Bejeweled Strangers

600 words (excluding headlines)

The Unyielding...

---

Heavy amounts of sweat had burdened him, and Luverne huffed about the sun not sparing any focus upon his back. He hated the lack of trees where he had lived, but barely any species of tree wanted to try surviving the harsh weather of this part of the mountain seeing that the soil was not sustainable for them. Luverne pined for more foliage to surround his homeland for it was a source of endless inspiration for his artwork. The land however was overrun with flowers of all sorts, to the point Luverne was sick of them. Nothing but the wilds of flowers thrived here, and who wanted only art pieces of food in their gallery?

Luverne straighten up his posture to defeat the cries of weakness that wore at his limbs. No longer would Luverne complain and grunt over this workload, he had enough. Since he could not devastate the land of floral life as his stomach was not big enough for that, he figured he'd destroy the work running rampant in the mountains. These vases made of the heaviest clay were to get to their destination! If it meant he would be one step closer the knight his commissioner wanted him to be, so be it.

The wind tickled the back of his ears, but along with the breeze, a quiet voice flowed into his sensitive ears.

"I say, traveler, are you in need of some water?" this voice asked.

... Meets the Unknown

---

Luverne followed the rocky outlines of the cliff to the softest pink pouflon up above now in his vision. It wasn't long before he noticed the gems scattered beneath the forest of fuzziness. These gems seemed to be a part of this pouflon, entire plates of them in fact. Looking into the face, Luverne was struck by how much youth poured from that face. It wasn't a natural, bloom-like youth, but the imitation a masterful doll-maker would make of how they'd captured young appearances. Going back to work was the first option that popped into the working pouflon's head, the second being making a run for it as he didn't want to lose any more energy than he was already putting into the load on his back.

"You look as if you're about to faint! Please, let me bring you water so I mustn't witness you falling out!" the fuzzy pouflon cried out.

It was clear now to Luverne. Dropping everything off of him, Luverne ran at full speed down the slope of the nearby ravine. How awful it was his tiredness was so obvious, a stranger could see it from a mile away! This was unacceptable to him, he didn't want to be seen anymore!

"Wait!" Luverne could hear shouting from a distance behind him. His look must've looked so awful that the stranger was desperate enough to chase the fleeing artist into a cave. "Please, don't push yourself into exhaustion, I'm only trying to offer you help!"

Luverne slowed down and turned towards his pursuing help. He panted, "There is... no help... for me... No need! Help not... necessary..."

"Just listen to yourself, you're winded!"

The dim lighting couldn't hide the pearly white sharp teeth Luverne just caught a glimpse of. A pouflon with sharp teeth? What is this? He couldn't help but also notice those gems that were on this pouflon's pelt were also... in the eyes. A single horn carved out of what was quite possibly crystal? Luverne had never seen such shimmering pieces found in caves on a pouflon. He was too bewildered to back away from this peculiar pouflon slowly headed his way.