A Windmill Kingdom lady would never be in public without her trusty fan. It would not be a gaudy, giant fan with pompoms and tassels and elaborate designs like Queen Camellia of the Jewelry Kingdom commonly flaunted—probably the image many outside of the Windmill Kingdom think of when a handheld fan came to mind. Nicole's mother had told her many times, "Oversized, overdecorated fans are meant for wall decorations and pompous Jewelry Kingdom queens." A simple, foldable hand fan would suffice and fit with the Windmill Kingdom's standard of simple elegance.
Of all the uses for a fan, fanning oneself was the most practical. That was what Nicole needed as she took out her fan. She opened it with a simple flick and waved air towards her face.
Unlike the raw sogginess of the Seed Kingdom or the morning chill of Saginaw City, it was warm and dry air they stepped out into this time. The heat seemed to radiate up from the ground, carrying the smell of baked clay.
One look at the landscape made it clear why. Around them was an expanse of pale tan clay and rocks populated by various forms of cacti and other desert plants. Buttes rose up from the ground here and there—towers of rock banded by the colorful layers of minerals that composed them. Nicole could not help but think of ships wreaked on a desolate beach seeing the landforms.
"Hard to believe we're in the Drop Kingdom," Nicole commented.
"Yeah," Alex said as he followed her down the wing to the ground. "How does the kingdom that makes clouds and rain have a desert?"
Spigot pointed out. "That's how." Following where he pointed, a jagged wall of ghostly, purple peaks rose above the landscape in the distance. The highest peaks were capped with white and a gray haze backed them. "The Snow Mountains: the tallest peaks in the Wonder Planet. They block the summer westerlies, and the wind patterns carrying the clouds from the eastern cloud towers rarely bring them and their precip this far inland. So, you have a desert."
Bonnie flew past them and landed on the ground. "Remind you of home, Alex?"
Alex walked to a nearby cactus towering over them with arms jutting out from it horizontally to bend upward again. "Nah. Not enough canyons and too many spiky plants." He touched a spine on the cactus gently.
"These cacti always creep me out," Spigot mused.
"Why?" Bonnie asked.
"Cacti like the saguaro Mister Ljungqvist is playing with are supposed to be tropical desert plants with little tolerance for the cold," Spigot explained. "However, when recreated here, they thrive in a desert like this with a fairly lengthy winter. They even have adaptations to resist frost and freezing the originals never evolved."
Alex looked up at the cactus. "Why do you find that creepy? If you ask me, I that's pretty cool."
"Because it's a reminder the Wonder Planet is trying to simulate our old home world," Spigot answered, "but it sometimes doesn't get the details quite right."
Nicole continued to scan the landscape around them. The Windmill Kingdom had its dry places, like the steppes of Badlands County in her own Pasturelands Duchy. She squinted as she saw something move, a column of tan rising above the ground.
Nicole held her free hand above her brow to shield her eyes from the Blessing of the Sun. It was a twisting tube of dust traveling across the landscape. "Is that a dust devil?"
Spigot turned to the swirling column of dust and squinted. "Looks like it. They're common during afternoons around here."
Turning from nature to the artificial, they had landed next to an airfield. Two runways extended parallel in either direction for more than a kilometer with a row of simple hangars on the opposite side with some other buildings and a modest control tower rising above them. All the buildings had solar panels covering their roofs.
"Homey," Otto said as he came down the wing. "This is your experimental airfield? It's like any other bush outpost."
"We've never been one for flare," Spigot replied. "It suits our needs."
He walked onto the blacktop towards the nearest hangar. "Come on. The people I called in should be here any minute if they haven't already arrived."
"Land of giants" was an understatement of what they had landed in. The cactus Alex had investigated was a skyscraper taller than any of the cloud towers compared to Milro and Sophie. Even the small rocks that could easily be kicked away were now boulders almost as big as they were.
And this was just one little remote stretch of the Drop Kingdom. How would Milro navigate a place like Saginaw City or even just the castle? She would always be literally under foot. All the automatic doors had electric eyes far above her. Using the elevators would be impossible yet stairs would be a challenge as well. Perhaps a servant would be assigned to her to carry her where she needed to go, and maybe doll furniture could suit her needs for a bed and other fixtures.
That was when she realized, her painting back home was never going to be finished now. And all of her paintings would be so small no one would be able to make them out. While she did not paint and draw to show off, her work being hidden by her size only further disheartened her.
Milro was so wrapped up in the bigness of the world—or the smallness of them—she only realized Spigot was leading the Windmill workers away once they were on the tarmac.
"Sophie, we're going to be left behind." Milro turned to where Sophie had been only to find her gone. She looked around frantically. "Sophie! Sophie!"
"It's gorgeous," she heard Sophie gasp.
