Chapter 480: Hampster Huey Saves the Day

Milo didn't nod or move his head, but managed to carefully open his mouth. Ringtail fed him a small piece of cheese that Milo carefully moved around with his tongue, savoring the taste before swallowing it. The boost to his regeneration was almost immediate. He opened his mouth and accepted another piece, and then another, until the entire small slice had been eaten. He relaxed slightly, but was still far from being able to move freely. But curiosity was killing him.

"How?"

"How does it taste so good? That is what both of us said! Little Finderkindle had a little small piece in his pocket when we found him in the tunnels. Well, really, our noses found the cheese. We traded the piece of cheese for two cookies, a jelly bean, and half of a sandwich. He was very happy with the deal and could only eat half the sandwich and one cookie. My brother and I split the cheese and were also quite happy. They don't have a lot of variety here, but what they make is great! They're going to share recipes with us and we'll share our jellybeans. We promised to bring them some cuttings from our bushes in the hollow."

"...but..."

"But where do they get the milk? I knew that would be your next question! They have these creatures called goats! They are furry, nasty things with hard heads. Tweedle butted heads with one, and the goat won. I know.... who would have thought anyone could have a harder head than him? But it's true! They milk the goats like we milk moles, and make several types of cheese. Young goat cheese is very creamy. The slice I'm feeding you comes from an old cheese. The young ones don't like it, and prefer the creamier new cheese. This cheese had a rind nearly an inch thick! They make more cheese than they can eat and put the rest in a deep cave with stone shelves. Very practical of them."

Ringtail paused and stared into space, a happy memory entrancing him, "It was breathtaking. Rows of preserved cheeses from ages past. The stone shelves were carved out of the rock, and stretched into the darkness."

"...can you..."

"Get you another piece of cheese? Of course! You look very bad, and that's good, because we can give you cheese and not worry about you turning into a fiend. It's too bad Gendifur isn't here, she would love the experience boost from caring for you. She's very happy for how you manage to break yourself. She get's a lot of levels putting you back together. I think I'll have another small slice as well. My brave, brave brother and I have been doing dangerous and stressful things today. Very stressful. But that comes with the job of being a Scout. Along with lots of experience and enhancement points, I should probably tell you that part, but Tweedle said he wanted to be here for the story. You should have some jelly beans. We found Petey's stash of extra red healing beans. Petey is silly sometimes. Why use a poison needle trap when the treasure is jelly beans that will cure the poison? We left him a note telling him that."

Milo did his best to glare at his onetime apprentice who sat smiling and talking to him. It was a total failure. His glare was lacking, and the twins had been glared at by nearly everyone they knew, for most of their lives. They were adept at shrugging off nearly everything. But he had to admit that while they might behave the same on the surface, they were taking on more and more responsibilities at the hollow. And he was happy to share the jelly beans.

A few minutes later, Milo was finally able to talk. "I need to leave. Need your help. Can't be trapped again."

Ringtail grinned at him. "You won't be. Along with being brave scouts, my brother and I are experts at getting out of trouble. We have solved your problems with Old Dinderfinkums. He does take his responsibilities to his tribe very seriously. He reminds us of you in that way, but I think he takes his job even more seriously than even you do! He is very worried about the bears and the dwarves, with all their digging machines and cannons. But he gave us a chance to explain ourselves before he tossed us into a deep hole. I think he would have when he appeared out of the wall. He was very upset. But I had Slappykinticks and Muclktilginny on my lap while we watched Tweedle do the Happy Hamster Hop with Finderkindle and Twinkercandle. Even a grumpy old person like Dinderfinkums knows that you don't interrupt the Happy Hamster Hop."

Milo had to run the words through his brain three times until he accepted them. "Your diplomacy was dancing?"

"Yep. Remember, we have danced for hours with the champion of dancing, Larry. We are experts at the hamster hop. Also very good at babysitting. Dinderfinkums has his hands full with the little ones. They are all that is left of his tribe, and they age slowly. They also get bored easily and some have learned to open the doors and go exploring in the tunnels. After our valiant and thrilling adventures dealing with the Mistakes, Tweedle and I found one of their small tunnels with an open door.

