Chapter 24- Healing and Hospitality

Robert had no idea where he and his five companions were at the moment. All he knew was they had crossed the sea over to England and landed in a remote area where Aloysius decided to conjure up a house for them to sleep. He looked to the sky and saw the moon brighten as clouds passed. It was only a matter of hours. The next day- around early evening at moonrise- he would become an uncontrollable monster once again.

He wandered through a forest and some rolling hills until he reached a rocky area leading to some cliffs. Down below was a beach. The sea.

He hiked down a hill of step-like boulders and walked along the beach. He dipped his toe into the cold, night-dark water. The moon's reflection brought back a memory.

It was in a place much like this, in Normandy, where he'd been exploring as a younger man one night, wishing to swim by the light of the full moon. A gigantic transformed werewolf had rushed to him on the beach. It attacked him, mauling him in the right shoulder before it ran away. Robert barely even had a chance to catch a glimpse at the thing, too shocked by pain and bleeding to care.

At that time, Robert aspired to be a Magical Creatures zoologist. He'd been given a supply of enchanted seaweed which upon eating a bit of it, allowed him to swim underwater to examine the creatures of the deep. He'd only found the ordinary fish, barnacles and oysters amongst Sans-Magie shipwrecks. Finding a Mer-person, a magical Sea-Beast, or even risking an encounter with an octopus-tentacled Sea-Enchanter were goals that Robert never had the chance to achieve.

Presently, Robert removed his boots and waded ankle deep in the gently lapping waves. An uncomfortable chill in the water was the one thing that made this night different from the night in which he became a werewolf in the first place. Back then it had been midsummer, the balmy season.

Robert took a deep breath and plunged into the water, not really knowing why or what he was trying to do other than hide away from the world. To protect the handful of people left who cared about him. If only he had some of that enchanted seaweed right now.

The cold was shocking as he tried to swim, his strong limbs propelling him through the quiet waves. He remembered Marie, his former ladylove. He could still see her look of barely concealed horror when she discovered the truth of what he became. He'd destroyed her house and the nearby stable one night, slaughtering two of her father's horses. One day she loved him, the next he was banished away.

How would Robert have any hope to be cured in time? Out here in a strange land, far from any access to the potion that could supposedly save him from transforming in less than twenty- no, now twelve hours. He typically changed in the early evening, and from the violet hue of the sky over the water, he could tell it was nearing dawn.

He plunged his head beneath the water, wondering if he could endure the fate of just drowning and ending it once and for all. His lungs screamed for air, and so he raised his head above the surface, gasping.

Frustrated with himself, he put his head under once more. As he did so he spotted some large, oddly shaped creatures approaching him.

They looked like women! Three lovely young ladies from the look of their forms, with long black hair. Their bottom halves were clearly tails and fins of a shimmering green tone. Their faces were human-like and pale, ashen grey in the water.

One reached out and grasped his arm with her strong hand. She pulled him lower. As he was yanked down his mouth opened wide from shock and fear, filling his lungs with seawater. The torture was too much to endure. The mermaid's firm grip was an iron handcuff, pulling him down to his doom.

He didn't want to die, now that his fate was being put in strange hands other than his own. He found the will to live again.

'Transplaner!' he shouted in his mind, thinking of the beach where he'd been standing just minutes before.

Within moments, he lay in the sand on the shore. He gasped and rolled to one side, throwing up while coughing out the water in his lungs.

Thank Merlin for my magic...what a damned idiot I am!

"Robert!" Toulouse's voice called out. "Have you completely gone mad?"

"Yes...I have! Thank you for...noticing!" he coughed. His chest burned as he continued to hack and choke. The sky had lightened, it was now dawn. Robert looked up to the boy's concerned face.

"What happened?" Toulouse demanded.

"A mermaid…" he managed to say between coughs.

"Whatever it is, you need to go back to the others!" Toulouse said hastily. He grabbed Robert's hand to perform Transplaner back to the shelter.

When they arrived back at the little house, the rest were awake, gathered in a tiny sitting room amongst the sort of Rococo chairs that Aloysius liked to conjure. Agathe was awake and un-Petrified, but pale and tired. Marcel and Adelaide shared a settee; the man's hand was still bound in bandages and he looked morose and battle-weary, even as his ladylove reclined beside him.

Several pairs of eyes met Robert's, and he could sense discomfort in all of them.

