I still do not own any characters but Phyllis, Bonny, Manilla and Mesmeron. The others belong to Réné Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.
Reviews are always welcome!
Obelix was waiting for him near the front gates, almost as soaked as he was. He must have been waiting there for quite a while already. This lessened the possibility that his trip had gone unnoticed, but Asterix was too preoccupied by his encounter with Phyllis to care.
"You were certainly gone long enough," Obelix moped, hiding his worry over his smaller friend rather poorly. "And you didn't even bring back any boars."
"Well, no," Asterix said, slightly irritated, "but that was not the point. I did meet…" Obelix held up his hands, "Okay, Okay, but let's go to my hut first. I did manage to make some soup and you're completely soaked….unless you need to pass by Vitalstatistix first?"
Only now, Asterix started to feel cold, and hungry too, after all, he skipped lunch and it was almost time for dinner. "It can wait," he said, "Let's go to you place." Before he could talk to his chief, he needed some time to recollect his thoughts, and telling Obelix was a good start.
As he entered Obelix' hut, Bravura leapt forward, jumping at his arms. She did not seem to be limping anymore. Obelix handed him a blanket, that he wrapped around himself, shivering slightly. Fall was really setting in now. He wondered if Phyllis had a place to get warm and dry. Somehow he doubted it. Obelix handed him a bowl of soup and Bravura jumped on his lap. "Bonny cured her then?"
Obelix eyes lit up. "Yes, it was pretty amazing, you should have seen it. She couldn't really get hold over Bravura at first, you know how she gets. And then Bonny shot some sort of glowing blue ball at her, that she got caught in. She walked around in it during half lunchtime, and she has not been limping since. Bonny said that throwing power at something was a thing she learned from Phyllis. Normally you need contact with the person you cure, apparently.
Asterix tensed at the mention of the black-haired girl he met just moments ago. "Did Bonny tell you anything more about Phyllis." "I think she regretted bringing it up in the first place. It tried to ask about her, but Bonny kept starting about something else. So I dropped it….did you find her? Phyllis? And that Melon-guy?"
"Mesmeron," Asterix corrected. "No I saw absolutely no sign of him…unless you count the illusion Phyllis created of him." Obelix frowned and Asterix started telling him about his encounter with Phyllis, trying to remember every detail. He even told Obelix how he had lost his temper with her, though he still felt pretty bad about it. The only thing he tuned down a little was what she had said about Obelix. It made his behavior look even worse, but for some reason, he found it important that Phyllis did not make to bad an impression. He could see what she had wanted him to realize. There was no way he could act as she proposed though. This brought his thoughts back to Bonny. Obelix was still mulling over his story, so he had to repeat his question.
"Obelix!"
"Hmm..oh, what?"
"I said, how did your lunch go?"
Obelix turned beet-red. "Well we ate…actually Bonny ate, and I talked. I was not that hungry." He seemed surprised about it himself. "But I actually talked to her." He looked quite proud. Then his thoughts went back to eating: "I'm completely starving now though, and you did not bring back any boars," he added, with a reproachful tone of voice that Asterix pointedly ignored. "Where is she now?" he asked.
"Who, Bonny?" Asterix rolled his eyes. "No, Impedimenta, of course Bonny! Who else?"
"What?" Obelix answered, indignantly, "Am I clairvoyant? How am I supposed to know what women you have on your mind?"
"Obelix!"
"Fine, fine." Obelix paused to think. "She went, or rather, she was dragged off by some little village kids. They wanted to learn how to braid their hair like her. She really has very nice hair, so shiny…." Asterix raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and I haven't seen her since, I was looking out for you."
"Well, I need to find out what Mesmeron could use to keep Phyllis at bay, and Bonny is my best shot." He jumped up, placed the sleeping Bravura on the blanket and headed for the door. As he opened it, he immediately stood face to face with the woman he was going to look for. He was startled for a moment. "Bonny! Good to see you, we were just going to look for you.
