The lion landed near a rock-cut building, covered with planks in the shape of a pointed hat with large brims, from which a thick tree trunk rose up toward the plateau. A warm, oil light burned in the windows, and it appeared even larger inside than it was outside. Tables were densely arranged in two floors, and our companions made their way between them, seated in a corner by a small stage. There weren't many customers, and an octopus immediately floated up through the air to take their order.
"Raud, my friend!" Leo exclaimed.
"My respects to you, thundering Leo," the octopus grinned and winked at the dolls, "I see you have interesting company. Lila, how are you? I didn't think Father would ever fix you... Except for that scar. You'll be easy to distinguish from the others, though."
"Oh, what a flatterer, don't listen to him, the scar even suits you," laughed the lion, rubbing Lila's curls.
She looked at the one and the other in turn with embarrassment.
"You're also here, Pinocchio?" Raud smiled, "Have you got a name for yourself, stupid doll?"
"Goody," he nodded, looking at the octopus expectantly.
"Hmm... I liked Eftebeneug better," the octopus gurgled and scratched the top of his head with his tentacle, "Well, how remiss of me, what will you order, Leo? By the way, are you fighting tonight?"
"Oh no," the lion waved his paw, "I still have to finish my mirror tent for the carnival. And who's there to fight, your friend? That would be the slaughter of an innocent," he laughed.
"As you wish, I think I heard Lumberjack shout all over the place that he was going to make it hot for you today, and if you didn't come... well, you know what he usually says."
Leo's fur stood up, and he clenched his furry fists, accidentally releasing his claws.
"Ow!" he cried out, "You know how to be a killjoy, Raud. Give me better some oblivion-water."
If the octopus had had eyebrows, he would have raised them now, but he only smirked and floated toward the bar, where a tree grew that deftly handled orders with its green-covered branches. And one could have sworn that it was now studying Goody.
"That's Sid," Leo noticed the doll's gaze, "He's been like that since before the first 'fugitives' were here. And they say he remembers everything, since the beginning of time."
"How does he speak?" Goody wondered. "I don't see his mouth or eyes or anything."
"You don't have a mouth either, but you do speak somehow," grinned Leo.
"Yea-ah," Goody said, "But I have a speech mechanism, a tongue behind my visor, that makes these speech-like sounds."
"And Sid can write," the lion smiled, rubbing the damaged place on his palms with his claws, "Except he has his own, very specific concepts of time and space, so his answers can be very difficult to interpret for those who live, so to speak, on our frequency."
"Frequency?" Goody asked.
"Oh, it's hard for me, it's been explained to me many times, but I don't really understand it myself. In a nutshell, everything fluctuates. Like your tongue. You, me, Lila, Raud, Sid, these tables, the rocks. But you and I fluctuate faster, and the rocks and Sid slower. We're like mosquito wings to him."
"Like butterflies?" Goody asked.
"Well, yes, but nastier, it squeaks, flies, stings, drinks blood."
Goody shook his head.
"Okay," Leo growled, stretched out his shirt and blew hard on it. It trembled quickly.
"That's what we are, for example," he said, and then he blew on the shirt faintly, and it shook easily in his hands.
YOU ARE READING
Heart's tale
FantasyA long time ago, there was a planet on the surface of which a real living Heart was beating. Each of its beat gave life to many wonderful creatures, and humans were no exception. Once, during a mountain collapse, they became afraid that something m...
