#((not god-modding with Jarreth here. Mun said I could run him through the ringer))

[adara-of-the-flame]

the-name-is-hoggle

“You call possibly offending the first of the Seasonal Royalty to give me the time of day and getting tossed into the desert “looking out” for me?! No Mars, what actually happened was that you took for granted the motivations Selva Roja would have in putting me into a “Do or Die” situation. And I already warned you about that; when it comes to fae. Don’t take things for granted!”

The dwarf immediately scolds her, tone equal parts worried, flabbergasted, disappointed, and frustrated. He even throws in some finger wagging for good measure, Hoggle’s other hand going to his hip. It was probably quite the sight, the small man tsking at the young woman a good three times his height.

“I appreciate the sentiment but your actions were absolutely reckless and unnecessary. All you did was earn yourself a hard lesson to learn, as that’s what the purpose of this was for me! A tough starter lesson to get me to connect to the spring magic I’ve already been given. And obviously, it worked!”

He motions to the two cacti clusters he’d grown for emphasis,

“Not exactly elegant solutions I’ll admit, but definitely good enough to save our lives. And a lot more than what I could do before. Now, we can go back and I will be able to train with the Summer Queen. And when we do get back, you owe Selva an apology for mouthing off. You’re lucky she’s obviously someone of  very good humor and patience.”

Finally he seems to finish, huffing tiredly and being silent for a moment.

“….know any good music about quickly crossing a desert…?”

==

“Of course I remember! I’m so glad you’ve kept it with you this entire time, a fortuitous turn.”

And they definitely needed one, however small it was. Didymus smiles widely and it grows slanted with amusement when he takes in Yumika’s reaction.

“Now don’t make that face without even giving it a try, it’s a very engaging diversion! Both to build vocabulary as well as laugh over funny or silly words. You shall see.”

He encourages, taking a seat beside Hickory and motioning for the ninja and hundun to do the same.

adara-of-the-flame

Let us take this oportunity to stand back and look at the current situation through the lense of Character Development. 

Before Hoggle met a certain teenager named, Sarah Campbell, he probably wouldn’t have gotten this far. Or, had he somehow succeded in his new role up to this point, he would have taken this Selva Roja-sponsered sojurn through the desert as a much-needed way out of his current list of responsibilities and high-tailed it out of there as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him. 

Hoggle pre-Sarah was a self-proclaimed coward. He kept his head down.

Hoggle post-Sarah was another story. ..No matter how much he might deny it. 

If Sarah had seen him now, she’d probably be proud. 

Though, sadly, the person he was currently berating didn’t have the benefit of seeing his personal growth. And, it didn’t help that said person’s much more grounded sister was also giving her a psychic earfull. 

So, Mars just sat there, in a sort of blue-screened, ‘what did I do?’ stupor while her head and ears rang with with loud scolding.

All while the tall, desert goblins edged closer in silent debate...

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“Alright. Rules for Scrabble are th’ same. Everyone grab a tile from the bag, th’ one who get’s closest to th’ letter ‘A’ starts, extra points fer rarer letters, an’ no eatin’ th’ peices.”

Yumika was about to object to the absurdity of Ol’ HIckory’s last statement, until she noticed tiny teeth marks on some of the tiles. 

Ol’ Hickory smiled. “Some o’ my youngins liked t��� chew th' peices while they were teething. 

It was a lovely board overall; from before the age of mass-produced plastic and plywood. The tiles were little, engraved plates of alabaster, pristine save for the teeth marks. The board itself was of carved, polished cherry-wood, inlayed with gold and abalone shell. 

A work of art. 

“Alright, who’s startin' first? Grab seven random tiles next and let’s get started!”

-----------------------------------

One would assume the Summer Realm is the safe one. After all, summers are associated with lazy days, lots of bounty and fun in the sun. And, this is true. But, you gotta be careful with the ‘bounty.’

Take running in the Summer jungle, for instance. There’s a chance you might, say, run into a rosebush in full bloom--and full thorn. Or perhaps you bump your head on a low-hanging hornet’s nest. Or, barrel right into a giant, blooming corpse lily. And, that doesn’t even count the ants, the flies, the mosquitoes, the spiderwebs, the poison ivy, and the mud. 

It’s almost as though the giant eyeball was purposefully leading it’s unwanted guest through the worst destinations possible!

Until finally, the eye chased this visitor into a clearing--literally surrounded by eyeballs. All giant, all sharing the same unique color and style. All rolling. 

“Okay, Stolen Babe.” The voice seemed to be coming from all over. “Care to talk now, or am I going to have to start using more body parts?”

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“☟︎♏︎ ❍︎♋︎🙵♏︎⬧︎ ♐︎□︎□︎♎︎✏︎ ☹︎♏︎⧫︎🕯︎⬧︎ ⧫︎♋︎🙵♏︎ ♒︎♓︎❍︎ ♒︎□︎❍︎♏︎✏︎” The smallest, the chatty child could take it no longer. She grabbed Hoggle with long, wirey arms, and tried carrying him along in a scene reminicent of a human toddler trying to carry a full-grown cat. 

The adult female, the mother, snapped her fingers. It was enough to get the girl to set the dwarf back down. “🕈︎♏︎ ♎︎□︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎ ⬥︎♒︎♋︎⧫︎ ♒︎♏︎ ♓︎⬧︎📬︎ ✋︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎🙵 ⬥︎♏︎ ♍︎♋︎■︎ 🙵♏︎♏︎◻︎ ♒︎♓︎❍︎📬︎” She pouted.

Frankly, it was just as much gobbledygook to Mars’s ears as anyone else’s. But, she got the gist of what was going on. 

Screw anyone yelling in her ear. Mars saved who she wanted!

The next time the silent goblins turned around, all they saw was a trail of sand as the half-Urru held Hoggle high as she sprinted her way across the desert.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the stench of this terrible blog...bleck!”