"Then why would Cinder be coming out at this time?" the older girl asked. "Didn't his step-father want to keep him from being seen by the princess?"
"Well, Cinder's step-father had thought that it would take longer than it did for Cinder," Ralph said. "Cinder was just so used to it that it didn't take him that long to get it taken care of."
Ralph waited a minute for his audience to react. It wasn't that he thought they wouldn't agree with his reasoning, it was more that he worried that they might have more questions and he'd rather deal with those now rather than letting them interrupt the story again. He was starting to regret picking one that was so long. Maybe he should have picked the Three Little Pigs instead?
When they stayed quiet and just waited for him to continue, Ralph let out a small sigh. He was happy that they were done, at least for the moment, with their questions. He hadn't realized how draining telling children a story could be. Especially when he just wanted to get it over with as fast as possible.
"Okay, so as Cinder comes out with the laundry, the princess is surprised to see another person there when the step-father had assured her that there weren't any aside from his two sons. Not that she was especially surprised with him doing that after what she'd gone through with one of his sons having cut off his heel while the other one had cut off his big toe. She also didn't recognize Cinder, although Cinder certainly recognized the princess." Ralph paused as his audience giggled, though it was more the younger ones rather than the oldest two. "So, she immediately turned around and presented the slipper to Cinder who wasn't sure what to do. He didn't really know what was going on because his wicked step-father hadn't told him anything. In the end, the princess had to tell Cinder to lift up a foot so she could see if the slipper would fit on it.
"When the princess saw that it fit perfectly, she was ecstatic and immediately ordered her guards to assist Cinder in packing his things so he could move to the palace. When he was established there, it wasn't long before the two were married and they lived happily ever after," Ralph finished, leaving out his extra thought of 'until they had kids or had a fight' because he doubted it would go over as well with this audience.
He also knew he'd rushed the end a little, but he didn't care. He doubted his audience would really notice and he just wanted it to be over. Especially with all the interruptions he'd been getting, which just made the torture for him take that much longer.
When he finished the story, his audience was quiet for a few minutes before the younger two started cheering, "Yaaay!"
Ralph looked around. He doubted that the story had taken that long, but he hoped that it would keep them content for a while. However, as he started to get up, they immediately began clamoring for another story.
While Ralph might have been interested, just to see how they might react to the storyline of an anime that came to mind, he really didn't feel like it at that time. Especially since he had thought of trying to use some magic, and realized he'd left his focus in his pack that was with the others.
Though, he did wonder if having them take a nap would be something that he could do. Not that he was fully confident that they would sleep. If nothing else, it might help him get some peace and quiet. Which he wasn't sure how much he might be able to get in the near future, until his friends were able to learn the local language.
"How about you take a nap and after we'll see what I can come up with, alright?" Ralph suggested.
The crestfallen looks on the two younger children were what Ralph expected, as well as the indignant looks on the older two.
"But we're not tired!" the younger boy whined.
"Yeah!" the younger girl agreed.
"I'm too old for naps," Cinder complained.
"Naps are for little kids!" the older girl said.
"Look, I understand you might not be tired or feel like you need a nap," Ralph said, feeling like he was stepping in the role he'd seen his mother take when Ralph or any of his siblings had been sick and were on the mend. "But you're still recovering from being sick. Plus, you're never too old for naps. You don't always realize just how tired you might be. Now, if you can't fall asleep, then just lay there and be quiet. You can talk with each other quietly, but so long as its quiet. Cinder especially needs rest because while the rest of you were really sick, he was taking care of you. So, all of you will take a nap, or lay there quietly, but you will be doing that."
Ralph wasn't sure what reaction to expect, but he felt relief when they started to quietly shuffle their way to their pallet. Then as they laid on the straw, Ralph walked over to the fireplace and sat on the ground, letting out a sigh.
"That was a very interesting story," a voice said quietly, startling Ralph.
He looked around quickly, and saw the father looking at him, smiling. Ralph calmed down when he saw that it was just the father who had spoken to him. While he wasn't exactly happy about being startled like that, he should have been aware the man was awake.
