Daniel sat quietly on the table as his
two “hostesses” went about cooking breakfast. The two of them
were quite a pair. Ellie clumsily dropped one of the eggs,
predictably ending with Minnie teasing her. The redhead swatted at
the buzzing fairy before moving to cleaning her mess. As she bent to
do so, Minnie flew straight long into Ellie's extended rear,
practically bouncing off it.
“Eep!” Ellie cried, straightening.
“Yeah, that's right!” Minnie
declared, triumphantly. “Don't mess with me!”
“Will you knock it off?” Ellie
snapped. “I'm trying to cook!”
“Do you cook eggs on the floor?”
“Do YOU want to end up on the
floor?”
“Yeah right! You'd have to catch me
first!”
It was on the tip of his tongue to try
and silence their puerile bickering, but it was no use. In the short
time he'd known them these two had already proven to him that they
only listened to about every other word he said. And even that was
generous, especially for the fairy whose attitude would only egged on
with any words from him. No doubt she still believed his violation
the previous night was nothing of concern.
In spite of themselves, the pair
continued to work and an admittedly delicious smell began to waft
through the kitchen, awakening Daniel's stomach. Finally, Ellie
approached with a plate while Minnie floated around holding a sausage
to nibble on. As per last night, Daniel was fed off Ellie's plate,
with her cutting pieces of her sausages into tiny pieces and passing
them to the Minish. Yet another insult to his pride, but again he
found very little option. He could have left; he could have turned
down Ellie's tearful pleas and simply exited the window and made his
way back into the woods on his own. But it wasn't safe out there for
someone like him and, despite his annoyances at the pair, it would,
at the very least, be faster to ride on Ellie than to continue
walking on his own.
Ellie dared for a conversation. “How
is it?” She asked.
“It's fine.”
“Good.”
“You're welcome!” Minnie exclaimed
from up above.
“Sorry?” Daniel asked.
“You say 'thank you' when people do
nice things for you!” Minnie pouted.
“I owe you nothing,” Daniel
grumbled. “You both owe me far more than I owe you.”
The fairy's legs suddenly dropped down
into his vision as she landed heavily onto the table, dropping her
sausage. Surprised, his eyes began to travel up to her eyes, but only
met her brown locks until her head turned around at him with an icy
glare. She reached down and lifted her tunic, revealing her wide,
bare butt.
“YOU owe ME a kiss on the butt!”
She snapped. “So you bette-!”
Calmly, Ellie reached out and snatched
the fairy in her fist, stood from her chair, placed Minnie on the
cushion, then brought her own generous rear back down with a plop.
“Sorry.” Ellie apologized. “She's
just...stupid.”
Pot meet kettle, Daniel thought but
chose not to say. Ellie had saved her from the fairy's outrageous
behavior...for the moment.
“So...any ideas on which direction
to find your village?” The redhead asked.
“None.” Daniel replied. “There
was a storm a few days ago and it separated me from the rest of my
party. I don't know what became of them. Nor do I know where I am.”
“You were traveling with others?”
“Of course. Minishes never travel
alone if they can help it. Surely even you understand why.”
“Because you're so tiny?”
“...yes...” Daniel grumbled.
“Because I'm so tiny.”
“How many others of you are out in
the woods?” Ellie asked.
“I don't know. That was one of the
objectives of the scouting party. To see if there were other
settlements. It is not always easy for my people to make contact with
each other in such a large world.”
“I can imagine!”
“If we do make contact with any
other settlements it will be possible that they will be able to point
us in the right directions. So long as we are able to talk to them
before you step on all of them...”
“It was an accident.” Ellie
replied almost absently. She realized the danger of her making that
mistake twice was all too real. Minnie's muffled cries grew louder
and the redhead looked down, lifting one of her legs up as she did.
“What's wrong with you?”
“GET YOUR FAT BUTT OFF ME!” The
fairy bawled.
“Are you done being stupid?”
“I didn't do ANYTHING, dumbo!”
“You better start being a lot more
nice.” Ellie said. “I'll fart. You know how gassy I can be after
I drink...”
“EW! NO!” Minnie shrieked.
