A sleepy groan erupted from Bandeye as she stretched her long tail and cracked her knuckes. She has just woken from a fitful sleep during her week-long stay at Zoren. First night. Dressing quickly in some old scuff-around garb, she padded quietly out into the faintly lit corridor. Bent, light filtered gently down the empty hall through a stained glass window around a far corner. Making not a noise, save the grumbling of her empty palate, she made her way quickly to the kitchen. Grabbing an apple out of a basket on a dark marbly countertop, she made her way to the throneroom to bid her best friend (the queen) good morning. As she did so though, a mouse, seasoned in war and aged, scrambled blindly out his bedroom door and into her. Surprised breifly, she helped the fallen elder to his foot paws. He stumbled over angry shocked words, fluttering a crumpled piece of barchment in his paws. "Sir, sir! I cannot understand you like this. Please.. is there something I can help ya with?" The old mouse began berating her younger generation. "Ya young-uns, lookit what ye done!!!! ‘Tis gone! All gone! Do you know how much that thing was WORTH?" Shocked and slightly abashed, Bandeye stood back and gave the furious furr enough room to vent his rage yet not hurt himself or her. She tried desperately to calm him down. "Please! What’s wrong? I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with ..." thinking twice, she kept her mouth shut. Slowly, she watched the angry fire die out of the old mouse’s eyes. She took pity on him when he apologized. "Aw..... waddayou know? It warn’t you anyhow..." Bandeye innocently inquired what the matter was, and he turned back to her quickly. "Stolen I tell ye! Somefur STOLE IT!" he raged again. "I’m taking this to missie Streak." "Well since I am on my way to see the queen m’self, I’ll just accompany you if ye don’t mind." He grunted and led the way rather quickly for a mouse of his age. As the two appeared in the inner court, queen Streakcat was just sitting down herself to enjoy a light breakfast of scones and apples. Happily she greeted the two. Queen Streakcat was well acquainted with all who dwelled in her castle, and she greeted the elder so. "Why good day, Misuer Roland. I see you’ve met my friend, Bandeye" she said, giving Bandeye a knowing nod. The old mouse ignored the headshake and thrust the parchment angrily into Streak’s face. "Stolen! Stolen and GONE!" he raged, forgetting he was in the presence of royalty. Bandeye rolled her eyes, and Streak caught the movement. She took the paper from the old mouse’s paws and read aloud: ‘Tis I, your foe, a while now, I’ve come and gone aloof. Proper place ya got here, Fancy windows and a roof. For now my job is finished Lets just see if you can Find your precious heirloom For which your father ran." Bandeye stopped Streak with a slight bow and a paw to ask what this all meant, since she did not know Sir Roland, the angry old mouse. Streak explained to her that Sir Roland’s father was a tracker mouse, and the missing heirloom was his famed silver medallion. Sir Roland scowled, urging the queen to finish reading. She gave in with a grin. "You know me well, I am not far For you I do see day and night. Pretty jewels I shall seek And steal those that I might. But if you do be wise, And if you care to loom Follow your way into my lair Into the greatest room." Bandeye took this in for a moment then declared, "I’ve nothing to do today, I shall see what I can do to capture the theif!" Streak gave Roland an inquiring look, who grunted his approval. Upon Roland’s leave, streak turned to Bandeye, "Then the job is yours. Find the theif and bring them to me when you have found who it is." Bandeye agreed, bowed deeply, and turned to leave. Streak swatted her rump teasingly, and said "Ya don’t gotta bow to me, you funny linsang. We’re best friends, and I don’t bow to you when I’m visiting your island!" The linsang did a skip hop out of the majestic throneroom and went outside under her favorite maple tree to think. Patches of morning sunlight filtered through the budding spring leaves, and a cool breeze ruffled her fur and she went carefully over the parchment, seeking anything to clue her to who the criminal was. She found a short, single hair embedded beneath a line of the dry ink. Pulling a teeny end of it loose, she inspected it closely. It was gray. She suspected that the fur did not belong to Roland, since the hair would have had to have been there before the script was written. She was looking for a swindler with at least a bit of gray fur. At a glance, she could see the that the robber had excellent penmanship, so she decided the criminal could not possibly be a bird, who would have flown out the window. Mumbling to herself, she repeated the lines: "If you do be