"Thank you," Danika replied. "I was a little afraid that none of my plants were going to make it. Is corrosion similar enough to poison that you can affect it?""I don"t know, but I doubt it? I"ll try," Shrubbery offered.
"No, corrosion is like rust, it"s not a poison, and this is only a suit," explained the metal figure. "I could melt my way out, but then I"d have to fix the whole thing."
"I could probably melt the hinges off," Saaki offered laughingly.
MatchlessMinion exited the stone s.p.a.ce and said, "Sorry, I was looking at the forums. Everyone in the dwarven capital is still there, and still alive!" He walked over and poked at the metal suit. "I think I can open it," he announced, and began pulling various oils and waxes out of his inventory."
His clever little hands rubbed the wax on hinges that Danika hadn"t even noticed before Saaki had mentioned them, and then he dripped first one oil and then another into the latches. "Now we just wait a minute," he explained.
Danika recalled the slippery oil the witch had crafted for her, and eyed the little chinchillamin thief. It somehow hadn"t occurred to her that he"d have such things among his tools, despite having seen him contribute oils and waxes to the fire that had burned underneath the goblin fortress.
A minute later the helmet latch flipped open on its own and the face of the suit popped open to reveal, not just a face, but the small flaming figure of an etain.
The etain hopped nimbly out of his seat, looked around and said, "Oh, nice, a thief. Of course. Hadn"t thought of that. Thanks!"
He ignored them for a moment and popped open the latch on the suit"s belly. It had a complex tangle of gears and pulleys inside, and a small tool kit. The etain pulled much more out of the kit than should have fit, revealing its s.p.a.ce enchantment, and adjusted a couple of things. He put his tools away, and then used an oil soaked cloth to start rubbing down the surface of the suit.
After a moment he glanced at them all standing around and watching with interest. "My name is Ikadars, and I don"t have anything to offer you for the rescue, but I"d be glad to craft something for you on another day? I can work with any material I can melt. But right now I need to get back into the ocean and help that child."
"A child is in the ocean?" Danika questioned worriedly. "Does it have its own suit?"
"She doesn"t need one! She"s a mermaid. She"s just lost. She got caught in the great wave that swept out of the north," Ikadars explained quickly.
"It"s cool that your suit can let you wander around in the water even though you"re made of fire," Matchless Minion said a bit doubtfully, "but wouldn"t it be better to ask someone, er… more suited to the environment to help her?"
"Sure," Ikadars agreed a bit sarcastically, "know any seafolk?"
"Yes, actually," Aishin spoke up. "A dolphin bard who"s really good with locations. Or I suppose if you"d prefer, we can contact that pirate, Xander, with his sea snake and walrus. I"d rather not though."
"He"s an honorable swashbuckler," Shrubbery corrected with a giggle.
"Sea Song Tione and I visited a cove full of mermaids once, but I didn"t befriend any of them," Danika added, looking up from her menus. The default bird had swiftly carried away her message, and the snow leopard cub was no longer listed among her messengers. "But maybe we should just ask Kit to come, since she"s also online again. She can just turn herself into a fish for the day."
"Isn"t she a freshwater fish?" Shrubbery asked doubtfully.
A flying fish leapt out of the water and flicked a message at ZipZing. Danika caught it and read: "Of course I will come help a lost child! I am not even very far away since I was also caught up in the great wave!"
--
In the end Ikadars insisted on returning to the water even after Sea Song Tione showed up with the little mermaid who had been waiting anxiously just out of sight. The mermaid clung to the metal suit as soon as the fire elemental maneuvered it back into the water.
With the friendly dolphin"s encouragement, the sharp toothed little girl explained shyly, "My metal friend had been moving more and more stiffly until suddenly one of the big waves of the unsettled ocean scooped him up and threw him out of the water."
Ikadars said a bit gruffly, "It"s just as well that it did. I would have been in quite a pinch with it locked up at the bottom of the ocean."
The dolphin was amazed by the fire elemental"s suit and enthusiastically promised to write an epic ballad about his undersea adventures. But he told Ikadars severely, "Her home is quite far from here, you shouldn"t try to accompany us if that"s as fast as you can move. I think she can travel the sound of the world, but you can"t."
The little mermaid agreed and told Ikadars happily, "Don"t worry! Even I have heard of the great bard Sea Song Tione before! He can definitely take me home!"
"Definitely!" Sea Song Tione agreed.
"But you can come visit someday?" the little girl suggested hopefully.
"I"ll definitely come visit!" Ikadars agreed after he was finally persuaded.
--
After the dolphin and the mermaid departed, he turned back to the members of Endless Song, and said a bit gruffly, "I guess I owe you again."
Saaki and Aishin nodded, but Danika waved her hands and protested, "We didn"t do anything this time. But if you want to help more people, and you really can shape anything that you can melt, there"s a village trapped in gla.s.s back there?" She turned and pointed at the small gla.s.s hill in the distance, that glittered under the sun.
"Eh? Seriously?" Ikaders questioned. "Of course I"ll go give them a hand. What are you all doing wandering around by the ocean then?"
"We"re on our way to Nabatea to help dig out the gates, since we couldn"t do much about the gla.s.s," MatchlessMinion announced smoothly.
"Oh, I see, and you still stopped to a.s.sist me. Thanks again, I"ll go a.s.sist that village then!" Ikadars announced. He popped open his suit, hopped down, and pulled a small box out of his inventory. A moment later he tucked the suit into the box and closed the lid with a snap.
"s.p.a.ce enchantments are so awesome," Danika said with amazement.
"They are!" the little etain agreed cheerfully. A moment later he waved and skated across the sand toward the gla.s.s hill, as though his little flaming form had been specifically designed for the desert.
Danika turned to MatchlessMinion as soon as Ikadars departed. MatchlessMinion smiled sweetly up at her. "So, you know where Nabatea is now?" she asked wryly.
"According to the posts, it"s where it"s always been," he replied cheerfully. They all turned to look at the flat desert where a mountain had been. "Except that they"re pretty certain that they"ve been buried," he added. "They"re digging out sand and constructing tunnel roofs over the streets to connect the buildings back up."
"I wonder what they"re doing with all the sand?" Aishin questioned.
Saaki replied scornfully, "Zippy just said it, s.p.a.ce enchantments are awesome!"
They all laughed, and Shrubbery announced, "Everyone who isn"t here has posted on the guild board, so I told them to just head toward us, and we can meet out there where Match thinks the dwarven city is buried."
"It will be easy to find," he declared confidently. "It"s full of gold and other valuable metals."