Lillian’s new friend turned out to be a white, hairy, little thing that was about half the size of a man. It had antlers, that were somehow incredibly disappointing, and two little doe eyes that stared out at everything with curiosity.

“Peku peku.”

The little monster said and started waddling off towards a nearby snowbank, where it proceeded to slide down the snow and climb back to the top where it declared a second time, “peku peku.”

Joy thought it was cute but was a little disconcerted. It was saying ‘peku peku’ but it didn’t have a mouth, where was the noise coming from then?

“His name is Peku. We found him wandering around in circles and decided to bring him back here, isn’t he just the cutest little guy.”

The ‘cutest little guy’ had fallen over, his antlers sinking deep into the snow, and he was subsequently having trouble getting his antlers out of the snow.

Joy waddled over in a rough imitation of the little fella and extricated him from his predicament.

“I have never seen anything like him, what is he?” Joy had put Peku on his knee like a small child and started moving his finger around in circles in front of Peku’s adorable eyes. Then Joy suddenly booped him right between the eyes.

“Peku peku!” Peku let out an indignant yell and fell off Joy’s knee into the snow embankment. This caused Joy to burst out laughing at the little monster’s misfortune.

“We don’t know, but he can’t be dangerous, not with those little eyes.” Lillian responded to Joy’s question and started coddling her new friend, keeping Peku away from the evil Joy, who booped without warning.

The three of them moved into the dining hall since neither Joy nor Lillian had eaten anything yet.

Inside the dining hall, everything was a mess. People were bustling back and forth; food was being eaten at incredible rates. The crunching and gnashing of delicious food created an awful din that was barely tolerable.

Joy looked at the hall, then looked at Lillian, who seemed intent on going right in. Not even a moment of hesitation or fear from her eyes, she was just eyeing the chef, like a wild wolf about to pounce on her prey.

That was when Joy realized this was the scheduled day that all the scouting teams were supposed to come back. Even though his team had started heading back early, they barely made it back to the castle before everyone else because of those stubborn Humanists.

Joy took Peku from Lillian’s arms and let her rush into the fray, she elbowed her way up to the front of the line. Kicking anyone’s ass who even got close to her in her pursuit of food. It was a beautiful and horrifying show of might makes right.

Lillian clutched her food, which was nearly a mountain of mashed potatoes, turkey, cubed apples, and a healthy dollop of gravy right on top. She had made no friends on her way to the front of the line, and now her karma was coming full circle. Everyone tried to steal her food or make her drop it.

Did she deserve it? Probably. But she fought back with reckless abandon, letting hunks of meat fly off her plate as she defended her hard-fought prize.

Joy simply watched in horror as she devoured her food while standing right in front of the people she had cut in line. She gnashed her teeth and crunched it all down until only bones were left on the plate. She licked it clean.

Everyone stared at her, and she smiled back at them. Getting back in line and jostling for seconds.

Joy had been hungry before he had seen that, but now he was more than content to sit in a quiet corner with Peku and avoid the entire mess.

Surveying the room, Joy found a suitable quiet corner. The fact that a refreshed looking Theo happened to be there was pure happenstance.

Theo looked at Joy as he sat down, then looked at Peku who Joy had plopped onto the table right in front of him. Theo’s body spasmed as if a sudden chill had gone down his spine. Then went back to sipping on his piping hot coffee.

Eventually after Lillian had gotten her second plate of food in a much less adversarial manner, she sauntered over to Joy and Theo’s table. She slammed down her plate of assorted ham and eggs. They were green for some reason, but Joy figured that was the chef’s warning to Lillian to chill out.

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That lady was scary.

Peku sat there occasionally piping to say his beloved phrase, but never made a grab for the food. Instead, the little guy just sat there watching everyone as they ate or chatted about wat had happened during their travels in the icy wastes.

It was a good talk, Lillian had much the same experience as Joy and Theo, it was quiet and nothing of interest happened. Everyone just wandered in the snow, freezing their asses off for two weeks.

But Lillian did meet her new lovable sidekick Peku, and together they were going to get up to some shenanigans, and no one would be able to stop their tomfoolery.

Joy was just about to get up from the table and make a mad dash for the oasis in the frozen desert, the land of fruits and saunas, hidden behind golden doors, when a familiar face walked into the dining hall.

With his trademark blue eyes and blonde hair, the prince looked not quite as dashing as he normally did. He had dark bags underneath his eyes, his shoulders sagged, and a frown that seemed to stretch from his face to the floor.