wise, ... care to loom.... into the greatest room..." Suddenly she sat up. The largest room in this castle would be....." she thought a moment, then exclaimed, "The dining hall of course!" She sprang up and rushed back into the building, brushing past several other furrs on the way in. They took little notice in her hurry. Walking into the hall, she took into glance the new draperies which Streak had wished to see hanging from the beautiful, large windows. Sunlight filtered in one corner, but the rest of the room was shaded. Two large crystal chandeliers hung fron the large, dome shaped ceiling, quiet and unlit. "This is the largest room... nobeast will be using it until later, like this evening" she mused to herself. She immediately began inspecting every candle, every tablecloth, every chair. After half an hour of searching and finding nothing new, she returned to the riddle. "Hmmm... loom...... where does that come in?" She wondered if it meant a sewing sort of loom or to loom, as in hang or glide. She looked up at the humungous chandeliers. With a gasp, she exited the room and fetched a large ladder for which she used to climb to the top of the shimmering crystals. Again finding nothing that made sense, she returned the ladder to it’s closet and pondered again. Loom? Suddenly she knew! Running wildly through the halls, she bounded the stairs with new energy, determined to find the culprit. Up three, four, five flights of stairs! And she was only a quarter way there yet! How could she be so stupid? The loom room, and it was the greatest room, in the sense that it was in the West Tower, the highest point of the castle! It was also known as old Farley’s place, the widow Tanya Farley. She stayed up there most of the time, and was also known as the wisest squirrel in the palace. Bandeye was absolutely sure she would find the answer there! Gasping for breath at the bottom of the last staircase to the top room in the castle, she ascended the stairs slowly and deliberately. ‘This had better be the place!’ she thought with a touch of her snout to the cold stones. Knocking brought a voice from within the closed room, and Bandeye stepped in timidly, pushing the heavy door slowly. It’s hinges creaked loudly. An ancient squirrelmaid looked up slowly from her breakfast, which had been brought up earlier by the widow’s son himself. She smiled happily and greeted her. "Visitors! How many of you?" Bandeye ducked an overhanging cobweb and laughed. "Just one, Mrs. Farley." Bandeye knew the old squirrel’s vision was going fast. ‘Poor old dear’ she thought silently. Reaching Tanya’s side, she explained her reason for visitation. The old squirrel seemed to lose her smile as Bandeye explained, for she had thought that her visitor would like to stay awhile. Bandeye realized this, and offered to stay for a while and even to visit the old lady throughout her stay at Zoren. This brought cheer to the grandmother’s face, and she laid an old, shrivelled paw on Bandeye’s young, sinuous one, thanking her. Bandeye then inquired about the several large and few small looms which the squirrel had sitting around, some in use, some rusting, some covered in spiderwebs. Tanya agreed that Bandeye should take all the time she wanted to look around. She began by scraping a bit of rust off some of the looms, looking for fur or pawprints in the dust. Finding nothing on the looms, she turned to the floor. Several small pawprints were embedded in the dust on the firm wooden beams. Inspecting these, she compared Tanya’s paws to these prints. Defenitely not the same. These were too small to be squirrel’s prints, and besides, Mrs. Farley wore sandals. These were barepawwed prints. Upon more speculation, Bandeye found a slip of paper creased and thrust between the bars of one of the looms that were being used. It had been carefully concealed underneath a mass of green and blue yarns. Carefully, she brought it into the light of Mrs. Farley’s well lit oil lamp and read it aloud. "Between the threads, a wiry thing Bronze of the wise old maid. Now to a place where young ones go, A place in which we wade. Warm and soft, the feathers lay Dry us when we’re done. Third clue be among the folds The elders here have won." Tanya beamed a toothless smile and pushed Bandeye out the door. "You get along now, I know how important this is to you. Don’t you waste your time with an old one like me, go on now! Get that scoundrel!" and she gave a true Zoren cheer. Bandeye promised to return the next day to tell Tanya of the mystery, and thanked her with a pawshake. Down the flights of stairs she fairly glided; travelling was much easier with gravity on your side. Barely halting to a stop when she nearly ran over Sir Roland in the blind search for his missing heirloom of his own, he snarled (a little less angry