After weeks of finding nothing, I now had a guide that would take me directly to the stone. I would've been grateful for such luck, that is if she wasn't such an uncontrollable ball of sweetness and joy. I learned the hard way that she even carries a bag of sparkles with her at all times so she can literally spread her happiness upon everyone.
I found out after I snapped at her again, and she then tossed a handful over me. The dust got its way into the crevices of my helmet and I couldn't stop sneezing for five minutes. I've only been with her one day, and she's already turned my stomach from how disgustingly sweet she was.
I was walking at a fast pace through the forest, trying to speed this process along while she fluttered around me happily. She flew around the trees smelling flowers and singing rhymes, and after an hour I hit the breaking point. "Oh my gods! Can you shut up?! Stop singing and start leading!" She flew down next to me and put a flower in my hand. "Why don't you sing with me? Singing is so much fun! I love it so much!" She twirled in the air and continued to sing as she danced in front of me.
I followed her, gritting my teeth and dropped the flower. She wasn't a bad singer, but I hated how annoyingly catchy and sweet the songs she was singing were. She was also treating this situation as a play date instead of something serious. I wished she would just show me the way without being such a sparkly butterfly the whole time. It was nauseating.
'How do I even know that she isn't leading me off a cliff or something?' I thought. I continued following her as the forest got thicker and pushed my way through some bushes that were right before a clearing. After I got through them, I didn't even realize that there was no ground under my next step and started to fall. "Ah!" I then caught myself by grabbing some roots that were sticking out of the side of the cliff that I stepped off of.
I tried to get my footing on the loose dirt and rocks as I looked down to see at least three hundred feet of space below me before the trees at the bottom. May was flying a few feet away and turned around when she heard me yell. She gasped as she saw me struggling to get back up to the ledge and she flew back to me. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I forgot that humans can't fly! I'll help you back up!"
When she reached to help me I smacked her arms away angrily. "You literally led me off a cliff, devil woman!!" She gave me a guilty look and continued to apologize repeatedly as I climbed back up. Once I was back on my feet I then immediately drew my sword and pointed it at her. "I knew this was a trick! Don't come any closer or I'll-!" I was then interrupted by the sound of my stomach growling.
I stopped frozen from how loud it was and May's eyes widened. I sighed, shaking my head, and put my sword back in its holster and started to walk away. Before I could take two steps May flew in front of me with concern in her eyes. "Aw, are you hungry? You poor thing! When was the last time you ate? Don't worry I'll make the storm in your belly a clear sky again!"
I raised an eyebrow as I watched her pull a handful of cookies from her satchel. Her bag was made out of large leaves and vine, yet held together tightly by some stitches. There was no part of me that wanted to trust her after what she just pulled, but my mouth was overflowing with saliva the moment I caught a glimpse of food.
She handed me the cookies and her smile returned. "I'm so sorry again! I really didn't mean to almost kill you. I'll make you all the food you want from now on until we find the stone to make up for it! Well... I guess in order for that to happen you'll have to take off your helmet to eat now wouldn't you?" She had a little smirk as she said that last sentence and I shook my head. "Nope." I then slid a cookie through one of the vertical slots on my helmet and ate it easily.
She was surprised for a moment, then her smile came back like always. "How creative!" I froze once I tasted the heaven that entered my mouth and how it only got better the more I chewed. I didn't wait until I swallowed before putting the next cookie in, and I couldn't believe how delicious they were. She noticed how fast I was eating them and her smile only became brighter. "Do you like them?"
I shook my head. "No. They're gross." I said as I continued to shove more cookies in my mouth. She could tell that I was lying and laughed. "They're my specialty. Can you guess what the secret ingredient is?" I rolled my eyes. "It's love isn't it?" She twirled again as she answered. "Even better! It's true love!" I hesitated. "I don't see the goddamn difference but I'll take your word for it."
I decided to follow her again and take her up on her offer to feed me through the journey. Even when I was full, I still wanted to eat more of those amazing cookies. She had given me her satchel and I continued to chow down on all the snacks in there as she talked. "My village is quite far away from here. I went to visit my uncle and bring him some medicine because his husband had a fever. We wouldn't have met if I hadn't done that. Isn't it amazing how we were both in the right place at the right time?! I think it's magical!"
I shrugged a little and took another snack from the satchel. "Well, that answers all the questions I didn't ask. So, let's hear it. How did an idiot like you happen to find the other half of the stone of Sudre?" Her smile became brighter as she turned to me. "Aw, that's so sweet of you to assume that I found it! No, actually it was found years ago by some ancient wizard."
I turned to her confused. "Someone found it? Then why haven't they taken the throne from my- um, from the king yet?" She shrugged. "I'm not sure. The wizard didn't seem to care about its power at all because he put it out of reach on top of the mountain I mentioned and then told everyone about it." I was even more confused. "Why would he do that?" She flew over a branch that was in her way and flipped in the air. "I heard that he loves games! He even planned out a quest for those seeking it. If you pass all the dangers and tests, he'll give you the stone. No one has been able to do it so far. But don't worry! I promise to help you all the way there!"
I sighed angrily. "That bastard. Dangling the stone in front of everyone, only to take it away at the last minute for his own personal enjoyment." May continued to fly around carefree as she answered. "I'm sure he's super nice! He loves games like me! I have no doubt that he'll give us the stone and we'll all have fun playing!"