Embris snorted. "Right. Sounds made up to me," she said. "Almost like you're trying to just put sounds together to see what works."
"Believe what you will," Ralph answered. "I'm sure my friends and I will move on soon enough anyway. Just would be nice if they could learn the local language so I wouldn't have to be the translator around here."
"Uh uh," Embris remarked. "Then if you're really not from around here, what made you come to here anyway?"
"Well, my friend Charlie dropped a crystal that's important. We came here to find it. We're quite sure that the crystal is somewhere on this world, we just have to locate where the griffin canyon it fell in," Ralph answered, not caring to try and hide anything. It wasn't like any of his friends would be able to complain anyway.
"What kind of crystal is it?" Embirs asked, her tone indicating she was merely humoring him. "And griffin canyon? Where would that be?"
"Well, we're not sure where the griffin canyon is, we first plan on working on searching around for it, though we're not sure where to start," Ralph answered. "Oh, and the crystal contains the memories of a unicorn. That's what helped us learn to use magic in the first place."
"Oh, you can use magic now, huh?" Embris asked dryly. "Why not use it to do something interesting?"
"I would if I had my focus with me," Ralph answered.
"Really?" Embris asked, her voice dripping with sweetness. "Around here people can only use magic when they say the correct phrases to make it work."
"Yeah, the unicorn's memories made it cleat that doing that was an option, but my friends and I decided to come up with something other than words as our focus."
"Oh, yeah, you mention a unicorn already. You really believe those're real?" she asked.
"If I hadn't seen the unicorn myself, I wouldn't have," Ralph answered calmly.
"Yeah, good story," Embris said. "Not sure how you plan on proving it."
"Well, I'll just have to wait for my friends to bring my focus here," Ralph said calmly. "I'm sure they'll bring it eventually. Even if I have to have them go back to their campsite to get it when they bring the mushrooms."
"I see," Embris said. "How long until they do that?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Ralph said. "The didn't specify a time when they expected to be done, so I can't say when they'll be here."
"Sounds like an excuse to me," Embris replied.
"I can at least do some small magics, but anything more than that without my focus and I'll be worn out in no time," Ralph answered.
"Like what?" Embris demanded. "It better be better than a coin trick or something."
"I'm sure I can come up with a coin trick if you rally want," Ralph answered. "Though, for you to see the trick, you'd have to see me directly, otherwise you'd have to take your sibling's word about it. So, if you want, I'll come outside where you can see me or I'll do it inside here and you can hear what your brothers and sisters think of it."
"Wow, what trick will it be?" Embris drawled. Let me guess, you'll make something disappear, right? Or will it come out of nowhere?"
"Alright, I'll come outside," Ralph merely said. "If you're afraid of being seen around someone quarantined or whatever, you should probably back up now. Or you'll find yourself right next to me."
Embris didn't say anything, though Ralph did hear her moving away. Which was good enough for Ralph. He made his way to the door and opened it before stepping outside.
Then, he left the door open so the kids he'd been babysitting could see what he was doing as well. He looked around and saw a girl with bright purple hair and honey colored eyes wearing a dark tunic, that was almost black, with leggings that had the same circle patterns as the kids he was looking after currently. He assumed she was Embris, but wasn't going to talk to her. At least not yet.
"Ready?" he called out to no one in particular. Then before anyone could answer, he pulled on his magic and let himself float about three feet off the ground.
He heard gasps and sounds of awe and wonder from the kids in the house, though the girl that he'd seen just looked at him, looking like she was rather stunned.
"You're really a show off, aren't you, Ralph?" Amelia called out to him as she walked into view at that moment.
"I was just demonstrating that I did have magic for Embris," Ralph said.
"And who's 'Embris?'" Amelia asked, dryly.
"Cinder's older sister," Ralph said. "She's not in quarantine, so you didn't meet her yet."
"Like that explains it," Wes called out. "After all, we're in sync with you so much that we think the same thoughts. Almost like a Dalek."
Ralph allowed himself to return ot the ground and as he looked towards where Embris had been, he noticed she was gone. He had a feeling that the sudden appearance of his friends had scared her off. For at least the time being anyway.
"Well, I was able to get everyone's names out of their father," Ralph said.
