Chatter Without a Point: Aha, obvious references to Spongebob here. In fact, I think I'll make my plot mirror some of those Spongebob episodes. And this chapter also goes along with the saying of a needle in a hay stack. And I made up the name for Varil's mother (From a hobbit name generator). This is just a quick chapter 'cuz I wanted to make it by Saturday, and you can probably tell. Only one this week!

Additional Disclaimer: Don't own Spongebob Squarepants.

Chapter Eleven: Of Combs and pudding—the search for Mia

A few days after Mia's visit to the labyrinth, after the orders for the Via weapons were completed, and after Bron's proposal to Amariss became official and anybody who was anybody knew about it, Wystern began to change.

It became a wealthier city, largely due to the Gold Guild.

The Silver Guild was going out of business, because not only could the Gold Guild supply weapons in quantity, but they also served quality as well.

The main drive of the Silver Guild was quality weapons, stronger than any the Gold Guild could accomplish.

To make matters worse for the Silver Guild losers, the Via weapons were extremely popular and were selling out rapidly.

The Silver Guild was…losing its business and reputation.

And the way Bron saw it, the reason was Mia. She helped transform the Gold guild…

He went to confront her, only to find out that she went "somewhere" with Varil, and that both were missing as of the night before. Oh the wonders of youth.

Given the circumstances, Bron decided that he needed Mia or a full-fledged Guild War would be engaged against Libody. So he gave Sanary and Razzy a mission…to bring back Mia alive.

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"Uh, Varil? I know that you lost your comb, and I know that you had to pay the store just to keep it open for you to find it, and I know that we came here because you dared me to actually comb my hair today when I don't own one, and I know that this store only sells combs and there are stacks of them everywhere, and I know that you accidentally dropped yours in one of these and we don't know which since all the combs look completely identical, and I know that—," said Pratty annoyingly, fighting back a yawn since they were searching for Varil's beloved comb all night.

"…Is there a particular reason you're recounting all the events that occurred today?" interrupted Varil.

"Um…no," said Mia, this time actually yawning. "But why do you want it so badly?"

"It was my mother's," answered Varil.

Mia half-sighed, half yawned. "We're never going to find it…" She turned dejectedly to another stack of hair combs, looking for one that had Varil's mother's name on it in small gold lettering, given to her by Libody as a romantic gift.

…She groaned loudly when she noticed a 'personalized' stack of combs, each with their own engravings on them in small gold lettering.

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"Listen, you! I know you know where Mia is. Tell me, or else!" threatened Sanary, holding Nigelle by the collar of his shirt.

Nigelle calmly shoved Sanary's hands away. "I don't know where she is. Is there a particular reason…?"

"Master Bron wants to know," said Razzy.

"Bron?" asked Libody, ambling over. "What does that loser want with one of my best members?"

Razzy and Sanary exchanged glances. "He didn't really tell us…" said Sanary carefully, though he did. After all, what would Libody do if he knew that the Silver Guild was losing business?

"I don't believe you, by the looks on your faces. But let me guess—Silver Guild going out of business?" said Libody nastily.

"No! Uh…you know, Bron just proposed to Mia's mother. He probably wants to talk to his new daughter," said Sanary quickly.

"That may be so, but don't think I don't know what's happening," said Libody with a grin. "My guild's never been this successful, and I've got Mia to thank. To think I could've gotten these results if Shintetsu joined my guild all those years ago! I suppose Mia didn't inherit his stubbornness as strongly as I had thought."

"Mia's coming back to the Silver Guild even if I have to kidnap her to do it!" exclaimed Sanary.

"Aha! So this is about her!" said Libody triumphantly. "I'm afraid she's quite happy here."

"Yeah right! Mia would rather see me everyday!" said Sanary.

"Then how come she was out all night with Varil?" asked Razzy.

"Oh please. They're probably off killing each other as usual. You know, for their stupid rivalry," said Sanary.

"Hehe. You're just jealous that Varil knows Mia is stronger than you," said Razzy.

"Say that again, Razzy," said Sanary in a dangerous voice.

Nigelle coughed. "You two are in charge of searching for them, correct? I shall assist you."

