post # 260

Happy December. I just got back from musical rehearsal. We were practicing a dance number that, like a lot of the dances, necessitates tap dancing at the speed of light.

Thoroughly Modern Millie is DEFENITELY a lot harder than West Side Story was, dance-wise. I'm a sort of extra, but that means I'm dancing in more songs than I was when I was in West Side Story, because the extras were either Jets or Sharks, not Anonymous People in the Background. So now I'm kind of hungry, fairly tired, and wishing I didn't have homework. But I do. But I'm not going to do it. Yet.

Anyway, the one good thing that's probably going to come out of this is that I'm going to be in a lot better shape than I was when I originally auditioned. That happened with West Side Story, too, but that was more stress and no sleep and lack of proper food for a few weeks than it was dancing my legs off, like this time. Mind you, it's probably going to be a similar situation during opening week because of the epic stress levels and practicing with the pit band and stuff like that. But still. It's probably worth it.

I guess I'm glad I'm doing this, but still, sometimes I wonder whether I was stupid to audition again because I sort of knew how it was going to be this time around for rehearsals, and I had a few doubts about whether it was fully sane to do it. But I think it is.

For the record, counting all summer camp productions, when Millie closes, I'm going to have done as many stage productions as I have years in my life. Counting the years when I didn't know what I was doing. Yes, that is a lot. No, I'm not telling you how old I am. I'm just going to tell you that it's more than ten.

I think that's worth not dropping out for.

Anyway

So last night I was up until like midnight (unintentionally.). So when my alarm went off this morning, I was tired as heck. Plus I haven't been able to sleep very well as of late. It's really weird. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep more tonight. But the fact is that I can't really work on seven hours of sleep. Maybe it's just because I've been going off with nine hours over break. Like I would go to bed really late, but I wouldn't wake up until like nine, so it would all be okay. But it kind of reminds me of the time over the summer when I unintentionally slept until like eleven and freaked my mom out. But how was I supposed to know that it was eleven in the morning? Apparently she called to see if I was up like five times and then she called and said she was coming home, and I didn't wake up until she came into my room with her full work attire and woke me up, having driven back from her office. It was the weirdest thing ever. But it's a good story to tell people. Yeah, one time I slept really late and freaked my mom out. Wahoo!
Anyway, moving on with life.

Great.

Na No Wri Mo is almost over! And I still haven't gotten 50,000 words on any story I've been working on! OH NO! Okay, I admit, I wasn't really trying that hard until like today and a bit of yesterday. But still. I think, in all, with all the stories I've been working on and the little bits and pieces of all the bits we did in creative writing, and all the essays and such for English, and all the blog posts, I think I'd probably have 50,000 words, but if I counted just one story, it wouldn't really work because I really can't do 50,000 words for anything when I'm trying to, but still. It's kind of annoying that I didn't work on any of my stories over break. But whatever. It was break, what can I say? Okay, I probably should have worked on it during break. But the fact is, I can't do 50,000 words on anything in a month. I can barely do 15,000 words in a year.
Anyway, moving on from moping about Na No Wri Mo. Star Trek is officially the best movie ever. The new one, I mean. Because that's the only Star Trek movie that I've seen. But whatever. I'm such a nerd for liking Star Trek. But I don't really care because I'm already such a nerd to begin with. I'm not kidding. I like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, I blog, and I knit, and I'm a drama nerd. The only difference is that my acne isn't terrible. Yet. It's getting there. And I wear glasses. Except they're not the big nerdy kind, so that doesn't really count. But whatever. I'm still a nerd.
And I write. And do a lot of fantasy things.
But whatever. Moving on with life.

Anyway. I'm a nerd.

