"Cub's Fever?"

Plucki sat on the cub's bed, "Yes, Cub's Fever."

Cubbi shrugged "I dunno, never heard of it. Grammi mighta but she never told me."

Plucki closed his eyes; that was the answer he had been dreading. Cubbi was especially at risk if he had never even heard of the illness. That meant that it had probably not been around the Glen for several generations. If Cubbi caught it now, then it could be a worse case than any of the other squires or pages who had a slight advantage.

"Plucki?"

The knight turned and was met with a cub's overly concerned eyes. "Why do you ask, Plucki? What's goin' on?"

Plucki smiled, faintly, and gently ruffled the boy's short hair. "You're too smart, little lad." Cubbi pouted at him, puffing out his lower lip. The defiant look in his eyes said plainly "don't call me little." Plucki chuckled low in his throat and stroked the cub's cheek, something he had taken to doing whenever he had something serious to discuss. "Blastus caught a strain of it. It's fairly serious with adults and cubs can catch it easy so we want to try and prevent an outbreak if we can."

Realization shimmered in Cubbi's eyes and he nodded "Oh…"

"Gumlittle and I need to stay with Blastus, lad, to help him anyway we can."

Cubbi nodded, not complaining at all. "Will he die?"

Plucki sighed but he never lied. Not to a cub, not to anyone and he wouldn't lie to Cubbi. "We can't say Cubbi. We'll try as hard as we can and if I know Blastus, he's too stubborn to succumb to this. But…"

"…you can't promise it?"

"No, Cubbi, I'm afraid I can't."

Cubbi bit his lip and Plucki smiled. "Gumlittle and I are going to stay with him and help him out. I'm going to turn you boys over to Ramsei for a bit. Can you hang in with him as mentor for a few days?"

Cubbi nodded "Just help Blastus."

"Good lad."

"Cubs Fever!" Ramsei couldn't believe this…that illness was nearly wiped out! It was almost unheard of! It had been more common when he was younger but that had been a while ago. The last real outbreak they'd had had been when he, Plucki and the others had been cubs. He and Plucki had been about twelve. To hear of a comeback of it --and it first showing in an adult Blastus' age!-- was unbelievable.

Councilor Tosslewind nodded, solemnly, "Afraid so. Sarrika has confirmed it."

Ramsei frowned, almost angrily but there was concern in his normally stoic eyes. "Any word on how bad he is?"

"Sir Plucki and Gumlittle said they were going to stay with him. They'll be over quarantine in a few days but you know how they are with one another."

Ramsei nodded and a half smile broke through his face. Everyone knew how close those three were. Heck, Aldi had called them "Unca" as well as him, although they weren't technically related. Ramsei sighed at the memory. It had been Papa, Mama, Uncle Rams, Unca Little and Unca Blast'a. Ecri and Yaci had come in as squires about the time Aldi died and Aldi had become pretty good playmates with them. Ramsei mentally shook his head. Yaci was gone now too, dead. Ecri…well, he might as well have been dead too. Ever since the battle, the knight had kept quiet. He did what he was meant to do and then some. He threw himself into his duties and neither Blastus nor any of the others had managed to con a single word out of him. Every time Ramsei saw him, he got an empty face, blood shot eyes and all in all, a knight with no life left within him. He had discussed Ecri a few times with Plucki. The Gummi Captain was very close to ordering him to see a mind healer but he didn't want to force him into it if he could help it.

"-amsei?"

The knight shook himself out his thoughts, "Yes councilor?"

"You might want to discuss some things with Plucki. Don't enter sick bay. We don't want you becoming a carrier but see what our Captain plans to do."

"Of course." The knight turned and headed out of the room. He walked past some of the squires' rooms and past Blastus' empty quarters. Knights had more than bedrooms; they typically had small little homes called their quarters although the blue ranking knights' quarters were usually big enough to be called their own wing. Ramsei had a small kitchen, bedroom, sitting and living room in his quarters. His senior knights had larger ones. But Blastus' quarters were usually well lit by this time. Seeing the doorway dark and lifeless made him shiver mentally.

Ramsei stuck his head in the room across from Blastus' quarters, or one of the rooms. Flynn and Corvi had their room right across from their mentor. Flynn was still asleep and the knight decided he best not disturb the cub yet. Not until Plucki gave orders of what to do in any event. Glancing in Corvi's room, he saw the preteen was already up.

"Corvus?"

