Friendship Is Magic

A

s she witnessed the boy speak from this angle as, agreeing that she looked funny from his point of view too, she burst into laughter, wriggling where she lay upside down. ”Thanks!!” She giggled in response to his compliment, revealing a toothy grin before she’d rolled back over.

Clover seemed ultimately confused by his explanation of the ‘Patrol’ game. Her floral gems gleamed with a mixture of curiosity and a yearning to try to understand. “But…if it’s not fun and you don’t enjoy it, why do it?” In her mind, it was simply rational to let go of and remove any source of unhappiness in omens life.

It was strange to think someone would want to surround themselves with negativity when they were always in the presence of the All Mother, Spirit of the wild. Clover would glance over and over a warm smile to Cian during her conversation with Nibble and their new feathered companion.

They were just about to get started when the boy asked her questions. She supposed it was his turn after all she’d just inquired about. Clover smiled at him and leaned in expectantly as he trailed off. She thought he was going to say something more and she blinked at him.

“Am I what? Suuuuper pretty? Is that what you were going to say?” She teased, batting her eyelashes and then bringing her paw up to her lips to try to stifle a giggle. “I am from here though! Mama found me in the clover and wood sorrel and that’s why they named me Clover!” She shared openly, beaming with pride. It was then that then that the bird landed on her head and she looked up at him curiously as he looked down at her.

“My name is Clover and you know Cian and Nibble. And what should we call you, sweet nuthatch?” The freckled corvid lifted himself higher and landed in the low branch of another tree across the clearing. He ruffled his feathers and then blinked about, surveying the magnificence of his perch. Clover’s smile grew and she danced on her top-toes excitedly. “Ooo! Ooo! I know, I know! That’s a birch tree! Your name must be Birch!”

A trill of chirps erupted from the bird and he swooped down circling Clover’s head. She spun around with him and squealed with laughter before he flew up again and landed in the same tree. Meanwhile then little girl, dizzied, tripped over her own feet and fell against Cian’s chest.

She was still smiling, her eyes trying to refocus until the the blur of auburn shaped into several faces and then into one single face of the boy she’d just met. Clover didn’t move, remaining leaned up against him completely unphased by their proximity. “Oopsie Daisy! Hehe!”


@Cian

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

”B

ut…if it’s not fun and you don’t enjoy it, why do it?” The booming, intimidating voice of his father rang through his skull, uninvited: ”Life is not pleasure! Life is responsibility!” Automatically, Cian could hear his own voice now as he replied to the playful femme, and the maturity in his response surprised even him. His father would be proud, but Cian was not sure what exactly he felt. ”It is not meant to be fun. It’s meant to keep others safe, and to -- to serve the king.”


“Am I what? Suuuuper pretty? Is that what you were going to say?” The boy’s fiery eyes grew wide with alarm. ”W-well, er, n-not exactly -- I mean, I was n-not going to say that --” He stumbled onward verbally: ”That is to say, I do not disagree with th-that…” Oh, he couldn’t bring himself to say it, that yes, she was super pretty, that her eyes were like roses in full bloom, and he had never seen anything quite like it before… Instead, he looked away, shuffled his paws awkwardly, and was grateful that the subject had swiftly changed to something that made him feel a bit less silly.


Clover shared the origin of her moniker, smiling proudly. ”I was named after my great-great-great-grandfather,” he offered in return, though he may have unintentionally omitted a generation or two of his ancestors. ”On my Father’s side of the family, that is,” he shared, though he was not sure why he bothered to add such an unimportant detail. What he did not share, however, was the reason why his namesake was famous within his clan… Cian could not recall every brutal detail, but it had something to do with a massacre in which Cian the Elder had slaughtered many for some cause his descendants could not pinpoint, other than it being for the honor of the nobility at the time. Whatever that meant… In any case, Cian the Younger was by no means eager to describe this to Clover. They had known each other mere minutes, but already, he could guess how she might respond to something that was, now that he stopped to consider it, rather disturbing.


