Obstacles [Social - Enchee]

Quill just lay there like a feathered log. His eyes were still shut tightly, his face kept pressed against the warmed stone of the road, and he paid just enough attention to the rest of the world to make sure no one stepped on him. Not much past that. Could he just stay there the entire day? Would anyone really care? Or was…was lying in a street like this illegal?

“You need some help.”

Huh?

A voice from above took the apprentice out of his thoughts. He shifted his body to the side and then flopped over onto his back, squinting against the sun, and saw a shadow looming over him. For a second his breath caught in his throat. He whimpered, but then the shadow came into focus. A green-green shadow? No, a goblin! He had never seen a real life goblin before. She seemed like a kid, too! Or were goblins just that small?

“Need. Help.”

Quill croaked the goblin’s own words back at her and nodded his beak. He needed much-much help. The sooner they could get this mess cleaned up, too, the sooner he could be back in the Tower and not get arrested for public disruption or blocking carriage traffic or maybe…even littering? How was he not chained up already?

The kenku picked himself up, winced as he gently rubbed the raw scrapes on his talons, and then clutched one set of them together. A spectral white hand popped into existence next to his head. Then it began to zip this way, and then that way, as it started to accrue a jumbled pile of the things that had pitched over and scattered. Quill himself bent down and picked up an alchemical bottle filled with bright green liquid, his shoulders drooping as he saw the deep crack across its side.

That was going to be many-many troubles…

Still, if the two of them worked together, then maybe he could still make it back on time at least. Tucking the bottle away in a pocket, Quill mimicked a “Hey!” and jumped up and down in front of the goblin, using his talons to motion an approximate box-like shape, and then pointed to the growing bundle of bits and pieces his mage hand was pushing together. There was no way he was carrying a messy-messy bundle like that anywhere!

The goblin had the good-good magics, too!

Quill’s beak chattered in excitement as he watched the girl pull out an orb of sorts, look into it, and then conjure up a mage hand of her own. Wow! It was a kind of magic that he had never seen before, but any kind of magic was always his favorite thing to watch. Not that he could wait around and watch all day! For a while the two of them, little white kenku and little green goblin and their two glowing mage hands, darted around the street and gathered up everything that had fallen into as neat of a pile as they could get. The biggest-biggest bits on the bottom and the smallest-smallest and roundiest-roundiest bits on top! Quill lifted himself up to the very tips of his talons, nudged a little pocket book on cave fungus to the very tippy top of the pile, and then let out a long sigh.

It was all there. Thank the Triad!

The apprentice then tried his best to dust his feathers off too (why did his face feel like it was covered in bad-bad stuff, though?) and nodded, satisfied, once a bit of white began to poke through again. Good enough! He then spotted the goblin skipping over to him. His own mage hand zipped on over and returned a big wave of its own as Quill, beak almost brushing against stone and the hood of his cloak flopping over his eyes, gave her a huge bow. He then fumbled with the hood as he stood straight again and pulled it back.

“Hoy! Enchee!”

Once more the goblin’s own voice returned as Quill’s greeting, but this time it would be replaced after by the kind if ragged voice of an elderly lady. The apprentice pointed a talon at his chest.

“Quill!”

His shoulders then sagged a little and he scratched at the corner of his beak. Bits of dried mud from his face flaked off.

“Silly Quill…”

Very-very silly Quill. Without the kind goblin’s help he might never have gotten the pile together or, at the very least, not soon enough to make it back to the Tower on time. Or he might have lost something. The thought made him fidget with the strap of his satchel. He looked around. They…they must have gotten everything, right? Nothing was missing? There was the books and the big-big packages and the slippery-slippery bottles and the garments and the…the…

The kenku slapped both of his talons on either side of his head and fell to his knees. His eyes darted this way, that way, and then back again. His heart felt like it would thump out of his chest. Where was it? The little-little…box…metal…thing that Master Dossa had asked him to pick up? It was gone. Gone! Gone!!!

A few of the nearest walking down Selduth Street recoiled, eyes wide in surprise, as the little kenku in the middle of the street opened his beak and let out a shriek as sharp as a banshee’s wail.

Quill’s shriek only lasted a few seconds, but even at the end of it his talons were still dug into the sides of his face, his feathers had puffed out, and his body quivered. It was goooooone. Gone! Gone. Goooooooooooone. Guess what else was gone, too? His chances at becoming a real-real sorcerer. His chances at fully joining the Order. Maybe even his chances at living in the city! Would they…would they accuse him of stealing it? Destroying it on purpose? Being careless. Nonononononononononon-

The voice at his side shattered the apprentice’s thoughts. Enchee was next to him, fluffy orange hair as poofed out as his own feathers, and she had pulled out a dagger. She seemed worried. The slightest bit of guilt tugged at his heart at that, but it was beating too fast to let him vocalize it. She did ask what was going on, though. What was going on? The worst-worst! Quill picked himself up, gestured wildly at the pile they had arranged, and gave her a wide-eyed look. He also searched for and found the voice of the other, sterner older lady he was looking for.

