Marak Harefoot sat in his office frowning. As goblin king he had countless responsibilities three fourths of which seemed to cause him to sit inside all day in front of mounds of paperwork and other royal texts. No matter how many scribes/accountants/paperwork-people were hired and trained he still seemed to become bogged down with duties that were "for the king's eyes-only". "Well these king's are too tired to continue…" he thought bleakly and brushed away the papers with a sigh. His magic senses were startled to realize that someone was just outside his door. "Yes?" he called out hurriedly before they could knock, embarrassed at being caught unawares. The door opened to reveal a youthful smirk. Ramardo waltzed in non-chalantly and grinned at the irritated Marak. "You wanted to see me your most highness?" he inquired innocently. "Yes, yes, now sit down" he grumbled while magically shutting the door. Ramardo wandered around the room while Marak stared at him in annoyance, of all the members of the King's Guard and Security team Ramardo was the most insolent. He finally ceased his wanderings and came to stand before the desk. There they showed just how diverse the goblin kingdom was, the two were very different in looks.

Marak's line it seemed by the time it got to him was sick of being drowned in elf blood and had lumped as much goblin oddity as it could; he was short and stout with a characteristically misshapen torso. His skin was a pasty gray with almost no silver and his head a bit to big for his shoulders. Thin blond hair clung to his tight scalp which he usually kept tied back to make it look thicker, though it exposed his rather unusual face, he wasn't ghastly as far as goblins go but his cheeks and jowls were a bit plump and his nose a bit pinched, his lips were thin brown lines and his eyes were small black beads staring out from underneath big bushy eyebrows. But his most distinguishing feature was his feet. They were without question and to the amusement of most of the kingdom big fluffy bunny feet. In fact Ramardo being the only one bold enough called him "his royal fluffiness" to the other guard members. However this was just one of the countless very private jokes of which Marak was the brunt of.

Ramardo on the other hand was a super-model by goblin standards. His hair was thick, black, silky, and long, it sat around his face in waves. He was tall and evenly proportioned with tight muscle over his lean body. His bored face was striking. He had high sharp cheekbones, thin cheeks, a prominent jaw, aquiline nose and simple dried-blood-brown lips that were usually pulled back in a smirk. His eyes were a fiery yellow-orange and seemed to glow against his silvery skin. Ramardo also had a tail: a "devil's style" tail long and gray with a tuft a black fur on the end. This tail could usually show the emotions his face refused to convey. Ramardo was extremely elf-pretty but with all the goblin strength and cunning.

This comparison made and noted the king spoke up. "I was simply curious as to your immediate plans for your trading and surveillance trip?"

"Well as your majesty requested we will be gone for three days to Liverpool and any place we can find to do some basic trading with our suppliers, and also give a report on any suspicious or even remotely interesting human activity" he drawled.

"And who is going" Marak inquired glumly.

"Waylar, Bronte, Irinan, and myself".

"I see, now Waylar mentioned something about a possible extension?" asked the goblin king slyly, proud to have caught him in his plotting. Ramardo rolled his eyes realizing that Waylar, the wet blanket of the group, couldn't keep anything from his king.

"I'm glad you asked your majesty" he replied flippantly rising from the seat he had been occupying. "I think we need to extend it to a week".

"A WEEK!" sputtered Marak also rising from his chair. "Why on earth for!"

"Because we haven't been out in a while", Ramardo began but was interrupted.

"Oh so you just want a week of frivolously bouncing about the humans?! And do you not remember what happened last time! You are lucky I'm letting you go at all!" he yelled coming around to stand in front of Ramardo. Ramardo raised his hands and began again to patiently explain,

"We haven't been out in a while so we don't really know what the humans have been up to, it might be a good idea to observe and gather news a while longer that's all I'm saying". Marak regained his composure a little and replied:

"We have no reason to know of all the doings of the humans at this time". Ramardo tisked, "now really your majesty that's strange coming from you". Marak drew back offended. Marak's father before him had a deep distrust of humans and had kept them isolated from the upper world to the maximum, trapping them in an obsolete state. But upon his death Marak Harefoot had taken a different approach in letting some of the human developments into his kingdom such as electricity, mechanics, and even the Internet, as well as some fashion and fads. The people had flourished with these new modern gifts even though magic was a huge part of the culture, the kingdom was considerably bigger than it had ever been and trying to keep these under control with just his magic had been near impossible for Marak. It was his one great accomplishment, and Ramardo accusing him of otherwise bit his rather delicate ego deeply. Marak scowled as he returned to his seat. "Very well", he muttered "you have my permission for a week, but you must stick together!" he ordered point sternly at him. Ramardo grinned and gave an exaggerated and rather outdated bow. "Thank you your most gracious royalness, you won't be displeased".

"Try me" growled the goblin king.

"I'll just be hopping along then" Ramardo trilled merrily allowing himself a chuckle as he exited. Marak watched him as he went, thinking silently. "There's something off about that boy, he's a bit to human for his own good, and after his father died three years ago he acts to…perfect". Marak grumbled and blamed it on Ramardo's great, great, great grandmother Emily who was one of the last human brides.

Ramardo left the King's palace and proceeded towards the guard's rooms to inform his comrades of the extension. He past through the main square, occasionally waving to a familiar face. He reached the entrance of the dorms and with a flick of his hand used the magic combination to gain clearance. Once inside he proceeded down the hall till he reached the common room. Inside were three goblins busily discussing amongst themselves but stopped once he entered tail swinging. "Greetings all, I have wonderful news for us all!" he sang out gliding into a seat comfortably.

"Oh 'Mardo-you didn't, you couldn't have-you asked him didn't you!" moaned Waylar the furry goblin with a trunk. Irinan and Bronte exchanged glances before he answered.

"Yes my dear Wailer I did ask his most high fluffiness for our most necessary extension", he said dryly. The furry goblin made a distressed snuffling noise and groaned out: "How could you, I thought we agreed not this time!" Ramardo chuckled at his fellow's distress.

"Well he agreed so no harm done", he said, running his long dark nails across the seams of the chair.

"I guess we better pack extra food then" Bronte, a tall goblin with ears of a mule, spoke up.

"Of course",

"And we'll need more money to exchange currency",

"You can be in charge of that"

"Irinan is better with numbers",

"Fine, Irinan then"

"Fine". Bronte gave a sly grin to the now scowling Irinan, who hated dealing with the kingdoms' accounting department.

"And that takes care of that", declared Ramardo rising from his seat.

"Oh 'Mardo before I forget", called out Bronte, "Juniper was looking for you".

Ramardo froze just as he was leaving, he turned and asked: "how long ago?" Bronte shrugged, "I dunno' maybe an hour ago, she seemed anxious to talk with you" he replied wryly winking at Irinan. Ramardo left wondering what she could want, tail twitching anxiously