So I was gonna go on a date tonight. Yes, one of THOSE dates. At least, that was my impression of it. But I didn't. Because first the plan was that he was going to drive to my house, and then my mom would drive us (I haven't got my permit yet, and he's not allowed to drive people yet) to the movie. But then it progressed that his mom was going to drive him to my house and then hang out at my house during the movie, because by the time she got back to their place, it would be time for her to leave again to pick him up. So then I suggested that he take the metro, because there's a metro stop really close to the movie theater. But then it progressed to we would both drive out and meet halfway between our two houses, which would put us somewhere in the middle of Maryland, and then we'd take a long drive BACK to the theater, and then drive BACK to the middle place to drop him off once it was over. So, needless to say, it didn't really work out. So instead I am staying home and watching the newest Star Trek movie.
I know I'm weird. And I'm not entirely dissapointed, because I like him, but I don't LIKE him, you know?
And once I told him that I didn't think it was going to work, he started to try to guilt trip me into going anyway, via text message. But I didn't reply to most of them, so he shut up for a while. Then he texted me a little while ago and asked if I was having fun without him.
Honestly, if he had that attitude constantly, I WOULD be having fun without him. But, on the other hand, now he'll probably stop texting me all the time like he's done the past week, even the days when I had school and when I was in class. It was the most annoying thing ever.
And then when I told him I was in class, but I had a free block next, he was like, oh, please hurry with that quiz you're taking, I really need a friend right now.
AAAAAHHHHHHH!

Weird.

The strange thing is, I seem to be actually *gasp* UNDERSTANDING SHAKESPEARE!? But the other odd thing is, I seem to be acutally *gasp* ENJOYING SHAKESPEARE!? Where did THIS come from? I was just reading Romeo and Juliet, because I'm a nerd and because I have to for English class, and, for some strange reason or another, I actually GET what they're saying in the garden scene. I was totally befuddled by all of it when I saw it with the all male cast last year. It was SHAKESPEARE, which was TOTALLY confusing to me then, but I actually sort of get it now. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE??? Maybe it's because it's like the most famous love scene in all of forever. Maybe it's because the people are actually MY AGE, for a change. They were all around thirty in the show. And there is the small fact that they were all DUDES in the show. And everyone in "Midsummer Night's Dream" was like thirty as well. But whatever the reason, it's actually sort of making sense now. Maybe because I read the summary.
I really have no idea.
Maybe it's because I used Spark Notes for half of Act Two.
But it's probably because this scene has all the lines I recognize from Shakespeare. Like, "But soft! What light from yonder window breaks?"
And, "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?"
And it's got all the funny bits. Except for the line about being out of breath between Juliet and the Nurse, which comes in like Act 3 or something. Anyway, I don't get why it's suddenly making sense.
Maybe it's because it's been a whole year since I last did anything to do with this show, so I've had time to get smart and stuff. Whatever.

The Fastest Song In Eternity

The Speed Test, Thoroughly Modern Millie.
In the music, the note for the very last bit is "as fast as humanly possible." I'll make a note of it when it comes. You all need to look it up. The entire Millie soundtrack, in fact. DO IT.

MR. GRAYDON:
Take a letter. To a Mr. John Hudson, Hudson's Floor Wax. You will find an invoice in the file for the address. "Dear Mr. Hudson," colon:

My eyes are fully open to my awful situation
So I'm writing you a letter to demand an explanation
When the floor wax that we bought from you
Arrived here Monday morning
We discovered upon usage that the fume
Should have a warning
Since the only possibility is that the wax is rancid
I request a full refund of all the money we advanced
And unless you can convince me
You've improved the floor wax batter
We will take our business elsewhere
So I hope you solve this matter

How's my speed, Miss Dillmount?

MILLIE:
A little slow, perhaps.

MR. GRAYDON:
Ah!
Enclosed you'll find a small container
Of the stuff I talk about
Just carefully remove the lid
And take a whiff if you've a doubt
I'm sure you wouldn't want me
To alert the daily papers
With the news of how our office
Was affected by your vapours
Which is why I choose to write to you
A confidential letter
Full of strong recommendation
That you make your floor wax better
I just hope it won't require us
To have our floor relaid and
If it does you may expect a bill
Sincerely, Trevor Graydon

Now, read that back to me please.

MILLIE:
Certainly. "Dear Mr. Hudson," colon:
My eyes are fully open to my awful situation
So I'm writing you a letter to demand an explanation
When the floor wax that we bought from you
Arrived here Monday morning
We discovered upon usage that the fume
Should have a warning
Since the only possibility is that the wax is rancid
I request a full refund of all the money we advanced

MR. GRAYDON:
Nice!

MILLIE:
And unless you can convince me
You've improved the floor wax batter
We will take our business elsewhere
So I hope you solve this matter

MR. GRAYDON:
Not half bad. Continue please.