"I took a swim in the ocean! Is that so bad?" he asked gruffly. None of them needed to know he briefly thought of ending his own life over his condition.

"Robert," said Marcel uncomfortably, "It's all right. We just wanted to know where you were. I'm about to Summon my mother in London and speak with her now. Find out if she's made any of the Apprivoiser Le Loup potion. I think that's what it's called. So here goes…"

Marcel looked at the wall opposite where he and Adelaide were sitting and spoke his mother's name to Summon her. A flash of white lit up the room, and Sabine appeared before them much like a realistic ghost, visible only from the waist up as if she were peeking in a window.

"Marcel, I could tell you're nearer from my Mirror! Where are you?" she asked, her voice a bit echoing from the distance.

"Maman, I made it to England! I landed Felix and Fifi and my old carriage in the countryside, not far from the sea shore," Marcel said in a surprisingly strong and upbeat tone, and Robert could tell that he was unwilling to let her know the hell he'd just been put through.

"But exactly where in England, petit?"

"I don't know how far, but I need to ask you something, Maman. Do you by chance have any Apprivoiser Le Loup potion?"

"I would have to check. I haven't brewed it for a long time, but I took every vial I've made for the past ten years along with me when we traveled," she told him after pondering a moment. "There was one time...I gave some to a wizard from Troyes who claimed his son had been afflicted with a werewolf bite, and I recall using most of the flask on him. I found out he was cured."

Robert's heart pounded with dread that the lady might not even have the precious draught on hand. If there was no hope for him, what could he do now? Where could he go?

"Maman, please look for it," said Marcel. "If you have it we'll come to you as soon as we can! I can't say how far I am from the city, our landing, um...was an emergency so...I don't know."

"Who are you with?"

"A group of friends. Adelaide, and um, some others."

"Were you attacked by a werewolf?" Sabine asked with worry. Robert sighed miserably as he stood in the corner of the room.

"No, it wasn't me. Someone else, he's among us," Marcel replied, giving Robert a pained look. "Tonight's the full moon, and he's here with us, and so-"

"You must get away from any werewolves, friend or not!" Sabine warned.

"You think I don't know that? At least give the man a chance!" Marcel argued.

"I will look through my supplies here at our new home and see," Sabine said. "If I find it, I'm willing to go to you if only you can give me a look at your location right now." After she looked over the room a moment, studying the layout and details while holding up her Mirror, she vanished.

Robert left the room quietly to avoid any words or looks of pity from the others. He sat down on a bed and put a deafening charm on his ears as to not hear anyone speaking. His fate for this night- as well as the safety of his friends- was riding upon a tiny amount of liquid in a lady's cupboard.

Pessimism caused him to descend back into despair as several minutes passed. Outside the tiny window of the bedroom, the bright morning sun cast a warming golden ray. The friendly sun seemed to mock him, for its daughter the moon would take its place in a very short while. Perhaps it would have been better to let the mermaid pull him into the depths of the sea after all.

It was ironic to think as a youngster, his dream had actually been to see a real mermaid.

He hunched over the bed, lungs still aching and clothes still damp, smelling of sea and a bit of the vomit from when he'd choked. He could catch ill from the near drowning, perhaps that could be his blessing...

The small door creaked open; he sensed someone standing next to him putting a warm hand on his shoulder. Opening his eyes he recognized the green-and-gold striped robe de l'anglaise gown and silver rose necklace, the finely-lined face of the tired blonde beauty, her features still flawless.

Handsome lady, Agathe is in this form, Robert thought. Her real age suited her.

She mouthed words, something about Sabine. He kept his Deafening charm, not wishing to hear the dooming news.

Agathe's expression turned into a stern, withering look that made him feel like a fool. He felt his ears pop from her swift removal of his charm. Her voice was loud and sharp as his hearing returned.

"Sabine is coming to deliver potion to you, Robert!"

"What?" he said with disbelief.

"She has one third of a small vial. I only hope it is enough for a man your size."

He nodded weakly, his hope still doubtful.

An hour later, at about mid-morning, Sabine was ushered into the small cottage by Marcel and Adelaide. She had apparently been close enough to perform a Transplaner, and she informed them that the city of London was only a two hours' carriage drive by land. The lady looked very well taken care of and of good health. She was dressed in a flowing beige robe gown and gold jewelry.

Sabine embraced her son first, the two glad to be reunited again. She glanced around the room, looking for the man who was a werewolf.

