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by M V Stevens This story contains Charactors and places which were created by J.K.Rowling and is Fan Fiction. Chapter 7, Arcanum. Again things settled down to the normal routine. Toby and his friends were kept busy with their class work and everyone had so much homework that they hardly had time to think about anything else. That seemed to be the Schools solution to the problems, make the students work even harder. Idle hands and all that sort of thing. Sam and the boys started spending more and more time in the library. They had reports to write for history. They had essays to write for Defense Against the Dark Arts. There were essays to write for potions, why did certain hurbs work so well with others, and why did others not work at all. Sam was a great researcher, and she could find just about anything once it was given to them to find. Orion was the slowest of them, but that is not to say he was stupid, not at all. He was just slower at learning, but once he had it in his head he kept it. So they geared their studies to his pace and as a results they all improved. It just became a given that if Orion had learned it they all had. One rainy Saturday morning they managed to talk Jay into escorting them to the Library so they could get a start on history essay. It was supposed to be two parchments long and had to do with the provisions of the Magical Creatures Treaty of 1542. They really weren't all that keen on doing the essay but with the rain and the wind there was no way they were going to get to go out side and play. Jay took them to the library and then left them. Sam set them all to looking for books about that period in time and also about the treaty. Now the library at Hogwarts was no ordinary library. How could it be with all the magic that was contained in all those books. One of the cardinal rules in the library was that if you opened a book and it began to talk to you or do something, anything at all, you were to immediately close it and give it to the librarian. Over the years books would sometimes change. They'd go weird. Magic is very funny about things like that. A book could take on a life of it's own. Usually when that happened the librarian would move the book over into the restricted section and flag it. Sooner or later someone would take the book find out what went wrong or weird with it and try to fix it. Some books became dangerous and had to be locked up. Those books could only be viewed by the highest levels of Witches and Wizards. Toby worked his way down the isle Sam had picked out for him and finally way at the back and way up high he spotted a book that Said in big red letters' Treaty of Arcanum, 1542.' Well that was the right date and it was about a treaty so it must be the right book. It was way up high so Toby went and got the moveable ladder for that isle and climbed up to the book. He looked down and noticed as he grabbed the book that the floor below him blurred just a bit then everything cleared up and went back to normal. "Must be the ladder moving." he decided. When he got back to their table he was the only one to have found a book from that date. As soon as everyone was back, and had gathered around, including Sheba she was laying right beside the book, Sam opened it up and read the first page. "The Treaty of Arcanum, 1542. The Closing of the final Portal between here and there." They all looked at each other. "What does that mean?" Orion asked as he read the page for himself. Sam shrugged and turned the page. "Be it here-by declared that the final link between our beloved England and the land of Arcanum is forever and a day severed. Heretofore we have allowed some serious students and researchers to visit Arcanum for the purpose of advanced studies. Foreasmuch as the conditions in Arcanum have deteriorated to so poor a state we have reached an agreement with the advanced College of Magic at Tulla and it's masters to close the only remaining portal. The masters at Tulla have agreed to guard the portal and prevent it's ever being opened again." "Wow!" Exclaimed Guy excitedly. "No one ever told us anything about such a place before. Does that mean there's a school of magic at this Tulla place just like Hogwarts?" "It's called a College, Guy, that must mean it's an advanced school of magic." Sam replied going over the text again. "We have no Colleges of advanced study here. I know because I asked. I wonder why they closed the portal? Wouldn't it be great to be able to go to a College after we Finnish here at Hogwarts?" Tie asked just as excited as Guy was. Sam agreed. "Yes it would. I for one would love to go to that Collage for advanced studies." There were a chorus of "me too's." Then Toby put his hand on the book to turn the page and at the same time he said "I wish we could all go to that place called Arcanum." (writers note... Come on don't pretend you don't know what's going