MILLIE:
Enclosed you'll find a small container
Of the stuff I talk about
Just carefully remove the lid
And take a whiff if you've a doubt
I'm sure you wouldn't want me
To alert the daily papers
With the news of how our office
Was affected by your vapours
Which is why I choose to write to you
A confidential letter
Full of strong recommendation
That you make your floor wax better
I just hope it won't require us
To have our floor relaid and
If it does you may expect a bill
Sincerely, Trevor Graydon

MR. GRAYDON:
Miss Dillmount, may I speak frankly?

MILLIE:
Yes?

MR. GRAYDON:
If I could be so lucky
As to have a good stenographer
To keep this place as up-to-date
As her short skirt and bobbed coiffure
I wouldn't have to worry 'bout
Our soured office planking
And could concentrate on generating
Profits ripe for banking
That is why I'm testing you
With this outrageous correspondence
Which I don't intend to actually mail
To the respondents
So if you can make sense of my unintelligble patter
Then the job is yours and Hudson's Floor Wax doesn't matter

MILLIE:
Hudson's Floor Wax doesn't matter?
Matter, matter, matter, matter
Hudson's Floor Wax doesn't matter?
Matter, matter, matter, matter

MR. GRAYDON (at the same time):
Hudson's Floor Wax doesn't matter!
Matter, matter, matter, matter
Hudson's Floor Wax doesn't matter!


OFFICE WORKERS (at the same time):
Hudson's Floor Wax doesn't matter!
Matter, matter, matter, matter

MR. GRAYDON:
Now, I want that letter on my desk in two minutes flat. Man your machine! Go!

(Millie's rapid fire typing/tapping dazzles the office workers. She presents the finished letter to Mr. Graydon.)

Time! "Dear Mr. Hudson,"

MILLIE AND OFFICE WORKERS:
Colon.

MR. GRAYDON:
My eyes are fully open to my awful situation
So I'm writing you a letter to demand an explanation
When the floor wax that we bought from you
Arrived here Monday morning
We discovered upon usage that the fume
Should have a warning
Since the only possibility is that the wax is rancid
I request a full refund of all the money we advanced
And unless you can convince me
You've improved the floor wax batter
We will take our business elsewhere
So I hope you solve this matter

MILLIE AND OFFICE WORKERS:
So I hope you solve this matter
So I hope you solve this matter
So I hope you solve this matter
Matter, matter, matter, matter

MR. GRAYDON:
Going on.
*does this as fast as humanely possible, which is quite flippin fast*
Enclosed you'll find a small container
Of the stuff I talk about
Just carefully remove the lid
And take a whiff if you've a doubt
I'm sure you wouldn't want me
To alert the daily papers
With the news of how our office
Was affected by your vapours
Which is why I choose to write to you
A confidential letter
Full of strong recommendation
That you make your floor wax better
I just hope it won't require us
To have our floor relaid and
If it does you may expect a bill
Sincerely, Trevor Graydon

You have made the team Miss Dillmount!

OFFICE WORKERS:
You have made the team Miss Dillmount!

MILLIE:
Tell me where my desk is
When we eat lunch
How much I'll be paid, and
Nice to meet you, I know we'll be friends
Just call me Millie Graydon

MR. GRAYDON and OFFICE WORKERS:
Millie Graydon?

MILLIE:
I mean Dillmount!

MR. GRAYDON and OFFICE WORKERS:
Millie Dillmount?

MILLIE:
Someday Graydon!

MR. GRAYDON and OFFICE WORKERS:
Graydon? Dillmount? Dillmount?
Graydon? Graydon? Dillmount?

MILLIE:
Graydon!

ALL:
Ahhhhhhh!

Best. Broadway. Female. Song. Ever.

Put it with music and it's officially the best song ever.
Forget about the boy, Thoroughly Modern Millie.

