In the Garden of Rocks and Vomit

[Willow]

Willow gasped, shocked that she had actually puked on Meekal. "Oh, Meekal, I am SO sorry!" Meekal said, "That's ok. I've had worse things thrown on me before. At least you didn't do it on purpose."

Taking Meekal's sash, Willow went over to the pond, wetting it, and helping the Prince of Muu clean himself up. She tried to take her time, knowing that she had to answer Meekal's question about Moon. Could she actually give him an answer? Her stomach threatened to rebel on her, but she firmly told it to stay put until she could get to her room and her chamber pot. This was not the time to puke on him again.

Meekal asked Willow again. "What can I do to make Moon fall in love with me?" Willow looked upward for a moment, gathering her thoughts. How could she let him down without hurting his feelings? Meekal may have been daft, but he was a person. He may have collected rocks, but he deserved respect, both as a human and as a Prince. He wasn't to blame for having a father who was evil and loved to war with his neighbors.

"Meekal, I'm afraid that I can't presume to speak for Moon regarding her love life," she told him. Meekal said, "I know, but you know her better than anyone else. You are her best friend and her lady in waiting. No one knows the Lady Moon better than you. Is there any way I can get her to love me?"

Willow sighed. How could she make him understand? "Meekal....in the first place, the choice must be Moon's. No one else can decide for her. If she is going to give anyone her heart, it will happen when it's meant to happen. You can definitely be her friend."

Meekal picked up some pebbles and shook them in his hand. He glanced at Willow, then looked away. "What about a love spell? Can you give me a love spell so that Moon will fall in love with me?"

Willow gasped. "Meekal, NO! Love spells are very unpredictable! I would never give anyone a love spell...the risks are too numerous. If you want Moon to love you, then you have to give it time and see if it is meant to be."

Willow was overcome with fatigue and nausea. "Meekal, if you will excuse me, I think I need to go in and rest. Please, don't rush anything with Moon. Be her friend and see what the fates will do." She walked slowly back towards the castle.

Meekal waited until Willow was out of sight before he muttered, "If Willow will not give me a love spell, perhaps I should go see the wizard, Oddeldoodle."

[Iwant2bafencer]

(Oddeldoole spells/ = trouble lol) Sorry I wont interupt your story.
Lady Rosaline

[Willow]

LOL, Lady Rosaline, you are not interrupting anything. You are VERY correct. His spells can be BIG trouble.

[Iwant2bafencer]

I am begining to really believe that Meekal IS Daft! Hopefully his feet wont turn into carrots.

P.S. Yes Sometimes Elvis does talk to me. Miss Monroe stops in sometimes to.

[ 07-31-2001: Message edited by: Iwant2bafencer ]

[Lord Tellurine]

Meekal was perplexed, which for Meekal was a common occurrence, but this time he really was. A spell from the wizard Oddeldoodle would cost money. He had none. Sure he was a prince of Muu, but since running away he had been cut off. The idiot prince had been more concerned with taking his favorite stones when leaving the Muu palace and not money. Since arriving in Arconia City he had been living in the alley behind the Bitter End. He ate from the trash bins, amazed at the food people would waste.

Food may have kept him alive physically, but the thought of being with Lady Moon kept him alive spiritually. She was the first person to really befriend him, not because he was a prince of a very powerful kingdom, but because of him. Of course, of late, she seemed to go out of her way to avoid him, but he was certain that they were all coincidences. Even the time she jumped into the river instead of crossing the bridge he was on.

"Oh, Nigel," he said to one of his favorite stones as he sat in the crate he called home, "how am I to get the money to buy a love potion?"

He didn't expect Nigel to answer. Not because he was a stone, as Meekal would have long conversations with Nigel about numerous subjects, but because Nigel was not one to talk about love. There had been a messy breakup many years ago in a Muu quarry.

"I need some money! Oh what am I to do?" Meekal asked, to no one in particular.

"Perhaps I can help," said a voice familiar to him. It wasn't Nigel though. He looked up. It was Lord Tellurine.

"L- Lord Tellurine," he said.