"Then why not hurry up and introduce them to us," Amelia retorted. "Otherwise we can only assume that you're just either showing off or making stuff up again."
"You have what you need for another treatment session, right?" Ralph asked.
"Yeah, so what?" Amelia asked. "It's still going to take a while to heat the water."
"Well, I was wondering if you guys minded if I went back to the others for a short period to get my focus," Ralph inquired. "I was getting rather bored here without it."
Amelia paused before turning to Wes. "Wes, would you go get Ralph's focus from his pack?" she asked sweetly.
"Why me?" Wes complained. "I didn't even want to come this time, but you guys said that I was already a familiar face and should go anyway."
"Well, because I need Ralph to translate for me," Amelia replied. "Besides, it's not like it'll take that long. I'm sure by the time you get back, I'll be about ready to kick both you and Ralph out so I can start the next round of treatment on my patients."
Wes sighed. "Fine, but you guys both owe me for this," Wes informed them.
"Got it Wes, I'll be sure to get you something you'll like," Ralph said. "If only for a few minutes at least."
"Ha ha, Ralph," Wes said as he started walking back the way he'd come.
"So, do they have some water ready for me to put on to boil?" Amelia asked.
When the sun rose the next day, Ralph wasn't as annoyed to still be in the house as he had thought he would be. Somehow the children had started to grow on him. Kind of like the mushrooms they'd been foraging in the forest recently.
After Amelia gave the family that lived in the house another treatment, which seemed to get the rest of the spots on the children, as well as getting their father to be moving around on his own again, Amelia declared that they were fully recovered, but still needed to take it easy for the next few days.
Knowing the younger children, Ralph was sure their idea of 'taking it easy' was a lot different from Amelia's. Especially with how hyper they probably were from just being cooped up in that house for so long, even if it was something that was necessary and that they couldn't fight against because they were to worn out with their bodies fighting the disease.
"So, what'd you do while we were away?" Amelia asked as Ralph reentered the house. "You never did tell us."
Ralph sighed. "Nothing much. I just went with Beth's suggestion about telling them a story," he said, hoping they didn't ask for details. Mostly because he was already regretting his choice of what to make into a story for these kids. He didn't care to have it analyzed by his friends. He was sure they'd find plenty to poke fun at and as for explanations as to why he took a certain direction or used a varying idea.
Fortunately, he didn't have to deal with that. Though, as he sat at the table again, where he'd taken his impromtu nap the day before, he couldn't help but wonder if Embris was close by or not. He hadn't seen her since Amelia and Wes had gotten back, but there was something about that girl that caught his interest, more than anything else he'd encountered so far since leaving their world.
Maybe it was how she had gotten under his skin as quickly as his teachers in school had, but he didn't think that was it. He somehow sensed something in her that he couldn't quite place that made him think of himself. It definitely wouldn't be quite the same as it was for him, but it was there. Not that he could really explain it, even to himself.
"Ralph, play us another song!" Cinder and his siblings started clamoring next to him, almost like they'd just appeared out of thing air.
Ralph couldn't help but sigh. Maybe using his magic to play 'Falling for the First Time' had been a mistake too, but he had promised Edraeas that he'd at least play the song for him. As such, his children were able to listen to it as well. At which point they wanted another, even though Ralph got the feeling that they really weren't as interested in the song as he was himself. More like they were wrapped up in the novelty of different kind of music than they probably had heard before.
"Alright," Ralph said. He wanted to continue saying no, but something in him wasn't interested in getting them to leave him alone for some reason. He couldn't say exactly why he was giving in to them, just that it didn't seem to bother him as much as it likely would have the day before.
He couldn't help but to wonder, again, if they were starting to grow on him. Like the mushrooms his friends had been picking. Though, as his gaze fell on one of the red speckled mushrooms that were sitting on the table, having fallen out of the bag they'd been in, he couldn't help but recall something that he remembered Cinder mentioning about them.
"Uh, Cinder?" Ralph asked.
"Yeah?"
"You said something about those red mushrooms only being available in the winter, right?" he said, not letting his gaze move from the mushroom.
"Yeah, that's the only time of year we can find them," Cinder answered.