She turned to the source to see Sophie what staring up at a barrel cactus maybe the size of a volleyball—actual size, it was more like a large house to them—with a giant, bright reddish-orange flower coming out of its top. "Its flower's so colorful," Sophie commented. "And how can such a small plant make such a huge flower?"
Milro picked up her skirt and ran to her. "Sophie, they're headed across the runway. They've forgotten about us."
"We're fine, Milro," Sophie replied as Milro reached her. "Check out this flower. It's so beautiful."
"We're not fine," Milro stated, anxious about being out in the open like this. "We're eight centimeters tall out in the open. Maybe we should at least wait in the King Barbardo."
Sophie turned to her with a grin and flicked her hand dismissively. "Oh, don't be so scared. Think of this as a grand adventure. We're in a whole new world."
Milro heaved a sigh. There were times she envied Sophie's lack of concern. However, there were also times her naïveté got to the point of being dangerous.
She looked to Sophie and she was gone again. She was walking away towards a formation of rock. Milro ran after her. "Sophie!"
Sophie climbed onto a broad rock composed of several layers tilted like a staircase. Milro followed her. Sophie turned back to Milro as she reached the top.
"This is a much better view," Sophie said. They were now high enough to be at level with the flower of the cactus. "I wonder what pollinates it out here."
"I believe bees prefer barrel cacti." Milro reached back into her botany lessons to find the answer.
Milro turned to Spigot and the Windmill workers who were clear on the other side of the runways and headed for one of the hangars. She noticed something else, something that could easily be missed if her mind had not been so finely trained to pay so much attention to detail. A faint ring of dust spun across the runway in their general direction.
Before she could react, the wind suddenly picked up, sending their skirts whipping like flags. They braced themselves against the blast of dry air, but it easily swept them off the rock and carried them into the air. Milro's hat and tiara pulled at the pins holding them in her hair. Sophie's crown managed to stay on her head, the dome shape of it designed to adhere more closely to the head in the face of the frequent windy days of the Windmill Kingdom. They reached out their hands for each other, grabbing each other's wrist as they were carried higher and higher above the desert and carried from the airfield.
A column of dust rose up from the ring once it left the tarmac, revealing a dust devil was their captor, barely visible as it traveled across the blacktop before having dust to ingest into its vortex. Despite being outside the central column of dust—thankfully, Milro added in her mind—they were still tumbling helplessly in the greater wind field of the vortex. The desert floor with its giant rocks and plants dwindled with distance as they were lofted dozens of meters in the air. They flew around and around the dust devil, Milro concentrated on tube to keep the dizziness away as much as possible. Milro felt her grip on Sophie's hand slipping. Gripping their wrists became holding hands and then locking fingers. She and Sophie tried to reach with their other hands, but some force fought them and sent their arms back. Milro feared they would be torn apart and sent who knows where.
Gravity then suddenly took over as they had been progressively moving out of the wind column. However, the fall seemed to be in slow motion. Milro did not know if that actually was true or just an illusion brought on by the rush of adrenaline. She suddenly felt Sophie's hand leave hers as they tumbled towards the ground.
When they tumbled so their skirts came under them, they filled with air, opening to their full volume with a sound like that of a sheet being whipped to straighten it as the fabric was pulled taunt suddenly. Like a parachute opening, their descent was slowed suddenly to a gentle drift towards the ground. The top of Milro's skirt pulled up, kept in place by the structure of the rest of her dress. She looked to Sophie whose giant skirt was opened even more.
"Wait. How?" Milro asked. She had seen and heard many jokes about using a large skirt as a parachute, but it was scientifically impossible.
"Air resistance," Sophie said. "We're so light compared to our surface area our terminal velocity had been reduced." She pushed her crown into the fabric of her skirt which resisted and resumed its shape immediately once she relented. "And our skirts are now big enough to work as parachutes. I told you we're in a whole new world."
Milro realized they were falling—floating—away from the base. If their skirts were acting like parachutes… She twisted herself and leaned to side. She turned back to the base and leaned forward. Sure enough, she managed to redirect herself to float towards it.
She turned back to Sophie. "Come on."
Sophie turned and followed her. The dust devil veered away, collapsing. The dust still turned slowly as it fell and spread out over the desert floor. Milro and Sophie still guided themselves a bit to avoid it just in case.
While they were headed towards the base, it was so far away and the ground was coming up fast. Milro held her skirt as she reached the ground and took several steps as her feet came in contact with the ground. She turned back to Sophie as she descended slower. She actually traveled several centimeters past Milro before she reached the ground.
Milro shook out her skirt to make sure no extra air was trapped under it. She straightened her hat and tiara which had held on to her head but ended up crooked. She also used her fingers to straighten her hair and bangs, an instinct drilled into her to remain presentable at all times.
She climbed up onto a rock to look for the base. The sight made a pit form in her stomach. "Oh no," she murmured. They were a couple hundred meters from the base, a short walk at normal size. However, at their size, it was a few kilometers of rough terrain.
