Aaaand we're back! Did I say it might be a little while because I ran out of chapters? I did? Well foolish me. I forgot overloads of caffeine heroically transforms me into...Sup-er Author! Dun dada da DUN! *Strikes cheesy pose*
n_n; Well whatever the reason, here is the next chapter. I just want to thank everyone who's read and reviewed and fav/followed this story. I know you can't see my big ol' smile through the monitor, but believe me, it's there. :D
And now we return to the Fire Nation where a ship has just pulled into port carrying a strange and chilly cargo...
The Lost Avatar
& Other Tales from the Four Nations
^..^
Eric Returns
^..^
The Susan Constant pulled into Capital City two weeks after leaving the Antarctic, a record since it had taken them nearly twice that to get there in the first place.
"Never even got to resupply at the South Pole Outpost," Captain Smith thought grimly to himself as he watched the crowded docks grow bigger before him. Usually they pulled into the public piers as a ship for hire instead of a true member of the Fire Nation navy, but with Prince Eric on board, they breezed into the secure shipyard with only a few questions asked. At the moment Eric and his teacher were down below, preparing for their departure, while the crew preoccupied themselves with the ship, whether they had a job to do or not.
John expelled a burdened sigh and rubbed at his temples with one hand, hoping to relieve the pressure behind his eyes. He was well aware that he had been...hard to deal with since the bubble-berg had popped up in the water in front of them like a cork. He wasn't sure what had him so on edge, only that it wouldn't leave. And that he had taken out his frustration on more than one man since they'd arrowed their prow back to Capital City.
Even Eric was avoiding him now. The captain propped his hands on his hips as he stared out at the city without seeing it. "I don't like the unexplained. The unexplored, sure, but the unexplained makes me twitchy."
He hung his head, pulling off his helmet to run a hand through his unwashed hair, feeling salt and sweat where it had crusted on the nape of his neck. "Not my problem for much longer," he told himself. "Drop this rock off to his lordship's tin soldiers and we'll be out of here by the end of the week."
Now, why didn't that make him feel better?
Frustration only mounting higher, John whirled and strode across the deck, men scattering out of his way while trying to act like they weren't running from him. John ignored them, bypassing the single door leading below deck and making his way to the aft of the ship.
The chill swept over him before he cleared the side of the cabin and the machine housing that extended back towards the rear of the ship. His Susan was an older model cruiser, one of the earliest actually and therefore out of official naval commission, and her inner workings were almost too big for her bulk. They had to be protected where they breached the deck itself by long sheets of hard metal, kept in place by soot coated rivets.
The aft deck was far smaller than the fore and the iceberg took up most of that. Cold air swept off the hunk of ice, making the air around it feel as though they'd never left the South Pole.
Smith shivered and briskly rubbed his bare hands together to keep the freezing bite away. He stopped next to one of the Fire Nation soldiers sent as the prince's escort. He, like the other six circling the berg, stood facing the ice, hands held out in front of him, palms outward. Standing right next to him, Smith could feel the halo of heat surrounding him as he and the others pulled the rising heat and humidity out of the air to keep the ice from melting. It was working, much to Smith's surprise.
"Got to give the old man credit," he said to the Fire Nation soldier. "I thought Merlin was crazy when he said this would work, but it looks like we only lost the outermost layer of ice when we towed it along behind us."
He gave the man a friendly nudge with an elbow, but all he got was a surly glance from behind an impervious mask.
Smith snorted. "Well aren't you just a barrel of laughs," he muttered.
The man continued to ignore him. Shaking his head, Smith stepped past the ring of soldiers, frowning as the chill fully enveloped him. He crossed his arms across his chest, trying to keep his body heat to himself, and frowned at the rounded side of the ice. Despite the growing heat as they sailed into Capital City Harbor, despite the icy water that had dripped and drained from the iceberg's surface, the shadow at the heart of the ice remained as indistinguishable as when they had left the pole.
"As clear as a shadow on the wall at night," Smith thought with a frown, "and just as recognizable. Blast it all and back again."
He sighed loudly and scrubbed a hand through this salt-crusted hair. He felt the flicker of attention from Eric's bodyguards before they went back to ignoring him again.
Smith didn't care. "It's a person," he thought grimly to himself. "Or at least a body. But whose?"
It was a question that had harried him ever since they'd left the South Pole. There were only so many reasonable answer he could think of, and the problem was that none of them were reasonable enough. He felt like his imagination had run off and left him to clean up the nerves it had shot in its wake.