"Yes," he said with his usual sneer.

"But they locked you up. You were to go on trial. ...I was going to come."

"How sweet of you." Lord Tellurine examined the alley the prince of Muu now lived in. "How would like to live like a prince again?"

Meekal blurted, "I don't want to go back to the Muu palace!"

"No, you idiot!" chided Lord Tellurine. He rephrased the question. "How would you like to have the money to live in the manner you were used to in Muu?"

"And have enough money to buy a love potion so I can win the hand of Lady Moon?"

Lord Tellurine grimaced. "You could finance any of your... sick fantasies."

"What do I have to do?" inquired Meekal eagerly.

"I'm glad you asked," smiled Lord Tellurine.

[Willow]

Willow went back into the castle, her thoughts busy. She was incredibly worried. Meekal was daft enough to try anything. She needed to find Moon and have a talk with her. "Have you seen Lady Moon?" The guard she had asked replied, "The last I had seen of her, my Lady, she had gone to the Bitter End." "Thank you," Willow replied.

Her thoughts were busy as she walked to the pub. She entered the pub, to the cry of "Willow!" She smiled, nodded and went in search of Moon. Spying her sitting at a table in the back of the pub, Willow made her way carefully through the throng of people. "Moon, we really need to talk."

Moon put her pen down next to her parchment and looked up at Willow. "Something is on your mind, that's for sure," she said to Willow, "Have a seat." Willow sat down, and answered yes to the barmaid's offer of a Fresca. "What's up?"

Willow replied, "Moon, it's about Meekal." Moon groaned. "Oh, bother, what is he up to? I go out of my way to avoid him." Willow told Moon of her meeting with Meekal, about how he had professed his love of Lady Moon to her. Moon turned a very interesting shade of green. "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Willow said, "Moon, I'm very worried. Where is Angelo? He is one of the few that has any influence over his brother. Does Angel even know Meekal is here? Something has to be done." Moon replied, "I'm not sure where Angel is. We really need to find him. Perhaps you can do a searching spell and send out a call for him to return home."

"Yes, I will do that. But, Moon, there's worse news."

Moon's face blanched. "WORSE! What could be WORSE?" Willow said, "Moon, Meekal asked me to put a love spell on you, so that you would fall in love with him." Moon laughed weakly, saying, "You must be joking." "Moon, do I joke about matters such as these?" "Darn," Moon said, "no, you don't make these kinds of jokes. I hope you told him no."

"Of COURSE I told him no. There is no way I would cast a love spell for anyone, let alone him and you," Willow told her, "but I'm sorely afraid that he's going to go looking for one. There is only one person here in Arconia who would or perhaps could give Meekal a love spell. You know who that is....."

Moon looked like she was about to faint. "Not him...oh, please, say not him." Willow said, "Yes, Moon, I'm afraid Meekal is going to see Oddeldoodle about putting you under his love spell."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

[Moonitic]

"This cannot be happening!" Lady Moon groaned. He's going to end up turning me into a frog or something."

"At least you'll be a popular frog." Willow tried to laugh.

Moon saw NO humor in the situation. "Very funny." She sat for a moment, then a glimmer of hope began to shine. "Oddle what's-his-name charges a great deal for spells, even when they don't work. In fact, I just got a bill from him for his helping us with Lord Tellurine..." She produced a slip of parchment from under her writing & handed it to Willow, who accepted it.

"Wow! Are you going to pay it?" Willow asked.

"I have to raise the money first. That's why I'm working on a new epic. 'Tis not easy being a scribe in a world that could easily do without them." Moon stated. "But back to the topic at hand. Meekal didn't have any money when we left. Just his rocks. And they aren't worth much."

"So, you're saying you are safe?"

Lady Moon smiled. "For the moment."

[Willow]

"Thank goodness Meekal won't be a money making tycoon," thought Willow, as she took leave of Lady Moon and went back to the castle. "I fear that he won't listen to reason when it comes to Moon. He wants her, he is going to try to get her. Where is his brother? That reminds me. I said I would do a searching spell. That is easy enough."