"What do we do?" Sophie asked as she climbed up to join her.
Milro heaved a sigh as there was just one choice. "We gotta start walking."
As Spigot approached the nearest hangar, a man door opened and an engineer came out. The lean, young man was a half-Beaver—his ears stuck out of holes in his hat due to their more forward position on his humanoid head, and his tail extended out from under the back of his jacket and shirt. Spigot realized it was both as his dark blue shirt was untucked so it peeked out from under his hip-length jacket. He was perhaps twenty, but likely a little younger, with his bright red hair in a long mullet. The landscape reflected off the lenses of the aviator sunglasses hiding his eyes. Thoroughly unprofessional.
"Are you the one I talked to on the phone?" Spigot asked.
"That I am, Master Chief," the engineer said.
"I can't believe I missed Tanya by ten minutes," Spigot grumbled.
"Maybe closer to fifteen," the engineer commented. "But, yeah, everyone else booked for the weekend. I drew the short straw and left minding the shop."
He took his glasses off and looked to the Windmill Kingdom workers with his emerald green eyes. "But what brings you here after hours on a Friday, and with foreigners?"
"I need a fixed-wing aircraft and pilot for it," Spigot said.
The half-Beaver looked to Spigot with a warm grin. "Well, look no further, Master Chief." He held out his hand. "Bret Greene, Pilot Third Class."
"You? A pilot?" Spigot could not hide the shock this walking unmade bed was a pilot. He also did not answer his offer for a handshake. "Are you even twenty?"
"Turned nineteen last December, sir," Bret answered.
"How are you a qualified pilot?" Spigot asked.
Bret adjusted his hat and smiled. "Practically lived in the pilot's seat for the past three years. I've logged so many hours, they gave me full qualifications. Also, not many pilots take up fixed-wing aircraft."
Otto looked Bret up and down. Bret followed his gaze. "What?" Bret asked.
Otto scowled at him. "Backwater bush pilot."
Bret glowered back and jabbed his finger in Otto's direction. "Hey! That's Mister Backwater Bush Pilot to you, pretty boy."
He looked up to the King Barbardo behind them. "Though, I don't know why you'd want a fixed-wing when you're traveling in that beauty. Zephyr-class skyliner, right?"
Otto turned back to it. "Not just any Zephyr. That's the King Barbardo herself, 'Mister Bush Pilot.'"
Bret's eyes widened. "The Big B?" He whistled. "So, you're traveling with royalty."
The honk of a car horn caught their attention. They turned as a white and blue Rivera with C.G.S. markings drove across the runways towards them. The station wagon–type vehicle came to the stop and the passenger and back doors opened. Emily hopped out of the passenger's side.
Two people came out of the back. The two humanoids were Tritons judging by their tall and slender frames, the dark tannish-brown color of their skin, light cerulean blue hair, and light gray eyes. The five pairs of shark-like gill slits in the sides of their necks and translucent webbing between their fingers removed all doubt.
The boy had his hair in a neat Princeton and wore a long, field version of the uniform jacket that almost reached the ground despite him being almost two meters tall. In addition to the usual snap pockets built into the upper arm of the sleeves, the jacket had a pair of zippers on the breast typical of a field jacket—the left zipping horizontally and the right zipping vertically.
The girl was not much shorter with the main body of her hair in a tight bun under her bandanna but her banks falling partly over her left eye. Spigot also noted she was wearing a pair of small bivalve shell earrings: jewelry was typically frowned upon with an engineer uniform. It was clear she was in the administrative areas of the Service.
"Boy" and "girl" were also apt descriptions of them. They were in their late teens like Bret, probably younger.
The boy picked up the device hanging around his neck and held it just above his eye level. It warbled for a couple seconds before chiming. He looked at the screen. "Temperature twenty-four point seven degrees Celsius, relative humidity thirteen percent, barometric pressure nine hundred eighty-nine point two hectopascals, and the wind is out of the northeast at five point six kilometers per hour." He took out a pen and notebook and wrote in it.
Spigot turned to Emily as she approached and put on a pleasant face. "Good of you to get here so quickly, but where are my weather observers?"
Emily motioned to the two Tritons. "This is them, Ophelia and Lee Pryor."
"We're at your service, Master Chief," the boy, Lee, said.
Spigot stared at the two for another couple seconds. He turned to Emily. "I'm not in the mood for jokes, Miss Pearce."
"This is no joke," Emily replied. "These are the two."
Spigot massaged the bridge of his muzzle. "I thought you were talking about a couple of journeymen," he grumbled at Emily.
"I did too until I went to actually collect them," Emily replied, taking a defensive tone. "At least they came highly recommended by Allison."
