Mibbet, meanwhile, was carefully surveying the aftermath of the celebration, and quickly realising a sugar rush could be just as lethal as a hangover. Everybody looked, well in the politest terms KNACKERED. Yet there was still so much work to be done.
Mibbet headed out to see how work was progressing, only to be floored by the sight that greeted her. A few of the humans were up and about already, (probably the ones who were lacking in the sweet tooth department,) and the area around the new trees was being painstakingly cleared, burned, and the ashes mixed with the generous gifts donated by many startled bats to produce a magnificent formula for growth. It was quickly becoming clear to Mibbet that Dryad, plus Spriggan, equals serious overkill on the planting, as some of the formerly desolate fields were rapidly being overtaken by little saplings. Of course once they got started there wasn’t a lot either Dryad or Spriggan could do but keep an eye on things. But that was what the humans were for.
One thing was extremely weird though, that strange old guy she bailed out yesterday? He’d rigged up a rope bridge and was back on the rock where he’d almost drowned yesterday, and he was building. Mibbet really did not want to ask, and knew she would regret asking. But sometimes in life you have to rip off the bandage.
“What are you doing back out there?” She bellowed.
The weirdo on the sound of her voice dropped the hammer (usually when something like that lands on your toes you bloody know about it, but he was far too busy with the sudden grovelling.
“Building a shrine, your holiness, I mean your majesty, I mean....”
Mibbet decided she had to stop him there or they’d be here all week just deciding on her new title. “Try Princess, it’s less of a mouthful, and a shrine? Really?”
Yes your hol.... I mean Princess Rosalind, this was the site of a miracle, we have to give proper thanks.”
“You want to give proper thanks? Keep the alliance, the Dryads have a hard time trusting humans, and really who can blame them? They’ve had their home destroyed for so long. Now we have a chance to make it right, and help ourselves in the process. So please don’t let me down on this.” She smiled her best “helpless Princess” smile at this, really hoping that would be enough to get them to actually keep their word.
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“But of course Princess, you saved me there even though I disobeyed your instructions, I’ll use every ounce of strength I have in me to not let you down.”
Mibbet eyed Goldun dubiously, he was built like a man masquerading as a toast rack, his entire strength could probably stand strong against a stiff breeze, just about. But he was sincere in trying at least, that had to count for something, didn’t it?
“Well me and the boys will be happy to help, whatever you need. Just say the word.”
Looking at the “boys” stood behind him it was rather hard to see the family resemblance, his sons were apparently somehow distantly related to minotaurs to look at them. Either that or there really was something in the water at the family farm, and Goldun drank elsewhere. The “little” brother of the family was 6 foot 7, if he was an inch, and his big brothers seemed to think it was funny to rest their elbows on his head. Mibbet could not help but wonder what the hell they fed people in this valley.
“But you’re still going to build the shrine aren’t you?” Mibbet asked with a sigh, like there was ever any doubt. In that case I ask you please put together some kind of still water pond for the shrine if possible, Wannashowa’s sacred animal is the frog, and they tend to favour still water”
At that Goldun gave a nod, and several of his son’s, and a few daughters headed off in search of a place to build a pond. Mibbet made a mental note to send a message with Addy to get some help here before things were done. It seemed a bit unfair for all the cost and work to fall to Goldun just because he was daft enough to wander into the blast radius.
The next few days proceeded at a nice, sedate pace, as Mibbet and Rosalind recovered and rested, from what you would call a rather stressful trip thus far, it turned out she found the area around here to be rather relaxing, once the explosions were over and all. So she took the time to take a quick flying tour around the area, check on the local scenery, and try out some nice cuisine. Apparently the area around here was best known for a strange kind of pasty, divided in the middle by a pastry wall. One half was sweet, the other savoury, and there was a sort of a twist at each end you could use to pick it up with mucky hands. Apparently it had started off being made that way for exactly that reason.
It was really nice to get away from it for a bit, and even though Mary and Elvira made a tag team from hell as far as the practical jokes went, the visit went by without any major snags. (You know, apart from the whole potential dungeon flood, or war with the local forest fae thing, which was definitely pretty normal as far as trouble went for Mibbet these days. She really had to carefully reassess her definitions of peaceful since meeting Rosalind. It seemed her common sense and sense of survival had both taken a pretty heavy hit. Soon enough though it was time to move on once again, getting away without Mary sneaking into Trundles was definitely going to present something of a challenge. Their next destination was apparently some kind of port city, but first it was time to say goodbye.