Marie nods. "The picnic wore them out. Go on, Arista, get going."
Her niece gives Arista a reassuring smile.
She stands up and gathers all her things before turning to Marie and giving her a hug, "Thank you for everything. Tell Nerah and Wilk that I love them, give them a hug and a kiss for me when they wake up and tell them I'll be home again soon." Finally releasing Marie from her embrace she gives her a smile and heads out for Marla and Celenon's place. She just hoped she could wake up Celine enough to explain things to her and that she wouldn't get too upset.
As she reaches their front door she knocks quietly.
Taking up the books, Sādhanā takes Ylrhea's hand as they head to Micheal's, her mind focused on the task at hand.
"You think Michael will be able to figure out something from those?" Ylrhea asks, gesturing at the books.
Queten answers the door. "Hey, you're back. She's still sleeping."
She nods her cloak pulled around her obscures most of her armor, but the hilt of her scimitar remains visible. She looks at Queten, "An emergency has come up and we have to leave tonight. Are your parents already sleeping or could I speak with one of them?"
"Mom and Dad are still awake," Queten says quietly. "They're in the kitchen."
She nods as she takes Celine's dolly out if the backpack she packed for her, and lays it next to Celine. After tucking the covers around her she gives Celine a kiss on the forehead and heads into thee kitchen to talk to Celenon and Marla.
Celenon looks up from his cup of tea to Arista. "You look ready for a battle."
"I hope so. He's smarter than I am. At the very least maybe he can be able to locate the point we got them from and send us there, but most likely he should be able to scry Alethiro from whatever Arista brings him." Sādhanā responds with a shrug.
Ylrhea nods. "I'd rather start from where they are. No telling what happened to that keep."
Hugging Yulia back, Drago said, "It most likely isn't. But Chalandra, though quick to anger, is very patient when it comes to tormenting me." Pulling back and looking into his Love's eyes, he added, "Perhaps I'm letting my paranoia get the better of me."
"True. The closer we can get to where they are right now, the better chance we get to them in time."
She nods, "I'm afraid so.....we've been made aware of a serious situation and if we don't act quickly someone could die. This means that I have to leave tonight though. I hate to drop this on you so suddenly, but I thought Id have more time to prepare Celine for when I would have to leave. Could you please take care of her until we get back? I brought a bag of things for her......I need to wake her up enough to explain things to her though. I don't want her to wake up in an unfamiliar place and be scared or think that I abandoned her." She just stands there for a moment, unsure of what else to say.
"That ended all to quickly, looks like we're short on time." Cyna says standing from her chair.
Sienna nods. "Always. So which of your parents would you like to deal with?"
"Maybe a little," Yulia says, giving Drago a soft kiss. "Ready?"
"I see," Celenon says. "We'll be happy to keep Celine here until you get back."
Michael steps out of his house and waves to Sādhanā and Ylrhea. "Good evening...or is it not good? You have a look that says it isn't good."
"Ready as ever I suppose." Drago responded, offering his arm once more.
She nods, "Okay, Esme may or may not stop by in the evening to see Celine. I won't have the chance to tell her I'm leaving, so she won't know until she finds out from someone else. Thank you for everything, I guess I'll go talk to Celine now." She gives them a slight bow and then goes back into the living room and sitting on the edge of the couch she slightly pulls down the covers off of Celine and slowly shakes her gently to wake her up.
Once she sees Celine's eyes starting to open a little she gives her a little smile, "Просыпайтесь милая, мне нужно поговорить с тобой, и мне нужно, чтобы вы сможете слушать меня и понять, что я вам говорю. Ты не спишь Celine?"
Barely awake she hears mommy calling her. Opening her eyes slightly she looks up and sees mommy all dressed like....like she's going somewhere, but it was time for mommy to take Celine home. Looking confused she rubs her eyes, "Мама? Вы здесь, чтобы забрать меня домой?"
She pulls Celine into her lap as she holds her and tries not to cry. Shaking her head she says, "Нет милая, я не жаль, но я не могу взять тебя домой только пока. Что-то очень важное, что придумал мама должна заботиться о, и я должен оставить на некоторое время. Я не уверен, сколько дней он будет принимать, но я обещаю вам, что я вернусь домой, как только смогу. Вы знаете, мама должна работать, чтобы сохранить все из нас безопасно и я не всегда могу делать, что от дома. Итак, я собираюсь оставить вас здесь с бабушкой и дедушкой, и они будут заботиться о вас. Может быть, тетя Эсме будет остановить иногда слишком, и вы все еще можете увидеть ваши двоюродные братья в порядке? Я люблю тебя Celine, ты мне нужен, чтобы быть хорошей девочкой для меня, пока я не вернусь в порядке? Можете ли вы сделать это для мамы и быть большая девочка?"
She holds Celine as she wipes her eyes. She hated that she had to leave her so soon after getting back home, but there was no choice and she had to do this to keep the people that she cared about safe.
Her lip quivers slightly as mommy explains things to her. She'd much rather be going home with mommy, but she knew that sometimes people had to leave to make things better. She didn't want to make mommy sad again so she tried to smile, but it was very hard...she didn't want mommy to go.
Holding onto her mommy tightly she nodded her little head, "Это нормально мама, не плачь. Я буду хорошей девочкой, я большая девочка в настоящее время. Я люблю тебя мамочка, пожалуйста, вернуться."
Reaching up with one of her little hands she wipes a tear off of mommy's face and then wrapping her arms around her neck she gives her a big hug and kisses her on the cheek before stifling a yawn.
"О мама .... Я все еще сонный. Я возвращаюсь поспать нормально? Увидимся скоро, право мамочка?"