Willow used her thoughts to call a dove to fly to her outstretched arm. Using her uncanny ability to communicate with animals, she sent the dove a mental picture of Angel, asking the dove to help search for him. The dove, sensing her urgancy, flew away, promising to enlist other animals to aid in the search.

Tired, Willow sat down on one of the comfortable benches out in the garden. Within minutes, she was dozing off.

[Lord Tellurine]

Willow was awakened by shouting. She heard, "Get away from me, Meekal. I don't want to talk to you, Meekal!" It was Moon.

Lady Moon came from around the corner, Meekal the Daft right behind her. He was saying, "But I have to ask you something!"

"I know what you want to ask," snapped back Moon, "and the answer is no!"

Meekal stopped. Lady Moon stopped. Willow didn't stop. She was stopped already.

He asked, "No?"

"No."

Willow looked up to Moon. "What's going on?" she asked sleepily.

Moon looked at her and said, "After you left the Bitter End he showed up." She glared at Meekal. "And has been bothering me ever since!"

"But I wanted to ask you-"

She interrupted, "And I said, 'No!'"

Willow asked in a voice that was half of Moon's, "What is he asking?"

Moon thought a moment. She started to speak, but stopped. Finally, she said, "Actually, I'm not sure."

"Then maybe," stated Willow, "You should let him ask it."

"Okay," said Moon. "But I bet I'll say no."

The two of them looked at Meekal expectantly. He gulped.

[ 07-31-2001: Message edited by: Lord Tellurine ]

[Lord Tellurine]

Meekal the Daft, Prince of Muu, cleared his throat. "Lady Moon, I want you to come on a quest with me."

"No," she answered instictively. She thought a moment. "A what?"

"A quest," repeated Meekal.

"A quest," said Willow slowly.

"A quest?" asked Moon again.

"A quest."

Moon asked, "What kind of quest?"

"I need money," he started.

"You and I both," interjected Moon.

He stopped. "Good," he said with a smile. "I mean, I'm sorry. I'm mean... This would solve your problem too then."

"What would?" Lady Moon asked.

"The quest," said Meekal, "for treasure." He paused for effect. There hardly was any. "The royal family of Muu, my family, has been stashing away stolen treasure from other lands for many years."

Moon suggested, "And you want to walk right into the royal vault and take it?"

"No," corrected Meekal, "because it's not in the vault. It hidden deep in a cave, on the western side of Mount Spire, in the Muuvian Mountains. Unguarded," he added.

There was a moment of silence as it all sunk in. Willow looked over to her friend Lady Moon and she saw a glint in her eye that frightened her. She said loudly, as if to break Moon's trance, "The Muuvian Mountains are on the northern edge of Muu. That's quite a long journey."

Meekal replied, "That's the best part. Rufus said we'd be so far from the royal palace that we'd be in and out before they know it."

"That's true," agreed Willow, "but- Wait a minute. Who's Rufus?"

"One of my stones," he said proudly. "He's really quite clever, although he can be overbearing at times."

"I know the feeling," Willow muttered. She looked to Moon and said, laughing, "The stone thinks it's a good idea."

"I'll do it," said Lady Moon.

"You will?" Meekal asked with glee.

"You will?" asked Willow with horror.

Moon looked at Willow. "A quest would be great material for my epic! And all that treasure would-" Suddenly something occurred to her. She looked Meekal in the eye. "What do you plan to do with all that treasure, Meekal?"

He gulped again and said, "Buy a nice house here in Arconia City. Some mapmaker has been around selling off properties." He smiled weakly.

Lady Moon thought a moment longer. "I'll still do it."

"That's great!" gushed Meekal. "I gotta go get ready! Bye!" He rushed off.

Lady Moon watched him run off and then looked down at her friend Willow who had an expression of worry and frustration, or maybe she was going to throw up again. "What?"

Willow sighed. "I think you had one fresca too many at the Bitter End."

[ 08-01-2001: Message edited by: Lord Tellurine ]

[Moonitic]

"Oh, come now Willow. It's an adventure!" said Lady Moon, exasperated at her friend.