No canary in a tree for me
This canary's ready to fly free

Cut the cord
Is that a man I once adored?
He's nothing but an albatross
No great loss
Double crosser
Forget about the boy
Pull the plug
Ain't he the one who pulled the rug
He's lower than an alley cat
Dirty rat
And I flatter
Forget about the boy
Forget about the boy
Forget about the boy

And in the moonlight
Don't you think about him
Sister, you're much better off without him
You can blow the blues a kiss goodbye
And put the sun back in the sky
For when he comes crawlin'
I'm not fallin'

Shout hooray and hallelu!
Now me and mister wrong are through
I'll find myself another beau
Who I know is no rover
Forget about the boy
Forget about the boy
Forget about -

Jimmy, oh Jimmy, Jimmy

Horace

Danny

Milton

Percy

Edgar

Timothy

Alfred

Vito Carbone

Benjamin Pratt, the third

Teddy Morgan

Barney Schreiber, C.P.A. *BEST LINE EVER!!!!!!!!!*

Jimmy, oh Jimmy, silly boy
Gee, what a real swell guy

Cut the cord, is that a man I once adored?
He's nothing but an albatross
No great loss, doublecrosser

Forget about the boy

Jimmy, oh Jimmy, what great joy
He makes my troubles fly

Pull the plug, ain't he the one who pulled the rug?
He's lower than an alley cat, dirty rat
And I flatter

Forget about the boy
Forget about the boy
Forget about the boy!

Shout hooray and hallelu!
Now that me and mister wrong are through
I'll find myself another beau
Who I know is no rover
Forget about the boy
Forget about the boy
Forget about the boy

And in the moonlight don't you think about him
Sister you're much better off without him
You can blow the blues a kiss goodbye
And put the sun back in the sky

For when he comes crawlin'

I'm not fallin'

Hallelujah!
Forget about the boy
Forget about the boy
Forget about the boy!

HUZZAH!

Huzzah! Hurray!!! I finished my 8 gup today!

So I did my 8 gup test today for tae kwon do. It wasn't NEARLY as hard as the 1st dan test was. Maybe it's because I was a vegetarian then and I was terrible at getting protein in my diet. Maybe it's because I had gatorade this time. Maybe it's because there were fewer people testing in the same room as me so it wasn't as rigorus. One would think that it would be more rigorous if there were fewer people, but it wasn't. Maybe it was because almost all of us were from the same dojang, even the tester. Well, whatever it was, the test went a lot better than last time.
For all of you who don't know, the 1st dan is the 1st degree, and 8 gup is like a quarter step above 1st degree. It's cooler than first degree but not quite as cool as 6 gup. But it wasn't entirely awesome. Like now my thumb on my right hand kind of hurts from sparring (which also went better than in March because I was sparring my friends almost the entire time, except for once), the back of my left hand kind of hurts from board breaking, since backfist was one of my moves, and my leg kind of hurt during sparring because of excessive use of blocking kicks.
It could have been worse, though. Another guy from my dojang did some really intense double handed thing for one of his board breaks and ended up like popping something in his wrist and it swelled up a lot. For a while I thought his wrist was broken because it was swelling a lot, but he said it didn't hurt as much as it did when he broke his arm. So I dunno. Either way, they put some ice on it and the swelling went down. But it was scary, partially because he's so intense when he's breaking boards, and partially because his wrist was swelling so much. I saw it after he was done breaking, and it was kind of bad. I looked away for a few seconds to watch my friend do some of her breaks, then when I looked back, it looked like someone had put half a baseball on his wrist.
And for some reason, I keep typing writs instead of wrist.
Maybe it's because my index finger kind of hurts from my breaks.
But I did break all of my boards, which was kind of amazing for me, because sparring and board breaking are my bad parts. I even managed to break spin axe kick on the first try, which is like the hardest kick ever. Except for spin round kick. And spin back kick. For spin round kick, you're hitting the board with the top of your foot, which is hard enough to break with, even if you're not doing the spin. Spin back kick is just like jump back kick or regular back kick, just with a spin that throws everything out of whack and makes it near impossible to hit anything right. I was nearly going to break with spin back kick, but then I decided to do jump back kick instead.
It's just easier.
And even though we had to do "high belt moves," if you just add a "jump" to the front of the name of any kick, it automatically makes it a "high belt move."
The annoying thing is that all the kicks that are reall fun are the ones that are hard to break with. Like spin back kick. Very fun, but I can't break with it for my life. Same with spin round kick. Plus spin round kick is very painful if you don't do it right and have to do the kick five times in a row before you break it. It's also painful if you do do it right. And it's also painful if you do it right but then miss the target and end up hitting the side of the board. That's the most painful one.
Anyway, afterwards we went to get ice cream. We usually would eat it at the place, but as my dad was in a hurry, we got it in a carton. And my fingers were hurting, so the cartons served as ice packs.
Okay, I'm going now.