to happen next hehehe ). That of course was the wrong thing to do, or right thing depending on how you look at it. The room around them began to slowly grow dim. At the same time it also began to spin slowly. It grew darker and darker. Then it began to grow lighter. There was a roaring sound in their ears and suddenly they were standing in a long oval shaped room with a low ceiling and windows all around. They all looked at each other. "What happened?" Sam asked as several people entered the room talking to each other. Toby shrugged and answered. "I think that book somehow heard us and now were in Arcanum." "Ya and not only that." Said Orion from one of the windows, "I'd guess were mile up in the air too, and there's this huge engine outside with a great huge propeller spinning on it." They all rushed over to the windows and looked out. No doubt about it, they were high up in the air and the loud noise they were hearing came form the engine outside. Toby looked up and down the length of the craft they were in and told them. "I think this is some kind of blimp." A woman standing near them also looking out the window corrected him. "Not a blimp, it's called a Dirigible." "This is neat." Tie told them excitedly. "I've read all about these airships but I never dreamed I'd ever actually be on one. this is so cool." The dark haired woman standing beside them looking out turned and gave Tie a very serious look. "This is the first Dirigible ever built. How is it you claim to have read all about airships?" Tie looked a little confused but answered truthfully. "We're not from around here. Where we come from they made airships like this one eighty or ninety years ago but they don't make them anymore. I think it's because they're too dangerous." "To dangerous? What could possible hurt an airship, as you call it, of this size up so high in the sky?" She demanded to know almost arrogantly. Sam had been watching something out one of the windows. Now she turned and told the lady, "I think one of those things headed for us could very easily hurt this airship." She pointed to two airplanes climbing slowly upwards towards them. "If those two airplanes have machine guns on them they could very easily shoot us down." The woman looked where Sam was pointing and seemed upset. "What in the world are those things, aireoplanes did you call them? If they have what? They can shoot this airship down?" "We call them machine guns, but I guess repeating guns would do as well. This airship is made of a magnesium frame with huge bags of hydrogen gas to give it lift. Both hydrogen and magnesium are very highly flammable. One bullet striking a spark and peercing the gas bags could send this airship tumbling down from the sky in flames. Lets hope those aireoplanes as you called them are friendly." The first plane proved Sam to be wrong in her hope. The "rat it tat tat " of machine gun fire dispelled all doubt of the intentions of the pilots of the planes. The first plane missed and turned clumsily away to make another pass. The second plane missed as well with his gun fire, but he was such a clumsy pilot he turned into the airship instead of away and crashed head long right into the middle. There was a bone jarring crunch, and the Airship began to lay over onto it's side. There was a terrible explosion which blew all the windows out of the room they were in, and then as the airship healed over they all fell straight out of the windows, and began to tumble downward from a mile in the air. Toby some how kept his wits and pulled out his wand and cast the first spell that came to mind. "Wingardium Leviosa" he repeated and pointed to all of them as they fell. Some how he even managed to include the woman who had been talking to them as she tumbled by. All of them leveled out and began to float slowly down ward. Sam and the boys didn't seem too surprised to be floating downward but the woman was in a near panic until she finally realized she wasn't going to end up dead when they reached the ground. Meanwhile the second plane was turning back to attack the airship again, but the pilot saw the six of them floating downward slowly, and starred at them so long he crashed into the already burning airship, and he and the airship went plummeting downward toward the ground so far below. When they finally reached the ground the airship had pretty well burned itself out and there was nothing left but the huge engines with their twisted and bent propellers still attached and a huge long burned and twisted framework laying in pieces all over the place. The heat had been intense for several minutes as they had come downward, but the hydrogen had burned up very quickly. The really bad part of all of this were the bodies of the passengers and crew scattered all over the place in and around the wreckage. The lady whose life had been spared along with theirs seemed dazed at first. She simply stood there starring at the