Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty-Four — Ribbon Me This
Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty-Four — Ribbon Me This “So, you like hats, right?” Booksie asked.I nodded. I did like hats.At the moment, we were in the shopping district of Port Royal. I didn’t recognize the place until we passed the shop where Amaryllis had bought my usual blue outfit. We’d ended up going back into that shop, and at the moment we were waiting while the owner fussed over Amaryllis who was having her armoured jacket looked over. It was clean, of course, but clean wasn’t perfectly maintained.The lining was coming loose, and the tailor was seeing to that.“Okay, so hats are nice and all,” Booksie said. “But we buns have a racial disadvantage when it comes to headwear.”“Because of our ears?” I asked. I wiggled mine a bit.Booksie nodded, her own ears wiggling even more.I was definitely envious of Booksie's unconscious ear posture. Even when she was clearly focused on other things, they always stayed nice and straight. If she wanted to listen closer to something, she could smoothly turn them without needing to think about them, like she'd ... well, like she'd been born with them.Mine were both very unruly. My left ear kept folding in half in the middle, and no matter how often I perked it back up, it would just flop back down.I was very tempted to find this world’s equivalent of a popsicle stick and glue it into my ear so that it would stay up.“Plenty of millineries will poke some holes in hats for you, but if you’re buying second-hand, you’re almost entirely out of luck,” Booksie said. “I had to cut holes into my only hat, and they’re uneven, and they kind of cut into the base of my ears. It’s very annoying. Have you had that happen? Your ear falling asleep?”“Our ears can fall asleep?” I asked.“Oh yeah. It’s like when you sleep on your arm and you wake up to find it all tingly,” Booksie said. “But it’s your ear. It’s awful.”“My helmet has a few holes cut into the right place, and my captain’s hat is too narrow for that to be a problem,” I said.Booksie nodded. “It’s not that big of a deal, I think. But I’m going to show you a cheat.”“A cheat?” I asked.She nodded again. “To make you look cute without hurting your ears.”“But I don’t wanna look cute,” I said. I was not pouting. I was definitely not pouting!Booksie blinked, then looked me up and down. “Are... are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t mean to be rude, but it feels like you’re trying really hard to be as cute as possible. Just look at your nose.”I touched my nose. “What’s wrong with my nose?” I asked.“Nothing’s wrong with your nose,” Booksie said. “It’s cute.”I stepped over to the side and looked into one of the mirrors hanging off the shop’s walls. I looked... like me. Maybe I’d lost a bit of weight over the last few months, what with all of the running around and such, but I hadn’t changed that much. My skin was very clear though, without a button of blemish, which was probably my Cleaning magic at work.I checked out my nose. It was small, sitting in the middle of my face, as it should. I twitched it left then right. Yup. Normal nose. Entirely uncute. “Awen! Tell me my nose isn’t cute!” I said.Awen looked between me and Booksie, then I saw her eyes dip a little to stare at my nose. “It’s... small?”I gasped, covering my nose with both hands. “My nose isn’t small! It’s perfectly average!”“It’s small because you keep sticking it into things that aren’t any of your business,” Amaryllis snapped from across the room. She immediately turned back and continued to converse with the tailor, as if she hadn’t just struck me a devastating blow.“Anyway,” I said as I turned back to Booksie. “What was that trick you were talking about?”“You don’t need to keep covering your nose, you know,” Booksie said.I grumbled, but let my hands drop.“So, hats are complicated for buns... but you know what isn’t?” Booksie whipped out a long length of cloth from a rack, fluttering it about before she pinched both ends of it and held it taut. “Ribbons!”“Oh!” I said. “Ribbons are nice, yeah!”There was a trick to tying ribbons to ears, I found out. A top secret bun trick, passed down from generations of buns who wanted to accessorise without cutting holes into their hats.We walked out of the shop a few minutes later a few coins lighter. The shopkeep sold us the ribbons for very little, since they were basically no more than strips of cloth. I had six tied to the base of my ears, their tails trailing down around my head. No two were the same colour.I shook my head to test the ribbons' durability. They fluttered in the air, creating a whirl of colours around my head.