An End of A Story

Okay, I'm not entirely sure I'm going to use this ending for the story, nor am I even done with the story in question. I just thought it was a cool ending, because it's like an ending at the beginning sort of thing. It's the Lord of the Rings type one. So yeah.

Faug and Valin decided to go to the Lazy Dog on Midsummer's Eve the next year, exactly five years after their adventure had started. Strangely enough, they were seated at the exact same table as they had been that fateful night.
Then Faug noticed a shadowed figure dressed all in black in the corner, with a hood over their eyes.
Faug grinned. He kicked Valin under the table and pointed discreetly. Valin turned cautiously, and grinned once he saw where his brother had been pointing. They knew the drill from there.
They sat there talking very late that night. Then Faug glanced over to the corner again, but the figure was gone.
Then he heard a soft voice in his ear.
"Room fifteen," whispered a voice he recognized. "Five minutes. Don't be late, or else suffer the consequences."
Faug nodded, and grinned.
Valin looked questioningly at his brother.
"Upstairs," he muttered. "Five minutes."
They obliged.
Entering room fifteen, they saw the figure exactly as they had seen her on the night they had met her five years ago-her back to them, staring out the window. She turned at the sound of the door. She was visibly grinning now.
The two brothers grinned back, glad to see the fairy-elf. She didn't seem very different, except for maybe a bit taller and filled out.
"I've got something to show you," she said.
"What?" Valin wondered.
"Do you remember my scars?" she asked.
They both nodded, remembering the scars that had marred her entire face for thousands of years. Now, Shyasha lowered her hood.
The scars had disappeared.
"Where did they go?" Faug wondered.
"I unfroze," she explained. "And I guess that activated the magic. If I'd learned to move on, they'd go away."
"But you and Telsiel are still...?" Valin asked, his voice trailing off.
Shyasha grinned again. "Yes, we are," she said. "In fact...."
She held up her left hand. A small gold ring shone on her fourth finger.
"Seriously?" Valin laughed. Faug just gaped. Somehow, marriage and Shyasha did not seem to go together in his head. He could not see her in a white dress at all, just as he could not see how his brother could do something as weird as knitting. But, as he had come to realize, people could surprise you.
"Yes," she said, laughing as well. "I couldn't believe it either, at first. But it's set for about two weeks from now."
"But how did your scars disappear?" Faug asked.
"I just had to forgive him, basically," Shyasha told him. "And unfreeze. The two had to go together. If I forgave him but didn't unfreeze, they'd still be there, and if I unfroze but I didn't forgive him, it wouldn't work either. But I only unfroze for about a year."
"So you're sixteen now, then?" Faug asked.
"Actually, if you remember correctly," Shyasha said, her grin broadening, "I'm technically four thousand seven hundred and eighteen. But yes, one can call me sixteen now."
"Did Telsiel de-freeze?" Valin asked.
"Yes," Shyasha said. "He's frozen as sixteen as well. It would have been awkward, you see, if he was still 45 or something."








Okay, that's all I can do for now.

Post # 251

Well, then. I'm kind of bored right now and have nothing to do. So here I am. Um..
What now?
I like pie.
I'm wearing a pirate bandanna today. Yes, I'm allowed to do that. It's fairly awesome. For some reason, my brother's middle school didn't allow them to wear bandannas because a bandanna apparently counts as a gang symbol and they didn't want anything related to gangs at their pristine, too-early-start-time suburban middle school. True, they let out at like two thirty, and we let out at like four, but whatever. The point is, it's not likely that there are going to be gangs in this area of this state, not even in the middle school where bandannas aren't allowed.
So anyway, I have no idea what to say now. Um... I'm going to go search around some random blogs and then come back and report about anything that sparks my interest.
Okay, I'm back. I have just found a poem by Robert Frost on some other blogger's blog. It is a very awesome poem that is also on one of the Senior Walls. Here it is.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold,
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost
Nothing Gold Can Stay

It kind of reminds me of "all that is gold" by JRR Tolkien.

