Chapter Text
“So… how’re ya doing?” Flowey said, resisting the urge to add more sarcasm to the already-sarcastic statement.
Clover probably wasn’t doing well, given that this was, what, the fourteenth time they’d kicked it to the same monster? Flowey didn’t exactly think the bird would be a threat: she wasn't what Flowey would call 'put together'. Maybe she wasn’t, and Clover was just criminally incompetent for a 10-year-old. 12-year-old? Admittedly, he wasn't terribly familiar with human ages, though it wasn't like he had a large sample size to examine the first place. Whatever, Clover was a probably-incompetent kid, and that was the point. Yes, that was very much likely from some of the other runs he had seen. Clover was an expert at finding exciting ways to disappoint him. But things were different now that he was taking a more... direct, approach to helping the kid out.
Clover didn’t deign to give his taunt a response, focusing entirely on their work: roughly sketched patterns of the royal guard’s attacks. It was taking a while, though. Flowey had even left to go steal a book from Alphys, just from how boring Clover was being. He’d read it before, of course, but it was still slightly more fun than waiting for Clover’s impending mental breakdown.
Slightly.
To be honest, Flowey’s pretty sure Clover doesn’t entirely remember what happens in the lead up to their death. They don’t have the determination to really register resets, but they are able to remember brief snippets of each ‘death’. Which is what, presumably, led to the kid neurotically drawing in the snow.
Flowey felt an eyebrow twitch. It also led to the kid ignoring him, which was just annoying enough for Flowey to toss the book into the woods and pop up in front of the kid.
The snow was covered in childish drawings of feathers and junk, as well as a cartoonish heart near each different formation. The kid had been laser focused on these drawings for a while now, tracing lines through the patterns of how to move their soul and stop it from being destroyed (again.) Personally, Flowey thinks that Clover would have better luck if they just kept throwing themselves at Martlet until they didn’t die. They had to figure it out eventually, right? Since the kid still hadn’t noticed him yet, Flowey decided to be extra petty just for their sake. He went back underground and popped up in front of Clover again, this time right in front of them (and coincidentally, destroying one of the sketched ‘souls’ in the process.)
“AHEM!”
Clover jumped slightly, free hand shooting to their waist for the gun. Kind of a moot point, as the kid hadn’t actually shot anybody yet. Were they hoping they could scare off a threat? Hey, maybe, but that wouldn’t work on Flowey. Once they register it’s just Flowey, the tension in their body dissipates in an instance.
Thank goodness Clover is naive.
“...didn’t see you.” Clover mutters, attention going back to the rough drawings on the ground. Flowey stretched up towards the kid's face, eager to regain their attention. “Kinda weird, given that I’ve been in the same spot as always.” Technically a lie since he went to pay everybody's favorite royal scientist a visit, but whatever.
“..I’ve been busy.” Clover said, pointing to the drawing in front of them with a stick. Unfortunately, they pushed the ground too hard and the end of the stick snapped. They sighed. “I’m tired, too. In a weird way. Like, not physically but…” Clover breathed out. “Whatever. I’ll come up with a plan. Or something like a plan. I don’t know.” Clover took off their hat for a moment, scratching at the fluffy mess of hair beneath. “Um… do you have any suggestions?”
Several, but none he could realistically tell Clover without causing some sort of rift in this friendship. “Well, golly! Haven’t you tried dodging everything? You can’t get hurt if you don’t get hit!” Flowey said, smiling brightly. Clover, unfortunately, didn’t appreciate the gargantuan effort he went through of being genuine, and just gave the same deadpan stare they always had. Brat.
“...Thanks. Do you have any other ideas?” Flowey shrugged- or what he figured looked like a shrug, anyway.
“Hmm… Well, if you want some better advice, maybe you could, oh, I don’t know, use the gun you carry with you?” Flowey said, this time definitely failing to curb his sarcasm. If Clover noticed it, they didn’t comment, instead simply shaking their head. They were doing an awful good job at hiding their shaky hands, but Flowey’s just a bit too observant to not notice that.
“...She’s just doing her job. Can’t really fault that… It’s not evil, really.” Suppressing the desire to laugh, Flowey wondered if Clover actually believed that. It would be fun to push it a bit, pick at Clover's 'Good vs Evil' schtick but… nah, maybe another time. Assuming his silence meant that the conversation was over, Clover turned back to the ground, tracing more lines with the now-snapped stick. Flowey raised an eyebrow (well, as close to he had eyebrows) as Clover’s attention was taken back to the drawings. They also seemed to be talking under their breath? Interesting. Flowey listened in.
