When the Walls Start Tumbling Down

Chapter 8

Enoch pushed off from the ground, and began to soar through the air. He felt a lurching feeling in his stomach and figured the gravity must be changing in some way. He landed on both feet before avoiding the shock by falling to one knee. All the while, he thought of everything he could make note of in his journal, and was not aware of his spectacular feat. Kerob, always with flair, pointed dramatically at Enoch, "That perfect boy could rival even me in such a sport! Where did you learn how to account for the sudden change in mid air? Do you perhaps have anomaly's on your side of the seal?"
"Of course they don't! Their world curves the other way! Still how did he..." Roschind trailed off. Pharafet joined in the conversation (jumble of perspectives, more like) asking how in the world he knew to do that with such little instruction. The only one not arguing was Afta, who was whistling and using all of the dragon calls in the books, trying to get the small dragon that had appeared overhead to obey his command. The second enormous and elegant dragon that had actually landed on Afta's first command lowered it's scaley neck to look at the strange, new, pale friend. Enoch felt a hot steam on his back and turned to see the lizard tilting its head like a curious puppy. He nudged Enoch's stomach with his pointed nose, almost pushing him to the ground. Enoch hesitantly reached an arm out and opened his palm wide, laying it gently on the creatures damp nose. Steam arose from the nostrils and curled into a calming shape as the dragon, Rukess, closed his eyes in content with his new friend. A corner of Enoch's mouth rose up into a slightly frightened smile. Afta climbed onto the younger dragons back with a swift, singular motion and nodded at Kerob and Roschind to do the same. Pharafet climbed a bit more shakily onto Rukess and lowered her hand down for Enoch to grab while he climbed on. He began to scale the back of the beast when Pharafet's glove slipped a little on her hand, causing Enoch to slip as well. He dug his shoe into a particularly large dragon scale and only just managed to hold on. Pharafet apologized profusely while tugging her glove back on. Enoch giggled at her rapid-fire apologies and climbed the rest of the way onto the dragon. Once everybody was settled in their respective areas, Afta yelled, "Ok Phara, I'll get this one into the sky and then you follow suit. Don't worry about takeoff, Rukess knows what he's doing. Just be sure to hold on!" With that, he took hold of the reigns attached to two inward-curved spines on the dragon's neck, gave a short "hyah!", and rose quickly into the dark sky. It was quite a sight to see the (self-proclaimed) "stone cold" Kerob hold so tightly to the short dragon keeper. Even the usually frightened Roschind was rolling his eyes at his clinging to the base of Afta's neck. "'Nerves of steel' my ass," Pharafet chuckled to herself while gazing at Kerob who was practically choking Afta. She turned her head slightly and moved only her eyes to see the outer behind her, "You're gonna want to hold on to me. This isn't gonna be like anything you've done before." Enoch wasn't sure what to do, to be honest. He awkwardly put his hands the same place on her shoulders that Kerob did, but Pharafet grasped his palms and put them around her waist. "You will absolutely fall off if you hold there. Also, if you choke me I'm going to push you off this dragon," she warned with a slight smirk. Enoch have a slight, polite chuckle, but was unsure if she was serious or not. He held the large reigns in her small gloved hands and gave a different "up" command than Afta. She yelled "kiyap!" in a tone that even shocked Enoch out of his deep thoughts. The dragon beat its immense wings towards the ground and the wind created boomed around them. The large lizard started to lift into the air and Enoch thought all would be fine. That is, until one last pump of the wings from Rukess, which sent them barreling into the sky at an incredible speed, causing Enoch to wrap his arms around Pharafet's midsection for dear life, though he did not scream. He instead reflected on why he was here in the first place. Was it to find more about this world beneath his feet? Was it to defy his father? Was it to rebel against the long-running separation between either race?  The dragon stabilized and was following at a slightly slowed pace behind his master. Enoch thought back to his last morning in his room when he read over his notes and was really deciding to come here or not. Something inside his mind clicked and he sat bolt upright. That purple monster he had been longing to speak to for all those years was sitting in front of him. "Oh my god," he said quietly. Pharafet gave him  a slight side glance, keeping her focus in front of her, "Cool, huh? I told you liftoff was a wild ride."
"Oh my god!" Enoch nearly fell off the leather saddle underneath him in shock, "You! You're the purple monster I'd been observing!" Pharafet spoke up, "You mean when you were looking through the seal all that time?"
