Commissioned by Yaks
Maurata had absolutely given up on returning the turtle to the water and so had named him Kaj and just had him ride on her shoulder.
There were no gates to the village of Dawn's Blossom. It was a matter of climb some stairs and you were in the square, Maurata couldn't even remember a story of a time of gates, even in times of war. Chances were, some Pandaren at some point in time and thought the aesthetic was important and removed any gates that had ever existed. It wouldn't even really surprise her if there had never been gates in the first place.
"So, really, no sha? At all?" Maurata asked as they passed through the archway and into the village square. "That must be nice." She was very studiously ignoring the guard who was having his lunch break and paying absolutely no attention to them.
"All peace and harmony until your turtle takes a warship to the flipper and tries to sail into the maelstrom," Rhasody answered wryly. She'd been through Dawn's Blossom only one since arriving in the homeland, but it seemed a nice enough place. No one stopped to wave or smile, but they didn't growl or anything either.
"Oh! Chin's open!" Maurata exclaimed, grabbing Rhasody by the hand to tug her along faster. Rhasody had no idea how Kaj stayed on Maurata's shoulder with all her bouncing around.
Rhasody was also starting to think the theory that the mainland Pandaren were more relaxed and controlled than their island cousins had skipped past Maurata entirely. The shaman had only degrees of enthusiasm and bounce. If there was a sha of happiness, Maurata was its avatar. Assuming sha ate buns and potstickers, of course.
"Master Chin!" Maurata greeted the vendor with a deep bow. Kaj placed a flipper on a pigtail to keep his balance. Rhasody had to admit even amongst the collection of cart vender's, Master Chin's smelled the best.
"Watersinger Maurata!" He replied, already fetching two bowls and filling them with noodle soup. "Just the lady I am happy to see!"
"Oh, I'm happy when people are happy to see me!" Maurata said, tail swishing as she sat on a stool, patting the one beside her for Rhasody.
"Are you ever not happy?" Rhasody teased, sitting on the stool.
"When I'm doing laundry. I hate laundry." Maurata did her best fierce, unhappy, face. It wasn't very convincing.
"I'll be happy to do your laundry," Rhasody told her, taking Maurata's hand and kissing the back of it.
Maurata did the hand-fan-face gesture and fluttered her eyelashes. "Deal, I'll provide food, you do laundry."
Rhasody wondered if paying the village laundress to do the laundry would count.
Chin, having waited for young love flirtation to subside rubbed his hands together, "You see, I have a little problem." He said, drawing their attention back. "I sent my nephew off to the Arboretum to get me some more honey for my peanut sauce --"
"I KNEW IT!" Maurata exclaimed. Several Pandaren, Rhasody, and Chin included stared at her. She coughed into her hand. "Er, sorry. I just had this theory about the type of honey you used and.." she let the explanation fade at their looks and put her elbows on the counter, cupped her chin with her palms and smiled her best, "Sorry Master Chin, you were saying?"
Rhasody may have rolled her eyes.
"Yes, well, my nephew has not returned. I thought at first he may have just stayed the night at the Arboretum having watched the serpent races or perhaps met... Ah, a friend. But as he is long overdue, I grow quite concerned."
"We can go look, right Rhas?" Maurata offered.
"And when we get back you'll feed us again?" Rhasody said hopefully, having slurped down noodles while the two were talking.
"I shall feed you my best noodles AND you shall stay in my guest room for as long as you need!" Master Chin declared.
Rhasody bowed, "Deal!"
He returned her bow.
They both looked to Maurata who had only started to eat her noodles. "What? NOW?" She said with a sigh, getting to her feet. "I'll return the bowl, Master Chin." She said sadly, tail down as she walked towards the gate, still eating.
Rhasody DID roll her eyes. "We'll find your nephew, Master Chin, don't you worry." She jogged to catch up with Maurata.
* * *
They were about halfway to the Arboretum when Maurata heard the unique sound of shalings. To Rhasody it just sounded like hissing into a well and she didn't quite know what to make of it but when Maurata broke into a trot, she pulled out her bow and followed.
Upon seeing the overturned cart with the shadow monsters trying to shove at it, Maurata moved Kaj to her backpack and manifested a totem in the middle of the road.
