They locked me in a tower at the edge of town, in a cell on the fifth floor, Fifth Before Sixth was the motto of our town, and roomed me with a man named Terril. Terril would fold into a corner with a pair of scissors shaped like a stork, cut imaginary valves and fold into a bat, for he was from the jungle where birds and bats rule the sky, and flap out the window. Why do you come back I asked and he shook my hand and began another missive to his father.
Four Treasures
I love this, especially the last surprise, and the ways the fires are creeping into the story