"Come, I'll take you to the Gummi Berry Bushes." Igthorn leapt from his throne and scooped up her hand. With her tiny hand in his he made to bolt for the door. Muiranne pulled back.
"Release me," she said. "I will gladly go with you," she pointed to the window, "tomorrow. Night is falling, we will accomplish nothing in the dark and I will need rest to best work in the field."
"But of course, may I show you to your room?" He would do anything at this point to please the girl, if he could get her to stay…even if it meant being on his best behavior.
"You may," Muiranne nodded.
…
Muiranne dropped her hood back as she looked over the area Duke Igthorn had led her to. She sighed heavily.
"What's wrong?" Igthorn asked.
"You're Gummi Berry Bushes," Muiranne said looking over them casually.
"What about them?" Igthorn looked where she looked, thinking there was something wrong with the actual quality of the bushes.
"They're wild," Muiranne said with another heavy sigh, "the rules are different for wild berries. You may have no Gummi Bears at all."
"But there are Gummi Bears." Igthorn said quickly.
Muiranne plucked a leaf off the nearest bush, "Perhaps."
"So you do believe," Igthorn looked at her triumphantly.
"I never said such a thing," Muiranne looked closely at the leaf. "It's evident that something likes these berries. There are patches of missing berries, see," Muiranne pointed at several areas were there had been berries but now were gone. "Why are you interested in Gummi Bears Duke?"
Igthorn stuttered, "Well…I…er-"
Muiranne looked over her shoulder at him and casually added, "You know, the juice of Gummies makes humans impossibly strong, as where it makes the bears themselves bounce."
"How do you know that?"
Muiranne cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Oh yes, the manuscripts." A smile developed across Igthorn's face, for he knew no one who knew of the Gummi Berry Juice super strength; he thought perhaps there was more in these manuscripts that could tell him about the Gummi Bears. "Can I see these manuscripts?"
"Of course not," Muiranne said, "unless you are a student or a person looking to buy one, and even then you have to request it and it could take years for the monks to scribe it."
"Oh," Igthorn's shoulders slumped over.
"Now," Muiranne said pointing to several areas, "those are the furthest lying bushes. You see Gummies generally tend their bushes, they grow them with intention; that is how you can judge where a Gummi resides by his bushes…but these, these have no intent. They are very wild, not cultivated, not pruned, nothing. But they are picked, you may have Gummi Bears yet. But it's much more difficult to find their living quarters by wild berries. It could describe many things about those particular bears, they could be very few without enough time to tend their bushes, or they could be wild bears themselves, it could signify any number of things. But," she raised a finger, "under no circumstances would the bears live further than five hundred yards from any Gummi Berry Bush. We have to figure from the furthest bushes a circle with the radius of five hundred yards. Do you have a map?"
Igthorn turned to Toadie, who handed the Duke a paper scroll. In turn Igthorn handed Muiranne the map. She laid the map on the ground and with a quill she collected from her bag she put a dot on the map where they stood. She then outlined the Gummi Berry Bushes, "See. Figure from here," she pointed to where she was kneeling on the ground, "the furthest bush form me, where I stand in the center, is about," she looked at her surroundings, "twenty yards. So," she looked back at the map and drew a straight line out from her current spot, "That means the radius actually has to be five hundred and twenty yards," then she drew a circle on the map starting at the five hundred yard straight line she's just finished with. She pointed at the area inside the circle she's just drawn, "They should exist, hypothetically, within this circle."
"Start looking!" Igthorn barked, and with that the ogres stumbled around one another trying to look for Gummi Bears.
"Wait," Muiranne called, but her small voice couldn't carry over the noise of the ogres thinking they'd find Gummi Bears.
"What is it my dear?" Igthorn said.
"You can't just look for them, what would you want them for?" Muiranne put her hands on her hips; Muiranne made a point not to tell him that she hadn't finished explaining the key points in finding their residence, she'd only told them a location; and a huge area at that.
"You said it yourself Scholar Doyle, Gummi Berry Juice super strength." Then Igthorn threw his head back with a mighty and devilish laugh.
Muiranne stumbled backward, "You can't be serious."
"Oh but I am, and you're going to help me."
Muiranne turned and dashed for the road.
Igthorn called after his ogres, "Catch her you numbskulls!"
The ogres' feet thundered after Muiranne who was running but stood no real chance of escaping.
