Arabella put her hands up immediately, shaking her head. “No, no, no,” she said, adamant, “I do not want to be in a contest that I would lose invariably every time.” She offered the black mage a smile and resumed kicking her legs over the side of the rock, “It sounds to me as though you got the deal to work in your favor then? Do you...do you have any in mind? How does the process work? What kinds of things do I have to offer?” The halfling was full of questions – valid questions, considering the fact that she was going to be starting an entirely new school of magic. Magic that was of the darker variety.
She said nothing of Wisp taking more than her share; smoking of the pipe was more enjoyable than necessary, and after this quest was over she'd have plenty of coin to get more tobacco. Arabella gulped, chewing at her lower lip, “I'm not trying to...to 'scheme' or overcomplicate it, but I've got nerves. It's been...gods, it's been over five years since I even considered anyone or anything like this. I'm just...I'm just nervous is all.” She took the pipe back from Wisp when she was finished and continued to puff, now with small quick bursts of smoke.
Percival sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose, “As if I needed reminding that you weren't from the civilized parts.” He almost choked on the next part, “Now that part never happened! That's weird even for me! I would have believed it if I asked you to dress like a maid or something because that's actually sort of attractive...but I'd never ask you to call me father.” He snatched the water from Wisp's hands without realizing who he was taking it from, then seeing her, he gave a terse little bow and uttered a small thank you.
“It'll happen to at least one of them. I just hope it happens to both, having the young pups carted back by the collars of their shirts sounds like it would be more hilarious than anything else,” Percival said, still cooling off.
> > >
Kastivi stopped where she was, sucking in and blinking with wide eyes. Running up to someone in the middle of forests known to have goblins was probably not the wisest of decisions. She breathed with relief when he lowered the pointy end, her eyes quickly went back down to the now corpse as he explained the situation. “We need to be on our guard...maybe tell the others,” she murmured as he explained.
Her eyes went big again and she looked at Christoval with a look that only showed true terror, “Wisp is sending a hound after me too—shit, shit, shit! I gotta get to the river!”
All that is empty in the drawing should be filled in, the teacher said to us kids. First you sharpen the pencil to fill in the thin whiskers, then you use the thick crayon to fill in the wings with brown, meticulously and without letting the crayon leave the page. Six feet can be traced below the soft belly. Now, breathing is hard to detect on paper, the teacher said to me when I asked, but it is easier to feel it in real life.
Even insects breathe.
-Rawi Hage, Cockroach