“Once she starts attacking, I need to move it up n’ down to avoid the feathers. Last time, the boxes got me. Again. Shoulda dodged it… that one’s not even hard! I just tripped. She should gave me a chance to at least get up first before hitting me.” Clover groused as Flowey tried not to snort in amusement. Why wouldn’t she hit the kid while they were down? That’s just smart fighting, nothing wrong about that at all. Flowey decided that after Clover made it past the guard one way or another, they’d have to give the kid a lesson on tactics… and maybe basic intelligence. They might need it.
He listened back in toward the tail-end of the rambling. “And there was that one time where they started flyin’ in circles up and down. Only saw it that one time. Maybe it’s like, a finishing move? If I can get past that then I bet she’d stop! I’ll need to finesse it to make sure they don’t hit it… and I’ll need to make sure I don’t get hit physically, too. Adults… ugh. I don’t even get why we’re fighting. Do Royal Guards just attack humans here? Or is there some law sayin’ they have to? …Is she following it? That’s dumb. Whoever made it’s dumb, too. I haven’t even done anything.” Clover punctuated their rambling by holding their stick like a javelin, and tossing it into the woods. It didn’t go far at all, much to Clover's audible disappointment.
Well, a couple of things on that. Firstly, the soul was a part of Clover. Saying stuff like keep ‘it’ low, like it was separate, was a bit pointless, but Flowey supposed Clover had a pass since they didn’t know much abou- Wait, what was that last part? Flowey titled his head. Now that was an interesting statement. Was that resentment he heard in little Clover’s voice? He almost felt proud that they could even express that sort of thing clearly. He ought to nurture this a bit, but he was also quite curious and wanted to ask directly. Decisions, decisions…
He eventually decided on the former.
“Huh? What’s so wrong about adults? Not that I disagree, mind you. I’m just a bit curious!” Flowey said, keeping his tone light and innocent. Clover stilled for a moment, as if remembering he was still listening (and wasn’t that infuriating: he’d told Clover he was going to keep an eye on them! They’d better not be seeing him as forgettable…) before they quietly responded.
“It means what it means. Adults… they say and do stuff they don’t mean.” The barest hint of a frown appeared on Clover’s face. “It’s stupid. Adults are stupid. Martlet’s stupid, too, but she’s not mean stupid. You know what I mean, right?” Flowey nodded. “Oh, totally.” He didn’t, but Clover didn’t need to know that. “Still, what’s so different about miss Royal Guard in comparison to the human adults? Or other monster adults, for that matter?“ Flowey said, trying to pry a bit deeper.
Clover just stared at the ground, standing in silence for a few seconds before they started awkwardly shuffling their feet across the snow, wiping up the pictures they had been working hard on just moments prior. And they had put so much effort, just to lose it now. Almost a shame.
Clover cleaned up their work (rather pointlessly in Flowey’s opinion; It would be erased soon enough when Flowey loaded once more) while saying, “Dunno. I wanna get to the king, though. That’s all.” Way to dodge the question! Still, that at least, they could agree on. Even if the kid was irritatingly insistent on not harming people who didn’t deserve it (speaking of, what did that even mean? If the people who are literally killing them repeatedly don’t deserve death, then who would?) at least it seems like they were looking the right way.
Which is to say, they were playing the role Flowey wanted them to.
“That’s a good attitude to have! I bet that royal guard won’t stop ya this time!” Flowey says as Clover begins making their way down the path. They manage a nod. “Yeah. This time, she’ll stand down. I hope…” Muttering that last part, they marched down the road to the clearing once more. Flowey rolls his eyes and starts following beneath the snow.
10 minutes later, and the kid has 3 sharpened feathers shooting straight through their soul- and embedding themselves directly into their throat. Flowey sighs, but took some momentary amusement in Martlet’s quickly changing expression. (It was the same almost every time: She’d cheer in victory and go towards Clover, only for the magnitude of the fact that she killed the person she was trying to capture. Then she’d fall to her knees and start crying because Clover was innocent or something and it was all so very boring. What were you even expecting? So predictable. )
Then, he dutifully loads the file.
