Chapter 7: Sneaking Time


Calic's crafting workshop is hidden by a covering of grass and vines, and the building was built specifically to offer yinglets the ability to create gear and store them within the building. Calic had this building built to his specifications, and he had it built so humans and their scouts wouldn't find it. Just as the kitchen was built underground so the cooking fire's light wouldn't be detected during the night, the crafting workshop was created with the purposes of muffling loud construction projects. Not exactly an impressive technological marvel, but it certainly showed the impressive cleverness of the Patriarch of Crafting's foresight. It had two floors, a dug-out basement that stored building and crafting resources, and is also where the noisier craft construction projects are held, and an upper level where completed tools, armor, items and weapons were carefully kept. Since the Sharp Rock Enclave was supposed to be a secret place that no human should know the location of, it would make sense that its facilities would have camouflaged surfaces built onto them.

Thankfully, my eyes are able to adjust to the darkness. It was getting around the time when the afternoon sky was coming anyway.

And what ho? I see that my spear and gear is on top of Calic's crafting table. Which is to say, the only crafting table in the crafting workshop. Judging from the size of the crafting table, it probably once belonged in a human household, but had its legs cut by half so that a creature of yinglet height could use it comfortably. The other yinglets are responsible for crafting their own gear, though they are not normally allowed to use Calic's crafting table unless he is present. I heard a rumor from Greggy that someone broke it once upon a time ago. He hinted that it was possibly Daggat. After giving my gear a second inspection, I could see that it had some slight modifications. It had a few pockets now. Calic probably worked on my sneaking gear during my stay with Uggie's group. I'll have to thank him when I see him again.

My gear consisted of my sneaking cloak and my spear. The sneaking cloak was completely black. The fabric was stolen from the clotheslines of some unfortunate peasants, which was cut and re-sewn to the shape of a small cloak, and was small enough to fit a child with a tail and skinny limbs, or say, a yinglet. It was then dyed black with water and charcoal gathered from the cooking fire. It came with a mouth-mask that covered over my shell tooth, and some adjustable sleeves that stretched over my arms and tail. The sleeve leggings were absent, since my legs have no obnoxiously bright yellow fur covering them. I'll have to beg Calic to make me a proper pair of pants at some point.

The spear, on the other hand, was unimpressive. The spear tip itself was just a rock that was chiselled into the shape of a knife with only one edge. The grip of the knife was then tied to a sturdy stick, using a sturdy string made from some pulpy plant fiber. Calic seemed to appreciate my ability to correctly tie the knife and spear stick together with the hemp string. I'm assuming the string I used is made from hemp. At least the spear will protect me from dangerous predators. Mostly.

With my gear donned, I began heading south. Flick said he would be waiting near some bushes south of Sharp Rock Enclave, right? Well, I traveled south and saw some bushes there. However, I didn't see Flick or any of the yinglets he brought with him. Am I early? Or did he already leave with his 'sneaking yinglets'?

I sat down next to a bush and looked back at the enclave. I was incredibly lucky that I discovered the enclave by chance. Any deviation from my eastward trek and I might not have ever found it. It was only because of the yinglets ducking in and out of their grass huts that I spotted the rest of the enclave. It was then that I barely detected the pattern of the camouflage of their buildings, and saw the camouflaged tent sequestered between the pillars of scattered rock on the side of the mountain.

*fweet-fweet* *fweet* *fweet* *fweet* *fweet* *fweet-fweet-fweet*

The obtrusive sounds of some birds in the bushes were sure being noisy, even while I observed the hidden enclave. Were those strange bird things the same ones I saw when I traveled from the west some hours ago? What did Grabba'lot say they were called? Grass gliders or something?

*fweet-fweet-fweet*

Eh. Whatever. I sighed as I gazed westward. The sun was close to setting, which was changing the color of the sky to a dazzling mixture of purples, reds, oranges, yellows and blues. I know I'm not on my own home planet, but this view does somewhat remind me of good ol' Earth. My favorite time of day is usually at the evening, especially when the cloud cover forms just right during sunset. The dwindling light paints everything with a gold tint.

*FWEET-FWEET-FWEET*

To be honest, I could live without the grass gliders, or whatgever they're called. I wonder if they can be cooked and eaten? I have a spear with me. I don't think any yinglets or humans would mind if I hunted down one or two. But then again, I'd have to be taught how to hunt. I might need to get some hunting advice from Flick and Zagoon, now that I think about it.

