It seemed like a peaceful day in Cebalrai. The sun was shining, Pows were mooing, and bluebirds were singing (or at least, the ones that hadn't been eaten by fat men with a liking for roast bird.) Our heroes had decided to take a break from their adventure and have a picnic.
There was one problem, though-it's hard to have a picnic without food, and the night before, somebody had apparently eaten the largest midnight snack in history. Nobody had confessed, though all fingers pointed at Gibari and his gigantic appetite. No matter who had eaten all the food, it was Xelha who volunteered to do the grocery shopping. Everyone else decided to play poker while they waited for her to get back.
"Full house. I win again"
Savyna grinned smugly.
"Aw, man" Kalas groaned. "I
swear, I have the worst luck"
"Maybe Kalas shouldn't
take poker tips from his guardian spirit" suggested Mizuti.
Kalas snickered.
"I heard that" screeched the voice
inside Kalas's head. "
"Deal again" Gibari urged.
"I'm feeling like my luck is about to change."
"He
said that the last three games and lost them all" Lyude
whispered to Savyna. "His money will run out before his bad luck
does."
"Luck has nothing to do with it" she
hissed back. "Gibari is the worst poker player I've ever seen."
Unfortunately for them, Gibari had overheard. "If you're
going to whisper about people, at least do it softly enough where the
person you're talking about can't hear you! And I'm NOT a bad poker
player! I can whip all of you any day-except today. Today's a bad
day."
"From the sounds of things, so was yesterday, and
tomorrow will be,too" Kalas smirked.
A shouting match
quickly erupted. Though the fight had started about a card game, by
the time Xelha returned with the food, she found her friends yelling
something about Kalas snoring and Gibari's goofy hairstyle.
Xelha
looked puzzled, but ignored the shouting. "Food's here"
she called cheefully. "Meemai, where are you? I brought a
special treat for you...Meemai? Has anyone seen Meemai"
The
fighting paused. "Hm? Meemai? Haven't seen the little fella all
day" Kalas commented.
Lyude glanced around, unable to find
the greythorne. "I thought he was with you. Are you sure he's
not"
Xelha shook her head. "I left him here. Don't
tell me you lost Meemai"
"Don't worry. I'm sure he's
here somewhere" Lyude tried to reassure her.
"The
Great Mizuti senses the prescence of a greythorne nearby"
stated Mizuti in her usual self-important way.
"I'm hungry"
Gibari declared. "Let's eat and wait for Meemai to show up on
his own." Reluctantly, Xelha agreed to postpone her search for
the missing greythorne.
The fight soon forgotten, everyone
began enjoying their meal. That is, until Lyude realized someone had
eaten the last muffin. "Who ate the last muffin? I didn't get
any"
"Quit yer whinin' boy" Gibari said through
a mouthful of muffin. "The shop's right over there. Just go get
more."
Sighing, Lyude pulled himself off the ground. He had
just kicked off his boots a few minutes ago and now found himself
having to put them back on his feet. For some reason, he couldn't
seem to get the left one on his foot. Puzzled, he tried again.
Something still prevented him from putting it on his foot. Losing
patience, Lyude shoved his foot in the boot as hard as he could. Next
thing the others knew, they heard a loud "SQUEEEEEEAK"
followed by Lyude screaming. "YEOOOOWWCH" he cried.
"There's something in there"
Kalas grinned. "I
think Lyude just found Meemai."
Lyude yanked off the boot,
revealing Meemai firmly attatched to his big toe. "Get it off!
Get it off" he cried. "That hurts" He attempted to
pull the creature off, but Meemai only became more frightened and
clamped down harder on his foot.
"That's not how you get a
greythorne to do anything" Xelha scolded. "You have to be
gentle. Poor Meemai is scared. Come here, Meemai. I have something
that I'm sure tastes better than Lyude's feet." She offered the
greythorne a cookie, and he squeaked happily, releasing Lyude's toe.
Lyude looked down at his foot. The toe was bleeding slightly. "I
hope greythorne bites aren't dangerous. Oh, I hope Meemai doesn't
have rabies"
"Should we get Larikush" Kalas
asked.
"Not necessary" Savyna stated simply. "No
one has ever died from a greythorne bite. They're quite harmless."
Lyude grumbled to himself"I didn't even know they had
teeth"
Kalas cast an uncomfortable glance at Meemai. "I never knew greythornes could be so vicious."