though this time) out a question to see what she had found. She showed him the next riddle, and the two of them unanimously decided to check out the lake and stream, a bit to the south of the castle. During a lengthy walk to the lake, Bandeye described what she had been through so far. Sir Roland had a less exciting tale, and told her he had simply been asking around. She assured him that that was not a bad idea, and that somefur else might have seen something during the night. Upon arrival at the lake, several young ones scrambled wildly in the water, chasing a few mighty sea otters who entertained them with rides and flips; nearly a circus show. Bandeye stood on the edge of the lake, Roland stood further back, not wishing to wet his headfur. Abruptly, a sea otter of immense strength swam right up to her, concealed in the mud of the water, and reaching up, grabbed her around the neck and in less than a second, the linsang was submerged completely. Bandeye, not realizing he was only doing so for play, instinctively reached for her attacker’s throat and thrust her head above water. Gasping wildly, she ducked back under and grabbed for the otter’s footpaws. Like any otter, Strypear evaded her grab and she resurfaced. Drenched entirely, she padded madly out of the muddy water. Two dibbuns clung to her back, expecting a ride from the creature they had ‘captured’. She playfully shook them off into the water and wrung out her fur and sopping clothing. Strypear followed her onto land and exclaimed, "I thought you were a young ‘un! Sorry ma’am! Just rompin’ wit’ des here dibbuns, ya see!" Bandeye understood, and rolled her eyes for the uncountableth time that day. He grinned a hearty grin and inquired her presence. She turned to Roland, who luckily, had the sheet in his paws, and had him show it to Strypear. While young ones crowded curiously around, the remaining three otters continued to tousle in the water behind the growing mob of drippy mice, hares, otters, and scringy-tailed dibbun squirrels. "Dis here be dat place awright, missie! Look ‘round all ya’s want, but I don’t see no folders ‘n’ feathers as that dere mentions!" Bandeye and Roland decided to each go opposite ways, searching the outskirts of the lake. Young ones who thought it game, trailed along behind and before them on either side of the pond, thrusting paws into patches of clover and rustling catstails and stalks of unidentified vegetation that spread from the water into the grass. Meeting each other on the opposite side, they returned to the docks and to where Bandeye had originally entered the water. Bandeye and Roland reconsidered their decision that the lake was the place they were searching... but if not the lake, where did young ones wade and elders win? Both a bit confuzzled, Strypear and another ottermate pointed out that Bandeye was going to need a good bath after her muddy dip into the pond. Bandeye’s attention shot up when they mentioned bath. Of course! Young ones ‘waded’ in the tubs, dried off with featherdown towels, and since they hated baths, the elders always ‘won’, getting them to take them anyway! As Bandeye thanked Strypear for his generous help, she gave him a playful shove off the dock and *SPLASH* he was knocked back into the sunny waters. Waving and dashing in and among the babes, he waved goodbye as the two searchers retreived their footsteps back into the building. Bandeye, who had been mostly dried by the sun but had dirt dried in her fur by now, went straightaway to the bathrooms, whereas Roland, who was old and tired from their portion of exploring, retired into his bedchamber. Before continuing, Bandeye bathed the mud out of her fur, dried, and redressed. Inspecting the towels then, she heard an unfamiliar rustle within one of the towels. Carefuly baring a sharp claw, she slit the edge of the towel open, and feathers spewed out all over her newly cleaned but still slightly damp fur. Spitting them out of her mouth, snorting them out of her nose, and brushing them from her eyes and ears, she found the next riddle. She hoped with all her heart that this would be the last of them. Unfortunately, it was not. Another riddle for which to solve. She pocketed the riddle, swept up the destroyed towel, threw it away, and went to the kitchen to mull over the new riddle while enjoying a short lunch. As she ate her self-prepared PB and J sandwich, she read the next riddle, which went like this: "Cold hard stone, From which we live More ways than one The life they give Go to where The gone now lay See east at dusk The shadow’s way." Now this puzzle was even more confusing than the last one! Whomever had the nerve to steal Roland’s medallion was also a very confusing creature. Nearly wishing she might skip to the end to find the criminal without a search, she