Wooddale crossed her arms, "We're waiting."

Tavi winced, "We were just playing Auntie."

"Pretty loud game," Gumlittle commented. He was looking at Cubbi though. The young squire eyed Tavi,

"She was loud."

"Hey!"

"You're the one that swiped it."

"Tavi Gummi, what is he talking about?" Tavi now saw what Cubbi was doing and she smiled,

"Aw, Cubbi and I were just playing this little game. I swiped something and he was trying to get it back from me. And I-"

"She made it disappear," Cubbi chimed in. He smirked, "Cheater."

Tavi rolled her eyes and then both cubs turned to the adults, waiting to see if they'd buy it.

Gumlittle felt this was a bit odd but he didn't question their story. He looked at Wooddale who nodded. Gumlittle cleared his throat,

"Well, you two don't need to be making such a ruckus. You'll wake the whole castle." Cubbi glanced at Tavi,

"She did it."

Tavi blushed, "Okay, so I'm still rusty with the magic…I confess! You don't hafta shove it down my throat!"

Wooddale narrowed her eyes, again, "Are you even supposed to be using magic without me or one of the other wizards around?" She quirked a brow and Tavi said,

"No, Aunt Toffi."

The sorceress grabbed her niece by the upper arm and slowly led her off, saying, "We need to have a talk, young lady."

Cubbi watched her go, still a little angry when Gumlittle clasped his shoulder. "Lad, I think you and I have one more place to go…"

"It was just a game, Plucki."

"That's not why I'm disappointed, lad." He said simply, looking down at the small cub that'd been shown to him by Gumlittle when he had headed in at the loud noise. When he'd been informed of what had happened, he'd been shocked but not too badly. After all, Cubbi was a cub. In fact, the Gummi Knight was rather amused by this little tale. "I'll never get angry because of you playing. You're cubs. It's the time you chose to do so that disappoints me."

Cubbi sighed; Plucki was so good at guilt trips! "Because it was night, right?"

Plucki nodded, "Not just night, it's late lad. In fact, as soon as we're done I want you to get a bath and get into bed."

Cubbi just nodded; he already had a plan for keeping up the façade. He just had to fulfill it carefully. But first, he had to get through this lecture of Plucki's which was a killer. He wasn't boring but he knew how to zero in on your guilt. Cubbi would have much rather had that type of lecture than this type. It was also the first time that Plucki had lectured him since he'd become his squire.

He already made up his mind to avoid it again if he could.

"I don't mind you playing with Tavi. In fact, Councilor Wooddale asked me to thank you for her a few days ago."

Cubbi looked up, "For what?"

Plucki sat down in the chair by Cubbi's bed, where the cub was perched. "For being her friend. Cubbi, Tavi and Lucki were extremely close siblings, almost like twins. We were all worried at how she would handle her brother's…passing." He chose his words carefully, knowing the small cub he was talking to was still sensitive on the memories of the war. "You've helped her more than you know, lad."

Cubbi shrugged, "She's nice…when she isn't swiping my things!"

"I thought you told me it was a game."

"It is…but it's nice to have a heads up." The cub caught Plucki's glance and said, "I promise we'll keep it down at night from now on, okay?"

Plucki got up, smiling. "That's all I ask. Go ahead and play but try and do your quieter games at night." Cubbi nodded as Plucki walked out. The cub waited a few more moments before grasping a small jar and disappearing down the hall. He was as quiet as possible, knowing that the adult knights would be up for quite a while yet. Slipping down the back set of stairs, he vanished into the library, where one of the older magicians, an elderly gummi named Nanci greeted him.

Nanci smiled and turned, greeted her visitor. Her voice was old, shaky but kind.

"Well, hello there young squire. What brings you here?"

"I wanted to know if you could grant me a favor."

"I will certainly see if I may, young one. What troubles your heart?"

"Well, uh…I need to get a gift for Grammi. I was wondering if you could make any of that face cream that hides the blemishes on your face."

"Oh, such a sweet gift young squire. And quite simple to make. Have you a jar?"

The cub handed her his ivory jar. She smiled and muttered a few words he could not catch before handing it back to him.

"There you go, little one."

"Thanks," the cub beamed, knowing that his face could melt anyone and ran off. Sure enough, he heard Nanci mutter about the "cute lad." He hated being known as cute but he'd use it to his advantage if he could. His prize in hand, he ran back up the stairs. He had a way now, just hold on a bit longer; all he had to do was stay awake.

That proved much harder than he had ever anticipated. The cream worked wonders but every day Tavi looked at him with pure worry on her face. She approached him a few times and managed to get out of him that he had a new cream. He did promise her that he would stop using it at the end of the week and she seemed okay with that. But she still watched him with pain in her eyes, pain of worry. Now that the end of the week had come, she kept looking at him with a more intense expression.

Cubbi was having a harder time hiding it as well. His appetite had increased but the adults shrugged it off. Plucki had told him that it was probably a growth spurt. So Cubbi used that excuse. However, it was tutoring that was killing him. He had taken to pinching himself every half hour, to make sure he was awake. He knew Corvi and Flynn would not help him again. Blastus had made them do cleaning chores for two days instead of training and write a lengthy letter of apology to Ivori.

And now, the exhaustion was in full spin. Today of all days. The squires trained against one another for most of the week but today, on the last day of the week, they went up against their mentors for a skills analysis to see what skills they needed to sharpen. He was hanging in as well as he could but he was failing and he knew it. Luckily, Plucki had not yet said anything.

But with a duck under Plucki's latest blow, the exhaustion took its toll. His knees buckled, his eyes shut and he fell off, unconscious. Plucki, alarmed, jumped right down, picking the cub up. He was already starting to come to.

"Lad, are you all right? You're not ill are you?"

"N…no…I'm fine…"

"No, he's not!"

Cubbi felt his heart stop as he recognized Tavi storm onto the field over to the two. He forced himself onto his elbows and hissed,

"Tavi Gummi, you promised me!"

"I don't care! You're going to kill yourself!" By now, she had Sir Plucki's full attention. She ignored Cubbi and ran over so she standing right by the Gummi Captain. "Don't listen to him, Plucki. I made him a promise that I wouldn't tell but I think I should."

"Plucki, don't-"

"Hush, Sir Cubbi." The knight's words were not cruel but they were stern and firm. He gave a nod to Tavi, "Go on, lass."

"For the past month, Cubbi's only been sleepin' for three hours a night and he hasn't slept at ALL this entire week! He's gonna kill himself!"