Franklin hopped out of the car and kicked the door closed as he carried two large bags. The Rivera pulled away and drove off to a more convenient place to park. Spigot figured the driver and lone remaining figure in it was the remote sensing expert.
"What's with the luggage?" Spigot asked as Franklin set down the bags.
"He was already on an assignment for the weekend, so he's double-dipping," Emily answered.
"Well, my project is to take priority, Mister Santiago," Spigot stated.
Franklin saluted. "Yes, sir."
This is already looking like a disaster in the making, Spigot thought to himself.
He turned back to the two Tritons and the weather sensor Lee had. "What was with stating all those numbers?"
Lee turned to him, but it was Ophelia who answered, "Lee really like the weather. Recording readings when he arrives somewhere new is something he just does."
"Really?" Nicole asked.
Lee and Ophelia turned to Nicole. Lee's light gray eyes went wide and his lips parted slightly as he stared at the half-Doggle. Nicole seemed to also gaze at Lee, but hid her face below her eyes with her fan.
"You observe the weather as well?" Lee asked.
"More as a hobby," Nicole replied.
The moment was shattered by a forceful "YOU!" The two flinched at the sudden and loud interruption.
Bret turned to the side, and his eyes went wide, but with absolute terror. "Oh no," he muttered.
A particularly large and muscular greater Beaver woman stormed towards them from the Rivera, the apparent driver. She had the sleeves of her uniform's dress rolled up to her elbows to show her muscular lower arms and wore fingerless gloves. She stabbed the air in Bret's direction with her index finger. "Get over here, tramp!"
Bret jumped behind Ophelia while Lee got between them and placed his hands on the greater Beaver's shawl to hold her back. "Why the hell did you bring that madwoman here?!" Bret blubbered.
The Greater Beaver glared past Lee and pointed to Bret cowering behind Ophelia. "Get over here so I can tear that dead animal you call a hairstyle out of your scalp and shove it down your throat, you ginger louse!" She closed her hand into a tightly balled yet still massive fist.
Spigot watched the spectacle unfold for a couple seconds before he regained his senses. He smacked the tarmac with his tail and yelled, "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!"
The greater Beaver held up three fingers at Bret from around Lee. "I was stomach medicine pink for three months!"
She turned to Lee with a short glance to his hands on her shawl before returning her glare to his face. "Are you touching me, beanpole?"
Lee looked to her, and then to his hands, and then to her. He took his hands off and held them up. "Uh, no." He had left her shawl crooked. He gingerly touched the sides to straighten the shawl. She smacked his hands down and he backed away, holding his hands close to him.
"You were the one who requested it!" Bret stated from the safety of behind Ophelia. "You shoulda known it'd stain. But maybe it at least got you to wear your sleeves down for once."
"You're one to talk, Greene," the greater Beaver retorted. "Have you tucked in your shirt even once in your life."
"Shirt tucking is overrated," Bret replied.
"Hey!" Spigot snapped. "You can insult each other's blatant disregard for the uniform another time." He turned to the greater Beaver. "Who are you?"
The greater Beaver put her fist down. She held her hands behind her back and stood straight up when she turned to Spigot. "Untested Apprentice Tammy Frost, Master Chief, fuel cell and electrolysis mechanic."
"Hey, a fellow fem F.E.M.," Bonnie said. "Bianca Hofer, but everyone calls me 'Bonnie.'"
"Nice to meet you I guess," Tammy said. "I also work with remote instrumentation and payload deployment."
She was young, around the age of the others, but maybe a little older. "Please tell me you're over twenty."
"Twenty-one, sir," Tammy answered.
"At this point, I'll take it," Spigot said. Though, the temper was a worry. A good engineer gets the job done with the tools they have available, he reminded himself. Though, it figured he would be putting the fate of the princesses in the hands of these children.
That reminded him. He looked around. "Wait." Milro and Sophie were nowhere to be found.
He concentrated on Alex and Bonnie. "Where are they?" He took off Alex's hat and Bonnie's bonnet to check their heads and headgear before he returned them to the wrong head as he was so fixated on his search. He even began to lift Bonnie's skirt without thinking beyond checking below it. She snatched the fabric from his hand and gave him an indignant scowl. Spigot glowered at the two. "Where. Are. The. Princesses?"
Alex and Bonnie looked to each other. "I thought you had them," Bonnie said.
"Me?" Alex pointed to her. "You were the one who was always with them." They both turned to Spigot, eyes wide and mouths opened slightly. "Uh oh," Alex murmured.
Spigot had had a particularly bad day. In fact, his whole week had been rather lousy waiting for the other shoe to drop in the Seed Kingdom. So, he was already starting out on the rather surly side of things. Then—from the word go—he discovered the levee breach in the Seed Kingdom, was dragged down there, put up with Axe, got the full-frontal indignation of the ignorant masses, allowed his princess and the oldest princess of their closest ally to be shrunk by a disgruntled Mother Tree, saddled with an unreasonable demand in order to restore them, and discovered his plans to mend all this was turning into a dysfunctional daycare.
