that for?" he muttered to those above. The animals don't follow me this often.

He found the spot of impact from last night and saw the flames in the tree above. Apologizing to Yael, he found the lowest branch and began to climb. Once he was under the flame, he looked up and made eye contact with the bird, who stared at him warily.

"Hei. Oskid ekisk," he said as he climbed on the branch across from it. "Fem-ta yus femeri ali?" Hello. I have returned. How is your child?

The mother gestured with her wing at the small bird, which was much cleaner than last night. It danced around the other eggs, cooing, and sitting next to its mother. Moon smiled at the calming sight.

The mother looked over his head and squawked in alarm. She scooped up the smaller bird in her talons and flew out of the nest in an instant, leaving Moon stuck on the branch.

"Kerin!" he called, trying to grab her, but couldn't reach her in time. "Plezd e yor-kik ali?" Stop! What's the problem?

A coo came from behind him and Moon jumped, gripping the branch tight as he saw dozens of owls and birds in other branches, all staring at him.

Moon glared at a nearby owl, his arms over one another on the branch. "Dukir anmi. Fhem-tet ol fameirl mi oz il yeiraji yus kor tasil ako?" Be honest. Which one of my parents put you all up to this?

It cawed and nipped his finger, drawing blood. He should have learned more Elven ideas before they left.

"Dokri ze wil?" he asked. "Ze zwi e amni ako woulyietiz paxøl." Can I leave? I was just talking to a friend.

The birds under him immediately flew off the branches and out of the tree as Moon began to climb down, being cautious at each step. He finally got off the tree, apologizing to Yael once more before he made his way to the gates.

Moon snuck around the corner, being as quiet as possible to not wake the guards, and only began to pick up the pace once he was a lot further along. He assumed he had wasted an hour outside, leaving nearly four left.

He arrived outside of the man's house and snuck around the property until he found the hayroom's window. Moon moved into a ray and appeared in the room, bracing himself against the door as he switched back to his Wizardly form.

He snatched Sol's notebook and sat against a wall, flipping the book on his thighs. Within a few minutes, Moon was sitting with his legs against the wall, the notebook and his feet over his head, still studying. Sol had written more notes on how much he hated the tutor, with the margins filled with bits in their first language that included Elven swears, solely expanding on the hate.

"Nothing new, then," he whispered, flipping through the pages at random. He could see the subtle shift from writing solely in Elven to including notes in their first language and muttered the words under his breath, trying to translate them.

Moon was quickly bored. He didn't want to walk away in case he fell asleep away from them, but he didn't want to engage in conversation with anyone else.

"Fucking tutor," he said, sitting up and setting the notebook back in Sol's waist before he hit his own leg, angry at himself at the reminder. He had promised Planet that he would talk to him, but that was just too much.

"That doesn't matter. I'll talk to him tomorrow," he mumbled under his breath. "He's an old ass man anyway. He doesn't cares about a lying prick like me."

He tried to make himself comfortable on the hay. Moon managed to roll around for a few minutes before he found a spot where the moonrays wouldn't hit his eyes and he tried to force sleep. He would need it for the next few nights.