"Oh, don"t f.u.c.k with me." Nelda threw the hatch back and hear it clatter behind her. "Try me, I will f.u.c.k a bird up."All three of the Lapis phoenixes paused.
"We don"t have to be enemies, chick-dee. But if that"s your choice, I will go all in." [Can you choke a phoenix?]
The middle Lapis"s c.o.c.ked its head. Nelda knew that he gryphons only coulnted a person a "person" if they could speak. But there seemed to be intelligence, sentience, in the conduct nd expression of the Lapises. [It takes a certain level fo smarts to be sneaky. And if they can"t speak, well SmithGuild probably did not create them with the parts to do so. He speaks to them, so they must have some level fo understanding.]
"But I have no notion of getting allup in your business," Nelda continued. "I"ll leave you alone. I"ll stay off your roof. All you have to do is give me back the stone you took from my room. So long as what you are up to doesn"t cause me problems, we"re cool."
The birds seemed to consider that. One of them kept sanding near her, like the guard. The other two backed away again. Then something rather peculiar happened.
The bird on the left pecked own on her chest, and two small doors opened up and outward. The bird on the right picked up… [hey, that"s my rock!] and put it inside the first birds b.o.o.b-cupboard and the little doors closed. The both stood there, looking at each other and occasionally blinking while exactly nothing happened.
After maybe 30 seconds the bird on the left opened the b.o.o.b-cupboard again and the other one took the stone out. The guard bird came and got the stone and threw it in Nelda"s general direction. They all looked very annoyed and glared at Nelda.
"Hey, don"t blame me if you stole the wrong stone. If I know what you were looking for maybe we could work something out."
The guard bird approached, pecked its chest and revealed that its own b.o.o.b-cupboard contain a small bright blue stone with a few faint yellow streaks.
Nelda leaned forwards, causing the Lapis to hiss aggressively and shuffle away, closing the cupboard.
"I get it, I get it. Look but don"t touch. I suppose I am living own to my idiot repuaion by not guessing it wouls be a lapis. What is is lais lavooly? I forget. I wosh I hae known what was going to be in the "catapaulted to a nother world" exam. I;"d have studied harder."
The guard Lapis was watching her intently again, head c.o.c.ked. [Defineitly something going on upstairs.]
"Here"s the deal," Nelda said. "Lais is a semi-precious stone so it can"t be all that rare. If you let me keep the alicorn, I"ll do my very best to track one…"
"PrEEEp, peep, peep." The guard bird walked over to the others in her cohort. Peck [one], peck [two].
"Okay, okay, track down two lapis stones." Nelda reached out and picked up the not rock. "And in return, you stop being a pain in my a.s.s, and maybe even try to be a bit helpful."
The guard Lapis glared at her but nodded.
"Good enough."
Nelda pulled the hatch up and back down over her head. She sat uncomfortably on the curling stairway.
[What does Jasper look like, it"s a red stone I think? Is this something to do with the alchemy SmithGuild was all weird about using when he made the phoenixes?]
[So only one of the Lapises has a lapis stone, and the other two want it. Wait, but SmithGuild said they were just one mind. So why would it-slash-she want a stone for each bird?]
[Hopefully not for anything world-endingly evil.]
#
She joined SmithGuild in the parlor.
"I know my turning up must be disrupting your life; you probably had other things to be doing."
SmithGuild smiled, nothing pressing."
The stood and just sort of looked at each other for a while.
"This mya seem… foolish." SmithGuild said, picking an apple from the table near his couch. But since the moment we first met I have felt there is a special connection between us. I felt immediate… very fond of you." He studied the apple as if this was the true object of his affections.
[I must be very beguiling up a tree. It"s a move I should try more often.] "I"ve had the same feeling," she admitted. "Honestly I don"t know what to make of it. I"m not a…like-at-first-sight sort of person. Not even at first sight really, but the moment I heard your voice."
Thw gryphon looked up at her. His sincere golden eyes glinting in the morning light. "And what did you think when you saw me."
"I thought: what the h.e.l.l is that and why is he so gorgeous."
SmithGuild laughed.
[It"s true though.] "I do… I do wonder if there I any chance such a sudden feeling of attachment could be… I mean is this the sort of thing that could be caused by an outside agency. I don"t understand how things work in this place but is there actually such a thing as magic, as spells?" {Oh G.o.d, that sounds like I wouldn"t like him unless…]. "I"m not saying…."
"Please, don"t fear you will offend me." SmithGuild tilted his head in tat beguiling way he had. "I find your honesty one of your most charming qualities. If you are a little more direct than I, that is my defect."
"Not at all. We are very different individuals." [And that"s an understatement.] "But that"s, ah, how it should be. I think. Well, this is, I"m not very good at this." [This is weird. This is very weird.]
The gryphon nodded. "And as for magic. It is by no means as common as many people would have you believe. People are wont to be superst.i.tious and even self-deceiving if it makes them feel better. But some things like the prophecies of the mermaids, I do not what else I would call them. Perhaps there is a mechanism to them that we will yet discover. But I would tell you this, I do not think may regard for you does require such an explanation. But it is a little counter to my usual conduct so I will be vigilance as regards the possibility."
"I am grateful that you take me seriously when I barely know a thing about this place."
"I hope I have the chance to help you learn. But there do seem to be great forces at work. And they do say: when dragons fight the world is injured. I feel like anything could happen now."
[If you were a human man I have a pretty good idea what would happen now. But I guess I am going to have to expand my romantic repertoire.]