Hesha couldn't believe she was doing this. Her sister had finally worn her down to search for what her mother had hidden up in the thatch while her sister supposedly was sleeping, which also meant that Hesha had to get help from someone. She wasn't really happy about that last part.
She hadn't gotten one of the adults whom she was certain would be more annoyed than anything else at her even asking them, let alone having them actually help. Which would be a typical reactions under normal circumstances, so she didn't let that bother her.
Instead, she'd been able to convince Ralph to help her. She wasn't sure what he'd be able to do, but she could see how he was looking rather desperate to get away from the other children when he finished the story.
Whatever that story was, it was certainly interesting enough to have been thoroughly enjoyed by his listeners. Yet, while it made it easy for her to get him to agree to help her, it still made her wish that she could have heard the story herself.
"So, where is it in the… uh, thatch?" Ralph asked, sounding a little confused.
Hesha shrugged. "I don't know," she freely admitted. "My sister only told me about it and insisted that I go get it while she went to sleep."
Ralph sighed. "Yeah, a nap right about now certainly sounds nice," he said, so quietly she almost couldn't hear him.
She wasn't sure how to respond to that statement, so she just acted like she hadn't heard him. Instead, she merely held the ladder her had climbed to look through the thatch on her house, starting by the door to the house.
They'd already moved the ladder that Ralph had borrowed from those who had been collecting supplies from everywhere in the village, as pooling everyone's resources was what had been agreed to before she'd woken up that morning.
While there hadn't been any objections from them borrowing the ladder, Hesha couldn't help but feel the time they would be allowed to have the ladder wasn't going to be long, yet at the same time, she couldn't think of how long it'd be before they would be required to return the ladder.
Her experiences about things like that hadn't generally been on the positive side, so she didn't expect this to be any different in regards to how the adults treated her.
Hesha was pulled out of her thoughts as Ralph started climbing down the ladder again, forcing her to move to the side as he reached the bottom of it.
"Another bust," Ralph said casually as he moved the ladder over a little before starting to climb it again.
"Maybe this time it'll be there," Hesha said, trying to encourage him to keep looking. They were already about halfway done searching, but she could tell that Ralph's interest was quickly fading. So, eventually they had to come across it.
At the moment, they'd reached where her parent's bed of straw had been before it had joined the pooled resources, though she wasn't sure if this would be as likely as any of the other places they'd searched already.
Hesha was starting to expect Ralph to start coming down the ladder in order for them to move it again, when he suddenly spoke.
"Got something," he said, sounding like he was more commenting rather than informing her. "I think it's a kind of box…"
She waited for him to finish what he was going to say, since he sounded like he was going to say more, but after a couple minutes, she lost her patience.
"Well, it should be that then," she said, wondering if they should continue searching anyway even though she was getting tired of dealing with this twig. "Bring it down and I'll see if my sister can tell me if it's what my mother mentioned."
Ralph sighed, which for some reason annoyed Hesha. "Good enough for me," Ralph said as he started to descend the ladder.
Despite her annoyance, which she attributed more to how long she'd been away from her sister, she couldn't help but wonder what would be in the box. So, when Ralph reached the bottom of the ladder, Hesha could see the box in his hand and reached out to take it from him.
"Not so fast," Ralph protested. "I haven't seen what's inside it."
"You don't need to see it," Hesha retorted. "It's not yours anyway. I only asked you to help me get it."
"How can you be sure that's what you're looking for if you don't look inside it?" Ralph asked.
"Because my sister would be the one who would know," Hesha insisted, a slight doubt appearing in the back of her mind about if her sister really would know what it was. "I only know about this because of my sister, but she wouldn't tell me what it is."
Ralph sighed, this time sounding like he was giving up on the issue, which Hesha was satisfied with. Though, she hoped that she wouldn't' have to deal much with him after this.
She couldn't say why, but there was something about him that just annoyed her to no end about him. Yet at the same time, she couldn't help but feel drawn to him.
Not that she had any idea why she'd feel that way about this twig.
_
Beth couldn't say how long it was that she had to lay where her friends had put her when they brought her to where all the survivors of the attack had been gathering.
She couldn't move herself, aside from barely lifting her arms just enough that she could slide them on top of herself. Not that she could do that holding anything. She could tell that her body wouldn't cooperate if she tried.
How long will I be suck like this? Beth couldn't help but ask herself.
She'd been put on the ground, with something to use as a pillow, though it wasn't as nice as the pillows she was used to from Earth. Yet, it was still better than nothing. She'd also been given a blanket, even though it really didn't feel cold enough that she'd really need it, but she couldn't help but deny that it at least made her feel a little better. If only on an emotional level.
