As my lovely dream of fluffy pouches comes to a unwelcome, but inevitable end, I slowly creak open my crusty eyelids to start the day, only to immediately close them tight again when the glaring morning sun hits my sleepy eyes.

"Ahh... make the sun... go away" I drowsily murmur, draping my wings over my face so I can sleep a little longer.

Why is the sun so bright? Silly sun, so cheerful and happy when I've barely slept at all. I guess I know why every other bird chooses to sleep in a tree now, because trees have a bunch of leafy branches to block the sun's light from waking us up early! It's so obvious! Common sense! I feel so silly for not thinking of that last night. So from now on, unless I find a roof with another roof on top of it, I won't be sleeping on a roof like this one ever again, even if it might be a teensy bit more comfortable than branches. It's just not worth it, waking up annoyed. Sleep is important after all! My feathers need a full night's rest to retain their captivating, enviable glow... I think... I hope... I like sleep. More sleep is nice, nice nice nice.

"Oh. My. Golly!" I exclaim in disbelief, jumping to my feet with widening eyes, all thoughts of sleep gone and completely replaced with frenzied energy.

"I FORGOOOT!" I shriek as I barrel down the thatch roof like a tumbling stone, rolling downwards head-over-talons due the unexpected weight of the shaggy pouch that I may have accidentally worn to sleep.

As the roof turns to empty air and my body begins falling down to the ground, a single, drawn out wail cries out from my beak...

"COOooooinnnnns-" *thud* Ouchies. I forgot about the coins!

6 Falling Damage

With a small "Owie" and ruffle of my feathers I scramble to the closed bark door of Bartlon's home in a frenzy. The door opens by pulling on the small rope halfway up on the right hand side, but because it's too high to reach, I choose to open the door by jamming my head through a hole in the bark and shuffling backwards, bringing the door with me.

"Bartlon! Bartlon!" I loudly shout, marching across the dirt floor towards the bed in the corner.

The small mound on top of the bed makes no movement as I move towards it. Is he still sleeping? What a lazy pants! Who sleeps when the sun is up? He'll get even more wrinkles! He should wake up early like me. I don't have any wrinkles... right? I better not!

Straining my wings under the weight of the shaggy pouch, I flap up to Bartlon's bed, only for my heart to sink. The mound on the bed isn't a sleeping Bartlon, but a brown bed sheet, all scrunched up and left in the middle. It kinda look like him from afar. Whoopies. So where is he now? Why would he leave? Also, who even wakes up this early? The sun has barely risen! He'll get wrinkles if he doesn't get enough sleep. Unlike me...

Though I wonder where he could possibly be? I'm pretty sure he isn't hiding inside. I can see every nook and cranny of Bartlon's small home from up here on the bed. There's the bench against the wall where Bartlon cooked our dinner last night, and the table and chair where we ate our dinner, there's also the bed that I'm standing on, and an assortment of wooden boxes of varying shapes and sizes placed everywhere, seemingly at random. I'm not sure what's inside the boxes, but none of them are big enough to fit a whole Bartlon inside, so he must be somewhere outside!

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Maybe he went back to the Harou Tree without me? Does he go every morning? Hmm. No, I think I remember him saying he had enough 'sap' from the tree to last for a while, whatever that is.

Oh wait a minute! What's that!

A small, yellow square with black tangles on it, that's somehow magically stuck to the bottom of the half-open door, fluttering back and forth in the chilly morning wind. It wasn't there last night, I'm sure of it! And those black curves look really messy, but I'm sure that they're squigglies! It must mean something!

I leap off Bartlon's bed and glide towards the door, landing with a soft *thump* on my talons at the foot of the entrance, wobbling slightly, still a little unaccustomed to the shaggy pouch's weight.

'Buying seeds' it says.

Hmmm.

As expected. I have no clue what it means. It's so difficult to decipher the strange loops and lines, much harder then the squiggles in my status. I wonder why? It's like the difference between hot and cold! But, I do know that these black lines are indeed squiggles, Mr. Squiggle's unique look is unmistakable. I just don't know what mystical meaning Mr. Squiggle is trying to show me with his wiggly loops.

Oh no... maybe there was an emergency?

That would explain why the squiggles are so messy! It also explains why the message was placed somewhere where I would find it! - He was in danger and rushed! Could there more Shaggy Fluffs lurking around? Did he flee and leave this message to ask me for help, or to tell me to run away too? He must be in terrible peril! I must go find him immediately! Bartlon won't survive fighting against the Shaggy Fluffs alone! He doesn't have any fire to attack with like me, he only has a magical wall to defend with. He'll be a sitting blanket!

"Bartlon! Where are you!?" I shout at the top of my lungs, bursting past the flimsy door and running towards the forest faster then ever I've ever ran before, "Ack!" - and falling flat on my face a few meters from the house.

2 Falling Damage

Ok, this pouch needs to come off first, it will be impossible to search for Bartlon with it on, let alone fight the Shaggy Fluffs. The weight of the pouch is still a little bit too much for me to handle comfortably right now.

Hurry. Hurry.

The first step to taking the shaggy pouch off is burrowing my beak between the pouch and my chest so I can bite the fluff underneath the bone button. Step two is to tug the fluff out and over the button so that the straps fall off, leaving the final, most difficult step. Step three, which is to wave my wings around in all directions like crazy until the wing-holes slip over my wings. It always takes a frustratingly long time to get one of the sides off, but once I do, the other side comes off much quicker. It's a good thing Bartlon more or less forced me to practice taking the pouch off and on last night when he was making it. Every second counts!

Hold on Bartlon, I'm coming! I will save you from the Shaggy Fluffs!

"Cinders!" I caw, blasting upwards in a plume of fire, not giving a moments notice to the potentially dangerous aftermath of my fiery ascent.

"Cinders" I caw again, flying through tree branches into a dense ceiling of leaves. A third Cinders then puts me shooting above the leafy canopy where a fourth Cinders sends me soaring over the emerald forest in no particular direction.

Oh golly! Where do I go now?! Where would Bartlon run to if he was attacked? Argh! I have absolutely no clue! He really could be anywhere! And it isn't easy to see underneath all these trees and strange plants! This is hopeless! I might not ever find him! I know that if I was in danger I would just fly away or die and revive, both of which Bartlon cannot do like me. I'm at a loss! What if I miss him and fly right past him? Or what if I fly in the completely wrong direction!? How can I find him!?

Aha, I've got it! Genuis! I know how to find Bartlon super fast! I have a brilliant idea!

+ 1 Intelligence

Circles!

Taking a deep breath I steady out my wings horizontally to fly straight, then quickly raise my left wing in the air at a 45 degree angle, directing the wind under my left side so that I curve sharply to the right at high speed, circling above Bartlon's home. Then, I begin slowly tilting my wings back to their original position, using Cinders as often as possible to make the circle wider and wider with every lap I fly.

+ 1 Dexterity

I'm a genius! By searching this way I can cover the entire forest without missing an inch! It also makes it's easier to see past the trees if I'm looking to the side rather then looking directly down, which is fantastic! This way, I should be able to find either Bartlon, or a pack of Shaggy Fluffs in no time! And the huge amount of fire I'm flaring in the sky should help Bartlon find me if he's in trouble. Or maybe, if I'm very lucky, my fire might scare away the Shaggy Fluffs completely. After all, a single Bellows took down a Shaggy Fluff before, they must be scared of fire!

So I will find them!

I will show them fire.