Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

It's About Power

Kipo ducked behind the desk, though she wasn't certain if Gale was even looking of not. Better safe than sorry.

She didn't waste any time. Kipo quickly took the pocket knife out and then squinted at the other drawers, looking for somewhere to use it. Unfortunately, though the doors were locked there were no locks that Kipo could try and force open.

Well, Kipo thought, no visible locks at least. Kipo used the knife to feel around the cracks of the drawer on the left-hand side. Maybe she could use it as a lever, to force it open... or maybe she could cut it open, it did look like a woodcutting knife, so maybe...

Before Kipo could ponder it any further, something clicked, and the drawer jumped open. Kipo winced as a Gale's eyes turned to look at her.

"What are you doing back there?" he called. "What's taking so long?"

"I'm NOT!" Kipo called back. "You're just impatient."

Kipo paused, and then just because she was polite, she also called: "I'll be back soon!"

Gale grumbled, but didn't say anything else. With the new threat hanging over her head, Kipo worked faster, pulling open the drawer and peeking inside. What she saw made her eyes widen.

There was... a lot in there.

At random, Kipo picked up a block of wood.

As if on cue, Gale turned around. "I don't remember putting that back there."

Kipo froze. "Well... you did. I can keep it, right?"

Gale rolled his eyes. "Fine, go ahead. Just don't forget the paper, too."

"Okay."

With one last sorrowful glance at the drawer (maybe she should have grabbed something else?), Kipo silently closed it, and moved over to the correct drawer. As promised, a stack of paper was inside, and a stack on envelops. Kipo grabbed them, and then frowned.

"There's only four envelops," she noted, and Gale sighed.

"You'd be saying that if there were six envelopes, or twelve, or whatever," Gale grumbled. "Just stop complaining and get over here."

Kipo glared at him. "I'm not complaining. This is life or death for my friends."

Gale gave Kipo an annoyed look as she sat down. "Better use them wisely, then. You're smart, aren't you?"

Now it was Kipo's turn to roll her eyes.

"Now, take out a piece of paper," Gale explained, and out of the darkness, he tossed her a pen. Kipo caught it, and then looked at it in surprise. "It's important to be... thorough, this time."

Kipo opened her mouth to say that it was mostly Gale's fault, and then closed it. It's not like she actually tried to press him, so she supposed that she was kind of at fault, too.

"Right," Kipo said as she started by writing a greeting to Fei Fei and Anne at the top. She put her pen on her paper, but as she tried to describe the flower, her mind went blank. The screen didn't really give her a good look at it, after all. "What does it look like again? The flower."

"Red," Gale answered immediately, but then he seemed to pause, thinking. "Completely red, even the leaves and the stem. The stem is long and thin, and the petals open out of a red middle, and they're long and thin, so you can see the veins in them. There are a lot of petals around the stem, all crowded around."

"Huh," Kipo said as she wrote the information down. Gale was speaking rather quickly, so all she managed was short notes, but as he finished, she also tried to sketch it out as what Gale was describing, and what she saw on the screen.