tried to pull out several suspects from the beasts she knew in Zoren. The gatehouse keeper would have nice penscript, but she highly doubted that a furre so noble as he would take an old mouse’s scrap of silver. She turned back to the riddle and pondered it. In the meantime, she finished her lunch, cleaned up, and went to visit Queen Streak to tell her of what had been found. Noontime at the Palace brought nearly every furre indoors due to the swelling heat. A few castle-dwellers sat around in the throne room, fanning themselves, playing checkers with the guards, who had taken lunch break themselves, and even Queen Streak paced as to make a bit of a breeze through her fur. She had long ago removed her heavy silk cape, which now hung on the back of her empty throne. She greeted Bandeye warmly despite the humidity, and inquired how the search was coming along. Bandeye told her of the wild goose chases and showed her the third riddle. Congratulating her, she read over the parchment and decided to get Bandeye some help in finding the culprit. "Thad! Yo Ripscar, git yer carcass over ‘ere!" A mighty otter warrior of huge stature appeared before the queen in in the sweltering heat, bowing humbly before her. Streak grinned and made him get up. "I want you to help Bandeye here, she’s on a search for a thief." His straight face perked in surprise, yet he nodded fitfully. "Yes m’lud." He turned to Bandeye, who now had to look up to two towering beasts. Streak was yet a full two heads taller than Thad, and Bandeye merely stood up to his belly button. Meekly, she lead the otter warrior out of the throne room and sitting down on a bench, where she at least came up to his chest, showed him the riddle. Once outside the courtroom however, he exploded in uproarious laughter. This frightened the linsang so, she jumped up right out of the cool, hard stone seat and unconsciously unsheathed her razor claws. ‘What the heck...?’ she thought to herself. He turned to her, reading her mind. "I’m sorry. You acted a scared mousie in ‘der! I wuz tryin’ m’ best not ta crick up!" She interpreted his slurred speech and grinned. "Well you’re over two feet taller ‘n’ me, ‘n’ Streako’s ‘bout two feet taller ‘n’ you... I feel like a shrimp!" She sat down again and he gave her a mighty *whAp* on the back with a hefty, slightly sweaty paw. He took the bark piece off the seat where she had dropped it in her surprise and read it swiftly. "Ahh...... Mhhhhmmm..." he fidgeted over the paper. Rapidly becoming impatient due to the excessive heat, she finally grabbed the thing from his paws. "So?" He leaned back in astonishment. "I warn’t done wit’ et yet!" He grabbed it back, and finally the two were rolling about on the ground, creating a lively scene for the bored furres hanging around. Being the much bigger of the two, Ripscar finally armlocked her head and balling his fist, rubbed his knuckles into her head. "Yow! Leggo ya monstrous togglewhopper!" He stopped, grinning. "Togglewhopper eh? I show ye togglewhopper!" He dove at her again, but she, being much quicker of paw, escaped as he landed face down in an effort to catch her. "Alright, alright. Truce eh? If ya’d not be so ‘mpatient I could git ‘dis ‘ere thing read ‘n’ figa’d." Bandeye sat up, breathing quickly from her narrow retreat. She nodded, and he led the two out of the castle, back into the brilliantly glaring sunlight. Bandeye rubbed the top of her head sorely, complaining to herself. With a grunt, he made clear she was to be quiet, and that she did. "Eh I think I got this thing ‘ere figa’d. Lez see, da stone be de castle, de dead thing be de grave, lookit east from de grave, see der well..." Rolling her eyes for the millionth time, she said "Yah well I got that part figured out prete’ well." He glared at her then stared at the well, which was a good distance away and about twenty feet from the graveyard, which had just been dug and had only needed use once. "Do ya’s ‘pose dat well ez da source o’ life? I mean, lookit ee castle, be home. Lookit ee well, be water. Live on de wata ya know. Life!" he cried. Rushing to the well, he peered over the side, soon followed by an exhausted Maia. She looked over and in less than a minute, drew up a bucket of water, which she proceeded to pour over her throbbing head. He knocked the bucket back down into the well in play, but Bandeye turned instead and shook her sopping head all over the astonished otter. "Now cut that out!" she ordered of him. He impishly obeyed quietly with a childish smirk on his face. Bandeye walked over to the graveyard, and stood facing the well. The sun was high overhead, but a little of her shadow protruded in front of her. "We’ll have to wait ‘til dusk" she announced. Wishing severely that Streak had not given her a helper, she strode back into the