Now, normally we would be cautious about going into something so small and tight, but we decided to take the Tunnel Rat enhancement, all three levels. Tunnel Rat 3 made moving and exploring in those tunnels so much easier. They are very fun, with twists and turns and then suddenly hidden caverns of crystals. Or dangerous caverns full of mushrooms and goats! We didn't stay long in that one after Tweedle lost the headbutting contest. We found Finderkindle in one of the caves. He was sad and lost and hungry. And very scared that he'd been caught by monsters. So we sat down and talked to him and shared cookies and jelly beans. He really liked the Jelly Beans and traded us his piece of cheese for one of our good colors. We told him all about Jelly Bean Bushes and the fairies and Big Hero Larry, and lots of other stories. Then we followed him home and he showed us all his brothers and sisters, and cousins and second cousins and then it got very confusing, like when all the clans in the hollow try to figure out who is related to who."

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"And that is when Dinderfinkums, the old one found you? He left here very suddenly."

Ringtail nodded. "He found us very suddenly too. He appeared out of the wall, saw us...then saw everyone else and sort of stopped, not knowing what to do. Everyone got silent, but little Evelinderkup wanted to hear more of the story so we started talking again. That was when a sleepy little Toondunkler woke up and found out what was going on. We had to start the story about how you and Larry became friends over from the beginning and go all the way to the end where Larry became a hero. It was very thrilling. I did all the high pitched voices, and Tweedle did the villains. It's one of our favorites and we tell it to the little ones in the Hollow a lot. Dinderfinkums was listening very closely. Eventually, he sort of sat down and watched us and twitched a lot. We got the idea he was nervous about us being there, but he didn't want to interrupt the story. After the long story, everyone was sleepy. He asked if we would like some cheese while he put them all to bed. Who says no to cheese? Later, he came back and we talked. He asked a lot of questions about you."

"What kind of questions?"

"Oh, the usual stuff people ask about you. Where did you come from? How did you defeat the spiders and General Gangrene? What is your favorite cheese? We had lots to tell him. Then he asked again about Larry. He wanted to hear the whole Larry story again and after that he did one of those deep sighs, you know, like Bleusnout does sometimes, and he leaned over and put his ear on the rock. He said you were trying to escape and he should let you out of his trap. That surprised us, since we didn't know you were in a trap. We made him tell us the whole story about that."

"Why didn't he let me out?"

"He said he was going to, because you'd never get out on your own. We laughed about that and bet him a year's babysitting against ten large cheese wheels that you would get out by the time the little one's woke up."

Milo could only stare at Ringtail as he said that. "Why would you do that?"

"Oh, so many reasons. We knew you would get out, and he didn't. And you told us, "You always learn the most when you have the biggest problems to solve." We didn't understand that so much until we were being chased by mutant snails. Suddenly, we had thoughts that had never been our brains before! We didn't want him take that away from you. Plus, we really like goat cheese."

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm in a lot of pain here from what I did."

Ringtail shrugged, "Just like the time you dented the Tower of Strife. Or when you and Professor Arloth blew up the 'New and Improved Storm Battery.' You said you learned new things. Did you learn new things today?"

Milo had to admit that he had, even if he wasn't quite sure what. Instead of admitting that, he glared feebly at Ringtail and said, "I think you owe me a wheel of cheese."

Ringtail grinned, "Certainly. This is a good deal. We thought you would ask for more. But I should leave you now. I need to help Tweedle with the children, and Dinderfinkums is waiting to speak to you." He walked away and dropped into a hole, disappearing from sight. A moment later a small man with skin the color of the rock around them walked out of the wall. His limbs were thin, and his head looked wrong on such a small body. He only wore a simple tunic, with many tears and patches. A stone stool rose from the ground and he sat.

"I would like to begin again. My judgement was made from fear, and imperfect knowledge. I have more knowledge now. Please accept my apology, if you can. I nearly did a terrible thing."

Milo was silent for a long, awkward, moment. "Apology accepted. Let us begin again."

Dinderfinkums sat up straighter, "Thank you. Tweedle and Ringtail have told me much about you. They say you like to solve problems."

"I do. And somehow, I expect that you have a problem that you need help with."

"I do." The grey man took a deep breath, "The survival of my people, what little is left of them, and our culture, depend on solving this problem...and I have little time left in my life."