She rocks her slightly as her daughters sweet response sinks in and gives her a smile as she kisses the top of Celines head, "Да, мой сладкий девушка, вы можете вернуться к спать. Я обещаю, что вернусь к вам как можно скорее. Спасибо Селин, я люблю тебя очень очень сильно."
Holding back the well of emotion that she feels bubbling up inside of her, she lays her daughter back down on the couch and covers her up while humming softly and patting her gently on the back. In just a few moments, her little angel is back asleep with her thumb in her mouth and her dolly in her arms.
Wiping her eyes she gets up slowly off of the couch and goes back to the kitchen, "Okay....I've explained things to her and got her back to sleep. She should be alright and hopefully be good for you as well. When I see Michael tonight he should have those devices for her legs ready. I'll pay for them and ask him to have them delivered here in the morning along with an explanation of how to use them and stuff. I really....I can't thank you enough for taking care of her for me. I never knew someone that small would mean so much to me, or that I could love someone besides my husband that completely. Anyways....I better be on my way. Thank you again." Closing the distance between them she gives Celenon and Marla both a hug, "I'll be back as soon as I can, hopefully this time with your son." She gives them a small, yet hopeful smile before she turns towards the door.
"I wish you the best of luck, Arista. Safe travels and godspeed to you," Celenon says.
Marla nods in agreement. "You'll be in our prayers."
Yulia takes Drago's arm as they head to Michael's.
She nods, "Thank you, I will keep all of you in mine as well. I'll see you all later." She waves as she walks back out to the living room and gives her daughter one final kiss goodnight before leaving their house and heading to Michael's house herself.
She picks up her pace, afraid that she spent too much time explaining things to her respective families and to Celine.
Getting to Michael's and Jelk's place a little out of breath she sees that some of them had already beaten her there. Taking a moment to catch her breath she says, "Sorry it took me so long to get here. I had to put certain things back on, pack other things, pack for Celine and explain things to Marie, Alethiro's family, and Celine...who took it surprisingly well...but just sorry for taking so long. Did I miss anything important, have we gotten to the part where we're explaining stuff yet?" She stops to take a few more breaths.
Michael shakes his head. "But now that more of you are here, I'm pretty sure this is bad."
"I think I'll see Orias first and offer him the elixir." Cyna responds quickly.
She shakes her head, "We'll wait for the others to get here before we completely get into it. It's not super bad yet, but it will be if we can't get to Alethiro, Clara and the rest before tomorrow afternoon."
"Do we want to take Gwen with us?"
Michael sighs. "I'll go get a scroll."
He walks back into the house.
She holds out a hand, "Michael wait...I was wondering, were you able finish those things for Celine's legs and how much do I owe you? Oh...is there any way you can have them delivered to Alethiro's parent's house in the morning? I'm sorry...I know it's a lot to ask and I'm sorry it's all coming out so fast..." She shuts up, her racing thoughts not helping things much.
"I did finish them. I'll bring them out and show you how they work," Michael replies.
She nods, "Okay."
Michael returns with a pair of metal braces that have loops around the top and bottom. "You just slip these on her legs and tighten the loops. The brace will bend with her knee when she walks. I added some padding to the loops and around the inside of the bars, for comfort. Jelks insisted on engraving some things on it."
He shows Arista the almost elegant engravings of unicorns, faeries and stars. "Elena did those."
She's so overwhelmed by the tenderness and thought put into her daughters braces that she almost breaks down into tears, "Oh...Michael....they're wonderful, I mean for what they are and I just know they'll help her get stronger. They're so beautiful I don't know what to say." Since her words were pretty much failing to express what she felt she just put an arm around him and gave him a hug, "Thank you....thank you so much, and tell Jelks thank you as well for the thoughtfulness of the little designs as well as Elena. She sure is talented." She thinks for a moment as she gives herself time to pull herself together, "I don't know if I have time to get them to them tonight. Do think someone could take the braces to them tomorrow? Here, let me pay you for these. How much do I owe you?" She asks as she reaches for her coin purse.
"I'll take them in the morning. And, no, please don't pay me for doing something to help a child," Michael says. "I would feel awful. If you must do something, donate it to the temple."
She nods as she wipes at her eyes, "Okay Michael....thank you so much. How is Jelks feeling anyways?"
"She's doing alright, coping with the idea of being pregnant," Michael answers.
She shows the braces to Ylrhea and Sadhana, "Did you get to see what he did for my baby?"
Arista looks at Michael with somewhat of a concerned expression, "So...yeah, I don't think you ever really explained that. I mean...how you knew she was pregnant before she did? Oh....oh wait a minute...." Her voice trails off as she suddenly remembers what else Dillon had told them. Alisbeth had gone crazy and killed Michael, Jelks, and Niels...but then Dillon had come back before she could kill Rajni and wished the others back to life....she was afraid to say too much. She didn't know how much Michael remembered and she didn't want to trigger anything.
Sadhana breaks into a huge smile upon see in the braces for Celine, even more so because of how happy they made Arista. The entire town continued to benefit from Micheal's brilliance.
As she listens to Arista ask Micheal about Jelks' pregnancy and his knowledge, knowing what she did about time and magic as well as what Dillon had told them, she considers the possible side effects of such an event ad the possible cause of the events triggering it.
Drago and Yulia arrive at Michael's after most everyone else. Seeing the Wizard still looking haunted, and after hearing what Dillon said, the Dhampir was even more concerned. "Good evening Michael."
"Evening, Drago," Michael responds. "I'm not quite sure of it myself and I really don't think it's important right now."
The wizard falls silent for a moment. "So, where am I sending you this time?"
"We should probably take her back first." Cyna answers.
Turning to Gwen she says. "Mae'n rhaid i ni adael eto'n fuan iawn."
Gwen looks down and then at her mother again. "Yr wyf yn deall. A ydym yn mynd adref wedyn?"