Sugar you, I wanna get to know ya

Byblis was beginning to feel a little bit bad.

Only a little bit, because Alcippe hadn't said anything about her not coming in to work as much as she was hired to do. But she'd been okay with the little sheep running out and about in the past, as long as she got the work done, and there really wasn't very much work left that Byblis had been trained to do. She took care of the fish, she shuffled papers - honestly, she should be a magician! and she kept the people visiting company until the other, extremely powerful woman decided if she wanted to meet them. But Cippe had been taking a few more breaks, and people hadn't been visiting as much. Sometimes, but it was a slow season.

And so, Byblis went and travelled. Everywhere! It started as a way to find new fish, but people would say she was irresponsible if she kept filling up tanks until they were too small. Sometimes Byblis really was irresponsible - responsibility was never something she'd been given - but she was learning, and growing, and becoming more. She could write a book on self betterment! But then she'd have to sit and.... not travel. And who would want to read it? Everything she learned, she'd learn from others, so they already knew what she was learning! This trip had initially been as a way to find new fish, but then the person who was going to show them to her got extremely flustered and left her on the shore while he took off in his ship. He even forgot that she still had her money and everything else on board! Luckily, she'd found enough to get by, and sometimes, when she prattled, people would give her interesting side eyes, a brief applause, and then some money before hurrying away. She wasn't sure exactly what she was doing to earn their gold, but it worked and meant she never really needed to worry about money. She simultaneously never had too much (except for the amount she'd forgotten on the fish man's ship - that was most of her savings because there could have been a new tank involved, and a good tank was worth any price), but too much wasn't a good thing, either, so she was content with what she had. Even though she never did find the cool fish and the cooler tank.

Because she'd already been out - and, more, because she had no idea how to get into contact with Vidar because she'd never really needed to try to find the pirate so far from home - she'd decided to go exploring, to travel in land and see the sights she forgot to go and see. She'd passed through, but hadn't really spent much time in Mead. Following the road was how she'd crashed into a party of travelers, how she'd spent a fun night after almost burning herself, how she'd met and made so many new friends. Some older, some younger, And then, and then, they'd all gone their separate ways. Ships in the night that would always be able to wave to each other whenever they passed through the little terrestrial sea called life. If only she could use it to find Vidar or an actual ship to get home so she could go back to work, but... this seemed like a fun, important time, too.

But yes, on the road to Mead! People really liked honey there, and a lot liked bees. Mead was named after a drink made from honey, and she had never tried it but found it fascinating. Byblis had been told by her parents that she'd tried honey and hadn't liked it. They said it made her feel funny, and move a lot, and not be able to pay attention to the things she really cared about. Those all sounded like good reasons to avoid something, but she also wanted to try it again cause it had been awhile and maybe it wouldn't make her as sick now. And it had to be better than kale. Some things were! They also said that she shouldn't drink anything except for low-caffeine tea and water, or else her wool wouldn't be able to hold on to the dyes she held so dear, so she was very careful. Oooh... speaking of wool, she had quite a lot of it now, and should, probably, go and see if there was someone who wanted it. She didn't need it, and some people liked to live places that were colder than they had the hide for, or just for Fashion. Byblis understood fashion, but only a little - only as far as she knew that adding colorful splashes to her wool was incredibly fashionable.

Humming to herself, eyes closed to keep the potential sights out of her song, she very nearly tripped and fell on her face. Nearly, almost, but not quite - she had had to grow spry to stop herself from tripping all the times she came close to falling down. She'd almost fallen into a fire last night, but had stopped herself. She was very talented. This time she had tripped on a rock and there was no fire around, but she did see someone out of the corner of her eye. She didn't really know what that saying meant, as an eye was an eye and she truly was looking at the other girl, but that was beside the point. She liked the sound of it.

The air was cool, the sun casting watery rays onto the forest lined path. Trees shot to the sky, some surprisingly normal in appearance when compared to others that were small and scraggly or reached higher than anything had right to reach, a testament to how close Mead was to the training halls of Namarast. The shadows seemed to move, unsure if they could act as though they lived in reality or could return to the form they'd first followed. It was a beautiful, chilly, slightly spooky day.

And there was a ghost near her path.

