The Many Adventures of Geoffrey the Llama King

Finding

          Geoffrey stares after Ebsy as she walks off with Captain Hammer.  ‘Oh, shrooms… What have I done?’ he mutters, sliding down the hospital wall so he was sitting on the ground, his head in his hands. Penny sits, silently, next to him. They stay there for a while, just sitting and not saying anything before Geoffrey gets up.

‘You should get home, Penny… It’s getting late.’ It was, in fact, getting late. The sun was close to setting and the air was getting chillier.

‘Come home with me.’

‘What?’

‘Well, you don’t have anywhere else to stay, do you?’ Geoffrey shakes his head, ‘So you’ll need somewhere to sleep. I have a fold-out couch that I can spare. Come on, you look tired.’ Geoffrey gives in and helps Penny up. The two walk in the direction of Penny’s place in silence.

‘I’m sorry about the little argument, before… between Ebsy and me. We don’t normally fight and the thing about her parents slipped out… She probably hates me right now.’

‘It’s fine. Well go find her tomorrow and you can explain everything then, ok?’ The two get to the door and Penny opens the door, ushering Geoffrey inside.

She opens out the couch and hands Geoffrey a pillow and a blanket. ‘Night, Geoffrey.’

‘Night, Penny.’

*****

The next day, Penny and Geoffrey set off to find Ebsy… again. They head straight to the other side of town, because she always seems to be over there. The first place they look is where Penny found Ebsy the first time.

At the same moment, Moist had already woken up and was heading out the door to buy some milk. He had checked on Ebsy, who was still sleeping, and had left a note on the coffee table in front of her that he would be back in ten minutes at the most in case she wonders where he’d gone. He walks out onto the street and past where the van incident had been the day before. As he goes past, he sees two figures, one being Penny.

‘Morning, Penny.’ he says cheerfully.

‘It’s Moist, right? Hi. Have you seen Ebsy around, by any chance?’

‘Oh, yeah. She’s sleeping in my living room. I can take you to her, if you’d like.’

‘Please, do.’

And so, the three head back to Moist’s house, where Ebsy is still sleeping. Geoffrey introduces himself on the way. They then go into Moist’s house.

‘I found her sitting outside in the street, sobbing, so I brought her in here and she fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake her.’ Moist explains, as they go to the kitchen. They all sit around the table.

‘Did she tell you what happened?’ Geoffrey asks.

Moist shakes his head. ‘She never said a word.’

‘I knew he was a bad choice.’ Geoffrey explains to Moist what had happened the day before. ‘It’s just good to know that you found her.’

‘I couldn’t just leave her out there overnight. I’m not heartless.’

‘So her parents really are dead?’ Penny asks.

‘I’m afraid so. The Royal Fairies came to Palace and talked to me in private. I was too scared to tell Ebsy, afraid of how she would’ve reacted. They weren’t the closest, but she still loved them.’

‘Royal Fairies?’ Moist asks.

‘I’m the King of Llama Land. There are different areas of Llama Land, and I rule over most of it. I don’t rule over the Grimvorne or Elkin, but I do rule over the rest of Llama Land.’

‘So it’s a real place?’ Penny questions.

‘Of course it is. It’s just in a world different to this one. I’m still not sure how we got here, exactly, but I know that somehow we crossed dimensions and possibly time as well. All I remember was I touched that mirror and we ended up here.’

‘How are you going to get back?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe if there’s a second mirror of the same design…’

‘There is another.’ The three look up to see Ebsy standing in the doorway.

‘How do you know?’ Ebsy sits down and begins the tale.