The Icy Death of the Geyser

The Winged Drifters arrived with their call, which was a single, cohesive tone that sounded like a cat purring and meowing simultaneously. Above her, a group of five glided gently, resembling enormous winged rays. Bibby said to herself, "They look very much like the manta rays I've read about," and her voice reverberated softly around the icy room. A second later... a second later... a few seconds later...

She was right; their movements resembled the swimming motion of manta rays. Behind them, each of them had a lengthy tail that was spread apart from the others and ornamented with long feathers. Three had feathers, two had five, and one had two. Bibby saw one that had no tail and no feathers. She felt sorry for it, and a moment later she was on its back. Far down were her buddies, the Scarlet-Berry Birds, and the stream. The cindering's mound of sticks had lost its flame. Somehow, she managed to maintain her equilibrium and avoid falling, preventing the motionless, recalcitrant air from dragging her down. When she initially woke up from the coffee shop dream, she heard the same voices that didn't belong to her.

Cake and ice cream are both amazing, but you can't sing with them and it doesn't give a damn about who you are.

The Winged Drifters are come to dispel the lies told by large fish that float in the air.

The falsehoods. The lies, the lies, the lies, lies, lies."

More than the others, that final word—lies—reverberated, and Bibby questioned whether the speaker was just repeating it. In the hopes of hearing back, she asked the air, "Whatever does it matter if I cannot sing with ice cream?" "And who would give a damn about who I was? Thank you so much; I've always been a female. Her own echoes were the only response she received.

"And if you want to know what I think about the other half," she shouted, "Wailers are marine mammals, not fish!" She was interrupted before she could proudly explain that she had learned this from her excellent school. She was now flying over one of the enormous flying Wailers from earlier, but still on the Winged Drifter. Rather than completing her thought, she held out and projected a lengthy, high-pitched "ah" sound. (The majority of people would have termed it a scream, but Bibby was in too sophisticated a state to use such a straightforward term.)

She was eager to see what was happening on the Wailer after her lengthy vocalization was over. Hat-wearing Froggans were huddled around The Geyser, waiting their turn, giving her the impression that she was witnessing something from the past. At the moment, the heads of two of them were buried in the spray. Bibby saw that the spray was continuing for a lot longer than usual and didn't seem to be stopping.

The two were being pulled and tugged by the Froggan mob in an attempt to free them. They shouted, and a few courageous people even attempted shoving from the opposite side, but to no avail. Clearly not wanting to pull out, the two Froggans in The Geyser were yelling with delight. The panic in the audience increased. The community was soon in a panic, but the two would not release go, leaving the few who could approach them forlorn. The cold, the ties, and the poison were things they did not want to leave behind.

The water spout finally stopped. While everyone else looked, waiting for a response, the two Froggans stood at The Geyser. When one of the spout-junkies fell over, dead, they waited, tensed, and then stiffened. From his mouth, icy strands stretched out over the Wailer's back and ascended the other's leg. The ice got into Frogan's lips and froze him from the inside out while he watched it crawl, his brain too frozen to think. The throng dispersed.

One Frogan in a top hat slowly moved away from the others. He looked from right to left, then left to right as he turned to face the throng. He carefully removed his hat, as if he had conquered some weird kind of stage anxiety. With trembling hands, he took out a piece of paper and held it up to read. Taking a deep breath, he stumbled through the words, "Let there be light." With greater assurance, he removed the slip and pulled out another that said, "Let the wearer of the fedora rule the world." He also let that one go. His next item from his top hat was a bright blue fedora, which caused the crowd to erupt in noise.

Although Bibby didn't feel like she was waking up this time, she must have been because she was now rushing toward the mountains with her friends to escape the birds. They appeared to be moving forward this time, though, and soon arrived at the mountain wall. The first person to arrive was Jon. He was standing next to a little cave-like aperture in the rock that Bibby had not noticed just now. He gestured for them to come in. Bibby leaped through the breach, shortly followed by Zara and Gush-radical, not wanting to be imprisoned.

As soon as they were inside, the opening appeared to close itself, but Jon's arrival made it open once more, despite the Scarlet-Berry Birds' inability to get in. Eventually, they gave up, probably believing that their target had vanished beneath solid rock. When Jon told them to leave, the path was unobstructed. It appeared solid from the outside, as before, until he came out. This was accepted without question by Zara and Gush-radical, so Bibby didn't inquire. They started walking around the mountain, and she softly fell into step with them.

Walking around the mountainside with the others, Bibby awoke. She gazed at the gravel ground mounting at a sharp slope, and at its summit, which stretched far above them. She noted that trees had grown on the other side of the river, although she didn't recall them previously, and occasionally she spotted small patches of grass. She muttered to herself, "Well, whether they were there or not, they're there now, and I suppose it really doesn't matter."

They reached the edge of a forest after turning a bend. It made Bibby think of the oak woodland she and her companion used to retreat to while they were at home. Bibby had been able to cheer up her friend, who never appeared to be pleased no matter what, by pointing out various plants and animals on those beautiful days. That woodland and this one were extremely similar. The sunlight seeped through the canopy as they entered, illuminating everything with a green glow. They crossed weeds, ferns, fallen leaves, and what Bibby knew to be poison ivy. The trees were encircled by vines, some of which hung in loops with both ends fastened to the branches above. Bibby thought this was very weird.