Disclaimer: Asterix and Obelix, their villagers and all their villagers are created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.
"I'm telling you, Asterix, we should go and have a talk with the Romans after dinner, they are bad influence."
"Bad influence on the boars. Yeah they'll like to hear that, Obelix. You should tell that to old Jules next time we see them. I'd love to see his reaction"
The well-covered Gaul looked at his much smaller friend in disdain.
"You are not taking this seriously, Asterix, I mean what good would that do? It is not Jules that sneaks through the forest every day, showing them hideouts and teaching them to walk on tip-toe"
"Boars always walk on tip-toe, Obelix. They are called hooves."
Obelix sniffed: "You're all fun and games now, but without MY hunting dog…"
He pointed towards the black and white spot that was currently Dogmatix, half covered from sight by the bushes he was investigating, before he continued:
"YOU would be eating Unhygienix' Lutetia-imported fish. Not that I am saying there is no good food over in Lutetia, he just picks out all the wrong stuff. We should go there and seek out some addresses for him."
Asterix rolled his eyes at the pointlessness of their conversation. Still he could not resist to counter:
"I wouldn't be so sure, Bravura is getting better every day. She might give Dogmatix a run for his money soon."
Obelix immediately looked more cheerful when he heard his best friend use the much discussed name for the most obstinate part of Dogmatix' off-spring. He cheered up even more when Dogmatix gave an enthusiastic bark and raced off at inhuman speed.
"You gave him magic potion again?" Asterix shook his head.
Well, he makes better use of it than you, hurry up a little!"
The last part of his speech sounded a little far away, since Obelix had gone after his dog with equal speed. Rolling his eyes again, Asterix set to catch up with them. He had already taken his swig of potion, because all jokes aside, the wild boars did get harder to find every day.
A few moments later, Obelix was carrying two boars under his arms, and Asterix had one over his shoulder. Obelix was just about to come back on the point he was trying to make earlier, when an unfamiliar voice interrupted him:
"Quite an impressive way of hunting you young men have."
A few meters in front of them, an old man was leaning on what seemed to be a walking stick. Asterix looked around, not a little surprised. He had not seen the old man approaching them. Yet, there he was, right in front of them. The man looked rather fragile; his travelling cloak was slightly frayed at the edges and his beard a little tangled. He looked like someone who could use a few meals from a Belgian village, thin to the point of being bony. In his younger years, he had to have been quite tall, but this was less visible now, since his back was crooked and he leant forward, seemingly squeezing his eyes to observe them.
Obelix had already walked up to the stranger.
"Impressive and effective, look!" He held out the two wild boars so the old man could investigate.
"Most effective indeed. Tell me, is everyone around here this fast? I'm an old man, maybe I'm just getting slower myself, but it seems to me you two move like lightning."
Obelix was eager to explain:
"It's because I fell into the magic potion, when I was little."
He threw a side-ward glance as if expecting Asterix to drop in on the conversation he was having. But Asterix looked quite immobile, his hand to his chin, one wing of his helmet straight up, while the other was bended. He was trying to figure the stranger out. Since Asterix did not explain his own super strength, Obelix continued:
"But for Asterix..."
Suddenly his little friend jumped to life, cutting of Obelix' sentence and finishing quickly:
"It didn't do much for my size," Asterix said with a little smile. "But yeah, I also fell into some magic potion back at our home village and the effect lasted ever since. It IS quite handy."
Obelix stared at him like he had gone completely crazy. Seemingly frozen, he moved his mouth without uttering any sound. Trying his best to distract the stranger from his best friends' odd behaviour, Asterix offered:
"Maybe you would like to come and share lunch with us? You shouldn't wander the forest, it tends to get a little busy sometimes. Romans, wild animals..."
Asterix trailed of as he felt a strange sensation going through him. He did not stop talking voluntarily and his partly outstretched hand came to a stop. He was paralyzed and at the same time he saw the old man grow taller; he did no longer lean on his walking stick and his eyes bore a darkish gleam.
"Oh not to worry, my friend, I can still stand my ground," he grinned.
The stranger let his eyes pass over an equally immobilized Obelix. "I have other occupations right now, but it is always nice to make new acquaintances. Good day gentleman, enjoy your meals."
He turned and walked away. There was no rush in his pace. A friendly dismissal; as if he was just another villager with some previous appointment. But only when the man was well out of view, Asterix felt his power to react return; the control over his limbs returned so suddenly he almost stumbled on his own legs. Half-set on following the stranger, he stepped forward a little, but Obelix held him back quite forcibly:
"Are you KIDDING me?" You fell into the magic potion too?"
Asterix was startled: "Obelix, did you not just feel..."
"Completely and utterly stunned?" Obelix interrupted. "Yes! Falling into the magic potion is not something to joke about. You WERE joking right?"
Obelix shook him back and forth a little, which added to the dizziness Asterix felt, both over the situation and over how it completely escaped his larger friend, again. There was no telling whether they had experienced the same thing...
"Of course I was," he mumbled quietly. He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. "It was not a joke though, it seemed better not to let this man know we have a druid who supplies us with magic potion."
Obelix frowned. "Well, that won't be a secret for long, the Romans never quit nagging about it, They even instruct boars to be sneaky, let alone wandering old men."
"You're right," Asterix answered. "I think it is better to return home and inform the rest of the village. And Getafix." He really needed to talk to their druid. He quickened his pace a little.
"OR we could visit the Roman camps and convince them to keep the magic potion a secret," Obelix proposed eagerly.
"I have a feeling we'd better not show off in front of this guy, Obelix, let's go home."
Asterix' tone was so soft. that Obelix did not continue. He realized that something was off. As they set course in the direction of their home village, neither of them noticed the small figure that had been listening in on their conversation and that now carefully pursued them through the summer-green forest. Like a shadow, it slid from tree, to tree, neglected by all but the old man with the gleaming eyes. But he had other occupations…