"Oh…alright," said Sanary.

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"Ugh…You're usually more careful Varil. I've never seen you drop anything before…" murmured Mia.

"This must be punishment for shoving Clarie into pudding the other day…" muttered Varil.

"Wait, what?" Mia's eyes widened excitedly, temporarily forgetting her tiredness. "What happened?"

Varil looked a bit embarrassed while he looked through all the identical stacks of combs. "The island she's on has an annual festival celebrating pudding. They all pitched in and filled a large bowl—taller than you, Mia—with pudding."

Mia understood the insult to her height but ignored it. "What kind of pudding?" asked Mia eagerly.

"Chocolate pudding," answered Varil. "They had a strange tradition of pushing someone into the pudding every year to bring them luck or something equally barbaric. So I pushed Clarie in and wished her luck on cleaning off the pudding."

"What'd she say?" asked Mia.

"She said she hated the festival. I don't blame her," said Varil.

"I would love to be pushed into a big bowl of pudding…" said Mia dreamily.

Varil smirked. "I'm sure you will. We should go this year."

"Why were you there in the first place?" asked Mia.

"Don't ask stupid questions. An important person such as myself gets invited everywhere," said Varil.

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"Did you see an idiot in red and black and a rich jerk in white and blue?" asked Sanary to a random citizen of Wystern.

"Did the idiot in red and black have white hair?" asked the citizen.

"Yes!" said Sanary excitedly.

"I haven't seen my grandfather either," said the citizen.

Sanary groaned. Razzy said, "You should be more specific, Sanary! Did you see the Craftlord of Iron?"

"No…" said the citizen. "But I always thought her hair was silver."

"Same difference!" snapped Sanary.

"I never understood that saying, Sanary. How can you have the same of different things?" asked Razzy, confused.

"Shut up!"

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"Oh look! There's a comb with my name on it!" exclaimed Mia.

"That's…amazing," said Varil, uncaring.

"You should buy it for me," said Mia.

"Why would I do that?" asked Varil.

"Because your dad bought one for your mom! And…you dared me to comb my hair," admitted Mia.

"Buy it yourself."

Mia looked from her wallet to Varil, and then back to her wallet. "I don't want to."

"You're stingy…" commented Varil.

"Yeah well, what's the point of a store only selling combs anyway?"

"I can't imagine they get too much business…" remarked Varil.

The door to the store opened, and the Craftlord of Jade entered. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Varil and Mia.

"Urkesa?" Mia's eyes began to droop again.

"Hello, Mia…" said Ureksa, giving her a nod.

"What are you doing here…" said Mia, occupying herself with their frantic search for Varil's comb again.

"I've heard that a new design for styling combs came out," said Ureksa coolly. He swept past them and began to talk to the salesperson, who was busy restocking.

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"Razzy!" said Sanary loudly, trying to get the girl who was younger than her and yet a Craftlord to stay focused. Yes, it still bothered Sanary that Razzy was a Craftlord.

"Yes, Sanary?" asked Razzy innocently, biting an apple.

Sanary narrowed her eyes. "Did you even pay for that?"

"Um…"

"What kind of Craftlord are you! We're supposed to be searching for Mia, and then you steal fruit?"

"Um…it was free, Sanary," said Razzy.

Sanary exploded. "We're not even close to finding her! We've been searching for hours!"

"…It's been ten minutes, Sanary," said Razzy.

Sanary glared at her.

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"I found it!" announced Mia with a relieved smile. She held up the comb victoriously over her head. "It's Elaera, right?"

Varil flashed a genuine smile, coming from the side of the store he was looking in. "Thanks so much Mia!"

"Yeah…" Mia suddenly fell to the floor, fast asleep.

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"Varil! Finally, where were you—what did you DO to Mia?" asked Sanary. Razzy and Nigelle were close behind, but they were having an argument about the color of the tiles at the Gold Guild.

"It's a creamish color, really," said Nigelle.

"No, it's white!" Razzy argued.

Anyway:

"She fell asleep," said Varil calmly. "Shut up or you'll wake her up."

"I need her to wake up!" said Sanary loudly.

