Chapter 10: The Aftermath

…Jane tossed uncomfortably and rolled over. When she did her arm flew over and knocked Bert's. She then squeezed Mary and mumbled Micheal in her sleep.

When Jane had bumped his arm, they both had been startled and awoke them from the trance. He quickly let her go and they both quickly pulled away from each other.

"I uh…"

"Yes... I …err… umm…"

Neither knew what to say because neither of them knew what had just happened! The awkwardness was broken by Jane's moaning as she uncomfortably slept. It broke they're hearts to see this. Mary pulled her closer and Jane, almost as if it was instinct, snuggled into her.

"The poor girl, she looks so innocent when she sleeps. Too bad she'll be thrown into this crazy world when she wakes up." Bert said with a sigh.

"Yes…" Mary replied with a bit of tension. "Well the sooner we get out of here the sooner everything goes back to normal. Everything will." She said with an implication to Bert about what had just happened.

"Right… well we best be going to sleep." He said.

Bert laid his cloak on the ground and went to sleep. Mary undid her own and draped it over Jane because she looked cold and Jane had left her own back at the inn. In fact a lot of their things had been left there. They now only had the items they had gotten when they first arrived in the book and a few coins.

Mary stroked Jane's forehead caringly and went to sleep.

Three hours later it was mid morning. Mary awoke first. She yawned as she tried to fully awake. She felt something covering her that hadn't been their before. Something that was midnight black and had a familiar smell about it. She rose her head up and saw that it was Bert's riding cloak. She looked over to Jane who still slept against her, wrapped snuggly in her formerly pure white one, which was now messy from sleeping on the dirt. She brushed some hair from Jane's face and laid her head back down. It was then she felt something else on her that hadn't been there, something heavier than a cloak. She turned her head and saw another head. It was Bert, and he had his arm around her. It felt comfortable and right. She was about to let it be when she remembered what had happened the previous night, and now he had done this? Mary didn't like it one bit. She quickly stood up, disturbing the sleeping Jane and Bert who had been startled awake by her abruptness.

Jane rubbed her eyes lazily and Bert stretched and yawned. Jane looked at the cloak on her. "So that's what was so comfy" she said. She got up and handed it back to Mary. "Thank You"

Bert stood up. "It looks like it's almost noon. We have to get to the town within the next hours by walking." He said looking at the map he pulled from Jane's bag.

"We can't walk. It'll take to long!" Jane cried.

"Well we no longer have horses Jane." He told her. "I don't know any other way to get there, do you Mary?" he asked looking over to her.

Mary wouldn't meet his eye and looked right past him very noticeably. "No, we have to go by foot, but I do believe there is a fast route. Am I correct Jane?" she asked her as she had been the one to find it.

Jane nodded. "Yes, I noticed it along the thieves' road, but I have no idea where it is anymore."

Bert examined the map as he gave up on trying to catch her eye, she was clearly not going to acknowledge him just yet, she was being stubborn. It stung a bit, but he hoped it wouldn't last long. "Well a rough guess would be that were around here, considering we ran this way, It was in that direction based on where you ran up to us from. So if we walk… east we should find it. According to the map there is a river that circles the town and when we see the river we'll know that were there."

Mary nodded. "Very well. Let's gather our things and be off. And be careful incase the guard is still around here looking for us."

They walked for what seemed like forever. They reached the road but were set with a fork in the road. Unsure of which road to take, Jane offered to take the map and climb a tree to see if she could see the right way.

When they were alone, Bert turned to Mary. He had had it with the silent treatment. "A'right, how long do you plan to ignore me like that?" he said bluntly.

Mary didn't look at him. "What are you talking about?" she asked coldly.

"You know full well what I mean; you've been an iceberg since… you know…" he said to her getting annoyed.

"No, I don't know." She said defiantly. "How about you tell me and I'll see if I can answer."

Bert scoffed. "Is that how you're going to be? Fine then, let me spell it out for you…" he began.

Mary turned sharply with a nasty look. "Don't give me that tone!" she said coldly.

"Oh my, she actually looks at me. Boy do I feel special now! The Great Mary Poppins acknowledges my existence!" he said just as coldly.

Mary looked shocked to hear him like his and it did sting a bit, but her temper was too overpowering. "You have no reason to be angry! It was YOU who started…it." She said avoiding calling it what it was.

"Oh please, you had plenty of time to stop it if you wanted to!" he told her.

"Ha! IF I wanted to? Don't make me laugh!" she said cruelly.

"Oh what does that mean?" he demanded bitterly.

"Please you know what I mean!" she declared.

"If that's the case, then why did you already?" he reminded her. "Remember? Back in the garden, you kissed me! You did! And you cannot deny it!" he said angrily.

Mary's eyes filled with anger then did something horrible. She denied it.

Bert looked taken aback, and very hurt. "If that's the way you feel then so be it. Let's get Micheal and get out of this place, and don't worry about it. Whither you did or not, you never will have to again… I promise you that. You don't have to worry about me anymore."

Jane descended from the tree looking awkward and out of place. She pointed to the left road. "That's the way." She said and they walked along it in silence.

The reached the river by 2pm. They reached the gate a few moments later. "This is it." Was all they could say, as they had finally reached their destination. They pushed the gate open and walked into the capital of LePleut. The home to the castle of Broulliard and somewhere inside. Micheal was waiting.