Now this. How his rage was building and seething within him reminded him of volcanoes. Not the cutesy, naturalistic coverings for the heat stacks in the Flame Kingdom. No, real ones like on Old Earth—menacing crags with tunnels and chambers connecting them to the roiling, molten innards of the planet that inspired the popular conceptions of Hell itself. According to records regarding these geological features, pressure would build as more and more magma forced itself up until the crust would relent and the volcano would erupt in an explosion of molten rock and burning ash. It was with similar violence the sum of his pent-up wrath exploded from his throat in a roar of "You LOST THEM?!" upon the two smaller lesser Doggles.
Alex jumped into Bonnie's arms, causing her to take a step back to keep her balance while taking on his weight. "'Lost' is such a strong word!" Alex yelled in a pathetic defense.
Bonnie dropped him and snatched her bonnet while laying his hat over his face. She backed away in a defensive posture, tapping her index fingers together. "It's more like they're temporarily misplaced."
Spigot ground his teeth. "Well—" he jabbed his finger towards the King Barbardo "—you better permanently un-misplace them, NOW!" He slammed his tail against the tarmac for emphasis.
"Maybe they went back into the airship when the dust devil passed by," Lee mused.
"Dust devil?" Spigot asked as he realized what could have happened. He turned to the Triton. "What dust devil? Which way did it go?"
"Away from the airfield and spun itself out somewhere over there," Lee said, sweeping his hand broadly in the general direction of the desert. "I was watching it as we came in."
"And how do you lose princesses in those big, poofy dresses?" Bret asked.
Another property of volcanoes was once they had released the pressure, many collapsed in on themselves. Spigot felt the same as his rage was replaced with anxiety over having to explain to his engineers and actually addressing the problem outside of venting his frustration. He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. About that." He turned to Bret. "There's isn't anything dangerous around here, is there?" He looked around at the desert around them, wondering what hazards it could hide.
"Out here?" Bret flicked his hands dismissively. "Nah. I mean, there's Big Bob, but he's only dangerous if you're the size of a Seed Person."
"The size of a Seed Person." Spigot forced a laugh, trying to will reality to change itself to one where Milro and Sophie to not said size—if not smaller. Unfortunately, it was what it was. "No, seriously, who the hell's Big Bob."
Formal gowns had the appearance of being cumbersome and restrictive, but they were actually designed to be quite active in them. After all, the wearer was expected to be able to sit, stand, curtsy, stroll, and dance in them at the bare minimum. It was much lighter than it appeared—first and foremost because the large skirt's volume was mostly empty space as their parachute episode demonstrated—a well-fitted, natural waisted corset provided support for the torso while only slightly constricting a few movements that were not too important anyway and did not impede breathing like tight-lacing would. The wide diameter of the skirt gave the legs plenty of room while the hoopskirt easily collapsed when and how needed.
However, one thing they were not designed for was hiking over rough terrain. Yet, that was what Milro and Sophie found themselves doing. The dresses did provide some boons even in this case. Their light color and coverage kept the Blessing of the Sun off most of their bodies and their underwear was made of fabric that wicked the sweat from them even where the clothing was held close to their skin. Said sweat evaporated quickly in the dry air. A simple lift of the hem would allow heat to escape from under their skirts and allowed fresh air in. Still, it was a lot to be dressed in that had to be maneuvered across the uneven terrain.
Pumps and the desert floor were also a mismatch their feet complained bitterly over. Though, stocking or bare feet would be even worse on the hot, sharp pebbles littering the ground. Perhaps when they would go "clothes shopping," Milro would invest in flats like what the engineers wore.
Sophie sat down. "I'm so thirsty. How far have we gone?"
Milro was just about at her limit as well. Her cheeks and forehead were burning, nothing was protecting them from the Blessing of the Sun. Her legs hurt from walking on heels. However, it was the thirst that was getting to her the most. She looked at the base which was still well away. "I guess twenty, maybe twenty-five meters. It's hard to tell." At their size, it was more like four to five hundred meters.
Sophie held up her ears and closed her eyes. "I'm so thirsty I'm suffering from an audio mirage. I'm hearing running water."
"Mirages aren't hallucinations," Milro said. "They're refractions of light through layers of air of drastically different densities that appear to be reflections."
Sophie grinned and held her hands over her mouth as she doubled over in laughter.
"What?" Milro asked.
"Drastically different densities," Sophie said in a pause in her laughter.
Milro felt her mouth bend up in a smile and a giggle built in her throat as she realized the unplanned alliteration. In her moment of levity, she thought she heard running water as well. "Wait a minute." She turned to the source and cupped her hands behind her ears to better concentrate her sound. It was running water.
