Thanks for reviewing! To come back on some comments quickly: The names are a challenge for me, I learned them in Dutch when I learned to read, and grew up with them. They are often similar to the French ones, that I am familiar with too cause I have the entire series in French and I did my final paper on French to Dutch translation of Asterix comics. They are so part of my system and my spellchecker, that neither he or my brain really recognize them as a mistake. Hence, they tend to slip trough, though I try to use the English names. For Dogmatix it is hardest; I love his French name!
It also means a lot to me to hear Phyllis does not appear Mary-Sue. She is actually a character from an original story idea of mine, which wrote a story script for when I was fourteen. She had a similar background back then, but she was not a healer, and she was an orphan. I also think she was sort of Mary Sue in that story. But I'm 11 years older and wiser now, and the presence of Asterix really helps. Phyllis is not created as a love interest or a problem-solver; she is a problem to solve on her own, next to the obvious threat in the story. She has quite a few flaws, some induced by her background, some just part of her character. Which makes her fun! I also see that she invokes sympathy because she is difficult. Which just shows, it is much easier to love imperfection in fiction than in real life. Well, I hope the sympathy lasts, because she has not made her last mistake yet. The chapter after this one will prove that!
It is also hard for me not to idealize Asterix too much, because I adore him. But he has always had his weaker points in the comics and I try to respect them.
Wow, too much intro…..On with the story. Not entirely mine of course, you know the drill
"I'm sorry Obelix."
"Why? I was the one who almost threw a menhir at you."
They were back at Obelix' hut, and Obelix was obviously shaken up. Asterix had expected him angry at Phyllis, or maybe at him, he would have understood that. But Obelix seemed angry with himself, mostly, and had no reason to be so.
"Well, you could have, but you didn't. Phyllis couldn't make you do it." Obelix' eyebrows knitted together in an angry frown at hearing her name. So he WAS angry at her.
"I understand that you..." Asterix began.
"NO! You don't understand! I was this close to smashing you!" He held his fingers less than a centimeter apart.
"What made you stop?"
"I couldn't...hurt you again...I promised myself I would never do that again."
"And you didn't Obelix! So please, be a little proud of yourself! You did great."
"She couldn't know I would not..."
"No, she couldn't...But she did know Manilla would put up a shield." Obelix wanted to protest, but Asterix interrupted him. "I'm not saying you have no right to be angry at her, but not for everything that happened today. I'm to blame too."
Obelix sat down again; he had gotten up during their discussion. He thought over it for a few moments. "Well I suppose you did say something quite nasty to her. Why?"
Asterix sighed. "I knew she was holding back. I wanted her to snap, to know what she could really do."
"She almost choked you!"
"Obelix, if I had been like that to someone else in our village, they might have gotten angry too. Apparently it is difficult for her to control those powers, which is why she didn't want to show them full force on any of us. I should have just listened to her. But I didn't, and I could do nothing to fend her off. You all looked so shocked over that...she couldn't leave it there...But she should not have picked you again! She could have chosen anybody, but she seems to insist on giving you a hard time, and I intend to find out why!"
"I know why."
That surprised Asterix. "You do?"
"I'm dangerous. The magic potion does not wear off..."
"We all have the magic potion when we are battling, Obelix."
"Yeah, but it wears off on you or the others, When you control me...I'm just a weapon you can use. If it hadn't been you, I would have thrown that menhir, Asterix."
"You are underestimating yourself, Obelix. You would have been able to fend off attacking someone else as well. But I think it is time we had a little talk with our guest. She owes you an apology...and I owe her one as well. We need to be able to trust her, and she needs to trust us."
Obelix sighed. "I don't like this adventure."
"No, neither do I. To think that she has been practicing like this for five years...I can understand she's troubled. Getafix is right, it needs to end. Will you come with me?"
"Of course."
When they reached his hut, Asterix fought back the urge to knock. This was his house, after all. But when he pushed the door, it didn't budge. Obelix frowned. "Is it locked? But..."