"Who is the man afflicted with Loup-Garou?"

The others glanced in Robert's direction while he slumped in a chair, hunched over trying to make himself look small. He was wearing new clean clothes. Sabine pulled the little jar from her dress pocket and examined the liquid inside it. "I didn't expect a man your size, Monsieur. But it's a powerful potion. The least I can do."

"Merci," he replied, humbled. Sabine opened the jar and walked over to the man in the chair. "It is best if you drink it pure rather than mix with water or tea. More potent that way. It shouldn't taste quite as bad as some other potions."

Robert took the jar and drank it down as fast as he could, wincing at the sour taste. He didn't feel any different. "Does this mean that I won't turn into a monster tonight?" he asked her incredulously.

"It worked for someone else," said Sabine. "The shelf life is long, and I believe it gets stronger as it sits."

"Like wine, then?" Robert asked.

"Oui, just like wine." She turned to her friend Aloysius. "It's so good to see that you made it here, Aloysius, mon ami! What made you decide to come across the English Channel? Marcel, was it you who decided for them?"

"I had a feeling I ought to," her son admitted. "Safety was the most important thing on my mind, Maman. I had to make a quick decision to get out of France."

...

Agathe- who had been reclining and recovering from her curse in a bedroom away from the others- came into the small sitting room. She knew that Madame Sabine still held a grudge against her. She preferred to avoid any conflict or argument about the past.

"Madame Sabine," Agathe began, "thank you for what you just did to help this man."

"You're welcome," Sabine replied graciously, her face softening in a way that told Agathe she did not mean ill will.

Agathe gestured her hand to Marcel. "Your son won't admit it to you, but he is one of the bravest wizards I've ever met in my life. We encountered some trouble on the journey. I was cursed and rendered unconscious part of the way. Marcel brought us to safety."

Sabine beamed with pride at him. When she noticed her son's hand wrapped in fabric, she used her wand to quickly heal his blisters and burns within minutes. Adelaide embraced them both in gratitude.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Aloysius, "as much as I like this little house I conjured, we will have to pack it all up and move on. Let's hitch the horses and we will go to London with you, Madame Sabine."

"Please! You must join my family for dinner and stay awhile," Sabine insisted.

Aloysius and Marcel took turns with the reins of the carriage while Madame Sabine guided them to London by land. They arrived in the city by late afternoon and entered a modest neighborhood, not unlike the Paris quartier where Sabine, Adelaide, and Toulouse had lived. It was busy and bustling, and the Sans-Magie people were speaking a different language. To them, the city seemed to lack charm and joy. They couldn't help noticing many unhappy soldiers milling about.

"The English Sans-Magies are losing one of their senseless wars," Sabine said to Aloysius, as he drove along the streets cramped with coaches and carriages of all sorts. "A battalion of soldiers returned home, the lucky ones at least. The city is full of widows whose men died across the great ocean."

Aloysius nodded, but said nothing. He didn't want to think about the mess back in France that was the Enchanted society there, nor the fact Sabine's son created a widow from his actions of war.

Aloysius had still not told Agathe about Alexis' death. She had been unconscious when it happened. Aloysius hoped that perhaps Marcel would break the news to her.

Alexis Sauvageon had been family. The previous night had been a tragedy and triumph, as all battles were.

...

A building in the shabby-looking neighborhood, a dark brick structure with odd gargoyles on its gables, was Madame Sabine's new home. The bottom floor featured a business sign that said "Furniture" in English.

"My dear Hami Daniel's shop," Sabine told Aloysius. "Business is slow but steady."

They parked the horses at a common stable in the back, and Sabine led them all inside the building and up two flights of stairs. The stairs led to a foyer and a pleasant suite of rooms. The floor of the foyer was covered with a colorful rug. Vases of lavender and purple flowers lay about.

"Let me show you around," said Sabine. "My sister Celeste and her husband Edouard are making a meal. I'm certain you must be famished!"

"We are, thank you," said Marcel gratefully, speaking for all of them.

"Is it all right to let my cat wander about?" Adelaide asked, cradling Lorette in her arms.

"Of course. Celeste has a cat, they will hopefully get along," Sabine replied. Adelaide set her cat down; Lorette skittered away to explore the interesting rooms.

The group was pleased to discover how Sabine and her brother in law, Edouard, had magicked the place to create so many rooms. Though the furniture shop building itself looked slummish and poor from the exterior, the inside was reminiscent of a smaller version of the suites of L'Hotel de Brumagne, at least to Aloysius and Adelaide.

