Chapter 28 part 2

When they arrived, Tim and Wes were fullly dressed and sitting outside of their hut. "Good morning, Beth!" Tim greeted cheerfully. "Has Amelia picked out a book for us to read?"

Beth could only chuckle at that. She was sure Amelia would have loved to take that statement and run with it, fueling her complaints.

"Yeah, she picked one out," Beth hedged, partly wondering if she could talk Tim into looking for the nearest gate without mentioning about Charlie having left for who knows how long, but in the end, figured it would come out anyway, so why delay that info? "Yet, Amelia's upset because we can't start reading right away."

"Oh?" Tim asked, waiting expectantly for Beth to continue.

Beth couldn't help but sigh again. She explained what Charlie had told her when she took off before Beth had even gotten out of bed.

"Well, Charlie is like a wild card," Wes commented. "You never know what she's going to do next."

"Would be nice if she mentioned this to us last night," Tim remarked.

"I doubt she had thought of it last night," Beth said. "I bet she only thought of it this morning."

"That does sound like her," Tim replied thoughtfully.

"So, since Charlie's not going to be here, I thought maybe we could see where the nearest gate is so we can at least do something useful until she gets back," Beth suggested.

Tim nodded. "Might as well, I mean, I was supposed to do that before we did anything else, so I guess it'll be better than just sitting around not doing anything," Tim said.

"Well, since Amelia is being like she is right now, want to start by using your magic to see at least which direction it is from here?" Ralph asked.

"Sure," Tim answered.

"You know, we could always see if distracting Amelia would help get her to stop complaining so much," Wes said, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"How?" Ralph snorted derisively. "You know full well that when she gets like this, the only way is to wait for her to move on herself."

"Well, you know how she wants to be a doctor, right?" Wes answered, ignoring the rest of Ralph's statement.

"Yeah, but where're you going with this?" Beth asked, unsure what Wes was going to suggest, but also a little afraid she wasn't going to like it.

"Well, what if we talk with the elder of the bear-kin to having Amelia hang out with whatever they have for healers here?" Wes asked.

"You know, that might not be a bad idea," Tim said, a smirk forming on his face.

"If nothing else, I'm sure it'll distract her from the books," Wes said. "I mean, who knows if she'll actually learn anything she doesn't already know from them."

"You never know what they might know that aren't in textbooks in our world," Beth remarked. "I mean, I've heard about, uh, I think they're called homeopaths, or something, but they would treat wounds with old remedies like poultices and stuff. Amelia probably would be over the moon to learn something like that."

Ralph chuckled. "Yeah, I could imagine."

"When do you think we should ask the elder about it?" Wes asked, his eyes bright and eager, clearly wanting to go himself.

"You mean, when should I go and ask, right?" Ralph said, a look of dread appearing on his face.

"What's wrong?" Beth asked.

"If Amelia is staying with them, then that would mean I'd have to stay and translate for her," Ralph answered, clearly not happy with the idea.

"If you really feel that way about it," Tim commented with a grin, "just stay until Charlie gets back and then head off to catch up with us. After all, she said she'd be 'right back,' right?"

"You mean like the word 'soon?'" Ralph asked dryly. "Who knows how late it'll be before she gets back."

Tim patted Ralphs arm sympathetically, though his grin showed just how much he was enjoying this. "Just think of it as taking one for the team, okay?"

"Yeah, right," Ralph said, his eyes reflecting the amusement in Tim's eyes. "Think Amelia would expect me to do more than just translate for her?"

"Hard to say," Wes remarked. "You know how she can get when it comes to learning about anything about being a doctor."

"Well, why don't you and Ralph then go find the elder and talk to her about it while Tim does his thing and finds out if there's a gate close enough for us to take a look at?" Beth asked.

Wes nodded and Ralph merely sighed as they walked off to see if they could find the elder. Beth waved after them as they walked off, more because she found herself enjoying Ralph's discomfort a little. Largely, because he always found entertainment in the discomfort of others himself.

"Okay, give me a minute," Tim said as Wes and Ralph walked behind one of the buildings and out of sight. "I'm not sure how long this will take. Heathcliff only explained to me how to work it and didn't say how-"

Beth looked at Tim when he stopped mid-sentence. She thought maybe something had happened to him, but the expression on his face said that it was from something else. That he likely felt something in regards to where the nearest gate was, or maybe even the two nearest gates.

"Uh…" Tim said after a minute. "Where was I?"

"You were about to say something about Heathcliff didn't say something about what he showed you in regards to finding gates," Beth said, not sure she really needed to explain it, but felt it was the fastest way to get him from looking so dazed.

"Uh, well… y'know… here's the thing," Tim stammered, looking a little uncomfortable now. "You'll never guess where the nearest gate it."