"You are all idiots. He doesn't know our whistle signals yet." A familiar voice belonging to Patriarch Flick said.

"Oh! Oh yeah! He is a new guy and stuffs!" Another voice said.

"Roy! Over here!" Flick called from behind me.

I turned around when I heard Flick's voice. When he called to come, I got up and followed his voice. When I found Flick, I saw that he was with eight other yinglets. I gestured at them all. "Oh! Here you are! And I was zhinking you were eizher tardy or had went on wizhout me!"

"One of zhe big rules of being a sneaking yinglet, Roy." Flick said, pulling down his mask to talk clearly to me. "Hide in places where you are not expected to be. Now fall in line and follow us. We're going to pass zhrough zhe outer perimeter. But before we start doing zhat, we need to teach you how to make and understand whistle signals. Do you know how to make a grass whistle?"

Oh. I keep forgetting that grass whistles were important. "I uh... I don't know how. I only made my spear and cloak during my evaluation wizh Calic." I admitted.

Flick groaned and shook his head. "Looks like you'll need to be paired wizh a sneaking buddy. Any sneakers here have Roy in zheir group back in Sharp Rock?"

"I do!" One yinglet replied. "He's wizh me in Uggie's group!"

"Okay Yogs, you'll be Roy's sneaking buddy." Flick said, gesturing for the volunteer to come to me.

"Wait. Yogs?" I replied.

The yinglet pulled down his mask, and I was able to see his face. The black irises certainly belongs to a certain yinglet I knew back in the enclave. "Hi Roy! It me! Yogs!"

"Oh, I remember you now. You were zhe quiet yinglet." I said smiling back at him.

Yogs smiled. "Yeah yeah, I'm zhe quiet one. I need to be quiet to be so so sneaky, you know? Anyway! I'm gonna be a sneaking buddy to you now. I even help teach you how to listen to whistle calls."

Flicked stepped into our conversation. "You'll have to learn zhe whistle calls as we travel to Arisota's Hold. Everyone, get into scouting formation. Roy. You'll stay behind Yogs and stick close to him. Yogs. Teach him about zhe whistle signals as we move. Our first mission is to sneak zhrough zhe outer perimeter and meet up at Climp's farm. If a hill-dog finds one of you, break from zhe formation and continue at zhe meeting location. Remember to walk BETWEEN zhe hills. Everyone got zhat?"

"Yeah!" All yinglets cried out in unison.

"Zhen let's move! Sneaking time starts now!" Flick shouted as he turned and began leading the way.

"Okay Roy. Follow me." Yogs said, gesturing to me as he lowered his posture and slipped into the bush. I followed after him and copied his movements.

Sneaking time is now, apparently.


So! About the 'grass whistles' and the Sharp Rock Enclave's whistle signals. Apparently, any yinglets trained for any excursions outside of Sharp Rock enclave are required to learn how to make and use grass whistles, as well as train themselves to understand each whistle signal and what they mean. As Yogs explained to me, there are five types of whistle signals Sharp Rock yinglets mainly use.

The first signal all yinglets must learn to make is the 'ping' signal. All it is is one sharp whistle, and all it does is tell the other yinglets that they are in position to do something or are ready for the 'go' signal.

The second signal is the 'spot' signal, which is two sharp whistle notes. When a yinglet scout spots something, such as food or a potentially important or valuable item, and wants to notify his scouting buddies of the find, they would use this signal.

The third signal is the 'go' signal, and it consists of three sharp notes. When a scout leader makes a plan and tells what his subordinates what to do, they would sometimes be burdened with a patient task. They would wait for their leader's signal before they complete the task they were assigned to. Inversely, it could also be used to notify the scout leader that some condition has been met, such as if a specific person they are waiting for has came.

The fourth signal, the 'warning' signal, is one long note. It's nothing more but a warning signal that tells other scouting yinglets that there is danger nearby, like if there was a ravenous predator lurking around or if a patrolling guard comes near. Particularly useful for yinglets that don't want to get eaten, or get caught!

And the fifth signal is the 'regroup' signal. It's also known as the 'retreat' signal. And it's also known as the 'run away' signal. All in all, it's a signal that tells the other scouts that the mission can not be completed, or that everyone should scram and reassemble later at a landmark. Since the landmark me and Yogs were going to is Climp's farm, that'll be the place where we will all have to regroup at when this signal of two long notes is sounded.