The sound was coming from a particularly large concentration of unusually green grass. She picked up her skirt and ran towards it. The sound got stronger. Sophie chased after her. They worked their way through the tall grass to—
"A spring!" Milro gasped.
Water gushed from a hole in the side of small cliff—more like a tiny drop. The water was clear and formed a pool below it. Milro reached her hands into the flowing water, feeling the coolness of it run up her arms. She held a handful and drank from it, which was more like slurping up partly melted gelatin. Sophie did the same as they drank their fill. The coolness in Milro's midsection felt heavenly after being so hot.
Milro put her head into the flow—not bothering to take out the pins to remove her hat and tiara—to cool it off and feel that coolness run through her body. Sophie took off her crown and let it fill with water before dumping it over her head. Giant beads of water sat on their hair, which they both laughed at.
Sophie finished laughing with a sigh and placed her crown back on her head. "I'm sorry, Milro."
Milro shook out the droplets from her hair. "What for?"
"You were right," Sophie said in an unusually subdued tone, looking away wistfully and stroking her ear. "We need to be more cautious while we're like this. It's just, when facing new things, I want to go and experience it. I wasn't thinking of the danger and look where it got us."
Milro took Sophie's hands into hers. "Well, if we did things my way, we'd just hide away and not do anything but cower in fear and feel sorry for ourselves," Milro admitted. "I've always retreated into my own little world when faced with adversity which is a habit I need to break. I guess we can find a happy medium somewhere between." She held up Sophie's hands between them. "Like you said, we're the Teeny Tiny Club. We're in this together."
Sophie smiled. "Though, it's not much of club with only two people. Do you think Altezza, Fine, and Rein would want to join? Angering the Mother Tree shouldn't be too hard for them."
Milro fought the smile forming at Sophie's macabre but hilarious comment. However, it was proving difficult. The thoughts of how Altezza and the Twins would react were just too funny.
She scooped her hand into water from the pool and flung it onto Sophie. Sophie tried to shield herself as the droplets deposited on her. She giggled as she retaliated and threw water on Milro.
Milro ran into the pool, the knee-high water was warmer than what was coming right of the spring with a chance for the ground and Blessing of the Sun to warm it, but it was still refreshing through her stockings. She could just dip the tip of her tail in the water.
Her intent was to use both hands to toss water at Sophie, but her skirt had other plans. The hem floated on the water, trapping air underneath which caused it to puff up around her. She looked around her at the dome of white and blue that extended beyond arms' reach in all directions. "Uh oh."
Sophie exhaled what was meant to be an evil cackle and pointed at Milro. "You've miscalculated, Milro." She used her crown as a scoop and slung it to send a volley of water Milro's way. Milro turned away and tried to shield herself playfully as the water splashed across her.
Sophie stepped into the water, letting her skirt float like Milro's only even bigger thanks to its larger volume. "Look at us," Sophie said. "We look like a couple of vanilla cupcakes."
"Just about the right size, too," Milro added to which they both giggled at the silly thought.
Over their giggles, Milro heard something new. It sounded like a low, soft growl. She turned and it felt like her heart stopped at the sight of a massive, feline face staring at them from the other side of the pool. From the wide ruff and small black tuffs coming from the corner of its pointed ears, it was a bobcat and a large one even when not considering their present size. The two princesses stopped and stared as its yellow eyes stared back at them.
They backed out of the water slowly, trying to not make any sudden movements and keeping the bobcat squarely in their field of vision. Milro had been thinking of their size in terms of how big things were compared to them now, but the reality was they were about the size of mice.
Milro felt every muscle in her body tighten to do one of three things; fight, flee, or freeze. All of the instincts of both her Human and Beaver heritage worked to assess this threat and the best action as her heart picked up its pace to make sure every part of her body was flush with oxygen-bearing blood. The bobcat took a step into the pool towards them, opening its mouth to show its giant fangs while its large feet extended the blade-like claws they held. The low growl in its throat was deafening in Milro's ears as all her senses were heightened to their fullest.
The thought of "Flee" screamed in Milro's brain. She grabbed as much of her skirt as she could with one hand and Sophie's hand with the other and ran into the grass. They forced their way through the blades into the open. The bobcat leapt over them, turning in midair to face them. They turned and ran to the side to avoid its paw coming down where they would have been.
Milro's feet spent so little time on the ground before vaulting her forward, even the heels of her pumps rarely had a chance to make contact. Any pain and fatigue were tamped down as all that mattered was running as fast as possible. However, it was not enough. The bobcat was gaining on them quickly and its claws would soon be on them. She tried to force the thoughts of what it would mean to be caught out of her mind.
Desperate, Milro grabbed a sharp rock bigger than her fist which was more like a pebble. She swung around and hurled it in the direction of the bobcat with all the strength she could put behind her arm. "Go away!"
