"So, like, where are we?" Moisha asked, looking around the town with a somewhat nervous expression on her face. "This looks like one of those renaissance fairs."
"It's a little big for a renaissance fair," Romeo said, nervously. "And everything looks too...real. They don't build huge stone walls for ren fests." They stayed on the hill and watched the town a little longer.
"So, like, what now?" Moisha asked. Romeo hesitated, it was unusual, to say the least, for either of them to actually have a say in matters. What Lydia said, went, period, or else pain followed. Only problem now was that there was no Lydia.
"I don't know," he said. "Change to human form first...and then?" Moisha glanced at the bag of gold they had collected.
"Shopping!" Moisha declared happily. Romeo moaned.
"OOOOooo!" Moisha cooed. "Look, they have pants with tail holes!" Romeo flinched and then smacked his hand into his face.
"If you mean the breeches, milady, of course," the merchant said. "I need something to sell to the werefolk. Do you wish to acquire some, you certainly seem as if you could use some clothes."
"You know, Lydia would like these," Moisha said. "I think I'll get them and some dresses...and some of those and..."
"For goodness sakes Moisha!" Romeo said. "We're going to need money for supplies and boarding! We have no idea where we are, how we got here, how to get back or what happened to Lydia and that dragon!! Why can't you settle for one outfit?" Once Romeo stopped shouting he looked around noticing that all eyes were on him.
"Chwa," Moisha said. "Romeo, like chill, you're freaking out."
"I'll have a cloak and backpack," Romeo said weakly.
"Is there a problem here?" someone asked behind them. Romeo and Moisha turned about to say know when they saw what was behind them. It was a werecat, but not a werecheetah.
"I don't think so," the merchant said. "They were just arguing about how much to spend. It sounds like they're lost though."
"I could probably help with that." The Jagwere said behind them, he looked down to the other two and paused at their smell, then smiled. "Where are you trying to get to?"
"Uhhh....Atlanta, Georgia," Romeo said, that being the first place that came to mind.
"Uhhh...heh," the Jagwere said nervously. "You're a LITTLE off track."
"We...we...we figured that," Romeo said.
"I've never even heard of the place," the merchant said, confused.
"S...s..so like, h..how...which way do we go?" Moisha asked, swallowing and staring at the Jagwere.
"You'll have to find a mage," the jagwere said nervously. "Actually, I'm planning on heading there myself to spend some time with my teacher and do some training. I'm sure her husband can take you.....back to Earth...as well."
"B..b..back to Earth, right," Romeo says, not registering the words, and focusing on the jagwere.
"L...like, thanks f...for the help," Moisha said.
"No problem," the jagwere said. "Werefolk have to stick together right?"
"R...right," Romeo said, nodding.
"Oh by the way," the jagwere said. "Don't bother with human form on Jade, some people will actually think its rather deceptive to do that."
"G...gotcha," Moisha said in a weak voice.
"You could travel with me if you want," the Jagwere said confused at their behavior.
"No, that's fine!" Moisha and Romeo said at once. "Don't want to trouble you."
"We have to, like, find someone else anyway," Moisha said. "And that could, you know take a while."
"I'm sure I could help," the Jagwere said.
"No, you have plans," Romeo insisted. "We'll find her on our own."
"Well, if you change your mind just find the nearest Edge Guard," he said. "And ask them."
"Are all Edge Guard w..w...w..w..w...," Romeo started to ask.
"Werefolk and Kitsune, mostly yes," Gar nodded. "It's not like I hear it is on Earth though, most races are friendly to each other in general, just watch for bandits." The rats, still in human form, nodded furiously, most of the conversation was still unheard by them. "Well, good luck, and keep an ear out. If you got here the way I think you did, rumors of your friend's arrival should travel pretty fast."
"Uh huh," the rats said.
"Oh and like I said, I'm sure Dr. Diggers would be fine with transporting you back to Earth," Gar said before leaving.
"d...d..Dr...d...d..d...Diggers?!" Moisha gasped, nearly fainting. Gar was already gone down the street though, now that there wasn't a werecat present to clutter their thinking, they latched upon a certain fact.
"BACK to Earth!!!?"
Lydia woke up to find herself more or less in one piece, in a comfortable bed. None of this was expected. She was supposed to be dead under a pile of rotting lizard. She was quite certain the dragon was dead, she remembered that. The scratch she'd given its throat must have been plenty to kill it when one considered it's other injuries. She sniffed about, but couldn't seem to identify any smells in the room, her head was pounding enough to distract her.
Lydia pushed herself up in the bed and leaned against the headboard. The movement did bring several things to her attention. Her head began virtually screaming in protest, and her legs or spine were not quite healed yet. The wererat clutched her head and glared uselessly at the virtually useless limbs. The glare faded slowly.
It didn't matter that she was healing from the dragon's attack. It didn't matter that she'd be able to walk soon. She had failed, again. At every corner she had failed. The dragon had confirmed it when he'd told her that Romeo and Moisha were dead. She'd thought they were ready to take the cheetah, they weren't. She had been the one to hack Zero's account, and that was stupid. She'd been the one that led them on this last mission, they were captured. She was the one that commanded the escape, and now they were dead.
