Velth goes on an adventure part THREE!
Shadows dance mysteriously across the wall of Salamandastrons hallowed great hall. Tapestries hang from the ceiling, detailing the mountains many exploits. The room seems to tilt slightly to one side and yet doesn't seem to effect the badger lord.
Standing alone in the center of his great hall with his back turned to the door the muscular badger has his armor doned and arms crossed behind his back.
Come
Closer
/Boy/
Across the hall, a lone figure with the silhouette of a warrior, spear in hand and shield buckled tight, detaches from the shadows. He approaches timidly, but with the footsteps of an assassin, as quiet as snowfall, his breath misting in the frigid hall.
The badger never turns to face the figure. His cape flaps back and forth in a wind that does not exist.
The door closes slowly behind the lone figure. The banners around him depict moving pictures of hares fighting and killing vermin.
I
Know
why
You CAME
We both know
That it
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%WILL%%%%%%NEVER%%%%%%WORK%%%%%%%%%%
The approaching figure freezes. Their hands tremble, and their knees go weak, till a vicious snarl spreads across their muzzle and they flip their spear over in their hand. "You're wrong! I'll MAKE you wrong!!" With eyes blazing they take a quick step forward and let fly, the spear arcing beautifully towards the back of the badgers head.
To where the spear does stick to the badger, and procedes to do nothing. Around the fox the ground begins to crack and break. Peices of rock simply float away, revealing a large pool under the great hall, a cavernous pool filled with monsterous pike! )
Silly Fox
Don't you
Know
That Vermin
Don't get
HAPPY ENDINGS?
The badger is close now, looming over the lone figure with red eyed ammuzement. "We both know there is only one way you are getting a weapon from this mountain." The badgers features distort, becoming more vile as reaches out, drawing the figure closer and running a large sword through his belly and out the other end. "Come to the mountain boy, I'll keep a place on my mantal free for your HEAD." And then Slade the badger proceeds to fill the room with his horrble cackling before pushing the lone figure backwards into the pool filled with pike. They draw quickly to surround the fox and dine upon him...
Velth jolts up from the ground, his heart pounding in his chest. He puts a hand to his stomach, feeling around to make sure that nothing is there. His head flops down as his fingers press into soft, dry fur, and he draws his knees up to his forehead, steadying himself. Why the hell had he ever left home?
Perhaps this is not the best time for Aata to appear at the door with a loud, "GOOD MORNING!" The otter carries a large bowl of rice with a wooden spoon. She set's it down in front of fox. "Hope you slept well. We have a big day ahead of us. Yes, Us. I get to be your escort for day 1." She pauses, sitting back on her haunches with her head tilted to one side, "Are you...ok?"
Velth swallows hard, glancing over at her from under his arm, his head still tucked against his knees. "Sick." He says, sounding it, but uncertain why he bothered with the lie. He uncurls, and kneels down before the bowl of rice. "Thanks for this." He says, before bending down to take his first bite.
"Think nothing of it." The otter's friendly smile fades, "Seriously. Don't. I'm taking bets you get three beasts to vouch for you. Tops." The smile returns, "And I'm hoping you don't dissapoint. Now up and adam. I'm not going to baby sit a sick fox in this drafty ol hut all day so eat yer meal and get yer fuzzy tail out the door."
The otter stands and stretches before stepping outside.
Velth chuckles dryly, "Guess I shouldn't count on you then, if I want to live." He applies himself to his meal, compliantly, doing a good job of putting it away in a few minutes. Getting to his feet, he stretches, "Do we have a schedule for today?" He inquires as he shakes a bit and dusts off his fur from sleeping on the ground.
Leaning into her spear the otter shrugs, "It's your hide. You tell me. If you want my opion I would find people in the market and see if anyone needs a hand doing something. Almost all the tribe would be there today." She gestures with her free paw to the rows of tents and huts to their right. It does seem crowded, if by crowded Aata means about 30 beasts milling about, picking up supplies or going about their work. All of whom glance at the fox before trying very hard not seem like they are staring.
"And I need them to vouch for what? My valor, my life, or my dashing good looks?" He inquires, with a little smirk.
The otter chuckles, "If you were to rely on that last one you would already be dead ten times already." The otter shrugs again, "I dunno, give them reason to avoid the shame of speaking up for a vermin at court and not want you dead, I guess. You know, like how you made the cheiftain not toss you head over heels into the Pit. Every vermin we took there by the way has never come out."
