Call Home

I was sitting in Selbina watching the boats come and go while I enjoyed the warm fullness caused by my latest meal from a small local inn when I first spotted the Beastmaster. He was a tall Elvaan with red hair barely visible from around his ram-like head piece. He was dressed in impeccably clean white fur armor that exposed his tanned muscular abdomen. I’m a big fan of a well sculpted body. Who isn’t? Anyways, I had never seen a Beastmaster who looked like him so I couldn’t help but stare a bit.

It was a thing of great curiosity to me. I didn’t know much about them or understand them at all. I had never met one in an experience party where I would normally learn about a particular occupation. Beastmasters generally seem to prefer to go alone or with a companion of the same job. The only time I ran into someone who took more than a casual interest in the job was when I happened to see them wandering about heavily trafficked areas like Jeuno.

“Sheepy!” the shrill voice of a Mithra shrieked. Kammy bounded up behind him and he smiled warmly at her and caught her to his side with one arm. She looked so small next to him. Seeing her always made me smile. Her seemly boundless energy was contagious. I waved and called her name as I hoped down off the shipping box that had been my seat.

Kammy leapt up into my arms in what I thought was an enthusiastic hug until she reached around my neck to pull warm pumpkin cookies out of my bag, the dessert left over from dinner. “Cookies!” she purred as she let me go to sit and eat her catch. I laughed and sat down next to her. “Nice to see you too Kammy. Who is your handsome friend?”

The Elvaan blushed and smiled at me as he said, “My name is TastyWaffles.” With that he sat down with us. “What a name.” I thought.

“He’s my sheepy!” She said, “but I’m the only one allowed to call him that.” Scooting into his lap and wiping her crumb covered mouth on his arm. “He was helping me level through the dunes. Icky place.”

“Oh I see. That’s very nice of him. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a Beastmaster as accomplished as you. I admit I’m very curious about you. How long did it take you to get so strong without a regular experience party?” I asked.

He laughed softly at my inquisitiveness. “A long time. You can call me Waffles if you like. Where are you headed today Alison?”

“I’m on a bit of a vacation.” I said as I pulled out more cookies to give to Kammy.

“You should go home Alison.” Kammy said with a mouth full of cookie. “ThumbGalka is taking over. Puppets everywhere. I’ve been trying to stay away but I need my armor soon and I’ll have to go through the lobby to get to my storage.”

“You think it’s dangerous to go home?” I asked feeling a bit taken back by the idea.

Kammy nodded and leaned over to lick my cheek with her sticky tongue. “We need you. You hold us together. Why have you been gone so long?”

I looked at her briefly sad eyes and felt a bit guilty for my indulgence. I had made a commitment to ThumbMonkeys and two weeks may have been too long to leave without a word. “You’re right. It’s been too long. I will go home soon.”