Quest 061

[primrosella]

Comments

[misterblackbird]

Only fifteen more days until what?

[primrosella]

My eighteenth birthday. I've had to wait an extra...seven and a half months for it, since time is different between here and back at home.

[misterblackbird]

Your birthday? I'd no idea we were the same age. And it is strange how time works here, confusing things like that. I had the same problem recently, just around my birthday.

[primrosella]

You know, it's rather dangerous to be discussing age with a lady. Are you quite sure of what you might be getting yourself into?

I left home in March and landed here in August. I suppose that means I could very well be eighteen already, but I'm certainly not about to let a birthday go past without the fun of living through it!

[misterblackbird]

I'm very much aware of that risk and I am willing to take it, but you volunteered your age already. And if you're lying about it, I very much believed your lie.

I was in the City days before my birthday in December, but found myself back in London in the spring, months away from my birthday. And then I returned here after my birthday had passed. I effectively missed mine, though that would have been my second birthday in the City. I'm not sure how old that really makes me, though I was seventeen when I was in London and remembered nothing of the City, so I suppose I must be seventeen still. I hope you can celebrate yours in a far better way than that.

[primrosella]

Well, that's very brave of you. And I do approve of bravery, so I promise not to tease you too much over the subject.

My, that is quite a tangle. And it's a shame to have missed your birthday--perhaps you could celebrate it belatedly? I'm sure no one would question your reasons for it, if they knew everything you've just told me.

[misterblackbird]

Thank you. How very generous of you.

I could, though I think December will be here again before I know it. I hope you have a happy birthday, though, and one untouched by curses.

[primrosella]

I'm glad you think so.

Thank you, I hope it turns out well, too. Though I think I'll be content either way, cursed or not, as long as there aren't any dragons to disturb it this time.

[misterblackbird]

I take it you had a dragon disturb your birthday before, then?

[primrosella]

Only once. It's miserable enough to miss a birthday, but it's worse when you're going to miss it because you're about to be a dragon's dinner.

[misterblackbird]

I would think that would be the worst sort of reason to miss a birthday, yes.

[primrosella]

I'd really prefer not to spend it that way again. In comparison, the thought of a curse on my birthday really doesn't seem so bad.

...Well. Depending on the curse, that is.

[misterblackbird]

Yes, it all depends on the curse. If it's a curse of dragons, you may be at a loss.

[primrosella]

And I expect, now that I've said something about it, it will turn out to be a curse of dragons.

[misterblackbird]

The dinosaurs that appeared in the zoo seemed fairly close to dragons at times. Since we only just saw them, I doubt we'll have dragons again so soon.

[primrosella]

Oh, yes, that's right. Still, I wouldn't put it past the City to summon up a dragon that day anyway, just out of spite.