Asterix understood his surprise; it made no sense to lock the door like this. For one thing, the lock was on the outside, put there by his father when he was still a toddler, to prevent him from wandering off. Even when he was older, his mother kept the habit of locking it, just to let him know he was not supposed to disappear, near dinner time or when they were having a feast. Until Obelix went to his own home one day after they finished their homework, and he simply forgot that there was a lock. Astronomix had mended it before he and Sarsaparilla moved to Condatum, cause 'you never know, it could come in handy'. To his mothers' disappointment, it never had. The lock had been stronger, and it had withstood little Caesarions' potion-enhanced knock. But the door hadn't.
The handle slid back to its usual place easily, reminding Asterix that this was not the lock his father had repaired. Nor was anything in his house, safe for the bed Phyllis currently slept in. It had been in a small basement at the back of his house when their village burnt to the ground. Disgruntled as his mom had been that the bed had never come in handy, she was glad it had been preserved. He supposed he was too...
However, even with the handle pushed back, the door did not budge. Which was ridiculous. You could only lock it by closing the upper part of his door. He never did, unless there was a serious rain or thunderstorm. And the upper part was still at its original position, fastened against the inside of the wall. Phyllis could of course have put something against the door to block it, but it was ridiculous to do so, even he could climb over it easily... Suddenly it dawned on him. Sure enough, when he stretched out his hand, it hit an invisible wall. Obelix did the same, and when he felt the barrier, he decided to give it a firm push. The barrier didn't budge. But it did alert Phyllis, because they heard her yelling at them from the first floor.
"Did you catch that?" Obelix asked. Asterix shook his head, looking grim. "Phyllis, remove that barrier, now!" he yelled back. He had had enough off her powers for today.
"Go take a walk and come back in half an hour. See if you can find an edible fish at Unhygienix' or something."
She sounded much closer now, although he still didn't see her downstairs.
"There is no such thing." Obelix said. "I'll take my chances," Phyllis yelled back. Asterix was losing his patience now.
"No you won't, we need you alive! Now let me in my house!" He started to push the barrier with all his might, causing him to topple into his hut when he suddenly leaned against thing air. Lying on the floor, he spotted two tiny bare feet and bare calves. He scrambled back quickly, not sure if it was safe to look at her. Blushing furiously, he looked back at Obelix, who just looked irritated.
Phyllis had obviously been taking a bath; her hair was dripping wet and looked a bit longer than usual, and she was wrapped tightly in one of his towels. She looked furious. She pointed at Obelix. "He threw me against a kettle of union soup; and that's YOUR fault, so do you MIND?"
"There is no need for barriers around the house, you could have that much trust in us at this point." Asterix said, rather indignantly.
"Don't flatter yourself, it's not for you. Now can you PLEASE go and take a walk?" Asterix was already backing up, but to his utter astonishment, Obelix stepped forward, grabbed Phyllis'arms and lifted her of the ground, making her yell in surprise. "After you," he said to Asterix, who was speechless. He walked in. It was the first time since he met her that he saw the hint of a blush on Phyllis' face. Obelix carefully carried her up the stairs, and put her down again. "You finish, we'll wait downstairs."
Obelix came back, with a slight blush, but looking quite pleased. Asterix laughed. "You will never stop surprising me Obelix."
It had been fun to see Phyllis speechless, but it was not the best way to start a serious conversation. She was shooting daggers at them with her eyes, as she watched them across the table. Asterix assumed there was no immediate danger; her eyes did not change color. It made him think of something.
"Do your eyes change color when you heal?"
Phyllis lost her venom in surprise over his question. She pondered the answer for a while. "I don't know."
"Do her eyes change colors?" Obelix asked. This in turn confused Asterix. "Yeah, they do, you must have noticed when she was..."
Great, he had messed up his attempt at a non-sensitive topic in less than a minute. However, Obelix looked sour for just a moment, and decided to let it go. "Well I felt obliged to look at her, but..." He shook his head. "I don't remember."
"My eyes are green, like my mothers'" Phyllis said. "They do not really change colors when I use powers, people would have told me that. And it's good they don't, it would really be a disadvantage to warn an enemy like that. But since you seem to feel Mesmeron use his powers...maybe you see things other don't too."
"You mean not even Bonny sees..."
"I never used these powers on Bonny, not once!" She looked angry, as if she was accused of something.
