The Moonlings: The Ancient Fortress

Chapter 4

Misty woke up the next morning on the forest floor. She had fallen asleep in a tree and must have fallen overnight. She was tired and her body hurt. She realized she must be up super early. She heard voices. She walked over to the house the voices were coming from. "I can't believe you didn't tell me! He was my brother too!" yelled Shimmerstone. "I just couldn't!" replied Willa, equally loudly. "It just happened and I couldn't... I couldn't do anything!" Willa exploded into tears. Misty was shocked. She had never heard Willa cry. "You still should have told me! I can't believe you..." She stomped out of the small hut and Misty ducked behind a tree just in time. As Shimmerstone passed, Misty heard her muttering," said he died in the fire! Ha! He set the fire... no. no that can't be true... but she seemed serious.." Shimmerstone passed out of earshot and Misty sat down to try to comprehend what she had just heard. By the time Aqua finally found her, she was thinking of words that rhyme with brother. "Mother, yes, bother, no, but brothers are a bother." "Misty! There you are! We've been looking for you forever! It's time to eat breakfast!" Misty jumped into the air in surprise. "Come on! I've got to tell Willa," said Aqua, annoyed. Misty flew higher into the air and shouted "Willa! Aqua found me!" Then she sped off toward one of the biggest houses. She flew in and looked at the meat in bowls on the table. "Is there anything else to eat?" she asked. "I think Titania is making some moosh pancakes in the kitchen." A sudden yell erupted. "No one told me how to do fire!" shouted a voice. "You better go help her!" Misty giggled. She ate the slightly burnt moosh pancakes and headed out to explore the camp. She went to sit next to a giant tree in the middle of the camp. She sat and contentedly counted the pine needles on the nearest tree for a good part of the day. She pulled Titania out of a river and stopped Shimmerstone from blowing up a house. She asked Ava if humans could fly because the little ones had wings, and Ava replied "No we can't! Don't bring that up again!" angrily. She attempted communication with the humans again. As she talked to a random human, she heard laughing. "Let me show you! Go get your friends." Ava said through giggles. She quickly got her siblings and brought them to an open area in the camp. Ava got her parents and all the other moonlings and explained "So human is basically moonling but you spell the word backward and move the last letter to the front." After Ava explained the basics, they split into groups. Willa took a group, Ava took a group, and Ava's Mom and Dad each took a group. Misty was in Ava's group. "So my name would be Aav, Fern would be Fnre, and Starwood would be Sdoowrat and so on." They had those lessons for the next week until most moonlings had got the hang of it. Misty was one of the first ones to get it because she actually paid attention when Willa muttered gibberish under her breath. She curled up to sleep, making sure she was firmly fastened to the tree, and fell asleep.