Beth sighed and gave him a dry look. "Based on how you look right now, I'm going to guess that it's really close by."

"Yeah, it is," Tim said, but didn't say anything more. Just kept his look of being uncomfortable.

"Wait, it's not inside this village, is it?" Beth asked, not sure how she'd like that idea.

"What? Oh no! Not in the village," Tim said, looking rather surprised. "It's actually up farther on the mountain.

Beth sighed. "Well, I guess it could be worse," she remarked. "It could be by the town or city or whatever where the pronghorn-kin were going to be sold as slaves."

Tim laughed. "Yeah, that would be bad."

"Well, I guess all we have to do is wait. Once Ralph and Wes get here as well as Hannah and Amelia, then we can talk about this and once we get breakfast, we can head up there while Ralph and Amelia can do what we talked about, as long as the elder agrees to it," Beth summarized.

"As long as the elder agrees to what?" Amelia asked as she came up.

"Actually, it was Wes' idea," Beth said.

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that tells me what you're talking about," she replied sarcastically.

"Wes and Ralph went to suggest that you could spend time with the healers the bear-kin have," Tim said. "We thought you might like the chance to do that, since you know, Charlie left for who knows how long."

Amelia looked at Beth and Tim suspiciously for a minute before her face broke out into a wide grin. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, and Ralph will be accompanying you until Charlie gets back," Beth answered.

"Oh, how did Ralph like that?" Hannah asked, her eyes glimmering with mischief.

"He wasn't happy when he realized that," Tim said. "Until then he liked the idea."

"I bet," Amelia chuckled.

"Well, as long as the elder agrees to it, we thought that you'd jump at the chance to do that," Beth said.

"You thought correct," Amelia said, her expression getting pretty eager. "But, why were you thinking about it anyway?"

"Probably because you were in your complaining mood about Charlie being gone and not able to start your reading choice," Hannah remarked.

"Hey! I was already through that before we came over here," Amelia protested.

"I know that, but maybe Ralph and Beth didn't stick around for it," Hannah retorted, a smirk forming on her face, showing just how much she was enjoying this. "I mean, do they ever really stick around to see how long it lasts when you get like that?"

"Come on! I don't get that bad," Amelia whined.

"Of course you don't," Hannah patronized. "You just get a little over the top, is all."

Amelia glared at Hannah. "Thanks a lot!"

Hannah smiled and patted Amelia's shoulder. "Anytime. Anytime."

"Well, anyway, Tim did his thing and guess where the nearest gate is?" Beth asked, mostly because she wasn't sure where things were going with Amelia's and Hannah's exchange and was more than a little nervous with Amelia's reactions.

"In the village?" Amelia asked dryly with Hannah nodding.

"Why was that the first thing you thought of?" Tim asked.

"Why else would you phrase it like that?" Hannah asked. "Where else would we expect it to be?"

"It's up the mountain," Tim said, sounding defeated and clearly dodging answering Hannah's question.

"There, was that so hard?" Amelia asked, giving Tim a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Anyway," Beth interjected, eager to get past that subject, only having asked Amelia and Beth because she knew Tim would and she was ready to be done wit that bit even before it started, "Ralph will go with you so you can understand what they're talking about until Charlie gets back. Then you can let Charlie know that she'll get to take over for Ralph and he'll come find us."

"Will Charlie be happy with this?" Hannah asked.

"Prolly not, but she did leave us without warning this morning," Beth replied. "Besides, she's familiar with… whatever they call doctors here. After all, they did treat her back yesterday from where she got shot with the arrow."

Beth couldn't help but join the others in their laughter. Even when Charlie had told them about it, they laughed then, although Charlie's expression was one of quiet suffering. Though, it was clear to Beth that she accepted that they found it funny and wasn't going to complain, though she'd just as soon be done with the whole issue.

"Careful, you're starting to sound like me," Amelia commented, a grin forming on her face, causing Beth to feel one growing on hers.

"You know we both use 'prolly,'" Beth remarked.

"Maybe, but it still makes you sound like me," Amelia retorted.

"Well, any idea of when she'll go to learn for their, uh, doctors?" Hannah asked.

"Well, Wes and Ralph went to ask their elder about it, but who knows how long that might take," Tim answered.

"What should I do if the elder says 'no?'" Amelia asked, the wind suddenly leaving her sails.

Hannah pulled Amelia into a side hug. "That just means we'll have to spend an extra day here after we're done with our reading after Charlie gets back, when Charlie convinces the elder to let you learn from them for a day."

Amelia smiled at Hannah. "Thanks," she replied quietly. "I hadn't thought of doing that while we were here, but it would be nice to learn what I can."

"You never know what you might need until you need it, right?" Tim asked.