"It's Meekal."

"It'll be fun!"

"It's still Meekal."

Lady Moon sighed. "Is that all you are going to say?"

Willow raised an eyebrow at her friend. She thought for a moment, then said, "As a matter of fact, no. Not only is it the daft prince that wanted me to put a SPELL on you to make you love him, you'll be going right back into Muu. Remember? The place you ESCAPED just recently? Do you think the king will be happy to see you if you're caught?"
Moon opened her mouth, but Willow continued. "You've done some crazy things in your life, but this tops them all."

Moon drew herself to her full height. "You are speaking to your princess, you know."

"And I am speaking to my friend. You cannot do this. Don't make me go get King Arcon & Queen Zelda." She pointed a finger at Lady Moon, then lowered it as she stood. "I will go now. That chamber pot is calling me again." Willow walked toward the castle.

"She must be hormonal." Moon muttered to her back.

"I heard that!" Willow called without turning.

Willow knew that Moon would still go on the quest, despite Willow's warning. When Moon wanted something, she went out of her way to get it. So Willow decided that someone needed to follow her friend to keep her out of trouble. But whom? Angel had disappeared, Rosaline & Serana were too inexperienced & Jo was locked in the tower. And Mango was working on the other wing of the castle, last heard muttering, "earth tones...we need earth tones." Everyone besides them was busy too. Who was left?

"If only Naekos was back!" Willow frowned. Arconia was quickly running out of warriors. In the meantime, one of them prepared to go on a very silly quest with a very daft prince...

[Lord Tellurine]

When Lady Moon met Meekal the Daft, Prince of Muu, to begin their quest, the first thing she did was take a hard look at the bag he was carrying. She asked, "Do you have what I think you have in there?"

He gave her a quizzical look. "Clean underwear?" he offered.

Lady Moon sighed. "No. Your stones."

His eyes wouldn't meet hers. His foot scraped across the ground. He finally said, "Just a few."

"Meekal, you can't bring along stones!"

"They're my friends!" he argued. "Besides, I'm the one carrying them. Not you."

"They'll get heavy!" she warned.

"Only if they get philisophical."

"What?!? ...No. Nevermind. Let's go."

They got themselves a couple of horses from the Arconian Hertz-U-Ride (Agreeing to pay when they returned) and started out of town. The sun was setting behind them as they rode east towards Muu, the last place either of them really wanted to be.

[Willow]

Willow watched as Moon and Meekal rode off into the sunset. If not for her condition, she would be following the pair, ensuring Moon's safety. Ok, so she would do her best to keep Meekal safe as well, but Moon's safety was her highest priority. After all, she had promised Moon's mother, the Queen of Schoolcraftia, that she would take care of her daughter.

Sighing, she turned and began to make her way back to the castle. Since she could not follow Moon and Meekal, she would have to do the next best thing. Besides sending out inquiries as to where our knights had gone, she had secretly put in Moon's pack a talisman to help protect her. Also, until the knights returned and went after Moon, Willow had sent out a crow to follow Meekal and Moon. Using her powers, she would be able to communicate with the crow each day, and would always know where Moon and Meekal were and what was happening around them. The crow was smart enough to know to avoid arousing attention and would blend in with the scenery.

Reaching the castle, Willow turned back and looked off into the distance. Even though Moon and Meekal were not in sight, Willow could still feel their presence. Something wasn't right, but there was nothing she could do about it. All she could do would be to hope and pray that her best friend would return and return safely.

[Iwant2bafencer]

As Rosaline sat, and tried to compose herself she saw Lady Willow walking back into the castle. She could tell that something was wrong. 'should I go talk to her? You never know what to expect from pregnant women.' She desided that she would try to talk to Willow later on when she was finished talking with the queen. Rosaline tried in vain to whip away her tears, but they wouldn't stop. So she just sat there and stared at a single red rose. Unable to say anything although she knew that the queen was waiting for her to go on.