Perhaps life at the castle wasn’t so nice after all, Joy thought ruefully. But the prince seemed to be in the hall for a reason, he called out, “hello everyone, we need to have a team meeting. Please go out to the courtyard while we brief everyone on what has happened and what is going to happen.”

So, to a chorus of groans and many feet shuffling unenthusiastically the crowd in the dining hall moved towards the courtyard.

Joy realized that the gods truly were conspiring against him, why was he not allowed to relax and enjoy the one good thing about this trip? All he wanted was to get out of the freezing cold, but that seemed to be too much to ask of Fate or Fortune.

In the courtyard the array of teams arrived, looking a bit worse for wear. A couple of weeks in the snow would do that to a person.

Upon a small stage that someone had set up while Joy was out on his mission, the prince and his attendants stood. Sam looked as crafty as always, even though they looked so plain and ordinary, their eyes held a hint of the unknown. That was the trademark of a seer, able to see things that ordinary people could not.

Next was Ian, he stood strong and tall. Like an insurmountable wall he looked down upon the sorry procession of weary workers. His eyes softened as he looked upon the groups. But they eventually hardened back into cold and efficient eyes, not even moving when they did not have to.

Finally, an unknown figure stood up top. People had seen this man on the ship, but he had mostly kept to himself. His nose had been broken many times, and he was a bit too small to seem intimidating. But the scrawny man mostly kept to the back of the prince’s cohort and kept his mouth shut.

Eventually the bedraggled prince came to the front of his procession and gazed down upon his crew. He saw their exhaustion written plainly in their eyes; they knew they had to be there, but not a single one of them wanted to. So, he made up his mind to keep this update as short as possible.

After a simple cough to garner the attention of his audience, he began.

“We will now be collaborating with the Humanists; you will provide help to them in any way that you can, and they will reciprocate. There are monsters out in the snow, one group found a pack of wolves that could blend in perfectly with the snow, as well as giant worms that wait for their prey to walk above them to consume them.”

The prince paused and made quick eye contact with his audience, he was going for brevity, but his people needed to know the dangers of the snow.

“We have found hints towards the castle where the Kingmaker resides, but we need more teams to search more of the snow. So, enjoy this break while you can.”

The somber mood of the crowd got a bit worse, but the prince did not feel bad. They knew coming to a forsaken continent was not going to be a cakewalk, but he allowed their grumblings.

“Finally, no one has found anything related to the warlord who is camped out in this continent. It is a big continent, so we may never come across them, but do not get lazy. No one died during this series of expeditions, but laziness may result in one of your companions losing their life. Be safe out there and enjoy your brief reprieve.”

With that, the impromptu speech ended. And it was a near stampeded to get out of the cold. Joy, Theo, and Lillian had to jostle and fight to keep themselves upright through the throng of bodies rushing towards the castle.

Theo was simply trying to get back to his room. He had eaten a good breakfast and felt well-rested. But he was rushing to try and catch up on his remnant exhaustion from the miserable exploration.

Lillian was trying to sneak back into the food hall and get even more food. Mere crackers and paste were all she had eaten for nearly two weeks, and she had a voracious appetite for anything that wasn’t crackers and paste. She valiantly held onto Peku during this time, and shielded his body from the onslaught of humanity, while she gorged herself on anything that the chef would make.

Joy knew exactly where he was trying to go. His destination had been the same since this very morning. He ran, weaving through people like a sewing needle being threaded by a master seamster.

He eventually arrived at the massive golden arch, that used to be the gateway leading towards a utopic land of fruits and saunas. Now, it was filled to the brim with rancid smelling people of all shapes and sizes. Their feet left footprints of grime everywhere they walked, the fruit trees were barren as if it was the middle of winter, and the water was no longer the vibrant spring water it used to be, now it ran black with gunk and sweat.

Joy went to his knees at the sight, which was an unfortunate decision. Since the wave of people behind him were not so kind as to move around him. Instead, he was swept along with the wave, he was pushed and paraded around in what was left of the relaxation room.

The crowd rushed forward, barely taking any time to strip themselves of their dirty garments before hopping into the slush that could barely be described as water. Joy was being pushed by this crowd and despite his pleas and cries he was pushed into the murky depths.

Bubbles floated to the top and Joy writhed in discomfort. The water entered his nose and mouth, and he felt as if he had taken a farmer from his hometown and licked his armpit after a hard day’s work. Joy wondered if he would ever be able to taste again. It was a truly haunting experience.