"Here's your stew." M'Gann came back with a steaming bowl. She handed it to Nightwing. Artemis stared into the bowl.
It actually looks good, she thought. Carrots, potatoes, and peas bobbed around a brown broth. Chunks of beef had been torn into strings. Nightwing took a spoonful and blew on it before putting it in his mouth. He swallowed then closed his eyes, sighing.
"Köszönöm. Ez tökéletes." Nightwing said and looked at M'Gann. On Nightwing's other side Artemis could see Connor's eyes widening.
"What did you just say?" Artemis asked as Wally leaned over the back of the couch. Nightwing was hungrily spooning mouthful after mouthful of the stew into his mouth. He used the piece of crusted bread M'Gann handed him to scrape the bowl clean. When he finished M'Gann took the bowl from him.
"He said, 'Thank you.'" M'Gann said. "Psychic translation helps sometimes." She smiled and floated back to the kitchen with Nightwing's dish.
"What language was that?" Artemis asked. She knew Nightwing had a ridiculously extensive knowledge of languages thanks to Batman, but she had never heard that particular one before.
"It's Hungarian." Nightwing leaned back into his seat, and Artemis had to turn a little to keep looking at him. "It's my first language."
"It seems not all of your knowledge comes from Batman then." Kaldur had sat back down and picked up his book again.
"Where are you from anyway?" Gar had resumed his human— or human-ish –form. Nightwing suddenly looked uncomfortable.
"Too many questions kid." Wally ruffled Gar's hair. "Batman's rules."
"Oh, right. Sorry Nightwing."
"It's alright." Nightwing started to shrug but stopped.
That was odd, Artemis thought. He usually just lets those happen. Except… Is Batman in here? Her eyes darted around the room, but she didn't see any hint of the Dark Knight; she hadn't expected to considering if he didn't want to be seen not even Superboy could find him, x-ray vision and all.
"You two are such a mystery." M'Gann had come back. Artemis could tell she was teasing Nightwing.
"That's the point." Nightwing smiled. "It freaks the villains out."
"But we aren't villains!" Gar exclaimed.
"You should have taught some of those scare tactics to Red. My sister didn't seem freaked out enough." Artemis mumbled.
"It's not her fault Roy picked up on my awesome flirting skills." Wally commented.
"Yay that's why they're married. It's all because of your skills." Artemis snorted.
"Well they worked on you." He smiled and leaned towards her.
"Whoa. Guys I'm sitting right here." Nightwing shrank away from them.
"Sorry." Artemis blushed.
"You guys are all weird." Gar said. He shifted into a sparrow and landed on Nightwing's head. He hopped a few times then leaned forward over his head. He was looking at Nightwing upside down; he turned his head to the side, looking every bit the curious little bird. Nightwing smiled. He laughed for a second then stopped.
"Ow!" He cringed and his arms folded in around him.
"Are you okay?" Artemis put her good arm out and laid her hand against his shoulder. Nightwing just gasped.
"Hey! Breathe!" Connor had grabbed him gently by the shoulders. Nightwing sucked in another shaky breath; he held it for a moment then let it out slowly. "One more."
"What's wrong with him?" Gar had flown off Nightwing's head. He was standing on the other side of the couch.
Nightwing was still breathing slowly. Sweat had broken out across his forehead. After a few more breaths his face relaxed a little. "I'm not… really feeling… the aster right now."
"His ribs are broken." Connor said quietly.
"Ouch." Wally winced in sympathy.
"When did that happen? No one told me he was injured." Kaldur had gotten up and was standing at the arm of the couch.
"Canary… had to beat the… living nappali fény… out of me." Nightwing said between shallow breaths.
"What did she do that for?" Gar asked.
"To restart his heart." Artemis leaned closer to Nightwing and put a comforting had on his back.
"Oh…" Gar trailed off and looked at his feet. Another minute passed and Nightwing slowly sat back.
"I'm okay now." He closed his eyes and laid his head back on the couch. He cracked one lid open to see the group still staring at him. "Guys please. Just mill around, read, cook, run, stare at static. I'm fine. I just need a little normal right now."
"Alright, normal it is!" Wally zipped around the couch. "I'm initiating a challenge. Racecars!" He changed the channel and flipped on his favorite video game. He tossed one of the controllers to Kaldur.
"This is one race you will not win my friend." Kaldur smiled. Wally lost that one. Kaldur played against Connor and lost. Connor beat Gar, then Gar and Artemis; with only one available hand she needed the extra help.
"It's your turn Nightwing." Connor said. There was no reply. "Nightwing?" Artemis turned her head to look at him. They had all been so enthralled in the game they hadn't noticed Nightwing had fallen asleep.
"Is he asleep?" Wally asked looking up at him. Connor focused on Nightwing for a moment.
"Yeah." Connor relaxed and Artemis gave him a questioning look. He nodded his head at NIghtwing's chest. "I was just making sure everything sounded normal."
"Oh." Artemis looked at the sleeping boy next to her. Well, I guess he isn't really a boy anymore, is he.
Asleep he looked so peaceful. It was easy to forget sometimes how young he actually was. He had a lot of responsibility for an eighteen-year-old kid. But somehow he managed it, and still had a smile for the Team at the end of the day. Gently Artemis brought her hand up and brushed his hair away from his eyes; she adjusted his sunglasses so they wouldn't fall off.
I hope he'll come out of this okay.
Author's Note: I don't know if Hungarian is in fact his first language but it sure makes for an interesting plot point, doesn't it? I'm thinking part 11 will be the last one unless I come up with more things I want to happen. Read and Review please!
"Köszönöm. Ez tökéletes."- Thank you. This is perfect.
nappali fény- daylights
Updated Author's Note: Due to the number of comments about it I feel like I need to address this. I realize that most gypsies speak Romani but it is not a written language so I couldn't translate to that. I was going to use Romanian but when I compared it to Hungarian, I just liked the way it looked on the page better. It's as simple as that.