Anyway, Yogs and I were now traveling together. The outer perimeter was nothing but flat plains, save for some small hills, and Yogs quietly pointed out that each of these hills had a burrow beneath them, which normally contains one or five hill-dogs each. I think this is part of the reason why these hill-dogs are called 'hill-dogs' in the first place. Apparently, the people in charge of Arisota's Hold wanted to have living sentries to protect their people. As such, they formed a mutual understanding between themselves and their hill-dog neighbors. So long as the hill-dogs refrain from attacking people who use the safe roads, or anyone who wears the beast-tamer garb, then they would get fed. Overall, it's an effective countermeasure to any human army that would dare try to attack Arisota's Hold. Should the invading armies come and invade, they would have to fight the hill-dogs while the guardsmen of Arisota's Hold would alert the local military and prepare their defenses. It sounds like quite an effective defense, if you ask me. A bit cruel, but still effective.

However, the yinglets of Sharp Rock Enclave discovered that the outer perimeter was only effective at deterring human armies and scouts. Not so much for sneaky yinglets! Especially for sneaky yinglets who learned that hill-dogs typically maintain a territory around their hill homes. Their territories are usually a hundred feet wide in diameter, and there is a small 'sweet spot' between the hills of the hill-dogs. So long as we don't step into the territory of the hill-dogs, we could pass by without causing any trouble or raising an alarm.


We eventually chanced upon a house. I could see eight other yinglets converging onto this building. This house had a wide barn next to it, and a wide field of bushes that was protected by a wooden fence. It was dark out, but the moon was slowly rising up above the horizon. And further up in the sky, I can see another celestial object, which was barely visible in the late evening sky. The Heavenly Veil, I think it's called. It's also called the Sailor's Plume, since it's also used as a navigational aid. It probably goes by many other names, I reckon.

"Okay Roy. We is out of outer perimeter." Yogs said quietly.

I flashed him a thumbs-up. "Zhat's good. Is zhat house over zhere Climp's farm?"

Yogs looked at the farm and paused. "... Looky likes it. Come on. We don't wanna keep Flick wai-YEEEEEEEEEE~!"

Yogs was suddenly yanked from his feet as a mouth pulled him into the ground. I blinked a few times as I was trying to register what had happened. "Oh fek. Uh."

"ROY! ROY HELP ME! A HILL-DOG GOTS ME! HALP!" Yogs yelled from the hole he was taken into. Did we walk into a hill-dog's territory? I didn't even see a hill nearby!

Okay. I was stuck between two choices. One was to go down into the hole in the ground and try to help Yogs. Another was to run to Flick and inform his pack of scouts what had happened. However, that second option might take too much time, and Yogs' death would be on my ratty hands.

Okay okay okay uh...

I decided to jump into the hole.

I started grabbing for whatever living thing I can and pulled it out of the hole. I then began running toward Flick's scout pack.

"Let me go!"A young feminine voice said.

"We need to run, Yogs. You're lucky zhat I pulled you out, or zhat hill-dog would have eaten you!" I replied.

"I'm not Yogs, I'm Jerrla!" Came the reply.

I stopped and looked behind me. It is a little girl with pale skin, red hair, and is wearing a tattered white nightgown.

... What. I let go of her hand. "... You're not Yogs."

"No, I'm not Yogs, you dumb scav! My name is Jerrla!" Jerrla whined.

"If you're not Yogs, zhen where-" I was cut off by a growl underground.

An animal came out of the hole in the ground. It had a shell that was similar to an armadillo, and it had stumpy mole claws at the end of its forelegs. However, it had a wagging fluffy tail. It also had a bald head, and its face looked like a cross between a sharpei, a chihuahua, and a vulture. So THIS was what a hill-dog looks like. Yogs was panicking, and he was flailing around inside of the creature's maw.

The hill-dog looked at me with menacing eyes. It growled at me. This made Yogs panic even more. "ROY! I'M SCARED!"

"Don't panic, Yogs! I'll uh... I'll zhink of somezhing!" I shouted back. However, my mind is drawing up a complete blank. I don't know what to do.

"Duchess! Drop him!" Jerrla shouted. The beast obeyed instantly and plopped Yogs onto the ground.

WHAT. I looked at the little girl incredulously.

Jerrla looked back at me. "... What?"

And that's when the puzzle pieces finally began fitting together. "... Is zhis hill-dog your pet?" I asked her.

She paused before she nodded. "Yeah. She is my pet. Her name is Duchess."