This was a ghost she'd seen before, though. One that hadn't drawn attention to herself in the crowd, hadn't pushed to the front of the fire. Had she had any of the tea, or the mushrooms the pretty boy had been offering? Byblis hadn't had either - she'd been entirely too distracted. At least, she thought she hadn't had any. It had all become a little fuzzy as the night wore on.

Lacuna!" she called, dark face bright with merry welcome. The other girl was taller than the sheep - not difficult, as she was, really, quite short - and nearly as fuzzy, her eyes soft and, as far as Byblis could tell, exceptionally welcoming. "Are you also on your way to Mead? We should travel together!" She realized, with a start that was more surprise at realizing something than at what the realization was, that she couldn't remember if she'd told the other girl her name, or if Lacuna had shared her name to Babs, or anything regarding names. Somehow she had heard it, though. "I'm Byblis! Or Babs. Or I respond to basically anything. I want to try some of Mead's famous honey - do you want to join me?"

The other girl was quiet, doe eyes (get it? because she's actually a doe) wide and widening. She nodded, soft ears flapping gently, before the agreement's enthusiasm increased substantially.

"Then let's go!" the small sheep crowed. "Crowed" was another thing that she didn't quite understand what it meant, as crows caw, they don't crow. But "crowing" sounds similar to "crowding", so she expected that it was a noise you made when you wanted to be heard above the crowd. There was absolutely no crowd here, so crowing was likely not the best choice, but she was just so incredibly excited that it slipped out, anyhow. Lacuna winced a bit, so she would try to do better in the future, if she remembered. She didn't like hurting her friends, and she really wanted to be friend with Lacuna. She seemed sweet, and soft, and she was so incredibly pretty, and tall, and nice, and serene (something that Byblis had never, ever been called). They were both fluffy and white, though! Byblis did frequently - but not always - put dye in her hair so she wasn't always just white, but they were both white and fluffy and that was not actually an important part but definitely a fun part. "Have you ever been to Mead? Have you tried their honey? Bees work so hard for it, and I'm just so proud of them. Have you been to Namarast? I haven't. I don't know if I want to go, actually. Some of my friends talk about it and how it's really not a fun place to be. I wonder if they have honey? Do you think they like honey? If it's not fun, it must not have very good food. What's your favorite food? I don't think I have one. I haven't really had kale that I've liked, but I have another friend, and she likes kale, so I keep trying it different ways. Maybe I'll like it one day. Maybe kale goes great with honey. Oh, that would be fun. I wonder if they sell kale with honey, or if someone can teach me a recipe. I wonder if I'll like honey. I think I do, and I think I've had it, but if Mead is where all the great honey is and I've never been to Mead than maybe I've never had 'good' honey and maybe my palette isn't refined enough for good honey and maybe I won't like it."

She stopped, froze, finally breathless and potentially heartbroken. Lacuna hadn't said anything, or, at least, Byblis hadn't heard her over the brook that lived between her ears. That was probably not the best thing, as Lacuna was good and great and sweet and pretty and Byblis didn't want her to go away just because the sheep was talking entirely too much but there was something to worry about and she. Wait. No. She shook her dark head, smiling softly. "It's okay to not like everything," she reminded herself - and the fuzzy deer - softly. "And it's okay if not everyone likes you. Alcippe told me that." Vidar might've, too. Her parents did, definitely, though everyone said it a little differently and not always in the nicest ways, but they liked her and loved her and just wanted her to understand. "If I don't like their honey, maybe I'll like their kale. Or their people. There will be something good there. There might even be something good in Namarast." Maybe the deer wasn't saying much because she was tired. They had been up for quite a while the night before, after all. The small horned one was, herself, very tired, which was part of why honey sounded just entirely too good. She paused, thinking, wondering, debating. She rarely debated anything, as she had been taught right and wrong and as long as she was trying to be good and nice, she was doing what was right. But this was a thing she wanted to ask, and she wasn't sure if it was a good and right thing, as it wasn't really something that she, herself, was doing.

The sun broke through the trees, it's wishy-washy watery attitude slowly steaming into a humid sky. That would be a good idea. The sun was out, and proud, and willing to state it's truth - she should follow it's example and ask hers. "I really like being near you, Lacuna. I know I talk a lot, and I know I can be loud. But do you like being near me?" It would be okay if she said no, or only sometimes. It would be. They'd just go, and taste some honey, and Byblis would give her newest, bestest friend a little bit of extra space. She'd be okay.