fortress followed by a still scheming otter. She turned and told him she would be continuing again at dusk, and until then, to not bother her. She would be in her bedchamber, getting a well needed siesta. With not another look at the devious creature, she turned to ascent a staircase when she heard faint chuckling behind her. She turned to see a few members of the castle desperately trying to hide smiles and laughter. She turned again, but this time it was too much. They broke out in chuckles and twitterings. This time a small dibbun hedgehog humbly walked up to her and carefully pulled a sign off her back, stuck with tape. Pawing it to her, she requested she read it to him, because he could not yet read. After reading it however, she snarled angrily at the naughty otter warrior (who was full grown no less!) and made a hasty retreat up to her bedchambers, leaving a stunned hedgepig and a room full of laughing creatures behind. Flopping down on her bed, she shred the sign and watched it flutter lazily out her large, curtained window. "Huh! ‘I need help’" she recited from the sign. She would get him back.... after a fitful nap that was. Careful to lock her door and window after she shut it, she sprawled out onto her covers and dozed the scorching afternoon away.
Early evening she awoke with a start, and realizing the otter was NOT actually about to dump a pot of tar on her head, and that she had only been dreaming, she strolled into the corridor and out to the dining hall. Most of the palace dwellers were assembed there, and she took a seat as far away from Thad Ripscar as she could get. Nicely of him, he got up and sat down merely three seats away from his adversary. She sighed and soon prayer, and dinner, commenced. With a heaping plate of spaghetti and homemade Z bread, she dug in and was soon filled, along with every furre else. Toward the end of the meal, she felt a small sticky spot land on her forehead. Peeling off a smashed pea, she forked the largest meatball in a bowl of spaghetti next to her, prepared it expertly, and unexpectedly for the otter, flung it full force into his face. Next moment a cry erupted from the next table, "FOOD FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Dibbuns screamed and plunged into their food with their paws, elders went crazy, and Bandeye and Thad went nuts cramming food down each other’s backs. Somewhat drained of the energy to fight so much in a mean way, they playfully stuffed each other’s eyeballs with saucedrops and smeared each other’s fur in cream. Queen Streak herself even enjoyed a scuffle with a hefty dragon, who’s scales were full of fudge and who’s claws were caked in pie. Streak looked nothing like the regal queen she was supposed to be; mint leaves littered her beautiful fur and she anxiously whacked the macaroni and cheese out of one ear. Bandeye and Thad erupted in laughter at the sight of their majesty. Streak grinned and announced that the food fight was over. Wails arose from the dibbuns, who were half soaked in cream sodas and iced tea. More shrieks come from the elders as dibbuns slipped ice down their backs. Chaos broke loose for another minute before nearly all the dibbuns had been caught by angry waitresses and cooks; each had two dibbuns in each enraged paw. Streak let out a chortle and held her sides painfully. The cooks scowled at their queen and passed dibbuns to their mothers who carried them to the tub rooms, where Bandeye herself had bathed not five hours before. Half an hour later, the dining hall was nearly entirely stripped of cloth and scrubbed from all food stains. Bandeye and Thad apologized to Streak for starting such a mess but the queen refused to listen, she’d had such fun! Bandeye gave up the idea of another bath and both her and Thad went out to the pond, and careful to stay clear of muddy water, they scuffled about until their fur was almost completely food-free. Thad Ripscar settled down and they retreived the riddle from the building. Since the sun was not yet near setting, they wandered around the single gravesite and inspected the well closely. Finding nothing for the time being, they sat down in the cool shade of Bandeye’s favorite maple tree. For a while they chatted about their lives, each not knowing the other very well. While the time was passing, each ended up demonstrating several unique talents to each other. Thad could do a split; Bandeye curled up her tongue so it looked like a three leaf clover. Thad made a face at that! Finally, it neared time for the sun to set, and they decided to get back to business. Bandeye stood at the base of the gravesite and faced east, looking directly at the side of the large well, warmed from the day’s sunlight. Just as she did, Thad noticed something particular about the stone. It gave an eerie glow, almost