Cloudchild

Chapter 2 - Princess

While citizens' clawed feet clicked against the reflective road, Annani skittered to a weathered  platform. Nearby stood an elderly astronomer, both he and his mounted telescope nearly twice the height everyone. Head unmoved from the telescope, he extended an immense arm and repositioned the gnomon.

Annani leaned back as the astronomer adjusted the telescope. "Wow, you're really old."

The astronomer dryly chuckled. "I thought you wouldn't notice how tall I was! Nice to see you're back!" He tilted away from his telescope. Unhooded himself. Lifted his eyeglasses. Everything about him was bright blue.

Annani's mouth dropped. "You're so blue!" She gestured with her bowl. "I've never seen anyone so blue!"

The astronomer chuckled again. "We call this condition cyanophorism. Gives me excessive blueness. But look at you! You are very, very white, like snow! But your eyes are not pink or red or... Yet your quills and brow are black, white body with black spots, so... Ah! Little egg, you must have piebaldism!"

Annani blinked. "Does that make me special?" Her tongue hung out as she combed her quills with her claws.

"It does indeed! We have different colours than most people. You naturally have a mix of melanism and amelanism. That's what gives you white and black patterns."

She sucked her tongue in. So that's why I have dark spots.

"I have a similar condition to you—but a total lack of melanism—but also with an overabundance of blueness."

"Oh? I think it's very pretty. Is there anything else like that?"

"Of course! When you see people with white scales and quills but red or pink eyes, they are albinos. If their scales, quills and eyes are black or brown, they are melanistic."

"Oh! I have a friend who is pitch-black, even his eyes! Is he melllanssstic?"

The astronomer nodded. "If you ever see someone with white and dark patterns, they are piebald, like you! There is also leucism, xanthism, erythrism, two-toned..."

Annani blankly stared, lost amid details. I have no idea what you just said...

The astronomer chuckled. "Isn't life strange?"

"Umm, yeah."

Annani and the astronomer lifted their heads at the same time—a shooting star flashed. "Like the stars," they commented together.

"Did you ever notice speckles in people's eyes? It's like stars are in them," Annani inquired.

The astronomer nodded. "That is why we are called Star Eyes." He motioned to the heavens. "As if pieces of the cosmos manifested themselves into our very eyes. It is no wonder, then, that we are attracted to wonders up high."

Another shooting star blinked. 

"Oh. So...what's this?" Annani tapped the moondial.

"This device is an analemmatic moondial. Nobody knows who made it, perhaps the Moon Owls? It shows you the shadow of the moon. I have studied it with Theophilus long before Wyvern City was built. It even predates the sky hooks from long ago. We cannot quite figure it out... The shadow never changes direction, yet the patterned carvings all around clearly signify measuring of some sort."

The moon's shadow was ninety degrees, darkened whatever illegible carvings once meant.

Annani looked at the gigantic moon. Her eyes moved to and fro between the smaller moons. She frowned.

"Yet, why build a device to measure what is unchanging? Perhaps the base of the moondial was moved instead, to change the symbol underneath the shadow? Though there is no way to do so." He continued adjustments of his telescope.