Extraordinarily Pleased

Up To Something

That night, they camped outside of town, under the trees behind the castle. The moon alighted the windmill far off in the distance as the three sat around a fire, having a dinner of fire-roasted pilfered crops.

Felicia held up the crumpled tourist map of Duloc, a crude layout of the museum drawn over Farquaad's castle. "Each bathroom has one window," she pointed toward the back of the castle, "and I'm the only one of us who could fit. I broke the lock on the one in the women's room, so I'll sneak in through there, snag the map, slip back out, and then we run. Simple as that!" She took a satisfied bite of corn.

"HEY hey hey–" Farkle stood up indignantly, "so you're just gonna do it all yourself?" Turnip bits flew as he barked at his sister across the campfire.

"You two COULDN'T fit if you tried–" Felicia countered.

"And you'll brag and rub it in our faces til the end of time–" Farkle's eyes rolled back into his skull as he messed his hair.

"No I wouldn't, Fark–" Felicia stood up herself.

"Oh yeah RIGHT Fel–"

"GUYS." Fergus shot up to his feet, his hands held out reflexively in both their directions. "Look... Fel's plan sounds solid–"

"Ha!" Felicia raised her eyebrows victoriously at Farkle. Farkle took a step toward her, filling himself with air to combat her. Fergus took a step in his direction, his arm seemingly the only thing holding Farkle back.

"BUT! But!" Fergus continued, giving Felicia eyes to shut her up as he held off Farkle, "This is our only chance to do this. And this is probably our only chance for the map, at all. So... I think it would be smart if we–" he gestured between Farkle and himself, "helped in some way. We can't blow this."

Felicias' eyes hardened, and she began to open her mouth in protest of Fergus, but he took a step toward her, arm lowered defensively as if calming a tiger. "NOT that I think you would blow it, obviously. Just– we can't let anything slip through the cracks."

Farkle and Felicia stared at the brother between them as he kept them at bay, then raised their eyes to one another for a moment. They then both sighed away, not so subtle expressions of irritation still on their faces.

"Maybe, too... we should give it a few days." Fergus sat back down, avoiding either sibling's face in case they had something to say about his suggestion.

"...Why?" Farkle asked, no ire in his voice, just hesitant confusion.

"I think Sternbluff may have caught on to us." Felicia replied flatly.

"Aye," Fergus exhaled as he sliced a potato with his pocket knife. "I mean, he may not have, but it just felt like–"

"He knew there was a reason we came here for the map, and not Far Far Away. Right." Farkle nodded as he too sat back down.

"And besides," Felicia offered, spearing another onion on her long fire-roasting stick, "what rush are we even in? What's a few more days?"

Farkle's glance darted between either sibling, before he looked at his feet, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know... I just, y'know... wanna go." He couldn't help but chuckle in spite of himself, which the other two mirrored.

"I mean, same," Felicia admitted as she rotated her onions on the open flame, "but this'll be worth it."

"Besides," Fergus bit a crispy slice of potato off the end of his skewer, "we need to gather more crops for when we make a break for it. Who knows how long it'll be before we come across another jackpot like this." He gestured broadly at the vast crops that surrounded Duloc.