“Welcome back.” Flowey says cheerfully. Clover’s face pales in terror and pain, and one of their hands darts to their throat in phantom shock, but it falls back to their side soon enough. The kid’s getting more used to this. Soon, maybe they’ll stop reacting to it all together and get a move on. Still, it’s irritating how much waiting has to be done because of Clover’s incompetence. They have the potential, Flowey's certain, but it's irritating waiting around so much.
So irritating, infact, that Flowey decides to have some fun. A little punishment, just to poke fun at Clover for lollygagging so much.
“Oh, and I should say…” Flowey manipulates his vines, grabbing an item he'd stolen a while back: a party popper. He'd seen some monsters use these in celebration before. And what better thing to celebrate than... “Congrats on dying for the 15th time to the same enemy! I figured we ought to celebrate, since you seem to be actively trying to get a high number.” Flowey says, keeping his voice cheery enough to claim innocence if Clover calls him on being rude. Not that it would matter even if Clover did: if their little friendship got ruined by this, he could always reset and try again. But sue him, he should be able to have some fun now and then!
Nothing like that happens, though. Clover just glares at him for a moment, knuckle gripped tightly around the toy gun. Then, they walk past him, directly back to the same sentry stand where they’d been killed 15 times prior.
Flowey laughed the hardest he had in a long while the moment they were out of earshot.
What could he say, the kid was beginning to grow on him.
Personally, they thought Flowey was being a jerk, but whatever. They’ve got bigger fish to fry. Birds to fry? Some sort of fancy metaphor to fry. Yeah. They walk along the frosty path until they reach the clearing. Martlet’s still asleep when they get there. As always, Clover attempts to sneak past her. As always…
“Snrk- Huh?! I’m awake!” She said, quickly raising her head from her desk. Clover stifled a sigh.
How the heck does she keep hearing them walk?! One of these times, they’re gonna sneak past her.
It’s gonna happen.
Eventually.
After all, they had more than enough time.
“Hm? Oh, uh, hello!” Ah, she’s noticed them.
Clover takes that as an excuse to zone out. It’s not that they want to be rude, but… well, they aren’t really sure she cares about their opinion all that much. Maybe if they interrupted her? …Nah, that’d just be rude. And proper sheriffs aren’t rude. They’d just wait her out, as usual. They stopped daydreaming when she walked around the kiosk and approached them. Clover did their best not to seem nervous.
“Are you ready for some Royal Guard protocol? I hope you are, ‘cause I memorized it!”
Showtime. Clover grabs the gun from their holster, gripping it tightly. They don’t plan to use it, but one day, they figure someone will get intimidated by it. It’s not like it had much other use.
Even if they did fire it, it wouldn’t exactly do much. It was just a toy, after all. Even they knew it wasn’t real, even with the ice shards they had shoved into the barrel. After a few awkward moments of Martlet prompting them to attack, Which they dutifully refused, Martlet found some line in that book that was a good enough excuse to launch attacks.
They take a breath and remember what they just drilled a few minutes prior. This is the one. Move the heart-slash-soul thing sharply to avoid the quick feathers. Don’t get hit by the boxes- crap. Not even two attacks in and they’ve already gotten hit. That’s fine, they can manage. The heart gets clipped on the edge by some junk flying out of the boxes a second time, and Clover bites their lip to avoid yelping at the sudden burst of pain.
They don’t really know how the ‘soul’ works. Only that it showed up during ‘fights’ and it really, really hurt when it was hit by the ‘bullets’ as Flowey called them. All the terminology made their head swim, and to be blunt, they weren’t sure how relevant all of it was. Still, It hurt if they made contact, which was good enough reason to practice dodging.
“Hiiyaah!” Martlet cries out, summoning a circle of feathers around the yellow heart- and by extension, Clover. They were distracted for a moment, and now they’re in a bad spot. Crap, deep breath. They duck and weave past the feathers- and thankfully, their soul stays unscratched! They’re doing well this fight. Aside from that hit from the box, but Clover isn’t counting that because that was basically cheating anyway. Clover feels the chill of the air running through their hair as they wait for the next attack. Wait…
Patting their head, they find that the most important part of their outfit, the cowboy hat, was gone. They turn around while Martlet nervously flips through the book, finding their hat…
It’s in tatters, sticking into a tree with a feather shoved straight through it. They really liked that hat. Clover suppresses the urge to cry. Thankfully, they’re a big kid now, and big kids don’t cry. Obviously. Even when they lose their favorite hat forever.