"I just modified one that was from where I came from," Ralph merely answered.
"Still, it was different. I can't say I've heard that one before myself," the man replied. He had bright purple hair that was just as tangles as his children's hair, and eyes that almost looked like liquid honey.
Ralph shrugged. "By the way, what're your names?" he asked after a moment. "I asked them, but the acted like they didn't have any idea what I said."
The man merely chuckled. "That's probably from their older sister, Embris. She can be quite protective of her brothers and sisters. I wouldn't be surprised if she told them not to tell anyone they don't know what their names are," he said.
"So, what're their names?" Ralph repeated.
"Ah, yes. Well, my oldest son, as he blurted out is Cinder, my next oldest is Feon, though she can be like her sister at times, she's not usually as aggressive, my other son is Rephis then my next daughter is Nymis, and my last daughter is Lyshean," he answered.
"Uh, and what's your name?" Ralph asked, feeling a little hesitant, as he wondered if maybe it was something the culture this family is from prohibited it.
"Oh, my apologies. My name is Edraeas," he quickly answered.
Ralph sighed. He wasn't really surprised that the names were just so… foreign to him. He wanted to say weird, but he was pretty sure that his and his friend's names were probably weird to this family. Not that he would complain.
"By the way, I've never heard that statement before. About how anything plain can be lovely," Edraeas said.
"Ah," Ralph said, nodding. "That's actually part of a song I've heard."
"What's the song?"
"Well, it's I believe Falling for the First Time by Barenaked Ladies," Ralph answered.
"Uh, I'm not sure what you mean by that, but it brings to mind something about my wife," Edraeas commented.
"What's that?" Ralph asked.
"She bought me a necklace years ago and I mentioned about how plain it was. She insisted that it would make me look prettier, so I wore it and others thought it did make me look prettier."
Ralph was stunned. He felt awkward from how weird the sentence was. Maybe if Edraeas was gay it wouldn't feel as weird, but since he was straight, and not trans, it just felt weird. Yet, he also felt rather awkward for saying anything about it since it was clearly his culture that was that way and didn't want to be offensive when it came to something like that. Especially since he couldn't be sure what their reaction would be like.
"Would you sing the song?" Edraeas asked after both were quiet for a few minutes.
Ralph sighed. "I'd play the song for you, but I'd do better with my magic, and my friends have my focus, so I'll do that for you and your kids later," Ralph answered, partly to end the conversation before it got worse for him.
"Alright. I'll wait until later," the man said, nodding.
Suddenly Ralph wanted to get away from the man. There wasn't anything he disliked about him, it was just that he needed to be by himself. Or as much as it was possible at the moment.
So, he walked over to the table this family had, which wasn't that big by his standards, but this family seemed to like it well enough. He sat in one of the chairs around it and put his head on the table, using his arm as a pillow.
He was suddenly feeling drained and wished that he had something to eat. Even a small cereal bar would be good. He'd even settle for a small bag of peanuts. Though, he didn't expect any of that to appear, he knew it was wishful thinking, but his empty stomach apparently was getting tired with what he'd been able to have since he started on this expedition.
He couldn't say what he could do about it, but it wasn't like he couldn't find substitutes for some of it. Though, what could happen down the road didn't really fill his stomach at the moment. Ralph closed his eyes as he tried to visualize a bowl of ice cream with vanilla, rocky road, strawberry, and butter pecan flavors coated with caramel and hot fudge.
While he knew he couldn't have anything like this, that didn't mean he couldn't fantasize about it. His stomach didn't mind, but it still made sure he knew periodically that it still was empty. Though, until his friends got back, he did't expect that they'd have anything that he could at least snack on.
_
Beth sighed as she put another mushroom in the bag. She wasn't really sure what the fuss about getting these red speckled mushroom was, but it at least was something that looked like it could be useful, if the intel was right about them.
