Chapter Nineteen.

I don't own Neopets. Tamara and all them are mine.

Adventure with my Cousin
Chapter Nineteen

"But, I don't want to!" Dilasca protested. "It hurts."

It was nearly a month after Dilasca had come into the clinic. She had come a long way from a pitiful lump to the overeager Ixi now laying on my bed. Mom had allowed her to come home and said that I was to be the one to put her through rehabilitation exercises and train her.

I agreed only too willingly; remembering the abuse her former Master put her through. It took Fangore only a few minutes to convince Dilasca to commune with me. He expressed his feelings about me and explained that I didn't abuse or expect more than I knew he was capable of. Dilasca eventually came near to me and communed with me.

Her voice had a high, famine tone with a saucy edge to it. And, she tended to complain with every opportunity.

I gently stroked her yellow fur and fingered the tattered ears. I had just asked her to do some leg exercises. As expected, she had a comeback.

"It's supposed to hurt a little. But, it'll make you stronger. You do want to get strong, don't you?"

Dilasca's purple eyes focused on the leg brace she was forced to wear. My hand was already beneath it. "Yes."

"Then, just try. I'm not going to let you go too far." I promised.

I had been working with Dilasca in an attempt to get her in a routine fitness schedule. Almost like what I did with Fangore. Excluding barrel-racing—those were really tree stumps—and high jumps. I didn't push her to do the exercises; merely reminded her that the exercises were meant to make her feel better. She would do it—after complaining for a while. And still complain later.

"Try to do as many leg-lifts as you can for me." I coaxed; stroking her from ebony-colored horns to erect, white-bottomed tail.

She was still laying with her hooved feet curled neatly beneath her. Only her braced leg was kept from bending. "It hurts when I bend it further than my hip." she told me.

I already knew that. My hip received a dull, nasty, biting feeling when she raised it too high. But, I pretended I didn't know. "That's because you're not supposed to raise it that high. Your muscles are still a little weak. Give it time and some practice. You'll get it."

"Eventually." Fangore mumbled from the big, dog bed he was laying on.

I glared at him a moment. I wanted to encourage Dilasca, not dampen her spirits. Dilasca was impatient. The thought of doing something too much would do nothing for her.

"Don't mind him." I told her. "He's just hungry."

"I am too, Mistress." Dilasca said.

I tried to be diplomatic. "Look, if you do the leg-lifts, you can wait until after breakfast to do the laps around the living room. And, I'll give you your pain pills." I had spent most of the morning trying to encourage Dilasca. I was hungry too but allowed myself the same discomfort as my neopets.

She thought about this. The knowledge that Ixi chow (a food consisting of rice and corn) would be in her food bowl) usually convinced her to do the exercises. Her purple eyes locked onto my brown ones. Then, she flopped over onto her other side and began the exercises—as usual, wincing and complaining.

After the exercises, I picked her up, and the three of us went out. I poured their food, checked Dilasca's brace, and prepared my own breakfast.

It was Mom's day off so it didn't surprise me to see that Mom was in the living room, reading the newspaper.

"Tam. Tam. Can I talk to you a moment?" Mom called.

I left the breakfast table and went into the living room. My bacon and eggs could wait. "Yeah, Mom?"

"How's Dilasca coming with rehab?" Mom was careful to use my neo's names when speaking to me.

"She's doing pretty good. Just needs more coaxing is all before she'll do it." I said, a little suspicious of why Mom would ask about Dilasca but understood that it was in her nature to be concerned.

"How's Fangore taking this whole . . . sharing you with another neopet thing?"

I grimaced. Fangore was careful about his feelings around me. A connection between a human and a neopet is a powerful one, but sometimes we can hide things from one another. In many ways, I could feel Fangore's reluctance at having to share me. But, in others, he didn't seem to mind that I worked more with Dilasca instead of him—understanding, probably completely, that Dilasca's injury needed looking after and mending.

"He's fine with it." I said, not willing to tell her about the conflicting emotions I was picking up.

"Good." Mom folded her paper over and laid it in her lap. He sipped her herbal tea, sighing comfortably and continued reading.

"Anything else, Mom?" I asked, my stomach giving an audible growl.

"Now that you mention it, yes." She said. "Your cousin, Christin, is in town. She wanted to know if you'd be willing to walk around with her. Go exploring, generally."

I couldn't believe it. Christin was one of my best friends when we were kids. We used to play and go explore the surrounding area together. We like to talk about our futures (Christin wanted to join NEO and I supported her) and she used to say I would be a great Trainer.

We haven't spoken in nearly two years. Christin's mother up and left for the far west, taking her daughter with her. I never even got the chance to say good-bye.

Realizing that Christin was coming back to Neopia Central made me giddy and light-headed with all my fond memories.

"When?" I asked, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice.