"It's probably a water bender," he muttered to himself as he stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the shadow in the ice. "Lost during the Fire Nation attack on the South Pole, panicked when he saw the troops bearing down on him and lost his head enough to drown under the ice. Except..."
Smith squinted at the shadow and stepped forward, trying to imagine what it looked like without the ice and frost obscuring it. "Knees bent, elbows tucked in close to the sides..." He blew hot air out of his nose. "Whoever they are, they're sitting. Calm as a monk. And how do you keep control of your limbs to sit like that while you're drowning in a frozen ocean?"
"Uh...because you're not drowning?"
Smith spun around at the voice coming so close behind him, only to find Eric grinning at him.
"Merlin give you another riddle, Smith?" the younger man asked. "I thought you were still stuck on that one about the raven and the writing desk."
John set aside his jangled nerves and slapped on his usual, carefree grin, hoping the kid didn't notice he was still on edge. "Can't be stuck when there is no answer, kid," he told him. "You and the old man headed out?"
Eric's smile faded as he nodded. "Yeah. Hades must have heard something was up, though how I don't know, because there were soldiers waiting for us at the dock. He's asked for me to come directly." He shrugged as if he didn't want to jump in the ocean and swim in the opposite direction of the Fire Lord, but Smith saw the urge. Saw it, and completely understood. "I just wanted to come by and thank you for the lift before I left." He held out his hand.
Captain Smith took it and shook it hard. "As long as your toy soldiers bring my pay and get this hunk of ice off my ship, then it was no problem." He shot the prince a look. "Same time next year?"
Eric chuckled, but couldn't keep his eyes from flicking to the ice ball chilling the air at the captain's back. His friendly smile shrunk further as he briefly looked down at the frost covering the toes of his boots. "I guess it all depends on what's in there, doesn't it?" He shrugged.
"Yeah," Smith murmured as their eyes were both forcibly drawn to thing that had brought them rushing back. "I guess it does."
...
Prince Eric's mood sunk the deeper he marched into the Ember Palace. This was his least favorite part of being a fire prince – besides the heat and the pomp and the constant spotlight that ensured you never got to do what you really wanted to anyway.
Doors that towered over twice his height and were gilded in everything from lowly iron to highest gold opened before him without any obvious mechanisms. Soldiers in red, their faces safely hidden behind their bone-white masks, stood in pairs before and after each door, more of their ranks seen standing at attention in shadowed corners and flickering firelight. Eric walked past them without turning his head. He knew it was all meant to impress, but he'd seen it all before.
Hades so did love his head games.
The final door was wreathed in fire rather than metal, the heat of it filling the long room. Two fire sages, their robes wrapped in live flames at the cuffs and hem, stood on either side of the door and as the young prince approached. They stepped forward as he approached and bent the flames away from the door like a curtain rising from a theater stage.
Their timing was immaculate as always and Eric walked through just as the flames rose above his head, just as the door opened wide enough to admit him. With a sideways look at the sages on either side, Eric wondered if they weren't hired on their bending ability as much as their punctuality.
Eric stepped into the throne room with only a twitch of his cheek to show his nerves. He stopped just inside and glanced around as the door swung ponderously closed behind him. He didn't see the ruling spirit anywhere, but Eric was obviously expected, which meant Hades was around here somewhere.
When he didn't step out of the shadows, Eric went farther into the room. Past the red marble columns standing over him on either side, the space between them hung in flickering shadow, and up to the clear area just before the throne itself.
But even that was empty. Eric looked around, but as far as he could see the only movement was the line of flames that separated ruler from subject. The fire here was not gold and crimson like mortal fire should be, but ghostly blue. It gave Eric the creeps.
Shoving his uneasiness aside, Eric knelt before the throne and bowed his head. He felt exposed, kneeling like this with his neck exposed, but he didn't dare rise even in the silence of the room.
"Where is he?" Eric thought as sweat rolled down his neck to seep into his stiff collar. "He sends men straight to the docks telling me to get down here quick as Lightning Dragon Azula's temper only to keep me waiting? I didn't even have time to stop in the market and get Punzie a present-"
FA-FWOOM!
Even excepting something childish, Eric still just about jumped out of his skin at the sudden ignition. At first he thought the door had been blown off its hinges (it wouldn't be the first time) but as he spun around, ducking his head to avoid any flaming flying splinters, he realized it wasn't the door.