wreckage. Toby, Sam, and the others began going through the wreckage seeing if there were any more survivors. After an hour of searching they found not one survivor. They returned to the woman only to find her going through the belongings of every single dead person. Sam was angry to see her doing this to the dead, and she told her, "you shouldn't be doing that to the dead. It's not right. It's dishonest." The lady stopped and looked closely at each of them then told them all. "These people are dead. They have no needs. By tomorrow the wolves and other wild creatures will have ravaged their bodies anyway. But we're alive, and we do have needs. I know from the maps my father used to show me that we are high up in the Stonewall mountains. Do you know what that means?" They all shook their heads. "Well it means that it's going to be cold tonight, very cold, maybe freezing. Now I've already found several boxes of matches. A pile of good warm cloaks and coats. Several pairs of good sturdy boots, and an assortment of knives and weapons. We need food and some kind of shelter for tonight and every other night until we find a town. I don't know about you but I don't have any money on me so we have no choice, but to search through the wreckage and hope to find some money too. I also hope we can find some food. I don't fancy starving to death. So why don't you lot get to work, and hut through every speck of this wreck with me, and pull out anything at all that might be worth something when we find a town to barter with for food and equipment. And by the way my name is Sarabi we might as well get to know each other since were going to be spending a lot time together." They all introduced themselves and then under Sarabi's direction they began to hunt through the wreckage for anything not too damaged to be put to use. It was hard and dirty work what with all the hot twisted metal and the ash from the fire. By nightfall they had accumulated a large pile of useable clothing, tools, weapons, and a lot of personal effects that might be worth something in trade for what ever they might need. They had also found several hundred gold coins similar to the ones they used back home. They were in luck one way. They found a large chest that had survived the crash, and inside it was packed full of camping equipment. "I heard one of the passengers saying something about an expedition. This must be their equipment. Lets see what they packed." There were three tents, eight sleeping bags, all kinds of cooking gear, and a shovel, and two axes. "It looks like we just may have a chance of making it back to civilization after all. That is if the wild animals and the imps don't get us." Sarabi commented as she surveyed the piles of articles they had scavenged. "Yes I do believe we can make it with this lot." They had several canteens of water and there was a stream nearby to refill them. "Ok now that we have all this stuff we have to figure out how were going to carry it all. We can't carry that big chest around with us so we have to divide it all up between us and then figure out which way to go from here. You kids saved my life so I owe you. Most people around here would just go off and leave you here, but I was raise to believe in honor and paying your debts. So I'm going to see to it you get home then I'll continue on my own path. Now what we need to find out is how much can each of you carry. We have all these back packs so let give it a try and see how we come out." As it turned out they could carry a lot more than anyone thought they could. By sorting through everything and picking things for each of them it turned into a self eliminating process. Warm durable clothing first, then the camping equipment, then the little bit of food that they had managed to find. Each of them had to carry a weapon Sarabi insisted on it. You don't understand how dangerous this country is. There are wolves by the hundreds, bears uncountable, and worse of all there are the Imps, or Kites as some call them." "Kites?" asked Orion who was playing with the shot sword he had picked out for himself. "Yes, Kites. They're a short creature no taller than your waste. They sort of look human but they're not. Not in the lest. They are vicious fighters and will attack without provocation. You can't talk to them or reason with them, they won't listen they're too busy trying to kill you. Now since you seem to know some magic do any of you know any fighting spells?" She asked them her eyes always darting around to watch their surroundings. Toby thought for a minute. "We can do a lot of spells, we can put wards around out camp at night that will keep out wild animals. Sam and I can do the fire ball spelland It's pretty awful. I don't know what else we might need, but we know a lot of spells and potions too." "That's better yet. Ok let move away from this wreck. The bodes are going to attract wolves and such, and I don't want to fight my way out