Day 80: 26 January 2026

 Short Story -- The Quest

It started with a girl.

She was young enough to still see magic everywhere and old enough to be wary of it.

‘You can’t be serious!’ cawed the raven to the girl as they walked through the forest. ‘Surely you’ve heard enough stories to know that this never ends well.’

‘And yet, I am determined to try,’ the girl said calmly.

‘But, but, but,’ spluttered the squirrel, ‘You’re our friend! We don’t want to lose you!’

She gently held the paw of the squirrel riding on her shoulder. ‘No one ever promised that things worth doing would be safe or easy.’ She looked the raven and the squirrel each in the eye in turn, ‘My mind is made up.’ Then she added softly, ‘You don’t have to come with me. This forest is your home. Your families and other friends are here.’

‘We won’t leave you!’ the squirrel said vehemently, looking at the raven for affirmation.

The raven rolled his eyes and added, ‘Even if it’s a fool hearty idea and we’ll all most likely perish. At least it should be a warm death.’

The three companions were silent then, each reflecting on and thinking their own thoughts.

The girl was wondering how she managed to make such brave and wonderful friends. The raven was wondering how he’d ever been talked into going along on this quest… if that’s what you want to call it. The squirrel was wondering if they would have enough food, where would they find shelter, what if a storm came up, and so on.

The forest they were in was vast, a veritable sea of trees. The centre was dark and carpeted in moss. It was home to things that none of the three wanted to think about, much less encounter. Things full of teeth. Hungry things. So the three friends were walking more along the edge than through the middle. It would add some time, but so would dying, so it couldn’t be helped. And anyways, they didn’t have to get completely to other side of the forest, just most of the way. What — or more accurately who — they were seeking would be found on a cave not on the edge but also not too far from the edge of the forest.

It took a week, but they were nearing their destination.

‘So,’ asked the squirrel, ‘Do we know exactly where we’re going?’

‘Not exactly,’ the girl answered honestly, ‘But it can’t be too hard to miss a big cave.’

‘And we know that it’s close enough to the edge of the forest to be causing trouble in the village,’ added the raven.

The next village over from the girl’s village. That’s what had started all of this. One of the villagers from the other village had come to the girl’s visit the most recent market day complaining of stolen chickens, frightened sheep and cows and houses being burnt down.

And the girl with her gentle spirit and kind heart decided to try to mediate and help.

It was on their eighth day of walking that they came across the cave. It had a dark, yawning mouth. Stalactites and stalagmites looked like teeth.

‘I don’t like it!’ exclaimed the squirrel, tucking herself behind the girl’s neck and trying to nestle into the hood of her coat.

‘Might as well get it over with,’ said the raven. ‘It’s been wonderful knowing you all.’

They were not quite to the mouth of the cave and the girl (and her retinue) stopped.

‘Excuse me. Hello!’ she called into the darkness.

‘Who dares disturb me?’ came back an ominous sounding, and slightly echo-y reply.

‘My name is Georgianna and I’m from the next village over. With me are my friends, Raven and Squirrel. And we’ve come to talk and possibly negotiate, if we may,’ the girl answered.

‘I don’t negotiate,’ the voice said back, sounding more petulant and less ominous this time.

‘May we at least talk then?’ the girl asked. ‘Perhaps you could tell us your name?’

‘My name is too fearsome for the likes of you,’ the voice retorted. Then added, ‘You may call me Humphrey.’

‘Well, Humphrey,’ the girl said inching closer to the mouth of the cave, ‘It’s nice to meet you.’ She looked pointedly at her friends who quickly echoed her sentiments. ‘Where shall we talk? Would you prefer to come out or perhaps you’d rather we come in to you?’

‘I prefer — if we must talk — that we continue as we are,’ the voice responded.

By this time the girl and her friends were standing in the mouth of the cave. And what they saw surprised them!

‘Why!’ exclaimed the raven, ‘You’re barely big for a lizard!’

Humphrey sniffed affectedly. ‘I’ll have you know that a dragon’s prowess and lethal-ness is not to be determined by his — or her — size.’

The squirrel was peeking out from behind the girl’s neck now. ‘However did you manage to burn down a house?’

‘Oh,’ Humphrey said, ‘that was an accident. I had a cold.’ Then he brightened, ‘But it did add quite beautifully to my fearsome reputation!’

The girl wasn’t looking at Humohrey or her friends though. She was staring at the side of the cave.

‘Are those… chickens?’ the raven asked surprised. 

‘I believe they’re the chickens,’ said the girl.

‘But…’ the raven started.

Humphrey covered his face in shame. ‘I had to steal them! For my reputation!’

‘But you’re not eating them?’ asked the girl confused.

‘I’m a vegetarian,’ Humphrey said proudly. ‘I don’t want to hurt animals… or people.’

‘A vegetarian dragon?’ the raven said incredulously.

Humphrey nodded eagerly. Then paused.

‘Unfortunately, it’s not good for a dragon’s reputation for him — or her — to be vegetarian.’

‘I didn’t even know dragons could be vegetarian,’ the squirrel said.

‘Well,’ the dragon admitted, ‘it’s not very common.’

‘If I may,’ said the girl, ‘what do you eat? And why bother stealing the chickens at all? Surely, no offense, but being the size you are you could have simply gone unnoticed by the village?’

‘Perhaps,’ he ceded. Then looked ashamed again. ‘But my family has always teased me. I have always been different than the other dragons. Mostly because I’m a vegetarian but also because I can be a bit clumsy. I just wanted to make them proud. I wanted them to see that I could be fearsome… if I wanted.’

‘Oh,’ the three friends said simultaneously. Each of them knew something about being different.

‘Why don’t you join us!’ the raven said. ‘We can all be a little different…’

‘… and not fearsome,’ inserted squirrel.

‘…together,’ the raven finished.

‘But what about Henrietta, Lucy, Mathilda, Gertrude, Louise and Anita?’ Humphrey asked.

The raven and the squirrel looked confused.

‘The chickens?’ the girl ventured.

‘Yes!’ exclaimed the dragon.

‘Perhaps I can return them to villagers under the guise of restitution,’ the girl suggested.

And that is just what she did.

And the next morning, the girl and her now three friends started back home. The raven flew and hopped along as he wanted. And the squirrel and the dragon perched on the girl’s shoulders.

They would go on to have many more adventures together. And they would support each other through thick and thin. And with the help of each other, they trusted that their differences made them unique and special… and that that was a good thing.