“See? Isn't it great?” Booksie beamed, her ears adorned with elegant ribbons that complemented her black hair and ears.Amaryllis walked out behind us, her jacket looking as good as new. “And here I thought you wanted to avoid looking adorable, Broccoli. Booksie, you've done well.”“Adorable? I'm a noble airship captain, you know!” I protested, but my ears twitched traitorously, giving away my genuine pleasure at the compliment.Booksie chuckled. “Even noble airship captains can have a sense of style. Besides, these ribbons have multiple uses, you know?”“Oh really? Like what?”“Well, for one, you can use them to mark pages in your book. They can also serve as impromptu binding material or even makeshift bandages in a pinch.”“You're quite the pragmatic one,” Amaryllis noted, looking impressed.“Alright, let’s see what else we can discover,” Booksie said as she skipped ahead. She was beaming, and it was just plain nice to see her smiling so much. I knew that she was excited for the wedding, but there was a lot of stress and anxiety that came with that. “There’s a bootmaker down the street. Do you need boots?”If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.“I don’t think so,” I said. I liked my shoes. “But Awen might need some?”Awen shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind looking. The soles on mine are getting a little thin, I think. I have to wear thick socks, or else I’ll get blisters.”We checked out the bootmaker, but didn't end up buying anything, then stopped by a place that sold frozen treats, then giggled our way over to a street show where someone was playing something that looked like a guitar while tapping their feet to the beat and singing an almost dirty song about dragons that had us all flushing.“Should we find something better to eat than snacks?” I asked.“We should consider actual food at some point, yes,” Amaryllis said dryly. “And we need to look into making sure the crew is fed too. We can’t spend all day with Booksie and forget our responsibilities.”I pouted, but she was right. “Oh! But Booksie can come with us. We can show her the Beaver and she can eat with the crew.”“I suppose,” Amaryllis said. “We should stop by the Sylphfree embassy on the way back.”“The embassy?” Booksie repeated.“Our friend, Caprica, said she’d head over there today. Calamity went with her, to keep her company. I don’t know if she’s planning on eating at the embassy or not, but she might be gone already. Do you know where it is?”“I do,” Booksie said. “I pass by it every time I go to the topmost levels of the city. It’s a nice walk. We’ll build up our appetite on the way there, I think.”Getting to the embassy was a bit of a journey. We had to circle around the markets, then ascend a sharply inclined road, following switchbacks that clung to the face of the mountain Port Royal jutted out of.Eventually, we reached the part of the city with the nicest homes and all of the most important buildings. The embassies were placed a little ways away from each other, almost as if the locals didn’t want them within arrow-firing range.At least, that’s how it looked for the sylph and harpy embassies. The harpy embassy was a squat tower carved out of local stone with balconies all around and parapets that guards could hide behind. The syph embassy some ways down was an opulent building, though it was a lot smaller, leaving space for a statue garden out front and a tall fence all around.It only took a glance to realise that something was up at the sylph embassy.The wrought-iron fence was shut at the front, and there were a lot of guards patrolling around the building. They weren’t guards lazily making their rounds. These guards were on high alert, attention scanning across the street and eyes darting all over. I saw hands with white knuckles gripping spears and could almost feel the electric buzz of unreleased magic even though I was still some ways away.“Fantastic,” Amaryllis muttered. “We let Caprica out of our sight for an hour or two and this happens.”"What happened?" I asked, turning toward Amaryllis.She gave me a weird look for a second, then realized I was asking her a question. "How would I know?" she answered."But ... you said 'this happens' with so much confidence!"Amaryllis huffed, rolling her eyes. "Broc, I meant this," she gestured to the sylph embassy, where the guards were eyeing us with open suspicion. "This, as in, the extremely high alert posture we can see right in front of us. Those guards look like someone just told them that they’re about to be invaded within the hour. I bet if you set off a firecracker they’d fling a dozen spells at you before the echo has time to retort.”