of here." She finished picking up her pack, which was easily twice the size of theirs, and leading them down the hillside towards a small creek that flowed off into the forest. As they trekked along the creek Toby became aware of just how alive the forest was with life. He had played in the forest near his home when he was little but this forest was very much different. The trees were alive with birds of all sorts and squirrels by the dozens. On the ground he saw rabbits and other small creatures skittering here and there in their daily pursuits. The rabbits caught Sarabi's attention quite quickly. She drew her bow and let fly with a arrow at one. She hit it clean and went over saved the arrow, and tied the dead rabbit to her belt. As they marched along she collected five more large rabbits. "These are our dinner tonight. One thing if you ever see a blue rabbit... leave it alone and move away quickly." "There's no such thing as a blue rabbit." Orion said doubtingly. Sarabi laughed at Orion. "I wish there wasn't, but there is. So just take my word for it Orion and don't stick around to ask it if it's real. It can kill you quite quickly." Another thing soon became apparent. The wolves were following them. Sarabi listened several times to them and commented, "There aren't enough of them to attack us just yet, but they will soon. Toby and Sam get ready with those fire ball spells or yours." They could hear the wolves moving along with them not far away. It was making Toby very nervous. He had no doubt about his spells, after fighting the spiders he knew he could do his part, but the waiting was getting very tiring. Toby didn't have to wait much longer. Three wolves came arrowing in from in front of them, and five more came in at them from behind. Without thinking or planing Toby cast a fireball right at two of the wolves as they came right at him. With a sharp 'Crack' the two wolves burst into intence flame and vaporized. There was another 'Crack' from the other side as Sam did the same thing, taking out two more of the wolves. Sarabi had her sword out and in a flash she had dispatched one of the two wolves coming at her. Guy swung at the other wolf but he missed completley. Tei on the other hand managed to conect with the same wolf with his dagger, but the wolf was turning to bite him when Guy finnaly did manage to canect with his sword. The wolve died as they both pulled their weopns from the body of the wolf. Toby cast his spell again as did Sam and two more wolves died. Sarabi dispatched the remaining wolf quickly and turned to see if anyone needed any help. They didn't all the wolves were dead. She looked from one to the other of them. "This wasn't the first fight you've been in is it?" "No ma'am it isn't. At school the giant spiders attacked us, and we had to fight them off. Of course we had Hagrid and the Centaurs to help us then." Sam answered her. "Hagrid? Centaurs?" "He's our teacher in the care of Magical Creatures. He's a half Giant. The Centaurs are half horse and half human. The front is the human part." Sam explained. Sarabi looked bewildered. "Half Giant? What is a Giant, and for that matter what's a horse?" It was Sam's turn to look bewildered. "You don't have Giants here? Really big humans about twice the height of a tall man?" Sarabi shook her head. "Horses are, well there big enough for even a big man to ride on and they look like deer, only they don't have any antlers." "I see." Sarabi said softly but it was clear she didn't. "Our worlds are very different that much is clear." They continued along the canyon following the stream. Soon however it started to grow dark. It also was beginning to get cold. "Fill your water bottles and canteens, and then we're going to move back away from the stream to find a suitable camping spot for the night." They quickly complied and then set off away from the stream back into the forest. Just a short distance back the found a nice clearing were they could set up their tents and after gathering some rocks they started a fire. As soon as Toby and the others found enough wood for the fire Sam touched it with her wand and the wood burst into flame. Sarabi had been about to light a match, but she put the match up and commented. "I won't be need them with you lot around. Now do any of you know how to cook?" None of them knew anything about campfire cooking so Sarabi began to teach them the basics. "First we skin and cut up our rabbits. Then we'll make up a mix to bread the pieces of meat and we'll make some biscuits, and last we'll make some gravy for our biscuits." Sarabi was amazingly patient with them as they had to learn a whole new way of life. "You don't skin the rabbit right away because the smell of blood will draw predators to us. Any meat we have left over tonight we will wrap up and save for tomorrow noon. I'll show you tomorrow how to find vegetables so we can make a nice stew. For tonight we will have plain water