She looked him up and down, a her hazel eyes a little cooler than usual. He immediately realized she knew about his trip. She walked in and shut the door behind her. "I already found it a bit strange that you were not joining us for lunch. And then I saw Obelix looking out for you at the gates. You went to look for Phyllis, didn't you?" Asterix simply nodded.
"You were gone quite long. I was about to warn Manilla when I saw you were back."
"Why didn't you do that immediately then?"
She ignored his question. "How was she? Whas she okay?" The eagerness and worry in her voice made clear why she had interrupted his investigation. It was a difficult question for the little warrior. Was Phyllis okay? He hesitated "Well , I wouldn't say okay…" Because it was difficult to define what state Phyllis was in, he started to recount his meeting with the raven-haired girl again, though in a little less detail this time. After he finished, he concluded: "So I think she's pretty miserable, and Mesmeron does indeed seem to have some kind of hold over her. But she spoke her own mind, she was not under his control.
"How can you be so sure?" Bonny all but whispered her question, obviously affected by his words.
"It's hard to explain. For one thing, she was just too incoherent to be working on someone else's program. Part of her reactions reminded me of the Phyllis Manilla described to us. It's just intuition actually, but it doesn't make me less sure it's correct." To Asterix, it really didn't matter that much anyway. It was obvious to him that Phyllis needed help. And that to safeguard his village, he would probably need her help as well. Even if she couldn't , she needed to be free to act as she wished.
"And another thing," he added, "She seemed completely sane to me." It sounded a bit sharper than intended.
"Well, she wasn't back then," Bonny murmured, rubbing the burned forearm that Manilla had exposed before.
"Why did you not heal you arm?" Obelix asked her.
"Because I can't. Nor can anyone else. I told you that healing has to do with focusing on the positive, on growth and strength in yourself. When I look at this arm, I see nothing but a friendship that died, and my own weakness. It makes me realize things. I let Phyllis down."
"Well, that's not exactly…" "No Asterix," she interrupted, "I could see back at your hut that you thought so too. And you're right. I messed up. I should not have hesitated, even if the fight went different from what was planned. Even if it seemed impossible, I should have been by her side. I was afraid to lose her though. She and Manilla are the closest thing to a family I have. I never knew my parents. She was like a sister to me. I was so afraid that I would lose the little family I created around me, that I panicked. And although she didn't die, Phyllis is just a lost to me. Our friendship is damaged beyond repair, and so is this arm," she said, shaking back her sleeve, tracing the scar with her slender fingers.
Obelix stared helplessly at his best friend, as if urging him to say something.
"Well…you can't undo what happened in the past," he confirmed, "But that does not mean that you're friendship is beyond repair…You're both alive, and you obviously care for her…so it's not too late."
"Yeah", Obelix added enthusiastically, "Me and Asterix, we fight all the time, and we always manage to make things up." Bonny gave him a soft smile, "I don't think it's the same, Obelix."
"Sure it is," Asterix said briskly. "We can start by finding out what it has that Mesmeron has control over. It must be something she cares for…" "Mesmeron pretty much took all that away from her already," Bonny said, her tone slightly bitter, "and she pushed off everyone else, I don't see what it could be."
"Maybe her parents?" Asterix offered.
"Lucius and Myra?" she said, surprised. "No Asterix, that's not it. They returned to Greece when we started preparing to fight Mesmeron, Phyllis convinced them it was better they were not close to her.
"And they agreed?" Asterix asked disbelievingly. "I thought it was strange too," Bonny said, but it is just how they act. They understood that Phyllis could never be happy letting Mesmeron go, but that the thing she feared most was him hurting her true family. They went away to protect her against that. Besides Phyllis is not an only child, she has a younger sister, Joci. She must be about fifteen now. After Mesmerons attack on Phyllis, her parents did come to the Forest House. I don't think she would have made it without them. Initially I thought she had gone to Greece with them, but she stayed. So there must be something keeping her here.
"Maybe it's you?" Obelix offered. Asterix immediately thought it was possible, but Bonny threw back her head in obvious disbelief.