The otter rubs her chin, peering into the crowd. A smile spreads as she gasps for joy. "Here let's try Lalia." The otter gestures for the fox to follow her to a stall set up in the market of the tribe.
An otter with light brown fur chops away at fish, seperating the heads from the rest of their valuable meet. She wears a bright yellow sash and tan cloth wrap about her upper torso, leaving her pot belly exposed. "Lalia! Oh Lalia!" Aata calls, gaining her attention. "There is someone I want you to meet!"
The fox trots along behind his guard, chuckling to himself. He stops with Aata before the stall, presenting himself as the surprise guest with a courteous inclination of his head.
With out looking up from her cutting the young otter blinks surprise. "Oi! So you must be the fox everyone is so worked up over. Fancied you would be taller." She shrugs, "Did you enjoy the rice?"
"Lalia here made you your meals." Aata coughs politely.
"So you better have enjoyed it or you kin give it back." She thrusts the knife out menecingly towards the fox's snout before going back to beheading fish.
"I enjoyed it immensely." Velth says, sincerely, "I've never had such food before. Perhaps you can teach me to make it?" He inquired, hopefully, "I can lend a paw to any task you have."
THUNK THUNK THUNK
Rubbing her chin the otter thinks on this, "WeEeeEeEell maybe there is a little thing you can help me with.
THUNK THUNK THUNK
"See, there is this otter in the village, Opi." the otter chuckles as she chops, "She is the official cook for the chief. We are always trying to out do each other at festivals. But her pastries keep winning /every/ /single/ time."
THUNKTHUNK THUNKTHUNK
"But maybe if I beat her at the next contest I can finally get the recongition I deserve and get out of this tribe and move to a big city where they have parties and fancy dresses and all the THINGS."
THUNKTHUNKTHUNKTHUNKTHUNK
Huh? If you need help, type '+globals for a list of all MUCK commands'
Lalia pauses to cup her paws together, "Ah, well, one can dream. Hey, maybe if you can pick up some spices from-"
"Velth isn't allowed out of the village." Aata interjects.
"But then-"
"Under pain of death."
The otter cook nods, "I see, well, bummer. In that case if you want to taste test some dishes over the week that would be fine. No one wants to help me with that for some reason." The otter cuts the board so hard it breaks. "Ah dang it. Third one this week..."
"Certainly." Velth says, sounding quite enthusiastic, "If you'll trust the taste of a foreign tongue." He glances about for another board for the otter, "Uh, can I... get you anything else?" He inquires.
The otter wipes her blood laden knife clean. "No I think I'm good. It will be neat to try out some more...exotic recipies. And maybe put some meat on your bones. Make the pike nice and tasty after they feed you to em, eh?" She laughs, then awkawrdly coughs, pulling out a new cutting board before returning to her work.
"Right, I uh, forgot to mention. It's a small village so and the grape vine doesn't have far to travel..." Aata rubs the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Where do you want to go next? Like I said, it isn't a big place and most everyone might have need of an able bodied creature to help out." She examines velth ear to tail, "What kind of work can you do?"
"Well, I can fish and forage, mend, mold, kneed..." The fox replies, before pausing to rub his chin thoughtfully, "I've got two arms and legs that work pretty well. I'm decent at chopping wood and rough cooking. But personally, I think my time's better spent in that cave." He says frankly, shrugging.
Aata gives the fox an odd look, "Cave? You mean up north with the pike?" Wait shifted to one side with her paws on her hips the otter maid scoffs at Velth, "And prey tell what do you plan to do in said cave? Go swimming?"
"You could always go fishing." Lelia says as she works, "Sorry, eve's dropping."
A little grin plays on the fox's lips as he cocks his head at the otter, "Of course I intend to go swimming, though we should take some tackle if we can." He folds his arms across his chest, his grin now evident, "You don't think I'd be able to get five beasts to testify by being polite and doing a few chores, do you?"
The otter glances away from the fox, "...No." She says flatly, then jabs Velth in the side with her paw, "You won't earn any respect getting your fluffy tail eaten by pike either." Aata tilts her head to one side, what is he planning on doing? No...he couldn't be that crazy... "What...do you plan to do in the cave?"