[Willow]

As Lady Moon and Meekal were moving along on their horses, traveling towards Muu, they were unaware of the crow following them. But, the crow, with its sharp eyes, recorded everything that it saw. What it saw, was this:

Meekal and Moon traveled until well after the sun set. As they set up camp near a small stream, Moon asked Meekal to gather firewood. Meekal disappeared off into the forest. It grew darker and darker. Moon, waiting impatiently, begain to grow worried about what was taking Meekal so long. Did he get lost in the woods? Was he that daft? Could he not do a simple task such as gathering firewood?

Sighing, Moon began to search for Meekal. She hadn't gone far when she heard Meekal talking to someone. Who was he talking to? She cautiously approached a small clearing. There sat Meekal, holding a conversation with a rock. "I think you'll like living we me," he said, "I have lots of friends for you to meet....Nigel, and Rufus and Mathilda and many others. What did you say your name was? Derek? It's a pleasure to meet you, Derek."

"WHAT!" Moon screamed at Meekal. "I've been waiting for wood to light a fire and you are here talking to ROCKS! Why are you wasting time talking to a rock instead of doing the one task I asked you to do?" Meekal blushed, and replied, "I know, but this rock was calling to me, asking to join us on our quest. Derek says he can help show us the way...a shortcut."

Moon picked up a rock and said, "Well, this rock is calling to me, asking me to hit you in the head." Meekal ducked and looked like he was about to cry. Moon looked at the rock in her hand, looked up towards the heavens, and sighed. Then, she dropped the rock from her hand and said, "It's just not worth it. Meekal, please get some firewood and hurry back. If you want to eat, and stay warm, we need a fire."

Meekal put Derek in his sack with the other rocks and began to gather wood. Moon went back to camp and began to pull out food for a late supper. Within 5 minutes, Meekal was back with enough wood to light 10 fires. Soon, the pair was eating supper by the light of a nice, warm fire. After supper, they curled up in their blankets and went to sleep.

As the crow relayed all this to Willow, she smiled, grateful that for now, they were safe.

(On an aside note....Lady Moon has begged me to inform you all that she will not be on the computer until Saturday, at the latest. Her computer has gone haywire and must be repaired.)

[Iwant2bafencer]

That bites that her comp is nuts. Mine does that to sometimes. Do You yourself talk to Elvis? lol j/k I'll shut up now.
Lady Rosaline

[Lord Tellurine]

True to his word, Derek the stone did know of a pretty good shortcut. Cutting through the Gurgling Swamps of Muu on a little known land bridge instead of going around it saved Lady Moon and Meekal the Daft a full day's journey. Unfortunately, it also led them into a bustling village in the Muu countryside.

Lady Moon had wanted to avoid all populated areas, to keep from arousing any suspicions. After all, she did have a Prince of Muu with her and he had recently defected to another country. For all she knew there could be people looking for Meekal, although she couldn't imagine why anyone would want to find him.

They rode into the Muu village which, for being located on the edge of a swamp, was aptly named Swamptown. Lady Moon cursed Derek under her breath for having to go through this village, before realizng she was cursing a stone. She drew her cloak tighter around herself and looked at Meekal. He was smiling stupidly and nodding politely at the people they passed. "Meekal," Moon hissed under her breath, "we want to keep a low profile. Try not to make eye contact with anyone."

Meekal nodded and said, "Okay." He turned back, keeping his head high, not looking at anyone.

"Meekal!" shouted a voice. "Over here!" A dirty looking man across the street was waving at him. Meekal galloped over there.

"Meekal!" Moon said angrily through clenched teeth.

"Hello, Kliff" greeted Meekal when he got close to the man.

The man said, "I almost didn't recognize you, until you started holding your head up like you used to do in your royal parades." Lady Moon sighed to herself. "How are you?"

"Good," replied Meekal.

"Meekal," interrupted Lady Moon, "what are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," apologized Meekal. "Kliff, this is Lady Moon. Lady Moon, Kliff."

Kliff said, "How do you do?" and bowed slightly.

"Great," said Moon, blowing him off. "Meekal, what was I telling you earlier?"