The youth was distracted from the conversation was the bird seemed to take a particular interest in Clover, coming to land atop her head. It was so strange that Cian could not help but laugh, despite his bewilderment in all of the things he was witnessing that day. Never before had he encountered anyone or anything like this, like Clover. He was silent as Clover theorized, correctly, what the bird was named. As he watched the girl spinning, carefree, he wondered what it must be like to be a Highlander, instead… How differently his life might have turned out had he been brought up in his mother’s homelands rather than his sire’s.


Contemplating these deep thoughts, he scarcely saw Clover as she stumbled toward him, her head spinning, until he had become the force to keep her on her feet -- paws that, he noted now, looked so much smaller than his own. The flustered feeling that had passed only minutes before soon returned, and he cleared his throat, eyes darting about nervously, as if he was doing something he was not supposed to be doing. His body felt feverish from snout to tail. ”I, uh…”




@Clover

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

T

he boy said some things that confused her…she’d have to ask Maela about it later. “Oh, like the King and the Queen in the castle who get married and live happily ever after?” Clover new these stories all too well! Her mother told them all the time before she was tucked in for bed. She let out a loud gasp when she remembered another character from the tales. “Then, then, you must be a knight!”

Cian was a silly young brute, fumbling and fiddling with all of his words after he asked her if she was pretty. He was all over the place and she had a hard time holding back giggles. He did a loop-dee-loop and roundabout with what he was saying until he finally decided that he did not disagree with what she said, which meant… “So you do think I’m pretty!” Bubbling laughter escaped her as she danced around. “You think I’m preeeeetty and you really liiiiiiiike me! Thas a fine thing! Because I like ya too, Cian!”

Learning the origin of his name was odd…this whole great-great-great-grandfather thing sounded pretty serious. “How great can a wolf be? Can ya also be a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-greeeaaaaatest-of-all-greatest-grandfather?” Although it sounded as though she were poking fun at this sort of terminology, the girl did watch him expectantly, knowing that Cian could answer every question she had.

The little nuthatch stole all of her attention again, although Clover did whip her face around to the sound of a laugh from the boy knight. She too laughed and then went about her spinning with Birch until she had collapsed against Cian. “Wow! You’re very strong! If you hadn’t’a been there to keep me safe, I might’a smooshed my face in the muddy snow! You’re the most wonderful night ever!” She exclaimed, giving him a swift lick on the cheek before she leapt up and scampered over to where Birch was atop a snow drift. “Found somethin’, have ya? Alrighty then!” And she began digging wildly to unearth some more treats for her new bird friend.

@Cian

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

C

ian listened as the girl pondered what a King and Queen were supposed to do (wedded bliss, or so she reported), and he smiled unconsciously. ”Yeah. Yeah, that is what they do.” Among other things… He thought, but did not bother to say so aloud, as Cian realized he was not entirely sure he would even be able to describe it properly to someone who seemed to be so entirely removed from the society in which the boy had been raised, that he did not know where to begin, or even if the topic was one worthy of their attention when they were so far away from the Mainlands.


At the suggestion that he was a knight, Cian’s head tilted slightly to the left. He had not considered this before. ”I… I guess so.” What was the difference between a knight and a soldier, really? Both were capable of heroics. The boy found he rather liked the idea of being a knight, though he suspected his father would find the notion fanciful and absurd.


She laughed as if the world were a perfect place, free of strife and concern and duties, and Cian found himself holding his breath until his head felt dizzy, and he exhaled noisily. “You think I’m preeeeetty and you really liiiiiiiike me! Thas a fine thing! Because I like ya too, Cian!” At this, his mouth fell open in surprise, but he quickly tried to mask his shock. ”Y-you do…?”


Clover questioned the greatness of this alleged great-grandfather, and Cian found that he was not surprised by it. They were from two very different worlds, he could see. “Well, um, you see, he wasn’t great in the spectaculor sort of way -- or, I mean, maybe he was, but I never met him. He died long before I was born. He was my father’s father’s father’s father… well, you get the idea,” he concluded, watching the girl’s expression to see if she did, indeed, understand what he was attempting to say.


