Some things start before other things.

[lurkingkobold]

{{translation of lurkerspeak}}

It's mid-morning, and the forest is still damp from a passing rain shower, with puddles hidden under the leaf cover and a few trees still dripping, here and there, when the wind disturbs them. One of these drips lands next to a kobold, who is lying on her back on a large flat stone, thinking.

Eventually, the kobold sits up, first setting aside the magic mirror that had been laying on her furry stomach, then picking it up again and looking at it, considering, once she's settled into the new position. After a few moments, she speaks a word to it, and it starts speaking back, but she doesn't really listen, and doesn't speak to it again when it stops talking.

She sighs, and sits for a while longer.

"Mirror, do secret message of Leaf."

More sitting, more thinking.

"Am think.... am not of know, before, of do of kobold no of tribe. Tiny of know, know of leave, but, think... kobold no of tribe, do maybe of one of year, maybe of two of year, animal do of eat, elf do of eat, kobold do of no of food, many of danger, kobold not do of many of year of no of tribe. Am go of tribe, am think, safety of small of time, maybe do two of year, no reason of think of more of year."

Pause. Sit. Think.

"Am find of Miles, am think... Miles do many of help, many of many, kobold do of live of many of year, now, daeva, not do of die of any, is... best? Am think is best, am not want of die. But. Am not know of do of kobold no of tribe, of many of year. Am not think any of kobold do of know."

Think. Sit.

"Am think... Am think of summer of tigerperson, kobold small of kobold, do of go of tigerperson, curious, kobold tribe go of meetup, kobold stay of tigerperson of summer. Tigerperson tribe, safe, okay, tigerperson do of play of kobold, do of give of food, kobold learn of many, learn of language, is important, is good. But, kobold only of kobold of tigerperson, tigerperson do of language, kobold no do of language, tigerperson not know of kobold do of think, not know of kobold do of choose, not give of thing of choose. Fall, kobold tribe come, kobold go of tribe, tribe ask of choose, kobold not remember of choose, need of do of learn."

"Am think of, kobold do tigerperson tribe more of time, maybe no learn of do of choose, after; maybe forget is of person."

"...mirror, keep message. Mirror, do of say of secret message of Leaf."

The kobold listens while the mirror repeats her words back to her.

"Am not say of Miles is of tigerperson. Miles not, Miles know of think, know of choose, do of listen. Am no worry of forget is of person, if stay of Miles."

"But."

"Ask of stay of Miles, not think of many of time, think of, maybe two of season, maybe year, after, home, do of kobold of no tribe, do maybe of two of year - stay of Miles is more of time, is better. Worry of safe, worry of food, not worry of forget is of person, silly of worry if not know of safe."

A pause, and the kobold grins to herself as she thinks.

"Go of Miles - Miles is of surprise, is of best, if ask of kobold of tribe of think of best of person, kobold think of person small of best of Miles. Miles do of help, no worry of food, no worry of safe, is... if trouble, is small of trouble? Maybe upset, maybe want of thing of no of do, maybe person is of mean; small of trouble, no big of trouble, no silly of worry of small of trouble. So: Worry of small of trouble. Worry of thing of many of year, worry of thing of maybe. Thing of maybe: Maybe kobold not stay of Miles of many of year. Maybe Miles not do of want, maybe kobold not do of want. Is important of no of trap, is important of know of no of trap, is easy of do of leave, is not need of stay if is of bad. Kobold tribe, do of meetup of summer, any kobold do of other of tribe, any of reason, no of reason; no of trap. Other of season, tribe know of maybe of kobold go of other of tribe, do of good of kobold if want of kobold do of stay - maybe do bad of kobold if reason of do of bad is big of want of kobold of stay; is okay, kobold wait of summer, go of other tribe, not is of trap of tribe of do of bad, tribe no do of bad if is no of reason."

Pause, consider.

"Am want. Am not want of go, am want of stay; am want of know of reason Miles do of good of kobold is want of kobold of stay. Am want of Miles know of reason of stay is of kobold do of want. Am not want of Miles worry of hurt of kobold if do of thing of want, worry of hurt of kobold if do of say of go, choose of hurt of Miles, reason of worry of hurt of kobold. Am want of... Am know Miles do of help of other person, am not want of worry of choose of stay of person do of hurt, go of place do of hurt."

"Mirror, keep message," the kobold flops back down onto the rock, resting the mirror on her stomach again. She stares at the leaves, squinting at the light filtering through both leaves and clouds. After a few minutes, without moving, she speaks again. "Mirror, do more of secret message of Leaf."

"Am stay, if no do of find of way of no worry of trap. Am not need of soon, is okay of do of look of best of way, not do of first of way. But... am want, am think am of need."

