#oh boy the shibby dude

[ginnyzero]

Completely Harmless Ch. 43

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

Chapter Forty-Three The Harp.... Lyre of Aideen. Shibby?

Linda woke Lily early. Long before the sun was up. “Come on, we have to go.” She whispered and shoved cocoa and toast into Lily’s hands. Lily groaned. It’d been a late night. Didn’t Linda remember that?

Lily’s horse whuffed and huffed as she got him ready. She patted his nose. “I’m sorry, boy. It has to be done.”

He nuzzled her in understanding. She gave him an extra carrot for putting up with this nonsense.

She and Linda rode to Firgrove. The hooves of their horses clopping dully in the early morning air. They didn’t go into the village proper, which was impossible since the gates were closed for the night still. Instead, they turned up a path that went towards a mountain pass. But they didn’t stay on the zig zagging track for long. Instead, Linda urged Meteor past a large pine tree and onto the grass where there was no path. But if Lily tilted her head and squinted her eye, she could see that there was a flat section that could be a path. No one used it, so it wasn’t worn down.

They had to turn around another copse of firs and continued upwards. There was a pass and around them in large piles were sleeping wolves. The horses lifted their hooves and gently set them back down very carefully. They turned into a shallow basin and inside was the primeval tree that Lily had seen during the trail ride.

“Almost there,” Linda whispered.

Lily reached up to try and touch one of the lights. It slipped through her fingers, brighter in the darkness of the early morning.

Another path led over the bowl again though it wasn’t easy to get over it. They had to walk the horses. And a path led out to a jut in the mountain that overlooked the Silversong River and the Hollow Woods. In the distance, the castle was nothing but a big blue shadow like the mountains.

They stood on the edge of the jut.

“This faces west,” Lily hissed.

“She rode from West to East,” Linda murmured.

“Talk about an opposite,” Lily mumbled.

“Shhh,” Linda gestured.

The sun broke over the mountain behind them and touched the mountains in the distance.

Lily strained her ears and almost didn’t hear it. She hit record on her phone just in case. But she shut her eyes to listen more over the sounds of the wind, the sounds of the early morning birds, as if they were delivered directly to her ears and no one else’s, the sound of harp notes. She hummed along as the same refrain repeated over and over.

The notes died.

Lily opened her eyes to find Linda staring at her.

“Perfect pitch,” Lily explained and turned her phone off. “Maybe it got my humming. Did you hear it?”

“Yes, it was beautiful.”

“The beat seems off though,” Lily murmured. She shrugged. They’d have to figure it out later. Her stomach growled.

So did Meteor’s.

Linda laughed. “By the time we get down Ma Anna’s shop should be open.”

“Good, we can have something more than toast!” Lily half-smiled. “Isn’t that right, Meteor?”

Meteor nodded rapidly in agreement.

They turned off going back down. Lily took a picture of the tree as they did.

Ma Anna’s pastry shop was open and they both got thick slices of Zebra Cake and more Cocoa to wash it down. By the time they were done with that, the transports were up and running so they were able to take a ride to Fort Pinta and hop a bus to Jorvik City.

“Um, can we stop at the party supply store before the museum,” Lily asked Linda with a wince. “Rainbow Week almost ended up a pastel pink disaster thanks to Loretta.”

Linda widened her eyes. “You guys pulled out all the stops. I don’t even want to know where you got the money.”

“Ask us no questions and we’ll tell you no lies,” Lily intoned. “I think you underestimate how much we were able to toss into a pot to get it going. Especially after we covered the Bulldogz share. The event paid for itself and gave us a kitty for this one.”

Linda blinked. “You all tossed money into a single pot.”

“Yeah, part of Club dues. You are paying us to help around the stable and the gardens. So, we take part of that money and put into the Club pot as dues. Then out of those dues we can contribute towards oh, group trail rides, or doing events like Rainbow Week.” Lily shrugged. “We haven’t had a lot of time to do trail rides or train the horses because we’ve been so busy.”

“Well, once we get things settled down, hopefully after the Midsummer, what is it you’re calling it, Midsummer Beach Party?”

“Right, it’s the Midsummer Festival over in Moorland, and the Fort Pinta Beach Party. But we’re going to expand it to make the Beach Party county wide and let Moorland keep the Midsummer aspects of it.”

“Have you talked to Tim about this?”

“Tim?”

“Tim Hooper, he runs the Beach Party as part of the Fort Beach Association.”

“Oh, him, I forgot about him.” Lily rubbed her forehead. “We were going to talk to him about Rainbow Week but then it slipped our minds. No. I haven’t talked to him.”

“He lives here in Jorvik City.”

“And he runs the Fort Pinta Beach Party because why?”

Linda shrugged.

Lily rolled her eyes. “Well, store first so I can see what’s available in ‘beach’ themes. Then I guess we can pound down his door to invite him to this afternoon’s meeting and then the museum. If it’s not too much of a bother.”

“You’re not a bother, Lily.” Linda grinned. “This is exciting. I’ll be documenting it for Jorvikgram.”

Lily groaned.

“You’re going to be a celebrity.”

The store had plenty of decoration types and Linda got plenty of pictures, even insisting that Lily pose among some flowers. “It’s trending.”

Lily did it to make Linda happy. She got her own pictures of the decorations that might fit the ‘beach’ theme.