“Apprentice? Fetch my package while you’re at the market. It’s a little metal box, a silver harp on the lid, and bring it as quick as you can!”

Quill looked again. It really, well and truly, positively…was nowhere in the pile. He clutched at his throat to stop another shriek from coming out. It was okay-okay. They still had time. The apprentice took a deep breath, and then another, and then a third, and then turned to the goblin. Maybe it had just fallen a little farther than the other things? Maybe they could still find it? Maybe! Maybe. Hopefully. Please?

The kenku shielded his eyes with a talon and really gave the street a look now. There was the street itself, of course, and the constant stream of carriages and walkers going back and forth. Had someone stolen it? That was a bad-bad thought, but he did not think so. One of them would have noticed. Other than that, though, there was just a small rain ditch on the side, the door to a business of some kind, and a partially opened sewer grate.

“We’ll find it.”

Quill nodded at Enchee and mimicked in agreement, but still wrung his talons. He…he wanted to think so. He really did! But it was hard-hard. Very hard-hard. Especially when all he could think about was how his apprenticeship and his studies and his home in the city were all in bad-bad danger if they could not find the metal…harp…box…thing. Still, he sighed and then puffed out his chest. The goblin was willing to help, so he should too! Help himself, that was. That sounded like the kind of thing his Dad would want him to do. Solve his own big-big problems and do the right thing and only cry a small-small amount!

The kenku followed Enchee around for a bit. She seemed to know what she was doing so…he did what she did, too. He rubbed his beak when the goblin held her chin, he bent down and stared at his feet when she did, and then he hopped straight back up and pushed down his still ruffled, dirty feathers as she did so with her own orange hair. Was this good-good? Was this helping? Quill cocked his head to the side and wrung his talons again. He did not remember where the box was. The box was not by his feets. The box was not in his feathers. Was…was he doing it right-right?

Then, she scurried over and began rummaging and feeling around the nearby street ditch.

Quill ran after her, his mage hand in tow, and bent down next to Enchee. He stared into the ditch. It looked…empty. Dirty and wet-wet and empty. His shoulders sagged, but the kenku perked up a bit when the goblin spoke. He held out one of his talons in front of her. A puff of smoke wisped upwards from it. Then, the center of the smoke began to glow a fiery red and, with a high-pitched roar, a miniature illusory dragon flew out and circled his hand. Quill nodded at Enchee and his eyes lit up.

“Magic!”

Good-good magics! It was a word he had heard tens and hundreds and thousands of times already in the Order, so finding a voice to mimic for it was easy. He picked his Uncle’s. Clutching his talon, the apprentice dispelled his little magic show. He then pointed at Enchee and returned her own question.

“What…are you? Enchee!”

Without waiting for an answer Quill leaned farther into the ditch. He began to rummage around even harder, his talons sloshing through muck and grime and his mage hand shoveling out handfuls of mud, as his tail feathers bobbed and weaved in the air. His movements were a little frantic and he clicked his beak together. Where was it! Where was it! Where was it!

Quill poked his head out from the ditch. His facial feathers were even more brown now, a bit of fresh mud smeared over his beak with the dirt from his fall, and his talons were full of muck and grime. He clicked his beak. Enchee? The goblin had run off. His shoulders sagged – no more good-good helps? Had he said something bad-bad? But…no! There she was! She had gone over to the sewer grate. The apprentice clicked his beak again, shrugged, and then leaned back into the ditch. He rummaged some more through the waste.

Where was it!

Eventually, he had to give up. The metal-harp-box-thing was not in the ditch. He pattered his feet against the cobblestone, stood up, and then wiped some of the mud from his face. Or tried to. Most of it just ended up on his gloves and forearm. This was bad-bad! That was already one place where there was no box. Giving the big pile of other things a quick check, Quill ran over to Enchee and the sewer grate as she…climbed into it? Climbed into it! Quill flailed his arms, opened his beak, and moved faster as he nearly threw himself at the edge of the grate and looked into it. The goblin was poking around inside. Was that…was that good-good? Would they not get in trouble? Would his other things be okay? The apprentice glanced from the street, to the pile of things close by, back toward Enchee. He cocked his head. He had to find the box, right? And the goblin seemed really good-good at finding things! She knew what she was doing. She even had her hair tied up for…a reason. He was sure it was a good one, though!

The kenku slicked a few of the feathers on his head up and then slipped down the sewer grate after Enchee.

Once he had caught up, Quill bent down to pick up a rock from the ground and then snapped his talons. The rock began to glow brightly. He held it out to Enchee.

“Magic! For Enchee!”

It was dark-dark down here. But, more than that, Quill thought that maybe it would help them see the metal-harp-box-thing better if it was down here as well. Metal was shiny, right?