"Just what I said." Velth replies, nonchalantly, "Go for a little dip, see if we can't catch a fish." He winks at her, keeping his full design to himself incase it proves impossible, "Has any otter ever tried swimming down to get that gem?" He inquires, seeming to abandon the previous topic for pleasantries.
"Successfully?" Aata chuckles shaking her head. "Oh sure, beasts have tried, usually young and on a dare. See how deep they can get before the pike come after them. More than one beast has lost their life doing foolish stunts like that, or worse."
"The last beast to do so to try and get the rubby was Vrasku." Lalia pipes up again, "It was early in his kingship. When he was younger and before..." she gives her belly a harty pat, "Legend says he actually touched the ruby."
"Yeah, before the pike chewed up his leg. There is a reason he walks with a limp you know."
"Really? I never noticed. Then again I hardly noticed the chief walk anyware these days..." The cook goes back to her work, "Sorry, interupting again, just feel free to ignore me..."
Velth chuckles at the otter's conversation. "You're more than welcome, though I thought it was good living that had bit him, not a pike." He says. "I know that sort of... enthusiasm. Foxes barely out of being kits wanting to do sail races in thunderstorms and what not. But, let's get some things together and see if we can't catch a fish while it's still a decent hour, eh? And maybe we'll bring a length of rope with us..."
"Bring me back a fishy or two and I'll cook you a feast!" The cook waves with her knife, "And don't think I've forgotten our deal. So no deing before you can taste my recipies!"
Aata rolls her eyes but smiles as she does, moving away from the cook the otter whispers, "If Lalia get's her paws on you, you end up looking like Vrasku before the weeks end." Her tone takes on a more serious role, "So you really think that in the history of a fishing village that we havn't tried fishing the ruby out ourselves? Pike are vicious enough to attack the rope too..." Crossing her arms the otter sighs, "You're crazy, you know that? But why not. Sure, let's try out your idea. What do you need? I can show you where to get it..."
The fox heads away, his tail swishing behind him with a good deal of enthusiasm, "Well then, I don't suppose you've a length of chain instead?" He asks, jokingly. "I'm sure you've tried everything conceivable... for otters. But you seem to forget that a fox got that stone down there, and it'll be a fox, if anyone, who gets it back up." He seems quite serious, and drops his voice down quieter, as if he were forming a conspiracy. "The rope will do fine, though. We'll need enough to reach the bottom, and a good length more. And a knife, we'll need that too. Otherwise, whatever you use to fish will suit me fine."
The otter raises an eyebrow. This plan was of course pure madness, but it had a certain, flair from it. Foxes were known for their wiles. And if he got the ruby on her watch Aata would go down in legend...Aata shakes her head at the thought. "Alright, I'll help you get your things foxy. But I will leave the rest to you. Let's hope that you are more brilliant than you mad..."
The cave is, surprisngly unguarded, and a deal more foreboading until Aata lights the torches to bring light to the darkened cave. "We really should consider guarding this place." The otter maiden lights up another torch along the wall, revealing a series of cave paintings, "It isn't sacred...not like that, but it is special to us." As more torches along the wall are lit up the cave paintings are revealed to be hand painted pictures of otters. Some of different colors, different shapes, different sizes, different ages. "We farm the pike for food, and use the place to sometimes judge our enemies, but this is also where we send our fallen."
The beast lights up the room far more than when Velth was here last. The entire wall is filled with pictures of otters. "When one of our tribe die we send their body here to the water, and then we paint a murial of them on this wall."
Velth drops the hefty pile of wood he gathered up as they were walking to the cave, as well as the great length of rope and fishing gear before he stretches, placing his hands on his now sore back. He takes in the sight as he limbers up and gets some life back into his limbs. "It's the roots of your tree then." He says dragging the rope over to the edge of the pool, "That's important enough to be worth guarding, but things that are worth guarding don't always need it." The fox carries over their tackle and his pile of wood, and settles down be the water, before looking over to Aata, "Mind if I get that knife now?"
The otter reaches for the dirk at her belt, she whips it out of its holster with the speed of someone used to using it in combat. "I like this place, but not enough to become a perminant resident." The otter gestures with her head to the paintings of the otters before handing it to the fox, hilt first, "Don't make me regret it."