“That was oddly specific,” Awen muttered.I hummed, then glanced across the street from the embassy. An old grenoil gentleman was sitting on a bench, one leg crossed over his thigh, his eyes regarding the embassy with interest. “One sec,” I said before I walked over to him. I felt my friends keeping up behind me. “Hello, sir!”The grenoil blinked. “Yes? Can I help you?”“Hi! My name’s Broccoli, Broccoli Bunch,” I said.“Ah, ze name is Félix,” he croaked amiably.“Do you happen to know what's going on with the Sylph embassy?” I asked, gesturing towards the compound.“Ah, oui, zere 'as been quite ze commotion,” Félix said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Ze embassy, it 'as been on lockdown since zis morning. I 'eard zat someone 'as been kidnapped.”“Kidnapped? Who?” I asked, my heart sinking.Félix looked around conspiratorially before leaning in closer. “I 'eard it is someone very important. A noblewoman, I believe. I ‘aven’t ‘eard gossip zis good in a long while!”“Oh no, that’s concerning,” I said, a pit forming in my tummy. “Thanks for letting me know, Monsieur Félix.”He nodded, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Ah, ze young people always bringing excitement.”I rejoined my friends, who were looking both concerned and impatient. “So?” Amaryllis pressed.“Looks like there’s been a kidnapping,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “Someone important, likely a noblewoman.”Amaryllis and Awen exchanged looks. “I really hope it’s not Caprica,” Awen said, her voice tinged with worry.“It’s definitely Caprica,” Amaryllis said, dashing any hope Awen and I might have had.“Do you think I can help?” Booksie asked. “Cholondee has her mobsters, and I could convince Rhawrexdee to help. He’s hard to ignore when he wants something.”“That would just cause a bigger diplomatic issue,” Amaryllis said. “The sylph don’t like dragons for... historical and dietary reasons. Broccoli, go bother the gate guard into telling you everything he knows.”“I don’t know if I can do that,” I said.“Just wiggle your cute little nose at him,” she said.I covered my nose again. “You heard that? No, I mean, my nose isn’t cute! Or little! It’s a perfectly average-sized nose!”
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Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty-Five — Let's Not Jump to Conclusions
Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty-Five — Let's Not Jump to Conclusions “Can the sylph embassy kidnap Caprica?” I asked. We were milling not too far down the street from the embassy itself. Hopefully we didn’t look too suspicious, but then again, we were on a street with several embassies. The Harpy Mountain and Mattergrove buildings weren’t too far away, which gave us an alibi for why Awen and Amaryllis might be out here.There wasn’t a bun embassy, because as far as I knew, there wasn’t a bun nation out there, which was a little disappointing, actually.“Legally? Probably not,” Amaryllis said. “But I imagine that a case could be made if they’re saving one of their own citizens. A noble, no less.”“I don’t think Caprica would be happy about that,” I said.“I can’t imagine she would be, no,” Amaryllis agreed.“Awa, maybe we’re jumping to the wrong conclusion?” Awen suggested. She fidgeted as we all turned her way. “Caprica is... not shy,” she said. “If she was told that she wasn’t allowed to leave, or if someone tells her what to do, I think she wouldn’t go quietly. The embassy isn’t on fire, so ... she probably isn't being imprisoned inside.”“That’s a good point,” I said.“It is?” Booksie asked. “Your friends are rather intimidating, aren’t they?”Amaryllis’ brows shot up. “Said the fiancée of a dragon?”Booksie sniffed. “He’s a big softy once you get to know him.”I clapped my hands, getting everyone’s attention back on track. “Awen might be right. Maybe she wasn’t kidnapped. Maybe they’re just handling her as if she’s a princess that went missing. So they’re making sure she’s okay, and has everything she wants. You know how the sylph are about their princesses.”“I suppose that’s as possible as anything else,” Amaryllis said. “Which is why you should walk up to the embassy and ask nicely. Do you think you can do that without being arrested?”“Yes?” I tried. “But I’d rather do it with you?”Amaryllis sighed, and while it wasn’t quite as communicative as one of her huffs, I still heard the ‘of course she said yes’ in that sigh. “Alright, fine. But if we all end up in a cell, I’m blaming you.”“We won’t end up in a cell!” I said.With a skip in my step and an arm linked with Booksie’s and a surprised Awen’s, I led my friends over towards the Embassy. It wasn’t long before the guards noticed our approach. They tensed up a little, but didn’t set off any alarms.