What Was That About?

“Pear Wait.” Terry called after Pear as she walked off in the direction of where the group had rented their rooms. In his rush he had grabbed Potato off the table and held him in his hand as he ran after Pear.

Pear looked back at him for a moment but continued walking until she tripped on nothing and fell on her face with her bottom in the air. Again, her hem of her dress had found its way up her body and exposed her undergarments. “Aw, man.” Terry grumbled as he looked around the hallway, thankfully there were no people around, they were either all in the restaurant or their rooms.

Terry held out his free hand and inched towards Pear while adverting his eyes, “Let me help you up.” When he helped Pear to her feet, he realized she had tears in her eyes. “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?” he asked but Pear shook her head.

“My apologizes Hero.” She said, “Many of the people of this kingdom already know not to touch the Produce Stone but you. When you reached for it, I panicked and hit your hand. Please forgive me.”

Terry breathed a sigh of relief. He was happy Pear wasn’t hurt but he was still confused. “I’m not mad about you hitting my hand. Why can’t I touch the rock.” He asked as Pear rubbed Tears out of her eyes. “Only direct members of the royal family can touch the stone. It is a powerful magical artifact that has been in the royal family for generations. If any person outside of the family touches the stone it turns their body to dust.”

Terry’s eyes widened. His life could have ended just by touching a rock. “Were you guys going to tell me this information at all or were you planning on letting me figure that out on my own?”

Pear looked remorseful, “I’m very sorry Hero.” Pear looked like she was going to cry again. Terry was still upset about almost being turned to dust but he really didn’t want to make Pear cry. “Pear it’s okay, really. Just tell me these things before hand next time. Okay.”

“Okay.” Pear sniffled. Terry nodded, satisfied that more tears were avoided. He turned to walk away when Pear grabbed the back if his shirt. “Hero, one more thing. Can you please forgive Kiwi and be kinder to her in the future.”

Terry must have made a face at her request since Pear smiled at him and nodded. “I know that she can come off as brash and a slightly conceited.”

“Slightly?” Terry asked with a bemused smile. Pear smiled and nodded again, she seemed to understand completely how Kiwi was but continued to ask for leeway. “She just puts on an act for people around her. When it’s just the two of us she can be very sweet.”

“The two of you?” Pear smiled wider now. “Oh, yes, you see we’re cousins. We’ve been so close since childhood that we are almost like sisters. She’s like the older sister I never had but always wanted.” She laughed lightly as she reminisced. “When we were children, she had us pile all of our dolls into a small wagon and had me pull it behind her. She called it ‘a parade for the future Queens of Kalabash’. Back then she told me I could co-rule with her when she became Queen.”

Pear laughed and Terry tried to picture Kiwi and Pear as children even more he tried to think about how two very different people like Pear and Kiwi were related.

“Oh, and that time I had a tooth ache and the maids wouldn’t let me eat any sweets. She had managed to swipe a whole cake from the kitchen and snuck it into my room. She his it in her dress. Kale said she looked like a well-fed mouse.” Pear laughed at her beloved childhood memories.

“Wait, whose Kale?” Terry asked.

Pear immediately stopped laughing, her expression turns from joy to somber in seconds. “No one,” She said, “No one important.”

Terry felt like this Kale person was very important to her but decided not to press. He was about to leave again when he thought of something. “Pear, is there any chance you can teach me healing magic. I don’t have to know everything but some basics would be people good to know. Having more than one person on the team able to heal should help out a lot.” Pear looked at him confused and then shook her head.

“I’m sorry Hero I cannot.” Before Terry could ask why Pear explained. “Much like how no one outside of the royal family can touch the Produce Stone, only those of the royal family can use healing magic.”

Now Terry was even more confused. “Wait, does that mean Kiwi can use healing magic?”

Pear’s mouth pulled a tight smile, “She can but Kiwi has never really used healing magic herself. She has always said that she doesn’t need to if she has me around.” Terry felt that was a very unsatisfying answer and he wanted to ask more but then Pear yawned. “It’s getting very late. You should go to bed, I’m sorry for keeping you for so long.”

Pear drowsily nodded her head and headed to her shared room with the other girls. “Goodnight Hero, Rest Well.”

Terry started to head off for his room when he heard a cough from his hand. Terry realized he was still holding onto Potato in his closed hand. He held the squirrely wizard up to face him, his fuzzy companion did not look the slightest bit amused. “Are you done holding me like a doll yet?” he asked. Terry mumbled out an apology and placed Potato on his shoulder. He walked into his room for the night. He laid down on the bed not even bothering to take off his clothes. He just wanted to rest.