All that is gold does not glitter
not all who wander are lost
the old that is strong does not wither
deep roots are not reached by the frost

from the ashes a fire shall be woken
a light from the shadows shall spring
renewed shall be the blade that was broken
the crownless again shall be king

So yeah.
I'm going now.

Chance? I think not.

Okay, this is really weird. So I was looking at random blogs today (yes, I know I'm weird, I've already heard that one quite a few times), and I somehow managed to happen upon a Renaissance writing blog thing, about, as far as I know, Shakespeare- era writing and such. And they had a Shakespeare Sonnet of the Day. And do you know what sonnet it was? You guessed it. Sonnet 133. Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan, for that deep wound it gives my friend and me, is't not enough to torture me alone, but a slave to slavery my sweetest friend must be. Yes, the very same. It was the weirdest thing ever. And no less ironic that we started new books today in English, and the one I am doing is Romeo and Juliet. This is the WEIRDEST day EVER. Or rather, 'tis the most strange day in these many years past. I don't know how Shakespeare would say it. As of yet, I'm really bad at talking in Shakespeare style.
I really wish English was Chinese. The Chinese language has barely changed in the zillion years that it's been around, and here I am, being completely befuddled by what some poet wrote four hundred years ago. The only line that I actually get is when Juliet says, "How canst thou be out of breath when thou hast breath enough to tell me that thou art out of breath?"
I'm not entirely sure that was right. But it's the gist of it, anyway. Like, how can the nurse tell Juliet that she's out of breath when she has enough breath to say that she's out of breath? Something like that, anyway.


Life is so weird.

Part 3 of the fairy story

I know it's been a while since I last posted anything literary, much less something that was relevant to the Creative Writing story. We haven't been doing the stories lately, so I haven't worked on it a lot. I did this bit a while ago when we were still working on it, near the end of the first quarter.
So here it is.

