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Chapter Three
Dawn came to Deep Shadow. Bright pinks, purples, and oranges
lifted themselves from the shore of the world's edge far to the east.
Birds rose from trees, dancing through the air. Chirps filled the air,
and Livonya stepped out from her newly reconstructed treehouse to marvel
at the sight in the crispness of the morning. Across the way, she could
see Max moving about in his treehouse as well. She smiled to herself,
remembering her tirade the previous night. I'll go apologize to him
in a bit she thought to herself.
She watched as the sun peaked above the horizon in its eternal path
across the sky, sending gleams up the side of her treehouse. She stood
down, and watched dawn bring new hope to the recently devastated area.
It was the first dawn since the aftershock destroyed her home, and the
first since nature repaid her kindness by building her an even grander
home. Grublet had showed up recently, and she let him stay for a bit.
He wasn't yet awake. The smell of something burning reached her
nostrils.
"Soup's up!" she heard from somewhere behind her. Even if he was a
god at one time, I doubt he learned how to cook! She chuckled to
herself, and hurried back inside to make sure her new home would be
around a while longer. She entered her little kitchen, and saw Methos
standing there in front of the stove, wearing an apron and a half tilted
baker's cap. "Scrambled, or sunny-side up?" he asked when he heard her
approach.
Livonya stifled a laugh. "Elrohir," she chuckled, "what do you think
you're doing?" The sight was not one she normally would associate with
what she knew of Elrohir. "What's that you're cooking?"
"Well, I was consulting with Skath here," he raised the book
triumphantly over his shoulders. "He was telling me about some old guy,
Doktor Sewess, or Seuss, or something. Anyway, I opened good old
Skathy, and what did I see but green eggs and ham! I say, it's such a
wonderful thing! I felt like sharing it with you! Of course, I
couldn't find any ham, but I love you for keeping spam in the pantry!
It's a wonderful substitute, and green eggs and spam is just as good as
green eggs and ham!" He happily turned back to his cooking, humming
some other weird song that Livonya thought was familiar but couldn't
make out.
She sat at her table, watching him hum, and sometimes break out into
tune. "Myaiaiaiai sharona! Or is it 'My bologna'? I never can
tell..." Elrohir could always make me laugh, she thought to
herself. She watched patiently as Methos finished his cooking and set
it before her.
"You didn't specify scrambled or sunny-side up, so I compromised!" he
said as she glanced at a somewhat unappealing mixture of half scrambled,
half sunny-side up green eggs. She supressed a giggle that came
involuntarily.
"Come on, let's watch the sunrise. It's beautiful!" she exlaimed as she
grabbed her plate with one hand and Methos' hand with the other. They
both went outside, and sat there eating, watching the sun rise
inexorably higher. Livonya caught herself looking more than once in
Methos' direction, and smiles crept to her face each time. He'd look
back and beam proudly while extolling the virtues of spam.
The sun had climbed up midway, and Livonya glanced again towards Max's
treehouse. It too, had been destroyed, and the forest had not been as
kind to him. It had rebuilt his home, but only half-heartedly. Still,
Max seemed content as he shambled his way down and walked across to
Liv's place.
Liv waved at him. "Did you see that sunrise? It was magnificent!
I've never seen anything like it, so much purple! The colors..." She
was beaming, and she looked at Max, who didn't seem quite as pleased as
she. Her joy quickly diminished. "Max! Oh Max, I'm so sorry about
last night! It's just...I was going...many things were happening in my
mind. I was afraid you had hurt Elrohir, we had just got him back after
so long, and you nearly killed him. I snapped. Will you ever forgive
me?"
Max stared at her for a while, and Liv could feel her heart pounding
with fear in her chest that he wouldn't. Tears came unbidden to her
eyes. "I forgive you, Liv. And it is I who should apologize."
"Good, good, now that we've all kissed and made up, are you going to
eat your share of the green eggs and spam, or should I give them to that
chap over there?" Methos piped in. "They really are quite good you
know. Best I've ever had!"
