She could pick Tina up and carry her for a brief while, but there was no way Demi was going to be able to carry the little girl all the way back to the farmhouse on her own. And she couldn’t ask Finella to carry Tina. Finella was shorter than Tina.
Maybe I should send Glimmer for one of the older dryads, Demi thought to herself.
But then Glimmer, apparently understanding her predicament, made a very surprising suggestion.
“Just put her in your inventory until we get home,” he said idly. “She’ll be fine.”
This incredible statement made Demi’s eyes widen in surprise.
“I, I can do that?” she asked in astonishment. “I can just put an entire person into my inventory?”
“Well, I sincerely hope you aren’t considering putting a partial person in there,” Glimmer said with a dismissive wave of his wings. “But of course you can. You’re a goddess with a perfect inventory. You can put anything in there.”
“But, I mean, a living person,” Demi insisted, gesturing to the sleeping Tina. “I wouldn’t want to hurt her. How does that even work?”
“The same way it works with everything else,” Glimmer said with exasperation, as if the answer ought to be obvious. “A person put into your inventory goes into stasis until you pull them out. It feels like taking a nap or dozing off,” he explained.
She blinked again. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” she said.
“Well, yes,” he agreed, and took an elegant pose. “I have often been in the inventory of the sublime Great Goddess Hollyhope,” he explained. “It is a very convenient way to travel.”
“I don’t know,” Demi said hesitantly, looking down at the sleeping dryad. “I don’t want to just experiment on her. That seems incredibly irresponsible.”
Meanwhile, the Council of Demi were in agreement. “Don’t experiment on children!” said one sign with a very clear and direct stance.
But Glimmer simply scoffed.
“Very well, then, put me into your inventory first,” he said with a theatrical yawn. “I’m getting sleepy myself. I wouldn’t mind napping my way back to the farm.”
“Are you sure?” Demi asked, still a little uncertain.
At least one member of the Council of Demi had a new position: “Experiment on the Chicken.”
“Absolutely, my little goddess,” Glimmer assured her. “Have more faith in yourself. You can do absolutely anything so long as you have beautiful me here to assist and advise you. You needn’t worry. I’ve done this very many times during my duties as a holy beast. It’s actually quite comfort—”
Glimmer was still waxing poetic when Demi selected to put him into her inventory.
She checked his description, and it indicated that he was perfectly fine. After about thirty seconds, she pulled him back out again.
“—table. Of course, it would be, being an attribute of a supreme holy goddess. So don’t fear what will happen. It will truly be fine. You can take my word for it, my little goddess. Please place beautiful me into your inventory.”
“I, ah, I already did,” Demi admitted with a contrite smile.
Although initially surprised, Glimmer recovered immediately.
“There, now you see it’s perfectly safe,” he insisted, then turned his head and held his beak in the air. “I’m not a cad. Of course I would never suggest you do anything that might harm a child.”
“It should be safe,” Finella said, having listened to the whole exchange, and watched Glimmer pop into the inventory and back out again. “Mine isn’t as big as yours is, but I can still put animals inside and they’re not hurt. Sometimes I put fish in it, and they’re always fine when I take them out.” Then she waved her hands mildly. “I haven’t tried to keep anything in there for weeks and weeks though. I don’t know what might happen then.”
If even fish are all right, Demi thought to herself.
But Finella’s interest had now been piqued.
“Will you put me in your inventory first?” she asked, her eyes shining. “As a test? I promise to be a perfect test subject! I’ve put a lot of things into my inventory, but I’ve always wondered what it was like to be on the inside.” She leaned forward with intense interest. “Pleeeeeeease?”
A member of the Council of Demi was now holding up a sign that said, “The child is begging to be experimented upon.”
Well, I’m going to have to test this eventually anyway, she thought to herself. Glimmer was fine. I’m sure Finella will be fine too.
She felt vaguely guilty, but at last she nodded.
“All right. I’ll try,” she agreed.
Finella dutifully came over and stood before Demi.
“All right,” Demi said. “Here you go!”
And Finella winked out of reality, just like that.
And there she was, right inside Demi’s inventory. Her status was perfectly fine.
Demi pulled her out again.
“Ah you did it already, right?” Finella asked.
“You could tell?” Demi wondered. “Did it feel like anything?”
Finella shook her head. “No, I didn’t feel anything. I just figured that you had because you stopped looking so anxious.”
Demi smiled at Finella and reached out to pat her head.
“Thank you for trusting me, Goddess Demeter,” Finella said with a bright smile.
The beaver girl took her hand and tugged on it lightly. Demi leaned down as she was bidden and she was rewarded with a delicate, whiskery kiss on her cheek.
And the moment that it happened, there was a flash of golden light and a melodic ripple, like music played on a harp and celeste, and Demi and Finella were left blinking.
“What just happened?!” Demi demanded of Glimmer in a whisper-shout, so as not to wake the sleeping Tina. “Did I just do something else weird to Finella?”
“Of course not,” Glimmer scoffed. “She just completed her vow as your saint. Oaths like that are always sealed with a kiss.”
“Hooray!” Finella cheered quietly, doing a little dance of glee. “Now I’m a real saint!”
Dollop hopped around her in excitement, a rosy pink at her success.
Well, I’m glad she’s happy about it, Demi decided. Still, she turned to look skeptically at Glimmer.
“Why didn’t you tell us that she needed to kiss me before the oath was complete?” Demi asked Glimmer, crossing her arms.
“Didn’t I?” the chicken asked vaguely, turning away to admire some nearby flowers. “I’m sure that I did.”
“You didn’t,” Demi said frankly.
“You sure didn’t!” Finella agreed cheerfully.
He forgot again, Demi resolved to herself.
Glancing down at Dollop, Demi could see that the slime had turned a very very pale green and was showing a face that very clearly communicated their feelings:
He definitely forgot.
Glimmer seemed more than ready for the topic to be over and done with, and so made an extravagant pose with his wings.
“In any case, all’s well that ends well! I believe it’s time to get that little drowsing nymph home, don’t you think?” he asked.
Demi shrugged fluidly. He was right. Everything had turned out fine. There was no point making a fuss over it now. Still, it was probably best to keep in mind that it was possible that Glimmer might simply forget to share other important details—now, and in the future.
Splendid, she thought to herself.
Still, worrying about it too much was unlikely to do anything apart from give her (further) anxiety, so she shoved her concerns out the door with her shoulder, and then locked it behind them.
The little dryad was still blissfully asleep, despite the unexpected sainting that had taken place in the local environs.
Since the experiment with her inventory had been an unqualified success, Demi looked down at the sleeping Tina and gently put her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
Into the inventory she went, and Demi got to her feet.
She kept a little window open in the corner of her periphery, so she could constantly be sure of Tina’s condition.
It’s a little like a baby monitor, I suppose, Demi reflected.
They managed to get back to the farmhouse without incident, where Demi handed off the sleeping Tina to Soa, and the tired but exhilarated Finella off to Elder Ashbark.
Demi herself was more than ready to have a long soak in the bathtub while she pondered what she could do to help Tata.