"Here we are!" the red scaled woman says cheerfully.
There's earth underneath my feet. I'm too busy kneeling and hugging it to give much thought to what kind of salmon is likely to be there. The pain in my shoulder hasn't quite returned to bearable. I can see red-rimmed holes in my clothes where the claws gripped me if I look. I try not to.
"Little monstrosity should be around here somewhere!"
And then she's gone. Leaving me here in this scrub land.
So much for helping me.
"Hello?" I call weakly from the floor.
I'm annoyed with myself. I'm not supposed to show weakness, it leaves me open to attacks and people like Young Andrew.
"Oh, it's you again," someone says. "Go away again. I don't want you here."
I look up to see a bespectacled individual in a pink shirt looking very superior and sniffy while holding a bag of hazelnuts. I'm in too much pain to punch him. I'm not supposed to punch him anyway, am I? I get the feeling it's something I used to do, or threaten to do, all the time but somehow it seems... wrong.
"Are you the Salmon?" I ask.
"Just as I was the last time you found me, yes," he says.
He munches on a hazelnut. I stand up and stare at him. How long has it been since I've eaten? I could kill for that bag of nuts.
"May I have some of those?" I ask.
"No."
He munches another one. He slows down a bit to make sure I see every movement and my mouth waters at the idea of hazelnuts. Which is odd, because I'm pretty sure I never wanted them unless they came in a chocolate spread.
"Someone said you could help me find a flying fish," I say, pretending not to be affected.
"Why would I do that? I gave you my advice before and you ignored it," he replies.
I frown. "I don't remember that at all."
"Well, you said it was exactly the same advice as you got from the Eagle and the Dragon, which amounts to the same thing," he said.
"That doesn't mean I didn't follow it," I say. "It just means I got a second and third opinion. Maybe I was just taking a poll."
"It's always that damned Eagle," he says as if I didn't say anything. "Everyone always goes to her first when everyone knows that I'm the one always searching out the little nuggets of wisdom. Just because she sees everything when she's sat up in her 'World Tree' doesn't mean she understands it."
"Sorry," I say. I'm not sure why.
Behind him, bushes rustle. I see a flash of grey but say nothing. He's nearer to it so if it's something bad, he's going to get it first. I do step back a bit, though. Well, stagger.
He's paying no attention to me. "I mean, it's a yew tree - was a yew tree - and everyone knows that they don't store any knowledge. Knowledge is in nuts, not berries."