[Trade] Look At The Stars

"You see this?" Quil asked her companion, her head twitching as she tried to contemplate the sight in front of her.

"I can't see much," Cherry reminded her patiently, trying her best to keep up. "What are we looking at?" Quil put an arm around Cherry's shoulders and gently turned her to face the direction she was looking.

"Can you see that big white building, it's half sunk in the water but the top is sticking out," she elaborated, pointing at the building in question. Cherry followed her pointed claw and squinted against the bright lights flashing off the water's surface and saw the white building glaring in the sun. She could just about make out the shape of it rising from the waves, a curved dome instead of the usual flat top of old human structures, before the light forced her to close her eyes.

"I see it, is that where we're going?" she asked with her eyes still tightly shut, red lights flashing behind her eyelids and continuing the strobing despite her efforts.

"It is, it's got something really cool in it," Quil said, but refused to elaborate further. Cherry sighed but resigned herself to follow her friend down into the Sunken City. They had been to the outskirts a few times before but this was the first time Cherry would be taking a raft out onto the water. As far as she knew, only a few passive Atopos lived in this part of the city, but she was entirely relying on Quil's word for that. She trusted Quil with her life, and had done so multiple times in their short childhood. She was patient, kind and understanding of Cherry's limitations, more than even her own siblings had been. It also helped that she was in such high contrast, even Cherry's weak vision could pick out her black and white friend from a distance. It wasn't just a relationship of convenience either, Cherry loved hearing Quil talk about the world. Her words sparked with colour and joy, enthusiasm rising from every description of something wondrous she had seen and wanted to share. She also had an unquenchable thirst for adventure, encouraging Cherry to reach beyond her own limits and discover more about the world. She had no doubt she'd be much more of a homebird without her friendship with Quil.

The path down to the shore was thankfully shaded, giving Cherry a break from the blinding sun. She could track Quil easily through the trees with her stark colouration, standing out almost obnoxiously from the soft, blurry greens around her. 

"Okay, I left the raft here," Quil said, almost more to herself than to Cherry. She followed the shore to a familiar metal post sticking out of the ground, there she found her raft where she had left it, moored to the post with rope that was probably older than her mother. It was a little presumptuous to call it 'her' raft but she had yet to see anyone else use it. She unhitched the rope from the post and pulled the raft onto the land. "Hop on," she told Cherry gleefully.Her pale friend stepped gently onto the wooden board and Quil pushed it back onto the water. Cherry was light, even for a hatchling, so Quil found it easy enough for her own little hatchling muscles to push both her and raft out to sea, taking a short running start before jumping on to join her. The raft rocked back and forth but stayed upright, and Quil began to paddle forward into the Sunken City. 

"Do you want me to help?" Cherry asked quietly. She was always so quiet, it had forced Quil to become somewhat of a good listener.

"Nah, it's fine, the current helps and I don't want your feathers getting waterlogged when we have to climb later," Quil waved her off. She knew there was a decent amount of climbing to do at their destination and a sodden Utahraptor hatchling was more dead weight than anything. As she kept paddling, the building grew closer and she could just about see the entrance. The doorway was incredibly tall, letting it stick out of the water and allow them inside. There used to be large wooden doors blocking it at some point, but the sea had eaten them away over time, leaving a gap they could paddle the raft through. As they entered, the ceiling above them blocked out the harsh sunlight and Quil could hear Cherry heave a sigh of relief. When her eyes adjusted to the lower light, the sigh hitched into a gasp.

"Oh wow," was all she could manage to say as Quil grinned smugly. She had found the coolest place on the whole island.

In the centre of the submerged room, a large copper structure spiralled upward, supported by similarly coloured metal rings. It pointed up to the peak of the domed ceiling, where a circular glass panel used to sit. All that was left of it was shards around the rim of the gap, letting sunlight and rain in freely, turning the copper structure a deep green in patches. On the rest of the ceiling, a recreation of the night sky was meticulously painted, showing a slightly closer view than what you could normally see, even on the most clear nights.

"It's the stars," Quil pointed, "look they're even in the right place." 

"I've never seen them like this before," Cherry said reverently. Her pale eyes were fixed skyward, darting around the various stars. They were labelled with illegible faded words, probably in human language that they could never understand but Cherry ached to be able to read them. Each side of the room had stairs curving up to a second floor, free of water and with walls covered in slightly damaged pictures. Quil had no idea what they were supposed to be, but they were pretty and she wanted to share them with Cherry anyway. 

"C'mon, you can see them closer on dry land," she encouraged. She started to paddle and noticed her friend splashing next to her, propelling them faster towards the stairs. When they came to an unsteady stop against the steps, Quil grabbed the rope and secured the raft to the bannisters. With a hop, she cleared the slippery, algae covered steps and waited with open arms for her friend to jump to. "Use those feathers, fluffy!" she teased. Cherry braced on the wobbly raft and flung herself forward, managing to fall over on landing without taking Quil with her. "Close! You'll get it next time," Quil encouraged, dragging her to her feet and pulling her up the stairs.

"Next time?" Cherry asked, hurrying to keep up with Quil's enthusiasm.

"Yeah! You'll have to jump back to go home! But let's look at the pictures first," she hurried to add when Cherry's expression turned grim.