The kobold watches the leaves for a few more minutes, shading her eyes with her arm when the sun breaks through the clouds.

"Mirror, send of message of Leaf." She rolls off the rock, landing lightly with the mirror grasped in one hand, and sets off out of the woods.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles gets this message. He reads it. He reads it again.

He thinks about it for a while.

He sends back:

I'm not sure yet exactly what we'd need to do in order to make sure you had that choice, but I can think of a few things that might help. Giving you lots of useful magic seems like a good start, because that makes it easier for you to go anywhere you like without worrying very much about food or safety. I also think that you and Raezenoth might get along well, and Raezenoth's domain might be a place you could go if you didn't want to be here. Do you want me to invite Raezenoth here so you can meet him in person?

[lurkingkobold]

The mirror flashes white, and the kobold winces, without breaking stride. She starts looking for a place along the path to sit, and eventually settles for a particularly large and only somewhat damp tree root.

She sits.

She looks at the mirror, tugs on the dangling end of one of her ears, and looks back along the deer trail she was following.

She sighs. "Mirror, do of say of message."

"I'm not sure yet exactly what we'd need to do in order to make sure you had that choice, but I can think of a few things that might help. Giving you lots of useful magic -"

"Mirror, stop." She stares at it for a few more moments, bemused, then tucks it into a pouch on her belt and continues along the path towards Miles' house. When she gets to the forest's edge, she stops and leans against a tree. She reaches for the mirror, but changes her mind before she gets the pouch open, and opts to head inside instead. Where's Miles?

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles is in the middle of putting away a spellbook he just conjured. Something seems to have put him in a good mood: he looks a little less run-down than usual.

[lurkingkobold]

That's, uh, really weird.

The kobold retreats to her room and checks the forum. Maybe something happened? No, no clues there. Well, nothing for it, then. She returns to the living room, being rather less sneaky this time.

[thisvorlunatic]

He looks up from his comconsole and smiles at her when he notices her entering the room.

[lurkingkobold]

Happy Miles means happier kobold, that's kind of inevitable. She's still pretty confused, though, he can probably tell.

Scritches, fortunately, are appropriate in almost every situation. She goes to sit by his chair.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles gives her scritches. "Hello. Did you get my message?"

[lurkingkobold]

"Am hear of some of." She looks up at him. "Am think am want of hear of voice."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Sure," he says. "My two ideas so far are 'give you lots of useful magic' and 'introduce you to Raezenoth' - the desert god from the forum, I mean; he visits here sometimes to play games with me. I think you might get along."

Miles seems to find this subject actively relaxing. Miles is a weird person.

[lurkingkobold]

Well, huh.

She double checks this via the mirror - just in case she's missing something; she doesn't quite know all those words yet. But apparently this is exactly what it seems, and she hasn't, in fact, stressed Miles out by adding to his workload.

This is the sort of weird that one is well advised to poke with sticks. "Miles no of stress of?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Huh?" he says. "No, are you kidding? I have a problem to solve that's useful, interesting, not urgent, and doesn't involve anyone being in danger. This is great."

[lurkingkobold]

This gets an amused snort. "Strange." She grins and leans into his hand, "best of strange."

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles grins.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold grins, too.

"Magic is of good, am not know if help of important of thing, but not do of hurt. Desert God do of nice, am want of meet if easy of do."

...

*blinkblink*

"MP is change, is of one."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Huh. Well, good, I guess. I'll ask Raezenoth if he wants to visit soon. I wonder why now...? You summoned a daeva, but most people need to do more than summon one daeva to get one MP, it sounds like."

[lurkingkobold]

"MP do of strange of kobold, strange of none, strange of one, maybe more of strange?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

[lurkingkobold]

She shrugs, and leans into his hand again. "Is spellbook of one of MP? Am only do of learn of know of language."

[thisvorlunatic]

Scritch scritch.

"Yeah, there's two, arcane mark and read magic. Read magic is probably more useful; it'll let you read spellbooks faster. Want me to get you one out of the pile?"

[lurkingkobold]

Nod. "Yes please," grin.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles fetches her one of the many read magic spellbooks.

[lurkingkobold]

She sets to reading it. She's a little out of practice already, but it seems like this one will go much faster anyway.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles PMs Raezenoth.

Would you like to visit soon to play more games? Also, lurkingkobold has been staying with me and I'd like to introduce you to her; I think you'd get along.

[mountains_themselves]

Raezenoth's reply is rather prompt.

I would, yes. I will glady meet her.

Do you remember my blessings? I believe that I would like to grant you a second.

[thisvorlunatic]

I do remember them, and I will gladly accept a second blessing. I'll think about which one I want. Does a few hours from now sound good for a visit?