Yogs quickly scrambled away from the hill-dog named Duchess. "EEEEEE~!" He then quickly hid behind me.

I patted Yogs' head before I addressed the girl named Jerrla. "Um... Jerrla, was it? Pardon me for asking zhis, but why are you out here wizh your hill-dog pet?"

Jerrla paused for a few seconds. "Um... I... I might have ran away from home." She replied guiltily.

I blinked at her. "You ran away from your home?"

She shook her head and hands at me. "Only for a little bit! I didn't want the guardsmen to take Duchess away, so I took her with me and brought her here!"

"What is going on here?!" Flick shouted as he walked up to us, with the rest of his scout group in tow. He was surprised to see that a human girl and a hill-dog had joined us.

"Who are you guys?" Jerrla asked in surprise.

"Nobody! We are nobody! Forget you saw us!" Flick hastily replied. He then turned to me and Yogs. "Roy! Yogs! Fall in line wizh zhe rest of zhe scouts! I'll deal wizh her."

Deal with her? What he said made me curious. I walked up to Flick and grabbed his attention. "Hey. What do you mean?"

"We are supposed to be sneaking, Roy." Flick answered as he pointed his spear at Jerrla. "We can't let anyone know we're here. Alright boys! Standard spear-circle formation around zhe hill-dog! Zhis human is mine."

"What... What are you going to do? If you hurt me then I'll scream!" Jerrla cried out. She backed away from Flick while Flick's scouts circled around Duchess the hill-dog.

Okay, I didn't like where this is going. I stepped between Jerrla and Flick. "WAIT!"

Flick scowled angrily at me. "What are you doing, Roy?!"

"Zhis girl ran away from her home! Zhis is her pet dog! We ran into zhem by chance! I tried to save Yogs, but I ended up pulling her out by accident! Look at Yogs' fur! He was in her pet dog's mouzh, but she told her to drop him! Nobody needs to do anyzhing rash!" I tried to explain.

Flick slowly looked at Yogs and noticed the slickness of his fur. It dripped with drool. He then looked back at Jerrla and Duchess. He stabbed his spear into the ground and huffed. "Boys, stand down. Don't stab zhem."

"Aw." His scouts said in unison when they lowered their spears.

"Explain." He said, pointing at Jerrla.

Jerrla stared for a few seconds. "Explain what?"

"Explain why you are out here wizh a hill-dog zhat doesn't have a hill over its burrow." Flick replied.

Jerrla inhaled and sighed before answering. "Duchess, my pet that grabbed your friend, isn't like all those mean dogs past the farms. She was born with an illness. I think it's called... ano... anodon... anodontia? It's the one where you are born without teeth. Duchess had no teeth as a puppy, and my dad thought that she wouldn't survive in the wild, so I took her in as part of my family. When I learned that the guardsmen wanted to take her away from me, I decided to run off with her. We've been here for two days now."

"Not enough time for a hill-dog to make it's hill-home." Flick stared at Jerrla for a few more seconds before sighing. "Roy. Come over here."

I blinked before I walked up to him. "Yes, Patriarch Flick?"

"Zhis is not good for us. If we let her live, she might tell ozhers about our existence in Arisota's Hold." Flick whispered.

"Not good for us? Flick, we would have injured or killed zhat little girl if I didn't step in. I don't want zhat kind of amoral zhing on my conscience." I urged.

"You forget, Roy. You are still being evaluated by me. If we can't put her down and prevent her from tattling on us, zhen what else are we to do?" Flick growled.

I paused for just a second. "... Putting her down would give everyone a reason to hunt us down, and I don't zhink you or Matriarch Rhondy wants zhat for us. Hmm... I have an idea."

"What's zhe idea?" Flick asked.

I turned around and slowly approached Jerrla and Duchess. Duchess growled a little at me, but I ignored her. I sighed. "Excuse me, but uh... Jerrla, was it?"

"Yes?" Jerrla replied shyly.

I nodded. "My name is Roy. We don't mean any harm to you. You see, we're sneaking our way into Arisota's Hold. We heard zhat some yinglet girls were stolen and were taken zhere. We're trying to be very sneaky, but we met you by accident. If you promise to keep zhis a secret, zhen we will return you to your family. Would you like to go back to your home?"

Jerrla paused before she looked back at Duchess. After another pause, she looked back at me. "What about Duchess?"

"Uh oh. A light is on in zhe house behind us." One of the yinglet scouts said.