“Hello,” I said as I came right up to the gate.“Ma’am,” the guard behind it said. “I’m afraid that the embassy is closed today.”“We’re not here for official stuff,” I said. “We wanted to see one of our friends.”The guard frowned, then glanced at his companions as if checking for confirmation. “Which friend would that be, miss?”“I’m Captain Bunch, of the Beaver Cleaver. I think some of my crew came here? One’s a cat person, with a nice hat? They’re a calico, I think. The other is a sylph.” I gestured tall for Calamity, then much shorter for Caprica. “About this high, a girl. She’s very princess-y.”"Are you trying to dig for information?" he asked."No?"He eyed me sharply. "Be advised that this embassy is sovereign sylph territory.""Look, I just want to see if Calamity and Caprica are ok-” My words turned into a squeak as I was suddenly yanked forwards. I heard my friends protesting behind me as they were pulled in too.By the time I registered what was happening, we were all on the paved ground in front of the embassy, hands linked at the small of our backs and sylph all around.“Uh, I think there was a misunderstanding,” I said.“Bring them inside,” one of the guards said. “To the cells.”“Broccoli, I said I’d blame you, didn’t I?” Amaryllis said.“You did,” I said as I was tugged up to my feet rather rudely.“Well, I’m blaming you,” Amaryllis said with some finality. “And you, stop tugging so hard. You haven’t the faintest idea who we are, it’s idiotic to presume you can just bully as you want.”The guards weren’t very talkative, or very friendly, as they marched us into the embassy with our hands held behind us.“This is interesting,” Booksie said as one guard went around and started to manacle us. “I’ve never been arrested before.”“I was, once,” I said.“Broccoli, stop incriminating us,” Amaryllis said.We were led into the embassy itself, which, in contrast to the building's stark exterior, was nice and opulent. Not that we got to see those nice parts because we were shoved down a side passage and down a staircase into what looked a lot like a dungeon.“There aren’t enough cells for all of them,” one of the guards said.“Put the human and that bun together in the large cell, the harpy and the ‘captain’ can go apart,” another guard said.It wasn’t long before we were all shoved into the appropriate cages. They had floor-to-ceiling bars and metallic cage doors that were locked behind us after we were shoved in.The guards filed out of the room, except for two that stayed by the entrance. The room was lit by a single magical lamp by the exit, and that was it.“Well, that took a turn,” Amaryllis said.“We’re going to have to work on our dinner plans,” Booksie said. “I hope it won’t interfere with my reading time tomorrow.”“Do you always think about reading time first?” Amaryllis asked.Bookie smiled. “It’s something Rhawr and I share. I can pinpoint the number of pages I’ve read by the rumbles of my stomach sometimes. It’s better than any clock!”“I’m sure this’ll all work out in the end,” I said. “We do have other friends that haven’t been arrested, right?”“Oh, I’m sure we’ll be fine. Probably,” Booksie said. She looked up to the ceiling. “Assuming this doesn’t all collapse on our heads.”“Um?” Awen asked.“Cholondee was just bragging about how safe Port Royal has become ever since she took over ‘additional security duties.’ She might want to make an example of things. Honestly, we might want to use that as our ticket out of here, because the collateral might not be pleasant, especially if we’re the collateral. I’ve had a book or two fall on my head before and I came out of it entirely unharmed, but I’m not sure about a building.”This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itI leaned forwards against the bars and looked towards the guards. “Do we get a phone call?” I asked.They didn’t answer, not even to ask what a phone was.“Well,” Amaryllis said, pulling herself to a standing position by gripping the bars, “that didn’t work out the way you’d planned, Broccoli. Any other bright ideas?”“I’m not entirely sure,” I said, looking forlornly at the guards who refused to acknowledge our existence.Booksie, who was in the same cell as Awen, looked contemplatively at the magical lamp. “Do you think they’ll bring us some books to read while we’re here? At the very least, it would be courteous, right?”I blinked as I noticed Awen patting Booksie on the back, then I tugged at my hands, which were still firmly manacled together. How’d she get those off?A commotion erupted somewhere upstairs, voices carrying down through the corridors in swift echoes. The voices grew louder, a cacophony of urgent whispers and stern rebuttals. The guards at the entrance seemed a little worried, but they didn’t move away from their position.The door to the basement blew open, nearly knocking over one of the guards, and a well-dressed Caprica came stomping in. The guards stepped up to stop her, saw who it was, then snapped back to attention next to the walls as if their armour was magnetised.She stomped over to the middle of the cells, looking at each of us in turn. Her attention stopped on Booksie. “Oh, you must be Broccoli’s bun friend, Booksie?”