Chapter Text
Spinni and Garlude were taking the trolley down to where the Squeak’s hideout was. They had finished up their part of their research, and each had a folder in hand, full of notes from the companies they found.
Even though it was getting relatively dark out, both the streets and the trolley were still bright, being lit up by the many street lights. Even though Lady Garlude was a resident of a place known by some as the “Town of Light,” the lights of the city were still quite a marvel for her. She almost looked like a little girl peering into a candy store as she looked at the fanciful lights passing by the trolley.
Spinni, having lived in Tiramisu City for her entire life and therefore seen the city's progress firsthand, was less impressed by the spectacle. She was impressed by something else.
“I might be speaking a bit outta left field here,” Spinni spoke, turning to your companion, “but you ain't half bad for an aristocrat. I thought all you guys did was lounge around and do nothin’.”
“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” Garlude responded, not taking her gaze off of the lights but raising an eyebrow.
“I've just seen and heard about how once you get a certain amount of money, ya just kinda up and do nothing with your life. Ya get lazy and be a layabout. I wouldn't have thought you'd not only be able to somewhat keep up with me, but have the forethought to go and look up things like what kind of dragon we're looking for!”
Garlude scoffed a little at this. “Everyone has to do something with their lives! I can't imagine just sitting around doing nothing: I'd go stir crazy if I had to. I know Sir Meta to be the same: I hope he's doing well back at your home.”
“He's fine!” Spinni confidently assured, leaning back into her seat. “I'm sure he just slept all day: that's what dogs do when they're not being terrors to the public.”
“You know he's not a dog!” Garlude rebuked. She caught herself before she went any further for fear of revealing anything about the gryph-gaw that they were hiding.
“In any case,” she continued, in a quieter tone, “I'm sure he's wanted to at least stretch his arms after being held captive for so long: I'm sure you'd feel the same way if you had to live through that.”
“If he's got a good head on his shoulders he'd make sure to keep it on the down-low. And if he doesn't, Storo’s there to make sure he stays put.”
The two could feel the trolley come to a halt right where the corridors leading to the Squeak’s house started.
“And there's our stop!” Spinni announced as she leapt out of her seat. “Hopefully the boys beat us back to the house so we can help your friend with his dog problem as soon as possible.”
Garlude said nothing as she got out of her seat, joining Spinni in getting off the trolley. The two started to walk down the corridor when they heard a familiar figure calling out.
“Meta! Meta!”
“Storo?” Spinni questioned, speeding up towards the voice. Garlude had to pick up her skirt to keep up with the golden mouse as she ran towards her companion. In a moment, the two had caught up to Storo, who was looking more than a bit flustered.
“What's going on with Meta?” Garlude asked the larger mouse.
“He got out!” Storo exclaimed.
“What do you mean, got out?” Spinni said.
“He somehow opened a window and got out while I was busy.”
“What? Shouldn't he know what could happen if he's caught? You did let him know, right?”
“I showed him the newspaper and everything!” Storo stammered. “He was fine for most of the day but decided to up and fly out not too long ago.”
“Wait wait wait a minute.” Spinni said with a start, realizing what the blue mouse said. “Fly? Like a bird?!”
“Yup,” was the reply. “Didn't ya know he was a winged dog, like the ones on the good chocolates?”
“Of course the dog has to fly…” Spinni put her hands to her head. “Well, we've gotta go catch up with him in any case; any chance you might know where he flew off to?”
Garlude knew exactly where their wayward friend would've gone. “The fair! Meta is a fan of the inventor’s fair and would tell me all about it when he'd go to it. I'm sure with it all lit up he'd be drawn to it like a moth to a flame!”
“Well then, I guess we've gotta go by the fair. Before we go, did you happen to see Daroach or the others?”
“Nope, Spinni. I've only been at this for a couple minutes. I did leave a note though, in case I didn't see any of you.”
“That's good, we can leave post haste!” Garlude said.
With that, the three turned their sights on the bright lights of the inventors fair. All they could do now was move fast and hope their friend doesn't get into any trouble…