The Crazy Ones

Writers: AL, Cali
Date Posted: 5th December 2008

Characters: F'gol, Sheste
Description: Figol finds Sheste hunting for firelizards.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 13, day 1 of Turn 4

"Hey, what are you doing?" Figol all but yelled as he looked up. He had seen someone climbing the rocks when he'd been a ways off, but when he got closer he realized that someone was Sheste... and in a dress no less.

"Shhh!" The sound wasn't so audible, but the finger to her mouth made it obvious. She flailed her arms as if trying to tell him to go away, then turned and resumed her climbing.

He waited a few moments, but when she didn't come down he decided to go up to her... since he wasn't allowed to speak. The rocks were slick and it made no sense why she was half way up a cliff.

Sheste turned around when she heard the crunching of rock behind her and she frowned as she saw the young man following her. She paused, letting him catch up, then motioned for him to be quiet again and once more continued in her climbing.

Figol stared at her for a moment, **The girl must be crazy.**, but held his tongue, **The crazy ones you have to be careful not to make mad.** and continued to follow her. Finally she stopped and after he caught up, he waited... and waited.... and waited, before finally risking the wrath of a crazy person to lightly tap on her shoulder for an explanation.

Unfortunately, there was no explanation. Sheste simply continued climbing. When she came toward the top of a rise, she ducked down, slowed her movements and picked her way even more carefully to avoid making any noise. She glanced back at the young man, as if to dare him to make any sudden moves or noise himself.

**She'd better be sneaking up on a giant bag of marks.** Figol growled to himself as he waited for her next move. He was regretting ever being curious about the girl's predicament, and fervently wishing he'd minded his own business.

There were two large boulders just a little to her left and Sheste stopped when she came to them, peeking through the valley that they made as they joined. She motioned for Figol to come over, but then made a second gesture that indicated he should remain quiet. When he drew closer, she pointed and he could see a gold firelizard, obviously wild and obviously heavy with egg preening and half dozing in the sun.

"Oh!" he let out in the barest whisper. She was beautiful, a real Nyith in miniature. Now the girl didn't seem as crazy when he put her behavior into context.

The gold lifted her head and nipped under her foreleg before laying back down once more. She heaved a heavy sigh then made another noise that sounded almost like a whirring. A dragonet snore? Perhaps. Sheste put her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle and continued to crouch down there and watch. Eventually, however, the gold pushed herself up to her legs and scratched behind a ridge with her hind foot. Then she yawned just before jumping up into the sky and blinking /between/. Sheste stared at the place where the gold had been lazing, then stood up and brushed herself off. "Oh well, at least we got to see her for a while. I have a feeling she's preparing a nest here." The girl pointed to a small cave that was half out of sight around another large boulder. "I've seen her go in and out of that. She'll be clutching soon."

"How do we get down?" Now that the firelizard was gone, he didn't relish the thought of climbing back over the slick rocks. He looked up and wondered if up and over wasn't a better idea.

"The way we came." Sheste didn't seem nearly as concerned as the boy and she turned and began to carefully and slowly pick her way down. She paused and looked up at him when she realized he hadn't moved from his spot. "Well, come on."

He looked up again, but didn't argue, he wasn't going to look the coward in front of a girl. As he ungracefully started back down he tried to distract himself. "So how do you plan on getting the eggs out of that little hole?"

"I can fit." Well, sort of. She certainly couldn't stand, but the girl had managed to sort of inch into the cave. "I tried it when she wasn't here once. I'll get dirty, but I can do it."

Maybe the girl _was_ crazy. He'd never go head first into a tiny dark hole and hope for the best. What if he got stuck, or trapped, or attacked by a tunnelsnake? "So are you still mad at me?" she didn't seem to be, but the crazy ones hid things like that.

"I suppose not." Sheste didn't look up at him, too preoccupied with making sure that she was getting good footing and keeping a good hold. She didn't want to slip and fall - doing so would not result in a happy harper. "You are just a boy, after all."

"I'd take issue with that, but then you'd just be mad at me again." Figol tossed back, realizing at some point he'd caught his hand on something and was bleeding all over his tunic sleeve. "You are a girl after all."

"At least I didn't put my foot in my mouth." Sheste stated with a small sniff as she quickly and nimbly climbed down the rest of the way, her feet landing on solid and more level ground.

It took him a bit longer, but Figol was able to copy her movements and follow her down. He'd never been so happy to see sand! "Have you ever tried coming from the top? It seems closer to the hole."

"Uh..." Sheste gave Figol a look that said she thought _he_ was crazy. "Kind of hard to get to the top without climbing from the bottom, unless you are suddenly going to sprout wings."

He gave an annoyed click with his tongue. "I meant going around the other way. It'd take a while to get there, but I bet it'd be safer."

"Oh that." Sheste shook her head. "I tried, but it doesn't go all the way up. It stops and then twists to actually go around and back down. It doesn't go up quite that far."

He shrugged, she would know more than he. "So what now?"

"Well, I'm going to keep checking back, find out when she clutches. I'll not take the eggs right away, but definitely before they hatch." The girl paused, then amended, "Well...one or two anyway."

She was crazy to want _two_ firelizards, but he knew that already. "Sounds like you've got it all planned out."

"Mostly anyway." Sheste laughed softly, then cocked her head at the young man. "Are you sure you don't want one either?"

"I'll sell them if you want to give them up." Figol replied. He could use the marks for paper instead of reusing hide over and over while working on his compositions.

"No way." Sheste shook her head. "If you don't want one, we'll just leave the rest there."

Figol looked at her with a mix of shock and horror. "You really _are_ crazy. What would you want to do that for?"

"Because, I know *I* will take good care of the eggs." The rise where she had climbed to the area was coming into view, but they still had a bit of a walk ahead of them. "But even if you sell them, who knows who gets them? Maybe I'll come back for more if I find out people I can trust will take them. You know, I've heard of firelizards leaving their owners when they aren't properly treated. I wouldn't want that to happen to one of them."

He sighed, it's not like he was suggesting giving away a _child_. "Well if they aren't being taken care of then they'll just leave. Let the firelizards decide and we can prosper a bit too."

"I'd rather not put them in that sort of position to begin with." Sheste sniffed, picking up her pace. "Come on slowpoke or we'll never get back before dinner!"

Figol wanted to argue the point more, but the gold hadn't even laid her clutch so it could wait. He'd have to clean up his hand before they ate, so he hurried after her back to the Hall. "Just don't forget to come and get me when you go after them."

"I'll try." The girl shot back with a mischievous grin and her walk turned into a run.

Last updated on the December 7th 2008

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The Crazy Ones