to drink but tomorrow we will find herbs to make a good tea from. We need to keep our strength up and eating and drinking the right things will become very important to us, in fact while we are on the move finding enough food will be one of our primary concerns. " Super while a far cry from Hogwarts standards was at lest filling and tasted good. Rabbit proved to be very flavorful and satisfying. The gravy and biscuits helped to fill them up so they wouldn't starve all night long. They set up the tents and got out sleeping bags the bags had to be aired out because they all smelled of smoke. But once all that was done Toby and Sam worked their way around the Camp and set up wards. They had to set them high enough to keep wolves and such from jumping over them, and this time they didn't role the top edges over. If anything tried to clime over the wards they were in for a very painful experience at the top. the edge of the ward was razor sharp since it had no thickness at all. Anything grasping the top or trying to clime over the top would be cut in half or at lest lose all of it's fingers. Sarabi had never seen anything like the wards but after she tried her best to kick, hack and slash the wards and accomplished nothing at all she decided that they would be safe enough. With no tree limbs anywhere near them nothing could jump into the camp and since the wards would instantly fill any hole dug beneath them nothing could tunnel under them. As a last precaution Toby set the wards to ring like a bell if anything tried to force it's way through them. Sarabi and Sam slept in one tent and all the boys slept in the other. Just before they crawled into their sleeping bags, Sam cast a spell she had read of, over the fire place. A large blue ball appeared and began to radiate a comfortable heat which kept the tents warm all night long. Sleep that night was spotty. Not because they were cold or uncomfortable, but because wolves and other things keep trying to get through the wards all night long. Several intense battles broke out between the different species of creatures outside of the wards. By morning the clearing was full of wolves all eager to get at the humans just beyond their reach. Sarabi was just as surprised as the kids were at how many wolves there were waiting to eat them. "I've never seen anything like this. There are at lest a hundred or more wolves out there. Now how are we going to get out of here with that many of them waiting for us?" Orion came up with an idea. "If you could shoot your fireballs up in the air so they fall down just outside the wards maybe it would scare them away." "Wolves don't scare all that easy, but go ahead and try. The worst you can do is kill off a few dozen." Sarabi told them as she and Sam started their breakfast. Toby started casting the fireball spell and aiming it upwards at different angles until he found the right angles to land the fireballs anywhere amongst the wolves he wanted. By the time breakfast was ready there were no wolves left anywhere in sight. Toby had blasted them all to ashes. They packed up their gear and set off shortly after eating. Sarabi kept a keen look out for any signs of trouble, but she was also looking for edible plants and herbs. She found plenty and soon had them all looking as they marched along. By lunch time they had almost more than they could carry. Again they set up the wards after gathering wood for the fire and water to cook with and drink. Sarabi taught them how to make a very good tea, and had them clean and dice the vegetables for their rabbit stew. As they were eating Sarabi told them. "Since I'm teaching you lot how to survive in this world I'd like it if you started to teach me some of that magic your doing so casually." "Normally you have to have a wand to do our type of magic, but I think the rules here are just a little bit different. Toby knows Rune magic, and it doesn't seem to need a wand. So tonight we should be able to teach you some magic." Sam told her confidently. They resumed their trek and continued down out of the mountains. The stream they followed grew larger as other small streams joined it and soon it became a small river. Sarabi began to collect rabbits again which was an easy task because there were so many of them. They also collected herbs and vegetables for supper. Orion spotted a plant he recognized. "I think those plants over there are potatoes, can I go get them and see?" Sarabi nodded and waited as he ran over and dug out several large potatoes. Just as he was returning several short almost human looking creatures came running out of the brush small swords raised to attack Orion. Sarabi had been watching for just such an attack. She fitted an arrow and drew her bow in one smooth motion and one of the kites toppled to the ground. Sam and Toby also let fly with fireballs which incinerated the remaining kits. Orion ran back to them looking a little pail but he had his potatoes, nice big ones. "You eat them?" Sarabi asked skeptically. "Oh yes they're good eating." Orion reassured her as he stuffed them into a bag he carried over his shoulders. They continued on then and Orion found several more potatoes so there would be plenty for all. They also had to fend off kites and wolves again during their march down the canyon out of the mountains. Sarabi found out just how good fried potatoes and baked potatoes were and they all eat like pigs. Traveling by foot the way they were burned up a lot of calories, and they had to put all that back in the form of food. With the wards up and a nice campfire to sit by Sam began to tell Sarabi about their school and all about there world. Sarabi wasn't sure she believed everything Sam told her but she enjoyed the story anyway. "Your world is very much different than ours. Here we do have machines, but most of the work is still done by hand. As far as I know only in Trent the largest City that I know of do they have the kinds of machinery that you talk of, although I've never heard of talking pictures or vehicles you could get in and drive anywhere you wanted to go. You saw our first blimp as you call it and two very strange aireoplanes, but that's about it for flying machinery." "Your just getting started is all." Tei assured her. "Not actually." She said thoughtfully. "Five hundred years ago it seems we had much more in the way of machinery, but there was a big war between the elves and the humans. The elves tried to put an end to technology and the humans fought back. That war set everyone back to a almost primitive state for two or three hundred years. It's only been recently that the old technology has been rediscovered and is coming back. But like before there are a lot of people who don't think we should be rediscovering the old technology, mainly the elves again, and of course the humans are even more determined to defend their right to develop as they see fit. It may well lead to another war. I hope not becuse there really aren't that many elves or humans left anymore." They started Sarabi learning magic that night too, and she proved very quick to catch on. She pointed at a twig using Sam's wand and said. "Wingardium Leviosa!" and up the twig rose into the air. "Wow that wasn't hard!" She exclaimed starring at the twig floating in the air. "I really thought it would be harder than that. Is it the wand or the words or both or what? How does it work." None of them actually knew so she handed back Sam's wand and just used her finger, "Wingardium Leviosa" and again the twig rose up into the air. "I wondered about that." She told them. "The mages I've seen just wave their arms and say fancy words, and their magic always seems to work. I guess it's more a matter of the words than anything else." They didn't know one way or the other here in this strange land so they simply agreed. They were all very tired so it was soon off to bed for them all. The wards were attacked all night long, but for the most part they slept through the noise, they were very tired. Morning brought another exercise in fireball artillery practice with Toby showing Sarabi how to cast the spell and giving her the pleasure of toasting about a hundred more wolves. Once the wolves were taken care of they set out along the stream now a river, always moving down stream. "If my memory serves me right there will be a town somewhere further down this river. I believe the name of it is Shrouded Hills, but that's all I can remember of it." As they traveled they again collected food and herbs. Again they were attacked by the Kites, but it was not a major problem. The Kites seemed almost mindless in their determination to kill the humans. It did them no good, but that didn't stop them. Occasionally a bear would attack them too, but a fireball took care of the bears as well as it did the wolves or Kites. Tie had been thinking about the animals and why they kept attacking them. "Why do they attack us like this?" he asked just after they had killed their third bear. "Don't the wild animals attack you where you come from?" Sarabi asked instead of answering. "No for the most part wild animals avoid humans. If given a choice they will run away there are very few creatures that will just attack for no reason at all." Tie informed her. They walked on for almost an hour before Sarabi answered. "I have often wondered about that myself Tie. I have to admit I don't know why they hate us so much. I'm sure most folk would just as soon live and let live, but not the animals. They hate us and I really don't know the reason why." It was late in the afternoon when the caught sight of the small town of Shrouded Hills. "We'll wait up here on this rise until tomorrow. Then I will go into town, and see what kind of people live here." "What do you mean by that Sarabi?" Sam asked. "What kind of people live here I mean." "Sam I know you come from a world were most of