Usefulness

"A'right lad, le's see what we go' ta work with!" Nyitzcha grinned, lifting herself over the crate after Spi'Reto pushed the lid off. Poking her little head in, she closed her eyes and took a rather proud whiff.

"Aaaaahhh, a'luv de smell o'va good mornin' fa'yer. Brings s'me joy 'n good feels all ovah."

Spi'Reto glanced over to Felix who shrugged back before looking inside.

"Where did you guys get these stuff?"

Spi'Reto tilted his head. "Mostly travelers that leave their things around. Some of it is pretty useful, like clothing or blankets. The rest we stuff right here."

Patting the side of the crate, he continued explaining. "It's no use to us, but if it is of use to you then that's some use to use it for, so I guess it used to be useless until you gave it some usefulness."

"Argh, please, no m're twisters." Nyitzcha whined, pushing Spi'Reto back and leaning over the crate before jumping in. Approaching the crate, Felix leaned in to catch several items the dwarf would hurl out. Some odd looking firework rockets, large books of empty paper, coils of rope, a stranger packet full of colorful rubber.

"What is all this? What's that?" He asked, dropping the pile and lifting the pack of colored rubber, giving it a shake.

"That," Spi'Reto pointed, "Is called rubber. It's an odd material fabric of some kind and there should be numerous other contents of that similarity inside the box. We don't know what they are for, so good luck and have fun."

Nyitzcha snickered, lifting another packet and tearing the top away. Scooping up one color, she held a purple rubber with her two fingers for the boys to see.

"Ye mean t'tell me that ye ain't nu I-dear what d'ese 'ere 're?"

Felix and Spi'Reto both stared with puzzled eyes until the elf replied.

"What?"

The dwarf rolled her little eyes, blowing into one end of the rubber. Suddenly it began to inflate, growing and expanding more and more twice no three times its size. Spi'Reto placed a hand on his bow, legs bent as he nervously stared at this purple blob grow even larger than the dwarfs own head!

Felix himself was quite intimidated, retreating slowly until Nyitzcha pulled her lips away, tying the rubber tip and waving it around.

"Really now, dis wee thing be givin' ye the shakes? Felix, be a good hubby and catch dis fer me." She let go of the odd object, tapping it with her hand and watching it float gently across several feet. Felix stared and reached out with his hand until it bounced away from his fingers, moving incredibly slow as it began to descend gently to the ground. Nyitzcha frowned as she saw Spi'Reto still holding his bow while staring at it.

"You lot are braindead. Dat stretchy stuff s'called rubber, n' dis 'ere s'called a bah-loon! Is harmless, jist blow a bit of air inside 'n tie it down, das it."

"What's its purpose?" Asked Spi'Reto. "Is it some sort of magical bomb or-?"

"Is no magic, you blow it, ye watch it bounce. Das all."

"Oh, so for entertainment." Felix said, poking at it. "What's it called again, a balloon?"

"Ay. Is of no use to a normal head, but t'me dese beauties came'n real handy during the great schism of fifty-two! Real life savers, Ah show ye if ye gimme time, ye won't regret it!" She beamed, lifting both packets of deflated balloons with a sense of proud triumph. Felix was still in the process of catching up, but he smiled anyway in support of her joy.

Looking back, Nyitzcha continued digging through their crate. "Lo's a goodies, whole bunch'a goodies! So much powdah!"

"What powder? All I'm getting here are these weird pointy things in funny red stripes." Felix whined, pointing at a red rocket.

"Dese are fireworks, they like flying bombs and de chock full o'powder. See?" She gave the rocket a quick shake as what sounded like sand rattled inside. "Dey can come n'handy for de rescue."

"So how did you two become a thing?" Spi'Reto asked as both faces turned around. "I understand you're her slave but also her husband?"

Nyitzcha grinned, wiggling her ring finger. "De lad signed over and bonded wit me over contract, so I guess is both."

Spi'Reto raised his eyebrow as Felix began to explain.

"I signed myself to her as her property and she confirmed it by marriage."

"Wait, I thought you're her slave?"

"I am."

"But you're his wife?"

"Ay."

"So you're her husband and her slave?"

"Was de difference? Both seem like de same t'me." Nyitzcha winked, giggling to herself as Felix blushed. "Ye know, we yet to confirm out vows. Ye owe me a honeymoon."

"I uhhh... remember that I'm-"

"Ah know ah know, don't think ah forgotten why ye in dis." Nyitzcha waved her hand, picking up a pile of leather straps before tossing it back down. "Why did ye come to me anyway?"

"Huh?"

"Back in me bar, we only met once and briefly, yet ye came to me fer help. Didn't ye 'ave any family to go to, nor friends close by?"

Felix bit his tongue, thinking back. "Janette was my only friend left with me, and we didn't know anyone else to ask."

"Das it?"

"... I guess so, yea. Why?"

Nyitzcha looked down before bending over to dig through the remaining materials inside. "Nuthin' much 'ere, where am ah to get some clothes? Don't ye take cleanings round 'ere?"

Spi'Reto looked up from tinkering with his arrow. "Well, there's a waterfall nearby. If you're in need of a wash, I can take you two over once we find some spare clothes for you to wear."

"Sounds good, I could use a cleaning." Felix raised his arm, sniffing and looking away.

"Okay. Did you want to go now or later?"

"Le's go now." Nyitzcha answered rapidly, hopping out of the crate.

"Follow me." Spi'Reto replied, with Nyitzcha hurrying behind him. Felix scratched his head, wondering how long they would be waiting for until the others were unoccupied, so to speak.