The cub's dreams were empty of anything else and he didn't even stir once. The clouds overhead threatened to pour down rain but Cubbi didn't dare move. He couldn't have if he wanted to. His muscles were far too wasted and his spirit, as strong as it was, had been broken by physical and mental strain for the moment. He didn't know anything but the rest his muscles and body had been craving and now took by force.

A few squirrels and rabbits scurried past him. They stopped to sniff him but finding nothing of interest or of use, they scurried past. As they hopped out of the fence, they scurried across Sir Timothi's path on his way to make sure all the unicorns were in, should a storm break out. He looked over the fence and spied a still form on the fields. Worried that perhaps one of the pregnant mares had decided it time to foal, he hurried out. What he found was far worse.

"Cubbi!"

He recognized the pink cub anywhere. He'd become rather fond of the cub as of late. He scooped the boy up into his arms, finding his fur and clothes slick with sweat and the cub's breaths were slow and labored. His heart was racing. But he looked like he would be okay. The young knight scooped the squire up into his arms, baffled.

"Why didn't Sir Ramsei make you stop? Gum's sake, Plucki would have put a stop to this a long time ago. Doesn't Ramsei realize that cubs aren't good judges of themselves sometimes?" Timothi growled. If Ramsei wasn't his superior, he'd have given a good chunk of his mind at that moment. But the fact remained that he wasn't in a position to do that. Right now, the only thing Timothi could think of was to make sure the cub was alright. He was no medic. But sick bay was quarantined. He'd have to hope to find one of the medics off duty that hadn't gotten exposed to the sick.

Wait…one of the elder healers, Hucklberri was in the city. He'd retired but surely he'd give the cub a look over. Timothi set his sights on that elder's guest quarters and headed back to the palace at a break neck speed.

Through all this, Cubbi dreamed.

Gummadoon Streets

Toni shuddered as the sky crackled, announcing an incoming storm. He wanted to go home where it was dry. There wouldn't be training today then because of the storm. Great. He'd been looking forward to morning so he could go to the palace. If there was rain, all the squires knew there was no training, at least not for them. Corvi would still have his but they weren't experienced enough yet to train on wet equipment.

Toni cast a glance back at his house. Mother was cranky today but he didn't want to get her in trouble. Heck, Gumlittle had lost it at him a few times. Plucki had chewed him out for it too. He didn't want Mother to have to go through that. Maybe…maybe it had been like what happened with Gumlittle. He wanted to believe that. Maybe…

Hey, maybe Mother had seen the floor! Maybe that would have cheered her up! Toni headed back to the house and then paused, seeing the garden in the yard. "I'll show Mom I'm not useless! She hasn't even asked me!" That thought as his comfort, the cub threw himself over the fence and started to tug up the weeds with his bare hands.

Sweat poured down his face and mixed with the rain as it began to pour but Toni worked his heart out. Blood sliced through his fingers as thorns or tough leaves cut his skin. He'd never been really good at gardening but he was determined to make this work flawless. He even got onto his hands and knees and inspected the little plants by the root.

His mother observed this from the window, Lady Bane feeding off the woman's contempt and sorrow of her husband's death despite how she feigned he still lived. Toni was a constant reminder and the sorrow of loss was easy to feed off of. The woman stormed outside, pausing behind Toni. The boy didn't even look up until his hands were gushing blood.

"Mother! What…what do you think?"

Silence.

"I…I weeded the garden…"

"I'm not blind."

Toni blinked. "Well…how-how did I do?"

"Idiot."

Toni blinked, tears prickling at his eyes. "Oh…I did it wrong?"

"You're lucky if you didn't ruin it. Gum's sake, you're so useless. If you want to do something go chop wood, surely you can handle even that…"

Toni swallowed, "With that big ax?"

"No, with your hands, Antonius. How dumb are you? Of course with the ax."

Toni got up, tears running but made his way to the woodpile. The rain made his hands slick and uneasy but he heaved the heavy blade onto his shoulder and kicked some of the wood down, determined to make his mother admit she was wrong. Chopping wood was something none of the knights let him do. Only adults were allowed that work. They'd only just allowed Corvi that chore. That gave Toni a brief sense of pride.

"I'll show you, Mother…"

Corvi's Home

Corvi awoke early and fixed his brothers breakfast silently before checking in on his mother.

No improvement…in fact, she was getting worse.

The teen pulled away into the hall, biting his lip. "Blastus, I wish you could tell me what to do. Father, I wish you were here."

He eyed his mother again and smiled faintly. She was still dreaming, he could tell. That gave his heart a comfort….

"OWIE! BIG BROTHER!"

And another day begins…

Gummadoon Sick Bay

" No wanna nasty medicine. No! "

The bear-turned-cub struggled in Plucki's arms, trying to get as far away from Sarrika as he could. She had managed to mix up an herbal mixture that wouldn't affect his allergy. But the cub wasn't having anything to do with it. He was clinging to Plucki's neck, burying his face into the nock of the Captain's neck. Gumlittle found this rather amusing but didn't say so.

Plucki had to think to translate the cub's talk. His French was rather divided; he could understand it just fine but it took some time to remember how to speak it. Luckily, the cub in his arms seemed to trust him anyway. It was an odd situation; it seemed like Blastus remembered people and places but he didn't remember events.

Gumlittle stepped in to help, stroking the cub's brown hair, feeling a bit odd but relieved all the same. If Blastus was fighting, which he usually did when it came to any type of medical exam, it was a good sign. His French was halting but understandable. " Come on, little brother. Calm down. "

"Non!" The cub buried his face into Plucki's chest again. " No take it! "

Plucki forced his voice to take on a firm tone, one he used with the squires on occasion. It felt odd talking to Blastus as anything btu an equal but that simply couldn't be helped at the moment. "Blastus!"

The cub looked up and Plucki's voice froze in his throat. Blastus looked up from tear filled eyes, streams already staining his chubby cheeks. His little fists were curled up into Plucki's fur and he looked at the knight with such trust in his eyes, yet there was a hidden fear there. That wasn't unusual. Even as a cub the first time, Blastus had never been one to admit that he was sick. He would deny it left and right.

Sarrika spoke up, "I still have to finish preparing it. If you two can just get him in that bed, that'll be a big help."

Plucki gave her a nod and sat down on the bed himself, Blastus still clinging to him like a leech. He unlatched one hand and stuck his thumb into his mouth. Lying his head on Plucki's shoulder, he calmed down a little bit. That was a relief. Gumlittle walked to the counter and came over with a glass of juice which he offered to his now much-littler brother.

" Here, Blastus. Drink some juice and relax. Plucki and I are staying right here. We aren't leaving, okay? "

Blastus looked up to clarify and Plucki smiled at him and nodded " We're staying, brother. "

The cub nodded and took the large cup from his older brother. Plucki shot Gumlittle a half-dirty look and the knight blinked, "What?"

"He's about, what…two, maybe Gumlittle?"

"Yes, what of it?"

Gumlittle got his answer as much of the juice drenched the cub's front. Maybe a fourth of the glass, if even that, got into his mouth. Gumlittle mentally slapped himself. He should have remembered that. But it had been a while since he'd had to deal with a messy cub. Even his pages were pretty neat; it was just in their personalities. His last really 'hard' page had been Toni. Toni was still like that in some ways but he'd plum forgotten that such a large glass would be absolute murder to a two year old Blastus.

The cub drained the glass as best he could and handed it back to his brother, grinning. Now a long red stain ran all down his front, to his waistline and circled his muzzle. Had the situation been less serious, Gumlittle and Plucki as well would have broken up laughing. But they knew that the chances of that juice staying down were still pretty slim. Despite Blastus' cheery outward behavior, both adults knew it was an act. Blastus always put on an act when he didn't feel good. He always tried to be 'tough' and 'grown up' in a sense.

The cub stood up so he was perched on Plucki's thighs and met his brother's face. " All sticky, big brother. "

Despite himself, Plucki smiled. Blastus was too adorable not to smile at. Besides, even if this was his fellow knight reduced to childhood again, it was still a cub and Plucki had always loved cubs. That was one reason he and these two had bonded so. While Plucki was close in age to Gumlittle, he was five years Blastus' senior. He'd taken on an older brother role with the cub when they were children and in a sense, it continued into adulthood. " I see that. "

Sarrika looked up at the two knights, "Think you can get him cleaned up? I'm about ready here."

Plucki and Gumlittle exchanged glances. She wanted them to bathe a fellow knight! Well…he was their brother but still…

Plucki shook his head. He was Blastus' brother, despite his age. They'd known as soon as Blastus got sick that they possibly would have been helping with things of that nature. Actually, it was much better that Blastus had been reduced to a cub. It made things a lot less awkward than had he still been an adult. Granted, it wouldn't have been the first time they'd seen one another in the bare but it would have been a blow to his pride and Plucki wanted to avoid that if he could as he knew Blastus would have done the same had the situation been reversed.

Plucki fixed his sights on Blastus who had sat back down and playfully tugged on his beard, giving him an impish grin. The Gummadoon Captain gently pried the cub's hands off and gave a half nod to Gumlittle who took the hint and walked into the bathroom to get a lukewarm bath prepared. Blastus was oblivious to this and tugged on Plucki's beard again, laughing.

Sarrika found this a good sign. Laughter was always a good sign. Cub's Fever was a tricky illness one that sometimes faded and then came back full force. If it was in its lighter throws upon the knight then it was imperative to get the herbal remedies in him as soon as possible. If the herbal medications could start to take effective when the symptoms of the illness were lightened then the better chance they had of making an impact. When Blastus had been a cub, the illness had tricked them a few times as it lightened almost so it was merely a slight head cold and then during the night had dive bombed back to critical.

" Stop that, you shrimp. " Plucki scolded lightly. " That hurts. "

" Nu uh… " came the grinning smirk. Plucki ruffled the cub's hair and he got a squeal of pain. " Stop it, brother! Head hurts! "

Hmm, so the symptoms were getting worse again, not good. That most likely would mean his fever would go back up. He pressed Blastus against his chest, gently easing him to rest a bit. The cub curled his legs up and closed his eyes, sticking his fingers into his mouth. Plucki rubbed the cub's back a little bit, hoping it would relax him. For a good while it seemed to work.

Gumlittle crept back in after a few minutes "Ready?" he asked in common, knowing Blastus' knowledge of common was limited at this age. Plucki looked down at the cub and slowly got up. Luckily, they hadn't thought of what to put him in yet. That saved them the trouble of trying to get clothes off him. The nightclothes he'd been in as an adult were of course too big.

Blastus stirred when Plucki stood, " Big Brother? "

Plucki just smiled at him. This façade didn't work though. Blastus saw the water, he smelt the soap and he felt the steam. He leapt out of Plucki's arms. " NO BATH! "

He darted around Gumlittle's legs, through Sarrika's skirts and before any of the three could even shout a warning, the illness-carrying cub tore out the door and down the hall.