the people are nice and treat you fair. But that is not true here. Some towns the people are as nice as they can be, but others the people are mean and cruel. We have to be careful. Me being a woman, and you being kids could make a lot of trouble for us. So lets just be careful and let me go into town in the morning and scout around a bit to see how they behave towards me." They made camp and set up the wards, Sarabi helped this time still insistent that she learn as much from them as they were learning from her. As darkness fell they could see the twinkle of lights down in the town below. It was a beautiful night and Toby noticed something very disturbing. "Sarabi why are there no stars in the sky above? And there is no moon. I haven't seen the moon since we got here." Sarabi just looked at him. "Stars? Moon? Toby what in the world are you talking about?" "Er, Sarabi it would be a long hard time to explain what all that is. Let's just say it's another of the differences between where we come from and here." Toby told her deciding not to even try to explain astronomy. "Ok, but someday we'll have a long talk about all these differences. I have a feeling I'm missing something very important here and I'd eventually like to know what it is. Now one important question. How do I get you home? I owe you for saving my life but how in the world, or I guess more to the point out of this world, do I get you kids safely home?" She asked watching them closely. Toby thought about it for a few minutes as Sarabi continued to watch him. "First I'll tell you how we came to be here, then I'll tell you how I think were going to have to get home. We were in the library at our school, and we were doing a report on a treaty. I found a book with the correct date on it, and we began to read it. It was all about a treaty all right, but not the one we were looking for. It spoke of a Collage for Wizards named Tulla. We were all talking about how we would love to go to a wizarding Collage after we get out of Hogwarts when I reached up to turn the page and said something to the effect that I wished we could all got to Arcanum. You know the rest. We appeared on that airship and now here we are. To get home my best guess would be to find the Collage for Wizards and ask them to send us home. There used to be a portal between your world and ours and for some reason it was shut down. Maybe they will open it long enough to send us back." Sarabi thought about it then asked. "What if they won't or can't send you back?" "Then we wait for a few years until I'm mature enough to use my own powers and I'll take us back." Toby told her confidently. "Your own powers? Toby again you confuse me what powers, I mean your obviously a wizard but are you something else too?" "He's a Jinn Sarabi, the only Golden Jinn to be born in almost five thousand years." Sam told her proudly. "Do I dare ask what a Jinn is." Sarabi asked looking Toby up and down as if she were seeing him for the first time. "A Jinn is a very powerful magical creature, meaning it's not human. But Toby's dad was human and his mom is a Jinn. Toby is the first male human, Jinn child to live to be older than five years. He was really sick a couple of months ago but now he's all right and he's gona grow up and everything." Sam explained then add when she realized what she had said. "I shouldn't have said that Toby your mom didn't want you to know how sick your were. I'm sorry." "Nothing to be sorry about Sam, I know I was very sick. And I know I turned all golden and hard. But it's Ok now I'll be able to control it soon and then if we haven't got home yet I'll take us home. That's a promise." Toby told all his friends. "For some reason I feel better about all this. You see I'm not all human either. I'm half Elf and half human. Lots of people don't like me because of it too." Sarabi told them seriously. "Well we like you just fine." Orion told her firmly. "We have all kinds of people in our world, and we treat everybody the same. And I like you lots." Sarabi smiled at Orion's open honesty. "Thank you Orion, that means a lot to me. But enough talk for tonight lets all get some sleep. In the morning who knows maybe we can find out where this Collage of yours is." Just before she fell asleep Sam told Sarabi. "I just want to say that we all like you Sarabi, I don't know what would have happened to us if we hadn't found you on that airship. It's us who should be thanking you." Sarabi was silent for several minutes and Sam was almost asleep when she answered. "You lot have given me something to live for. Up until now, or at lest since my dad died, I've had very little to look forward to. I'm an outcast form my mother's people the Elves, and for the most part an outcast from humans as well. So Sam I guess fate did us all a favor bringing us all together like this. Sweet dreams Sam." "Ummm, you too Sarabi."......
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