Chapter Two: Welcome
It really didn’t surprise Gillis that Cantus left without saying goodbye. In fact, he hadn’t even heard his friend leave; he’d just looked up from his conversation with Tosh to notice that the Minstrel was gone.
“How come he left without saying anything?" asked Tosh. Despite their familial relation she was still a little nervous around her newfound uncle.
Gillis shrugged. “That’s just Cantus’ way sometimes, to leave quietly when he’s no longer needed," he answered. “Besides, he did come here without much fanfare. He probably wanted to leave without drawing a lot of attention as well.”
“Oh.” Tosh looked at the small bunch of papers in her hand, then back at Gillis. “So…what do we do now?"
“Hmm.” The Maestro put a finger to his chin in thought. “Well, why don’t I take you on a tour of the rest of the Rock? I can tell you all about your new home, and you can meet some of the others that live here! How does that sound?"
She nodded amicably. “Okay.”
---
The pair ended up retracing the route that Cantus had taken in bringing Tosh to the Maestro’s cave. This time they went slower, Gillis taking the time to point out to his niece some things that Cantus might have missed, like Chimney Cavern or Echo Hole.
It wasn’t until they reached the Great Hall that the two of them were ambushed.
“So, what’s the big secret?" Red Fraggle demanded as she popped up from out of nowhere. Gillis gave a yelp and jumped back, startled.
“What secret?" he asked, blinking in confusion.
Red sighed. “You know, the one you and Cantus were talking about today! Lemme guess; it had something to do with the Festival of Bells, right?"
“No!" Gillis’ harsh tone caused Red’s eyes to widen in surprise. “No," he answered again, more gently. “Cantus’ visit wasn’t music-related. He needed to speak to me about a personal matter…and a private one.”
“Oh.” Red sagged, deflated.
“Red, that was rude," admonished Mokey as she and the three boys walked up. “You didn’t even say hello!" The pigtailed Fraggle cringed and muttered an apology.
Boober, in the meantime, found himself focusing on the pink Fraggle standing by Gillis. He couldn’t remember having seen her in the Rock before. She was wearing a simple dress of grayish-blue, and her green hair kind of stood up on end. She was looking around the Great Hall as if seeing it for the first time. “Uh, hi," he greeted her. Boober cleared his throat; why was he so nervous all of a sudden? “I’m Boober.”
The girl Fraggle smiled. “I’m Tosh. Hi.”
“You’re, uh, not from around here are you?" asked Boober.
Tosh shook her head. “I’m from the Cove. It’s a little village near the sea.”
“The sea?" the cap-wearing Fraggle echoed. “You mean, like open water and inhabited by all sorts of nasty creatures and who knows what else?" Tosh glared angrily at Boober. An argument might have ensued right there and then, had Gillis not noticed the two talking and interrupted.
“Ah, I see you’ve met my niece!" he exclaimed.
As the other four Fraggles introduced themselves to Tosh Gobo remarked, “I didn’t know you had a niece, Gillis.”
“Cantus brought her here with him this morning," the Maestro explained. “Tosh is going to be living in Fraggle Rock from now on, with me.”
“Oh," the five Fraggles chorused. Gobo added, with an understanding glance at Tosh, “If you ever want to talk, feel free to stop by mine and Wembley’s cave, okay?"
“Okay.” Tosh nodded. Boober sent Gobo a glare of his own, though the effect was ruined by the hair over his eyes.
“Well, it’s been very nice chatting with you, but we must be on our way," Gillis said. “I’m taking Tosh on a tour of Fraggle Rock.”
“Oh! Well, have a nice time," said Mokey as the Fraggle Five began to walk away. “Welcome to Fraggle Rock, Tosh.”
“Thanks," Tosh replied. She watched the five of them walk away, gaze lingering on Boober, until her uncle nudged her and the tour continued.
---
“Well, Tosh seemed nice," Mokey commented as she and her friends made their way down to Fraggle Pond. The others nodded their agreement.
Red looked at Boober out of the corner of her eye and grinned devilishly. “I thought she was pretty nice, didn’t you Boober?"
“Yeah, she was cute- nice! I meant nice!" the cap-wearing Fraggle yelped as soon as he realized his faux pas. As Red laughed he groaned, wishing that the floor would just open up and swallow him. Sure, it’d mean a rock-quake of epic proportions but he didn’t really care.
“Someone’s got a crush," the pig-tailed Fraggle sing-songed. “So, gonna invite her to your cave for some tea? Do your laundry together?"
Mokey put a hand on Boober’s shoulder, glaring over at her roommate. “Don’t listen to her, Boober. If you want to spend time with Tosh then that’s your business.”
With a grunt Boober tore himself away from Mokey’s touch. “Oh, I do not have a crush on Tosh, and I don’t want to invite her to my cave! Not until she’s lived here for a while, anyway; who knows what kind of germs she’s brought with her from the sea?" Still muttering that he didn’t have a crush on the new Fraggle, Boober went down a side tunnel and headed in the direction of his cave.
The others watched him go in silence. Then, Red spoke up.
“So, who’s up for a dip in the pool?"
---
Chin in her hand, Tosh sighed. She had reached a dangerous point in any young Fraggle’s life.
She was bored.
After finishing their tour of Fraggle Rock, which included meeting such illustrious Fraggles as Convincing John, the Storyteller and the World’s Oldest Fraggle, Tosh and Gillis had returned to the Maestro’s cave. Almost immediately Gillis had sat down at his table, pulled out a blank piece of paper (how he found one in the mess was beyond Tosh) and started scribbling things down. Tosh watched him write for a couple minutes before quietly asking what he was doing – and being bluntly told not to bother him.
That had been nearly half an hour ago.
Sighing again, Tosh looked over at her uncle. He was still writing, and sometimes would stare off into space humming or singing quietly to himself. She wondered if Gillis realized she was even there.
She thought about the Great Hall, and the pool there and all the young Fraggles that liked to hang around it. Maybe she could take a walk down there and go swimming. It had been a while since she had been swimming.
“Uncle Gillis, I’m going to go down to the pond," Tosh said as she stood up from her seat. Gillis gave no indication that he had heard her. Shrugging, Tosh turned around and left the cave. She could probably be back before her uncle even noticed she was gone.
---
“There!"Gillis triumphantly added one last marking to his paper before pulling it back and admiring it. “Tosh, would you like to…” His voice trailed off as he looked around his cave, and realized that his niece was nowhere in the room. “Tosh?" He got up from the table and looked around the cave again, in case she was hiding. When there was no sign of her there, he hurried out of his cave and looked both ways down the trail to see if he could spot her.
Nothing.
“Oh dear, oh dear," the Maestro murmured to himself. He chose one path and began to walk down it, looking around and calling. “Tosh! Tosh, where are you? Tosh?"
---
Tosh Fraggle was scared.
It hadn’t taken her long after leaving her uncle’s cave to realize that she had made a wrong turn somewhere. And in trying to get back to his cave, she had made another wrong turn. It had taken Tosh about four more wrong turns to realize something.
She was lost.
-Kim