Casual Shopper

Attention? What did she mean? Eris' eyes focused and unfocused. This couldn't be happening. Perhaps this was a nightmare, and she would wake any second now. She would kick herself awake, sweating and panting, and she would be beneath the Sword Tree. Lament would come running to soothe her. This is a nightmare. This is a nightmare. This is a nightmare. She had the queerest feeling that she was outside of her own body, watching Valkyrie stalk closer to a lifeless, pathetically small creature. Oh. That's me.

At her neck, the ferret sunk its teeth into Eris' neck. She squealed with surprise, finding herself brought rudely back to the present. "Go, find Lament," she hissed over her shoulder, slavering with fear. Saliva hung in rivulets from her jaws, and any minute now she was sure that she'd throw up. The ferret took her cue and jettisoned from Eris' back, scampering faster than one might have thought possible for a creature that had so recently been injured. It wormed its way into the undergrowth and was gone in a flash.

Eris wasn't sure if she'd done the right thing, but she prayed and prayed to Tor that Lament would receive her messenger and seek her out. She hated to worry her brother, but Valkyrie seemed to mean business as a strange, pure black monkey ran at her with a rope. "F-f-f-fine... t-tie me," she sputtered, then promptly threw up on her own chest and paws. Vomit steamed hot and awful in the cool autumn air.