Striding through it, preceded by a wave of cold even the South Pole couldn't rival, stepped what appeared to be a grinning corpse. His face was pinched and sharp, as if all the water had been drained out of him. The whites of his eyes yellowed and sick, his skin shaded the pale blue of the dead that was reflected in the flames that covered the top of his head and trailed after him in his wake. Despite his deceased appearance, he moved as easily as the living. Standing backlit in the open door, he spread his bony arms wide to either side, mouth curling across his narrow face in an untrustworthy smile as he announced for the whole palace to here:
"Your Fire Lord has arrived!"
Hades' voice boomed through the columns, making the unearthly blue flames before his throne flutter like the tattered clothes of the hangman's newest addition, their shadows dancing erratically along the walls. A wave of blue smoke rolled out and away from his feet, knocking Eric back on his heels even as he tried to brace himself. The spirit was twice as tall as a mortal, wrapped in robes that shaded from abysmal black to the pale blue of a woman just kissed by death, and everything about him screamed immortal even to a magic dullard like Eric.
Fire Lord Hades smiled down at Prince Eric, and the mortal shuddered.
"Eric!" his voice thundered unnaturally in Eric's ears from above him. Cold fingers roughly shook Eric's head, rattling his brain, before abruptly disappearing. "So glad you're not dead yet. Though if you were I'd be the first to know. Being Lord of the Underworld has its perks. Number one being I'm very hard to pull one over on."
"I wouldn't be foolish enough to try," Eric managed to stutter as the room stopped spinning.
Hades chuckled as he swanned past Eric, blue smoke billowing off the hem of his long robe threatening to choke the prince again. He patted him sharply on the head as Eric coughed and sputtered, trying to find air clean enough to breathe.
"Good boy. See, I knew I picked you for a reason. Now-" Hades finally slowed as he dissipated the line of blue fire and took his seat of honor. The hairs on the back of Eric's neck rose on end as Hades locked his obsidian eyes on his vassal prince. In spite of himself, a shudder rippled down Eric's spine. "Tell me about your little trip." He popped the last 'p' and steepled his bony fingers in front of his chest.
Eric pulled in a deep breath. "It went well, my lord."
Yellow-hued eyes narrowed. "I hear you brought me back a present." Hades' eyes practically sparkled in his angular face. "Care to tell me what it is?" He flashed a grin that was all teeth.
Eric's throat bobbed up and down in a nervous twitch. "I don't know yet, my lord. It's wrapped in a thick coat of ice, but there's definitely something inside."
Hades' stare intensified. "You telling me the thing didn't melt on the way up here?"
A thread of unease trickled down the prince's spine. "We, uh, we kept it frozen. Merlin thought you would want it preserved so you could inspect it for yourself," he said slowly.
"Hmm," Hades hummed and Eric had to look up to gauge his reaction. He didn't exactly looked pleased...
The spirit's eyes narrowed to slits, but he didn't speak as he stared at the young mortal. Finally he gave a little laugh and leaned forward in his throne. "I guess I summoned the wrong guy here. You see, I put Prince Eric in charge of this-" He wiggled his long bony fingers at the prince. "-little outing. Not that daft old hedge wizard. I mean-" He skewered Eric with a lethal stare. "-you are Prince Eric, right? The Prince Eric? Son of the Fire Nation. Vassal to the all mighty Hades?"
Eric looked down at the floor. "Yes, Fire Lord."
"Are you sure?" Hades pressed with a tilt of his head. "Because I don't want to press you into something you'll regret if you're not-"
"Yes, my lord," Eric repeated, nerves winding tighter.
Hades' smile widened. "So I did put you in charge after all. That's great, really terrific. So when I ask whose fault it is that I don't know what my present is yet, you'll say...?"
Eric swallowed hard. His mouth was bone dry. "Mine, Fire Lord."
Hades smiled, hard and clean, like someone had carved it into his face with a chisel. "Right answer bucko." He leaned back in his chair again, seeming to relax. "Now let's try an easier question. Where is it?"
Eric thanked his lucky stars he'd had the foresight to order the iceberg brought to the palace immediately. "On its way as we speak. It will be here by this afternoon."
"If they hurry," Eric didn't tell him. "And they had better hurry!"
"Hm," Hades said again with a smile that made the mortal's stomach turn. "Let's see if we can't shave off a few sands of the hourglass shall we? Pain! Panic!"
