It looks like my bag was misplaced but thankfully I found it underneath some spider-feed. Strange place for it to roll, especially because it was halfway inside an empty feed bag but I could sense my tassels hidden inside of it and smoothly recovered it. Even played a game with Wood when he tried to grab at my tassels while I kept them out of his stubby hands. It must’ve looked like fun because Passenger tried to help out her son but I ducked and weaved like in those picture books I would peek at in Raun’s house.
Eventually I ducked and weaved all over to the spider cluster where Walleye’s mount of choice stood head and shoulders above the rest that were grooming it with their pedi-legs; why are these spiders so weird? Walleye’s ginormous spider…Adder, that’s his name, makes a growling noise in his stomach that causes the grooming spiders to back off at my approach.
I move to stand near his middle legs in case he decides to try and swallow me and just wait, shuffling back and forth until I’m overtaken by spiders as the cluster’s attention shifts, with their weirdly soft-scratchy paws roaming around my face and clothes. I should probably be more freaked out but after a long travel time where basically every morning I was woken by Mimzy’s face against my own, their larger bodies but greater respect for distance basically canceled each other out on the freaky factor.
Walleye and Cabinet walk up to my grooming party with several bags, Cabinet holding a small purse that jangles with each step. What the heck is she doing over here? Didn’t we hug goodbye earlier?
Well she is the one I got closest to, even to the point of drinking that really awful drink she made me, so I guess another goodbye wouldn’t hurt anything.
Walleye walked straight past me and led Adder away from the group of spiders- I guess I didn't get a camel to ride into town, unfair- and busied himself by fiddling with the saddle and straps. I shrug and turn back to face Cabinet, who blinked after I turned around fully. Her face was a little flushed and she kept fidgeting; was she sick or something?
“...I’ve brought what is to be given to you.” She said, flushing even further under her dark skin, ears twitching wildly. I bet if I could look, her tail would be lashing to-and-fro. I accept the purse she hands me and then bend down to scoop some sand into it before tucking it away. Walleye is shaking his head and pinching the brow of his nose, but Cabinet’s eyes are silently tracking my movements.
“...If you…close your eyes you can get something else,” She offers, which makes me think of something absurd,
“Are you offering me an elf gift?” I ask, jokingly. Walleye joins in my snickering while Cabinet nods, her ears tucked back and twitching again. Alright, time for my elf gift; I close my eyes and hold out my cupped hands, startling when Cabinet’s hand grabs them and another covers my eyes before something warm and slightly wet pressed up against my cheek.
It’s a good thing that Cabinet covered my eyes because they shot open as I tried to see what exactly just touched my face, but I soon settled down and waited for the elf gift to finish…doing whatever the hearth it’s supposed to do. I’m obviously not an expert on the topic, though I did expect it to feel…dryer than whatever is pressing against my face.
Cabinet steps back and I hear her breathing louder than usual, but I keep my eyes closed and my hands…are still being held, though now there’s a companion hand to the first that gripped me.
“Can I open my eyes now?” I ask pleasantly in the silence that hangs after whatever happened to me probably finished. My hands are squeezed before Cabinet lets go.
“...Yeah. You can open your eyes.” She said, quietly.
I slowly squint my eyes to open in the still-bright sky and Cabinet’s crying face.
Walleye is holding a small vial against her chin to catch any drips for some reason, which he quickly corks up and tosses to me. It bounces harmlessly against my chest and into my still-cupped hands. I look at it before putting it with my two coin purses and walking over to Cabinet with my arms open, waiting for her to jump into our usual hug, but she just shakes her head and backs off a little, causing me to pause.
“Promise you won’t forget me immediately, okay?” She asks, trying to smile but it just makes her face crumple more with a fresh bout of tearing up.
“How many tears are you planning to give to this human? Sybil,” Walleye paused to forcibly clear his throat, “Sybil needs to go. She told us that herself.”
Despite saying that, Walleye just stands there with his hand on Cabinet’s shoulder before I cough to get his attention and accidentally cause both to jump in surprise.
“A-hem, yes. Sybil, do you have everything you brought?” He asks before shooing away Cabinet, who looked inclined to climb onto the spider as well. I nod.
Adder does his strange spider-bow as Walleye climbs on board and then hefts me up in front before our spider ride straightens up.
As our many-legged ride begins to walk away I turn and wave at the elves I was leaving behind: Passenger, Wood, and Cabinet, who was crouching down on the ground with her shoulders shaking softly. My eyes and throat hurt to look at her for too long so I turned around quickly, relaxing into the sway of a trotting spider.as it starts to break into a gallop.
“This is much faster than a camel, but we’re going to have to walk past a certain point so that the fort mages don’t shoot at us out of fear for poor Adder here,” Walleye patted the bristly head of the spider, which then made a rumbling sound from underneath, causing Walleye to ruffle even more enthusiastically as our spider ride got to a full gallop, the land rushing under the undulating legs around us.
Soon I spot a growing shadow in the distance and Walleye whistles for Adder to slow down to a trot before stopping. We’re still a while from the fort.
“I have an inn, just on the outside of the walls, with an owner that owes me a favor. They’ll let you stay in their honor and to pay off the debt. Whichever matters more to a human.”
I hum before replying, “Probably the debt thing,” which just prompts a hum before we start walking towards the lights flickering in the distance. Our walk is gradually lit better and better, scattered homesteads that cluster closer and closer to the sturdy walls of the fort. We pause in front of one of the taller buildings with a stable built into it out of thin reeds and thicker, but gnarled, wood jutting out of the dirt square. The windows were holes cut into the dense soil walls and blocked with blue-painted shutters, some with a pale light shining from within.
Walleye walked into the building, ducking his head under the top of the doorway and then knocked his fist against a hanging bell. The noise summoned the likely innkeeper, a scruffy and stout man with a curly beard.
“Is there something you want, Leyman?” The innkeeper’s voice was softer than I expected, but his furrowed expression was within my expectations.
Walleye pulled out a piece of paper and passed it to the innkeeper, who read it with a blank expression. “I have come to have a debt owed to me be fulfilled,” Walleye said, gesturing to me standing beside him, “I want the room owed to me to be passed to this child.”
The innkeeper reread the paper and sighed, “I guess grandfather did write this; luckily there’s some rooms still available. I’ll show you.”
Rather than waking up the wooden stairway, he walked into the room behind the front desk to a smaller room tucked into the corner. It was with a thin window near the ceiling with a small strip of glass allowing the dim light to stream in but the bed seemed clean, if a little threadbare.
“This is the only room I have available,” The innkeeper said to Walleye before crossing his arms.
“Well, what do you think, Sybil?” Walleye turned and asked me.
I hum and say, “This should be fine, probably.”
“If you give me some time to send off a message with Adder then I can accompany you for the night,” He offers, but I shake my head. I’ll be fine.
“Tell them goodbye for me, one last time,” I request before I’m scooped into a tight hug.
“I hope to see you again, little human.” Walleye’s voice is muffled into my shoulder but I’m sure he can feel me nod before he abruptly lets go and steps back.
“Stay safe, okay, Sybil?” Walleye asks me. I nod again, my throat is too tight to say anything back. I wave at him leaving the room with the innkeeper until the door closes and I shuffle onto the bed and lay back, staring at the ceiling.
I’ll be fine. Probably.
mom time, going to eat all of her food