Max and Liv turned as one to see an older gentleman stumble into the
clearing. He was scratched and bleeding in any number of places. He
took a few more steps forward before collapsing. Livonya leapt from her
chair and ran over, Max thundering along behind. Liv saw that he was
still breathing, barely. His eyes were open wide, a bright gleaming
blue that was tinged with...madness? Desperation? She couldn't tell.
"Hey Liv, that looks like that guy who was here a few days ago, only
older," Max said.
"Yeah, a LOT older. What the hell happened to him? Here, help me get
him inside." She grabbed his feet, and Max grabbed his torso. Her mind
was already running, grasping at an explanation. The man who had so
valiantly fought and left as abruptly just a few days previous had
returned, quite aged and badly wounded. This was a puzzle that would
take her a while to unravel.
"Hey, it's Zedd! See, I was right. There really was a fellow
named Zedd! Want some green eggs and spam?" Methos was as cheerfully
oblivious as ever to the fact that "Zedd" was unconscious and unable to
reply.
"Elrohir, not now," Liv snapped back.
"I didn't think they were that bad..." Methos mumbled as he
turned back to his green eggs and spam with new relish.
Max and Liv laid the stranger on her bed. "Max, go get Grub and see if
he knows anything we can do," she said.
Max nodded and left. "Man, it feels like every day there's someone new
popping up here. Sheesh, and I came here because Deep Shadow was
isolated..."
After getting the old man settled into a warm bed, and amid Methos'
continued profferings of green eggs and spam, Livonya called a meeting
of sorts in her living room. When the other three were comfortably
seated on the furniture, she began to speak.
"As you may know, that man who stumbled into my clearing is very sick.
What you may not know is the disease that he has." She paused and
glanced around the room. Max was listening half-heartedly, Fflewdurr
playing faint scales on his mandolin, and Methos staring at her
intently. "I suspect it to be goblin fever."
Max instantly perked up, and a touch of fear crept into his eyes.
"Goblin fever? Here?" he half whispered. Fflewdurr and Methos were
entirely unaffected by the announcement, however.
"Max, please allow me to explain for the benefit of those who haven't
been here in a while." Livonya looked right at Methos, as to imply that
she meant only him in this statement, and found, to little surprise,
that he was still gazing at her. Their eyes met for a brief second that
felt like an eternity, and it was only with difficulty that Livonya
managed to tear her own gaze away and collect her thoughts. She began
again. "Goblin fever is caused by some sort of virus, probably
airborne. The symptoms manifest itself in different ways, but the
results are always the same - death."
This got the attention of the pair who hadn't been around for the
onslaught led by Thrakkiss. Noting their shock, Livonya continued.
"There is a cure for the fever, though. However, the recipe is held by
the one and only Sage Advisor, who lives in the Castle KAAT'N. This
castle is located in the Dragonback Mountains.....Max, I trust you know
where those are?"
The burly man smiled, at the bond he shared with Livonya that the other
two were oblivious to.
"I need someone to go to Castle KAAT'N and get the recipe for the cure
from Sage. I'd go myself, but I fear my presence could cause undue
problems." She smiled, recalling a past event involving a certain
Italian food and a string of communiques. "Max, I'd like you to go, and
take...." Livonya swept her gaze around the room, looking first at
Methos. No, she thought. They'd fight, and then they might
never get there. Besides, I'd like to keep Elro here for a
while...until he gets his memory back. "...Fflewdurr."
Methos grinned to himself. She didn't pick me! Yay! Now I can
spend some time with her....without that big oaf and that crazy bard in
the way. Thank the Gods!
Max accepted this sudden turn of events with a surprising lack of
protest. Livonya figured that he was making up for being such a jerk in
the past few days, but she didn't think too much of it. Fflewdurr spoke
no words of protest, and Livonya could nearly see a song of this
adventure composing itself in his mind.
They spent the rest of the morning packing for the trip, Livonya and
Methos attempting to help, but mostly getting in the way. Livonya,
unlike Methos, soon decided that to help with actual packing was
pointless, and sat down to compose the all-important note to Sage
Advisor. After musing for a while on the content, it eventually read:
She folded up the note, placed it in an envelope, and lit a green
candle to melt some wax. After a few minutes, she blew the candle out,
picked up an ornately carved block of wood from her writing desk, dipped
the end of it in the quickly hardening wax, and stamped the back of the
envelope. Livonya's seal, a simplistic yet beautiful cursive letter "L"
insured that the letter would reach the recipient unopened.
