Disclaimer:Réné Goscinny, Albert Uderzo...Jean Yves Ferri and Didier Conrads'!
Later that day, Goudurix arrived. And he wasn't alone. He had found company in a young family that also travelled to the Forest House. Their daughter looked not older than nine to Asterix. As Phyllis joined him and Obelix to greet Goudurix, he asked her about it. "Isn't she a little young?"
"Yes, but Pimpernella was a fellow student of ours. That's why they are here" Phyllis frowned, turning to Bonny, who raised her shoulders. "She has a kid, Bon, a large one," Phyllis said. Apparently she did find it odd.
Bonny laughed. "Phyllis, that's not that strange. And she can't be more than eight…ow." She stopped mid-sentence, realizing what Phyllis meant.
Pimpernella was a fine, delicate young woman, with a small face, vibrant blue eyes, and bright red hair in a waterfall braid. "Our pixie," Phyllis whispered to Obelix and Asterix, sounding quite affectionate.
"Phyllis!"
Phyllis looked up. So did the young girl that had followed Goudurix to greet them. Pimpernella joined her daughter, closely followed by her husband. Phyllis examined the little girl, with hair as vibrant as her mothers.
"Say hi to Phyllis, sweetie." Pimpernella urged her daughter.
"Hi Phyllis." The young girl said, extending her hand. Phyllis took it automatically. "Hi…" she replied. She gave Pimpernella a faint smile, and her husband a careful nod. "You have a daughter," she remarked, somewhat stupidly. "And you are married."
Pimpernella smiled at her husband. "Yes, for quite a while already," Pimpernella replied.
"Hi Phyllis," her husband waved at Phyllis, who examined him a bit better. Her eyes widened. "Anagallus!" She exclaimed. Asterix saw her reserved composure away. "I didn't recognize you without the…"
"Armor?" Anagallus smiled. "Well, there is little need for it in a herbal shop."
"You left the army?! That's great!"
Anagallus and Pimpernella looked at each other. "You didn't know yet," he said, regretful.
Phyllis frowned. "No, of course not." She stared at their daughter.
"She turns nine next month," Pimpernella said. "Phyllis." She waited for the older Phyllis to connect the dots.
"You were pregnant," Phyllis said. "Last time I saw you, you were pregnant."
"Yes, I found out a few days before Mesmerons attacked…you saved her."
They all stood there. Goudurix silently joined Asterix and Obelix, waving at them. His aunt looked him up and down without speaking. Phyllis was still holding the girls' hand. She looked at Anagallus.
"You don't quit the army," she said. "You sign for 20 years. You can't just quit it, if you're not injured."
Bonny led them inside, setting them at a large table, and fixing them drinks. As she sat down, she looked at Anagallus as well. "Phyl meant that you got help." It was a statement, not a question.
"Of course I got help." The roman gave her a sad smile. "I was freaking out, you know Pimpernells' family. And apart from that…no father or mother would like her daughter frequenting a roman soldier. Well except for…."
"Lucius didn't like it either. He just had little choice." Bonny said. Phyllis didn't re act at all.
"Well at least they were engaged, which is what I should have asked Pimpernell the second I met her."
Asterix felt like this was a conversation they weren't supposed to follow at all. And that he didn't want to follow, for that matter. He looked at Impedimenta, who was listening intently, making no movement at all, as were Obelix and Getafix. Apparently, Phyllis's private life was non-existent to them.
"We weren't engaged." Phyllis said.
Anagallus looked surprised.
"Marcus asked Lucius. He had his blessing…"
"Yes, he did. But I didn't accept. And Pimpernell wouldn't have either, under normal circumstances, so don't blame yourself for not asking her. It's stupid."
Pimpernella smiled. " Maybe not stupid, but accepting to marry a soldier is accepting violence. Difficult for a healer." She looked at Phyllis. "I didn't know you refused."
Phyllis shrugged. "I was rather discreet about it." She frowned.
They were all silent for a moment. Anagallus scratched his short beard.
"When Mesmeron first attacked, you were still at the Forest House" Phyllis said to Pimpernella, still frowning. She looked up. "How could Marcus have helped you two leave?"
"He didn't help us leave, just me." Anagallus said.
Anagallus looked at his wife. "Give her the letter, it's hers." He said, sternly. And so Pimpernella pushed forward a yellow envelope. Phyllis stared at it.
"Of course. I was part 2 of the plan." It sounded flat. She stood up, startling all of them.
Pimpernell flinched. "Aren't you going to read it?"
Phyllis gave her a faint smile.
"Manilla would never have let you leave without your parents' permission. That what they needed to arrange first. Once Anagallus had their permission, It says I had to smuggle you past the camp, so the Centurion would not link his disappearance to your departure. And I'm sure it contains a dozen advices about which route to take." She paused. "East, avoid the waterfall, cause it's great to hide noise, but it gets way to swampy."
"Well…..yes. My parents send me the letter. It arrived … three days after Mesmeron's attack."
"And you didn't need the plan anymore, since your parents came to fetch you themselves and the centurion had hardly an idea who he was, let alone who he was missing."
Anagallus frowned. "As soon as I received word from Pimpernell, I returned to the camp. But you are right, he barely even recognized me…I didn't find Marcus…I left."