Two pops and puffs of smoke and the lesser spirits appeared, one on either side of Eric. One was blue and sharp-edged while the other round and portly, but Eric had no idea which was Pain and which was Panic. He'd never had a head for spirits, much less understood a word they said, and he avoided them as much as he could.
Hades' minions babbled at their lord in a string of sounds that made no sense to Eric's brain. Every hair on his body was on end as they groveled before the Fire Lord, at one point even transforming into ugly worm-like beings that flailed at the Fire Lord's feet, but Eric couldn't see why.
Hades eventually tired of their groveling and nudged them off his sandaled feet so that they fell down the short steps to the floor. Eric backed away, expected them to flop over his hands, wet and slimy like real worms, but they disappeared in another pair of smoke clouds before they reached him, leaving Eric flinching at empty air.
"Incompetent little fire ferrets," Hades muttered as he placed both hands on the arms of his throne and fixed his black eyes on Eric's hunched form. "And speaking of vermin..." he drawled.
Eric's shoulders tensed.
The Fire Lord let the silence hang in the air like a sword by a thread before finally speaking in a soft voice. "The next time you let that washed up old gray beard run the show, I'll take his head off to remove the temptation. Capeesh?"
Eric's throat constricted at the dark look Hades gave him. Oldest advisor or not, he knew Hades would turn Merlin into a jigsaw puzzle if it would let him get his way.
"Whatever way that is," Eric thought with equal parts frustration and fear.
A wicked smile came onto the Fire Lord's face. "Good." Hades' voice fell like a battle hammer as he flicked lazy fingers at the only door. "Now get out. I want to unwrap my present in private."
Eric could not run fast enough.
...
The air cleared rapidly once Eric was free of the inner palace and he found his head where he had left it; out here instead of taking it with him to deal with his capricious ruler.
"Idiot," Eric grumbled to himself as he trotted down the steps that led from the palace to the expansive gardens. "Why are you always so unprepared to face him? He doesn't change. He's like this every time. Why do you always let him get to you?"
The flowers blooming in the hedge maze didn't answer him. They, unlike him, had learned to hold their tongues when Hades was in his palace.
The vassal prince stalked through the hedge maze without thinking of where he was going. He wasn't worried. He'd spent lots of time out here in the garden as a boy and had memorized the route long ago.
And he wasn't the only one. A giggle behind him was his only warning, but distracted as he was, he wouldn't have noticed the golden-haired shadow sneaking up behind him if she'd had the entire royal orchestra with her.
"Eric!" she shrieked in his ear as she barreled into him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're finally back!"
Both blonde and Eric went tumbling to the ground, one with a rather undignified shout as he grappled for a sword he wasn't wearing. They rolled on the ground, tearing up grass and fallen flower petals, and the only thing that made it past Eric's heart hammering in his ears was the high pitched excited babble running nonstop over his head.
"Oof!" The air left Eric's lungs when they finally came to a stop on the maze path. His head was spinning and there was a giddy ringing in his ears. He had to wait for his brain to quit sloshing around his skull before the ringing resolved into words.
"-said you might be dead because what else would stop you from sending a messenger hawk, but I said that that couldn't be true because no one in the whole Fire Nation can sail as well as you can, Eric, and- Oh! You'll never guess what happened while you were gone!"
Eric groaned, disentangling his hand from the long yellow hair that had gotten wrapped around it in their tumble. Somehow he made it reach his head. "What, Punzie? What happened?"
He blinked at the fuzzy figure leaning over him, finally bringing her features into focus to reveal his closest friend in the palace. Rapunzel beamed down at him with her usual cheer, her impossibly long and golden hair bound up in a braid as thick as her slender waist. She was biting her lip, her fingers twisted all together in the soft red-tinted lavender of her gown as she tried to keep her excitement bottle up.
It didn't help. It exploded out of her in a burst of girlish cheer. "Absolutely nothing!" she shrieked. "That's why I'm so glad you're back!"
She threw herself on top of him, hugging him in a near-stranglehold. Eric smiled at the warm welcome and propped himself up on an elbow to return the hug.
"It's good to see you too, Rapunzel," he told her earnestly. "But maybe you could get off of me now?"
The seventeen year old future Fire Dame, and the girl with the longest hair Eric had ever seen, pulled back with an embarrassed giggle. "Oops, sorry," she squeaked before rolling off, a sweet smile on her round face.
With a groan, Eric sat up, just in time to see a hand appear in front of his nose.