The flurry of activity between Clover’s spinning, her falling, and his catching, rather overwhelmed the boy. Feeling a lick against his cheek seemed to do him in completely, and he stared at her, dumbfounded and shocked. She had complimented his strength, but he was too bewildered by the girl’s carefree attitude to let it go to his ego. Even as she moved away, it felt as though he could feel her warmth against him still, eliciting an unconscious sigh. He felt… something, like butterflies trying to flee his stomach, and like his heart might escape through his throat if it beat any faster. It was not a bad something to feel.


The digging began, and Cian, finding himself full of nervous energy or some other sort of undefined restlessness, despite his travels, joined in eagerly. Now, he was very certain his father would not approve of these activities, and Cian again found himself glad for the separation between his history and his present. "Found one!"


@Clover

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

T

heir vastly differed views of the world aside, Clover truly did like her new friend! In fact, what made them different from each other was probably what she liked the most. She could ask him soooo many questions and he could ask her too if he wanted. Cian was going to be her bestest friend ever, she could just tell!

“Birch!” She called out as she’d scraped aside snow to reveal a few morsels. “Here, catch!” She picked up a hazelnut and tossed it up into the air where the nuthatch swooped by in a flurry of speckled wings to snatch the nut right from above her head. “Whooaaahahaha!! Yeah!” Clover cheered and hopped up and down excitedly.

“Found one!”

Clover wheeled herself around and scampered over to the boy, skidding to a stop and bumping into him slightly. She giggled and peered over to see what he’d dug up. “Watcha got, Cian?” She asked with a bright smile, her tail wagging wildly behind her, overjoyed to have a friend willing to help her.

@Cian

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

S

everal hours passed in a similar manner: helping woodland critters to gather food, and listening to the whimsy supplied in abundance by Clover. Did this mean that they were friends now? Cian could only assume as much by the girl’s contagious energy, her enthusiasm and her kindness. Plus, her eyes were so lovely, just like the rose quartz his mother kept as a prized possession in their home. The boy found quite swiftly that it was near impossible not to look, though he looked away hurriedly and with embarrassment, whenever Clover glanced his way.


Cian was not sure exactly what his father would say, but he assumed it would not be kind or understanding, or helpful in any way. And he was so new to the army, he could not fathom what his commanders would think if they knew how Cian had spent the better part of an afternoon. It was only when the sun began to set that the youth realized he had been gone for so long, and the peacefulness of the forest that had settled in around them quickly shattered for Cian. His mind was instantly filled with anxious thoughts about being perceived as abandoning the army. That would never do.


He offered an apologetic smile to Clover as he glanced back in the direction he had come - back to reality. ”I, uh, really need to get going, I’m afraid.” He could not promise that the two would ever meet again. After all, what were the chances they would ever meet in the first place? "It was very nice to meet you, Clover. And Birch, and everyone else..." As Cian took his leave, he hoped that their paths would cross again someday, and hopefully sooner than later.



/exit


@Clover

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

T

one surely did pass by quickly when she was having so much fun. They could've been collecting nuts and seeds for five minutes or five hours, there was no telling! At least not in her mind.

She especially liked this other game that Cian was playing with her. It was the one where he would watch her do whatever she was doing and as soon as she looked at him, he would pretend he was looking somewhere else. Clover would giggle every time and they did it pretty much all day while they helped Birch and Nibble.

Suddenly, to her disappointment, her new friend had to leave to go home. The sun was setting after all. Clover's bottom lip poked out in a small pout, but she nodded with a sigh.

"Awwww...well, okay, if you really hafta...I guess I'll see you next time!" He was quick about his exit and she smiled at him, tail wagging as she called out behind him in a sing-song tone, "Buh-byyyye, Cian! It's so, so, nice to meet you toooo~" With that, she settled her woodland friends and went to go find Maela, seeing as it was supper time. Playing with new friends sure did make her hungry!

[Exit Clover]


@Cian

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck