Chapter 11

"You're home early. Did you finally finish up at Mr. Peronel's?" asked a pleasantly surprised Sarah.

"Yes."

"So, who found the red stick this year?"

That question caught John off guard and he made a funny little strangled cough. He had forgotten after he had changed the subject to his job hunt when he was talking with Yidirik.

"John? Was it you?" Sarah asked as an unidentifiable twinkle of mirth entered her eyes.

"Yes," he finally choked out.

"Okay, okay! I can clearly see you're under unwanted questioning. Why don't you get changed and come back down for dinner," she said with a smile. She gave John a friendly nudge towards the general direction to the stairs and made a shooing motion with her hands.

John obliged her and was yet again flustered. Once in his room he placed the sack of money and the red stick that was partially hidden by the sack in the back corner of his closet. He pulled out a light colored short-sleeved shirt and tan colored pants and quickly changed his clothing.

What met him in the dining room were two brightly smiling five-year-olds, a gently smiling Sarah and a slightly unhappy looking Aunt Rena who didn't notice John walk in since she was giving the stove in her kitchen an annoyed look.

"Is something wrong?" asked John as he seated himself in front of a tray of food Sarah motioned him to.

"Oh nothing much, it's just that the stove isn't working again. I just hope whatever it is that the energist hasn't been drained. They're supposed to last for a couple years. I hope you don't mind cold soup, I had to make my grandmother's cold soup recipe," Aunt Rena said.

"I'm sure it tastes just as good as anything you cook," said John as he lifted a spoonful of the orange-red soup to his lips. As he had thought the soup did taste wonderful, but it was a bit strange since he was used to hot soup.

"Just as I thought," voiced John, "this is excellent."

"Thank you," said Aunt Rena as she sat beside the girls and in front of Sarah and John.

John glanced over at the troublesome stove and asked, "May I take a look at that after I'm finished eating?"

"Go right ahead," she replied after swallowing some soup, "I heard you found the red stick at Ravvel's. Good timing too since you and Sarah are going to the festival together."

The two mentioned reddened at Aunt Rena's implication. John coughed to the side and Sarah found her soup intensely interesting. Aunt Rena laughed, clearly finding the two's behavior humorous.

"What's so funny Aunt Rena?" asked Brittany, oblivious to the adults' conversation since she and Lindsey were busy in their own world.

"Nothing little ears need to worry about," the elderly woman replied as she patted Brittany's head.

Brittany pouted and was about to ask another question when Lindsey got up to put away her soup bowl and cup. Brittany forgot entirely about her question as she hopped after Lindsey saying, "Wait for me!"

"I suspect they will be announcing the date of the festival tomorrow since you finished up at Ravvel's, he's always the last to be done," added Aunt Rena.

John nodded, embarrassment put aside.

The adults quietly finished their soup and gathered their eating utensils. As Aunt Rena washed bowls and the like John examined the stove. He pulled it out of its corner and walked around it, looking at all its sides. There seemed to be a removable panel in the back that was held in place by four screws, one in each corner.

"Aunt Rena?" John called out to catch her attention.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where I might find some tools such as a screw driver?"

"If I'm not mistaken, a tool box is kept in the stable."

"Thank you."

John stepped outside into the chilly night. It was clear with only a hint of decay from rotting vegetation. He strode to the dimly lit stable and shuffled across its cement floor to feel out ahead of him so he wouldn't trip if there happened to be something in the way. He paused when Hessen nickered at his presence and bobbed his head. John took a glance at Ralley's stall. Ralley had noticed him and turned away to face a back corner, presenting his rump and tail to John.

"Don't worry boy, I'm not here to ride you now, just looking for the tools," John said to the horse in a half whisper. He finally decided to go to the tack room.

In a dusty corner (everything was dusty in the stable despite Sarah's and a few others' efforts to keep it clean) a slightly rusted tool box sat with a monkey wrench poking out of it. John crouched down and opened the lid and found the tools he needed and may need including string, copper wire, and a hammer. He picked up the rectangular, heavy, box and made his way back to the house as quietly as a man with heavy, loose tools could.

He blew the dust off the lid before he stepped into the house and continued on back to the kitchen where the stove awaited him.

John was hunched over and knelt on one knee while unscrewing the panel on the stove. Aunt Rena leaned over him slightly as she watched his progress.

"You realize that if you break the stove you're going to have to buy it right?" Aunt Rena asked in a mock serious voice.

"The thought had occurred to me," replied John as he carefully pulled away the panel and leaned it against a wall. He saw the energist nestled in its harness and seemingly chaotic wiring all around it, but for some reason John felt that he was in his element. With confident hands he traced a few wires, hovering once in a while in places he believed caused the problem.

"I think some of the problem with this stove is that the wiring is corroded, especially at the connectors to the energist. Can you see this whitish substance?" John pointed to some bared wires near the energist harness as Aunt Rena squatted down a little and looked over John's metal arm.

"Yes, I see it. It seems out of place in a piece of machinery that's supposed to be new," replied Aunt Rena who unsquinted her eyes to look at John.

"It's been made with cheap parts. The only thing of any value in here would be the energist. I would guess the wires are low grade copper and I can't believe that half of these are bared, it could have caused a fire. It's a wonder that it hasn't all ready," John half mumbled to himself.

"My goodness!" a shocked Aunt Rena gasped.

"Don't worry, I'm going to try and dismantle this and replace a lot of the wires… I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see about replacement wires," John said to himself. He turned to Aunt Rena and asked, "Is there some place I can find the supplies for this?"

"Well, there's Marzel's at the end of the Market and in front of Big Hill…" Aunt Rena paused at the blank look on John's face and laughed, "Silly me! You haven't been out anywhere but to Ravvel's! Why don't you go ask Sarah, she knows where it is. You might as well also get a tour of the town since you'll be here for a while."

John nodded, his silvery aqua hair waving in front of his eyes.

"Hmmm," hummed Aunt Rena critically as she rubbed a lock of John's hair between her thumb and forefinger. "I think you should get your hair cut, I don't want it said that I'm harboring a ruffian."

"Aunt Rena!" John exclaimed playfully as he gently swatted her hand away.

"All this long hair makes it look like you're trying to hide you face. Why should you? You're young, handsome and have beautiful eyes, you should let young ladies notice."

John gave out a short but hearty laugh from deep within.

"I swear you're trying to marry me off…" John suddenly remembered the red stick and lowered his face to try to hide the diffident smile that appeared.

Aunt Rena affectionately patted his head like she did to children and stood up.

"Well, I'm going home now. Good night."

John stood up with a slightly concerned face and asked, "Do you need an escort?"

"Don't worry about me. I've lived here all my life and I can handle myself. But that upstart Drok Dravel won't believe me, he's been escorting me home the past ten years since he came back," Aunt Rena replied wryly.

John grinned at the hardy woman's tone and said his good night.

Author's Notes: Okay, so this is still a bit on the short side, but work with me people! LOL! Anyways, that's it for now until I get more written and edited.

Myst Lady ML-chan ~ It certainly does look like Folken is getting his memory back, doesn't it? *Blushes* Aw shucks, I don't write that well.

Kae Noel ~ Yup, it does look like Sarah and John, I mean Folken eh heh ^_~;, are getting hitched, or are they? MWAHAHAHAHA!!! *coughs*

Aria ~ Good, bad, who knows? Even I'm not sure, we'll see how it turns out. I'll tell you this much though, I *love* happy endings no matter how unrealistic! LOL!

Otaku Pitcher ~ School and lack of interest due to wanting to read other fanfics hold me down, but that's okay. I have Creative Writing and I think it's neat. I posted up a memoir (not an autobiography) up here on ff.net under the title "Where I Come From". That's right, I'm promoting my story in this comment! HAHAHA! LOL! Anyways, don't feel bad about not being able to review in a timely manner, at least you did.

ShadowShapeShifter ~ I have abandoned stories before, two Star Trek fanfics in fact and they're still up, I feel bad for that because I have a pretty good number reading one of them and they ask for more. I intend to finish them sometime, but not now since I'm focusing on this when I can. I'll try to "keep up the good work". Will he figure out with the stove what a genius he is? You'll have to wait and see… *cough*that'sthepurpose*cough* ;-P

Kartos ~ It's been close to a month from your Chapter 10 review and now this is up. Do you think I should write more of my inane ramblings from now on? LOL!

Louie ~ Well, it's finished up, but I don't think it's long enough for you readers, or me if it wasn't my own fanfic, but you'll have to wait for me to write more.

Here's the stuff I put up originally on 10/21/02

More Stuff!

Now I figure I want fill this page up a bit to make up for the lack of story. But what with? Perhaps my usual ramblings? (If you sat next to me in AP Psych, or know me personally you'll sympathize with those who are near me.)

Things LSR_7 ponders about out loud in front of fellow classmates during free time:

"Why is the sky blue?" (Kevin explains that space is actually a really dark blue so it filters through our atmosphere as blue. James says that it's actually the energy in the light and the atmosphere, how else can the sunset be several colors? And other stuff that went through one ear and out the other from utter incomprehension on LSR_7's part. Occam's razor dictates that Kevin's explanation is the best.)

"Did I train Alex using the Premack's principle? I make him throw away the Saran wrap after he eats the fruit since he usually never brings his lunch so he takes my fruit from my lunch." (LSR_7 is given a weird expression by another Alex, in her psych class, she knows and he tells her that he is ashamed to have the same name as the Alex I trained, who is a friend of mine.)

"So wait, is the water blue because the sky is blue? Or is it the other way around?"

"I learned a lot of stuff from Star Trek books!" (Given a weird look by Alex in my psych class.)

I think that's all I can think of right now.

Anyways, I gotta get to work on my homework. Until next time, bye!

-LSR_7