“Hello,” Booksie said.“A pleasure, I’m Caprica,” Caprica said with a gentle smile while more guards poured into the room. They really had a lot of those here.Accompanying them was an older, distinguished-looking sylph man who was evidently struggling to maintain his composure. “Princess Caprica, I insist that we follow the proper diplomatic protocols. Detaining them was an unfortunate misunderstanding, yes, but we cannot simply-”“Unfortunate misunderstanding? The embassy has kidnapped the airship captain that saved the king’s life, the niece of a world-renowned hero who is herself a genius, a dragon’s fiancée, and an emissary from Harpy Mountain. This isn’t a misunderstanding, it’s a diplomatic nightmare,” Caprica cut him off.The diplomat sighed. “Very well, we will release them immediately. We can smooth this over. The dignity of the sylph nation cannot be compromised.”“Hah! You should have thought about that before you had my friends arrested,” she shot back, glancing back at us with an eye-roll. “Now, open the cells.”“Oh,” Awen said as she pushed her door open. “I, um, unlocked mine already. Sorry.”“Can you do mine?” I asked as I turned to show my manacles.There was a clunk from Amaryllis’ cell as she moved her arms around to her front and rubbed at her wrists. Her manacles were half melted on the ground behind her, the loops smoking. “What?” she asked. “They didn’t even search us.”Caprica looked at the older sylph gentleman, who stuttered in reply. “We don’t strip prisoners here, not until we’re done with basic interrogations. In case they’re people of import.”“I can’t decide if I should be disappointed, or who I should be disappointed with,” Caprica muttered.“You should be disappointed in Broccoli, this is all her fault,” Amaryllis said.“Hey,” I whined. It wasn’t my fault at all! That was just mean.“Broccoli’s fault or no, we are being released, right?” Booksie asked. “I’ve always wondered what prison was like for the characters in books I read, but I was never this keen on experiencing it myself.”“Yes, of course,” the diplomat said. “I must apologise for the inconvenience. These are uncommon times, and our guards are currently at their highest state of alert. It’s only natural that they acted as they did.”I didn’t think it was all that natural, actually. Being nice and helpful might have been much more natural, but then again, I wasn’t a sylph.A guard unlocked my cell, and I turned around for my manacles to be removed. “Thank you,” I said before turning to Caprica. “So, did you get stuck in here? Is Calamity with you?”“He’s upstairs gorging himself on our hospitality,” Caprica said. “I swear, you give that man one plate of imported fish and he turns rabid.”I held back a giggle. Amaryllis’ cell was unlocked before she could get too annoyed and melt through the lock, and then Booksie’s cuffs were removed too.Caprica led the way out of the dungeon, her heels clicking on the stone floor with a mix of authority and irritation. Maybe because she was wearing heels to begin with. In all the time I'd known her, I couldn’t recall her ever wearing such things. And she was in a dress that was very much unlike the more military uniform she usually wore. It seemed like it fit, but wasn’t something I saw her wearing before.Caprica brought us past a reception room above, with little treasures on plinths along the sides, then into a small library with a few plush couches set so that people could have a comfortable discussion. A hearth was to one side, a few crackling logs burning within even though it was hardly cold enough to warrant a fire.Calamity was lounging on a plush divan, a plate of stripped fish bones balancing on his belly and a goblet of wine set on the floor next to him. When he saw us, he bounced to his feet, catching the plate before it flew off. “Captain! You’re free!” he cheered. “And Awen, oh, and another bun!”“What am I, a footnote?” Amaryllis grumbled."You wouldn't believe the food they have here. It's like a culinary tour of the world. But, um, I was worried about you all, of course. I was planning a break out once I was done with dessert!"
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