From the Skies Above

IX

   The two children who listened to the story were so touched by this very tale, that they were merely speechless. Never did they hear such an adventurous story that's also had such a strong friendship with pinches of melancholy within it. Falkner looked down at his bomber jacket and brushed it, reminding him of the story his father passed down. Even Moloko herself began to tear up, which caused Falkner to jump out of his seat and grab a vial while running towards the milky white whale. Moloko's tears went into the vial and Falkner sealed it up to be used at one point.
   "What's that?" Daisy asked as she and Maxwell looked at the vial.

   "Moloko's tears are very important," Falkner began, "They can heal anyone with disease or wounds. Some whales, but not all of them, have this ability, though." Falkner had an idea and opened the vial up. "You two, put your arms out."

   Daisy and Maxwell did held their arms out as Falkner put little drips of the whale's tears on their scarred arms from the brutal whippings. It reflected a beautiful green hue as the healing powers of these tears went through their entire body. The two children looked at their arms and no longer saw the scars from Mrs. Brookshire and felt like a butterfly emerging out of it's cocoon.

   "Daisy," Maxwell asked, "Can you see if the scars are still on my back?" Daisy lifted up Maxwell's shirt and noticed that even the scars from the whips of Mrs. Brookshire were all gone like magic!

   "Maxwell, your scars are gone!" Daisy exclaimed, "Did mine disappear on my back?" Maxwell did examine Daisy's back for scars and noticed that they were gone as well!

   "Well, there is now someone to thank here now," Falkner said.

   Daisy and Maxwell ran up to Moloko and hugged her. The whale smiled and began to dance all around in the air as they clung onto her.But they did see something from a faraway distance that surprised them.

   "Falkner, look!" Moloko said, "What is that over there?"

   Falkner flew out and landed on Moloko's back to take a better glance. The falcon gasped to see that these things were heading towards the Sky Tree at supersonic speeds!

   "We'll fly by these things," Falkner said as he sat down on Moloko's back with the children doing the same. Moloko went towards the flying objects and eventually flew alongside them to see what they are close up.

   "Look, a plane!" Maxwell said to Daisy.

   "Those flying contraptions do look different than what my father told me..." Falkner added, "But why are they here?"

   Daisy and Maxwell covered their ears as the noise coming out of the planes were unbearable. The pilot noticed Moloko flying alongside and was shocked to see what he was seeing; not only the missing children, but Falkner and Moloko, the two that he was after!

   "I have found the missing children!"  said the pilot, "There is also a massive tree that seems to be where an entire civilization of animals live!"

   "Give us the latitude and longitude of where you are and we'll get there as soon as possible."

   "Fourty-six degrees Latitude, Negative thirty-two Longitude."

   "According to the map, it's over the Atlantic Ocean and the Navy got some ships close by those points. They'll send reinforcements in case."

   "Roger that."

   The plane took a sharp turn and suddenly went the direction away from the Sky Tree. Moloko stopped so she wouldn't fly away from the Sky Tree and get lost and returned to the banquet to see Anto there with her wings crossed.

   "Falkner and Moloko!" Anto scolded, "Did you know who you just encountered?!"

   "Not really," Falkner shrugged, "But I have never seen such a thing---"

   "That was the humans down below you featherbrain! They're after Daisy and Maxwell!"

   "How did you even know?!" Moloko said in surprise.

   Anto sighed and began to pace around the room. "I have investigated to a base down in the lands where I overheard two people speaking about a secret project called Operation: Castle in the Sky. Secretly, I acted like a normal kestrel that humans in the lands would know me as and overheard a briefing about this operation and immediately came back to warn everyone on the tree. This might be a battle we must fight for not only for Daisy and Maxwell, but for our own survival. I spoke to General Hughes about this and readied the Sky Tree Military for defense."

   "What about us?" Daisy asked,

   "Yeah!" Maxwell butted in. Anto sighed and knelt down to the two children who worried about her. "I do think the best thing to do for you is to hide in your tree house. It's the only thing to do and the best thing to do. Trust me, we had to deal with planes passing by, but this plane only went around and went back in a loop. I know how planes act. This plane was examining us."

   "How long will be there?" Daisy asked

   "I don't know, to tell you the truth. We never had an invasion before, never in the entire life of the Sky Tree, but we did have a military ever since the Sky Tree was born."
   Daisy became very nervous and began to burst into tears, fearing for her and Maxwell's life and the life of her friends.

   "Everything will be alright, Daisy." Falkner said. "I promise nothing bad will happen. I think we should head to the treehouse to calm down, right Maxwell?"

   Maxwell nodded and lead Falkner and Daisy under Falkner's wing, back to their treehouse.

   Once at the treehouse, Daisy climbed to the top of her bunk and cried on the pillows. Anto felt concerned for Daisy, but had to leave for military duty to defend the Sky Tree under the order of General Hughes. "I'll leave you three to this," Anto said as she flew out of the tree house and proceeded to get to the defenses.

   "Daisy, I know this is terrifying for all of us," Falkner said, "But I promise that nothing bad will happen." He hopped up to Daisy's bunk and sat there to comfort the little girl.

   "There was a tale my father once told me when I was a fledgling. When I was scared, my father told me that bravery scared fear away, and if you think of it, it truly does. When someone is brave, fear runs away like when you chase an animal down in the lands."

   Daisy lifted her head up and looked at Falkner. "You really think so?" she asked as the tears in her eyes glistened. Falkner wiped the tears off Daisy until she suddenly sneezed from Falkner. Remembering this very moment that seemed so long ago, Daisy smiled and eventually began to laugh so much, that it simply seemed she would have never stopped.

   "Well, what did you know!" Falkner laughed, "Laughter is the best medicine!"  Maxwell was utterly confused and felt rather awkward at this situation he was situated in and headed to Daisy's stash of chocolate eggs.

    "Daisy," Maxwell said as he removed the foil off a chocolate egg, "Did you forget about this?"

   Daisy, who completely forgot about the treat, flew off her bunk and feasted on a chocolate egg with Maxwell.

   "Falkner, would you like a chocolate egg?" Daisy asked as she showed Falkner the egg. "No, but thank you." Falkner refused, "It is said that here, chocolate makes many of the animals sick. I don't know why, to be truthfully honest or how humans like you can eat chocolate without getting sick."

A loud, obnoxious noise was booming outside of the tree house as suddenly it became louder and louder and multiplied like rabbits. Daisy, Maxwell, and Falkner looked outside to see the most terrifying scene that the citizens of the Sky Tree has ever witnessed...