Velth reaches out to gently take the weapon from her. He holds it up and nods in a brief salute, "I promise you won't!" He says, before setting to work. He takes each piece of wood and rests it against a knee, with one end on the ground. With a deft movement, he then cuts it high, leaving a long piece, which he sets aside, before sliding the stick down and continuing in that fashion. He stays quiet while he works, apparently focused on completing his task, until all the sticks have been broken up into the long spars. These he then takes, one at a time, and roughly whittles to spikes at either end. "You can fish while you wait for me." He offers to Aata, "It might be a bit before I'm ready."
The otter maiden raises an eyebrow, currious over what the fox is doing. "If you say so. One less pike for to try and catch you, right?" The otter turns to her own tool set, which includes a length of rope attached to the end of a spear with multiple sharp wooden spikes at the end. She stands at the edge of the water, peering in, spear raised high for a fish to draw near. She continues waiting in this posture even while the fox goes about his business.
There's not much activity from the fox's side of the pool for a while, except the scrape of metal against wood. This however, slowly turns rhythmic as the fox hits a stride: flick, flick, flick, pause, flick, flick, flick, thunk, as he sharpens the ends into triangles, turns the stick over in his paw, sharpens the other side, then drops it into a growing pile. His head begins to nod in time with his work, and he's soon murmuring something quietly to himself. From what can be heard, it sounds halting, disjointed, and without rhyme, but he keeps at it as he goes on whittling down the pile, till it's gone.
The otter, still holding her stance turns briefly from time to time to make sure the fox is doing what he says...and not trying to sneak up and push her in. Or run off, or any number of nefarious things he could be doing.
The otter says quizically. "What /ARE/ you doing?"
"I could ask the same of you actually." Aata nearly loses her ballence, spinning on her heel to see the entrence of a burly but familiar otter. Dressed in a blue robe like tunic the otter's face is unmistakable. He is the beast that slew the rat.
"Kaleb! Nice of you to join us. What...are you doing here?"
"Finding out that my sister is an idiot." Kaleb's grip on his own spear tightens to an audible degree. "What do you think you are doing? Bringing him here?"
"I fail to see what's wrong with that." Aata twitches an eye and crosses her arms.
"Aside from the fact that he could easily have killed you and fed your carcus to the pike." The otter retorts back. "And...and...what ever it is that he is doing over there, which I'm sure is up to no good..."
"Oh Kaleb stop being parinoid, you are-"
"Is that your /knife/?" The otter guard slaps his fore head, running a paw over his muzzle, "How did he get your knife? Did you really ARM the fox you are supposed to be guarding?!"
The knife seems to do a good job of coming alive here, apparently flying from the fox's lap to land partway between Velth and Aata, guided there by a subtle flick of the fox's wrist. "Well, now you know you can trust me." Velth says, in a cheerful voice, "I've successfully avoided desacrating a treasured site, murdering your sister, and trying to escape, and now even weapons fly from my hands when they're not in use. I trust I can count on your support at the end of the week!" He shuffles, kneeling down by his rope and spikes, his back completely turned to the otters. He continues to work as casually as if the other two were his fellow villagers, and he'd nothing to fear from them. He's started working with the rope now; beginning at one end of the braided material, he pushes a spike through the braided cords. It takes some effort and skill, apparently, but he doesn't seem to have too much trouble with it, though his pace is slower than it was before.
Both otters take a moment to examine the knife then the fox. "You know...he has a point. He doesn't act like other vermin we know."
"Aata, the very fact that he doesn't act like vermin is the very reason I don't trust him." Kaleb's scolding glare deepens, "But even that isn't the /point/. How DARE you let your guard down so much around this...this..." The otter pauses, trying to find the right word. "Do you mind? I can't propperly scold my sister with you...doing what ever that is that you are doing."
"He's going to get the ruby back."
This prompts a laugh from Kaleb. "How? How is this...contraption supposed to get the ruby back?"
Velth glances over his shoulder at them, smiling, "Well, if you'll quit bickering, I'll tell you." He forces another spike through the rope, clustering them together near the base, with about a foot between each one, and all of them jutting out at different angles. "I can't properly work with this fighting going on either. Once I'm done, you can scold all you want. Fair?"
The otter narrows his gaze at the fox, "I knew I should have killed you back at the church." He says it with out malace, rahter just pointing out 'matter-o-factly' that it would have been a good idea to do so.
