Three Gifts for Thee

                As soon as they were called out, Apocrypha tiled her head while Kallista shifted her weight from wing-arm to wing-arm nervously.

                “I am Apocrypha, and this is Kallista. We are here with Frankie. We received an invitation to be here from Sela.” The Albertosaur said, and gave a small bow of her head, Kallista following suit. Frankie watched the pair and just frowned, knowing full well the small show of subservience would only make the Iguanodons more angry. Far less likely to just spill anything of interest.

                Blackmist, Agnus, and Arabella were silent as they eyed the other two. None of them looking pleased already at them being there, but Frankie could see the ire coming to the surface with Agnus. Blackmist had warned that she would be the less trusting of the group, and she was quickly proving that he spoke the truth.

                “It’s easy to say you are here because of the word of someone. Sela is not easy to please. I think you heard her name and are running with it. If you want to stay here with no problem, and if your friend wants to stay here and speak with us, then prove to us that you’re worthy to be here. Bring us an offering, and it better be good.” Agnus demanded, stomping her foot onto the ground to signal that would be the end of the conversation.

                Frankie sighed, turning his head slightly to look over at Apocrypha and Kallista as the three Iguanodons started to turn their backs to the three topsiders.

                “What sort of offering? What would you like for us to bring you?” Kallista asked quickly, making Agnus turn her head quickly with a look of absolute disgust plastered all over her face.

                “Better find something and hope it’s good.” Agnus sneered before tilting her head up and turned it back around to face away from the three and stand in tense silence with Arabella and Blackmist.

                Frankie quickly held up his hand to get Kallista to keep quiet and motioned for her and Apocrypha to follow him. The Utahraptor walked calmly away, leading his parents to a more quiet part of the clearing and turned to face them once they were in a secluded corner.

                “Don’t ask questions unless it’s welcomed. These guys think they are above us, and they are. Do you see how big they are? We give them respect, and they will tolerate us. The two females we’ll get them something pretty. Agnus seems like the type that would like something physical. Like a stone. You know the multicolored ones that can occasionally be found in the rivers? Maybe not that exactly but the feeling of that. Rare, beautiful, and something she can show off. Arabella smelled of flowers. See if you can get her something to wear that would make heads turn. Maybe an oviraptor has some flowers woven into a necklace or something around here. I’ll take care of that, actually. We don’t have anything to trade and I can talk someone out of something like that. And then for Blackmist, mom that’ll be you. Get him some food and promise him it’ll promote…I don’t know. Stamina or vitality or something. He’s here with two females, seems very much like a dude bro. Sound good?” Frankie asked, looking between the two but his attention stayed on Apocrypha when he brought up the food for Blackmist.

                “Fine.” Kallista said and sighed.

                “I’m sorry we interrupted and made things harder for you, love.” Apocrypha said and frowned a bit as she looked down at Frankie. The raptor looked back up at her and smiled, walking forward and held his head up to rest on her side in a half-hug.

                “It’s okay. You guys didn’t do that bad. If anything this will benefit us. We’ll have Sela on our side as well as these three to some degree. I trust everyone here about as far as I can throw them. But any sort of favor around here is better than no favor. We’ll meet back up here before we return to them. Let’s go.” Frankie said and looked over at Kallista as well before he sauntered off. The other two quickly splitting up as well to go and see to their own tasks.

                Apocrypha wasn’t keen on approaching the feasting tables. Not due to the fact that the courtiers that were there all looked at her as she approached, but because she did not want a negative run-in with the Pale One. The whole time they had been there he had stayed at his table, talking with the oddly colored black and white Oviraptor. There was a touch of purple paint on his face, unlike the other painted markings she’d seen on Ovi’s up to that point. But, then again, he did hold himself far different than all other’s she’d seen before.

                Apocrypha quickly glanced over the tables full of food and picked out a few things that, together, she felt would actually grant Blackmist a boon of energy for the night.

                “They really are just letting anyone come to these things, aren’t they?”

                The deep rumble of a voice was all too familiar to Apocrypha as she carefully placed a few sliced fruits of some sort onto a bed of crimson colored leaves. The fruit had been far too close to the gnarled Acro, but she had hoped the scent of so many others around her would mask her scent from him.

                “Unfortunately. These feasts used to be held only for the upper echelon of the courtiers. Their curiosity is clearly getting the better of them.” Alaric replied dryly with a heavy sigh as he watched Apocrypha out of the corner of his eye, never once actually turning his head to face her.

