"Wake up Salis!"

I rolled away from the voice. I hadn't had to wake up early to meet with Iguana and wanted to sleep in.

I felt someone pinch my cheek.

I pulled my blanket over my head.

"Artua," it was Ferret's voice, "What is the best way to wake Salis up?"

"I do not know. I never tried." Came Arty’s voice.

"I was thinking, does Salis' bed not look fun to jump on?"

“It does?" Arty voice sounded confused.

"Does it not look fun to JUMP on?" Ferret repeated.

"Oh, yes, Salis' bed DOES look fun to jump on."

I felt someone climb on my bed and stand up, the bed groaning slightly under the extra weight.

I took a peek out of my blanket and looked up and saw Ferret looking down on me, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Will you join me, Artua?"

"I… I…"

I rolled over quickly and kicked at Ferret's legs.

Ferret yelped as I forced her legs out from under her. She then landed right on top of me before sliding off the bed and I could feel the bed groan in protest.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Ferret yelled as she rolled on the floor.

"Are you all right, Ferra?" Arty was looking down at Ferret with concern.

"I hit my knees into the floor when I fell.”

I sat up in my bed and looked at Ferret.

"Sorry," I felt bad, "I didn't think that through.”

Ferret sat up, a happy and surprised expression on her face.

"Did Salis just apologize to someone for the first time?" She poked me in the stomach.

I thought for a second, "To you, yes.”

"Oh?" Ferret leaned forward, apparently having forgotten about the pain in her knees, "To who else have you?"

"Let's see… Helnion," For that big bruise the cannon gave her, "and… um…"

"Just Helnion?"

"I haven't apologized to anyone," there probably were quite a few that deserved one.

Ferret sighed.

"I will work on that with you when school resumes."

I got out of bed and began getting dressed.

"When are you leaving?" Ferret asked.

"After lunch, I guess."

"Good! That means we will have some time…"

"I still need to pack," I said.

I had purposefully not packed earlier so I would have at least one excuse to not get dragged off. Not that I had much to pack.

"Do you need help?" Ferret asked, as expected.

"No, I don't have much."

"I know! I will get Helnion while you pack!"

"She's probably already gone, she said her family was sending a carriage to pick her up this morning."

I just hope they didn't have too much fun waking her up after what happened last night.

"Aww… Why did you not tell me?" Ferret’s shoulders slumped slightly.

I had finished changing into some light travel clothing and walked to my bed and pulled out a small chest that I would use to pack my clothes and less valuable items in and started filling it.

"Wait! Did you even see her off?" Ferret said accusingly.

"No. She would probably have been too sleepy to realize what was going on as the maids carried her to the carriage," I realized I had missed an opportunity as soon as I said it.

Ferret looked at me, not sure how to take my explanation.

"You could have gone just in case," She said finally.

"I'm sure Helnion understands."

Ferret turned from me, a look of frustration on her face.

"Artua?" She said to the girl in question.

"Yes Ferra?”

Arty looked a bit worried.

"Have your parents come back to Kein yet?"

Arty shook her head, "Not for another week or so. Their ship was caught in a storm and it had to stop for repairs."

"Are they safe? I hope they were not injured."

"No, they are fine."

"That is good to hear." Ferret’s her frustration from me now replaced by a smile of relief.

"Mmhm."

"What are you going to do until then?"

"Cleaning. Our house gets really dusty since no one lives in it much.

"For a week?"

Arty laughed awkwardly.

"No. Calren and I can do it in an hour. Our house is small."

"If I were not going to Darro…"

The chimes signaling morning meal started.

"I better go," headed for the door, "I will see you two later."

Ferret waved and left the room.

"Bye Ferra," Arty waved back and smiled.

I ate my breakfast then climbed back into my bed and dozed for a few hours. About an hour before lunch, judging from the position of the sun outside the window, I decided it was time to pack my more valuable things into the large chest. In reality, the only things I had to put in it were the things I had used last night so it was not much.

I pulled out the cabbage cannon from its hiding place under my bed and unwrapped the end. I then uncovered the end cap and removed the metal plate, revealing the partially exposed storage crystals. I extracted them, wiping them free of wax, and then dug out the wind crystal and threw them into the chest.

I then grabbed the bag with the communication crystal and lightning crystal and realized something. Ferret had never given me back the communication crystal I had given her. If I didn't get it back, I would have to abandon the one I still had.

I tossed the bag into the chest and closed it. I looked up and saw Arty had been looking inside the chest. She saw she had been caught and sheepishly made her way back to her desk.

I opened the chest back up and pulled out the communication crystal.

"Here," I walked over to Arty and gave it to her, "You can use one, right?"

Arty looked at the crystal, not sure what to do.

"The noisy one has the other one, you can use it to talk to her."

