Chapter 86

Hawkin’s Beer

Thrush

Another Merchant Contract complete. With 3/5, I was only two more away from Merkul’s Merchant Tent Evolution Stone. And would that mean that my tent got bigger? Would I then be able to eat all I want and still fit inside, belly up?

And now Boggo was calling me from deep underground. No one else could be spilling one of my dreambon beers beneath layers of earth. I left my World Marker on the coast, where I was just about to go diving for fresh fish, before stepping through a shredding gap of air.

I stepped into a bestie tunnel, beneath the dome of a large chamber, and my ears bent against the ceiling.

“Wow-wow,” said Boggo. “Just big enough! Welcome.”

He and Ella weren’t the only besties there. Hundreds had gathered. Were my eyesight not so adept in the dark, I would have thought the tunnel walls were knobbed with glossy gems. Those were not gems; they were eyes that reflected the incandescent glow of crystals along the walls. When they blinked, it made the light look like it came from a dancing green flame. Wherever I peered, showing as warm a smile as I could, those eyes shrank into shadow.

“This is Thrush?” said a larger bestie.

“I’m Thrush,” I said.

“That’s my pal,” said Boggo. Boggo trotted over and fluffed my fur where my red bestie streak of color was. “See? Red bestie through and through.”

“I am Chief Yuyu. Pleased to meet you. Never in six centuries would I have thought four different besties would grace our tunnels. I’m not sure we could fit more than the one red bestie.”

“He’s the only one,” said Ella.

“The only red bestie?” said Yuyu.

“The only red bestie so humungous,” said Boggo.

“I’m only two percent red bestie. Otherwise I am Thrush.”

“Thrush,” said Boggo. “The splatter besties would love some warm-warm beer. There’s gotta be more, right?”

“A lot more. The blue besties haven’t been able to supply anymore hide waterskins, so they’re all in barrels.”

“The big ones like the one we keep dreambons in?”

“No, the smaller step stool-size ones.”

Chief Yuyu held a hand down to his knees to gauge the size of a stool.

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“Not a bestie step stool,” said Ella. “A human step stool. About as tall as you.”

“We’ll have to store them in empty aquifers,” said Yuyu.

Chief Yuyu escorted us through winding tunnels. Splatter besties followed us through parallel tunnels, and many also followed both behind and before us. It wasn’t like crawling through tunnels at all. It was like crawling between layers of fur bedding that was riddled with beady eyes.

“I’m not sure he’ll fit in some of the narrower tunnels,” said Chief Yuyu.

“I’m also ethereal. I will cut through the earth and meet you there.”

“Thrush can do anything!” said Boggo. “He’s not scared of anything.”

The splatter besties whispered among themselves.

As it turned out, I did fit through the tunnels. We made it to the empty aquifer. It was then that I thought of Boggo, and his own bravery, and the distance he and Barnacle-eyes must have traveled to arrive at Fiber Thorn Cove. For me it was a mere step away. But for them it was across a wide and treacherous sea. How much farther were we from Hawkin’s camp than Lavenfauvish was to Hawkin’s camp? It had to be much farther. Hawkin’s beers had never gone this far in the world before. And not only did his beer end up so far, but they went so deep, too!

The aquifer was so big that I could not see where it ended. The incandescent crystals illuminated only so much: piles of nuts, hills of root vegetables, beams of wood…. The stacks continued on into the darkness. I could smell weird fruits too.

Chief Yuyu led us into the bowl of the aquifer. Splatter besties carried glowing crystals to show the way. The further we delved, the harder the shadows seemed to press back.

At last, Chief Yuyu gestured to empty areas along a wall. “This will be the spot.”

I employed my Merchant Options and walked Chief Yuyu through the process of setting up a Merchant’s Contract. My Flattery and Coax skills earned me 5 silver’s worth of gems per 5 gallon barrel. The besties marveled over the weirdly colored barrels that through light like their incandescent crystals did. Their splattered fur inverted colors in the new light as the workers arranged and stacked barrels.

I collected peridot gems that were as green as sunlight seen through spring leaves. The rubies were like shark’s blood diluted in sea waters. Most of the gems I was paid in were black tourmaline. And to diversify their payment, I was given a small sack of diamonds. I ate 1 of each crystal.

“These diamonds are also determiner diamonds,” I said, after digesting the information of my Composition.

“Determiner?” said Yuyu. “We call them Origins.”

“Well they’re called Determiner diamonds.”

“You can call them whatever you’d like.”

“That’s what they’re called,” said Boggo. “I’ve learned to trust Thrush’s belly. It tells him things. Chief Yuta of the red besties learned the same thing. That’s how Thrush became a red bestie—he ate one.”

“Is that a truth then?” said Yuyu. “They’re called determiner diamonds?”

The besties fell into a deep and long conversation about bestie lore. When asked if I had become any percent of splatter bestie, I told them that I hadn’t. It seemed that I had picked my place among the besties, and that was that.

“Shall I sign?” said Chief Yuyu.

I produced my drafted Merchant’s Contract. He signed on the line.

[Quest Objective: Establish 5 new Merchant Contracts.]

[Reward: Merkul’s Merchant Tent Evolution Stone.]

[4/5 New Merchant Contracts complete.]

“And which of the besties is Hawkin?” said Chief Yuyu. “The warm-warm beer has been popular among us.”

“He’s a human,” said Boggo. “As human as human gets. It all began with a little roll of the dice. He lives over the blue besties.”

“Whatever is a human doing brewing beer for besties?”

“Oh, he’s friendly,” said Boggo.

Chief Yuyu turned to gaze upon the rows of stacks of chimeric sheening barrels. Hawkin’s name was on each label.