Actually, wait. This might not be forever. If Martlet kills them again, they’ll get the hat back. That’s good. Dying, however, is painful. That’s bad. Hm… Well, they don’t really remember what always happens in each of these ‘deaths’, their memories get fuzzy around the edges and they only remember the general strokes of how things go. It’s usually just a flash of pain and then they’re out. So it wouldn’t be that bad. And they do know that Flowey will bring them back. Really, he might just be their only friend here. But still, dying just for the sake of a hat, doesn’t seem right either…
“Take this, intruder!”
Clover sees the briefest hint of a reticle surrounding the soul before a whirlwind of feathers erupts around it, and Clover is blinded by pain. It repeats several times, but it doesn’t kill them. Distracted by their hat, Clover doesn’t try to dodge the first strike, and sort of just… awkwardly flails around the other ones. Great, now the Royal Guard is going to think they’re an idiot. Probably because they were looking at the hat and not at the fight. Okay, that might be their fault for not paying attention. Still rude though!
“Uh… wait, you’re supposed to try and dodge? I-I mean, I’m sure you tried your best, but it didn’t seem like it? Hang on, I-I need to check the manual again…”
Martlet says, darting glances between Clover and the open book in her hand(? wings?) to reference.
Great, now Martlet thinks that they can’t even dodge properly. Fantastic. Hm, though now that they think about it, is that what she always said there? They can’t really remember. They wished they remembered everything when Flowey turned things back. It’d make things easier in moments like this.
…Actually, on second thought, it’s probably better they forget to a degree. Deciding to stop thinking so much, since it seems to be causing them problems, they tapped at their wrist, trying to hurry up to the next attack. She didn’t seem to notice…
Well, maybe they can still salvage this somehow. They hope so. Who knows, maybe the hat was the reason why they couldn’t proceed? Either way, all this standing around made them realize how freaking cold Snowdin was. They really hope the King’s castle is warm.
“Okay, um, Work Accidents… or would this be in the Encounters section? Hrm…”
Clover blinks, wondering not for the first time what sort of weird instructions were written in that thing. Evidently, a lot, since this was taking forever. Clover wouldn’t really say they’re impatient or anything, but they would like to see their mission through sooner rather than later. Who knows what’s happening to the other humans?
“Ah-ha! Found it! On encountering an enemy combatant-” Do they count as that? Apparently. “-who appears to be intentionally damaging themselves… Wait, was that intentional though? Urk, I better check the other section…” She seemed to be getting panicked, Clover thinks, though they aren’t sure why. “Um, you can have another turn! Just give me a second…”
Clover felt their surroundings shift a bit. They weren’t in a fight anymore, since that weird tint that overtakes their vision when people show up to kill them to fight. was gone now. That didn’t deter Martlet in the slightest, though. She just kept looking through her handbook. Say what you will about the guard, but they sure are diligent.
…Would it be considered rude to just walk away? It kinda feels rude, but she was trying to capture them.
They think. Definitely trying to attack them at the very least.
That probably justifies walking away. If not, they could always apologize for it later. It’d be something to do after they stop the king. Granted, they haven’t figured out how they’re going to do that yet either, but they’re sure they can figure it out. Somebody has to arrest the king, and if nobody else is gonna do it, Clover will have to do it themselves. Turning around, they go and gently grab the tattered pieces of their stetson hat. It… really was destroyed. What sort of bird has that sharp of feathers?!
S tifling a sigh, they turn around to go find Flowey. He’d probably have some advice, or would know a hat-maker nearby. He did live in the underground, right? He seemed pretty knowledgeable on things. Given that they’d seen monsters wearing hats on the way here, someone surely knew.
They make it all the way to where the ‘Save Point’, as Flowey called them, was located. but before they could call Flowey, a shadow flew overhead, landing in front of them. Martlet dusted her legs off before lifting a finger(? Wing? Something like that), to lecture them as would a disappointed parent.
“Hey! It’s rude to run off in the middle of a fight, you know! Even if it technically ended, but, we were still fighting in spirit!” Crap, they were right, it was rude.
Clover meekly looked at their feet as Martlet chided them for a while, but after a little bit she finished lecturing them on ‘Guard Etiquette’ or something of that nature. Overall, not the worst lecture they'd ever received from an adult. 4/10.
Still, now that it was over, it was time for Clover to ask the important questions here.
