A young, black-haired Selkie buried his head under his pillow as his younger sister tried to wake him up.

"Come on, Tal!" the girl cried, "Everyone's waiting and Momma said to get up!!"

The girl's brother, Tal, peered out from under his pillow. "I don't leave until tomorrow."

His sister, Leena, grumbled in frustration. "Guess I'll hafta getcha up the hard way!" she teased with an evil grin. Before Tal could sit up, she tackled him and held him in a tight hug. Tal tried to shove her off, but she wouldn't budge.

"Quit it! I'm up!" he yelped as Leena hugged him tighter. This had been his younger sister's way to get him out of bed for longer than he could remember. Leena laughed and pranced out of the room.

Tal sighed and gazed out his window that overlooked the small village, Faldon. Against his own desire to stay in bed for the remainder of the day, he forced himself to get dressed. This was the day he left in Faldon's crystal caravan.

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After Tal had finished packing the caravan with both supplies and his own personal belongings, the village leader came up and grabbed his shoulder. "Just wanted to wish you good luck," he said with a grin.

Tal nodded slightly and grabbed Fyel's reins. Before he could take off without a second glance, his friend William – who preferred the name 'Worm' – came running up. "Wait! Why would you leave me behind?" the Lilty called, tossing his bag into the back of the wagon with a sheepish grin.

"I can think of three good reasons," Tal scoffed. He rolled his eyes and gave his parents a nod, then left with Worm.

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It wasn't long before the sun began to sink below the horizon and Faldon had faded from their sight some hours ago. "We should make camp," Tal thought aloud.

While Worm tied the wagon down and made sure Fyel could graze, Tal made a fire and stretched out, gazing at the stars with a solemn sigh. Even after straining his eyes as he examined the map, there were hundreds of places where a myrrh tree could be – and he had no idea where to start looking.

"Ya know...I could get used to this!" Worm joked, flopping down on the oppisite side of the fire.

Tal looked over and shrugged. "I guess so. The sooner we find myrrh the better."

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The next day, the Selkie and Lilty made their way through River Belle Path.

"Augh! This place is too nice to have nasty monsters like you!!" Worm shouted, taking a swing at a goblin with his spear. Even after the creature had died, the Lilty continued to swing at it. He stopped after recieving an angry glare from Tal.

It wasn't long before Tal had spotted the myrrh tree. "Yeeahh...all we gotta do now is cross this pond and..." Worm's voice drifted off. He swore he had just seen something in the water.

Just as Tal put one foot into the pond to make the crossing, two bright eyes flickered from behind the waterfall. Before either one of the two could move, a giant crab leapt at them.

"Oh no...I hate crabs," Tal said, backing away as he suddenly got a flashback to the day he had helped Worm go crab fishing.

"But they'll pinch!" cried the seven-year-old Tal. His friend Worm laughed.

"Come on, give it a try...I didn't know the toughest kid in the village was afraid of crabs!" the Lilty taunted.

Tal, disgruntled by the taunting, reached into the river and screamed. He immediately jerked his hand up out of the water. Worm nearly died of laughter. A small crab, not even larger than his hand, was clinging to Tal's palm.

"Get it off, get it off!!" Tal screamed, flailing his arms. He suddenly stopped and glared at the crab. "...QUIT LAUGHING AT ME!!!" he screeched at it, obviously delerious from his present situation.

The other boys of the village had seen the entire episode and couldn't stop laughing. "Back out of this!" Worm demanded, chasing them off as Tal dropped the crab and punted it back into the river.

"Yo! Tal!! Snap out of it!" came Worm's voice. Tal looked up to see the giant crab standing over him. In his moments of spacing out, he hadn't noticed the giant crab tearing at him. As blood streamed down the sides of his face and his arms, he quickly ran backwards.

"Kill it!"

"I'll need your help!"

"Fine!" Tal growled. He aimed his racket at the enemy and fired a blast of magic at it. "You get it from up close and I've got your back!"

As soon as the giant crab had fallen, Tal could breathe easier. After they had gathered a drop of myrrh in the crystal chalice, they made their way back to the caravan. As Tal continued back down the path, Worm stopped by the small pond to see a baby crab step out from under the waterfall.

"Mama...?" he heard it chirp.

A sweatdrop formed on Worm's brow. "Oops..."

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