Phyllis smiled again. "His plan went right even though the entire second part plummeted like an ill-placed dolmen. I'm sure he'd have been delighted." She extended her hand towards the younger Phyllis. "Tell me, Phyllie, what are you going to do during the opening party?"
The little redhead jumped up, eager to get away from the heavy atmosphere. "Mam says I'm too small to perform."
"That's ridiculous," Phyllis grabbed hold of her, swinging her upwards, to sit in her neck. The girl started to giggle "We're enormous now, we'll do something together. What are you good at? Please don't say singing." Phyllis started to walk away, looking back at Asterix and Obelix, who got up at once.
"I like rope skipping…and dancing." "That's brilliant," Phyllis said, sounding relieved. "We'll go visit my enormous sister first, she's painting. Do you like paint?" They turned the corner, and discovered Goudurix chatting with a slightly red-faced Joci.
Phyllis turned round. "On second thought, we'll do that later. Let's go find ropes first." They headed for the stables.
"Oh, a little dog!" Phyllis put her name-twin down, who sprinted forward towards Dogmatix and Bravura.
"And she has forgotten about us." Phyllis said, turning to Asterix. She looked a little aimless.
Obelix pointed towards the pond. "What do you think?"
"It's great. They can ice-skate on it during the winter, it'll freeze completely."
They went to sit in the grass, observing little Phyllis.
"You didn't want to read the letter?" Obelix asked.
"I'll read it later…." Phyllis put her hair behind her ears. "Anagallus doesn't realize that Marcus and Biancus were both there when he returned." Obelix glanced at Asterix, who could tell that Obelix himself hadn't realized that either. "But he will find out sooner or later…a great deal of the soldiers who discovered that with me will be here during the opening party. I really should tell him. I hope Bonny will, now Phyllis is no longer listening in." She stared at the little kid. "That is going to be confusing."
Red-haired Phyllis returned. "Can we go rope skip now?" Phyllis got up. "Sure. There will be lots of ropes in the stables, we'll go find some." The girl sprinted away again. She looked back at them, apologetic.
"I haven't seen most of them since that first illusion broke…they'll have questions…I sort of overlooked that. I'm rather good at forgetting that sort of things. I guess they will all have arrived before the students though, so it won't spoil the opening."
Asterix frowned. "You don't have to apologize."
"Yes I do. I can't really help your messy arrival here, but I could have sorted that out before you did."
She walked away towards the stables. Obelix looked at Asterix.
"What does she mean?"
"She wants it to look like Mesmeron never happened. The party... The Forest House."
"We wouldn't be here if he never happened," Obelix pointed out. Asterix nodded. "Maybe that's not a bad thing to tell her," he said.
"You do that, because you didn't say much a while ago," Obelix replied, frowning. "I was kind of hoping that you would."
"Sorry….It's just, I was thinking…." Something bothered him a great deal. Even more so now. He couldn't tell Phyllis. But he needed to tell someone. "Do you realize what Phyllis said about Marcus' plans always turning out right? And that letter, very detailed and careful…. Yet he walked right in to a camp controlled by an evil wizard. I don't understand that. I really don't."
"I would have walked right in that camp," Obelix said slowly. "But you wouldn't have."
"I know I wouldn't have. Even with the magic potion, we stayed clear of Mesmeron." Asterix got up . "I'm going to see Getafix for a moment."
"I'm going to watch the ropeskipping. It looks more fun than brewing potions."
They said goodbye, and Asterix travelled the corridors of the Forest House again until he reached Manilla's office. Sure enough, Getafix was there. They were not brewing potions, but reading documents on papyrus, and drinking steaming cups of herbal tea. It looked quite cozy.
He told them. He'd have preferred to talk only to Getafix, but that seemed quite difficult lately. Their druid finished his drink and walked to the window, watching the garden, where the two Phyllis were now practicing some kind of ropeskip-dance thing. Goudurix had joined them, playing something.
"Let it go, Asterix," Getafix said.
"Don't you think," Asterix started, but Getafix interrupted him. "That' it's weird? Yes, I do. But whatever the reason they did decide to return to that camp, because if I recall, it Biancus too…it won't change a thing."
They were silent for a moment.
"It would change something for me." Manilla said, quietly, joining them. "Because I let them go. I thought they would be careful. I counted on it. I convinced Phyllis they would be. That's the one thing she'll never forgive me for."
"So Phyllis didn't think it was strange they … failed."
"She believes Mesmeron was stronger than they expected him to be. Because I told her not everything there was to know about Mesmeron, she didn't warn them, and she believes that is why they made the mistake of confronting him."
It sounded reasonable enough. Only from the earlier story, it seemed that while Phyllis had the habit of rushing into danger, Marcus did not.
"I do think Getafix is right about letting it go. There is no benefit in revisiting the past. Phyllis wants to move on."
Asterix said goodbye to them, still frowning. They were right. There was nothing to gain investigating this. They made a mistake, and there was no magic potion to correct it. He could not talk to Phyllis about this, especially not now. She could think he was talking them down, and she would not take it kindly. Of that, he was certain. But he knew this would keep bothering him for a long time.
Since this isn't a book, I take time updating and I know I make lengthy stories...I just think it would be good to say this part, Asterix' thoughts about Marcus, will be important later in the story. He is onto something...