"Hey there Water Boy. Grass stains and dirty noses the next new thing in court or did Punzie find you first?"
Eric looked up at the owner of the hand with a wry smile before he took it. The young woman was stronger than her skinny frame belied and easily hauled him to his feet, armor and all. Unlike Rapunzel, she didn't wear the silken dresses of Fire Nation royalty, but the sleek working clothes of a professional bodyguard; Rapunzel's to be specific. And if the dark red tunic and ash gray, lightly armored overcoat weren't clues enough, the various oddly-shaped daggers hanging from her wire belt and the gauntlets wrapped around her forearms filled with knives the shape of needles usually gave the game away.
Not that that had helped any of the kidnappers, assassins, or all around ruffians from trying.
Rapunzel blinked super large, green eyes at him, her cheeks bunched up from her wide smile. She took his hand and pulled him deeper into the maze. "Come on, you're just in time. We were just going to see if Jasmine was at the turtle duck pond. We haven't seen her since the day before yesterday and I'm starting to worry!" she told him in a nonstop verbal stream as Eric let her pull him forward.
"Worry?" The word was startled out of Eric. "About Jasmine? You know how she is Punzie. She's probably just practicing her bending. You know what a perfectionist she is."
Meg grunted where she followed both prince and princess. "That's what I told her. But by all means, believe Wetworks over me."
Eric crossed his eyes at her as next to him, Rapunzel's cheeks stained pink as she deftly pulled stray flowers from her hair before folding them more securely into her braid. "You don't know that..." she told them softly. "I think she's upset. I don't think her father's getting any better..." she trailed off.
Uneasy silence descended on them and, for a brief moment, none of them could meet the other's eyes. Parents were a taboo subject around the palace, for various, and well understood, reasons.
Eric broke the gloom and smiled at his friend, putting an arm around her shoulders and giving her a small shake. "You're right Punzie. We should make sure Jas is all right."
Her smile lit up her face and she hugged him tight. "Oh I knew you would say that! Now hurry up before she leaves and we never find her again!"
She skipped ahead of them, bare feet hardly making a sound on the grass as Meg came to walk beside him. "Whether Jasmine likes it or not?" Meg finished for him with a raise of her dark eyebrow.
Eric's mouth thinned in an uncertain line. "Probably," he told her.
She didn't speak for a minute or so, but Eric could feel her next question building up behind her teeth, waiting for enough pressure to escape.
It didn't take as long as he expected. "You already been to see the big guy downstairs?" Meg murmured once Rapunzel was out of sight.
Eric nodded, a grim twist to his mouth. "Yeah."
"And, um," the young woman hemmed and hawed, tossing her pony tail out behind her in a show of bravado. "How was he?"
"Just as blue and overbearing as ever," he muttered grimly.
Meg shook her head, a small line appearing between her dark eyes. Her full lips thinned. "Joy," she murmured with her usual heavy sarcasm.
They came out into the center of the maze a few minutes later. It was largely circular and aside from the expected rows of carefully manicured flower beds, there was also a small lawn and a white gazebo sitting next to a pond currently inhabited by a family of quietly gurgling turtle ducks.
Eric followed the sounds of oxygen being consumed by fire to find the grassy section occupied by a lone bender. Princess Jasmine was the youngest of their little group at only fifteen, but she was by far the fiercest. A gifted bender, she didn't rely on bodyguards or soldiers to keep her safe; she relied on herself. She practiced rigorously, turning the dangerous martial art of fire bending into something that was just as much dance as aggression.
She finished her set with a leap that had her twisting around, black hair swinging out behind her and bright flames spiraling out from her heels before she landed in a crouch with one leg extended in a near split that had Eric cringing just at the sight.
Meg nudged Rapunzel from behind as they approached the headstrong girl. "You could do that by now if you practiced even half as diligently," she prodded.
Rapunzel laughed nervously as she looked down at her bare, grass-stained toes. She fiddled with a loop of her hair, obviously not believing her. Rapunzel was a bender, like Jasmine, but she was nowhere near as strong. Eric wasn't surprised. Fire bending was emotional, wild, passionate, mostly in the worst possible sense of the words. It was fueled by fury as much as oxygen and Rapunzel just didn't have that kind of negative emotion in her to bend the flames to her will. She was too optimistic, too sweet, always eager to believe the best in people even when they had the knife to her throat. Jasmine on the other hand...
Well, let's just say Jasmine had a difficult home life.