Corvi turned, as he always did when he was called but he was quicker when they used his real name. Seeing it was Ramsei, he relaxed. The blue knight always called him Corvus. He was so formal…he called everyone by their real name. He was always Corvus; Toni was called Antonius by Ramsei every time. Even the pages were called their real names, like Dennus.

Corvi mentally shook his head at the knight's dark eyes. Ramsei used to be a lot, well…warmer. When Corvi was five, before Aldi had died, Ramsei had been the one that had given Blastus the idea for his nickname, although unintentionally. Corvi bit his lip at the thought. As much as the name humiliated him, he'd have given anything at that moment to hear Blastus affectionately call him "my little lamb."

"What are you doing up, Corvus?"

"I heard about Blastus" came the cub's simple answer. "You expect me to go back to sleep after that?"

Ramsei just nodded, "Staying up and worrying won't help matters at all, Corvus." He didn't mean to sound scolding or stern. He could understand why Corvi would be the most concerned of the squires. He depended on Blastus the most especially in the past three years, since the cub's father Sir Gustav had been killed in battle.

Corvi just nodded, "Don't tell me how to feel or act. Just keep me updated, Sir Ramsus."

"That I can do."

"Good."

Ramsei decided it best to leave the cub be. Corvi normally was very mature and well behaved but when he was worried, as he was now, he got snappy, cranky and sometimes downright mean. Ramsei normally would have told the boy to march himself down to the stables and start cleaning for his attitude but given the situation, he let it pass.

Corvi waited and when Ramsei had closed the door behind him, the teen threw himself on his bed, tears clouding his vision. He dug under his pillow and found a stuffed animal he had taken comfort in for about three years, although it was always in private. Blastus had given it to him the night his father had passed away, after he'd taken him back to the palace. Ironically, his mother had been in labor with his youngest brother, Cori, at the time.

:Flashback:

Three Years Ago

"Go 'way! Leave me alone!"

Corvi buried his face under his pillow, choking on fresh sobs building up in his throat. He didn't want to see anyone right now. He didn't want to be reminded of the life going on outside his chamber's door. He didn't want to remember the brother being born that very moment without a father. He didn't want to revisit the scene that kept repeating itself throughout his mind.

He'd entered the battle field to help, in any way that he could. The knights were having difficulties. His father had fought valiantly and Corvi remembered secretly cheering him on, watching for the time when his father and his mentor, Blastus, would help Plucki and the others to fall this villain. He imagined the victories, the cheers…

They never came.

His father had fallen right in front of him, blood pooling on the normally green grass. At first, Corvi had thought that his father was playing dead to distract the enemy and perhaps he was going to rise back up and attack. However, as the attack had worn on, he had never moved. It had taken Corvi up until Blastus and Ramsei had come over and brushed his father's eyes shut to realize his father had been killed.

"Corvi?"

The cub drew his face from his pillow, tears blurring his vision. He wanted to be left alone, to cry alone. Yet, at the same time, he wanted some comfort. His mother was in labor with his last sibling or she would have been right by his side. He longed for someone to give him comfort and yet at the same time, he wanted to be left to his tears.

Blastus sat down on the cub's bed and stroked the boy's long golden hair. Corvi looked at him, tears still staining his cheeks. Blastus smiled, gently, and rubbed the cub's face with one of his fingers. Corvi grasped one of his mentor's fingers and whimpered, "Not fair. I want Daddy." He proceeded to burst into fresh tears and having no place available to wipe his nose, he smeared it on Blastus' arm.

Blastus made no reaction to the motion and instead patted his lap, "Come here, petit celui."

Corvi crawled over into his mentor's lap and laid his head onto his shoulder, crying. Blastus cradled the boy's head and started to stroke his long golden locks again. The cub started to scream and wail, saying "Why, Blastie? WHY? It's not fair! Daddy was supposed to be there when I got knighted. Daddy was supposed to be there with Mama RIGHT NOW! WHY!"

Blastus couldn't give an answer to that that the cub would accept or appreciate. The fact was simply: death wasn't fair and the cub was right. It wasn't fair that the cub had to lose his father. But the fact remained that it had happened and there was nothing more to do except deal with it and try to move on. That was hard for even an adult to do, let alone a child.

"Don't go Blastie!"

Blastus was jerked from his thoughts by the cub's tearful plea. He looked down and the cub met his eyes with tear filled ones. "Go? What do you mean, little lamb?" he said softly, using his nickname for the cub. Corvi buried his face deeper into the knight's shoulder, sobbing. He dug his claws into Blastus' arm, as deep as he could.

