Unless First We Dream
"Nothing happens unless first we dream." – Carl Sandburg
Prince Nestor's hysterical laughter could be heard throughout the immense forest. As the small gang made their way down the wide path – Nestor and Quest on foot, Anna riding Graer in the air, and Gatling sitting on Albert's back – the reason for his mirth became apparent. Quest, the prince's rather sadistic muscled bodyguard, was trying rather in vain to wipe off a bright blue slime that covered him head to foot with a bright green towel. It may seem rather cruel of the prince to enjoy the man's humiliation so – but those present knew the roles had been reversed too many times to count, Nestor covered in a gooey substance and Quest offering plenty of wise-cracks, and so no one said a word in the older man's defence (most of them, in fact, couldn't hide their own amused smiles).
Quest let out a very frustrated grunt as he finally seemed to get the last of the slime off of his torso. Nestor, however, felt no sympathy for him. "Come on, Quest! It's about time you got your share of slime!" The young prince giggled happily.
"Well, I've always been one for sharing," Quest retorted sarcastically as he dropped the towel full of slime right on the prince's head.
"Ew! Gross! Seriously guys, I never imagined my first quest to be this... sticky!" Nestor complained loudly, throwing Quest's towel to the ground. He crossed his arms and stood there, his hair falling into his eyes being weighed down by slime, with a perfected pout to portray the very image of gloom.
Anna laughed kindly as she dismounted Graer after guiding him to land close to the prince. She put her hand on his (yes, definitely sticky!) shoulder and, dismissing the blush her attentions provoked to having to do with his embarrassment, said soothingly, "Nestor, it's not that bad!" Removing her hand with slight difficulty from his sticky suit she then paused in sudden reflection. "You do seem to be the main target for... um... slime, though. I wonder why that is."
"Don't say a word, Quest." The prince held up a rejecting hand when the warrior opened his mouth to speak.
"Fine. I'd say it's about time to set up camp for the night. Why do you think, your royal slime-magnet?" Quest replied casually.
Nestor, not amused, simply grumbled a positive response which sounded something along the lines of, "Yeah, yeah – whatever," and stomped over to a nearby tree stump to sit down and sulk.
As the others proceeded to set up for the night and Anna went to help Nestor clean off the rest of the goo (which, it can be noted, greatly improved the prince's mood) Quest stood back and, suppressing a yawn, called out, "Graer, you're on guard duty tonight."
"Aw man! Hey, does being on watch mean I can snack all night?"
A little while later, before dinner had even been cooked, both Quest and Nestor were sound asleep. It was unusual for the prince to go to bed without eating, and even more bizarre for Quest to be the first one asleep (he was most often the last). Their friends chocked their fatigue up to being the effect of a hot day for walking and a longer than usual battle that afternoon. The others (excluding the griffin on watch) were soon also snug in their sleeping bags, never having given any thought to what being in contact with that bright blue slime could be, and was now, doing to their two constantly-bickering companions.