So, I go to add characters to the story stats, and it turns out that Manus isn't listed for some reason. You beautiful people can bet your collective behinds that this will be fixed soon. Very soon…

This next one is blatantly based on something else, but it was too funny to resist. ;D

2222222222

Single Ladies

2222222222

Gla-Thon was annoyed. The small group of Dread Gnomes who had come to Del this year happened to include all three of the boys trying to court her. The trip each year was supposed to be her vacation. It was supposed to be her chance to see all her old friends again. And normally, her own people left her that space.

Instead, three of the clingiest and most desperate of the Gnomes were with her this year, and refused to leave her in any kind of peace. And it left her open to all sort of teasing from her friends. Gla-Thon was charming and quite pretty, as Dread Gnomes went, and her companions all loved her dearly. But she was also an independent and strong willed woman. It was hard for people to picture her on someone's arm.

She had already wondered several times if Fa-Glin was playing some kind of prank on her, by including these boys in the group. She wondered it again, and wondered what she had done to deserve it, as she finally stood alone with some of her real friends. They were passing around a bottle of wine—cleverly smuggled from the palace cellar, via secret passage—which quickly found its way into her hands.

"I can't stand these boys," she grumbled, drinking a little more than a fair share of the wine, and then passing it to Manus, who was on her right. "I don't know how I'm supposed to hide from them for the rest of the week. It's bad enough at home."

Doom smirked down at her, always happy to tease her some more. "You really should think about finding a good man and settling down, though. If you wait much longer, all the good ones will be gone."

In response, Gla-Thon scoffed, crossed her arms, and stuck out her considerable chest. "No. I shall never married," she announced. "I will ride off into the sunset all by myself, thank you very much."

Barda chuckled lightly at her enthusiasm, as if he didn't believe her. "And what do you suppose you will be riding on?" he asked.

At first, Gla-Thon couldn't answer him—the only beast she had ever ridden was a Kin, and she had since discovered, being a rather short creature, that she had no head for heights.

Seeing her obvious dilemma, Manus dropped the mostly empty bottle on the ground, and then knelt without warning to scoop Gla-Thon onto his shoulders.

"She can ride on me," he said helpfully. "I could run like this for days!"

Gla-Thon laughed in amusement and triumph, and Manus began to march purposefully out of the courtyard.

"That's right," she proclaimed as he carried her off. "I shall stay single forever, and let my hair flow in the wind as I ride through the glen on Manus' mighty shoulders, firing arrows into the sunset!"

They were clearly having a wonderful time. Doom and Barda stared after them in perfectly utter confusion.

"I'm not even going to ask what just happened," Doom muttered after a moment.

Meanwhile, Barda had picked up the empty bottle and was looking it over suspiciously. "What the heck was in this…?"