Little Thin Legs

What was that for? asks Surfing-with-Whales.

Apologies, says Gaius. It was a mosquito.

Surfing-with-Whales looks at his arm.

A mosquito is smeared there.

Don't wipe it off, says Gaius. It will do for Little Mystic.

Yeah? says Surfing-with-Whales. Okay.

He picks the dead mosquito from his arm and dangles it before Little Mystic.

Eat it, says Terence.

Little Mystic opens his beak, to eat the mosquito.

Ulp. He swallows it down.

Was it tasty? asks Terence.

Little Mystic can't say that it was.

Never mind, says Gaius. Tasty or not, it was nourishment.

Did his egg come out? asks Surfing-with-Whales.  

Most of it, says Gaius. Not the shell, which raises some questions.

What questions? asks Surfing-with-Whales.

Was it an egg in the first place? says Gaius. Or is the shell still inside him?

If it was, says Surfing-with-Whales.

Yes, if it was, says Gaius. Anyway he seems quite well now.

Yeah, so are we heading off or staying? asks Surfing-with-Whales. 

Why do you ask? asks Gaius.

If we're staying I might hire a kayak, says Surfing-with-Whales.

I suppose we could stay for the rest of the morning, says Gaius. It is pleasant here. And there seems to be a ready supply of mosquitoes.

He whacks Surfing-with-Whales's arm again.

Lucky Little Mystic. He gets a second mosquito.

Ulp. Yerk. Chhah! 

It's not the body that's the problem. 

It's those little thin legs.