Before we left the village of cavignac, the villagers warned us that the surrounding woods were full of bandits.
"It's full of treacherous paths – and if one isn't careful it's easy to get lost."
Asterix and Obelix smiled and thanked them for the information, but it was pretty clear they weren't frightened by it.
Because with superhuman strength, what trouble can't you get out of?
"It's almost like cheating." I said in my musings as I watched the first fall leaves fall from the trees surrounding us.
"What is?"
I blinked and realized that I had said it out loud. One could get very bored on a long journey and my mind tended to wander. I looked down from on top of the dark stallion I was riding at Asterix who had asked the question. I nodded to the potion at his belt.
"That. It certainly can get you out of most troubles, but in a way it's like a cheat." I explained, as the shorter man's dark eyebrows narrowed.
"Excuse me?"
I shrugged and continued to explain what I meant by it.
"It's all well and good to use it to protect yourself from harm – but haven't it ever occurred to you that you might be overusing it? "
Asterix shoved his hands into his pockets and looked quite perturbed by what I was saying. He glanced up at me sideways while continuing to walk, the feathers on his helmet twitching.
"Miss, life for a gaul is already dangerous – but for one that belongs to one of the last unconquered villages in all of france? There is a reason why we use it so often."
I huffed at this – I understood his reasoning, but he still didn't understand what I was saying.
"But you use it so much that common problems doesn't even seem to cross your mind. Who was it that saved your necks from those romans a few nights ago? It was me, and it was not thanks to some stupid potion." I muttered the last bit and perhaps that's what set him off.
Asterix stopped dead in his tracks and his voice got very loud and deep, his face turning red.
"I'm sorry, I was not able to predict that bloody romans would surround our campfire on that particular night but in the future I will count on it!"
"Uhm, Asterix? She does make a good point." Obelix suddenly spoke up, which certainly didn't help Asterix foul mood as the short and ill-tempered gaul stalked off on the path in front of us.
I rolled my eyes and continued riding, Obelix now walking beside me instead.
"He's pretty sensitive about the whole subject of potions huh?" I asked him and Obelix shrugged, but some gears were turning in his head, because the next thing he said was surprisingly insightful.
"Back home, we have the chief to look out for us and tell us what to do – but everyone knows who we really depend on when it comes down to it. " he said, and I looked back at Asterix still walking ahead of us.
"To Asterix, the village and it's people is the most important thing in his life. To keep it safe. "
Four the next hour or so our journey continued in a tense silence.
That is, until the grunting sounds of wild boars could be heard nearby. Obelix's ears perked up and his eyes went wide.
"It's time for lunch!" he hollered – despite the fact that we were carrying plenty of food for our journey ahead. Asterix lifted a hand and began calling out to stop him, but Obelix was already gone -having taken off at an alarming speed for someone so large.
An awkward silence followed when we realized that we were now alone with each other.
"I guess it's time for a break." I said, sighing as I led the horse to the stream I could just glimpse around the corner.
I was fully prepared to be met by the sight of a gentle stream and nothing more unusual than that. I stopped short however by what we saw when we got there.
A large wooden wagon was half-way submerged in the stream and the owners - a man and a woman, were trying to push it out, but not having much luck. They had almost made it across, the horse tied to the wagon being encouraged by its rider to drag it out.
Two children sat on a nearby rock, watching the futile progress with bored expressions on their faces.
I jumped off my own horse and walked up to the wagon, and started pushing it myself. The man who was pushing it next to me hardly noticed me, trying with all his strength to get it out of the water. It was stuck pretty good, even I had to admit.
I heard a familiar-sounding thundering noise behind me, and suddenly I was pushing against air.
Asterix rolled the wagon out of the water with no effort at all, and the two travelers and their children watched on with amazement. The children scrambled down from the rock and talked all at once, cheering and asking Asterix a million questions as he took it and smiled down at them.
The man and his wife still appeared to be in shock, still standing in the water.
I was sort of quiet as we sat down to eat, thinking about what I had witnessed earlier.
I had only thought that the gauls used the potion for selfish reasons. To win in fights easily and save their own necks.
it's people is the most important thing in his life.
That's what Obelix had said. But it wasn't quite true – it was not just the gauls that he was trying to protect. It was hard to figure – especially from such a small, angry man.
I should have apologized for what I had said. But it wouldn't excuse what I would have to do soon enough.