"This afternoon, of course." Mom said. I saw her smile. Obviously pleased to see a spark of joy on my face since Maya died. I knew Mom had been worried about me (using the clinic, Fangore and Dilasca as a way of keeping me busy). It was good for me to hear some news on my cousin and good for Mom to see a genuine smile on my rosy cheeks.

"What do you say?" Mom asked, cutting through my thoughts like they were made of butter. "Do you want to relive your childhood again?"

" I say yes." I said, leaping from the room excitedly. I hadn't been this excited since my letter of acceptance into the Academy. Was that really over a year ago?"

I gulped down my hot breakfast (scolding my tongue and mouth roof in my mad rush to finish it). Then, I hurried back the hall to get dressed. I yanked on my denim shorts and struggled through the tie-dye t-shirt. Slipping on my socks and shoes and thrusting my arms through the holes of my emerald-green vest, I plowed back out the hall to the living room.

Mom was crouching on the floor next to Dilasca. She had the Ixi in a headlock and was forcing her to take the pain pills. Dilasca was putting up a fight.

"Let go. Let go." I heard her cry; her head tossing, ebony horns flashing, and her violet eyes wide with violent terror.

"Mom, let her go. Please?" I asked, nicely. Surprisingly, Mom released my Ixi's head. I crouched beside her and took the pill from my mother. "There's more than one way to skin a cat." I said, coaxing Dilasca to take the pill from the palm of my hand.

"I'm sorry, hunny." Mom said, fingering my jawline with an apologetic look in her eyes. I knew Mom was sincere and dint' really mean any harm to Dilasca. She was only trying to help and, in my excitement, I had nearly forgotten Dilasca's pain pills.

"Dilasca's not like other Ixi's. You can't force feed her. You have to let her take the pill on her own." I realized that I hadn't told Mom that. I had done the same thing Mom did; ending rather badly. I later found out that Dilasca's former Master used to put her in a headlock to make her do what he wanted. I explained this to Mom. Luckily, she understood that Dilasca associates headlocks with the abuse her former Master instilled.

Christin arrived not long after Dilasca finished her last exercise routine. No sooner had Mom let my cousin in then I found myself laying flat on my back with Christin's extremely thin body pinning me down. Despite a nagging pain in my mid-section from the blow, I lay laughing with my cousin.

"Get off of her!" Fangore growled; nosing at her until she let me up.

"Look at this!" Christin said, noticing Fangore and Dilasca for the first time. "You have a Lupe. And an Ixi."

I nodded, introducing my neos while getting a good look at my cousin.

If you were to see us on the streets, you would think that Christin was the oldest. Truth is, I"m actually older than Christin by six months and twelve days. Bur, we didn't look much like family. Christin was tall, lanky, and extremely skinny—not anorexic-skinny but still skinny. But, she was also very graceful, agile, and well-balanced.

Her face was angular and somewhat elvish. Her green eyes were sparkling when in a good mood. Christin was usually very jovial. It was just best not to tangle with her. She is a force to be reckoned with.

Her slender fingers brushed down the front of my apprentice vest. Her eyes took an interest look. She glanced between me and my two neos; her quick mind putting two and two together.

"You're not a Trainer, are you?" she asked.

"Only an apprentice." I said. "I need to complete another year at the Academy before I can receive the red vest of a real Trainer."

Christin's arms made my back and shoulders crack in the massive hug she gave me. "Congratulations Tam! I knew you could do it!" she held me at arms length. I happened to notice her hair: black with red tips.

"You changed your hair color." I said.

Christin plucked at a lock that resembled the color of black-and-rust. "Yea. It's the rave in the far west." she smoothed my auburn hair; feeling the bobby pins and the stubby ponytail I had it in. "Your hair's longer."

I shrugged. "Just haven't wanted to cut it lately."

We sat there in the middle of the floor, staring at each other. Studying one another's face.

"You read to go?" Christin asked, rising.

I nodded and we went out on a walk. Christin told me everything that happened in the two years of her life in the west. Then, she let me talk. I told her mainly about the Academy, how I came across Fangore and Dilasca, and all my friends. I didn't tell her about Maya's death or all the trauma I endured.

AS we walked, it was almost like old times. I was quietly remembering the childhood memories of me and her. Playing together in these very fields.

"Mistress! Come look!" Dilasca's terrified voice shot through my revere.

We rushed to my Ixi's side. I was struck dumb at the sight that met us. There was a partially decomposed remains of a female Blumaroo laying by a hole in the ground.

Fangore stuck his nose in deep; inhaling the amazing scents that assailed his nostrils. He snorted and withdrew his snout; concern written on his face. "Mistress, there are two cubs down there. Alive but just barely."

"Dig." I ordered him and his claws flashed in the dirt; turning of soil.