"Oh knock it off." The otter maiden stands between her brother and the fox just to make sure Kaleb doesn't actually try to follow through with his statement. "You got our attention fox. If you beat around the bush any longer I will beat you, with a biiiig stick. And then toss your sorry hide into the water. Got it?"
The fox only nods and waves a hand, idly dismissing the threats. "It'll take a few minutes to finish, but I'm afraid we'll just have to get that stone back the old fashioned way: someone has to go down there and get it. And well, I don't like my odds of swimming there and back after getting -pushed- in, but I think with a little planning we can at least have a fighting chance." He shifts so he can at least be facing them while he works and talks, "Have either of you seen a shark before?"
The otters stare blankly at the fox, coughing in an embarrassed way that suggests they have indeed, not even heard of a shark before today but don't wish to admit that to Velth. "Um...sure..." They chorus at the same time.
Velth smirks to himself as he works, "Impressive, since you live so far inland." He comments, snickering to himself, "I've only seen the ones brought ashore from ships that go hunting them. Those pike down there would be nothing to a shark, but the sailors still hunt them." He shakes his head and waves a paw, "Anyway, point is, even a shark is only a fish, and those pike too. They'll beat any beast in the water at swimming or fighting, but not at scheming and planning. And that's why, if anyone, it'll be a fox who gets that gem back." Velth says to Aata. He pulls at the now spiked length of rope he has been working at so they can see the length he has completed so far, "Fish are pretty dumb, but even they feel pain. You said they attacked the ropes before; maybe they'll do it again. But I warrant they'll reconsider a second bite with a splinter wedged deep in their maw."
The otters both raise eyebrows to each other. Kaleb passes his sister a look as if silently telling her, 'told you so that he was dangerous.'
"Ok, so...feeling out your plan here. So we toss the rope down, the fish bite the rope and then...and then..."
"We put bait onto the rope first, then after the fish tire themselves out you send a beast into the water to take the gem." Aata looks over to her brother, "And then you have the beasts pull them out, using the rope." He pauses, giving them both a shrug, "What? Big brother isn't alloud to have an imagination? I said the fox was dangerous, not stupid."
Velth nods slightly, "More or less. We lower the rope, let them hit it a bit and see if they quit. If they do, we can do it a few times to make sure they get the point, then lower it all the way to the bottom. Then..." He shifts a bit, looking uncomfortable, "Well... we have options. Even fish need to sleep; we wait till they've settled down a bit, then beat the water as fiercly as we can, and drop some rocks down, wrapped in cloth. If they ignore the rocks, then we go. It should be easy. They'll be tired, deaf from the noise, and if they don't care about things quietly drifting by, all we should have to do is lower ourselves into the water, use the rope to pull ourselves right down to the gem, grab it, and come back up." He sounds far less confident about the entire portion of the plan involving diving.
"I suppose we should feed them well before hand too. It'll calm them, and the lingering smell will help mask the diver."
The otters stare blankly. That plan sounds...crazy actually. But the right kind of crazy that might just work. "Feed the fish well? Ok. Aata you grab his feet, I'll grab his arms, we toss him in and...what? what? Oh don't look at me like that Aata I was only joking. I wouldn't actually toss him in...it would be dishorable. Convient but...you know what, I will just go grab the bait and the oil."
It doesn't take the otter long to return, bringing with him a few more beasts who wanted to come watch the fox. They help carry bait.
Kaleb points to the rope and they begin slathering it in fish bait. "This better work fox, else you will prove more than one beast the fool." Kalab says darkly.
"Don't worry; I didn't put off diving yesterday just to jump in and lose my skin tonight." Velth replies quietly. He steps away from the edge, and goes to shoo the otters from his rope, "Cut that out! We don't want them thinking there's anything good about that rope. Why don't you just slather me up too while you're at it, you cheats!" He shouts at them, sounding comical, rather than annoyed as he rescues his rope and brings it to the water to rinse clean. "Go make that bait useful and haul in a few of those monsters for me. I'll bet any one of you, you'll not catch as many fish with those spears as I will with this!" He says, picking up his rope and swinging it playfully at them, the spikes threatening to stab him on each pass.
