We left the meeting with Martha at The Bells around teatime, so I convinced the others to go to Kai's Tea House. I ordered us a pot of my usual black oolong with peach flowers, and some extra crackers with cheese for everyone, and while waiting for it I suggested everyone introduce themselves. Christopher insisted I go first, so I told them all about me, how I grew up on my parents' farm in the feywild, moved with my sister to Tilley, and I now stay at the Greenhill Inn. I suggested Ratyn go next, but she needed some more time to think, so we went on to Sett. He told us he's part of a traveling caravan, and traditionally when a member of the caravan comes of age they go on an year-long journey alone around the world. He said that he visited a lot of places, but sadly he hasn't come across any other harengon in his travels. It's a shame, but hopefully I'll find the others some day.
Moving on to Aggma, she told us that she's from a town called Arden, that's a really boring far away place. She left Arden and began traveling the world, but ran out of money when she reached Tilley, so for now she works in town as a doctor. She's also really big. Like, really big. I probably should have thought about that before inviting her to a gnome's tea house. Anyway, she said that she's delighted to meet other people who came from distant places, so I think our friendship is off to a really good start!
Christopher didn't have much to say, except that he's a merchant, was born in the orphanage, Ms. Trudgeon is his mother, and that he thinks I'm adorable. Ratyn didn't have much to say either, just saying that she works as a night guard for someone called Leopoldas, and she likes donating money to the orphanage and playing dragonchess, which I assume is something similar to Browny Chess that we used to play back at home. It's really sad that both Ratyn and Christopher don't have a lot to say about themselves, maybe their lives were just really boring up until now? I mean, I could talk for hours about myself, but I also saw a lot of things all over the feywild, maybe life in this world is just a lot less interesting?
When we were done with the introductions Sett asked Christopher about his magic. Christopher explained that he's a really powerful magician, that he learned from Martha how to do every kind of magic, and that people like Sett can't comprehend his powers. I'm not sure if I'm included in that group, because I'm also not sure how Christopher is such a strong magician, after all if he's so strong how come he didn't manage to make Harris happy back in The Terrace?
When we were finished with our tea, crackers, and cheese, I gave Kai the 13 silver coins he asked for, then we went to the orphanage to give Ms. Trudgeon the papers from Patrick and Martha. It had rained while we were in the tea house, so I wasn't sure if Claire and the other fireflies would be out that night, so we decided I would ask them about performing at the Fund Eraser the next night. when we arrived we saw all the kids being really happy about putting on their shoes (humans, go figure), and Ms. Trudgeon told us that a shipment of venison from Blind-by-the-sea that was supposed to come for the Fund Eraser went missing, and the guy who was supposed to deliver it had gone missing near Juniper Grove. She asked us if we could find out what happened, and to hopefully find the venison so people won't starve to death at the Fund Eraser. I'm not quite sure why people need venison to draw and erase things, but food is always fun so I suppose it makes sense.
On the way to the get horses to get to Juniper Grove more quickly we stopped by the inn and Ms. Toolie wished us good luck on the ride. She and Gina were there cooking some delicious smelling steamed broccoli and cabbage. I was so tempted to stay for dinner, but decided that it would be better to find the lost venison quickly so I could get back to helping around the inn faster. Also, it's been a while since I last had venison so I wouldn't mind eating some from the shipment if we found it...
The ride went smoothly, at first Ratyn and I rode on Jackie, but I think Ratyn didn't like me translating for her so I rode the rest of the way with Sett on Wallace. He was a very nice horse, apparently he was born in a farm in Juniper Grove, then moved to Tilley with his previous owner who later sold him to the town stables during a famine.
At the gates of the hamlet were two guards who asked who were and what we want, so I introduced all nine of us and asked if they know about the venison delivery. They didn't know about it, but said that someone at the inn might know, so to the inn we went! We tied the horses outside even though they didn't seem to like it very much, the night air was a bit too cold for them. Christopher also made a big deal of tying his horse himself, which was a bit odd.
Once inside we talked to the owner, Julie Stricken. Apparently Sett was here before, and the two of them were already friends! Now I'm confused about our group name - on one hand "Christopher and Friends" came first, on the other hand "Sett and Friends" would make more sense because Sett is more friendly in general. Anyway, we asked Julie if she knew anything about the venison shipment. She said that there was a merchant called Zachary who was on his way from Blind by the Sea to Tilley with a shipment of salted venison for some party, but two days ago he got up on his horse without a word and rode south - away from Tilley, and leaving behind his cart and meat. Julie said she had the salted meat in storage if we wanted to take it to Tilley with us, and we decided to stay there for the night and look for Zachary in the morning. For now we had their kale pie and their ale. It wasn't as good as the food in the Greenhill Inn, but it was still great. Before going to bed, I called up April the bat and asked her to fly to nearby bat colonies and ask if anyone saw a human leaving town on a horse two days ago, and if so to come meet me in the morning.
In the morning, Aggma and Ratyn seemed a bit more tired than usual, apparently they both had a weird dream of someone calling them to go to a cave south of Juniper Grove, which is the same direction Zachary went in, what a coincidence! Outside the tavern we met Greg the bat who had seen Zachary leave, and he agreed to show us the way. We wrapped up our breakfast in some nice green lettuce leaves to eat on the road, and we rode southward after Greg. At some point we turned off the road and into the forest, but sadly Greg couldn't navigate very well during the daytime, and he got lost in all the green. Fortunately Ratyn spotted a trail with her keen ferret senses, and lead us to a cave somewhere in the middle of somewhere.
The cave was very spooky, with soft sounds and lights twinkling in the distance. Mum always warned us not to follow the lights or the sounds of bells, but before I could warn the others Christopher was already inside. We followed carefully, and at the bottom of the cave we saw a young man, probably Zachary, dancing. He looked tired and scared, and he was surrounded by tiny dancing lights that seemed to call us closer, asking us to dance with them.