as if it were reflecting sunlight from the back even where it was shaded. Peering closer at it’s surface, he could find nothing. Bandeye stepped closer to it, her shadow masking a thin strip down the side of the well. Short marks appeared as glowing pieces of the stone. As the sun was concealed by the surrounding wood in the distance, several more marks appeared. Bandeye gaped, amazed. Thad rubbed his eyes unbelievingly. A whole piece of writing began to form on the granity substance and Bandeye blurted out, "Glow in the dark paint! Where’d ‘ey git this?" She pulled out a charcoal piece and the first piece of barchment she had saved from that morning, turned it over, and began to copy down the roughly slapped on paintwords. Totally unbelievable. She circled the whole well, writing down it’s riddle. When she was finished, the reflecting light from the sun was fading from it’s bended rays. Thad escorted her back into the castle, where they sat together in her bedchamber to pour over it. She read aloud the fourth riddle: "Would you be so nice? Obedient to chase, Oafs like you to get me Discrace for your such race! Hound me in a stew Under the black of night Now to the next place of rhyme Target of a fight." Bandeye gave a groan of disappointment. She soooo badly wanted to find this stupid theif and wring his ugly neck! She subconsciously began to knead on her pillow and stopped only when Thad rested a heavy paw on her shoulder. By that time, she had shredded it’s cottony case and stuffing was dripping off her bed. She sighed and they cleaned it up together and decided to show Queen Streak the poem. Once inside the throneroom, they found it deserted save the queen herself. She was still grinning from her rather interesting dinnertime. She looked at the two inquiringly and gladly accepted the riddle. Bandeye told her about the paint on the well, which made Streak’s face fall into a snarl. "My WELL is PAINTED ON?!?!?" She raged. Bandeye and Thad took several respectable steps backward. Streak’s claws flexed wildly on her throne armrests. She took a deep breath and relaxed, but the angry flash remained in her starry gaze. "Eh, well.... I suppose when we catch this thing" she spat, "I can make him clean it off! And you have my persmission to whip him, personally, in the dungeons" she addressed Bandeye, who’s eyes lighted savagely. "Thank ye, milady!" Streak turned back to the riddle and scrutinized over it. While she did so, Thad requested leave to go to bed, for he was tired from his early morning roundabout the grounds and his afternoon explorations. Her majesty granted him leave and the two friends remained, pondering the funny words. Suddenly Streak pulled something out of the poem. "Look here! If you line up the lines, the first letters of each spell something.. JAS........... Oh here! WOOD HUNT." Bandeye stretched up on her tiptoes to see over the large-framed tiger’s knees (for she was already taller without the elevated throne!) Streak handed it to her instead. Smiling, she thanked Streak for her generous help. Streak instead, could not resist a chance to enjoy a bit of a quest of her own, so she offered to help, and promised not to be as annoying as Thad. Bandeye chuckled and told her, "Yer da queen, ‘tis yer choice, ma’am!" Streak whacked her, saying, "Oi arn’t no ‘ma’am’! No call me that!" Bandeye obliged, smirking. The tiger took her place on a floor mat with Bandeye at her side and they thought together. Bandeye began to switch several words around but came to nothing in the end. Then she thought, ‘direction’, and searched for a word who’s jumbled letters might spell out something leading. From beginning to end, she found such words as ‘care’ from ‘race,’ ‘cush’ from ‘such,’ and ‘west’ from ‘stew.’..... hey wait a minute! "WEST!" she cried joyously. "We go west!!!" Streak looked up in amazement. "Huh?" "Lookit," replied Bandeye, pointing. "Here, if you turn it around, it’ll say ‘Catch me in a west’... which could mean catch me going west... sorta... ya get it?" Streak nodded. "And he wants us to follow him at nighttime. Huh. Dumbbeast... waddahe think, we’re dumb o’ sumfin?" Bandeye grinned and teasingly nodded. Streak suffocated an urge to re-swat her best friend. "Well nomatter, I’m too tired to go on." Streak countered, "But it does say to go at night.. I wonder if there’s a reason for that..." Bandeye attained a bored, dull look in her eyes and forced a yawn and made clear her decision to retire to bed that night.... but she could hardly hold in her excitement, and she was clearly not tired due to her short afternoon nap. Streak pulled herself up and Bandeye followed. Simultaneously they nodded at each other and fled out of the throneroom. They were going to do it! A nighttime hunt! Blood flowing hotly, a half hour later, the