Doing the Right Thing...

"It's only a couple of days walk to get to where we are heading, but if I have to listen to the Wysp complaining anymore, there might just be a wysp that never gets there," grumbled Arnie to herself as the four travelers followed the trail.  None of them spoke (other than the complaining Wysp) as each was thinking of what they needed to do next.  Swirling through Arnie's mind was the last things the Goodie Sisters told her before they shooed her out of the kitchen door.

"You must make this right," Goodiegood had told her.  "What will be served all depends on your preparations now."  Before Arnie could ask her questions or say "Why me?", Goodie2shues added her two sheckles worth.  "Where you take the Dragon tablet will set the table."  Not to be left out as they were pushing Arnie out of the door, Goodie4u finished by saying, "Sometimes you must wash the dishes before you can dine again."  "Grrrhh," the Borrower thought, "I hate these cooking references!  It might mean a lot to them but it doesn't tell me a thing."

Still waiting for her when she had left the Goodies were her other three traveling companions too.  It was the Wysp who spoke first as it bobbed around in the air in front of Arnie.  "What did you take?  Can you show me?  Do you think they forgive me?  Let's go do something?"

Ignoring the Wysp (which wasn't easy as it kept flying up to the Borrower's face), Arnie started to tell Dulbbe and Drat some of what the Sisters had shared with her.  She realized though that she could not trust either of them completely as they must have designs of their own about the Dragon tablet.  "Just how much they know and what do they really want," she thought as she continued to travel the path.  

​"So, what are you going to do now?" asked Dulbbe.  Trolls are not usually known for their subtly and for some reason, Arnie liked this one (other than she also thought he was kinda cute - for a troll that is).  "If you are asking others for guidance or advice, I suggest we see the Shadows' King.  He would know what to do."

​​Arnie almost blurted out that she had come into the Shadows' King garden when she had found the tablet, but before she could, Drat interrupted.

"I don't know if we should be so hasty... hmmm.  I know the Shadows' King is currently busy with a problem of his own and something as small as this might only be a distraction to him.  I suggest we go and see my boss, the Troll King.  He knows something about magical items since he has been collecting them for years.  He isn't very far from here and I can get you right in to see him.  You might have to wait a while before the Shadows' King is available."

It was at that moment Arnie and her fellow travelers arrived at the crossroad in the path to take them whichever direction she decided.  This was the moment that could possibly change the Realms forever. "Where to go," the Borrower thought.  It was then that she remembered the last thing that Goodiegood had said, "You must make this right."

"Both are about as equally far from here but in opposite directions.  My mind tells me to see the Troll King because he might tell me to keep the tablet, but my heart tells me that I must face the Shadows' King and return to him the tablet," Arnie realized.

"Dulbbe, if we go to the Shadows' King, can you get me in right away to see him?"