You're trudging through the tall grass, your muscles screaming and bones protesting.

"It should be around here somewhere", you mutter to yourself. You look towards the distance and squint, the sun bearing down on you as you ignore the trickle of sweat beading down your nose.

You exhale loudly, letting out all your frustrations in one breath and you turn around, ready to head back home when you hear it-- loud and echoing yips that could belong to nothing other than a zorvic.

Pausing, you strain your ears, and yes, you definitely hear it now, the excited barks of what seems like several zorivcs. You would know, you left several at home in your nest.

You head towards the noise and eventually you see it, a large sign which reads: WELCOME TO THE SAPPHIRESCYTHE ESTATE.

You walk through the gate, thinking it strange that they were just left open and nearly fall over as an excited zorvic barrels into you. You open your arms on reflex and find yourself with an armful of squirming fur. The zorvic seems especially excited to see you, licking all over your face, it's tail hitting your arm repeatedly from its enthusiastic wagging.

You're so distracted by the zorvic, who seems intent on getting as much slobber on your face as possible, that you startle where a voice calls out, "Hi, there." You didn't notice them approaching.

The stranger quirks an eyebrow and seems amused by your predicament, "I see you made acquaintance with Jasmine, as you can see she's pretty social."

"Yeah," you say, not being able to get out much with Jasmine, while seeming finished with slobbering all over you, is still squirming and wiggling around in your arms. You would be worried she wants to go down but she has her wet snout pressed against your face.

The stranger smiles, " Well come on, I doubt you came all the way over here just to cuddle with my zorvic." She gestures towards one of the larger buildings in the estate and starts walking, her pace slow and small, probably waiting for you to fall in step with her.

You're worried for a moment, on walking while trying to focus on not dropping the wiggling zorvic, but just as soon as the thought hits you, Jasmine squirms her way out your arms and hops down, running away to play with a group of nearby elon. You watch her go, but catch yourself and give a few strides to fall in step with Jasmine's master.

"My name's SapphireScythe", she says, "although you probably already know that. You can call me by my full name, Sapphire, Scythe, SS, or anything really-- I don't care."

"Nice to meet you," you respond.

As you guys are walking you notice many other zorvics and a few preats wandering around the estate. Some stop what they're doing to curiously watch you pass but most continue on whatever activity they were doing, ignoring you.

You finally read the building and SapphireScythe opens the door, calling out, "Watch your step."

She ducks inside and you follow her, realizing what she means when you're forced to step over a zorvic, seemingly moping in the doorway.

"Hey boy," you call out, trying to cheer him up but he just gives you a tear filled look and sulks off to a corner.

"And that's Grumpi," SapphireScythe says. You look up to see her gnawing on her bottom lip, staring at the dark corner Grumpi had sulked off to. "He's been like that since I caught him, always has the world on his shoulder, you know."

You nod, you know how it is, you also have a neurotic pet at home, and the happiest you've ever seem him was chewing grass to entertain himself.

"Anyway," SapphireScythe says, her tone picking up, "Welcome to my humble abode."

You look around and notice the abundance of graphs and charts and list and sheets covering nearly every surface, including the walls. And you mean every surface, the place was literally, and you use that word correctly, covered in paper.

"Ummm," you stutter out, not quite expecting this.

SapphireScythe laughs and doesn't look particularly bothered by your speechlessness. "Yeah," she shrugs, "I love my spreadsheets."

"I can see that."

"Eliyo is such an amazing place though!" Her voice seems to have raised not only several octaves higher but also significantly in volume.

The outburst is unexpected and startling, you nearly jump out your skin.

The fanatic's cheeks are puffing out with excitement, "There's just so much to uncover, I'm constantly trying to figure stuff out, what does this do, and what is the rate of that, and how many of this is." She's rambling now and seems to make no sense.

You're kind of a little creeped out by her enthusiasm.

"I haven't even started a breeding project yet, all of my current elons are a part of or have been part of some sort of experiment, which is why I love Natural elons so much, you don't have to worry about elemental resistance and all that other stuff when trying to control as many factors as possible."

Her eyes are shining and you wonder if visiting was a mistake. "That's nice," you finally settle on. The response seems safe yet polite.

Your voice seems to snap her out whatever data induced trance she was in. She clears her throat, and you notice her ears are red, "Sorry about that, but on a more sane note, I really do need as many natural zorvics as possible, if you have any you're willing to sell, I'll be paying about one thousand to three thousand coins each."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Here's a link to a message board post I made if you want more information on my pricing and requirements."

http://www.eliyo.net/forums/thread/418

You smile, you might check it out, you can tell she'll be really grateful if you do.

"Anyway," SapphireScythe continues. "You probably have to go soon, but before you do, I just want you to know that you should always feel free to message me-- about my current elon experiment, game help, or just to talk. I'm always looking for conversation.

"And thanks so much for listening and taking the time to journey through all this." She shrugs, "I wasn't really expecting anyone to get so far, so the fact that you apparently did means a lot. And one last thing, feel free to message me comments and critiques about my tour. How was it? Did you enjoy it? I'm always looking to improve."

You glance out a window and notice that the sun has dulled quite a bit, you should be getting home, your elons are probably hungry.

SapphireScythe follows your gaze and almost as if she knew what you were thinking, offers her hand, you grasp it and shake.

"Bye", you say, "it was nice meeting you."

She releases your hand, "I really hope you message me after this, finger crossed. And do you need help finding your way out?"

You shake your head, "I'm fine", and walk towards the door, however before you step out you offer one last wave.

Most of the elon outside are sleeping but a few are awake, wide eyed and alert and watch you as you leave.