Everyone's heads turned to look. Sure enough, there was a flicker of light emanating from one of the windows. A candle-lit lantern popped out of the window. Flick's ears drooped down. "Uh oh! Farmer Climp is gonna see us!"

"Climp?" The girl repeated. "Wait. Are you saying that Dannolt Climp lives in that farm?"

Flick slumped. "Who cares if it's Dannolt, his sister, or some hobo. We're all gonna get caught!"

The girl's eyes lit up. Jerrla then strode forward and tapped me on the shoulder. "Excuse me. You said you'll help me, right?"

I turned to her and nodded.

She smiled. "Okay then. After I talk to Dannolt Climp, you can help me with something."

Flick tilted his head as he looked at her. I blinked in surprise. "And you won't tell anyone we're here?" I asked.

"I won't. I promise." Jerrla beamed a smile at me. She then began to run toward the house, with Duchess following right after her.

Flick came up to me with his thumbs to my neck. "Zhe fek are you doing?!" Flick hissed.

Yogs patted Flick on his shoulder. "Strangle time is later! We needs to hides!"

Once Flick's grip loosed from my person, I coughed and rubbed my neck. I pointed at the hole in the ground. "In zhere! In zhe hill-dog burrow!"

Before Flick could protest, everyone quickly slipped into the hill-dog burrow. Flick sighed, but he too went into the burrow and hid with us.


A set of tired eyes looked at the darkening fields, the farmland, and the estate that surrounded his house. His farm was small and humble, but he liked it that way. This was not only his farm, but it was also his home. He is an elderly man, and his name is Dannolt Climp. Strangely enough, he didn't think he would be visited by a little girl and a hill-dog at this time of day. He left his window and opened his front door. "Well hello there! Isn't it late for little girls to be outside of their homes?"

Jerrla curtseyed to the man. "Sorry if I disturbed your sleep. Are you Dannolt Climp?"

Dannolt blinked his eyes. "Why... Yes! Yes I am. But who are... Oh, I remember that voice! Little Jerrla! The missing girl! You do know that a quarter of the county is looking for you?" He said, pointing at Jerrla.

Jerrla looked down. "I know. I just wanted Duchess to be safe. I heard that the guardsmen were going to take her away, so I ran away with her. I brought her here so they can't find her."

Dannolt huffed. "All this fuss over a dumb dog."

Jerrla shook her head at Dannolt. "No, Duchess isn't dumb! It's just she doesn't have any teeth! I wanted to find a place where she could live comfortably."

"And that hill-dog is your pet?" He said, pointing at Duchess. He then scratched his chin. "Hmm. Hold on. Are you Jerrla Lecknart, daughter of Zackis Lecknart of the Lecknart tradehouse?"

Jerrla nodded shyly. "Yes sir."

"Oh. No wonder a quarter of the county is looking for you." Dannolt said with a nod. "Did some good business with your daddy in the past. A nice fellow, when he's not being a hard-ass."

She clasped her hands. "Please Mr. Climp. I need to find a safe place for Duchess. She's a good guard dog, but she needs help with eating food sometimes. Do you know anyone that might take her in? Please?"

Dannolt stared at Jerrla for several seconds before he sighed and gave his answer. "Well... Okay. I think I can take her in. I'll send word to your father that you're staying here. I'll be sure to tell him that I'll take care of his dog after he picks up his daughter. For a small price, that is."

She bowed to Dannolt. "Thank you Mr. Climp."

Dannolt leaned to the side and looked past Jerrla and Duchess. "So! What was that ruckus about? Hill-dogs in the outer perimeter don't take too kindly to little girls poking into their territories."

"Oh, that. It was just some snaprat Duchess scared away. I was telling her that she was a naughty girl for doing that." Jerrla said calmly. Duchess whined as her ears lowered.

Dannolt slowly nodded. "... I see. Didn't know the snaprats are moving in again. Well come on in. You can have the couch, but your doggy will have to stay outside."

Jerrla nodded. "Oh. Can I tuck Duchess into bed first? She'll howl if I don't."

Dannolt groaned. "Oh I don't think she should stay if she's a howlin' hill-dog. It'll attract the other hill-dogs, and I'll have to worry about more trespassers giving me no end of grief."

"Duchess and I have been using an abandoned burrow to sleep in." Jerrla explained. "Just let me put her in there and I'll come back. I promise you she'll be good."