The line was tossed into the water with a loud splash. The air in the room is filled with curriosity as otters try out the new idea. Gradually even Kaleb's mood brightens as the fish begin biting and thrashing against the deadly rope. It doesn't actually catch any fish persay but it does distract them from Aata's spear. With the help of the other otters they reel in a large tasty pike.
The sounds of rejoicing fill the cave.
Tonight, they feast!
The fox, however, is a bit lost in his work, as he tries to both weild the ropes spiked and submerged end so that no pike strikes but that it gets a spike in its mouth, and at the same time avoid getting pulled into the water by the thrashing line. He acheives this by looping the spare rope around the stone bridge that crosses the pit, and using that as a lock to hold the end in place. The pike strike and withdraw from the line, just as Aata said they would, but tuch to Velth's satisfaction, it seems the ones who bite don't come back again, but rather trail away to lick their wounds. In time, though it's scared and frayed, and many of its teeth are broken and lost, the pike have given up interest in the line, and the fox hauls it in, and sets it aside till it's needed against later that night.
The fox, however, is a bit lost in his work, as he tries to both weild the ropes spiked and submerged end so that no pike strikes but that it gets a spike in its mouth, and at the same time avoid getting pulled into the water by the thrashing line. He acheives this by looping the spare rope around the stone bridge that crosses the pit, and using that as a lock to hold the end in place. The pike strike and withdraw from the line, just as Aata said they would, but tuch to Velth's satisfaction, it seems the ones who bite don't come back again, but rather trail away to lick their wounds. In time, though it's scared and frayed, and many of its teeth are broken and lost, the pike have given up interest in the line, and the fox hauls it in, and sets it aside till it's needed against later that night.
Kaleb grins dangerously as he stride up to the fox, "Can't help but notice the line is a bit, pike free there fox." He chuckles, stepping on the line, "But don't worry, you earned your meal tonight. My respect...well, we can work on that later." He says as if that is something Velth ever wanted. The burly otter continues to smirk as he walks away.
"Ignore my brother." Aata says as she approaches, "You get your ego bashed against your skull one too many times and it tends to go to your head." She glances over the line, "Is there anything else you need to do here today? Or are you ready to head back to the village?"
Velth chuckles, and takes one last look down into the pool, "No, we've done our work for now. We might want to make a few moke spikes, in case they forget today's lesson before we come back, but that's all we can do for now." He goes to pick up the gear he carried out to the cave, "So, now to the cooks! I'm sure they'll be glad to have yet more work on their paws."
The otters tie up the slain pike between two spears and hoist the beast over their shoulders. The next time it is seen the fish is being roasted over a pit and dished out to the many villagers of Pike. There is no formal place to sit, beasts just line up behind the many tables filled with a variaty of foods, both meats and fruits and pastry dishes, then carry their meal off to one of the many bon fires lit about the village. Otters dance and sing until the ale and food in their bellies causes them to collapse.
The sounds of flutes and drums fill the night air.
Velth sits alone in a dark corner, unaware of where Lalia is, but hoping to hide from her for a moment as he downs a quick, light meal of fish and rice. It's familiar enough food, and hearty enough to keep some life in his muscles. That taken care of, he takes pains to clean his plate, making it look as though he'd not eaten yet, and sets off to find the otter cook to fulfill his promise to taste test her dishes.
It doesn't take long to find Lalia. She is near the roasting pike. She glances up from the large bowl of rice she is placing on the table to catch sight of the fox. A terrible cheshire like grin splits across her face, "Velth! Oi! Velth!" She waves a paw as she approaches the fox. "Don't think I havn't forgotten our little deal."
"Nor did I!" He replies, reassuringly, finding a spot to sit near her and holding his plate in his hands as if he were begging, "I trust you're not going to let me go hungry." He says playfully, swishing his tail in anticipation. Surely she can't produce anything too horrible from the body of a fish.
The otter's tail thwumps against the table as she wags it like a puppy. "Oh, you don't you worry your fuzzy little head fox, we will make sure you are-"
"Lalia!"
Lalia freezes. A forced smile on her lips she turns to address the otter behind her. An otter of darker fur she is a bit older, and suprisingly slender given the apperent obesity of those associating with food in this village. She wears an orange robe with a wide assortment of bead jewlery both around her neck, ears, wrists, ankles and even tail.
"Opi! What are you...doing here?" Lalia asks as politely as she can muster.