Rhasody dumped her own pack at the side of the road and pulled back and arrow. Her arrow flew straight and true and right through a shaling that turned to her with a long, hollow, hiss. "What the... How do you kill these things?!"
Maurata was trying to evaluate what spirits were available. "They're not alive. They're just goop from a negative place and negative emotion given form. These ones are mostly anger. Guess someone forgot to pay their bar tab."
"Really?" Rhasody muttered, "She makes bad jokes at a time like this?"
"Well, I'd make a good one if I wasn't busy!" Maurata fired back. The totem at her feet exploded and shot lightning at all the shalings who paused in mid-attack. "Now'd be a good time to do something!"
"Oh yeah, let me just strap a sha blaster to my back," Rhasody grumbled, focusing on her bow and channeling her chi into her arrow before releasing it into the nearest shaling. The arrow struck true and Rhasody let go of the energy as the arrow was halfway through its mass. The shaling exploded and dissipated into a dark puddle of goo on the ground.
"And that's how we do it!" Maurata exclaimed, pulling power from the clouds and firing bolts of lightning from her fingers.
Rhasody shook her head to clear it and gain focus, having been distracted by watching her probably-girlfriend blow up half a dozen shalings. She fired three arrows fired at once and three shalings exploded. Rhasody would admit, silently to herself that maybe she was trying to impress her probably-girlfriend.
The shalings seemed to have decided whatever was under the cart was of less interest than Rhasody. Even with Maurata blowing them up with lightning they chased after the hunter who was firing exploding arrows.
"That's perfect!" Maurata called as Rhasody jogged backward, firing arrows. "Keep them busy!"
"Keep them.." Rhasody boggled at Maurata's ideas of good tactics. "If I get eaten, I'm not forgiving you!"
"Don't worry! I can heal you!" Maurata said and waved with her fingers as she went to investigate the cart.
"Wait! What are you -- " Rhasody fired a few more arrows, "A little help!"
"You're fiiine!" Maurata assured Rhasody as she peeked under the cart. "Good news! Found Chin's nephew!"
"He's alive, right?" Rhasody called, blowing up a few more shalings as she kept circling around backward. She was starting to get a bit dizzy and a bit concerned about her arrow supply.
"That would be what makes it GOOD news, Rhas!" Maurata said with a head shake. "BAD news would be he's... Er, well, sha food."
Rhasody blew up the last shaling and flumped right in the middle of the road. "Just let me lie here for a while. I think I used every trick I've got."
Maurata came over and leaned over the hunter to give her a smooch. "And you did wonderfully!" A water elemental appeared at Rhasody's feed to rub them. It felt very strange but she wasn't going to complain.
Another elemental followed Maurata over to the cart and helped her turn it back on its wheels. "You alright in there... Er, I don't think Master Chin told us your name."
"I am Zhan-Jo," the adolescent Pandaren said, accepting Maurata's hand up. "My girlfriend Ji-Sun was angry I did not stay longer." He looked around at the puddles of Shalings on the ground. "I had not thought her THIS angry." He looked at the jugs of honey, most of them broken. "My uncle is going to kill me."
"No! No despair!" Maurata said, clapping a hand over Zhan-Jo's mouth. "Especially not at a recent sha site! Your Uncle will be very happy you're in one piece and healthy! You were very smart to overturn the cart and use it for protection! Your girlfriend will be happy you're fine! You should come home with us now and everything will be fine."
Rhasody's eyebrows were raised. She wasn't quite sure if Maurata's reaction was over the top or not, but the shaman seemed quite serious about it. She sat up and the water elemental gave happy little cheeps before disappearing back into the ditch beside the road. With a sigh, the hunter got up and pulled her backpack on.
Doubtfully Zhan-Jo picked up the poles at the front of the cart and maneuvered it into the ruts of the road and started back towards Dawn's Blossom village.
Maurata clapped her hands together and skipped over to Rhasody. Rhas put her arm against the shorter woman and rested her cheek against Maurata. "Well, that was fun!" Maurata declared. "Shall we get back to Master Chin and have more noodles?"
Rhasody laughed and pulled away. "Right, must find the noodles. Very important."
Maurata did her best to look mock affronted "Dinner is one of my three favorite meals of the day!"
No comments:
Post a Comment