While she was annoyed with her current situation, she still was glad that she could at least move her head. If only to change the scenery of what she was looking at. Which gave her at least something she could do to keep from getting so bored.
She was glad that she wasn't in the position where she'd essentially be in a full-body cast. She could only imagine how boring it would be to only be able to stare upwards while she waited for her body to recover.
Even the thought that this would just take a few days didn't sit well with her. She'd very much prefer to be moving around now.
"So, think we should try to see if we can get room service here?" Hannah asked, her voice coming from 'above' Beth's head.
Or at least from Beth's perspective, it was 'up,' given how she was laying down and couldn't turn to the left or right in order to see Hannah and in front of her was the sky.
"If you manage it, order me a full body massage. It might help me recover faster," Beth replied, not caring if Hannah was trying to talk to her or not. She just needed something to take her mind off not being able to move.
"Yeah, I think they might be short on people for that," Hannah remarked.
"Okay, how about some of the water Petals had Charlie drink that time when Amelia said that Charlie's magic felt 'tired' after we had her assemble us in our dreams so we could see what that was like."
"Damn," Hannah said, like she really was upset. "I think they're fresh out of that."
"Well, when's the next order going to arrive?" Beth asked, starting to feel the urge to just start giggling.
"Probably a few weeks after we leave, whenever that'll be," Hannah said. "Though, unless you can heal me, or if Amelia will be able to do that herself, I'm not sure we'll be leaving for at least a month."
"Really?" Beth asked, trying to sound like she was serious. "You mean we shouldn't just leave you here to fend for yourself?"
"Ha ha," Hannah said dryly, eliciting the giggles that Beth had felt building up inside her. Hannah then sighed before she continued, "Look, I can't even walk over to sit next to you. So, of course it'll take me a while to heal. Though, I doubt it'll be as quickly as a month, unless you'll recover your ability to use your magic in that period of time."
"Well, it's not like we have anything to essentially recharge my magic," Beth said offhandedly.
"Wait, what'd you just say?" Hannah said, interrupting Beth's thought.
"Uh, about recharging my magic?" she asked, not sure what Hannah's reason for asking that.
"Yeah, that gives me an idea," Hannah said.
"Well, hop to it then," Beth replied dryly. "I hope its okay if I just wait here."
"Come on Beth," Hannah scolded. "I'm serious."
Beth sighed. "Then just tell me the idea. No sense in leaving me in suspense when I have nothing I can do, other than lay here."
Hannah took a deep breath and let it out, sounding like she was trying to muster up some patience in Beth's opinion. Not that she really cared. She felt like she was running out of patience herself. Though, at least Hannah was able to move around a bit more.
"Well, the idea is about the stones that we found in the last world we were in before this one," Hannah replied. "If you touch one of those, maybe that'll give you some of your strength back and you'll be able to move a little more."
Beth was stunned. She had completely forgotten about those stones. Although, they also hadn't had much time to experiment with them, but this certainly seemed like a good time to see how effective they'd be in treating them if they overused their magic.
If nothing else, it would be good to know if it was something that they'd be able to help with this. Even though Beth really didn't plan on ever ending up in this position again. Ever.
"You got one on hand or should we see if Wes or Tim is available?" Beth asked.
"Why not see if Ralph's around?"
"Because he went to help Hesha with something or other," Beth replied. "So, until they get back, he's not going to be around."
Hannah sighed. "Well, if that's the case, then do you know where Tim or Wes are?"
Beth shook her head. "Not really. Last I saw either of them was about the time that they pulled Ralph into telling his variation of Cinderella," Beth answered, then paused as she started to laugh. "Who would've thought the changes Ralph put in it would have made it so popular here."
Hannah laughed too. "Yeah, I certainly wouldn't have expected that."
Beth closed her eyes as she thought about how excited all the children were to have heard that story. Almost like they were starved for that kind of entertainment, even though she was aware of at least a few of the stories that they had on this world. Not that she had really listened to any of them so far.
"Well, I'm gonna try to take a nap in the meantime," Beth said, hoping that she would succeed in that. If nothing else, it would make time pass a little more quickly.
At least from her perspective.
"Alright," Hannah said. "I'll just have them put the rocks on top of you while you sleep."
"Don't do that," Beth complained. "Just wake me up before that. I'd like to be able to tell you guys if I feel anything from those rocks when I touch them while I'm like this."