Eric grinned at the bubbly blonde and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, putting her in a friendly headlock. "Don't listen to her Punz," he said over her squealing as he ran his knuckles over her hair, dislodging bits of her flower crown. "If you rush it, you'll only mess up the harder forms later on. Taking your time is the right answer here."
"Says the non-bender," Meg muttered.
"Yes you're hardly the expert on such matters, Eric," Jasmine spoke as she approached them patting her face and neck dry with a towel she had brought with her. "And while there's a difference between taking your time and putting off practice entirely, you-" She gave Rapunzel a rare but genuine smile as she pointed a finger at the older girl. "-have definitely been avoiding me."
"I have not!" Rapunzel protested as she finally wriggled free of Eric's arm. "I've just been...busy. With Pascal."
Jasmine gave her a look. "Your Four Elements Chameleon?"
Rapunzel nodded too quickly. "Yep. He has a...cold! Which is very bad because it's summer and, as you know, that's his fire season. If it was winter he'd be happy as a clam in a pot!"
Meg snorted. "I doubt that."
Rapunzel's tutor just gave her a sideways look as she flipped the towel over her bare shoulder. "Mm-hm," she hummed. "Well if he feels that bad maybe I should drop by and give him a little hug."
"Oh you don't have to do that," Rapunzel tried. "He's already getting better and you're so busy with your dad and all..."
She trailed off, eyes wide, as she realized which rule she had broken. But it was too late to take the words back now. Jasmine's slight smile faded and her eyes widened, just perceptibly.
"Sorry," Rapunzel mumbled into her hair as she watched Jasmine's frozen face. "Sorry that just slipped out. It's just-" Eric shook his head at her, but as usual, Rapunzel couldn't seem to stop herself. "It's just that I know you've been having a tough time with his illness and-"
She lifted a hand to lay on her friend's shoulder, but Jasmine jerked away. "It's fine," she said, voice thicker than before. She wouldn't look at them now. "We'll just, have to reschedule your training. I hope Pascal gets better soon," she said before quickly walking towards the maze, leaving them behind.
Rapunzel still had her arm outstretched. "Oh..." she groaned, large eyes starting to swim. "I did it again. Why can't I learn to just shut my mouth before it gets me in trouble?"
Meg and Eric shared a look but didn't answer her for the simple reason that she was right; she often talked herself into trouble. And she hadn't learned the valuable lesson of how to talk herself out of it again.
Of course with Jasmine that was an even trickier subject. Sure, she was beautiful with her deep brown eyes and long black hair, but she was also so prickly. Honestly, if it weren't for Rapunzel, Eric doubted they would speak outside of official duties at all.
He wrapped a comforting arm around Rapunzel's drooping shoulders. "Don't worry about it, Rapunzel. Jasmine knows you mean well."
"Maybe," Rapunzel mumbled, lifting one shoulder and dropping it again in a halfhearted shrug. "But I didn't help either."
Eric made a face that, thankfully, Rapunzel didn't see. "No," he thought with a sinking feeling. "No I'm afraid you didn't."
"I just-" Rapunzel raised her hands futilely. "I just want to make her feel better, Eric. She's having such a tough time with her dad and that weasel vizier and her marriage to...somebody." She sighed, dropping her hands. "I just wanted to help."
She swung large green eyes up at him and Eric saw how earnestly she meant it.
He smiled. "That's the reason I like you so much, Punz," he told her. "When the world tries to drag me down, drag anyone down really, I can always count on you to lift me back up with a big smile and actual, honest concern. And that makes you-" He gave her a gentle shake. "-the sweetest person I have ever met."
That managed to coax a smile from her and she rolled her eyes, blushing under her freckles at the praise. "Aw, thanks Eric." She bumped him with her shoulder, making them weave across the lawn. "You're not so bad yourself."
He chuckled. "Thanks. Now," he said, deciding it was time to move on to lighter things. "Is Pascal really sick?"
Yellow eyebrows slid close together. "No..." she mumbled.
He rolled his eyes. "Well then come on. Do you want to hear about my trip or not? Because I've got to tell you, Punzie, you would not believe what happened when we got there."
The light started to come back into her eyes, albeit cautiously. "Did you bring me a present from Milo's shop?" she asked.
Eric laughed as he led her to the gazebo to tell her – in details too vivid to be believed as Meg later pointed out – about his latest trip to the bottom of the world and why he, in fact, did not have a present for her.
