The Moon Calls

40

Upon returning to Lorbwaldo, a feast was held in Pascal's—Lizardus'—honor. He was given a silly crown to wear and pampered and Varian could see that Ruddiger was starting to get annoyed about it.

"Don't worry, this will pass." He assured him. "He'll be coming back with us. Let's focus on the problem, hm? The Firefly?"

Ruddiger let out a sigh.

--

When the Lorbs tried to force them to fan Pascal, they were all quickly reminded their place when Varian trapped the entire population in black rock cages for five minutes, which is how long it took for Pascal to plead with him to let them all out. In the end, the Lorbs did the fanning themselves, and they had a title for Varian that was clearly not intended to be nice: Finskloopenhogun. Which basically translated to "Dark King" or "Tyrant". Among other names they called him under their breath that they guessed were insults and swear words.

Rapunzel didn't like it, but Varian had assured her that he was fine with it. If he needed to make these people call him a Dark King and use fear to make them stop trying to treat them like lesser beings, then so be it.

Despite this development, the celebration for Pascal—Lizardus—went on, the people further encouraged by his being able to convince the Finskloopenhogun to release them unharmed.

--

"I don't think they like you." Hugo said, nudging Varian as they looked at statues made of their group. Varian was looking especially cruel and demonic with black rocks around him.

"Good, the feeling is mutual." Varian said smugly.

Donella chuckled. "Oh, Ulla, if only you could see him." She said, gripping her necklace with a fond smile.

"Do we all have to look so...feral?" Eugene asked.

"They view us like animals, I guess." Cassandra made a face.

"At least they got your nose right." Lance snickered.

"Yeah, at least they did that." Eugene nodded.

"Pascal looked great!" Rapunzel said, smiling at him. "Though, my nose is a bit pointy."

"And I don't have sharp teeth." Cassandra frowned.

"They gave me a demonic cloak, that is awesome." Varian laughed.

"Donella and I don't look too bad." Hugo said thoughtfully.

"Probably because we haven't really done much to vex them." Donella said with a smirk. "The craftsmanship is rather impressive."

--

While Pascal continued to be pampered, the others took the time to explore the area. The Lorbs actually seemed glad to see Varian walking off, but he looked back at them and grinned. "Don't worry, I'll be back." He assured them before walking on.

"He's really getting into the 'Dark King' title, isn't he?" Eugene remarked.

Rapunzel sighed. "Mother would be proud." She said quietly, shaking her head.

Eugene leaned in a bit. "...Which one?"

She sighed heavily. "Honestly, with Donella's comments? Sounds like his real one would be."

Cassandra looked over at where the alchemists werechecking out a waterfall near the village, Lance with them. "I dunno, I think he's just having fun. He doesn't really mean to hurt anyone."

"Yeah." Rapunzel nodded, then looked back at Pascal. "He seems to be having fun, too."

"Maybe a little too much." Eugene shrugged.