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FLUPPIT WAS EXCITED to be going on a proper quest. She hardly ever got included, due to her age, but she felt like she was ready. She was to be with Sari as the ones to collect the tricky plants to identify. Nev and Kaj were to be the team collecting the hard-to-reach plants. Some would require visiting or trading way back down in the deepest pipes of the Dark. Dun and Padg, they had the mission to collect plants from places they’d likely have to fight to get in and out of. There were plants to be had from the ornamental lake under the Dome. All that area was now a war zone. And the Boneweb plant? That could only be found in the sleeping chamber of a cave-spider. Somehow, braving the war seemed easier.
Sari and Fluppit had the longest list by far, Dun and Padg having just two plants on theirs, and even with the hard-to-reach plants, Nev and Kaj only had a few. That left Sari and Fluppit with nine plants to find.
Amber, Kaj, Nev, Dun—all the people she thought of as family—fussed around her with what clothes she should be wearing, and Dun gave her a piece of parchment and a stylus to map where she was going. Kaj gave her a knife. Padg sat apart and offered advice and criticism in alternate swaths until Amber shooed him out of the Sanctuary anteroom to make himself more useful. He left in a cloud of muttering, and the fussing continued, with Amber pinning the braids she wore either side of her face in a ”more combat worthy” way.
Fluppit finally snapped, “I’ll be fine, Mum!” The whole chamber, and the Sanctuary, since the door was open, fell into silence. Fluppit never called Amber Mum or Padg Dad, for that matter—the group of collective parenting that took place in their burrow was too amorphous for that, and crystalising that anyone was a Mum gave a rank that was out of place in their whole setup. Everyone loved and spent as much time on her. No-one ever called Dun or Padg Dad, though few folks knew which one of them was biological father to Fluppit anyhow. Among the Bridge-folk and the Collective, it had scarcely mattered. In the more formal worlds of some of the Duchies and the Stone-folk, there were traditions about it, but they were all breaking down, with so much else now.
Amber stood still, braids in hand, like she’d been slapped, “I’m... I’m sorry”, said Fluppit, throwing her arms around her.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Amber murmured into her hair.
“You know you can still back out if you want to,” said Kaj, “Nobody will think any less of you.”
“No,” sniffled Fluppit, “Sari needs my help. Besides, I’d think less of me.”
Sari re-entered the chamber carrying clinking baggage. “Did somebody use my name in vain?” she said, mock-sternly.
“Yeah,” said Nev, “Fluppit said she’s bottled it and she’s not coming.”
That earned him a punch in the arm from Kaj.
“Huf,” said Sari, “She’d better get used to bottling.” She put the sacks onto the floor with a jangling thump.
“You want a trolley for that, mate,” said Dun.
Everyone snickered. It was obviously some kind of in-joke for the grown-ups that Fluppit hadn’t been party to. But now she would be. She crouched down and contemplated the sacks on the floor. Glass bottles with stoppers in every conceivable size. Some sloshed with liquids. They all had that just-cleaned tea-tree smell.
“I’ve got the perfect thing,” Nev said, “hold on. It’s in here somewhere.”
His return was heralded by squeaking. “Well, that is extremely stealthy,” said Dun.
“Do shut up,” said Nev. “It only needs a bit of oil. It’s the perfect size for a trolley, not too heavy to drag, she’s robust and that’s before we get to the best bit—”
“No, don’t ask him,” Kaj jumped in.
“Go on, Unca Nev, I love your trolley.”
“Thank you, Fluppit. Some people still appreciate good engineering. The best bit is—she floats.”
“Coo,” said Fluppit.
“Probably not enough to get you both in with your stuff, but certainly enough to float all the valuables on their return journey.”
“That’s amazing,” Sari ran a hand along the sizeable wooden box atop the trolley. “Get her loaded up then, Fluppit.”
“Aye-aye ma’am.”
Fluppit set to work, placing the bottles in neat rows, and organising them by whether they already had fluids in them, Sari had called some of them fixatives and some reagents. Fluppit filed them in her trolley accordingly, bedding them down in as much sacking as she could scavenge from Nev’s supplies.
Padg came back in with a bundle of Sword-spears. A huge explosion echoed behind him “Gods, sounds like they’re trying to breach the barricades in the stairs.” He hurriedly handed out spears to everyone in the chamber.
“Just like old times ‘eh?” said Dun.
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Nice work,” said Kaj, twirling hers around its long axis to test its balance.
“Let’s hope we live long enough to use them,” said Nev.
There was a massive crash from the stairwell, followed by a huge belch from the vat. An awful rotting eggs smell came from the fluid. “Ssalviaaa!” hissed the speaker.
Amber rushed over, “It’s all right my love, I’m here. Our times up, folks. To arms!”