"Phyllis, I could see some sort of golden sparkle every time you implied your will on someone, not just when you directed it at me. And it is not just that, when you get...angrier, they turn darker. So I thought, maybe when you heal..."
"Does it really matter?"
"I'm just trying to figure you out a little."
She waved back her still wet locks of hair. "Well, if my eyes work like a mood-predictor for you, then why the hell did you not shut up earlier today?"
"Yes, you have a point there. Look, Phyllis, I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you, I should have trusted your judgment."
"You're not sorry, you're happy as hell that you finally saw it was possible to defend against these powers. The only thing you're sorry for, is that I picked Obelix to show it to you, and I am NOT sorry for that."
She stood up and leant over the table, addressing Obelix: "Why do you think I chose you?"
"Because the magic potion does not wear off with me, and I'm dangerous when Mesmerons gets to control me."
Phyllis eyes widened a little, and she gave Asterix a surprised look before sitting down again. She sounded calm when she spoke again. "Well no...I mean, you would be dangerous, yes, but the others would be so too. Mesmeron does not fight on strength alone." She traced a line in the table. "I thought it was obvious to you, but apparently I was wrong. I could have for example seen if Cétautomatix could fight me off, but what would it matter? He does not need to know he can do it, when Mesmeron attacks, he will be in front of his wife and child, protecting them."
"That's only logical," Asterix said.
"I never said it wasn't. But it just so happens his wife and children did not jeopardize Mesmerons' victory, you did. And who will stand in front of you?"
She was making a point that he could not possibly deny. "Obelix, yes, but…"
"You did not trust me on my word that fending these powers off would be possible, no matter how set you are on trusting me. Even Bonny did not trust me. And failed to tell me so."
"Maybe you didn't listen very well."
"Maybe. But thanks to your insufferable behavior, I have not made the same mistake again. Obelix does not have to trust me, he fended me off easily. He knows he's up for it."
"It was not easy," Obelix said softly. Phyllis turned to him. "It does not feel that way, but you attacked me directly, which means that even if I had been stronger, I could not have made you throw that menhir."
"As good as it is to know that, you have acted like the enemy today. Maybe we should stop focusing on what Mesmeron can do to us, and start working on a way to fight him together," Asterix suggested.
Phyllis nodded. A bit unwillingly, she added: "We'll need to involve Bonny and Manilla, to protect the village when he attacks. He knows they are in the village anyway."
"I know, I already spoke with them about that. But are you prepared to help them?"
"If I put up a shield the size of the village, Mesmeron will know it is me, he'll recognize my presence like I recognize his. He might retreat at first, to check if the spell on Goliath was broken, but when he returns, his powers will be fueled by anger and they will be directed against you."
"Then you will not do that," Obelix said firmly. "Unless their defense is not strong enough," Asterix added.
"Oh, it will be strong enough, for a while. And with me it will be strong enough for a longer while. But it will not last forever. The way I see it, they should defend the village, while you, and the others who have practiced, take on his minions. If I'm able to fight just Mesmeron, especially when he is not prepared to meet me, I stand a chance."
"I know we will need you in this battle Phyllis, but we are not planning to let you fight him alone."
They looked at each other for a moment, blue eyes locking with green ones. Phyllis frowned a bit, before she spoke again: "I think I can use all the help I can get."
They sat silent for a while. Asterix hut had become quite dark, evening had fallen over the village. Phyllis stood up to light a candle, and Asterix walked towards his fireplace. "We didn't go hunting today, but it appears not all the union soup was spilled over you after all; Impedimenta left a kettle of it for us to warm up." He started to make a fire, and Obelix filled a mug with beer and one with goat milk. "Goat milk or beer?" he asked Phyllis, sounding more neutral than he had in days.
"With union soup? Beer please. But I'll give some goat milk to the puppies."
With the flames reflecting on the wooden walls, the dogs cuddling together and the smell of soup filling the place, Asterix' hut became quite cozy. The remainder of the evening was spent talking about animals and dog tricks. Phyllis went to prepare Goliath for the night, but she returned after half an hour, and when Asterix woke up for a moment later that night, he spotted her sleeping form in his parents' bed. Somehow it reassured him to see her there, and he fell back asleep minutes later.