Chapter 26: Goddess of the Earth

Tiggerpaka got to his feet and brushed the dust off his fur. "You called?" he said coolly.
"Oh brother," Campbell grumbled.
Misty, however, was curious. She leaned closer to see what was going on.
"You're an exile, Tiggerpaka!" Moja shouted. "You can't come into our territory!"
"Oh, please. I am a true warrior! I can go wherever I please," Tiggerpaka snorted.
"Take him to the dungeon!" Tatu cried. "Now!"
The two meerkats who took him in lifted Tiggerpaka back up again. "Come on," one of them grunted.
"How dare you!" Tiggerpaka yelled. "I am a warrior! A fighter! I shall not be placed in your pathetic dungeon! Unhand me!"
"Poor Tiggerpaka," Bracken commented, looking concerned.
"Yeah," Misty agreed. "But to be honest, his protesting is only making things worse."
"True...but he shouldn't have to go into the dungeon. We're the ones who took him to a place he wasn't allowed to go," Bracken pointed out, looking guilty.
"Actually, it was Glory who took us here," Rhett said, glaring at Glory.
"What? You asked me to!" Glory protested.
Misty could hear all the meerkats down below bursting into conversation. The Council turned to the group. "You all, to the dungeon as well!"
"What!" Sidew yelled. "We're not even prisoners! We're friendly!"
"Sure you are!" Tatu said, loudly over the sounds of the meerkats below. "To the dungeon, intruders!"
Sidew grumbled to himself, and Misty managed to catch things like "stupid meerkats" and "we shouldn't even be here".
"Lilypaka! Uja!" Mbili yelled to the crowd.
Soon, two meerkats came to the room - one seemed pretty similar to Tiggerpaka, but she had a purple flower in her ear and a stick that served as a weapon. The other was the one with the fish scale shoulder pads; immediately Misty grimaced at the rotting stench. "Yes sir!" the fish scale one saluted.
"Take these prisoners to the dungeon!" Tatu ordered.
"I was gonna say that!" Mbili snapped.
"Well, whatever! It's done now!" Tatu growled.
Mbili punched Tatu in the face. "DON'T TAKE MY LINES!" he then tackled Tatu, and Moja joined in on the fight.
"C'mon," the similar-to-Tiggerpaka meerkat said. She smiled. "I'm Lilypaka."
"You look similar to Tiggerpaka," Bracken noticed.
Lilypaka froze. "Uh...yeah. I've been told that."
"And your name?" Lephos asked.
Lilypaka sighed. "Fine. I'm his twin sister. Not too proud of it, but y'know, he's my kin."
"Shut up, Lilypaka! We must get these prisoners to the dungeon!" Uja declared, pushing Lilypaka along. The group reluctantly followed.
They trotted down the stairs and to the main room, where the meerkats were now breaking up but still in conversation. Lilypaka and Uja lead them to a big door under the stairs that Misty hadn't noticed before. It lead to a damp, dirty hallway that looked like no one ever really came here often. They walked past several empty cells, and Misty saw Tiggerpaka in one of them. "Get me out of here!" Tiggerpaka yelled. "I am the slayer of Tiredblade! The hunter of Tiredblade! Your savior from Tiredblade's wickedness! Let me go!"

"Into the cells!" Uja cried. He pushed Sidew for the cell next to Tiggerpaka, but Sidew couldn't fit in.

"I told you that you're fat," Lephos sniffed.

"I'm not!" Sidew protested. "These cells are just too tiny!"

Uja frowned. "Hm. Obviously the cells shrunk!"

"More like you only made them for meerkat sizes," Rhett retorted. 

"Nonsense! We can hold prisoners of all sizes!" Uja insisted.

"I told the Council we had to redesign the dungeon and resize everything to hold more prisoners, but they wouldn't listen!" Lilypaka sighed.

Misty looked at Lilypaka. "You're not like the other meerkats," she commented. "You're--"

"Stupid? Yeah, I know!" Uja snorted. "She's the dumbest one in the Clan."

Misty expected Lilypaka to look offended, but she had a blank expression. "I get that everyday," she said, turning to Misty. "I'm used to it."

"Huh," Misty frowned. 

"Uja, face it. You're not going to fit the prisoners in," Lilypaka insisted.
"I knew that!" Uja replied. "So we must bring them before the Council!"
"Again?" Campbell hissed.


When they headed back inside the Council's room, the Council was still wrestling on the ground, punching and kicking wildly and yelling at each other. "HEY!" Lilypaka shouted.
The Council stopped rolling and looked up. "Oh, it's just Lilypaka," grumbled Tatu. "What nonsense must you tell us this time?"
"They don't fit in the cells," Lilypaka reported.
"Just shove 'em in," Moja shrugged, turning back to Mbili with his fist raised.
"We tried, Moja! They don't seem to fit," Uja sniffed. "The cells must have shrunk!"
"Then what shall we do?" Tatu wondered.
Misty desperately didn't want to be locked up in a cell - especially if they seemed that uncomfortable and small. What can I do to prove we're not prisoners? she asked herself. She then realized: I have to be friendly. That's the only way.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, rushing forward. "We're friends to you! Not enemies."
"Like heck you are!" Mbili exclaimed. "You came into our territory! You must be imprisoned!"
"One, we can't fit in the cells!" Misty said. Now she was getting annoyed at how blind the meerkats were - they weren't the Clan's enemies! "And two, we're friendly animals. We're not going to hurt you or anything bad like that!"
"Yeah!" Bracken said in agreement. "Please let us go!"
"You utter morons! You're obviously here to usurp our positions as Council of the Highest!" Tatu barked. "To the dungeon, now! I don't care how small the cells are. You'll fit!"
Misty growled, her temper rising. She slammed her paws into the tree bark in frustration, and suddenly a bunch of dust flew in through the skylight, fluttering around. It quickly flew out once more. Misty realized she had only Earthbended on accident. "Sorry," she muttered halfheartedly.
But as Misty looked at the Council, she saw they were gaping at her. Then, much to her shock, the Council bowed to Misty. "Goddess of the Earth!" Tatu exclaimed. "We are so sorry for attempting to imprison you and your friends." The Council got to their feet. "Anything you wish, we shall give you!"
"I'm not--" Misty began, but Campbell nudged her.
"Anything we want!" she hissed to Misty. "Do you want to let them know you're not a...'goddess' or whatever they call it? We don't have to be prisoners anymore!"
Misty perked her head, realizing Campbell was right. "Alright then," she said, eyeing the Council. "I shall spare you of my wrath." She tried talking as importantly as she could. "But, you must give my friends and I places to stay while we regain our strength before embarking once more. And answer to our every question we give you."
"Of course, of course!" Mbili nodded quickly.
"I'll let you know if I have any more orders," Misty told them.
"Uja! Lilypaka! Take them to a room to stay!" Moja said urgently.
"Yes sir!" Uja saluted. "Come on, Goddess of Earth. We'll give you and your friends the best places we can provide!"
As the group followed the two meerkats, Lilypaka leaned for Misty's ear. "Well played."

Author's Note:
Ah yes, the Meerkat Clan...
Oh, and check out the new TFEOB Blog! You can access it from my profile.
Also, Tiggerkat (now Skeeter Lea) is now posting a new mini story called "The Soldier's Dog" and it's great so far. Please read it! Click here to see it.