"Alright," Hannah replied. "Though, you said you were going to sleep, so why're you still talking?"
Beth couldn't do much more than sigh. She knew Hannah was just messing around, but at the same time, it was a little annoying.
While she really felt like telling Hannah off for that, she knew that if she did that, she'd only keep herself from going to sleep. Even if it was only for a short period.
Yet, whether it was from that exchange or if it was due to something else, she couldn't help but feel less and less sleepy as she lay there with her eyes closed.
She could hear Hannah either talking to herself or talking to someone else. If it was someone else, then Beth wasn't able to hear any response, but she wasn't going to ask Hannah if she was actually talking to someone else or not. She suspected it was Hannah's way of trying to make Beth ask her who she was talking to, but she didn't plan on saying anything and getting Hannah to use her as entertainment in this place.
When Hannah finally quieted down, Beth took a deep breath and tried to relax. While she was still encountering pretty much the same problem as before, she forced herself to lay there as if she had already fallen asleep. She had a feeling Hannah was watching her, even though she couldn't be sure.
Yet, almost as soon as she thought that, another thought came to her mind: Flare. She hadn't seen her hellhound puppy for a while. She wasn't sure if that meant Flare was off with maybe Cinder or one of his siblings, but she hadn't heard any outcry of anything, so she was fairly certain that Flare was doing alright.
Not that thinking about Flare was helping her get to sleep.
In fact, she was starting to get the feeling that she wasn't going to fall asleep at any point this afternoon. She had a feeling that her body wasn't as interested in sleeping as she was. Much to her aggravation.
She had half a mind to try and start talking with Hannah again, but she wasn't in the mood for Hannah's playful side at the moment. Usually Hannah got that way when she was getting bored herself, and Beth couldn't blame Hannah for getting bored with her injuries as well as the fact that there really wasn't anything going on that they could engage with.
Such as a TV show – even a crappy one, a movie, or a video game. There wasn't anything like that, so they were left to their own devices, and Beth wasn't really surprised that she was focusing her energy on having fun with those who would talk to her that were in her immediate vicinity.
_
When the sun rose the next morning, Beth woke up with it, wishing she could have remained asleep. If only because her body wasn't as worn out in her dreams.
When Tim came by the day before, Beth had pretended to wake up at that point, though she doubted Hannah bought it. Not that Beth really cared about that.
Tim was willing to help them with the idea, though, he was skeptical about how many of the rocks they should use. As he worried that it could be like an overdose of medicine or something, that it could cause other problems if overdone.
Beth doubted it would be like that, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it.
When they gave her one of the stones that seemed to either be a magical kind of battery or essentially physical magic to Beth, she couldn't deny that she felt a little better.
Although, her body was still as weak, as it had been before, she couldn't deny that she felt like she had more energy. Even though she couldn't really use up that energy with her body not even being able to sit up.
Still, she took it as a good sign and accepted that it probably wouldn't do anything really for her if they'd given her several of the magic rocks instead of just one.
However, as she woke up, it took her a few minutes to even realize that she was able to move around without trouble again. Which meant that she was doing better, although she still doubted that she'd be able to use her magic to do anything without risking her own life.
She was about to try to stand when she heard a frantic cry coming from nearby.
"Inshet! Wake up!" Beth could see that the cry had startled a few people awake, but she couldn't say for sure where exactly it was coming from.
She felt like she should, but while she was definitely feeling better than she had the day before, her mind either was struggling with it at the moment or just hadn't fully woken up yet. Which she certainly wasn't happy about.
Despite that, she stood up carefully, trying to look around her to see if she could determine where the cry had come from just by looking. And while she was able to see where it came from, it was only because she saw others rushing towards where Hesha was, clutching her sister's hand.
Beth took her time walking over to Hesha, as she was certain that she'd lose her balance if she moved any faster. She was more worried about Hesha, since she knew that there wasn't anything she could do for Hesha's sister and the others would be able to take care of her, if there was anything anyone could do.
"Beth? Shouldn't you still be laying down?" Wes asked as he came up by Beth on her way over to Hesha.
"Probably," Beth replied. "I just didn't feel like laying this one out."
Wes rolled his eyes at her bad pun. "Just don't say that to the girl. We don't need to keep her from trying to kill you for that," Wes said, as he moved past Beth.
Beth couldn't help but chuckle at Wes' response. She doubted Hesha would try to kill her for that, but she wouldn't be surprised if Hesha walked away from her.
Besides, it wasn't like she'd say bad puns to just anyone. If anything, she would just be there for Hesha to talk to if she felt like it.