Rose Petals & Bearded's Spike

"She's weakening." Dt said. Liber and Nate were standing just inside the cottage.

"How much longer?" Nate asked.

"I'm not sure." Argyos said. The loss of hope evident in his voice.

"What if we brought in the other healers?" Bane spoke up. "WK, Poke, and Bre can't keep this up for much longer. Since Celtic has manifested the powers of all eight elements, maybe the other healers could help?"

"It's worth a try." Dt nodded.

"Nate and I will stop by and have Gummo and Crthatha report here as soon as possible." Liber nodded. "Pickle, head to your Island and bring Emerilla and Meso. Wiz, do the same with Glammy and Witch." Pickle and Wiz nodded and then made their way to do as they were told.

"Hopefully, this will by us more time." Argyos looked at the five ingredients. "We still need four items."

"..." Bane leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes.

"Bane, get some rest." Joy said. "Celtic wouldn't want you doing this to yourself. You've been up for days... we'll let you know the moment there's any change."

"Come on, at least get some fresh air." Nate pulled Bane outside. He gave Liber a look and he nodded. "What's bothering you... besides the obvious?"

"Besides the obvious, I just hate feeling helpless. I feel like I'm sitting around here doing nothing." Bane looked at his friend.

"From what I hear, you're helping Celtic better than anyone else." Nate held up his hand. "Let me finish." Bane nodded with a sigh. "I know you, we go way back and I know how close you and Celtic were... are. You don't open up a lot but you've opened up to her." Nate thought carefully before continuing. "We all saw how protective you were of Celtic... we still see it."

"Nate, Celtic and I are just friends..."

"I'm not trying to imply anything different, but because you are close with the Enchantress, it seems like your presence eases her pain some. At the same time, you shouldn't wear yourself down. Take care of yourself, otherwise you won't be able to help anyone, including Celtic." Nate squeezed Bane's shoulder and then met up with Liber.

"So, Grim, how well do you know Celtic?" Ellie made small talk as she and Grim made their way to find a Rose Dragon.

"We're friends. Not sure I know her as well as Frost, Andy, or Bane, but she's a good friend." Grim replied, his expression still unchanging.

"So what's the deal between those two?" Ellie had heard about the Mistress being close with the Archer.

"Don't believe everything you hear, Ellie. Celtic and Bane are just friends... close friends." Came Grim's honest response. As far as he knew it was the truth.

"Hmm..." She thought about what to ask next. "Why did Heat leave?" She'd heard about that, but not many details.

"Don't really know." Grim responded.

"When did he lose the ability to control fire?" Grim smirked a little, Ellie sure did ask a lot of questions about the past.

"Right after the battle, I believe. That was about the time he made up his mind to leave." It was a good thing Grim know some of these answers.

"What about Andy's element change?" Ellie thought of several questions to ask, but she knew not all of them would be answered... or could be answered, not by Grim.

"Figure it happened the moment he didn't want to return home. Celtic, Frost, and Andy became good friends... guess fate decided to use that." Grim looked at Ellie. "No, I don't know why you were chosen as the Metal General. No, I don't know why we don't need the pendants anymore."

"Oh." Ellie remained quiet for a few minutes. "What will happen to Celtic? If she lives that is."

"She'll live." Grim replied sharply. "Sorry. She can't fight the change that's taken place. She'll become what is known as the 'Enchantress of the Elements'. Once she's use to controlling all eight elements, she'll be very strong."

"And a target again?" Ellie asked.

"I fear she will be someday." Grim looked grimmer than usual. "I just wish we knew who was targeting her now..."

"You don't think it's Heat?"

"No. Heat might have left for reasons, but I don't believe he'd harm Celt. She was too much like family." Grim answered. He knew some of the others thought Heat could very well be behind the poisoning, but Grim didn't.

"Could it be Justin?" Again, Ellie was going on stories she'd heard the past three years.

"That's my guess. Justin doesn't know about Celtic's change so he couldn't have known the poison's adverse reaction to that." Grim, again, answered truthfully.

"There are some..." Ellie pointed at a herd of Rose dragons. "Now, how do I do this?"

"Well, you could try asking..." Grim looked at Ellie. "Or not... but you're best chance of not getting attacked is to just ask. Otherwise, you sneak up and pull some off... seeing how they're near the head..."

"Okay, I'll try asking." The thought of pulling the petals off didn't sit well with her. "Wait, I have better ides... but it may take a little longer."

"And what is that?" Grim thought he already knew the answer.

"Maybe if I sketch them, they'll give me some petals." Ellie grabbed a sketchbook and some pencils.

"How'd I know this was coming." Grim chuckled and then settled in the grass to wait.

"Grim?" Ellie nudged him. His eyes opened. "You fell asleep." She laughed.

"Did you get them?" Grim sat up.

"Yep, they seemed to enjoy the sketches." She said as she dangled a pouch in front of Grim.

"Good, let's get moving. On to the Bearded dragons." Grim did not like this idea. "So where to?"

"Near the mountains; they'll be basking in the sun so we might want to wait till morning." Ellie said. "Guess I took longer than I thought."

"Well, let's get as far as we can before it gets too dark." They made their way to the mountains and found a place to sleep until morning.

"There's one." Ellie pointed to a Bearded dragon basking in the sun. They'd gotten an early start in hopes that they would be back on the Island by the end of the day.

"What's the best way?" Grim asked. He regretted it when he saw the teasing in her eyes.

"Ask?" Ellie busted out in laughter at her companion's facial expression. Grim shook his head but couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Okay, in all seriousness..." Just as he was about to finish asking, the dragon roared. It had spotted them. "Well, great..."

"Oops..." Ellie giggled a little. "Alright, General, you might want to make this quick."

Suddenly, a thought struck Grim and a menacing grin appeared on his face. "Ellie, get on Voltage and be ready to leave quickly."

"Why?" Ellie asked... she did not like the look on Grim's face, but she did as he said.

It wasn't long before Grim found himself face to face with the Bearded dragon. "Um... mind if I take one?" Grim asked as he grabbed one of the spikes under the chin. He pulled and ran when he felt it pull free. He jumped on Ciardha and they took off. Artemis was giving them time to escape.

"Not how I would have done it... Grim, you are either very brave, or very stupid."