She managed to catch Max and Fflewdurr about five minutes before they
took their leave. Livonya pressed the letter into Max's hand, hugged
them both goodbye, and stopped them just as they walked out the door.
"WAIT!" she called. Max and Fflewdurr swerved around to see Livonya
running off into another room of the treehouse. Methos simply smiled,
shrugged, and made no attempt to explain Livonya's seemingly strange
behavior. She emerged from the room, carrying a rather large white
sheet. "You'll need this.....waving a white flag is standard procedure
for approaching a castle," she added, as Max took the sheet. "Feel free
to amend it as you see fit....but make sure you wave it, or you
won't get in. Understand?"
Max and Fflewdurr both nodded their assent.
"Good." Much to Methos' continuing chagrin, she hugged the pair
goodbye again, and watched them climb down the rope ladder and leave the
clearing. Meanwhile, Methos had slipped back into the treehouse.
Livonya stayed outside for another fifteen minutes, watching Nature all
around her. Her trance was broken when she heard a melodic sound
echoing from inside the treehouse. She paused to get a fix on it.
Scales, she thought. Sounds like a flute. She began to
follow the sound.
"Hey, Skath!" Methos said, lowering his flute. "Open to that nice
Bouree I learned from that Ian Anderson guy." His book floated itself
over and opened to a piece of music. Methos sighed. "I wish I had one
of those electronic guitars here. It would make the song so much
better." He lifted his flute and began to play.
Livonya peered around the opened door. Elrohir was just finishing up a
short, but rather nice, piece of music. Probably just a warm-up
piece, she thought. Suddenly, he motioned to Skath to move away.
He put the flute to his lips, just as she said, "Hey, Elrohir, what's
that you're playing?"
Methos jumped, startled. "Well, I, um... I'm playing my flute." He
held it up for her to see, and heard a breath catch in her throat. She
walked over, and sat next to him on the bed to get a closer look.
Livonya examined Elrohir's flute. "Amazing.....what's it made of?" He
replied proudly, "My flute was carved from a single, solid piece of
opal. Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is." Livonya shook her head. There's so much about him I
don't know... "But, please, continue. What were you going to
play?"
Methos actually blushed. "Just a piece I'm working on. Well, I
actually haven't played it yet and it's not fini-"
Livonya interrupted him firmly. "I don't care. Will you please play
it anyway? For me?" And stop making futile excuses! she added,
to herself. Why is he so nervous to play for me?
Methos sighed, reckoned that there would be no room for reasoning with
her, and raised the flute. He began to play, and it was truly
beautiful. The music started slowly, then sped up as he gained
confidence. It's the most captivating...enchanting.... Livonya
thought. Words can't describe it. The music continued. It went
fast and slow, it was bold and quick or regal and timely. Suddenly,
after only a few minutes, Methos stopped. "It's not finished," he added
unnecessarily. His face gained an anxious look. "Do you like it?"
"Like it?" Livonya shook her head, as if waking from a blissful dream.
"I love it! What's it called?" And why does he look so
mortified? she thought as Methos turned the same shade of red as he
had before.
Oh, Gods, Methos thought. I've never been more embarrased
in my life! "Well, I haven't named it yet, but...." he said as his
voice trailed off to a whisper.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last part." Livonya said. She was in no
way prepared for what came next.
"I.....wrote it for you," Methos blurted out.
She looked at him in shock and noticed that his flute was nowhere in
sight. "You...what?" she asked softly.
Methos took her hand. "I....I wrote it for you. About you." Livonya
noticed that he was staring at her again - and not trying to hide it.
And I don't know why, she thought, but I'm staring right
back!
Methos sat there, holding Livonya's hands. I must be the luckiest
man alive, he thought dreamily as he gazed into her eyes. Wow!
That's about all that describes this moment ...just plain
WOW!