Guest von Fourth "attention captured": Yeah~ I'm glad you're finding it interesting!

It would be fun to see what everyone predicts has happened/is going to happen. :D

Distractions

The rain that fell when Fumu awoke was softer. A few times she had nearly awoken fully as the winds blew and the unmuted torrents of rain washed over the tent during the night, but this quieter ambience was soothing. She was warm and…

…

WherewasKirby?

…

She abruptly curled up. Some of the other children around her were stirring but there was one too few bulges under the blankets. Fumu rolled to her hands and knees, surveying the rest of the tent.

It took a moment for her to recognize Sir Meta Knight without his mask. Without it, he seemed so different, and right now, tired. (To actually see his expression was so weird, but at least she was getting a better idea at what the slight shifts in eye color meant.) "Where's…" she stopped as Sir Meta Knight dropped a cleaning cloth onto his mask in his lap and put a finger to his lips. She would have asked why but she got her answer as she followed his gaze and found Kirby nestled with Morriphina in her cot.

… She sighed, shaking her head. Kirby was little and had quite the habit of getting himself into trouble, but if Morriphina was allowing it, it should be fine.

"What's the schedule for today?" she whispered as she moved to Sir Meta Knight's cot. This was their last day.

"You and the other children will largely have the day off. Allyria and Sir Lancelot need to focus on finishing the main lodgings before more severe weather comes, and we wish to give you all the opportunity to further strengthen bonds."

Um, okay, that wasn't a kind of weird way to put it. "Why isn't everyone up already?"

"… … We were discussing matters concerning the future of the rookery. The meeting went late."

"Oh…"

"You may go back to sleep if you wish or you may help Sir Lancelot with breakfast in another … fifteen minutes."

"…" She smiled and hopped onto the empty half of his cot, ignoring the confused look barely evident on his face as she did. "I'll stay up and help."

"Bring balls and slingshots and colors! … They use things like paper, right? Bring lots and lots of paper!" Romilly said, leaning in from her seat to try and get a better look at the list Sir Meta Knight had laid upon the table. "It's almost my name day! Can I get my own knife?!"

"Shouldn't he be getting proper weapons for the rookery?" Arlen asked.

Small toys, crayons, and paper, he wrote, but shook his head and said, "It would be difficult to find any suitable weapons in the kingdom – blade or artillery." But maybe the metal could be reworked…

His thoughts wandered down several more tangents before he added nails and screws to the list. The others may find such things archaic, but they would be using wood for things like furniture for the foreseeable future. Anything small to speed along the process would be a boon.

"We should bring watermelon!" Bun said as the silence from Sir Meta Knight grew longer. To the others, he added, "Kirby loves watermelon. Like too much," and he laughed. "They're this big fruit that's really sweet, and you can get a good amount of them from one plant.

"Let's bring some seeds!" he told Sir Meta Knight. Bun got a "hm" but suspected he would have to repeat it once Sir Meta Knight was paying attention again.

Bun's own attention, however, didn't travel back down to the table. Instead, his focus shifted to the quiet scene behind Sir Meta Knight and past the firepit.

A telltale bulge under Ms. Morriphina's covers meant Kirby still hadn't got up. Sure, it was cold outside, but it was comfortable in this tent. … He hoped he wasn't getting sick (or going to grow more wings… or tails or horns).

… And this was the first day off that Ms. Morriphina had taken while they had been here.

…

…

Bun looked back down at the list and tried to focus.

With the ice sticking to the scraper tapped off, Fumu let the scraper fall to rest against the side of the thing Allyria had called an energy crystal and quickly buried her numbing hands under her arms. She leaned closer, studying how the patterns of many small rhombuses shimmered and raced across the cube's surface in the sun's light.

It was beautiful…

Fumu had been scared she would damage it despite Sir Lancelot saying otherwise, and she still sighed in relief as no apparent scratches marred the brilliantly patterned surface.

She wondered what it was made of. How was it made? How did it absorb and store sunlight? How-

"Fumu."

"Oh!" She turned around. "Hey, Sir Lancelot. I finished getting the ice off."

He nodded. "Sir Meta Knight needs to talk to you and your brother for a moment in the," he paused, "I guess it is the sleeping tent now. Your brother is already there."

"Okay!" She darted off, careful to not slip on the ice patches dotting the ground.