“Um… D’ya know where I can get someone to fix my hat?” Martlet looked at Clover, then their head, then back to Clover. “You aren’t wearing a hat, though?” With as much of a deadpan they could manage, Clover waves the tattered remains of their hat, still with feathers sticking out of it. At the very least, Martlet looked a bit ashamed by that. At least people here had morals.
“Oh… ah… I’m sorry… Well, I don’t know anybody who can fix a hat myself… we can ask around Snowdin!”
“You think somebody there knows?”
“Yup! There’s a lot of people living there. Oh, wait… I was supposed to be arresting you, but… well, that can wait for later! I should at least help you fix that first, since I was the one who broke it.”
Huh. Clover figured she’d be more aggressive. Well, she was aggressive when they were fighting, but even then she… well, it’s probably fine. She doesn’t really seem as mean now anyway. She outstretches a wing to lead Clover forward, which they reluctantly take. They can’t say they really trust her, but… she seemed like a decently responsible adult. More so than some of the others they had met.
Martlet chattered about this and that as she gently dragged Clover along the path. A few times, they saw her look upward, as if she was thinking about just grabbing Clover and flying to the destination, but it seems she changed her mind. They’re kinda thankful for that: They’ve never been great with heights, and only stomached the hike up Mt. Ebott for the sake of the goal.
Clover thinks, for a moment, that maybe people here aren’t as bad as they worried they were. It wouldn't be so bad, staying here, after they beat the king.
Then, a white pellet flew past their head, slamming into Martlet’s back. Wait, wasn’t that one of Flow-
Martlet releases Clover’s hand, turning around in a panic. Betrayal is on her face. “You…!” She launches them into a battle, sending a sharp bullets at their soul and it flies into their head and it isn’t their fault but it is since they didn’t warn her and-
And everything went black.
Clover was standing in front of a glowing star on the ground, another one of Flowey’s save points. They were just about to face the Royal Guard Martlet.
A sharp pain bursts through their head for a moment, but it’s gone as quickly as it arrives. Right, last time… what happened to them last time again? Martlet caught them and then killed them, (maybe on purpose?) when they were leaving, right? Something like that. They can’t remember exactly what. Oh, wait! Clover quickly rushed a hand upwards. Thankfully, their lucky hat was situated right above their mop of hair, just where it belonged. Clover couldn’t contain the smile on their face. They were right! Dying did bring their hat back. …Wow, that was not something they should be cheering about. They needed to hurry up and find the other humans before they really lost it.
Giving their friend a wave, they headed back to the clearing. This time, they’d pay attention to their hat more carefully.
It wouldn’t help them get past Martlet, but at least their head would stay warm.
“I’ve got it! If the Royal Guard doesn’t know you’re here… they won’t know I broke protocol!” Martlet exclaims, ending the fight so quickly that Clover nearly gets whiplash. She paced back and forth in front of her kiosk, visibly excited. “Instead, we’ll just get you home before any of them see you! You’ll be home in time for dinner! …I mean… maybe not TODAY’S dinner, but for sure A dinner!" She turned back to Clover, expression happy.
"Anyway, we’ll bypass the Royal Guard and plead your case to Asgore!” Oh. That was good, actually. Clover wanted to go to the king anyway. They tried their best not to look guilty at the realization that they wanted to go find the king to stop him rather than plead innocence. Martlet looked so excited they felt it would just be mean to interrupt. Martlet ran off to prepare some sort of plan, leaving Clover standing around in muted shock.
“I… did it?” Clover whispers into the wind. They definitely didn’t feel like the winner. They just came up with some half-hearted insults and that was all it took? Seriously? They could have done that ages ago! They feel like slapping themself in the face, but restrain the urge.
Well, it’s done now… they rush ahead, eager to make some sort of new progress… only to meet the world's dinkiest boat. In Clover’s humble opinion, at least. They didn’t know much about boats, so maybe it was actually a feat of engineering. Well, they’d ask Martlet. After they stop Asgore, obviously.
Martlet waves excitedly as Clover eyes the boat behind her. “Hey there, so here’s the plan! I’m sorry, I think I went a little overboard but… I can’t help it! This is all too exciting!” She grinned, enthusiasm nearly infectious. “So, I’ve been saving this for a rainy day. Ya know, figuratively…” An awkward cough. “We don’t really have those… Either way! Behold! The UG Aviator!”
…Clover’s pretty sure they’ll die if they ride this, but they aren’t sure what other options there are. The path ends here, and they've explored everything else before they made it the Royal Guard. Martlet, either not noticing or not caring about Clover’s hesitant belief in the raft, continues to say, “Isn’t she a beauty? Boats are shes, ya know. I call her Ava for short! Isn’t that cute?”
