GG | ✔️

5. Burgundy-red

The venturous vessel was floating. Una's heart was sinking.

She was curled up at the bottom of the giant glass.

The fish pedalled around her furiouser and furiouser, as if riding mini bicycles.

"Land, ahoy!" A seagull screeched above her.

The ocean was slurped into a narrow pocket akin to a kitchen funnel Una's mom used to make lemonade.

The stainless-steel-grey-colored funnel then bloomed into a five-digit watery hand. 

Each of its fingers formed a riverbed.

The gill-breathers maneuvred the glass towards the most diminutive one—the pinky finger.

The glass came to a halt in a perfectly manicured baby-blue fingernail.

A pond.

"Last stop, Petite Park. Quittin' time!" The fish cascaded into a miniature empty sardine can.

They pulled the metallic can-layer, like a comforter, all the way up to their fishy-mouths, instantly falling asleep.

"Poor things, they must be exhausted!" Una clambered out of the glass and bounced over the waterlily leaves in order to reach the land.

She glanced around.

A black swan and a white swan glided in the pond center. Their twisted necks were intertwined in a heart-shaped expression of fondness.

The Salmon-Red petal leaped into Una's hand like an eager pet, hungry for the caress.

She re-read the inscription.

"Shadowy park! That's it! Petite Park! Now, to find a melaknoli bird from line three. But what is mela-kn-oli? I don't know what kind of bird to look for!"

Peeking through the petal did nothing.

"Melancholy? It's when you are sad. Triste, tu comprends?" said a soothing soprano.

There was a gentle touch on her shoulders, like a mother's caress. A subdued giggle came from above.

"So, it's a sad bird I need to find! Thank you!" Una looked up to see who her interpreter was.

A smiling silhouette hovered in the sky. "You are very welcome, little one! Ma petite!" 

Warm beams, glossy and luxuriant like a lion's mane, tickled Una's cheeks.

"Are you... Madame Sun?" 

"Oui, c'est moi. And you are Una!" said a wax-colored face adorned with amber eyes and a banana-yellow smile.

Madame Sun pirouetted in front of the sky-blue curtain.

"You... know me?"

"There is little that I don't know, ma petite." Madame Sun peeked out behind a cottony cloud in a hide-and-seek fashion.

Una dashed after her, trying to catch Madame Sun's lemony locks.

"Here in the Sky Theater, I have the best seats to observe the World from above. Tu es très courageuse, Una. Very brave. Such a sweet child, too. I hope you will find your sister."

"Have you seen Paz? Or Duo? Please tell me!"

"I can't. I am just an Overseer. Your audience. I watch you perform and live your life. I shine the light on your thoughts. I am not an actress in your play. Only you can act in it and direct it."

"I miss Duo. And Paz. He was helping me find her, you see? Now, I lost him, too!" 

"There, there." Madame Sun encased her into a golden-ray hug. "A word of advice: to learn about something dwelling in the park, ask other park dwellers."