They found a place to have a snack, and then went and knocked on Tim Hooper’s door. (Phone directories were wonderful things.)

Tim ran his hand through his long hair as he yanked it open. “Yes?”

It was obvious he was not expecting company, and college age.

“Tim Hooper?” Lily asked, just to make sure.

He grinned. “Shibby, that’s me.”

“Right,” Lily breathed. “Um, Tim, so, I’m Lily and I run a riding club in South New Jorvik County and the presidents of the other riding clubs and I are having a meeting this afternoon about the Midsummer Beach Party. As you’re part of the Fort Pinta Beach Association and do the Beach Party there. We’d like to invite you to this afternoon’s planning session.”

“Swag as, that sounds dope,” Tim said. “I’ll be there.”

“Right, the Silverglade Council House. Um be there, or be square?” Lily said tentatively.

“You’re a total tall tree, I’ll be there. Shibby!”

Lily nodded, eyes wide and a smile pasted on her face. “See you then.” She turned around and gave Linda the widest eyes she could. What the hell was Tim on?

Linda shrugged.

The door closed and Lily glanced over her shoulder. Tim was back inside.

“Okay, what drugs is he on? Is this just another Jorvik thing?”

“Tim is in a class of his own.”

“Just wow,” Lily breathed. “Wow.”

Linda giggled and they got on the tram to go to the Museum.

The Museum coordinator wasn’t precisely convinced that it was for a good cause. Linda had to bring up the Baroness’ name several times for him to let them take the harp out of storage. They had to find it among the boxes and medieval saddles and pottery. It had its own specially shaped case. He admonished that it was fragile.

Lily double checked the case over and satisfied it was sturdy, she saluted the museum coordinator with it. “We’ll take good care of it.”

But by the time they got to the bus, Lily was fuming.

Linda gave her an odd look.

“This isn’t a harp, it’s a lyre,” Lily hissed at her.

“It’s a type of harp.”

Lily sighed. “Well, you can’t keep the strings taut all the time. It will warp it. And gut strings depend on tension and thickness to make different sounds.”

Linda stared blankly at her.

Lily muttered under her breath. “And it doesn’t have any pins. This is going to have to be done string by string, by hand, presuming the gut is any good at all.”

Linda blinked.

“This is precisely why I never went into music,” Lily continued to mutter. “All the tuning and retuning.”

Linda ventured a question. “You were into music.”

“I was,” Lily said. “Music and travel most of the time don’t mix when you’re learning.”

Linda nodded not at all understanding.

“Too many teachers. Too many different styles of teaching. It gets too frustrating.” Lily wrapped her arm around the case.

“So, you’ve played string instruments.”

“Guitar, mandolin, um, viola, the idea is the same but in modern instruments, the length of the string also determines the tone of the note.”

“Lisa plays a guitar.”

“It’s not a one to one curve you know,” Lily said. “I’m going to have to play with it and,” she shrugged. “The Weeping Widow might not get her waking up right away.”

“Once you have the hang of it, and I know you’ll get the hang of it. We’ll be able to help the Weeping Widow and she can help us find out more about Lisa and Anne.” Linda nodded her head. “I have faith in you, Lily.”

“Any reason she wants me to do it, and not you. You’re the Soul Rider.”

“I don’t know. Healing is more Lisa’s thing. She was the first Soul Rider to awaken in this generation and bond to her horse.”

“Starshine. How is he doing?”

“Better. He misses Lisa. He’s annoyed that Elizabeth doesn’t want to believe him. I think he’s going to kick down her door.”

“I’d um, pay to see that.”

“Maybe Melissa will catch it on video,” Linda grinned.

“So, who awakened next?”

“I did,” Linda said. “The Moon circle is always second according to my reading. While the Stars have the power to Heal, the Moon has the power to see the past and the present. You don’t need still waters, but the mirror fountain at the garden will help. My visions have been clouded of late. I wonder if it’s Garnok interfering.”

“Or the future isn’t as set as they’d like you to believe. We all make choices. Our choices make us who we are and the intent of those choices matter too.”

Linda nodded. “That’s wise.”

“Harry Potter.”

Linda laughed. “You and your group have all this knowledge from the oddest places.”

“Okay, so Lightning is what? Defense.”

“Defense and offense. Alex has an ability called Soul Strike and she can make wards and shields.”

“And then Anne can travel to and from Pandoria, I think that’s what Alex said.”

“Yes, she can open and close the gates of Pandoria. We all manipulate Pandoria’s energy in different ways you see and for different purposes.”

“And too much Pandorian energy in the mundane world is bad.”

“It’s what changed the Jorvik Warmblood Sports and the Jorvik Starter Ponies to be what they are today.”

“I don’t think we’ve ever gotten really wild to see them.”

“They also can hide themselves if they want,” Linda said and sighed. “They don’t have to change to their true forms if they don’t want to do so. They only reveal themselves to those they trust most. It can take time to form that bond.”

The bus rumbled to a halt outside Fort Pinta.

“It is way past my lunch time,” Lily said.

Linda agreed. So, they made a bee line for the Fort Pinta café. Pia waved at them.

They both had lunch and Linda took a transport back to the winery taking the precious lyre with her with promises of research into the care and tuning of it for when Lily returned.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.