She could see it at once: he was an awkward sort; not malevolent, but wooden, quiet and stiff, as if a Kin's soul barely resided in the sleek frame made from a a split off branch, dipped in a sky's starry blue. He was called Limber, which had to be a Motherfather's joke. Perhaps his joints were limber, the soul inside was not.
"There is a doe," he said, quiet and stiff, like a hollowed knot, "her name is Explore the Unknown. We are to have children. I would like to request their safety and hers. If I could."
She could see that he was struggling – she could see that he was trying, hard. And she could see, when he spoke of the doe and their get, that he had very nearly smiled.
Perhaps he could become a real boy yet.
"And what do you have for me?" she said.
"What you would have of me," he said.
She rather suspected that, if she asked, he would bring her fifty mongeese, or even five hundred. There was no sport in a task like that for a fellow such as this.
"It's a dreary day," she said, "and I am feeling generous."
(She was not, but she was bored.)
"And loathe to move from this welcoming rock. On a day like this, I might trade a blessing for a smile."
After all, he already very nearly had.
He looked confused, insofar as a stick could look confused. She could see that he was struggling.
And then he tried, very hard.
On that day, Cue Queue learnt why you should never tell anyone to smile, luv.
"Alright," she said, more loudly, hastily, and abruptly than she really had the right to, "I accept your toll. I will bless your doe and foals."
And she did. She very fervently did. With health, with safety, with good sense, and – above all, Motherfather, above all – the ability to smile without looking like something you wouldn't want to spend one night much less five in the same swamp with. Please, Swampmother, let the children be able to smile.
"Thank you," he said, and sounded almost warm; almost relieved.
"You're dismissed," she said.
Once his back was turned, the quiet, steady gait taking him back down the path he came, she shot off her welcoming rock and galloped off in the general direction of Rise & Shine. She'd already had her daily Coughing, but she needed something more – something stronger, to wipe the memory of that hideous rictus from her mind. Even Shaken's sophisticated brews wouldn't do for this. Perhaps some, she decided, of Tipsy's moonshine.
Even so, he might become a real boy yet. He had the heart, even if the Kin soul was weak. She just didn't want to be anywhere around him to find out.
END