"No eye contact. You didn't say anything about talking. Besides," he said with a smile, "this is a friend."

Moon looked at the dirty man. She asked Meekal, "Who is he?"

"Kliff."

"Yes, Meekal," she said slowly, a pain growing in the temple of her head, "but who is Kliff?"

"Oh, he's a geologist. Matter of fact he was once the royal geoligist."

"Yeah," agreed Kliff, "then the King fired me for not finding him any new gold mines to plunder."

Meekal added, "He's the one who first got me interested in stones."

"How's Nigel doing, Meekal?" Kliff asked.

"He's the same."

"And Rufus? Is he still being overbearing at times?"

"He sure is."

Moon had begun massaging her head vigorously. "Excuse me," she said. "Meekal, we don't have time for this."

Meekal blushed. "I'm sorry, Kliff. We have to be going. We're on a quest."

"That's fine, Meekal," said Moon. "Let's go." She started trotting off.

"We're off to Mount Spire to get some royal treasure hidden there."

"Meekal!" Moon shouted. "LET'S GO!"

Kliff gave them a perplexed look. "Well, I have to be moving along myself. I'm meeting a couple of the guys for one of our rock shows."

Meekal smiled broadly. "Who's playing?"

"Oh, a local group. Very indigenous." They both laughed.

"MEEKAL!"

Meekal started after Moon and said back to Kliff, "Say hi to the guys for me." He caught up with Moon. "Wow. Wasn't that something?"

"It sure was," agreed Moon sourly. "I'm starting to think you're not the only one with stones on their brain."

The two rode north out of Swamptown, and in the distance, on the horizon, they could see the Muuvian Mountains.

[ 08-04-2001: Message edited by: Lord Tellurine ]

[arcon]

I am truly amazed with this thread, keep up the good writing "you guys".

The Arcon

[Lord Tellurine]

Willow had just finished with her bout of morning sickness and was awaiting the return of her crow spy when there was a knock on the door. She groaned, "Come in."

The door opened and Brother Emmanuel entered. In one pudgy hand was a greasy, undercooked turkey leg which was obviously his breakfast and in the other was a pair of scrolls. Brother Emmanuel had been summoned to Arconia some time ago, bringing Willow her much-needed spell book Spells for Dummies, and had stayed (As a guest of King Arcon and Queen Zelda) ever since, giving the royal accountants fits as the castle's food budget increased substantially.

Willow took one look at the trukey leg he was holding and her stomach did a flip. She managed to get out, "What can I do for you, Brother Emmanuel?"

If ever a voice could sound like congealing cholesterol, his did. "Willow," he gurgled, "I am most confused."

"With what?" she asked.

He put the turkey leg to his mouth and his teeth ripped off a chunk of meat. "The other day," he said, spitting peices of turkey, "I received a message from the royal family of Schoolcraftia requesting my assistance in planning a royal wedding between Princess Buffy and..." He lifted one of the scrolls in front of his face momentarily. "Meekal, Prince of Muu." He chewed for a moment. "Then, this morning I received a message saying..." He once again lifted a scroll. "'Wedding called off. Princess Buffy and Prince Meekal have run away.'" He lowered the scroll, once again revealing his fat, turkey-stained face to Willow. "What is going on? This is the second time this has happened. The King and Queen of Schoolcraftia are furious!"

Willow sighed. "Brother Emmanuel, our Princess Buffy longs to first fall in love with the one she marries."

"Love," repeated Brother Emmanuel through another bite of turkey. "How unconventional. Next time I see Princess Buffy I'm going to tell her what I think of her ideas of love." Turkey juice drippled down his chins.

Willow's stomach did the hokey-pokey. Suddenly, the crow appeared at her window and let out a caw, frightening Brother Emmanuel. She said, "If you'll excuse me, Brother Emmanuel, I have to take this caw."

"Of course," he said and he left, closing the door behind him.

Willow looked over at the crow. "This better be good news."

[ 08-04-2001: Message edited by: Lord Tellurine ]

[Moonitic]

I'm baaaaaack!