The Fantastical Explorations of Rinny Migaw

Chapter 4: Leaving Life's Luxiries

"So long, Rinny. Come back safe, you hear?" 

"Always, Mr. Gate Guard. Always." Rinny waved at the man as the humongous stones that had been crafted into city gates slid to a close. "Well, here we are," he said, turning to his two companions, "outside the city." 

"Do you have a plan, Rinny?" Drap said, watching Cirrus excitedly scoop up some of the multi-colored snow that surrounded the city. "I mean, where are we even going? Where would one look for a way into the sky?" Rinny thought for a moment, taking off his monocle and flipping it like a coin.  

"I don't suppose you have any ideas," Rinny said, snatching the turning glass in the air and turning toward Cirrus. She shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head. Rinny reached back, pulling a wrinkled roll of paper from his pack. With a quick flick of his wrist, the map was open, spread over the horizon.  

"We'll just have to see then, won't we?" he said, eyes darting to and fro across the territories he had explored, all marked with novelties he had found. Cirrus and Drap closed in on either side to get a good look. "Logically, the sky is up," Rinny began, facing each of his comrades in turn, "so common sense suggestions the solution lies on the stairs of a summit."  

"All the mountains we've been to didn't have any way into the sky that I saw," Drap said, looking at each mountain mark on the map.  

"Yes, but I recall plenty of times when we explored the edges of the map where we saw mountains in the distance. Unexplored and undisturbed. It is to one of those we go." 

"Then let's go to Mount Migaw, although I still think that's a stupid name," Drap snorted. "It's the furthest mountain we've discovered to the east. There were more surrounding it. Maybe we'll find something." 

"Excellent," Rinny said, slamming the map shut and replacing it in his pack. "Me and my friends move toward Mount Migaw. You realize Drap, that we have to go through the Rotund Ridges, and either around the Manic Molehole or through the as-of-yet unexplored Veiled Valley." 

"Sweetie," Drap said, turning toward the excited Cirrus, "why don't you go explore the rainbow snow for a while. You know, let me and Rinny discuss our route." Cirrus nodded, beaming as she leapt into the piles of soft, wet rainbows. "Look, Rinny, I'd rather avoid the valley, if it's all the same to you." Drap shifted uneasily, shaking his head.  

"Oh come on, Drap. We're explorers. We've passed by it so often, we have to explore it sometime." 

"Do you hear the moans that come from in there? It's so dark we wouldn't be able to see in front of our noses. Maybe it if was just you and me, we could go for it, but we have a charge now. Someone to look after. Let's go around the Manic Molehole." As soon as he had said it, Rinny knew Drap was right. As excited as he was to finally descend into the Veiled Valley, as he had dubbed it when they first discovered the dark abyss, he knew their mission came first. 

"Ok, Drap. Manic Molehole it is. But we'll have to be very quite so as not to wake the moles. Remember the last time we did that?" Rinny asked. Drap chuckled.  

"I don't think I can forget, though I don't think the girl will have much trouble with silence." Drap gestured to the frolicking Cirrus, blissfully, but silently, playing in the rainbow snow.  

"Quite right. Quite right," Rinny said with a nod before calling out to the sky-child. "Cirrus, I'm sorry for stopping your sunny sensations, but we have decided upon a route. We must go." Cirrus blew the snow off of her nose and shook the remaining flakes from her hair before running up to the explorers. "Let us be off then," Rinny said, smiling at the contended look on girl's face. 

Turning his compass to the west, Rinny led the trio down the hill that led to the city gates and away from the safety of the walls. This was his favorite part. Just him, Rinny Adventure Migaw, pitted against the feral wilderness, with naught but a cane in his hand, and a pack of maps on his back. Oh, and Drap too.