"Yes exactly! Back home, I would sneak outside and bring my notebook and take some notes and sketches of the little world you have. It was kind of hard, considering I couldn't see much, but it interested me greatly. More than the crummy lessons I was supposed to be doing," Enoch explained, "I would see all these brightly colored people, but purple was a very rare color, it seemed. You sort of caught my eye." Pharafet laughed, "I appreciate it, but I'm a crafter. We don't catch anybody's eye." There was a silence for a few minutes. "Hey," Pharafet spoke just loud enough to be heard over the beating wings, "why did you decide to come here? I get the curiosity but that really can't be it, can it?" Enoch sighed softly, "No, that's not the only reason. I... My father had upset me... He made a very life-changing decision without my input at all and I guess I thought this would be all the time I have left to live my life. I really don't want to go back to home, though I know I have to eventually. I just can't face him right now." Pharafet listened well then spoke, "Seems like your... person... needs to learn how to communicate with you. I'm not really great with that myself, but it's still an important thing to have in a relationship. Without communication, you're just kinda angrily expecting the other person to know your thoughts and that's kinda impossible, you know?" Enoch slouched comfortably into the saddle and slouched, his face almost touching Pharafet's back, "That's what I've been saying too, but I don't think he understands that much. Thank you, though." There was another, more comfortable silence. Pharafet whispered, almost embarrassed, "What's a father? Is that some sort of superior?" Enoch sat upright again, "No, they're the person that takes care of you. They're supposed to raise you and make sure you grow up to be polite and happy. You know, your parent?" Pharafet was quiet for a minute. "Do you... not have any parents?" Enoch asked, whispering empathetically. "Nope," she was not sad or disappointed, "We're in the Growing Faciloty until we turn about eight mocks, then we get assigned our jobs and homes. We take care of ourselves, mostly. We don't get to ever know our reproductioners. None of us really have a 'family', I think." Enoch lost himself in the thought of having to raise yourself from the age of eight with nobody to help you. It seemed like they were all around his age and seemed pretty well-brought-up, so maybe this was just one of the major differences between their races that he hadn't known. "Doesn't it get lonely," he asked, "being alone all that time? What if you started the fire in the stove wrong? Or you forgot to close the window when it rained? Or you've woken up from a nightmare and need comforting?" Pharafet slouched, tired, "...I don't know. We just... figure it out ourselves." It seemed she was done talking about this. They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, the only sound being the rushing and whistling wind that flew past their ears. Enoch decided to break the silence once again, "So the turquoise friend of yours trains dragons, yeah? I never even thought of dragons existing, yet here I am riding one. Strange, isn't it?" Pharafet grunted in response. Enoch asked, "Afta was his name, right? If you don't mind me asking, how come he looked so... rough around the edges?" Pharafet responded, "If you're referring to his broken horn and scars, it's really not my tale or place to tell. He's a bit self-conscious about it, actually." Enoch waited for her to continue, and after about a minute she did. "He got into a fight with one of the biggest dragons his farm had ever held. He wanted to prove he was the best keeper around, so he decided to try and tame the beastly thing. It took off one of his horns down to the stump and nearly took out his eye. We actually have nerves and a few small blood vessels in our horns and they're already sensitive when they get caught on a shirt collar or something. Couldn't feel his head or the left side of his face for about a month. It took off a chunk of his ear-point and split his mouth open. Since then he's been unwilling to call himself good at anything, especially the best keeper around." Enoch thought about making a page in his notebook for this thrilling and tragic tale about Afta, but decided the time was wrong. Instead, he asked, "How come you know so much about him if he's so secretive with it?"
"I'm his lisp buddy," she laughed, "When he got all torn up his fangs got all messed up so he has a pretty big lisp now. It's childish, I know."
"No, no! I think it's... cute," Enoch said carefully. "Really?" Pharafet replied, incredulous. "I-I mean how you two are such good friends. My friend Adelaide and I never have things like that between us, even though we've known each other our whole lives," Enoch recovered. "You've never spoken about Adelaide before. What's she like?" The purple monster asked, leaning back slightly, just enough that Enoch moved his cheek away from her back. "Well," he started, "she certainly can take some getting used to. She has a way of coming off as rude or snarky to others, but she doesn't mean it, I don't think."
"You think or you know?"
"I... I know... I think."
Pharafet sighed, "If somebody is constantly rude to you then I'm pretty sure they're just mean."
"No, really! She's nice! She just has an image to uphold. We all do, kind of."
"If you really think that highly of her," Pharafet said softly, "maybe you should address how she speaks to you? It couldn't hurt to ask her to use a more polite tone towards others." Enoch nodded, realized she couldn't see her, then agreed. He began to think these 'monsters' were much, much more than what everybody on the outer planet had made them out to be. Pharafet sat slouched and tired on the dragon's back, her bones still weary from her training with Roschind. She very much enjoyed talking to Enoch and his company, though she wasn't sure why. He gave off a certain vibe that made her feel at peace, though it could be just his ignorance about their world or her tiredness. She didn't even notice or grow irritated at his arms still wrapped around her waist like she normally would with Afta, of course he had claws and would purposefully poke her sometimes when giving her flying lessons. She thought about comforting and relaxing thoughts as they neared a large, few-windowed building; their next destination.