Arty smiled and took it, "Are you sure? Thank you!"

Now I didn't have to worry about fighting to get the other crystal from Ferra.

Arty held the crystal and turned it on.

"Ferra?" Arty said to the crystal several times.

Nothing happened and Arty put the crystal in a bag she kept near the leg of her bed closest to her desk.

I stood up and walked to the window.

"Are you not going to wait for Ferra?" Arty asked me in her soft voice.

"I need to get some things from that one place," I opened the window.

I had never taken Arty to Helnion and I's place, but she knew we went somewhere.

"Hi Salis!" It was Ferret, and she was sitting directly under the window with two of her friends, "I thought you would leave this way."

I closed the window immediately.

"You should check to see if she still has the other crystal," I said to Arty.

Arty nodded and headed for the window.

"Hi Artua!" Ferret was now looking through the window, "You ready to go somewhere?"

"You too Salis?" Ferret added loud enough for me to hear inside the room.

I turned to the door, certain there were more of Ferret's friends waiting outside.

I opened the door and was greeted by three smiling girls.

"Hi Salis," They all said in unison before grabbing me and picking me up.

I didn't struggle. I knew it wouldn't be any use. All I could do was hope they wouldn't take me some place weird.

They took me up the stairs and to the second floor. From there they took me partway down the hall and then into a room. This room, being on the second floor, was much like Helnion's and was more spacious. The furniture was much like Helnion's but was less ornate and decorated.

I then saw the table under the window. It was covered with food.

"You can put her down now," Ferret said to the girls holding me as she came into the room.

I looked at Ferret and then back to the table.

"We wanted to thank you for last night," One girl that had carried me said.

"Yes, you do not know how much doing that for us means," Another said.

"I wish you had done it sooner," A third added. "Having to watch them gloat at us all year…"

"We wanted to thank you," Ferret waved to the food, "And we decided a meal was something you would appreciate."

"Thank you," my cold heart was melting at the display, "But you could have asked instead of ambushing me."

"That would have been no fun," One girl said and giggled.

I was losing track of who was who among all these girls and decided that I would have to remember their names when I came back.

"I was hoping for a chase," Ferret poked me in the arm.

"Come now, sit down," One girl started pulling me to the table by my hand.

I sat down and noticed there was a second chair.

"We were hoping Helnion could come too," Ferret said.

"She is probably eating a much better meal at her estate." I heard a girl say.

I looked at the food. There was far more here than I could ever hope to eat and comprised basic things like boiled potatoes to an extravagant looking thing that somewhat resembled a pizza but had the tomato sauce replaced by some cheese spread. There was no citrus fruit sadly.

"I hope you like it, we spent all morning in the kitchens making it," Ferret puffed out her chest.

"Took us longer to convince the cooks to let us in," Someone added.

I heard several girls laugh.

I began to eat and was glad to see that the girls stopped bothering me so I could enjoy my meal. Eventually several of them began playing music and sang songs about tales of great war heroes.

The food itself was hit and miss. Some items I could tell were made by someone that had practiced a lot and there were some it would not surprise me to find out if it had been their first time cooking.

"How was it?" Ferret asked me when she saw I had had enough.

Early into the meal I had found out it was best not to judge the dishes by the way they looked, as some more fancy dishes ended up being the worst so I had tried at least one of everything just in case there was a hidden gem.

"Better than what I usually get, for the most part," I replied.

"Good!" Ferret said happily.

"What are you going to do to me next?" I asked.

"We wanted you to tell us some stories from Terra." Ferret said.

I thought for a moment. Was telling them stories worth the amount of speaking required?

"Maybe a short one or two," I replied.

Several of the girls cheered excitedly.

"What kind of stories?" Ferret asked.

What should I tell them? Sci-fi would be too difficult for them to understand, romance stories were something I had never cared for… fairy tales. Yes, they were not only short but made for children and were easy to understand. Perfect for these girls. I just had to hope I could remember them considering I had read none since I was in grade school.

I decided on a few and began.

I somehow ended up telling them stories for almost an hour and was saved by the chimes signaling noon meal.

"I need to go," I said.

Several of the girls, the ones still awake, moaned. Arty was one of them.

"Salis is right," Ferret sounded a bit disappointed as well, "And some of us need to catch some carriages to go home."

One or two of the girls mumbled but several more jumped up from wherever they had been sitting and headed for the door, their expressions showing they had forgotten.

I too headed for the door.

"Thank you for the stories," Ferret said to me, "Terran stories are really interesting."

Several other girls expressed their agreement.

"Are you going back to our room?" Arty asked me as I opened the door.

"I need to go get someone to help carry my chest first."

Arty nodded then added, "I liked your stories."

I left the room and vowed to never let them convince me to do that again.