Robert nervously glanced at a large clock over the hearth of a fireplace. It was already five minutes after six in the evening. He was not a monstrous wolf. And he was alive, rather than pulled by unfriendly mermaids into the depths of the sea.

...

Madame Sabine showed the guests into the warm and pleasant kitchen area for dinner. She introduced them to her husband, furniture maker Hami Daniel Djokoto, as well as Celeste and Edouard Guerin, the parents of Monique.

Celeste resembled Sabine, a graceful dark beauty several years younger than her sister. Like Plumette, Celeste was not Magical at all. Edouard was a fair-complexioned middle aged wizard with a quiet, stern demeanor.

"Where is Monique today, Madame?" Adelaide asked Celeste while she offered to help set the table with china dishes. "I met your daughter, she's a sweet girl."

"Yesterday we sent her off to start her new school, Mademoiselle," Celeste replied. "She was nervous, but she loved the caravan of red coaches when she saw them. I do hope she is making new friends."

Her husband Edouard nodded. "England is much kinder than France when it comes to partial blood Enchanters. At least most of them are in that school. Anyone hostile to them are controlled by the headmaster and the Ministry. She will be safe."

"When will she come home to you?" Adelaide asked the couple as she and Celeste set dishes around the long wooden table.

"Likely not until December, Adelaide," Marcel told her. He carried a large tureen of soup with his now healed-hands, setting it on the table. "It's a boarding school, like the one I went to."

He sat down next to Robert, who was still staring at a clock on the wall, wringing his hands with stress. Marcel leaned toward Robert and whispered in his ear.

"Robert, just have faith. It's well into the evening now. Trust the potion. It will not happen."

Robert stared ahead at the clock and nodded. Marcel saw the big man's pale blue eyes were badly bloodshot from what had happened to him in the sea. He, too, hoped that the potion was powerful enough, considering his size.

Adelaide was telling the sisters she hoped to reunite with Monique someday. "If I ever have children, I would hate to send them away from me for so long," she blurted out as she joined Marcel at the table. "Lovely roses," she added, noticing the centerpiece that hadn't been there.

"If the two of you have a child together, there is a good chance it may be Sans-Magie," said Sabine matter-of-factly.

"Maman, it's too early to be thinking about that," Marcel said with a bit of embarrassment. Adelaide blushed the color of the roses on the table.

There had not been any roses on the table a few minutes before, but there had now appeared vases of bright red ones, popping up all around the dining room, obviously conjured. Aloysius gave Agathe a curious look, but she said nothing.

"But for that to happen, you must be bound in marriage," continued Sabine. She noticed the new roses and touched one with her finger, admiring it. "Marcel, I will introduce you and Adelaide to my new English friend. Friar Thomas."

"Who's that?" asked Marcel.

"He's a half-blood wizard in town, who spent time in a Sans-Magie monastery. He refrained from using magic for months, until the suppressed magic inside him caused some chaos. Explosions and flying dishes. Things the poor frightened monks thought were caused by evil spirits. So Thomas had to leave. He wrote a book about his ordeal, and it's required reading at Monique's new school."

Toulouse, sitting on the other side of Robert at the table, perked up in interest. "That definitely sounds like a book I would want to read."

"I have a translated French copy. You may borrow it," said Sabine kindly.

Her hungry guests began tucking into the dinner of hot onion soup, fruits, cheeses and bread. Sabine's husband Hami Daniel set a large tankard of French-made ale on the table to pass around along with the water and tea. Robert and Edouard poured it into their goblets. Robert wished to celebrate his hopeful cure in secret, and a good French ale was the best way.

It was nearly seven o' clock. No transformation. It worked!

"His book is called An Experiment of Abstinence," Sabine told the curious Toulouse. "People read the title and think it's about abstinence of the sensual and carnal kind, how to endure it. Plus the fact it's written by a friar."

Everyone laughed, Robert spluttering his ale mid-swig as he chuckled. Marcel nudged Adelaide's ankle with his foot underneath the table, which led to the two playing with each other's feet discreetly. Adelaide blushed again.

"If a Magical person reads his book, it's full of theories about the human mind when it comes to Enchantment. How magic cannot be suppressed," Sabine explained. "However, if a Sans-Magie picks the book up and reads it, it's about prayer and eating grains and cheese and 'thinking pure and high thoughts' instead of about someone's body. The man is brilliant."

