Gwenwhyfar walks with Jimmy back to the Capital District, trying to find that fancy restaurant again, where they had this great fruits. "Do you remember where it was?" she asks while meandering through the streets.
"I was a bit too preoccupied with watching you to keep track of where I was going." Jimmy says while turning around, trying to spot any familiar landmarks that he might have seen. "Maybe we should skip the blackcurrant juice this time though."
Meanwhile a red tailed hawk enters the office of Mrs. Heidmarch through the open window and lands on the stretched out arm of the Tauriell statue.
Gwenhwyfar hastles through the streets going "Over there!" only to find that the sign says something else, when close enough to read it. The buildings are all nice, but share a common style which makes it hard to say for sure which one is the right one. But after a while of running up and down some street, finally she stands in front of it.
Taking a breath she tells "That has to be it. But now I'm hungry. How about we repeat our feast here? Minus the black current juice of course."
"Gladly." Jimmy replies as he takes her hand and leads her inside. Finding the table they shared previously empty he offers her a seat.
"My lady."
"Thank you, young man." Gwenhwyfar jokes and takes the offered seat.
The waitress comes over to take the order and brings two menus. "Welcome dear guests. May I get you something to drink, while you choose what to eat?"
"We would like every fruit juice you have, except for blackcurrant, and some vodka." Jimmy says with a sideways grin at Gwen, "And a platter of all of the same fruit."
The waitress lifts her finger and opens her mouth, as if to say something while mustering Jimmy and Gwenhwyfar. Then she lowers the finger and closes her mouth again. "Yes, of course. Ma'm, Sir." She leaves and goes straight to the kitchen.
"Thank you." Jimmy says and takes Gwen's hand. "This is nice."
"Indeed. We should change our missions to restaurant testing. We face off against the kitchen chef and after he has thrown everything he got at us, we'll sit in a large fruit salad."
"That sounds like a great plan. We would have to fight through plate after plate of delicious food." Jimmy says with a laugh.
"And then they'd finally beat us, when we are so fat that we can't move anymore."
"We would put up a valiant fight all way through the desserts... but the after dinner mints prove to be too much."
"So no mints!" Gwenhwyfar concludes.
Two men come out of the kitchen carrying a large tray - that actually looks like an abused tower shield, filled two foot high with fruit. They put it on the table and shove it between Gwenhwyfar and Jimmy. Who can no longer see each other.
Then they bow and leave again. Saying something in a strange language. "Bon Appétit!"
"Is this more than last time?" he asks around the pile.
"We had it one after another. I really can't tell. But this will be a tough fight." Gwehnwyfar tells, and then some more, but the words are drowned in fruit munching.
"You dont have to finish it all you know." Jimmy says with a laugh as he digs in
"I'm not going to lose to a fruit salad!" Gwenhwyfar tells between two bites.
"We can always take some down for the children at the orphanage." Jimmy says.
"Nobody said we aren't allowed reinforcements." before popping a litchi into his mouth.
"ALL MINE!" Gwenhwyfar replies in a deep grumbling voice.
Meanwhile in Mrs. Heidmarch's office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Welcome, and thank you for coming on such short notice." Mrs. Heidmarch greets Master Leis Nivlandis.
"Don't mention it." Nivlandis replies. "Business first and tea later?" he asks and begins casting the spell to cure the condition on Koriah.
The grey color of the stone turns into the rosy color of flesh again and Koriah starts moving. A little stiff still, but moving.
Startled and tense she looks around, but as she recognizes the office and Mrs. Heidmarsh, she relaxes and lowers her weapon. Thousand thoughts run through her mind, but for now she needs to sit down. "How long?" is the only question she gets out.
"A week maybe? You can ask your father later. He should know precisely." Mrs. Heidmarch replies.
"Ladies first?" Nivlandis asks no one in particular and casts the spell again on Tauriell. And using his bonded amulet he casts it a last time on the gnome.
Tauriell turns from stone gray to her usual fair complexion, releasing an arrow into the bookshelf. Realizing where she is, she tells "Oh, sorry about the book."
Mrs. Heidmarch raises a brow and looks with a side glance what book has died now. She is most angry about herself for not thinking about that, but keeps it to herself.