"So, you're telling me that its winter now, right?"
"Huh? Yeah, why do you ask?"
Ralph sighed. He felt like he should have realized this sooner, but he couldn't get upset about this, since it was rather easy to have missed. Especially with how it certainly didn't look like it was winter outside. Even if this was a subtropical area.
"Well, why are the leaves still on the trees then?" Ralph asked. "Where I'm from, trees like the ones you have outside tend to shed their leaves in winter. Even if it doesn't snow."
"What's snow?" Cinder asked, completely confused.
"I'll see what I can do to show you what it is," Ralph promised. "It's not something you can just explain." He paused for a moment before taking a deep breath. "But you didn't answer my question. Why are the leaves still on the trees?"
Cinder looked away, looking almost guilty for some reason. "It's just the way it is this close to the forest of the Lost," Cinder said quietly. "No one knows why, but hardly anyone ever comes this close to it if they don't have to travel through it. My mother built our house here because of that, I think."
Ralph nodded, not wanting to push the matter. While he really didn't know any thing about these 'Lost,' he did get the sense that they probably were magical in nature. As such, he couldn't say that it would be that surprising for them to be able to manipulate how the plants react to the seasons.
He wished he could ask other questions, but he knew that it wasn't likely that anyone here would have an answer to them. Such as what latitude they were at, where he might be able to find an atlas of this world, or even what the weather forecast for the next few days was supposed to be.
He had the sense that this world was living in the dark ages, which meant that there wasn't going to be many of the luxuries he was used to. Especially when it came to figuring out where they were on this world in relation to where they were trying to get to.
While he knew that things were going to go at their own pace here, he couldn't help but wish there was some way that he could move at least a few things along. Not that he really expected that much. He just knew that this was likely going to take a while. Probably a lot longer than he'd first assumed it would take after they got to this world.
The following week, the rest of his friends was introduced to Cinder's family. They'd removed the orange from around the house, to make it clear that the quarantine was lifted, although given what Ralph understood of the perception of the disease, he doubted others that lived in the area wouldn't be as trusting that it was dealt with.
Though, according to Cinder, the fact that they were still alive after another week, that others would at least consider that they'd somehow survived it. As they were nearly at the end of the period that people normally lasted with it when Ralph and his friends showed up.
Ralph wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he just let it go. It wasn't like he knew what to say most of the time anyway. Mostly he just said whatever came off the top of his head, not caring how others took what he said. Yet here, he was certain that whatever was said needed to be said in just the right way, otherwise it could easily make things more difficult for them. Especially since they didn't exactly have many options of where to stay at the moment.
The morning after his friends came over to the house, Embris stopped by. Though, Ralph couldn't help but wonder if Beth and her had some kind of run in, with how Beth reacted to her sudden appearance. Though, given how Embris had reacted to Ralph, he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.
While it took a bit of talking, eventually they were able to resolve the issue. Ralph and his friends were allowed to camp around the house, but Embris made it clear that they weren't to sleep inside the house. Ralph wasn't sure what she meant by 'woman of the house' but it was clear that she meant herself when she said it.
What Ralph hoped most was that they'd be able to get a common language between all of them, so he wouldn't get caught in the middle of awkward situations like this, where Beth needed him to relay what she said to Embris and vice versa. While he wasn't that enthused about it, it still seemed to be something he didn't really have much of a choice in. Especially with how his friends looked at him about the matter.
One thing that helped win Embris over to letting them stay was not only some of the songs that Ralph was able to play for them. Hannah's playing the electric keyboard that she'd gotten Heathcliff to pack for her also seemed to interest Embris and her family.
While Ralph didn't care to act as the translator at any particular moment, he had to admit; it did give him something to do. Otherwise he was sure that he'd be just bored and probably would get into trouble just from that fact. One way or another. It was just one of those things that he knew would probably happen. Yet, being the interpreter seemed to have given him something that helped alleviate the boredom somehow.
Still, with a stable base camp set up, it looked like they were well on their way to figuring out how to go about searching for the griffin canyon. At least once they were able to all learn the local language. It certainly would help them by allowing them to not rely on Ralph completely for their communications with the locals. Which Ralph hoped would happen sooner rather than later.