Bird Furious

Sykel’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Perhaps you’re right.” She bent down and petted him, smiling patronizingly.

Sykel’s mouth twitched. “She’s changed, then.” Haly swallowed hard. “I’m not going until TAAron’s safe.”

“NO!” She cleared her throat. “I mean, no, thanks.” Sykel’s jaw tightened. “Evalyn…” ”Later. After the tower.” Her sister breathed out very slowly. “Evalyn.” Haly looked back insistently.

She gave a single laugh, a ‘ha!’ “I’m not malicious. We need her… abilities.” ”I’m not bad, bunny.”

Haly rushed over to support him. ”I’m here for my sister,” Sykel replied.

She nodded, eyes still locked on Haly. Mouth drawn firmly, one eyebrow held an inquisitive arch as she waited for Haly to reply. “Sykel,” Haly squeaked. “Um… nice to see you. Really… nice.” She swallowed. Sykel sighed and tossed the pin carelessly to Haly, who barely caught it. “Nice to see you too, Evalyn.” ”Haly,” she corrected in a small voice. Sykel made a noise of indifference.

She blinked at him. “Since forever. Three brothers, five sisters. Several are adopted. They’re…” she looked at the ground, sort of embarrassed. “Some of them are nicer than others. ”What category would I fit into?” A woman several years older than Haly appeared out of nowhere, holding the invisibility pin in her hand. There was no glimmer of humor in her face.

Haly stood up and looked around eagerly. “My brother gave me a marble sphere, a big one. He said I wouldn’t lose it until he came back. He’s close, really close!” She shivered in anticipation.

“The sequin got me the invisibility pin. I traded it with that guy.” She ran her fingers probingly her hair. “I don’t know. All my other stuff is here.” Hang on. She reached into the pack again. Everything? She laughed, covering her mouth with a hand, genuinely excited. “It’s gone!”

“No… oh! I named it Sblaph. My invisibility pin thing.” She dig around some more, then shoved everything back into the pack.

“I can’t find my… thing. I forgot what it’s called.” She sighed and dumped everything in the pack onto the ground, staring at the assorted jumble of items. “But I can’t find it.”

Nayka took quick, nonchalant glances, building a complete picture of the passengers. A duchess lady—string of Black Glit pearls—lanky, scholarly man—he’s definitely got riches on him somewhere—some sort of young heiress—about ten golden pins, a huge silver butterfly clip, rich dress embroidered with Silkbunny thread, heavy looking collar necklace with the ten thousand assorted gems. It took all of her self control not to bump into somebody and come away richer. But Whist! She couldn’t let Whist down. Whist thought she could be good. Nayka didn’t want to betray that. She flinched away from a passing child. Get close, and I’ll lose my resolve.

Haly quietly dug around in a pack. Where did it go? I could have sworn I brought it… she sat back on her heels. Curses. O’taslin turgan. I can’t believe this.

YEP EXACTLY!!

Haly knelt next to him. “Here, I’ll help you walk.” She swallowed the fear in her throat. “We need to get to that tower, and quickly. Wynn? Nameless?”

“No! No, you’re not.” She blinked tears out of her eyes, hard, and turned to Lerac. “You have to help! You have to fix him!” She begged. “Use my soul. I don’t need all of it.” Edit: post 1313! Two thirteens! *happy celebratory noises*

FLOOFY CAT! Points off for not being real… 9/10

Granted. It kills you to prove its worth. I wish for a bird pet.

“TAAron!” Haly almost cried. The tears came to her eyes, but she was determined to hold them back. “What can we do? You’ll be okay. We need to get into the tower! You’re going to be fine.” She took a deep breath to stifle the stream of speech.

I know it does. All dragons are best words.

Her eyes widened, and her breathing quickened with panic. She wanted to curl into a ball and rock back and forth, but she had to help TAAron. Grunting, she hoisted him up and hauled him back to camp, looking around for help. “Anyone? Help! Lerac!” She screamed. “TAArons unconscious or something! I need water. Or something!”

I can’t face him I can’t face him… She shoved her troubles out of her head and dashed back to where he was. “TAAron! What happened? Um—um, we need to get you back to camp.” Panic rose in her throat, threatening to spill over in two different forms, bile and words, the most frightening of those a confession. “Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead! We can fix this! What do I do?!”

No this

“You… um.” Bad idea! Bad idea! I should not have started this sentence! Curse all the sentences to the infinite chasms below Taslirim! “I… I—need a marshmallow.” Her blush deepened, and with a wince, she made a hurried escape to the forest. Marshmallow? That’s the best you can do? Seriously? She leaned against a tree and sunk to the ground.

He’s… he’s right. I can’t ignore it forever. “TAAron?” She blurted, her face promptly writing out all her emotions in scarlet ink.