The Lore Wain and Her Nephew Pt. 34

"Get away from her!" Nala shouted at Till.

"No, you don't understand!" Cy stepped forward. "Till rescued me from a herd of toothy cows!"

Kinabrick lowered his sword a moment. "She did?"

Nala shook her head, "No, that can't be true. She... She killed my husband a few summers ago!"

Kinabrick raised his sword again. "She did?!"

Till sighed with sorrow. "It wasn't me..."

"Who was it then!? I saw you just after he was killed standing over him-" Nala choked on her words as she began to cry.

"I don't know but I'm sorry!" Till exclaimed with sincerity. "It should of never happened!"

From inside the house, Janner was stirred by the commotion outside. He came outside and stood by his mother to see what was going on.

Nala covered her eyes with her hands and quietly sobbed.

Janner saw she was crying and he wrapped an arm around her. "Mom, what's wrong?"

Nala didn't reply to her son, she continued to sob.

Kinabrick glanced between Nala and the ridgerunner with wary eyes.

"She has the cure for our friends. Please, let her in." Cynthia said to both of the adults present but mostly to Kinabrick, who was armed.

"... I should of known." Kinabrick said before he sheathed his sword. "Forgive me. I should of realized considering you're in good health. Come inside quickly." He said as he moved out of the way.

Nala continued to sob as Cynthia walked past with Till following behind.

Till stopped in front of Nala and looked up at her. "There is not enough apologies in the world to soothe you but just know... I regret my people's actions ever since that day..." She trailed off as she wiped her eyes that were forming tears and followed Cy to the crew.

Janner stood there confused to hear this ridgerunner talking to his mother this way but he stayed with Nala regardless.

"Who... Who should I treat first?" Till asked Cynthia once she was inside.

Cynthia looked around before laying eyes on poor Nibble. "I think you should start with Nibble..."

Till nodded as she walked over to Nibble. She couldn't lie, she was very nervous to see that a fang was among Cynthia's friends. However, she knew that if Nibble was among humans, he couldn't be that bad. Till nervously opened Nibble's mouth and reached into her pouch to grab a leaf. She very carefully placed the leaf under Nibble's lizard tongue and pulled her hand out immediately. She stood up and backed away quickly, unable to resist her ridgerunner instincts to cower.

The commotion woke up Alagatha, who groggily looked over at Till and then at Nibble.

Cynthia and Kinabrick watched closely, wanting to see how quickly the cure worked.

Nibble's eye slowly opened and he groaned. "Aarrghh... My head isss poundy..."

"Nibble!" Alagatha hugged Nibble. "Oh, ye beautiful lizard!"

"Aaaaaaaarrrgh, Alagatha, please stop ssshouting..." Nibble held his head, not wanting to sit up right away.

Alagatha laughed joyfully and looked over at Till. "Come on, now! Don't stop!"

Till jumped at the sound of the loud ex pirate yelling at her but she quickly went to Celeste next and gave her the cure.

Celeste's eyes opened up immediately upon tasting the sour part of the cure, causing Till to jump back in surprise.

Cynthia laughed, "One more, Tilly!"

Till looked back at Cy and smiled nervously before walking over to Clef.

Celeste sat up and looked over at Clef with worry.

Clef's curly black hair was a mess from what it was previously, as he had been moving his head in his unconscious state. The movement caused the ponytail to slowly become undone. Later, he would assume that's what made his mask loose.

Till repeated the process with Clef and received a very different response than the others.

Clef took a moment to respond to the cure but as soon as it kicked in, his blue eyes shot open and he sat up immediately. This sudden motion caused his loose eye mask to fall off his face but he didn't notice it right away because he woke up in a panic.

Till jumped back and made a small 'eep' noise.

It wasn't until Clef realized everyone was staring at him to know something was off. His eyes widened as he looked down in his lap and saw his mask lying there.

Celeste looked at Clef strangely, as if trying to dig her mind for a particular memory. She couldn't place it. "I don't think I've ever seen you without that mask... but you... remind me of someone..."

At her response, Clef stood up so quickly that he nearly fell over.

"Hey, take it easy, Clef!" Alagatha shouted, not seeming to care about Clef's disguise falling off.

"Clef, you need to lie back down!" Celeste chimed in, "You might faint."

Clef ignored Celeste and Alagatha and quickly exited the house through the front entrance, nearly stumbling quite a few times in the process.

Kinabrick, who watched the whole thing, started after him.

"Leave me alone." Clef said as he walked towards the trees with some difficulty.

"Clef."

Clef ignored him.

"Clef."

Clef continued ignoring Kinabrick and kept walking.

"Sefton!"

Clef stopped in his tracks and looked back at Kinabrick with a hostile glare.

"Listen, you've had a hard time trying not to die, I get it. However, you can't just wander off, you're not one hundred percent yet." Kinabrick reasoned and pointed back to the house. "You need rest."

"You need to mind your own business." Clef snapped irrationally. It would appear he was panicked more than anything. It could of been a side effect of the poison that was taking more time to wear off.

Kinabrick tilted his head and his eyebrows furrowed. "Excuse me? This party is my business. You happen to be included in that, felon or not. Don't do something stupid, Sefton."

Clef turned his whole body to face Kinabrick. "Stop calling me that."

Celeste could be seen stumbling out of the house.

"Hey, get back here!" Alagatha could be heard shouting at Celeste from inside.

"Clef!" Celeste shouted, wanting to be sure her close friend was alright. She leaned on one of the porch posts and waited for him to respond.

Clef looked at Celeste and then at the ground.

"Clef, you were afraid of there being a scene upon your identity being revealed but you're the one causing it." Kinabrick lectured. "Get inside before I make you."

-

The stars sparkled in the dark night as the clouds moved back as a curtain. Ramger was awake on the edge of the ship near the Captain's wheel with Echo in his arms. Despite Echo resting, Ramger couldn't find in himself the desire to sleep. He was crying. All he could think of when he looked into the infant's face was his own son he lost all those years ago. Ramger didn't like feeling this way. He felt it was wrong to start wishing for his own son when his duty was to be there for the young king. However, he found he couldn't push the feeling back on this particular night. He was anxious, afraid... and very sad... So he simply cried, held the child close, and prayed for his Lore Wain to come back safely.