                “Tsk. Shame.” The Pale One replied with an equally drawn out sigh as he turned his head from Apocrypha back to the party ahead of them.

                She quickly finished throwing the meal together on the banana leaf she had been using as a makeshift plate and folded it up before turning to leave and meet back up with Kallista and Frankie.

                “They should at least get servants that have the arm length to make food properly. Though, I suppose you don’t have to worry about fingers being dragged through the dirt if their arms aren’t long enough to even scratch their belly.” Apocrypha could hear the last comment from Alaric as she walked away. If she had a pale hide, her cheeks would’ve turned a burning red from the bite of the Oviraptor’s bored words.

                It didn’t take much longer before Kallista and Frankie met back up with her in their corner so they could go over their gifts quickly to ensure they were good enough quality with Frankie. Apocrypha glanced over as Kallista set down a deep purple crystal in front of Frankie and watched as he stepped forward to look it over. Around his neck a lei of flowers that he’d managed to talk someone into giving him.

                “Good! This is great, actually. It’s a dark enough color we can say it compliments her feathers.” Frankie said and snatched the gemstone up before Kallista could put it back into her mouth, “I’ll give it to them. I don’t think they will approve of the idea of someone’s mouth on things. No offense, mom. But these guys are just very petty.” Frankie said quickly and then looked over at Apocrypha.

                Apocrypha carefully leaned over, placing the bundled up fruit salad onto the ground for Frankie to pick up but he shook his head when he saw how she had placed it.

                “You’ll have to bow to put it before him. It’s humiliating, but it’s a benefit in this circumstance. I promise. Let’s head back over to them and hopefully this is good enough for them to approve of us talking more with them.” Frankie said, picking up the neatly folded leaf bundle to held it back up for Apocrypha to take. She smiled at his help, accepting her gift back before they all walked back through the crowds to Blackmist and his girls.               

                Agnus was the first to look at them, pulling her lip up in that same look of absolute disgust, “They’re back.”

                “We are, dear Agnus! It would be rude for guests to be told to do a favor and then not do it and run off in shame. So, for you my dear Lady.” Frankie said, holding the purple crystal out for her to better look at and also quickly realized she didn’t exactly have fingers of her own. No matter what the gem would be going into the mouth of someone. Kallista realized the same thing and shot a look at Frankie that he quickly chose to ignore.

                Agnus looked down her nose at the Utahraptor, her sneer softening as she looked the gem over. A few moments later she gave a nod of approval, stomping her foot again. This time, however, an Oviraptor ran over from where they’d been waiting out of sight and quickly took the gemstone for Agnus.

                “I will accept it. That was my favorite color. But I think you got lucky with that fact.” She said and snorted, watching as Frankie smiled and bowed his head to her then turned to look at Arabella.

                “And for you, dearest Arabella. I couldn’t help but pick up on the scent of flowers on you. So I thought you would love these.” Frankie said, lowering his head and took the lei off himself and then held it out for her as he kept his own head down and his sight fixed on the ground. He heard gentle footsteps after a moment and saw her toes as she stopped before him and put her head through the loop and took the lei from his hands.

                “A keen observer, to be sure. You all aren’t actually a lost cause.” Arabella replied as Frankie stood back up and he saw her smiling as she returned his bow, even if it was a small one.

                Apocrypha made her way up next, stopping before Blackmist and carefully bent over to set the wrapped salad in front of him before carefully backing away, “Parties such as these require a good amount of energy to last through the night. Being social is just as exhausting as running a marathon. I believe this combination of fruit and leaves will benefit you and give you extra energy for the night.”

                Blackmist looked down at the banana leaf that had been packed full of food before looking back at Apocrypha as she stood from her bow. He lifted his head, the crest of feathers along his neck and top of his head splaying out before he returned the bow as well, but in full as he bent one of his front limbs.

                “We will happily accept these offerings. You’re welcome to join us for the rest of the feast. Your our guests of honor. And you have to tell us all about what you know of the plants topside. I had no idea a creature that eats only meat would have any idea on what plants taste good and go well together.” Blackmist said and smirked as he stood back up, another Oviraptor running over to gather the salad that Apocrypha had made.

                Frankie smiled and strutted forward, taking the lead as he placed a careful hand on the side of Blackmist and started to regale him with one of the many stories that Apocrypha had told him as a hatchling about how she’d discovered the relationship of plants with each other.