"Putting on another bowl of potatoes...like you should be doing and..." The otter notices the fox for the first time. "Oh, is this the fox I've heard so much about?"
"If you've heard much, most of it was lies." Velth says in greeting, "I've not done enough to deserve much talk." He gets up, dusts off a hand and holds it out to Opi in a friendly enough manner, though he makes sure not to be too polite, considering Lalia's previous reaction to the mere mention of Opi.
Lalia bristles as he does so. Opi hardly notices as she takes his hand and bows. "Nice to meet you, uh..."
"It's Velth." Lalia tries to tug on the fox's arm to pull him away, "And he is going to help me taste test some food."
Opi blinks, then smiles, "Oh really? That's not a bad idea, it will help improve your cooking that way." A very logical and reasonable statement, until it reaches Lalia's ears and it is immidietly taken as a challenge.
"I don't see it so much as improving as 'perfecting'. If you feel you need to 'improve' your cooking yo uare free to borrow the fox after I'm done with him."
Again, another perfectly rational statement...until it reaches Opi's ears. "Oh oh! What a wonderfull idea! But why wait?" Opi crosses her arms, "Let's stop beating around the bush. You've been wanting my job for years. Well, now we have an impartial judge...so why not let the fox decide who is the better cook?"
"Agreed!" The two otters shake paws, then turn towards Velth with a shadowy, preditory look as they try to back him against the table.
It appears that Velth is indeed...doomed.
The grin never leaves the fox's lips, though he does back off at the intrusion of his personal space. "Well then we're agreed: whoever produces a meal -I- determine to taste the -best- shall be crowned our unofficial winner." He says, making sure to emphasize the need for them to cater to his tastes in order to win in the hopes of at least avoiding swallowing experimental disasters. "It'll be a bit of a challenge, determining what a northlander eats purely by how he looks and acts. What shall we award the victor?"
"The humiliating and crushing defeat of our enemy." Opi responds flatly. Lalia nods her head, "Agreed!" The two otters try to lead Velth not to far away, just around the corner of the nearest where they can see the kitchen tent with out being in the way of the actual kitchen tent. By now the spectical is drawing some attention from other party goers.
"Ok Mr. Fair Fox Judge. Sit." Lalia over turns a stool for Velth to sit on.
"Get your taste buds ready for the assault of their lives. You are about to taste food so good you are going to toss yourself off a cliff, because you will never taste food this good /again/." An interesting metephor if there ever was one, one that Opi uses with desturbing scincerity.
Velth takes his chair, quite comfortably, "Well then, lay on! One way or another I'll be flinging myself into that water tonight; it might as well be for good reason." He replies
The otters both shout with glee, dissapearing into the kitchen tent. A small crowd is forming around the fox.
Watching from where he lays spread out on a bed of pillows and dressed in his cerimonial garb Vrasku sips some wine from a gobblet and nods towards Velth. "What's going on over there?"
Aata chuckles as she eats her own meal near by, "Oh, Lalia and Opi got their claws on Velth. They are using him to judge who is the better cook." The otter hesitates, a frown forming on her muzzle, "Do you think we should tell him the last beast they tried that on /died/?"
"And spoil their fun? I doubt that."
"And it keeps them from harassing you to do the same..." Aata replies.
"You bet your tail yes..."
Back at the kitchen hut the otters return. They place a large table across the fox's lap and then begin to place bowls of fish infront of him...then they put more food next to that, and so on and so forth until the table begins to buckle under its weight.
Velth stares at the food, growing further and further astonished with each added dish, until he holds up a paw to them when they go to get more, "You know, I would have thought each of you would want to present your best dish, not cook for an army. Quality is what I'm judging for, not quantity."
"These ARE our BEST dishes." Lalai replies with a smile. Opi nods her head with the same possibly mostly sane smile as her counterpart. "This side belongs to me, this side belongs to her. Two dishes of the same meal." She waves a paw in a shooing motion to Velth, "Go on. Dig in."
The beasts gathered around chuckle to themselves, some are appearently taking bets.
The fox stares at the spread, now considering how to get himself back out of this jam. He mentally calculates that if he only took a nibble of each dish, it would at least be a managable meal, though probably not for a fox as small as he was, and one whose appetite was already sated. He looks to either side of the table, realizing the pair of otters have done this before, and are more in command of the rules than he is. The fox reaches out, and carefully selects a pair of dishes, placing them before him. He carefully cuts an equal portion from each, and places them on his plate. Then, he starts cutting, subtly scrambling the pieces till even he cannot remember which bite comes from while otter. He looks up, grinning at them, "Let the games begin!" He says, closing his eyes, and picking up a piece at random.
