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son of man, look to the sky; tristan.
IP: 82.14.67.140
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 09:13:26 PM by thoth



son of man, look to the sky; lift your spirit, set it free

Thoth has conversed with a lot of animals in the past few years, but he’s never met anyone – fairy, familiar, pet or wild creature – which moans half as much as Atkiss.

“You’ll never get it out without ripping apart half my scales,” he whines, “I’ll be scarred for life, assuming I survive. No girl will ever look twice at me again.”

Another voice floats up from Thoth’s pocket, where a little white face peeks over the top. “Is he still at it? Holy mother of mice, somebody poison me now.”

Of all the mice in the colony currently residing in Thoth’s bedroom, the numbers of which now exceed one hundred, Rudy is the only one who has ‘adopted’ him. The mice (which had originally been a small family Thoth had found living in Joel’s workshop) were allowed to stay in his room providing they only ate what he gave them and they didn’t venture into any other part of the house. A hollow pipe containing small ladder rungs which runs from a permanently open window down to the ground provides a way of their getting in and out, but the majority of them don’t seem to be keen to explore beyond the confines of the room. Rudy is the exception. Spirited and adventurous, the young mouse – who is only about six months of age – now accompanies his adopted fairy on most excursions.

Like the rest of the mice, Rudy isn’t bothered by the presence of Atkiss (the only animal occupying Thoth’s room which could be considered a pet) in spite of the fact that, as a Garter snake, Atkiss would be their natural predator. Even if Atkiss hadn’t sworn to Thoth not to hunt the mice, he wouldn’t constitute a great threat anyway. As a snake, Atkiss is hopeless. Thoth had discovered him curled up in a picnic basket one day and hadn’t had the heart to re-release him, knowing that the animal’s stupidity and uselessness would only get him killed. The Garter snake had taken very nicely to his new home in a glass tank in Thoth’s room, and is now so tame that the outside world terrifies him.

“You didn’t have to come with us,” he tells Rudy. Being a mouse, Rudy can’t understand what Atkiss is saying, but he seems to be a pretty good judge of tone. Switching to snake-language, Thoth says only to Atkiss, “almost there. Don’t worry, Tristan is great at telekinesis.”

“Why can’t Joel do it?” Atkiss asks sulkily. “I thought he was the best in Shaman?”

Thoth vaults expertly over a low gate, causing the snake to tighten his grip and the mouse to whoop encouragingly. “Joel isn’t here. Tristan is your lot, like it or lump it.”

Atkiss does neither. He moans all the way to the castle and has to be shushed again when they get close. The snake is draped loosely across Thoth’s shoulders under a collared shirt, forming a distinctive lump but otherwise invisible to outsiders. Thoth guesses – accurately – that most people know he has a bone deformity and will assume that the hunchback is part of that. He also guesses – again accurately – that most people are too polite to mention it. His best sad smile and a slight stammer in his request to see the prince easily gets him past the guards, one of whom sags noticeably. As he walks down the corridor, Thoth distinctly hears the sound of a nose being blown behind him.

Although he’s been in the castle many times before, the only parts which hold any great interest to him are the armoury, training grounds, stables and library. It quickly occurs to him that he actually has no idea where Tristan’s bedroom might be. Assuming that the residential areas will be higher up, he patters up the stairs and, ignoring the hissing from his shoulders and the squeaking from his pocket, traipses down another corridor. The furnishings here are somewhat less formal, which is a good sign. Thoth pokes his nose around a couple of doors before successfully finding the first bedroom – an empty one with green furnishings that looks as if it’s probably a guest room. The other bedrooms around off the corridor are all empty too, but one door leads to a second corridor which contains a room that has the first sign of life. Judging by the decorations, Thoth guesses that this is probably the room Nimueh occupies when she stays in the castle. Resisting the temptation to move a few things around, he walks further down the corridor and tries two more rooms before he finally finds one with a person in it. The exact person, in fact, that he’s looking for.

“Hi,” he says casually. “Er – can I come in?”

thoth
someday you'll walk tall with pride


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