Sol's Shine and the Kingdom of Metal

Chapter 4 Around The Tree

As soon as they both knew they were safe and in a secluded area, behind an old shack, they ate the bread they took from the bakery. Yvonne couldn't help but take large bites as if she hadn't eaten breakfast that morning (which was true). But Nico was much slower and looked more paranoid than she was. They both sat on flat ground and under a starry sky, with the lion's left eye peering from the side of the tree. But Nico just happened to look over to Yvonne's prosthetic leg. She was wearing pants but a piece of the ankle still showed and the elf couldn't help but take notice. "You need to cover up better, you'll stick out like a sore thumb if someone spots you. Things are going to be much harder for us if anyone here realizes they need to look for a human with a metal leg." Nico emphasized. There it was. Yet another complaint that Yvonne was waiting for.

"Deal with it. If you don't like it so much then use your edge lord magic to get me some new clothes. A margarita would be nice too." Yvonne told him before taking another large bite without a care in the world. "Do I have to remind you why we're both here? We need to find the relics that were buried beneath the tree's roots." Nico spoke up to Yvonne more as he spoke. "No, that's what you want to do. I'm hoping I can find a way to learn the same forbidden magic that was used to revive those star demons. You keep telling me you want to find these relics but you never say why they're so important. You're so finicky." Yvonne got just a little louder to match Nico's tone. Just as they were starting to raise their tone for the argument that they were having with one another, the two of them heard a rustle in the grass and Yvonne quickly panned her light over to see what made the commotion. For a brief moment, the two of them thought that they were caught for good. Yvonne was relieved when all she saw was a squirrel eating one of her walnuts from the bag she had left beside the ground. The small squirrel stared up at her, eating her ammunition for the walnut gun she carried by her side, an invention she made meant for distractions and slight bruises.

Nico stopped staring at the squirrel and looked at Yvonne again, lowering his pitch this time. "They just are, ok." "If I had to guess, I'd say it's because your family has been protecting it this entire time and that's all you got left of them, but what do I know? You told me yourself that it was all buried deep beneath the tree. We can't keep waiting on your snakes to find it all and even if they did, how are they going to get them to us?" Yvonne asked Nico but he refused to respond to her, taking bigger bites out of his bread than before. From there, he just continued to stare at the squirrel, which in turn started to stare at him right back.

"Something isn't right with this squirrel." Yvonne looked back at the rodent and realized that Nico was finally right about something. Something seemed off to her about the small animal looking back at them and Yvonne took a moment to think about what it was. "Aren't... squirrels diurnal?" As soon as Yvonne asked, another voice spoke up to them, alerting their attention yet again. "So are you guys going to start picking a fight with me too or can we just enjoy a good meal in peace?" Both Yvonne and Nico were left speechless for a moment. "Did that squirrel just...?" Yvonne rubbed her eyes to see if the dark wasn't playing any tricks on her. "Did I just what? You two were such blabber mouths before, where's the rest of your sentences gone?" That time for sure Yvonne and Nico could see and hear the squirrel speak to them without a doubt.

"You're talking." Nico stated. "Yeah I'm talking, what's it to you? I heard you were looking for some relics beneath the tree." The squirrel spoke without any caution or subtlety. "Uh... yeah we are. Do you know where they are?" Yvonne did her best to converse with the squirrel despite the odd interaction. The squirrel jumped up on a small brick fence next to her and pointed upward toward the tree. "I found that junk lying around beneath the roots and brought it up there." The squirrel said to them. "You?" Nico said. "Yes." The squirrel said back. "Brought ALL of those relics, ALL the way up there within the tree's branches?!" Yvonne restated what the squirrel said and pointed in the same direction which was nearly toward the sky. "Yes! Man, you two are slow, you know that?" Yvonne and Nico were ultimately more curious now more than ever and just stared back at one another to make sure if this interaction wasn't just a fever dream. They stared back at the squirrel once they both realized that their feet were still planted in reality. "Can you take us there?" Yvonne asked. "Up there? Where I live? To a bunch of strangers? You two really are nuts." The squirrel said.

Yvonne looked over to the opened bag of walnuts. "I can give you more of those walnuts. Is that a fair trade?" She asked him. "Lady, I was just going to take them all anyway." The squirrel was getting sassier with them. "No, I mean... you don't get walnuts in this kingdom right? I can offer you more than this." Yvonne pressed on with her deal. "Now you're speaking my language. The name's Ratatoskr, glad to be doing business with you." "I'm Yvonne Ash and likewise." Ratatoskr looked over to the elf sitting on the ground. "Well? Your silence doesn't seem very professional here. What's your name?" Ratatoskr snapped in Nico's direction to make sure he was paying attention but the elf was still not over the fact a squirrel was conversing with them out of nowhere, despite the fact that he regularly converses with snakes. "Nico- Nico Lavi Gideon." He stuttered a bit. "Well it's good to be working with you too Nico Nico Lavi Gideon." "No it's just Nico-" The elf was cut off by Ratatoskr's next set of words before he had any chance of correcting him. "Well you two brought me a nice deal. I'll show you where these so-called relics are then. Let's go." Ratatoskr tried to scurry off before stopping to look back at Yvonne and Nico who weren't quite following him yet.

"Are you coming or what?" Ratatoskr was getting impatient. "I'm sorry- how exactly did you get them all up there again?" Yvonne asked Ratatoskr. "I carried them. How else? Come on!" Ratatoskr headed off towards the tree again. Yvonne and Nico started to follow the squirrel closely behind. "How are you talking?" Nico asked the squirrel. "The same as you. This tree is imbued with magic genius. Over time it changed the biology of the living things that were dependent on it for years. So we speak, big whoop. We like to hide away from the rest of the world because you're all weird." Ratatoskr was upfront and honest with Nico. Nico had figured that what happened to the squirrels living among the branches had the same effects on his bloodline which allowed them to speak with the snakes and the snakes vice versa. He just hadn't thought about the consequences of being around the tree for so long until a squirrel spelled it out for him. For Nico it seemed like that hurt the pride he never knew he had until it was shattered by a little furry tree climbing rodent.

So the three of them headed off towards the tree with Yvonne trying to judge its size as they ran towards it. And judging with how big it is by seeing it climb past the clouds under the veil moonlight, it seemed obvious to Yvonne that they had a while to go before even reaching its bark. She just wasn't so sure if heights were going to become a new fear of hers when they inevitably get there.