The first meal doesn't...taste too bad actually. Both cooks are actually tallented, as much as one can be with out certain spices. Both meals seems to compliment each other when taken together.
The otters how ever are more than determined to out do the other. It's a small village, one has to get their entertainment some how, even if that ment feeding a fox food until his stomach exploded...or he ended up like Vrasku...both fates one would not wish upon potential taste testers.
But Velth is a fox with a job to do, and though he's unwilling to let them stuff him, he's also reluctant to leave them wanting. So instead, he chews deliberately, first one bite, then another, carefully tasting them to find a similar ingredient or flavor. Once he's settled on one, he declares that the dish containing that flavor has won the round, in an infuriating game that results in an inevitable tie.
Both otters pause, blinking in unison. Then shout at once, "That was mine!" Taken aback both otters stare each other down. "We can't...can't both win, can we?"
Opi taps her muzzle, "That's not possible...not...not unless..." She begins to sniffle, "Unless we are both equal cooks."
Tears begin to well up in Lalia's eyes, "Oh Opi...i've been a fool. I've been with out my best friend in so long...and all...all cause I got so jealous of you when you got that job, and, and..."
"Oh Lalia..." The two otters hug tightly and wail.
Ale...might be involved somewhere...
"Finally!" booms the voice of Vrasku from the back of the crowd. It must be an important occasional indeed to see the heavy set otter on his feet and only a single wine glass in his paw. "Behold! Our new guest has brought an end to a terrible fued that has devided our tribe for seasons!" There is a loud cheer among the crowd mixed with laughter. "Good work fox good work. Now, as your cheif I hear by decree Velth the Fox of Honor! And all the privalges that come with it!" The cheif says in a joking mannor.
He sips his wine then announces again, "Since he did his job so well, I hear by annoint Velt the offical taste tester, food judge and wine tester for any and all contests tonight." He sips again from his wine then throws his paws in the air, "Huzzah!"
Velth hems and haws a bit, incredulous at the result of his ploy, abashed by the attention, and quite uncertain how to break it to the crowd that he simply cannot eat all the good food they've put before him and still go diving that night. A thought does start to occur to him, as he watches Vrasku sip his wine, "Perhaps a toast then, to cleanse the palette! Then I'll share a song with you, and you can all taste the food for yourselves to see if I spoke truly." It dawns on him at the end of his proposal that Vrasku just made him the honorary victim of any poisons tonight, and he turns to gently elbow the cheiftain with a wink, mouthing the word "clever".
The otter pauses, then nudges the fox in the ribs as well, "Clever indeed. Come Velth. Look at all you have a accomplished in just one day. And still six more to go!" He sips his win again, moving with a slow limp. "Are you still going to make an attempt to get the ruby? Or will you celebrate the night away with the tribe and try again in the morning?"
"There's no reason to wait." Velth replies, then lowers his voice, "With luck, most everyone will eat their fill and go to sleep, and if I die, you can simply say you let me go early and I took off." He gives the cheiftain a grim smile, "To be honest... I'd just rather not go to sleep thinking about having to dive."
The chief stops, rubbing his eyes with a great sigh. "I could tell you that you don't need to do this, that this is a mistake, that you could just...leave. But, I know what it was like...back when I was younger. Early in my reign I craved the power and influence the stone would give me, and so I foolishly jumped into the pool." he slaps his leg, "To say that it was a...humbling experience would be an understatement. If only I realized then that I didn't /need/ the stone to be a good leader..." He shakes his head. "When you go, go alone. Don't let them be scared by the memory of your death." The otter then moves away from the fox towards his own hut.
Velth blinks at the cheiftain as he heads off, uncertain how to respond to his statements. He's well aware of how things are with regards to the gem, but now... he feels a bit shaken. Between last night's dreams and Vrasku's words, the threadbare purpose he had invented for himself now seems to have wholly worn through. He turns, and goes back to the festivities for now. At least he has to see to it that the village wears itself out tonight. Whether he dives or not, leaves or not, things will be easier once he can face them alone.