By luck, it flew into one of the bobcat's eyes, enough of an irritant for it to stop and yowl in shock. It used its paw to wipe at the eye, giving them a few precious seconds to put some distance between them.
They came to a cliff a couple dozen centimeters tall. With the bobcat after them again, they jumped to the ground below. Again, being so light, they easily landed safely. The bobcat leapt over them and landed ahead of them. They had only succeeded in putting their backs literally to the wall.
Sophie pointed to a nearby hole in the rock. "In there, quick."
"Let's just hope no one's home," Milro said, a hole like that being a tempting shelter for who knew what.
They practically dove into the hole, going to the back wall. Fortunately, it was otherwise unoccupied. The opening was large enough for the bobcat to reach its paw inside, but the cavern was deep enough it could not reach them even with its sharp claws extended.
Milro held her hand to her chest, trying to get her heart to settle. Taking deep, even breathes was working to get her breathing under control. They were safe for the moment, but were also trapped.
"Princess Milro!" Alex called out between his cupped hands as he flew low over the desert floor with Bonnie right behind.
Bonnie cupped her hands around her muzzle. "Princess Sophie!"
They concentrated on their super sensitive hearing in the hopes of hearing something. They also sniffed the air for the scent of perfume or something to tell them the princesses were nearby.
Though, what they were depending on the most in the search was eyesight. Doggles, particularly lesser Doggles, were built to hunt from above. Their eyes were particularly adept at discerning details and especially colors. They had four kinds of color receptors more like birds than the three typical of sapient mammals—including their larger subspecies—or the mere two of their canine evolutionary cousins. This expanded their range of perceivable colors even into the lower end of what most called the ultraviolet range which appeared what could be best described as a silver to a trichromat.
Alex reminded himself of their incredible visual acuity as they looked for the blue and purple of Milro and Sophie's dresses respectively. They would easily stand out against the tan of the desert floor. If he did not see them, they were not there. However, they meant they were not as there as there was no sign of them.
"How far could a dust devil carry them?" Alex asked rhetorically. "That Triton said it traveled in this general direction."
"Just keep looking," Bonnie replied.
Alex noticed some movement. He pointed to it and drifted down to land nearby. It was a large feline with a short tail and long, pointed ears. Its coat color and pattern made it well camouflaged against the desert soil. It turned to them and gave a low growl that escalated into a snarl as it feinted a lunge at them.
Alex jumped back, spreading his arms to keep Bonnie back. "Jeez! It's the overgrown bobcat that pilot was talking about."
The large cat hissed at them and then turned back to the hole he stood over.
"I wonder what's in the hole," Bonnie mused.
"Probably a mouse or a lizard or—" Alex started to suggest.
"Mister Lungqvist, Miss Hofer, is that you?" Sophie's voice asked from the hole.
"Help, we're trapped!" Milro's voice added. The bobcat reached his paw in the hole to Milro and Sophie screaming.
"—our princesses," Alex finished his thought with this unwelcome information. He sighed and slouched. "Dammit," he muttered.
"Well, scare him off." Bonnie pushed Alex forward.
He turned back to her. "Me?"
"You're a dog—" Bonnie pointed to the bobcat "—he's a cat."
Alex turned to his designated adversary. The bobcat was similar in size to them. "Granted, he's a particularly large and mean-looking cat," Bonnie said. He turned to them to hiss and opened his mouth to show his long, sharp fangs. "With rather large fangs—" the bobcat flexed his paws and extended his equally long, sharp claws "—and claws designed to rend flesh from bone."
Bonnie smacked Alex on the back. "Still, nothing a big, strong man like yourself can't handle."
"If he's such a pushover—" Alex shoved Bonnie in front of him "—then you scare him off."
Bonnie turned to him, bending her mouth into a pouty frown and acting dainty. "You would have a delicate lady such as myself do this? Where's your Windmill Kingdom chivalry?"
"Firmly behind my survival instincts," Alex answered. "And you're about as delicate as this place is wet."
Bonnie scowled at him. She grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him forward. "Just bark at him or something."
Alex glowered at Bonnie for a second. However, he was not about to argue, instead turning his attention to his feline foe. He waved his hands in the air, trying to make himself look as big as possible. He made loud growling sounds and showed his not as impressive set of teeth. "Go on! Beat it! Princess ain't on today's menu."
The bobcat turned to him and responded with a low growl. He pinned his ears back and narrowed his eyes. When Alex took another step, he swiped at him with his large paw and snarled.
Alex jumped back to avoid the swipe. "Dammit!"
The bobcat hissed and turned back to the hole. Alex looked back to Bonnie who only motioned forward from her token safe distance. He turned back to the cat, trying to figure out how to get him to scram. He noticed a decent-sized branch beside him. That should give him enough distance.