The sight of the wererat sitting up and staring dully down at her lap did not go unnoticed for long.
A young elf with deep brown hair blinked as she looked into the room to check on the patient.
"Oh my," she turned to call down the hallway. "Mistress, she's awake!" She was into the room in the next moment and at the rat's side. Lydia looked toward her cautiously, and tensed to fight if the strange looking woman made a hostile move. Not that she could do much in her state, but she'd do something if she had too. The apprentice stopped as she noticed the girl staring at her.
What does it matter? Lydia asked herself, sighing and relaxing her guard, staring at her lap again.
The elf sighed in relief as she moved to sit next to the bed and started to cautiously examine the girl, keeping an eye out for sudden motion from the girl. Lydia allowed the woman to feel her forehead and check her pulse with little more than a bare glance. She was in a hospital of some kind, that was obvious, though those ears of the nurse's were more pointed than anything she'd ever seen on even other werefolk. Her head hurt too much to make anything of the woman's scent or any of the scents around, but she didn't really care.
"Can you feel this?" the elf asked, tapping her knee. Lydia grunted noncommittally and shrugged. "Can you move your legs or feet at all?" Lydia shrugged again, she could wiggle her toes, that was about it.
"You said she's awake?" a purring voice said from the hallway. Lydia froze and turned to see a tall weretigress walk in, dressed in a clean white gown. The elf woman immediately felt her tense up.
"Oh, this is Mistress Sheena," the elf said. "She's the healer here, I'm just an apprentice."
"Great," Lydia muttered weakly, still fixing her look on the Tiger. The elf smiled.
"You do speak," the elf said. She turned to the tigress. "She hasn't answered any questions, she still has a fever and she's obviously listless."
"That's fine, Kayla," Sheena said, walking forward and thinking about the patient. "Go see to the other patients I'll handle her."
"Are you certain, Mistress?" Kayla asked, thinking of the rat's behavior when she entered the room, tensing for battle almost.
"I'll be fine," Sheena said. The elf reluctantly stood up and curtsied before walking out into the hallway. Sheena turned to Lydia, frowning in a concerned manner.
"So this is it then," Lydia muttered fearfully, looking to the tigress. The rat slumped in resignation as the woman sat next to her.
"No, this is just the beginning," Sheena said. She took the rats hand and checked Lydia's pulse herself and the forehead. Watching the rat the whole time with concern, but in such away that Lydia knew she was watching for any motion. "You've been unconscious for three days, and there is still some of the dragon's blood in your system if the signs are right."
Lydia's face expressed nothing but confusion. The tigress looked at her and frowned, pulling back.
"Did the dragon talk to you as it was dying," she asked. Lydia didn't respond. Lydia was still staring at the woman, confused as to why she wasn't dead yet. "Did it say anything at all." She waited a few moments before continuing. "The Edge Guard might send someone to talk to you soon."
"Cops?" Lydia asked.
"I'm not sure what that means," Sheena said as she confirmed her suspicion, the girl was not from Jade. "They're sort of an elite group of law enforcers." Lydia nodded, not taking her eyes from the cat. Sheena went hunting sometimes, the way this girl was acting reminded her of a deer that knew it was caught and had given up. "There shouldn't be a problem, they'll just want to know where the dragon came from and what you were doing and such. Now, you just rest and don't worry about that, I'll be back later to check on your bandages, or maybe I'll have Kayla do that, if it would make you more comfortable."
Sheena took the blanket and pulled it up towards Lydia, covering her mostly. Then she stood up and backed away from Lydia, watching the girl. Lydia watched the tigress's every step, until she was out into the hall, then she slumped against the headboard. Above everything else, she was a prisoner too and they obviously had plans for her.
"There's something about that girl, Mistress," Kayla said as she saw Sheena next.
"She's not from Jade," Sheena said. "I thought so, didn't think any of the rats came with our ancestors."
"That's not what I mean," Kayla said. "She didn't seem to like you at all."
"Don't worry about that," Sheena said, waving aside that fact. "Just watch her carefully. She's more likely to hurt herself than me."
"What's wrong with her?" Kayla asked. "She should have been healed by now."
"She's sad," Sheena said.
"Just sad?" Kayla didn't seem to understand. Sheena directed her to a table and told her to sit.
"Broken is a better term," Sheena said.
"And how does that affect her healing rate?" Kayla asked. She was Sheena's youngest apprentices, speaking in terms of maturity and seniority rather than straight years. She was, after all, an elf.
"You The soul has a hand in healing the body of all things," Sheena explained, the young elf-woman nodded. "And when the soul is strong, and the will to live vigorous, then healing takes place quickly. When the soul is tired and the will to live is gone. Healing slows down, health can even decrease if the patient isn't taken care of. For a werefolk, that depends so much on a magical soul for healing...."
"Oh," Kayla said, quietly looking to the room. "I think I understand."