Though, at the same time, Beth wasn't complaining since Amelia needed to get some more mushrooms in case the family they helped needed another round. They couldn't say what to expect, since when they'd used the mushroom topical on themselves, it worked so well that they were free from all the effects of it within hours while the family that Ralph was currently keeping an eye on were still recovering from the disease, even though they'd gotten the topical almost a day ago.
Hannah had volunteered to look after their campsite, to make sure that nothing happened to it as well as to call out a warning to them if someone was approaching it. Especially since they wanted to be sure that the family they'd encountered wasn't just a fluke. One that was desperate enough to accept help from people that they might otherwise try to trick or hurt in some way.
Beth had a feeling that wasn't the case, but Tim wasn't so easy to convince and Beth didn't have much to argue with. Especially considering the conversation Ralph had overheard on the morning that Charlie had left them.
When she finished picking all the mushrooms immediately around her, she looked around and couldn't find any others. She was about to get up to look for more in another spot when she felt a blade touch her neck lightly. She slowly held her hands up to indicate her surrender, not sure what else she could do.
–Uh, guys?– she called out with her magic. –I think I might have a bit of a problem here.–
A voice said something to her and she had no idea what. It sounded young, but also like it was starting to deepen. She stayed where she was, hoping she had been told to do just that, but when the voice spoke again and sounded annoyed, Beth had to acknowledge that her assumption probably hadn't been correct.
"Look, I have no idea what you're saying," Beth said out loud, while what she said to her friends was a little more desperate and not as full of confidence as she'd have liked. –Please hurry.–
The blade didn't leave her neck, but she could tell that whoever was holding it was moving around her. Beth didn't resist, largely because she was still trying to figure out what she could do and couldn't without whoever this person was had the blade bite into her neck, where she might not be able to survive long enough to figure out how to stop the bleeding from one of her arteries, like she'd seen in a few movies.
The person didn't say anything more, but when they came around, Beth saw that it was a girl around her own age, maybe a little younger. Which surprised Beth a little, given she wouldn't have expected her voice to be so deep. She had hair that was a bright purple, almost like it was made from an amethyst stone itself and cut rather short, her eyes were a clear honey color, and was wearing a hooded tunic that was so dark to be almost black and matching leggings that looked like they had seen a good amount of wear. Beth also couldn't help but notice the patterned circles around the edges of the sleeves, the end of the leggings, and around the hood's edge and neckline.
Beth stayed still, unsure what this girl wanted, but not willing to try anything directly. She probably could use her magic without this girl realizing it, but she didn't want to take that risk. Yet, she recognized that she needed to do something or she might end up in a position she'd rather not at the moment.
A growling sound could be heard, which startled the girl and Beth could feel the blade leave her neck by a fraction of an inch as the girl looked to see Flare growling at her. Beth quickly used the focus she had on her wrist to help channel her magic as she pulled on it to create a small shield around her neck. Providing at least some protection on it.
Then as Beth looked at Flare, she was startled to see Flare's eyes glowing orange, and brightening. There seemed to be a change going on that Beth wasn't sure would be healthy for anyone at that moment. Especially Flare.
"Flare!" Beth snapped, startling the hellhound. "Come here." Beth moved her eyes to indicate where she wanted Flare to go, but since Flare was still a puppy, all she did was stop whatever change had been happening, including her glowing eyes. Though, she still growled softly, and Beth was pretty sure she was glaring at the girl whose knife went back to Beth's throat. Although, with her magical protection around her neck, she wasn't as worried about it hurting her.
The girl said something else again and Beth could only speculate what she was trying to say. Beth sighed, wondering if she should have insisted that Ralph accompany them, but Amelia insisted that they needed someone to stay with that family and since Ralph was the only one who could talk to them and be understood, that it had to be him.
When the girl said something else, this time sounding rather frustrated, Beth had enough. She used her magic to gently push the girl away from her before she stood up herself and picked up the bags she'd been putting the mushrooms in. She could hear her friends heading towards her at what sounded like a run, but she couldn't be sure.
–Never mind, guys.– Beth said with her magic. –I got this handled.–