"He's not vicious!" Xelha insisted. "He was just scared. Imagine how you would feel if you were suddenly cornered by a foot the size of your whole body." She picked up Meemai and began petting him and speaking in baby talk.
"What I wanna know," Gibari wondered out loud, "is what he was doing in Lyude's boot in the first place."
"Hm, well, when I got back from shopping, you all were fighting. Maybe the noised scared him and he hid," Xelha suggested.
Meanwhile, Lyude was hopping around clutching his injured foot. "It hurts! It hurts! That little monster almost bit off my toe!" he wailed.
"Despite what Savyna said about greythorne bites not being dangerous, I think we'd better find a way to disinfect the wound," Gibari said to know one in particular. "That bite could get infected. We probably should go see Larikush." To Lyude, he added, "Oh, grow up, you big baby!"
"I'm not a big baby!" he retorted. "This really hurts!"
"We should get going," Savyna said simply. The six of them started toward Larikush's house, with Lyude half-limping, half-hopping.
Kalas rolled his eyes. "Cut the melodrama. You're not dying or anything. What's with the weird walk?"
"It hurts to put pressure on it. I'm trying to avoid that. Unlike you, I can't just fly when walking is inconvenient."
"Whatever. We're almost there. I think people are starting to stare, though."
When Larikush answered his front door, he wasn't too surprised to see Kalas and his friends. What was surprising, though, was the explanation to why they were there. In fact, Larikush started laughing. "You say you were bitten by a greythorne hiding in your shoe? In all my years as a doctor, I've never seen anyone bitten by a greythorne. I didn't even know they were prone to biting. Are you sure you're not playing some kind of joke?"
Lyude looked annoyed. "Does this look like a joke to you?" he demanded, yanking off his boot to show the doctor his bleeding toe.
"That?" Larikush asked. "That's hardly a serious wound. You don't need a doctor, boy."
"Actually," Savyna said quietly, "we just came to see if you had some kind of disinfectant."
"Oh, well, in that case, here," he said, tossing a small bottle to Lyude. "Use this, then bandage it. You all may as well stay for awhile if you want. I have nothing to do, and it doesn't look like you do either."
"Doc, are you sure Lyude's gonna be okay? He's not going to turn into a greythorne when the moon is full and hop around making squeaky noises is he?" Kalas asked.
"Don't be stupid, Kalas," Mizuti scoffed. "That's werewolves."
"Speaking of greythornes," Xelha spoke up, "I think it's time Meemai and Lyude made amends. Say you're sorry for biting him, Meemai."
"Sq-squeeak."
"Now Lyude, say you're sorry for scaring Meemai and saying mean things about him."
"I'm sorry, Meemai."
"Good," Xelha smiled. "Now kiss and make up-Meemai, you first." She held Meemai up to Lyude's face, allowing the greythorne to lick his cheek. "Now you, Lyude."
"What? I'm not kissing Meemai!"
"Yes, you are," insisted Xelha. "He's not dirty or anything. Look, you're making him sad."
Lyude sighed. "Fine. I'll kiss him." He placed a light kiss on top of the creature's head. "You're not a bad greythorne, really. No more biting, all right?"
"Squeak squeak!"
By now, Kalas was getting restless. "Man, I'm bored!" he groaned. "Isn't there anything to do around here? Wait, I know!" He paused for a dramatic effect. "Let's go Pow tipping!"
"Pow tipping? What be Pow tipping?" Mizuti asked. If it hadn't been hidden by her mask, the others would have seen a curious look on her face.
"I've never heard of that either," Xelha agreed. "What is it?"
Kalas grinned. "You know Pows sleep standing up, right?"
"I've never given Pows much thought one way or another," Lyude responded.
"Well, they do. Pow tipping is exactly what it sounds like-you walk up to a sleeping Pow and try to push it over."
Xelha looked concerned. "Doesn't that hurt the Pow?
"Well, it can," Kalas admitted. "In fact, it can even kill the Pow. But they're going to be eaten anyway, so why does it matter?"
"You're awful, Kalas!" Xelha shrieked. "Those Pows never did anything to you!"
"Yes," agreed Lyude. "That sounds rather unkind."
"Not to mention the farmers really hate it," added Gibari. "Unless you want to be run out of town with a pitchfork, I suggest you find something else to do."
"That's part of the fun. If you don't want to come, fine. Be boring." With that, Kalas headed for the door. "I'm going without you," he called as he exited the house.
"This not be good," Mizuti observed.