“I second that!” Daniel protested.
“Fine,” Ellie said, before
lowering her leg back down, muffling the fairy's cries again.
“...weren't you going to let her
out?” Daniel asked.
“I didn't say that,” Ellie
shrugged. “I just agreed not to fart on her.”
“How nice of you...”
“There's a village of towards the
west of here,” The redhead said, shoveling more of her breakfast
into her mouth. With her cheek full... “We cud hed in tha
durection.” Apparently manners and etiquette were not a priority
among these “ladies”.
“My people would not settle so close
to humans.” Daniel countered. “It would be a recipe for disaster
with them stomping around like you.”
“I don homp awound.”
“What? Could you please not talk
with your mouth full!”
“Sowwy.” Ellie chewed for a moment
before finally gulping, a large bulge traveling down her throat. When
she opened her mouth again the following belch rang throughout the
house. “Anyway, I don't stomp around!”
“The point is it would be
dangerous!” Daniel barked. “So therefore any sane Minish wouldn't
think of settling around there.”
“Well, maybe...” Ellie said. “But
it's kinda far from here, so there's lots of woods inbetween. We
could look around for some kind of clues and then sleep there if we
needed to. Cause I'm not camping out in the woods.”
“Why not?” Daniel asked. “You're
a human. There's not much out there that would be brave enough to
attack you.”
“Sleeping on the ground hurts my
back.”
Once again, the fairy's muffled cries
swelled in a desperate tone and Ellie lifted herself up again.
“GET OFFA ME! OR I'LL BITE YOUR
BUTT!”
“Oh, fine.” Ellie replied, lifting
up more. The fairy instantly flew out from under her. “I was
getting tired of you wriggling around down there. Just stop being
stupid.”
“I didn't do ANYTHING!” Minnie
snapped, landing on the table in front of Ellie. “He's acting like
a big jerk to ME like it's MY fault that YOU...!”
Ellie leaned forward, dropping the
swell of her bosom onto the table, rattling the plates and silverware
as she did. The fairy was like the item of a magic trick; there one
moment and then gone the next.
“Besides, I always feel gross
afterward,” The redhead continued. “Dirt all over me, bugs in my
hair...that kind of stuff. At least I'll be able to take a bath at
the Inn, get something to eat, and have a warm bed and a roof over my
head. Our heads in this case.”
Daniel thought about it for a moment.
She had a fair point. He'd done his share of camping the past few
days and deeply desired some respite from it. Hadn't that been one of
the reasons he had agreed to spend the night with these two in the
first place? Still, he was certain they wouldn't find his village
near any human settlements, but there was always a chance they'd find
some clue. Or maybe run into other Minish scouts.
“Fine,” Daniel said. “I accept
your plan.”
“Great!” Ellie beamed. She stood
up from the table. “Minnie! We worked out a plan!” The fairy
merely gasped for air in response. “Glad you like it! I'll just
clean up a little bit and we'll head out!”
She walked over to the large bucket
that she did the washing in, while the angry fairy fluttered after
her.
“I don't care about your stupid
plan!” Minnie was fuming. “Just because you're bigger than me
doesn't mean you can just...” She was cut off after Ellie dropped
the dishes in the water and spun around, her large chest whooping the
fairy and sending her hurdling towards the wall.
“You're right, Minnie!” The
redhead proclaimed, still beaming. “There's no time to waste. The
dishes can wait. Let's head out.”
“Yeah...” Minnie replied dazedly
from the floor. “Let's...let's do that...”
“Are you ready, Daniel.” Ellie
asked, holding a hand out to him to climb onto.
“As ready as ever,” He replied,
sighing. “But I will ride on your shoulder this time! I don't need
to get motion sickness from your chest!”
“Fair enough,” Ellie replied with
a small sheepish smile. She gently dropped the Minish onto her
shoulder, feeling his small hands grab some of her red hair. “Comfy?”
“Just get on with it.”
“Alright! Let's go! This'll be fun!
Kinda like an adventure!”
“Sure it will...” Minnie grumbled,
sitting atop the beret atop Ellie's head.
And with that, the unlikely trio left
the house and entered the wilderness.