Aishin glanced at ZipZing and then flashed another grin and reached down to give MatchlessMinion's little hand a quick shake.
Danika objected, "I haven't treated you like a minion," MatchlessMinion looked at her so doubtfully that she added, "compared to your sister?"
The little chinchillamin rolled his eyes expressively.
Aishin laughed and rescued her by asking, "What are you up to? It took me half an hour to follow you here because I was slowed down by a band of goblins, but I can still play for another half an hour."
"You ran into goblins too? SaltySiamese was going to guide me here, but I met the traveling merchant on the way and after he crashed, he recovered and guided me to the mayor, who let me register as a resident," Danika explained quickly. "And I need more quests that pay coin so I can pay Logical Heart next week."
"I guess that explains how you got here first," MatchlessMinion commented.
"The traveling merchant crashed on your way here? They've really changed this place since I passed through it before the update, but why would that affect the traveling merchant?" Aishin asked.
Danika shrugged and replied, "Well he completely froze for a bit."
"I know of a quest that pays a lot of coin, if it's still available," Hearthdragon offered. Everyone turned to look at the other fairy dragon and it blushed.
"I don't want to poach your quest," Danika protested.
"Oh no, I refused it," Hearthdragon explained quickly. "The weaver wants someone to catch thousands of golden orb spiders! Spiders eat flying bugs though, so it sounded way too dangerous to me." The little dragon gave a dramatic shudder before adding, "But if you don't mind such a creepy quest, it did pay several coin per spider."
"I don't mind bugs," MatchlessMinion offered, "but Salty will freak out. Let's take it!"
Aishin laughed and Danika eyed MatchlessMinion doubtfully. Aishin asked Hearthdragon politely, "Then can you show us to this weaver so that we can ask if the offer is still available?"
"Sure," Hearthdragon agreed cheerfully.
--
The weaver's tree was broad and bushy and grew at the edge of Windbur near the sloping valley wall. The east facing slope was crowded with mulberry trees. Two familiar figures blocked the doorway.
"ZipZing!" Quin called out. "We found a great quest. Any number of parties can participate."
"Did you already tell Salty?" MatchlessMinion asked with disappointment. "I wanted to see her face when we told her it was spider hunting."
"I just messaged Justin," Terri announced. She grinned at MatchlessMinion and added, "I didn't mention the spiders, we can tell them when they get here."
"Aw," Quin complained, "you already found out about it first?"
"We were told about it being offered to someone else," Danika told Quin reassuringly and gestured toward Hearthdragon. "We haven't been here to speak to the weaver yet."
Hearthdragon bobbed nervously, and jumped when Terri shrieked, "There are two of them!" She jumped off of the edge of the staircase she and Quin stood on and landed in front of Danika with a thump.
Aishin moved his hand to his sword hilt and Danika zipped over and placed her little clawed hands on top of his. "You can't draw a weapon, or cast a spell on anyone without their permission, or refuse to share food while in the dell," Danika explained quickly.
"Oh?" Aishin asked. "Is that what sets off the ducks?"
"Ducks?" MatchlessMinion asked curiously.
"So what is this fantastic quest?" Justin asked dryly as he and SaltySiamese walked up behind MatchlessMinion.
Terri told Aishin, "Move your fairy dragon over here too so I can get a cute screenshot for my wallpaper!" She was forcing Hearthdragon into a position above MatchlessMinion's shoulder with her hands.
"She's not a toy," Aishin said softly.
MatchlessMinion shot him a look and said quickly, "Captain Dawnstar, I mean ZipZing, please just let her get her pictures. It's really not worth making a fuss over, she'll just keep whining until we do it." He looked up at Hearthdragon and whispered, "Sorry about this."
Danika patted Aishin's hand and then flew over to hover above the little chinchillamin, beside the other fairy dragon player.
Terri made a picture frame with her hands three times and then announced, "Got it! Thanks!" She glared at MatchlessMinion and added, "That wasn't so bad was it? And I don't whine, I'm just persistent."
Justin cleared his throat and asked, "The quest?"
MatchlessMinion turned to his sister and announced, "It's just a material acquisition quest. You'll love it."
SaltySiamese eyed her brother and asked doubtfully, "What's the stuff guarded by?"
Quin chuckled and winked at MatchlessMinion before saying, "Don't worry, they're practically falling out of trees, all we have to do is gather them."
Hearthdragon said nervously, "I'm going to leave you to it then." The little dragon looked at ZipZing and added with more enthusiasm, "It was really cool to meet you, I hope I'll see you around other times."
"Me too!" Danika agreed quickly and Hearthdragon smiled and fled, zipping away through the house laden trees with a swiftness more suited to a hummingbird than a butterfly.
Aishin frowned and said, "I wish I had time to play long enough to help you gather them, can you wait until tomorrow night ZipZing?"
"If it's thousands of them," Danika pointed out, "it'll probably take several days even with more than one party?"
"I suppose so," Aishin agreed.
"Don't worry, I'll guard her with my life," MatchlessMinion declared stoutly, making Danika blink at him with a surprised expression. She'd always felt like SaltySiamese's little brother tolerated her, rather than holding her in any particular regard.
Aishin didn't respond, but SaltySiamese questioned suspiciously, "Guard her from what?"
MatchlessMinion smiled sweetly, making his eyes almost vanish behind his furry cheeks and replied, "Anything that tries to attack her while we're questing together of course."
"I'm the one that's in her party right now," SaltySiamese pointed out smugly.
"You should trade me," MatchlessMinion replied quickly, "then there will be two guys and two girls in each party, right?"
Justin asked sourly, "Shouldn't we split up according to our ability to gather whatever it is instead of by gender?"
Aishin turned and looked at Justin for a long moment, and he flicked a narrow eyed glance at Danika. Danika raised her eyebrows inquiringly. Aishin shook his head and then told Justin, "Thanks for giving ZipZing that apple."
"Oh, yeah!" Danika exclaimed. "Sorry, I forgot, but I did want to thank you."
Justin blinked at Aishin, and then glanced at ZipZing and said lightly, "It was nothing." His menus shimmered faintly as he turned them in Aishin's direction, but he made no other move.
Aishin walked calmly up the stairs past Quin and entered the weavery.
The two siblings continued to argue about who should be in Danika's party until Terri exclaimed, "Let's just all accept the quest and travel together to start with! It's not like we know how difficult they're going to be to catch?"
"How difficult what are to catch? You said we were gathering something," SaltySiamese said while poking MatchlessMinion's fluffy tail.
"Check your quests," Aishin instructed from the doorway. He flashed a grin at ZipZing and said, "I've accepted it for our party. Message if you get into too much trouble, we're pretty busy, but I can have them cover for me for a few minutes if I need to."
"Ok," Danika replied, and Aishin logged out. She pulled up her menus and asked with surprise, "It really is a party quest and shows for us all?"
SaltySiamese asked, "Is this your first party quest? The only real difference is that the rewards are split automatically." A moment later she looked up from her menu screen and squeaked, "Spiders!?" She pointed at MatchlessMinion accusingly and sputtered, "You you you rat!"