"Fumu. Bun," Sir Meta Knight said as Fumu slipped onto the bench by her brother. "We need to discuss what is going to happen when we return."

"What is there to discuss," Bun asked. "We know not to tell Dedede about this place for a buttload of reasons."

"Bun."

"… It's not a curse!"

"As I was saying … we were discussing in particular last night how to introduce Kirby's changes to the village."

"It's not really going to take years to reabsorb his wings, right?" Bun interjected again.

Sir Meta Knight shook his head. "But it can take time. … The current idea is for certain reasonable individuals to learn of the changes first as well as the Mayor explaining generally at a town meeting. He, in particular, would explain that Kirby's 'mission' was to rest after experiencing a condition particular to his species – that isn't spreadable to others – and that Dr. Yabui didn't have the knowledge or expertise to effectively help. When Kirby is actually reintroduced is dependent on how those individuals with more information react and when Kirby is ready.

"All of this so far is true, and I am assuming the more truth that is said, the easier this will be for the two of you."

"…"

"We … could probably lie," Fumu said, still rubbing her hands to warm them. "It's to protect Kirby."

"Lying should be avoided as much as possible, even for a good cause such as protecting another. It is too often followed by destructive consequences." The children went silent for a moment, both of their gazes drifting downwards.

It was Bun who spoke up first. "But this all seems pretty truthful to me."

"That's because this is where things get tricky. Obviously, there would be questions. Sir Lancelot has offered that if push comes to shove and any of us finds ourselves in a situation where we are compelled to answer more specifically, he can be spoken for as help I received from offplanet to shelter Kirby away from the King as he … 'recovered'."

"But wouldn't that be dangerous?" Fumu asked.

"It is widely known in most spheres that Sir Lancelot and I served together. If it is found out that we are in contact, it wouldn't be strange."

"Okay, so you called up Sir Lancelot to help Kirby. That's barely a lie," Bun said, shrugging.

"A lie is a lie, Bun … but he was not sheltered out here, not under Kabu, and there are no others with Sir Lancelot. And for now, there is no mention of what Kirby is 'afflicted' with. Not yet. If Nightmare found out, he very likely wouldn't care. He would be aware of this change in our species, but King Dedede is the wild card.

"At the time when Kirby's wings are less fragile and he has more control, ideally I want to have most of Pupupuland know before the King has the chance to twist the information."

Bun leaned forward, excited. "And that's when the other kids can help, right?"

Sir Meta Knight nodded. "They will likely play a part."

"Yes!"

"Sir Meta Knight," Fumu wanted to sigh, "what happened to make you so certain that the wings will cause problems?"

"… The usual."

Tried as she might, Fumu couldn't get any more than that out of him.

It was getting very late in the day by the time Sir Meta Knight returned from foraging. He was tired, his pack heavy, but he still stalled just outside camp as he recognized the sound of children laughing, and he listened, eyes closed as he tried to grasp the peace of the moment.

He eased closer and spied the children between the tree trunks, save Kirby, gathered around a sprawling grouping of mismatched and connected shapes drawn into the dirt. It took him a moment to recognize what had been the original pattern for hopscotch in the middle of the mess that, to be honest, had a bit of an other quality to its form.

He shook his head and started around the outer edge of the campsite towards the kitchen tent so not to disturb their play.

Slowly, the different bundles and smaller sacks of forage where arranged on the table. He had just begun to wash the blackberries, had just turned off the tap when he noticed footsteps rounding the tent. Head cocked, he listened even though the other clearly had no intention to hide their presence nor their step held any urgency.

He turned just as Allyria slipped through the flap.

"Sir."

"Everything alright?"

"Yes…" She drifted to his side and continued softly, briefly eyeing the forage on the table, "Morriphina told me to inform the adults that we received a message from Sir Galahad. He will be likely dropping off within the next two weeks. Sooner rather than later, he implied."

"Dropping off? … We told him to keep an eye out but not to approach any yet."

"The message implied it was a special case."

"Did he relay any knowledge of rumors of the rookery spreading?"

"No."

That eased his worry some but it remained flared. His eyes closed in thought, brows twitching behind the mask. "There is always something."

An expression of a smirk and a frown blended together pulled at Allyria's own features. "Always so."

A/N: My new favorite dnd character is my 1 bard, 2 moon druid satyr. They will "waste" a shapeshift to shift into a bear to go around giving strangers bear hugs.

[There is no emoticon to convey my trollish grin right now.]