❄️
Sandy gulped, and stared down at the… well, at the gnome, she supposed. “No,” she admitted. “No, I’ve never seen a gnome before.”
“And you still haven’t,” it cackled gleefully. “I’m a kobold, don’tchaknow. You tourists are all the same. Don’t know anything, expect to have life spoonfed to you, and, when it comes down to it all you want it,” it pitched its voice into a whine, “I wannnnnnna go hooooome.”
“Well,” she admitted, feeling a bit guilty about it now and a bit angry to be feeling guilty, “I do sort of want to go home. But mostly I want to know what’s going on.”
“Didn’t I say that?” the thing, whatever it was, snapped. “Want everything spoonfed to you.”
“And I didn’t say that,” she snapped right back at him. Behind them, the train whistle blew. “Oh, darn it.” She twisted to look at the steam-powered thing. It was lovely in its own way. “It costs one tech. What would a tour guide cost?”
“A tour guide?”