"Hey—," said Varil, a bit taken aback as Sanary grabbed Mia roughly from him. Then she started to shake her.

"What…" murmured Mia.

"Wake up, sweetie," said Sanary in a poisonously sweet voice.

"In a minute, mother dear…" said Mia, knowing full well who it was.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, dearie," continued Sanary in the same tone.

"I'm sure you can, mommy," said Mia with a small smile.

"Not on your life, honey!"

"Thirty more seconds, dearest mother."

"Open your eyes, sweetheart!"

"I will, mum…"

"I'm not kidding, Mia!"

"Zzzzzz…."

"It's off-white, Razzy," continued Nigelle.

"No, it's a chalky white," argued Razzy.

"Hmm…I'll take Mia to the Gold Guild," said Varil.

"What a gentleman you are, Varil," said Sanary. "But Mia's going to come with me."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," said Varil.

"Funny. The Varil wants to protect the Craftlord of Iron from me?" asked Sanary, looking at Varil oddly.

"That's my girlfriend you're abusing," said Varil.

"What? Girlfriend?" exclaimed Sanary, dropping Mia in her surprise. A muffled, "Waaah! Mother of Pearl!" was heard as Mia made contact with the floor.

Nigelle and Razzy stopped their argument on tiles after hearing Sanary's exclamation.

"Yeah. Is there something wrong with that?" asked Varil, matching Sanary's stare.

"No, it's just—seriously?" asked Sanary disbelievingly.

Varil rolled his eyes. "Yes, seriously. You're as stupid as you look, apparently."

Meanwhile, Mia fell asleep again.

"You really get on my nerves! Fine, see if I care if you're dating the idiot!"

"Are you…jealous, Sanary? I thought you liked Ureksa!" said Razzy amazingly.

"What are you accusing me of?" Sanary turned red, turning to face Razzy.

"Then why are you red, Sanary?" asked Razzy.

"Haha, did you get that, Nigelle?" asked Varil with a smirk.

"Of course, young master Varil. Sanary has a crush on Mia," said Nigelle.

"You people are sick!" shouted Sanary, waking up Mia and getting another "Mother of Pearl!" out of her.

"Ugh, can you let a person sleep?" said Mia loudly.

"Oh yeah, YOU. You're coming with me, Mia," said Sanary, still a little red but that was due to her anger.

"Um, but, uh…" Mia stuttered, trying to come up with an excuse.

"You can come with Razzy and me if you like, to prove to her that the tiles in the Gold Guild are a cream color," offered Nigelle, coming to her rescue.

"Deal!" agreed Mia.

"They're not cream, though, Big Sis! Nigelle's lying," put in Razzy.

"Oh, Miiaa!" called Sanary. "If you come with me I'll… give you a hat!"

"Uh…a hat?"

"Yes! It's really cute, you would totally like it!" said Sanary.

"Uh…okay. Whatever," said Mia, following Sanary.

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"Ya finally brought her. An' where's Razzy?" asked Bron.

"She's a little occupied..." said Sanary, trailing off.

"Hmm...So I expect ya know why yer here, Mia?" asked Bron.

"No. Can I go now?" asked Mia.

"No!" roared Bron. "The Silver Guild's losin' to the Gold Guild, an' it's yer fault an' responsibility! Ya need to join us again an' I'll forgive ya."

"You said I can't come back anymore," pointed out Mia.

"I didn't mean that!" said Bron angrily. "Ya gonna join us again or not?"

"I like it at the Gold Guild."

"Yer kiddin'. Ya'd rather stay with that snake, Libody, than good ol' Bron?"

"Yeah."

Ten minutes later:

"Okay, fine, Master Bron, I'll come back!"

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At the Park:

"Hi Varil!" said Mia cheerfully, coming from the direction of the Silver Guild. "I have bad news and worse news!"

"And why are you so happy about that?" asked Varil.

"Is it bothering you?" asked Mia, her smile slightly slipping.

Varil sighed. "Not particularly. Go on."

Mia started to smile again. "Okay, the bad news is that Bron's forcing me to go back to the Silver Guild!"

"What?"

"And the worse news is that I'm going to see Sanary every single day."

Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnn