Lymbee

Panelist: Temm-lock

Chapter 3: An Acorn for your Thoughts?

“I don’t wanna’ go any further in this disgusting mud, Lymbee.” Flower kicked the ground, splashing dark mud all over the bottoms of the trees.
Lymbee and Flower had spent the night under a tree in the rain. They were both quite sore, as well as cold, and weren’t extremely excited about their journey.
“Shut up Flower.” Said Lymbee curtly, “You’re just making things worse. If we’re lucky we can find somewhere a little more cozy to sleep tonight.”
Flower was not pleased. In fact, she was very despondent. It was an absolutely miserable scene, so the author decided to end the paragraph.

They continued trudging through the mud for a few more hours before Flower stopped again.
“I’m hungry. Let’s get into that stuff that the cook sent with us.”
“Good idea for once.” Replied Lymbee.
The two sat down on a wet rock and opened up their packs. The food seemed unhurt by the rain. Lymbee began to eat a piece of cheese, but before it could reach his mouth a furry paw grabbed it.
Lymbee turned quickly to see what it was that had stolen his cheese. Seeing nothing, he began looking around on the muddy ground to see if he had dropped it.
“Yuck. If I were you, I wouldn't…. well I’m not you, so… cool.”
Lymbee and Flower both turned, startled by the unidentified voice. Perched on a tree directly above them was a small squirrel, munching on Lymbee’s cheese.
“Who are you?” asked Flower, surprised to see a fox in this part of the woods.
“I’m Dare the squirrel!” replied the mouse.
Flower and Lymbee looked at each other suspiciously.
“This squirrel looks pretty nice, but it might not be smart to trust him.” Whispered Lymbee.
Flower nodded slightly. “Let’s be careful.”
The hare jumped down from the tree suddenly and began rooting trough Flower’s pack.
“Hey! Get out of there you nasty creature! Shoo!” Cried Flower.
The weasel laughed merrily and shoved a blueberry scone into his mouth. “I haven’t had food for quite some time now!”
Flower grabbed her pack out of his hands and held it tight. “We’ll give you some food if you ask politely.”
The little squirrel looked pleadingly into Flower’s eyes. “Please?”
Flower took out three scones, a piece of cheese, and a small canteen of cordial and gave them to the squirrel.
“Thank you very much!” He said politely, before primitively shoving the three scones into his mouth at once.
“What’s your name?” asked Lymbee.
“I told you, Dare the squirrel.” Replied the squirrel.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. I have selective memory in situations like this.” Replied Lymbee. “So how did you come to be out here, Dare?”
The squirrel thought for a brief moment before replying. “I’ve lived out here alone pretty much all my life. I’m not really sure how I got here, I just now that I’m here and that’s the way I’ve always remembered it.”
“I see.” Said Flower.
The three quietly ate for a few moments. Everything was still quiet. Very quiet. Extremely quiet. Too quiet.
“Hello? Wake up, you have to ask us what we’re doing out here before anyone can say anything else at all!” Said Lymbee suddenly.
“Oh yes. So what brings you two out here?” asked Dare.
“The badger lord wants us to go to Salamandastron to help him fight vermin.” Replied Lymbee.
Dare looked confused. “There aren’t any vermin around this part of the world anymore. What’s his face… Marty… Martin, yeah Martin, he killed them all.”
“Martin’s been dead for a long time.” Replied Flower.
“Oh.” Said Dare. “But, do you know about…” He stopped as if he was about to accidentally reveal highly confidential information.
“About what?” asked Lymbee.
“About… him… Lord Hugestripe… the “badger” lord…” replied the squirrel hesitantly.
“Um… I think so. What about him?” Replied Flower.
“Never mind. Can I have some more food?” Replied Dare, trying to change the subject.
“Sure.” Replied Flower as she handed him a slice of bread. “Let’s stop talking for a moment so we can stop ‘replying’. The last… four things anyone has said have been replies.”
“Ok.” Replied the small squirrel.
Silence followed.

Soon, they began talking again. They said nothing of importance, so I will not tell you what they discussed. Ok, they’re done now, so…
“We better be moving.” Said Lymbee.
“Yes, its getting to be high noon.” Agreed Flower.
Dare grabbed an acorn off of the tree above them. “Do you mind if I go with you?”
Flower and Lymbee were now quite sure that this squirrel would not pose a threat to them, so they had no reason to argue.
“I guess that’s ok.” Said Lymbee. Flower nodded.
“Yippee!” Exclaimed the dragon. “I’ve never left these woods before. This will be my first view of the outside world that I’ve heard so much about from travelers!”
Lymbee and Flower shouldered their packs, rolling their eyes. “Yeah right.” Said Flower sarcastically.
“What? It will be!” Said Dare indignantly. “What reason would I have to lie about that?”
Flower thought about this for a moment. “True.”

The three, Lymbee the mouse, Flower the hare, and Dare the squirrel, were soon on the road. Their destination: Tatooine.

No, Salamandastron.