castle safe in the otter guard’s paws, the two stood ready, trecking gear on backs, noses alert, whiskers groomed, provisions packed, and excitement practically growing out of their ears. With a jump, the two started into the deep, dark forest with the remaining lights of the castle dimming behind their disappearing forms. Two hours later they finally came upon the recently made tracks of a bare-pawwed beast, who’s pawmarks made it clear the creature was running. Nothing followed the footpaws, and with a raise of a faintly lit lantern to the trees above them, they could not find a single irregularly broken twig. So it seemed the creature was not being chased by a visible enemy... perhaps this was their beast! They trecked on and on, not making a sound with either footpaw or mouth. The moon shone dimly above, it’s crescent shape weakly reflecting light, clouds obscuring it’s view every so often. A short while later, their swift travel brought them to an odd clearing. It looked incredibly familiar, but neither could tell why. They were certainly not going in circles! Neither could tell where they were exactly until they saw a small rope ladder and a tin box. Tamlin’s place! This must be the clearing. Tamlin himself was not in sight, so the two continued on their way. The footprints seemed to evade the clearing, but they caught up with them on the other side of the clearing, about half a mile from where the trees grew back tall into the soft, grassy earth. Abruptly, the two stumbled into an old dead stump, where the pawprints stopped. Maintaining silence, they peered over the edge of the rotting wood. It came up to around Streak’s waist, which was neck level for Bandeye. Bandeye hauled herself up the side, while Streak stood above her, grinning her silly head off. Inside, they found a gray rat, slick fur and a small round pack. "We’ve found our culprit, I do believe" Streak whispered to Bandeye. "How shall we wake him?" Bandeye inquired. Streak shook her head, correcting her friend. "The question is, how shall we wake her?" Bandeye stepped back down in surprise from her elevated viewing position. "Her?" she repeated. Streak nodded, smiling. "Shhh!" Carefully, she lifted the soundly sleeping creature from her curled up rest and gently swung it over her back after securing it’s forepaws with a heavy piece of rope. Bandeye stood in it’s upside down face and put on her best clown face, signalling for Streak to wake the rat. The theif awoke with a start and shreiked at the entertaining view of Bandeye, backlit by a filtering new sun. Morning had arrived, bringing a decently expected wonderment with it. Bandeye backed up as the rat screamed her head off, and with a forefinger, she silenced the shaking thing. "Quiet now, you’ll be awakin’ de whole castle from ‘ere!" The insane rat quieted sourly. She muttered, "Din’ even find yer last clue! Bain’t no fun dat way!" Bandeye reprimanded her fiercely, scolding her for stealing some other beast’s silver. For the better part of that day, a sour rat had a bumpy, bouncy, headachy ride, while Streak and Bandeye had a leisurely five hour stroll back to the castle. Upon arriving at the castle, they were greeted by many curious creatures, and one particular rat was extreemely shamed. Streak unslung the creature and laid it on the ground, forepaws and backpaws tied alike. She asked the others to back up while she disarmed the creature of a blade that had been hidden the night before, deep within the creature’s cloak. "Up on yer paws, vermin!" she ordered in her back to normal queenly way. The creature regained control of her legs and stood up on them wobbly. In the bright sun, two necklaces and a silver medallion fell from her concealing clothing. Bandeye snatched these up and before she knew it, Sir Roland was at her side, grabbing anxiously at his formerly missing heirloom. She gladly returned it to him while creatures dispersed from the scene, welcoming the two adventurers back. Streak stiffly escorted the theif into the building, where she met Thad, in a rather sour mood himself due to Bandeye’s lack of invitation on the hunt. Streak silenced him with a wave of a paw and he lead the bandit to the dungeons, where she admitted to stealing the old mouse’s silverpiece and some of the queen’s heirloom jewelry, a *nice* surprise. Back in the throne room, Bandeye was awarded a title of honor as tracker and was granted one request, one that would otherwise have been out of the ordinary. She thought a while, and remembering the old wise squirrel, Tanya Farley in the tower, she requested that she be brought down and put into more comfort for her remaining days. Once granted, Bandeye returned to her normal vacation at Zoren... besides a crack of a whip or two in the fearful face of a certain lady rat theif...