Wisp - A Scarecrow's Tale

Chapter 8 - Bubble Boggle

It came as a relief to both Niki and Wander (and Merry too, Wander assumed) to have Jardinfae behind them. It was a nice enough place, Wander thought to himself as he walked with his arms crossed behind his head, but if people like Mavis came with civilization, he'd take his peaceful field over it any day.

The meadows ahead of them were filled with flowers with colorful petals that spun about in the wind like little helicopters. Occasionally one would break free from its stem and whirl upwards into the twilight sky, presumably carrying its seeds to some faraway place. Merry chased a few of them, spinning almost as fast as the petals themselves.

Theodore took the lead, his small legs sending dozens of the little flowers skyward with every stride as he somehow stayed ahead of the group. Niki gave him a wide berth, her reasoning for doing so becoming clear when Wander fell into stride beside her.

"Ugh! What a bunch of complete jerks!" she muttered, looking daggers ahead at an apparently oblivious Sheriff Theo.

"Huh?"

"Those people in the village!" she said, anger in her eyes. "Can you believe they just grabbed my flock like that? For no reason? And that scaly hag was ready to just toss us into the Twilight!"

"Well, they still think-"

"Yeah, yeah, 'cause they lost a few wisps, and of course if there's a crow around they musta done it!"

Wander let Niki fume for a few moments before asking, "Was it like this ... y'know, in other towns?"

"Yeah! Every single time! We show up wanting to do a bit of trading only to get shown the gate. If we're lucky, the guards just escort us out of town. If not ..." she rubbed her cheek with the back of her talon, a faint scar visible against her tan skin.

Wander looked at his friend, sympathy filling his straw chest. "Gotta say, I sure wouldn't want that Mavis lady as a neighbor. She seems the sort who complains about everything and everyone just because they ain't her people. There was a lady like that in our old apartment building that-"

Wander stopped speaking as the image of the three-room apartment filled his thoughts once again, only now with even more details: the door that wouldn't open unless kicked in the right spot, the faded brown carpet worn almost flat, the blinds forever drawn up because some previous tenants cut the cords. For an instant, he could even smell it, a mixture of old cigar smoke and acrylic paint.

"Wander?" Niki asked, a concerned look on her face. "You okay, little bro?"

Wander shook his head. "Sorry, kinda wandered off there for a sec. Anyway, I was just saying that Mavis sounds like a real stick in the mud."

That brought a giggle to Niki's lips. "Yeah," she said, grinning, "And you see that dog guy with her? I think he was more scared of Mavis than he was of my flock!"

Theodore whistled loudly. "Come on, you lot! Keep up!"

Niki snorted but said nothing as they continued down the path. They continued solward for a time only to stop as the road split sharply widdershins and solwise. The solwise path led straight to the heart of the Patchwork Woods while the widdershins path headed toward distant Lumen Mountains. There was no path solward, only trees. Most were patchwork trees, part of an extension of the Patchwork Woods, but there were also a few silver-barked trees with looping branches, each covered with blue heart-shaped leaves. Small bud-like growths were on the very tip of every branch, bough, and twig, each producing a translucent bubble with a single tiny seed suspended in the center.

Wander poked at one of the bubbles with his finger only for the bubble to immediately stick to his finger. After watching him try and fail to get rid of the bubble for a few moments, Niki popped the bubble with a sharp talon, leaving the seed to fall into Wander's open palm.