"Then I definitely want to borrow it, Madame, thank you," said Toulouse. "The wizard's version," he added.

"I'll borrow it after you, Toulouse," said Marcel.

"But Marcel," Robert cut in, "You can't get the advice from that book you would need. Better have Adelaide read her version aloud to you," he teased, his good humor returning. He managed to pull embarrassed smiles from both of them.

"That's very interesting, Madame," said Aloysius, who poured himself a cup of tea. "What happened to him in the monastery is probably the reason why even the inmates of La Maison des Crimes Noirs are allowed to do magic in prison," he opined.

"I'm glad you're making new friends here, Maman. But what does this Thomas person have to do with Adelaide and I being engaged?" Marcel asked. Beneath the table, he and Adelaide had their ankles wrapped around each other in a secret flirtation.

"Friar Thomas makes a living as an un-ordained clergyman and counselor for both Sans-Magies and wizards," his mother replied with enthusiasm. "He has the permission to join couples in marriage. He's one of the few wizards in London who will perform a ceremony of union between a Sans-Magie and a Magical. In other words- I'm arranging your wedding."

Marcel and Adelaide looked at each other with thinly veiled joy. They reached for more slices of Brie cheese and ate them, trying to be decent above the table while they caressed each other's ankles and legs below it.

"This week, I am going to take you both to meet with him," said Sabine in a no-nonsense tone. "I think Friar Thomas could have you wed very soon. Sooner than you think."

"That soon, Maman? You...must really like Adelaide then," Marcel said, grasping Adelaide's hand. The young woman was rendered speechless, shyly put on the spot.

"I am fond of you, Adelaide. I'm truly glad you're not Magical, and you make my boy happy, just like Jacinta is so happy with her Francois," said Sabine in a sentimental tone. "Twenty years ago, I would have never believed I'd accept-" Her voice broke as she leaned against her husband. Hami Daniel took her hand, squeezing it in compassion.

"I miss Jacinta so much," she said quietly.

Agathe- the one person who did not speak or laugh at anyone's jokes during dinner and the conjurer of the roses- spoke up.

"Madame, the castle where Jacinta and her husband live is guaranteed a safe haven. You must trust me that there is no better place," She spoke in a manner that was not meant to boast about her power, but to reassure all of them the facts. "I've secured it with my strongest enchantments ever. Not only the castle, but the village nearby. I cast the charms to protect a royal couple, but they will shield everyone within that region from enemies."

Sabine nodded to Agathe with acceptance and looked to her son and his beloved girl. "Marcel and Adelaide, after you two are married, we will return to France within the next year. War or no war. I wish to be with both of my children, together again. We were apart for much too long."

"Madame, please accept my apology for the circumstances of the past," said Agathe. "I will do everything I can for your family's well being and happiness from now on."

Sabine nodded. "Merci," she whispered, still holding her husband's hand. On the other side of the table, Marcel and Adelaide clasped hands as well.

...

During this warm moment of peace and reconciliation between the two women, Marcel studied Agathe's expression. He was struck with a horrible pang of guilt while he forced himself to lock eyes with the woman he used to resent, the Enchantress who saved his life in that prison cell.

Agathe gave him a kind and solemn look, but her emotions were so hard for Marcel to read. While on their journey, she'd said very little to him after her return to consciousness. She hadn't spoken one word to him, in fact.

Did Aloysius tell her about the presence of her nephew Alexis in the battle? Was she informed of his death while she rested in bed that morning? She could not have seen who hit her with the Petrifier curse during the chaos. Alexis was flying behind her when he cast it.

Marcel was horror-struck to realize that Agathe might not know.

Despite the bubbly excitement and joyful passion between him and Adelaide during dinner, the feel of her ankle entwined with his, her blushing cheeks and the delicious distraction her love gave him, the cold reality of last night returned. He squeezed Adelaide's hand and she squeezed back, yet another silent communication between them, her comforting presence and gentle love always there.

Marcel struggled with his own sentimental grief over Alexis Sauvageon, as much pain as he felt over killing Coach Quill.

He could not believe that Alexis was dead. And that he killed him, in such a horrific way. Alexis was Agathe's own family, but Marcel was certain he'd heard her voice in his mind, telling him to attempt that curse while he fought. He could not understand it. There was no way he could ask about it in the middle of polite company. He would need to face her alone.

...