[Mkguild] Nunly's Lutins - part 7

[Mythril Vulpes]

                          Nunly's Lutins

                         by Mythril Vulpes


------------ Part 7 - A New Day

  With the dawn of new day, Nunly picked his way through the mass of
Lutins sleeping around his throne rock. Slowly, carefully, he moved
between and over the sleeping Lutins, avoiding the slightest touch
that might break their slumber, or leave their smell on him.

  Once past the last Lutin, Nunly broke into a trot, and then a full
run through the valley and up the path. Reaching the top, he flew through
the grassy field and fell face first into the nearest stream. Splashing
and spluttering, he washed himself and his clothes, trying to rid himself
of the Lutin smell. Finally, he crawled onto the grassy bank and
fell asleep.

  Nunly awoke with his sense of smell dominated by green, growing things
instead of Lutin smell. He remain spread out on the grass with his eyes
closed, enjoying the scents the breeze brought him from across the valley.
He felt the warmth of the sun, with his skin alternately being warmed
by the sun and cooled by the breeze. Nunly laid there and smiled. For the
first time in his life, he actually found some place he could stay.
The valley was perfect.

  Almost.  Once again, the odor intruded. Nunly sighed and opened his
eyes. As expected, there was the Chief looking down at him.

  "Yes?" sighed Nunly?

  "Are you - broken?" asked the Chief.

  "Ummm..  no, I am not broken." responded Nunly after a moment. The Chief
seemed a bit odd. He was looking at Nunly like he wasn't sure what to
expect of him. Nunly sat up and started to get dressed, while the Chief
just stared at him. As the Chief stared, Nunly grew uneasy. Something just
wasn't right with the Chief. The more the Chief stared, the more uneasy
Nunly became. When Nunly was fully dressed, he grabbed his pack and looked
at the Chief.

  "Well Chief, what do we do now?"

  The Chief seemed to be lost in thought for bit and then replied.

  "You are leader, and must decide where we live."

  Nunly was surprised. The night before the Lutin valley (as he thought of it)
was perfect, and now they didn't know where to live? What was going on?

  "I thought everyone loved the valley, Chief. What is the problem? Do you
all want to move up here, or find somewhere else?"

  The Chief stared at him a moment, and then said "We like valley. We need
help to decide who lives where. We ... we can't decide..." The Chief just
trailed off.

  Nunly was exasperated. How hard was it to just pick a hole in the wall?
What next, would he have to arrange a menu? Bugs and moss today, moss and bugs
tomorrow. Something would have to be done.

  "Chief, lets go down and get this straightened out."

Nunly led the Chief down the path to the Lutin valley, confident that there
would be no problem that he couldn't fix, or put off until tomorrow so that
he could escape back to his valley.

  As he approached the flat plain, he noticed the Lutins were standing around
the plain, making a small amount of noise. As he and the Chief approached,
the noise died down, and the Lutins just stared at him waiting.

  "Alright, alright,  who knows where they want to live?" asked Nunly.

  A lot of looking around was followed by shuffling feet, downturned heads,
and a lot of Lutins saying nothing. Nunly was confused. The Lutins usually
had an opinion, no matter how stupid, and often the stupider the opinion, the
quicker and louder they shared it. There was something wrong, but the Lutin
smell was getting to him, and he didn't want to stay any longer than necessary.

  "Alright, form two lines. Everyone on this side of me" Nunly pointed to his
left, "form one line, and everyone on that side" he pointed to his right
"form another. Lets go, lets go."

  The Lutins stared, then started forming two lines, or at least an
approximation of two lines. Nunly was becoming aggravated by the Lutins
smell and the inability of the Lutins to do anything useful. He started
barking out orders to the Lutins, assigning groups of Lutins to search
specific areas of the valley for homes. Once all of the Lutins except the
Chief were busy searching the valley, he motioned to the Chief to follow
him, and proceeded to leave the Lutin valley for the peace and cleanliness
of the valley above.

  When Nunly and the Chief reached the same place that the Chief awakened
Nunly, he stopped and told the Chief to jump into the water and wash off.
While the Chief bathed, Nunly lay back in the grass and fell asleep.

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