A Day Off

 

Sleipnir regarded the glittering crystalcorn around him, its kernels shimmering even in the soft light of Lunerest's moons and sighed. Being a vexyn, one would assume he'd be tall enough to tower over a field of stupid plants (or so he had foolishly thought), but it turned out the maze was more than tall enough to fit even a vexyn and have it get lost in disorientation. 

 

As a treasure hunter, a job he participated in together with Twinkle and Flicker, he was used to entering the unknown. But he admitted, it was weird to be stuck in a place where he could see the sky, but was forced to remain on the ground, not allowed to use his wings. The walls of thick plants seemed to close in on him, twists and turns of the maze blending in with them, making it look as if he was standing in a square, closed-off room, even though he wasn't. A xyn going in here better had no claustrophobia. Thankfully, he hadn't. He was simply annoyed, wondering when his companions would have enough and leave. So far, they showed no signs of tiring.

 

Their little questionable "adventure" had already taken much longer than expected. At first, he had thought it would be some nice little fun on the side, something they could do between expeditions to decompress. It was laughable that they had already been here for three hours, for moons' sake!

 

Slepnir had been fed up almost the very moment they stepped into the labyrinth. Flicker, on the other hand, was always the optimist. She enjoyed stomping through the maze, wearing a smile all the way. And while the two male xyns had gotten more and more annoyed with every step, she had merely laughed. And for Twinkle, who was madly in love with the black moxyn, the bright sound had been enough to lift his mood immediately. Not so much for Sleipnir. 

 

After some time, Twinkle's practical thinking had taken over and he started regarding their surroundings more analytical, treasure hunter instincts kicking in. Stepping closer to a crystalcorn, he nudged the glittering kernels with one paw. Having worked with him long enough, Sleipnir knew that he tried estimating if they were of any value to them. He could practically see the cogs turning in the moxyn's head as he wondered aloud if this was something Oberon could use for his studies.

 

Before Sleipnir could protest, his two companions were off. Forgotten was their task to find a way out of this hellhole, instead they started gathering the biggest, best looking crystalcorn they could find, packing them on Sleipnir's back. He was used to carrying their treasure home, but carrying corn, albeit pretty one, made him feel like a farmer's pack mule.

 

Once again, the plants beside him rustled and Twinkle and Flicker emerged, surprisingly not carrying more corn, but with an excited glint in their eyes. 

 

It seemed that by stopping to care about the maze and venturing off-track on their new quest, had helped them get a better idea of the labyrinth's layout. Twinkle was positive they had found a route they hadn't tried before and with an excited hop, Flicker urged them to go on, all thoughts about possibly valuable corn forgotten.

 

Fine, thought Sleipnir. Better than standing around.

 

At least now he could hope that every twist, every turn, brought them one step closer to this cursed place's exit.