Abomentolor turns to his usual color, the change form gray to orange in his hair being the most obvious. Luckily he got no spell ready to throw. "Did we win?"
"Your team did. You obviously didn't." Mrs. Heidmarch makes an attempt at cutting the oversized ego of the little gnome.
"You once more showed up in my office more dead than alive. This becomes an unhealthy habit of yours." she adds with a dead serious face.
"You'll get an honorable mention in my memoirs. Do you know a good bard by the way? Someone would need to start writing on that." Abomentolor replies, pushing the negative vibes aside.
"Where are those two lovebirds? They could tell how it went, couldn't they?"
Tauriell moves to the shelf, pulls the tome out, opens it and pulls the arrow through. Taking another look at what the book is about, she closes it and puts it back in the shelf. "That's a good question. They didn't clear out the abbey on their own, did they? There is probably more work to do."
At the restaurant
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The feast is truly an impressive sight, almost as impressive as watching Gwen whittle down the mountain of food on the table.
"So what juices should we take with?" Jimmy asks, drinking some mango juice, with a half eaten pear in his hand.
"I'd say, we take all fruits we had today as a large fruit basket. I don't think you can store the juice for a longer time. So maybe two or three. Which ones did you like best?"
"Hmmmm..." Jimmy thinks, "I like this mango, the litchi, and cranberry."
"Ok, then we go with that." Gwenhwyfar agrees and waves for the waitress.
Once she is at the table, Gwenhwyfar orders a fruit basket, with all fruits they had right now, and three juices.
"Do you expect me to carry a platter like this around the coast?" Jimmy says with a laugh
"This was a platter. I ordered a basket. It has a handle - hopefully. Don't be such a wuss. If I can carry half of it inside me, then you should be able to carry that." Gwenhwyfar teases Jimmy.
"How close will you get us to the cottage?" Jimmy replies while laughing
"It would be impolite to appear in her hut. It's on a small island, so I'd try to land us at the bridge."
"How far might you miss by though?"
"We'd stay for sure on Golarion." Gwenhwyfar assures Jimmy. "If we go for the Medusa first, and then directly to Maroux, I have one more try if I fail." Gwenhwyfar tells.
"But if we don't want to appear with a fruit basket in the abbey and not bring a dead medusa to Maroux then I'd only have one try. Or I could use my higher spell to do teleport too. But if that Medusa is back we might run into problems."
Tauriell moves to the shelf, pulls the tome out, opens it and pulls the arrow through. Taking another look at what the book is about, she closes it and puts it back in the shelf. "That's a good question. They didn't clear out the abbey on their own, did they? There is probably more work to do."
In the Manor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"Indeed there is. First thing you should collect that Medusa, before someone tries to raise her from the dead. Would be a pity if you showed up as stone figures again." Mrs. Heidmarch replies.
The she turns to their benefactor. "Thank you very much for your invaluable help, Master Nivlandis. If you like, Margaret can show you to the lounge already. I'll join you in a few minutes, once I've dealt with our two ex statues."
Master Nivlandis bows slightly and leaves with Margaret.
As Tauriell realizes the purpose of Nivlandis' visit - a man she's never seen before - she says "Many thanks from the ex-statue too." with a slight bow in his direction.
Once he left she asks Mrs. Heimarch "What are we dealt now?"
"Oh, hi, Koriah."
"Nothing specific. But you seem confused and Master Nivlandis doesn't need to watch you regain your mind and your manners." Mrs. Heidmarch tells looking at Abomentolor at the end.
"You're free to leave, but tell me where to find you, so I can send Jimmy and Gwenhwyfar after you." And to Abomentolor she adds "If you feel the need of payback - either towards the ones who turned you to stone, or the ones who turned you back - feel free to do so."
"If there is nothing else from your side - there is a nice talk over tea waiting for me."
"You have a place for me to stay?" Koriah asks.
"Sure." Mrs. Heidmarch tells. "Are all of you out of the guesthouse by now?" she asks Tauriell and Abomentolor.
"Oh, I need to finish something." Abomentolor suddenly remembers, and with a word he disappears.