Clover mutely nods, still unsure if this is actually happening or if Flowey just forgot to bring them back after one too many losses. They approach Martlet as she looks at… what appears to be a map?
“If my map and memory serve,” Yup, definitely a map. “This river should lead directly to Hotland. From there, it’s a hop, skip, and a leap to Asgore’s Castle! I’m not sure how we’re getting in but… We cross that bridge when we come to it, right?”
That… was a good question. Clover supposed it wouldn’t be as easy as walking in and asking to see the king. And there was a Royal Guard, something they didn’t even know existed until a few minutes(? It’s hard to keep track of time when you’re being slinged back and forth through it) ago. Now that they think about it, Miss Martlet would probably be able to get them in… if she didn’t just detain them first. Hrm, they’d have to ask Flowey about it the next chance they got. Speaking of, Flowey would be proud of them! They finally got past Martlet! They’ll have to do some sort of celebration. Clover’s never done any celebrating before (At least, they don't remember any times they celebrated), especially not celebrating with friends, but now they had one in Flowey! That was one more than they started this journey with!
Martlet, suddenly, starts looking guilty? Oh no, is this the part where she reveals this was a ploy to arrest them?! “…I also wanted to apologize about, well, you know… attacking you…”
Actually, this was worse then that. They were just gonna shove all the emotions they had regarding dying several times deep inside of themself and ignore it. Like somebody older and more responsible would! Just ignore the pain and keep moving. Don’t think about the number of tim-
Okay, time to stop thinking! Clover holds back from slapping themself across the face. It probably wouldn’t be a good look for them.
“I meant no harm, honest!” Martlet says, twiddling her hand/wings/whatever-terminology-Clover-didn’t-know-yet. “I just have to do my job, is all! And, well… Oftentimes I don’t know what the ‘right’ action is until it’s too late.” Martlet sighs, before looking down at them, staring them in the eyes. “So… I know we just met and all… But will you trust me on this?”
Clover returned her stare for a few moments, before relenting. “...Okay.” It was kind of a lame response. They weren’t really sure how to react to that apology, and they were even more unsure of whether they could trust her or not. But she seemed earnest enough.
They figured that adults were supposed to have everything figured out in life, but it seems like that isn’t the case. Maybe they’re both still learning, and Clover couldn’t say they knew for sure what was ‘right’ either. Only that what the king was doing probably wasn’t it. So maybe it was a bit rude to start judging now.
They might as well give her the benefit of the doubt. So long as this isn’t a ploy to apprehend them, but… well, she was really genuine in what she was saying, so Clover figured she was trustworthy. Trustworthy enough. Plus, in lighter news, it would be fun to have someone to travel with. Sure, Flowey was always by their side, but he seemed shy, so Clover was always walking around alone. And a Royal Guard would probably be able to stop fights better than Clover was able to, as well. Bonus!
Martlet cheered, raising a hand to the air. “Yay! Don’t worry, your trust is in good hands! Or wings, as the case may be!” Well, that solved that mystery. “I’ll guard it with my soul! And this means we get to have an adventure!” Martlet said, walking to the side of the dock where the ‘boat’ was moored. “This is so exciting! I mean, nothing this exciting happens around here. At least, while I’ve been here it hasn’t. Think of all the fun we’ll have!” She said, smiling.
The smile was somewhat ruined when she continued, saying, “I mean, there’s a chance I might be fired for this, and lose all my life’s work and belongings, but hey, What’s life without a little risk?” Martlet said, wringing her wings and laughing nervously. They fixed her with an expression that said, ‘are you serious?’. They’d rather she didn’t risk something like that over them, but she kept talking before they could raise a concern. “So shall we be off then?”
Well, this boat wasn’t exactly ‘stable’ in any sense of the word, but they might as well. Not like they have any other idea of where they were supposed to go. They gingerly stepped onto it. Surprisingly, it didn’t sink! Neat. That was good enough for Clover to trust its stability. They plopped down onto the wooden raft as it began to float down the river. They were still a bit nervous around Martlet, but they would put their faith in her. …Actually, wait, where was she? They heard a panicked cry from behind them.
“Wait, hold on! I was supposed to be on Ava with you!”
She hadn’t even gotten on the raft after untying it. Okay, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.