"Don't go away like Daddy did! Don't leave me too!"

Blastus was stunned. No wonder the cub was clinging to him so. He was afraid, not surprising, that Blastus would die too. After all, the cub's father had been a knight and he had gotten killed. Blastus was the sole other male figure in the boy's life and over the years, since the boy had become his very young page at three years, they'd gotten extremely close. Corvi looked to Blastus as a second father and the knight knew it. He tilted the boy's head up, talking to him gently,

"Little lamb, Blastie's not leaving."

Corvi buried his face into Blastus' chest. Blastus gently turned the cub's head, "I'll be here as often as I can be, little lamb." Corvi nodded, wiping at his eyes. Blastus grinned at him, "Mais, when I can't be, you hang onto this, alright?" Blastus drew a small package out of his knapsack, something he'd picked up when he'd headed back to the palace.

Corvi took the small box, blinking at Blastus. "It's yours, little lamb. Open it up."

Corvi ripped the paper off, reaching into the box. He removed a small black lamb, stuffed with feathers, a rarity for play toys. He stared at Blastus and the French knight grinned and thumbed the boy's nose. "A little lamb for my little lamb."

:Present:

"Plucki?"

The Gummadoon Captain turned at the voice at the doorway. Sarrika smiled faintly; it was obviously a struggle to do so in the current situation but she was trying to keep her spirits up. Plucki and Gumlittle had promptly glued themselves to Blastus' bedside, not that it surprised her any. When they'd gotten sick the first time, only by putting their beds side by side could she even keep them in bed! Plucki and Gumlittle hadn't caught serious cases but because Blastus had been allergic, it didn't help.

"Ramsei is here. He wants to know what you plan to do."

Plucki turned to Blastus, rubbed the younger knight's forehead with a wet cloth and got up, telling Gumlittle to watch Blastus for him. He headed to the doorway and inquired, "You've heard Ramsei?"

"Yes, Captain." Ramsei's eyes were full of concern "How is he?"

"Bad."

Ramsei nodded, squeezing his eyes shut for a brief moment. "What do you wish me to do?"

"Gumlittle and I need to stay with Blastus. Can you take over for a few days? Guide the squires."

"I'll do that, Plucki."

Plucki nodded, faintly, but upon hearing Blastus turn over in agony, he vanished back inside and the door shut in Ramsei's face.

Ramsei faced the squires, his face serious. The commotion had woken the boys and it seemed pointless to get them back to sleep. Most of the boys had questions and all of them wanted to know why their mentors weren't going to be available for a while. He'd told the boys that to make it safer for them and the knights that they better go home until Blastus was better. They would come for training of course but it would be best for them to spend the nights at home. The one exception was Cubbi, simply because his home was too far away.

"Will Blastie be okay?" Flynn looked ready to cry.

"He'll be fine, Flynn. But you boys are to listen to me until Plucki and the others are back in commission. Is that understood?"

He got nods from Corvi, Toni, Flynn, Martinni….wait a minute! "Boys, where's Cubbi?"

The squires exchanged glances and shrugged. Ramsei growled under his breath. It wasn't even seven yet and he'd already lost one of the boys! Suppressing the urge to curse, he turned to Corvi. "Corvus, you're in charge of getting them breakfast and off to tutoring. I'll see if I can track down the rogue one." The teen nodded and gently ushered the cubs towards the kitchen.

Ramsei watched them leave before turning his attention to possible areas the cub might have run off to. He knew it wasn't sick bay because if Plucki had seen the cub in there, there would have been a lecture going on that Gum herself could hear. He thought a moment and then checked the squires' playroom. No luck. He chanced a glance outside and decided to try the training field, knowing all too well of the cub's love and passion for becoming a knight. But that was a no-show as well. He was about to head back inside when he heard a fierce whinny from the stables.

The scene that greeted him was almost enough to make him fall to the ground laughing. Cubbi was clinging to one of the unicorn's lead ropes but the stallion had lifted him completely off the ground! The persistent cub however wasn't about to give up and used the situation to straddle the stallion's neck, bringing its cries to a halt.

"What are you doing, Sir Cubbi?"

The cub turned and was immediately defensive. "I'm helping! Blastus could well be dyin' and Plucki's gotta stay with him. If I can't help him in sick bay then I'll help him any other way I can." His eyes narrowed "And I mean that with every speck of spunk I got."