Amelia nodded. "Right. Always best to be prepared when you can," Amelia answered.

Not only did she wonder when Ralph and Wes were going to get back, she was also wondering when breakfast was going to get here. Charlie had said that she'd gotten breakfast the day before around sunrise, and here the sun had already risen and been up for several minutes, yet they still hadn't gotten anything yet. What was up with that?

_

Charlie was annoyed at how long it had taken to answer all of Arachnis' questions. She had at least been surprised at him waiting for her, but then as she showed him around the area as all the pronghorn-kin had long since finished going into Petals' forest, he had several questions that she found rather annoying. However, she answered them to the best of her ability. After all, she wanted him to see what possibilities there could be here.

It also didn't help that her back had started to ache where she'd been hit with the arrow the day before. Then it also had started to hurt just to breathe. She didn't think much of it, but she did look forwards to just laying down and relaxing the rest of the day. Maybe that would help the pain to go away. She wasn't sure it would, but thought it would at least be something worth trying.

So, as she rode her raptor mount up the slope, she had it go at a brisk pace. She wasn't eager to get up as fast as possible, but at the same time, she didn't want to take her time. She knew that the sooner she got back to the others, the sooner she could just be lazy the rest of the day.

Yet, that feeling went away when she ran into some bear-kin waiting near the top of the slope, just before she could have started to see the village with Amelia and Ralph. She approached them to see what was going on, while a pit formed in her stomach that she couldn't explain, but certainly made her uneasy.

"What's going on?" she asked, unable to keep the trepidation out of her voice. She was at least happy her breathing wasn't painful enough that it would show in what she said.

"Oh, thank god you're here," Ralph said. "And it not close to noon yet."

Ralph started to take off, not bothering to answer Charlie's question. Just running as if he waited any longer, he might grow roots and be stuck here permanently.

"Glad you're here," one of the bear-kin said, her voice sounding familiar to Charlie, but she couldn't quite place it. "We were hoping we'd find you so we can change the dressing."

Charlie was confused and stayed on her raptor, even though she could feel it draining her magic away slowly.

"Amelia?" she called out. "What's going on?" She hoped that her friend would be able to help her know what Ralph clearly didn't care to inform her on. She felt like something had been decided and no one cared to let her know what it was.

"Huh?" Amelia asked, lifting her head up from what she was doing. "Oh! Charlie!" she cried, clearly just noticing her since she got there. "You're just in time! They were showing me what to look for with roots and herbs that they use to make poultices."

"That's good," Charlie replied, uneasily. Was that what Ralph was doing here? She asked herself before she came to a realization that made her sweat turn cold. Was that why he ran off? So she would be force to take over as translator?

"Now that you're here, I need you to let me know what they say," Amelia continued, confirming Charlie's fear.

"When was this decided?" Charlie asked, slowly dismounting from her raptor.

"This morning before breakfast. I mean, the elder of the bear-kin hadn't even agreed to let me spend time with their healers then," Amelia replied, distractedly, as she continued to rummage through the brush, pulling up roots that she then set in a basket the bear-kin had to the side.

Charlie shook her head. She had a feeling her other friends were behind having volunteered her as the translator. Ralph probably took off because he had a feeling that Charlie might split and leave him stuck doing that.

"We'll set the tent up for you right away," the bear-kin who told her about them needing to change her dressing said.

"What for?" Charlie asked.

"What'd they say?" Amelia asked.

"Huh? Oh, they said something about setting up the tent for me right away," Charlie replied, feeling a little lost as to what was going on.

"Oh good!" Amelia said. "When I first met them, Sishk asked me about where you were. She said that they needed to change the dressing for your wound."

Charlie was getting the urge to run. Fast. She didn't like where this conversation was going. She was starting to take a couple steps away, when she felt someone behind her. She glanced and saw a bear-kin, their posture telling her they were ready to subdue her if she tried to run. However, before she could react, they lifted her up bodily and began carrying her over to where others were putting up the tent.

"Don't worry, Charlie," Amelia said, her eyes so eager that Charlie could imagine her wagging a tail if she had one. "They told me it'll be quick and they respect your need for privacy. They'll only let me in because I'm a girl too."

Charlie sighed. "Not like I have much of a choice in the matter," she grumbled to Amelia. "I mean, they're not even letting me have the chance to walk into the tent."

Amelia laughed. "Yeah, they said that they could tell you'd be one of their difficult patients. They do it this way to make sure you don't try any last minute efforts to get out of it and make your wound worse," Amelia said, far too cheerful for Charlie's comfort.

When the tent was fully set up, Charlie was carried in and set down. Two of the other bear-kin and Amelia walked in, one of the bear-kin was holding a blanket. "Now, we need you to remove your shirt so we can get to the dressing," the bear-kin said.