Dannolt hesitated, but then huffed and shoo'd Jerrla away. "Explains the dirt on your gown. But fine. Go do your thing with your Duchess. But come back as soon as you can!"

Jerrla bowed again. "Thank you Mr. Climp. Come on Duchess! Beddy bye! Let's go beddy bye!"

Duchess made a gruff bark and followed after the little girl. Dannolt sighed as he leaned on the door frame and begin waiting for Jerrla to return.


"Your foot is in my face." "Well get your butt off my face." "Is your butt on my foot?" "No, but my hand is on your butt." "Be quiet everyone! Farmer Climp might hear."

"Okay everyone. She's coming back." Flick said. He was the only yinglet that was quietly watching Farmer Climp's house from the safety of the burrow's entrance.

I clambered over everyone and scooched up to Flick's side. Jerrla came down to the borrow we were hiding in and kneeled down. "Okay scavs. Move over so Duchess can get in."

Flick's eyes widened. "What."

"Please! Or Mr. Climp will suspect something!" Jerrla urged.

I nudged at Flick. "Please Flick? Do it for Jerrla?"

Flick groaned. "Dammit, fine."

We made a path for Jerrla's pet. Duchess was hesitant, but she eventually slid past the entrance, whom now took up more space in the burrow. Jerrla sighed. "Okay. I'm going to go back into Mr. Climp's home now. He says he'll take care of Duchess for me, after my dad comes to get me."

I scooched past Duchess and smiled at Jerrla. "Zhat's good! And you won't tell anyone we're here?"

Jerrla nodded. "Yes, but under one condition."

Flick sighed. "Of course."

Jerrla leaned into the burrow's hole. "I want to know why the guardsmen in Arisota's Hold want my dog. If you can go to the beast-tamers guild and listen to them, then maybe you'll find out why."

"Where can we find you?" I asked.

"I'll be back in my home in a few days. I'll probably be grounded there too. I live in the Lecknart Tradehouse. It's the one that has the leaf with a sword and hammer as our tradehouse's symbol." Jerrla answered.

Duchess grumbled behind me as she pawed the ground. "And uh... And is Duchess dangerous?" I asked.

"No, not at all. She's just being grumpy. Just stroke her chin for long enough and she'll go right to sleep. Do it like this." Jerrla said as she began stroking my chin softly and slowly.

I nodded and giggled. "Heh, hey zhat kinda tickles! Okay. I can do zhat. We'll wait until zhe lights are off. After zhat, we'll leave for Arisota's Hold."

"Thank you Roy." She said. She then petted my snout and moved back to Farmer Climp's house.

I turned around to see Duchess staring back at me. She tilted her head curiously at me. When I neared her and began to gently stroke her chin, she gurgled a happy growl and licked my forearm.

"Uh. Is she tasting you? Is zhat bad? Is Roy gonna get ate?" One of Flick's scouts asked.

"I'm sure everyzhing is okay. Zhis is probably normal for hill-dogs. Probably. Let's uh... Let's just keep quiet until Duchess falls asleep. Okay?" I said as I did my best to pet Duchess's chin to lull her to sleep.

Flick grimaced at me. "Okay, but we're gonna have a talk after zhis hill-dog is asleep and we get to a safer meeting point. Got it?"

Duchess growled at Flick, which prompted me to stroke her chin with all my hands, both my hand-hands and foot-hands. "Yes, I got it! Now let me get Duchess to fall asleep please!"

And so, I spent many minutes stroking Duchess' chin and neck in the hopes of making her fall asleep. The other yinglets, including Flick and Yogs, were too skittish to help me ease Duchess into whatever her version of doggy-dreamland was.

There were some pros and cons gained from this mission we undertook. The con was we now have a side quest that, if we don't accomplish it, our presence in Arisota's Hold would be revealed. The pro was that I saved a kid and her pet from being skewered by a bunch of yinglets that mistook her as a danger to their sneaking mission. Technically she still is, so long as we don't complete the side quest. Another pro was that I get to pet a hill-dog. The con was she's a very smelly hill-dog, and none of the yinglets are willing to help me lull her to sleep. Another con was that Flick is now mad at me. Can't really blame him. I just hope that what I did was the right thing.

Go to sleep, Duchess. We got some yinglets to find.


A/N: I'm currently at my grandmommer's house, so her yappy dog is distracting me greatly as I write my fanfiction. Who knew distractions can be such gosh-darned writer's blocks?!