"First of all, I can defend myself against Mesmeron. I may not be strong enough to protect entire crowds, but I can resist his games and attacks. Phyllis and Manilla taught me well. Second, she will never forgive me."
"I find that hard to believe," Asterix countered. "You were the closest friends for so long, and she seems like a person who knows the value of that."
"She does. But my behavior back then made her lose something she valued maybe even more. She cared so much for that horse, and…By Belenos." Bonny's eyes widened in sudden realization. "It must be Goliath. If Mesmeron wanted control over.." "Wait, the horse survived? But you said.."
"Goliath took an attack from Mesmeron, she should have died…but she was not there when I found Phyllis, and I was to worried over her to think twice about it. But if you think of it, Phyllis was the incarnation of what Mesmeron wanted, all his powers and the ability to heal. Maybe he saw an opportunity in cursing her horse…"
"What do you mean, curse?"
"Well actually I mean more like an illusion…like if Phyllis would try find her horse, she would not recognize her. She can only find her if she cooperates with Mesmeron."
"Goliath was not there in the forest," Asterix said. "That you did not see her does not necessarily mean she was not there. But I don't think so. Phyllis…Phyllis hates Mesmeron, too much even to give him what he wants." "Yet she proposed to me to just give into him."
"Yeah, well, she always wanted to keep everyone as uninvolved with him as possible…"
"So how can you break that illusion?" Asterix asked eagerly. He knew it was possible. "By knowing it is not real I guess. Phyllis normally can, but if the illusion was created right after she was attacked, it had all the time to sink in. You and I would just see Goliath you know, the illusion is on the person who sees it, not on the item or being itself."
"Great! So all we have to do is find that horse." He looked at Bonny a bit regretful. "Pity you didn't realize this sooner, you could have found her long before now. But we can go to our Chief right now, and then you can come along when we start looking for her…"
"Asterix…" Bonny looked uncomfortable, "Manilla needs me here, in case Mesmeron attacks, and she will not want to see you go after Goliath either. Finding her may not be so difficult, but so far no one who ever crossed Mesmerons plans survived.
"Nonsense, Phyllis survived, Manilla did…" "Manilla is part of Mesmerons agenda, he needs her. And maybe the same goes for Phyllis. And if it doesn't…she is still alive yes, but at what price?"
Asterix stood up, determined as ever, "Time to lower that price a little. Let's go." He headed for the door."
"It is not worth it!" Bonny almost yelled, "By Belissima, think about it, you're putting yourself and you're entire village in danger for just a horse!"
Asterix eyes drifted to Obelix, who held Dogmatix against his chest. His entire composure showed hurt and shock. "Just a horse…"he murmured softly, looking down at Idefix, who whimpered a little, sensing his owner's change of mood. Bonny picked up his words, and she looked guilty, but she argued: "Oh, come on Obelix, I like pets too, but you would not risk you village over Dogmatix now would you?"
The question hung in the air, the unspoken answer lurking in the uncomfortable silence that filled the hut. Finally Asterix chose to voice it: "Yes he would. We would." Obelix threw him an appreciative look, and he became defensive when Bonny looked exasperated. "And why not? Dogmatix has done more than his part in defending our village, even if he is JUST a dog. He rose from his chair. "You know, Maybe Phyllis is right in her opinion of you. You're not that good a friend if you won't help us to make her happy again, simply because you don't think her pet is worth the risk."
Bonny looked as if she was slapped across the face. Asterix was shocked himself. He knew how much Obelix cared for Dogmatix, and how Bonny's statement must have stung him, but he barely recognized his best friend. It was worse than any fights they ever had. Obelix words sounded cold and definite. It was not just anger. Obelix got angry quite often actually, but he warmed up again just as easily. This was not like him at all.
Obelix walked out of the door, not even glancing back. Asterix looked at Bonny, who was close to tears. He had no idea what to say to her. Bonny shook her head when he opened his mouth. "Just go," she whispered. And so he did.