Alex picked it up and jabbed it into the bobcat's shoulder repeatedly. "I said beat it, you caudally-challenged scavenger. There's gotta be better things around here to eat."
The bobcat turned and snarled as he bit the branch and used his paw to knock the other end out of Alex's hands. He snapped the end before letting go and took a threatening step towards Alex, getting low and growling and hissing with his ears pinned back. Alex backed away as the cat again showed his massive fangs that would easily go through him.
Alex grinned sheepishly. "For the record, I didn't mean me."
Alex backed up, one step at a time as the bobcat stalked towards him. "Nice kitty." Alex forced a weak laugh. As he came to Bonnie, he pushed her forward. "Take her instead!" He turned and ran.
He hazarded a look back. Bonnie held up her skirt as she ran with the bobcat behind them. She glared at him once she reached him. "You're a craven little coward, Alex!"
"Mind you, Bonnie, I'm a living craven little coward," Alex pointed out.
They were headed toward a yucca palm. Alex pointed to it. "Up there!"
He spread his ears and leapt into the air to fly for the branches high above. He and Bonnie landed next to each other near the ball of blade-like leaves and pile of white flowers at the end of the branch. "We should be safe up here," Alex said.
The bobcat jumped onto the fibrous trunk and started climbing. Bonnie turned to Alex with an unamused expression. "Unless, of course, he can climb trees—like most cats," Alex said through a sheepish grin, following with a weakly forced laugh.
Alex and Bonnie wrapped their arms around each other out of some impulse and both screamed, "HELP!"
Spigot leapt into view and slammed his foot into the side of the bobcat in a jump kick, knocking him clear off the trunk. The bobcat landed feet first on the ground and Spigot landed in front of him. The bobcat got low and growled and snarled at him. Spigot tossed away his hat and took off his jacket to toss it away as well. He smacked his powerful tail against the ground, making a loud thump. Unlike the flat, scaly tail of their evolutionary cousins, the Beaver's tail was covered in fine fur and round like a solid club.
"Be careful, Master Chief," Bonnie called down to him.
Spigot kept the bobcat squarely in his sight as he tried to flank him. The bobcat growled and feinted multiple lunges. Spigot held his ground.
The bobcat suddenly made an actual lunge at Spigot. Bonnie covered her eyes while Alex could not look away. Spigot sidestepped the claws and attempt to go for his neck with its fangs. He grabbed the bobcat by the shoulders as he passed by to toss him to the side.
Another lunge was met with being tossed hard into the ground. The bobcat growled loudly as he got back to his feet, but began giving Spigot a wide berth.
He tried to head back for the hole the princesses were in. "He's headed for the princesses!" Alex called out.
Spigot cut the bobcat off. "Oh no you don't." The bobcat snarled and swiped at him for getting in the way of an easier meal, but at a distance. He growled, but Spigot responded with another loud thump of his tail.
The bobcat made another lunge. Spigot swung around, whipping his tail so it smacked him square in the jaw. Alex grimaced, grabbing his jaw and exhaling an "Ooh" at the thought of the amount of force that tail had to hit with. The bobcat was thrown to the side by the impact and slowly got back to his feet, still dazed from the blow.
Spigot again made a lunge at the bobcat. This time he seemed to get the message as he turned and slinked off until it became a gallop away to wherever. Spigot picked up his hat and used it to bat dust from his shirt and pants. He folded his coat over his arm and walked up to the bottom of the tree. "You can come down now. It's safe."
Alex and Bonnie descended. "Thanks," Alex said as they landed. "I never thought you could fight like that."
Spigot placed his hat on his head and pulled an arm through the corresponding sleeve of his jacket. "He should feel lucky I didn't break out the incisors." He pulled his other arm through the other sleeve and buttoned his jacket. "Seriously, how does a bobcat get that big living out here?"
Milro and Sophie emerged from the hole, gingerly, looking around before stepping out completely. Spigot came to them with Alex and Bonnie behind him, keeping an eye out for that cat should he have not gotten the message. "Are you hurt, Princesses?" Spigot asked.
"No," Milro answered.
"Just scared half out of our wits," Sophie added in a cheerful tone that did not match the words that escaped her lips.
Alex tapped his index fingers together realizing he and Bonnie were caught in the embarrassing situation of running from a cat and needing to be saved from a rodent. "So, uh, Master Chief, can we keep it between ourselves we were treed by a cat?"
"What about being treed by a cat?" Nicole's voice asked from behind them.
Alex drew in a breath and exhaled it as a mumbled "Dammit."
They turned to the whole group running towards them. Emily led them and walked past Spigot to the two tiny princesses. She looked to them and then to Spigot.
Before she could open her mouth, Spigot glowered at her and cut her off. "Before you bombard me with the questions you undoubtingly have, let's get back to the base so we can deal with it in the comfort of air conditioning."