Lydia woke up to the sound of people running about and shouting for attention and help. She had been there a week since she had woken up, and hadn't recovered much. Enough to virtually drag herself to the chamber pot and back, and she didn't want help. When she needed to that is, and she hadn't been eating much of late. In fact she had mostly been sleeping.
They knew her name now. They had learned it from the silver dagger Lord Gothwrain had given her. This had come up when the Edge Guard had come to talk to her, a slender fox looking fellow. Since then they had been tormenting her by acting nice. They all knew she was a prisoner, yet they refused to treat her like one. As if she were an idiot of some kind.
Then again, she was an idiot. She was an idiot that had gotten her team and her friends killed, and herself captured. She settled back into the bed, trying to ignore the loud sounds outside, sleep was most of what she had been doing recently. Letting go of the waking world and just slipping deeper and deeper into sleep.
She was dead to the world by the time they put someone in the second bed in her room.
"YOU do not set foot on these premises," Sheena snapped, pointing an accusing finger toward one of the approaching werecats. The five stopped and paused, three of them turning toward the weretiger of the group.
"Oh, you recognize me," Tirga said nervously.
"I don't have time for slame like you," Sheena snapped angrily, drawing surprised looks from her apprentices as well. Tirga shrugged and backed away without so much as a protest, a surprise to all involved. "I suppose you were all helping stop the forest fire?"
"Yeah," one of them said. The werepanther and werelion were supporting him between the two of them. "It was great! We stopped the fire and saved a whole bunch of people." The speaker was a thoroughly charred, if cheerful mass of flesh with perky ears.
"You got a little burned yourself," Sheena noted sharply. "What were you before the conflagration?"
"Oh I'm a werecheetah," the burned mass said. "And I'll be fine, but they all think I should come to the healers."
"We thought it was a good idea to bring him to a healer," Sheila said. "We think the fire had a magical origin."
"Well, I don't think it'll be a problem," Sheena said. "Otherwise he'd probably be dead already, but I'll watch him for the night."
"Uh...mistress," Kayla said. "We only have one room left with open beds." Sheena glanced at her a moment and then a look of comprehension dawned on her face.
"It can't be helped," she said. "Maybe the company will do her good anyway."
"Is something wrong?" Onoli asked. "We can go to another healers if you don't have the room." Thropan gave Onoli I curious glance, as if to say "are you out of your gord?" Raphiel was friendly and nice and all, but he tended to get to be a lot very quickly.
"Just a long time patient we usually keep to herself," Sheena said. "But there is another room, and she needs company."
"Who is that?" Thropan asked. "Because she isn't just getting company with Raphiel."
"Bring him in, bring him in," Sheenan interrupted. "I'll talk after we get him in a nice comfortable bed. Kayla, show them the way." The woman nodded and directed Onoli and Thropan to follow her with the fried werecheetah.
"So this is like a hospital right?" Raphiel asked as he carried to bed. "Cool."
"By the way," Sheila asked, after a long moment. "What did Tirga do to you? No offense, but you seem a little older for his tastes."
"None taken, child," the woman growled. "All I will say on the matter is that he mishandled my daughter."
"Ahh," Sheila said. "I see." Then Onoli and Thropan were on their way back with thoughtful expressions.
"You know who's back there?" Thropan asked Sheila. When she shook her head he continued. "It's that wererat that appeared out of nowhere fighting a dragon."
Sheila whispered appreciatively.
"I'll have to talk to her later," she decided. "Maybe she'll have some tricks I can use with this body." She indicated her tiny jagwere body.
"If you can get her to talk," Sheena said as she shrugged. "And I find she clams up more around werecats like myself and the rest of you."
"Well, I'll come to see Raphiel anyway," Sheila decided and turened away.
Lydia blinked awake again and pushed herself to a seated position as usual so that she could have a good view of her lap. She immediately noticed that she wasn't a lone in the room anymore. What made her aware of her new roommates existence was terribly easy to pinpoint.
"Hey," Raphiel waved to her. "I was fighting the fires last night. Cool, huh?
Lydia froze. They'd stuck her in a room with a werecheetah. A werecheetah of all things.
"Whatever," the rat mumbled nervously. Wait if we bring Gothwrain the head of a werecheetah, he'll no that we're... Lydia's shoulders slumped as her thought was interrupted. He'll know that I'm capable of doing the job.
"Are you okay?" Raphiel asked, concerned, standing up and limping towards her bed to check on her. Lydia grumbled a noncommittal grunt and stared nervously at the wererat. "I know. You need something to eat." He zipped out of the room.
"Hey, come back here with that!!" Lydia heard one of the apprentices yell, and then Raphiel was at her bed with a tray of food and set it down in front of Lydia. Then the werecat sat AT her bed and proceeded to munch and talk to Lydia. It wasn't long, comparatively, before Lydia reacted.
"Would you please shut the @#$^ up!" she shouted. Raphiel blinked and watched as the wererat threw herself under the blackets, staying there.
"You CAN talk!" Raphiel said finally. "Cool, you know, I've never met a wererat before....." Lydia growled under her blankets and started planning ways to kill the pest.