Lila carefully flipped over the sheaf of Yoshi leaf paper.
The paper - made from not Tinkleberry leaves but rather the vines of Huthel plants – was the standard of the island. The Huthel vines were picked, ripe and ready, at spring's crest – right in midseason, usually around March or so – and then dried out in the sunlight for a total of three days. Then, the vines were soaked in small barrels of water and sprinkled over delicately with spices from ground Piranha Plant leaves – this made them resilient and waterproof, but fairly decent for writing on. Last but not least, they were dried – not, this time, under the sun, but in a small cabin positioned near the tribe settlement, which served as a greenhouse. Under the cool light, the vines, which were dried for a mere three and a half hours, hardened slightly. Hence, the paper was made. It eventually grew brittle over time, though, which was why the Yoshis usually crossed the sea to the Mushroom and Beanbean Kingdoms when they wanted to write the manuscript of a book or something like that.
Because the paper hardened over a time, you could tell how old the sheaf was. Lila was an excellent tracker – judging by the fact that the vine-made sheet only crinkled slightly as she flipped it over, she could tell it was less than an hour old.
"Nothing on the flip side. I guess that means it's serious, then." Lila paused, staring intently at the sheaf, curled up innocently in one green fist.
"It looks like Mera's writing. It sounds like her, too – she's not the island's greatest poet, after all."
Lila smiled slightly as she scrutinised the short poem before reaching absently into the satchel Thildon had given her last winter. A short while back – her birthday, actually, which was April 23rd – the blood-red Yoshi had tenderly supplied with some real paper, flown over directly from Toad Town on one of the largest and most luxurious planes in the whole of Mushroom Kingdom (the Shroom Express). He had also given her a quill made with a single long, fluffy feather from the chest of the blue jewel peacock. In this area – like any swan's – the feathers were all long and curling, perfect for making writing tools with.
Lila carefully copied the poem onto the sheaf of paper. She knew perfectly well Mera was trying to set her up with Thil, of course, being nowhere near as naïve as he. But, as it was Mera, she knew – okay, scratch that, thought she knew – she was doing what was right.
The green Yoshi chieftainess then dropped the rewritten poem into a pouch of her satchel before setting out to follow the trail of red flowers.
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"One couple down, just about five more to go."
Rainbow rolled his eyes and turned from Gabe – who had recently, as it seemed to them, popped out nowhere – to Mera, who was barely concealing the gigantic grin covering her features. "Mer, you can't do this," he told her hotly.
"Oh yes I can." Mera stood stock-still, hands planted at her hips, staring at both Yoshis. Gabe, however, smiled peaceably.
"I know what really gets on Lauranna's nerves," he proclaimed happily. "I can tell you guys, if you want."
"How?" asked Rainbow, keenly interested in spite of himself.
"Easy," came the grinning reply, "But I need to do it with Alber and Midnight."
"Sure," began Mera as she rubbed on of her yellow scales absentmindedly. "We'll find Albs and Mid for you, won't we, Rain?" The last word was punctuated by an elbow poking itself sharply up hia ribs.
Rainbow rolled his eyes and tried to reply despite the pain that was creeping up slowly inside his ribcage. "Yeah, we will, Ga-"
"Nah, we're here already."
The trio of rideable dinosaurs turned to find, to their surprise, everyone's favourite blue Yoshi standing proudly amongst the jungle tree trunks, accompanied by a small but energetic young Alber.
"We were listening to you all along, see," Alber explained now, cocking his head to the side and thoughtfully rubbing one of his ridged bluish-violet scales. "And now we know."
"And now we're going to help you drive Lauranna up the wall," Midnight added with a devious grin.
"What do you have to do, exactly?"
Alber shrugged at the confused expression on Mera's face – it was odd, but when her snout was wrinkled like that, she actually looked smart. "It's pretty easy," – he put his hands up in a neutral motion -- "You just have to go like this."
This small statement was then followed by both Gabe and Alber moving their necks up and down in perfect unison, raising and lowering them so that their scales scratched feebly at thin air.
"It's weird, but I never really thought about it that way." Yoshi's best friend paused at the thought. He grinned suddenly. "I'm pretty sure I can do it in the world's most annoying way, though."
"So that's why you brought him here," Rainbow said sarcastically, but the grin flickering around his snout was none-too-hidden.
"Well, duh," Gabe replied, and Alber nodded alongside him.
"Yeah, but we all want you to do it."
Mera clasped her hands together, rubbing them so rapidly so that she could have been kneading a pale, shapeless mass of dough into a loaf of bread. "Excellent. I'm in."
Automatically, everyone turned to Rainbow.
He backed up slowly into the trees, holding his hands up in a peace offering. "No. You. Don't." The words were slow, sure, careful. "Please don't make me. Not just me – you guys neither. It won't help, mark my words."
"Huh?" Alber expressed all his confused-ness in that single slang word which Microsoft Word accepts without annoying red lines for some reason. (It also accepts Microsoft. Talk about bigheadedness. XD). "What do you mean?"
"He thinks that'll break them up, Alber." Midnight smiled at his young friend before turning back to Rainbow. "No, don't worry. The least they'll do is go chasing us all over the island, but I think it's worth it."
"Um…" Rainbow paused once more, but now the others turned gangster on him once more and began shaking their heads in mock anger.
"Who wants to listen to Rainbow, the Mythical Yoshi of Legend?" Mera called joyously into the small crows, and raucous catcalls met her voice. "I know I don't!"
Rainbow groaned and hid his head in his hands. When Mera was up to something, there was no stopping her.