That night, we pitched camp near the edge of a clearing. There were trees all around us, except for the clearing. It didn't look happy.
Our camp fire was in the middle of the clearing. I was delegated the task of cooing even though I was terrible at it. We had bottomless canteens, thanks to Eohu's magic, so I just dumped a bunch of water into the pot and put in some vegetables that Eohu conjured out of nowhere at my request, along with some tofu. I'm a vegetarian, if you haven't noticed.
Garrett took one look in the pot and said, "What is that?"
"Soup," I said. I didn't know what else to call it.
"Where's the protein?" he demanded. "The meat and stuff? And what's that white stuff?"
"It's tofu," I told him. "that's your protein."
"Does it really matter?" Simon wondered.
"Yes, it does," Garrett insisted. I glanced at Eohu. He conjured up a bag of nuts and threw it at Garrett.
"There's your protein," he said to Garrett.
"You can avoid the tofu if you want to," I told him. "But if we keep it for a few days, it won't taste gross anymore, I swear."
"Tofu isn't protein," Garrett said. "and neither are nuts, for that matter," he added, looking in the bag.
"Actually, they both count," I snapped. "And there are beans in here, too. But I don't eat meat, and if you don't like it, fine. You can make dinner tomorrow, and I'll make up random excuses not to eat it."
We were all hungry, and it showed. When I dished out the food, Simon and Eohu accepted their bowls with thanks and had swallowed half of their bowls in thirty seconds. Garrett took his without saying anything, and sat there glaring at it while the rest of us ate.
"Look," I said, "If you're not going to eat it, you're not gonna have any energy tomorrow and you're still going to be in a bad mood, regardless of the protein content of whatever you've been given. Just try it, all right?"
Garrett looked up sullenly.
Come on, you've got to eat something," I insisted. "You don't have to like it. You just have to eat it, that's all. It's not toxic or anything, I swear." I looked at him pleadingly across the fire. "Please?"
Garrett sighed.
"What's up?" I asked.
"You remind me of my other," he said finally. "She always had to talk me into eating whatever she made for dinner. She's with the others now. A prisoner."
"If you want to save her, you're going to have to keep up your strength," I told him. "Which means you're going to have to eat some of those," I nodded at the bag of nuts, "and then get some sleep, all right?"
Garrett reluctantly put his hand into the bag.
"Lily, we need to talk about your magic," Eohu said.
"What about it?" I asked. I wasn't aware that I actually had any magic, but then, I wasn't aware that I was a fairy until last night.
"Well, you need to learn to use it," Eohu said. "You're a fairy, remember?"
"How about we work on it tomorrow?" I said. "When we actually have time."
"All right," Eohu agreed.
I took the flute out again. I don't know why I had the sudden urge to play it, but I did. I was about to put it to my lips when Simon said, "What was that noise?"
I put down the flute and listened. Something big was coming our way, crashing through the trees, very fast.
Simon reached for his bow and quiver as he rose. Garret pulled out his sword as he got to his feet. Eohu just stood up. I followed suit, unsure what else to do. They were all staring at the same spot towards where the sound was coming from-across the campfire from where I had been sitting. Next to me, Eohu sprouted wings. If I hadn't been scared about whether or not we were going to die, I would have looked at the cool brown-and-orange pattern more closely, but now wasn't the time. All I had time to think was that color combination like that of a monarch butterfly.
Then a troll stamped into the clearing. Twenty feet tall, with mottled gray skin and only a loincloth around its waist and a club in its hand, it paused when it saw the four of us on the ground below it. Cocking its head, it crouched down and peered in to the pot that held the dinner leftovers, disregarding the still-hot coals around it.
Then it said, in a deep voice that made the ground shake, "Is that vegetable soup that you've got there? Can I have some?"
We all stared at the troll in disbelief. Since when did trolls like vegetable soup, vegetarian style?
"um...sure," I said, unsure. "Go ahead."
"Thank ye kindly, miss," said the troll, in a kinder voice than one would expect to come out of a troll. I thought I heard a bit of a British accent in his voice, but I wasn't sure. Who would have thought that a troll would be British?
The troll picked up the pot and poured the rest of the steaming soup into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. Putting down the pot, the troll said, "Ar, that's better. I suppose I'm supposed to do you lot a favor. So what'll it be? Restored thrones? Enemies dead? Powdered hen's teeth?"
We kept staring in stunned disbelief. Clearly, none of the others was expecting anything like this at all. I, for one, had never been aware that if you gave food to a troll it would grant you a favor. I thought that it would eat the food and then just club you whenever it felt like it just to keep things simple.
"Well, don't all say something at once," the troll said.
"Uh... can you give us a second?" I asked. The troll nodded.
"Let's get him to piggy back us to Maldan's stronghold," I suggested as soon as the boys had turned their eyes away from the troll and the troll's back had turned.
"No, let's get it to make a fool of itself," Garrett sniggered.
"Very funny," I said sarcastically. "Let's get a tutu to match, and you can take it to the ballet."
"How about-" Simon began to say.
"Hey, I know!" Garrett said suddenly. "Let's get it to carry us there!"
"That's what I said, dumb butt," I said sharply. "And Simon was about to say something, by the way."
"Oh, right," Garrett said.
"Anyway, my idea was that maybe-" Simon began again.
"So how about my idea, you guys?" Garret interrupted.
"Garrett!" I yelled, so loudly that the troll turned around.
"You done yet?" it asked.
"Not yet," I told it.
"What?" Garrett protested.
"Shut up while other people are talking!" I told him. "And that includes Simon. It's basic respect, for your information. I thought they taught you that in chivalry training."
"I didn't hear him," Garrett complained.
"Shut your mouth and listen, then," I snapped. "Go ahead," I said to Simon.
"Well, I was thinking that we could have the troll piggy back us to Maldan's stronghold, and then give it more food, and then have it fight with us or for us or whatever, if we need it to," Simon said in a rush. It seemed that he was scared that he'd be interrupted if he talked at a normal pace.
"I like that," Eohu told him.
"Same," I agreed. Simon beamed We all looked at Garrett, even though it didn't really matter whether we got his consent-it was already a majority vote.
"Why's everyone looking at me?" he wondered, looking up from his intense study of his boot's laces.
"Didn't you hear what Simon said?" I asked.
"No," Garrett said unabashedly. "Who's Simon?"
Simon bowed his head, all delight gone from his face.
I slapped Garrett right across the face.
"Ouch!" he cried.
"Next time pay attention," I ordered.