Rip Van Ariana

There was a gentle swaying from side to side. Something soft and warm enveloped, but a chill was beyond. There was a faint creak of wood, a steady yet muffled crunch, and a constant hissing like something was sliding. There was a faint smell of tar, and a stronger scent of some cooked meat. There was a warmth of something pressed to the lips, and the taste of something rich, salty, and savory that fought away the chill.

Ariana opened her eyes to see Sophie there, holding her close with one arm and holding a spoon with her free hand. The two smiled softly at each other, and Sophie cried. She gently squeezed Ariana a bit more. The hand that held her glowed glittering golden. Ariana's eyes traced the area. They were in the back of the cart. It was difficult to move, but she saw that Ellie and Hayden were up front. She had many questions... but she felt tired still.

She spoke weakly to Sophie. "I suppose... you've gotten used to this enough that you don't freak out about me waking up anymore..."

Sophie laughed a bit, still crying. "Of course not..." She wiped her tears. "We knew you were going to wake up for sure this time."

"I... I'm pretty sure I wasn't in one piece... how could I have woken up from that?"

Sophie looked over at something. "Our little buddy here stayed alive the whole time."

Ariana was slightly confused.

She saw a tiny little jack-o-lantern, no bigger than her palm, climbing onto her stomach with springy little vine limbs. It bounced excitedly in place.

Sophie set down the spoon and picked up the happy pumpkin. "Hey, take it easy on her, she just woke up!"

Ariana was beyond bewildered.

Sophie held the little pumpkin in her palm. "Apparently, when you summon a creature, it doesn't go away until you dismiss it or die. That applies to animated ones, too." She gave the little leaf on top of it a twirl. "This little guy kicking around let us know you were going to be okay."

Ariana felt a small warmth in her heart as she watched the pumpkin bounce about. Something about it felt so... childlike. Then she remembered, before she had passed out, she had planned to use the animated seed to grow some kind of minion to help in the battle, but this... she liked this much more. Something terrible happened... but here was this happy little thing.

She looked to Sophie. "Does he have a name?"

Sophie brought the pumpkin closer. "Since you summoned him... I thought you should be the one to name him."

Ariana felt a joy swell inside her. "A happy little pumpkin... how about... Tarry?"

The pumpkin waved its little springy arms up over its head. "I think he likes it!"

Ariana cried a bit from happiness. "Tarry..."

Tarry kept doing a little bounce in place.

After a few hours, Sophie and Hayden changed places, and he held Ariana close with his clear white healing hands.

"Glad to see you up and at 'em."

Ariana smiled. "I'm glad you're all okay."

"And I'll ask you kindly not to mess with that armored fellow again."

Ariana's smile faded a bit, and she looked to the side. Tarry was there and tilted a bit. Looking at him made her smile again.

"You were throwing out some crazy magic I ain't seen before. Hell, none of us could figure how you did it."

She gazed up at the roof of the cart. "I remembered everything I'd done up to now... and I figured out how to... farm magic."

"How the hell do you farm magic?"

"It's... a bit hard to explain, but... it ended up being like growing and harvesting any plant. I think... I think I could use it to... how do I word this... well, basically replace blue potions. Not just for me... for all of us."

"That... does sound mighty useful."

"When I'm well enough... I think I should try to stockpile some magic into some pumpkin seeds."

"Just take your time. You still need a good couple of days at least."

She relented and just enjoyed being in his arms.

Over the next few days of travel, Ariana gradually recovered with a near-constant flow of healing energy from Hayden and Sophie, each taking shifts with her in the back. Tarry stayed by her side the whole time, bouncing and tumbling about.

During one of the sessions with Hayden, a thought came to Ariana. “Hayden… am I … still in one piece?”

He was quiet for a moment. “Won’t lie to you. You weren’t for a while. Only reason we’re talking now is because of Alvin.”

“Alvin? I didn’t know he had that kind of magic… well… Albert could heal… and Mirabelle said he was good at it… I guess it’s a family thing.”

Hayden chuckled. “You could say that. The Caviston dynasty was built on that healing power.”

“Dynasty… Caviston… ia…” some gears finally clicked in her head. “Wait, Alvin is a prince? His father was…” She groaned. “Oh goodness gracious, I called the king Mister…”

Hayden laughed out loud. She weakly gave him a few smacks, and Tarry jumped to headbutt against his shoulder. “That kind of energy, you should be up and about in no time.”

Another day of recovery and travel passed. During the night, she was being healed by Sophie. Another question bothered her.

“Sophie… If I’m not fully recovered yet… why are we traveling?”

Sophie gripped her a little tighter. “…We just…” she glanced back at Hayden and Ellie. “…we thought… it would be better for you… yeah…”

Ariana became concerned. “Sophie… what’s going on?

Sophie bit her lip. She looked to the others again. Hayden glanced back… and nodded.

Sophie returned her focus to Ariana. “It’s… Koichi.”

Ariana gasped. “Koichi?”

“Koichi’s party has… set out for the Demon Lord’s castle. Alvin said they set out a week before we got to the blockade. Luckily, they took the long way to avoid anything getting in their way, but… we had to leave as soon as we could if we wanted any chance of getting there first.”

Ariana felt her heart rate pick up.

“You’re still not fully… recovered… we agreed that it would be best to wait for you to be better before we told you, but… here we are.”

Ariana gripped Sophie’s hand.

“I know how you feel about this, but… You need to focus on yourself for a few more days, okay? We need you in one piece, we can’t heal you enough if you’re too stressed…”

“A-am I still not back together??”

Sophie clammed up. Ariana hadn’t been paying attention to it… But she just realized she had a blanket wrapped around her. She also realized that she hadn’t left the cart since she woke up. The thing that shocked her the most, though… was realizing that Hayden didn’t actually say she was put back together.

Sophie put out more magic “It’s… going to be okay… as long as we keep healing you, you’re… going to be fine! As long as Tarry is happy and bouncing around, I know you’re okay!”

Ariana looked at her little pumpkin. “Tarry…”

Sophie nodded several times. “Y-yeah, that’s right, Tarry needs you to be strong for him, okay? Tarry’s counting on you to get better!”

Ariana looked at her baby pumpkin. He bounced about next to her. She smiled a little. She knew that Sophie was trying to distract her, but who could be distracted from news like that? She was upset that this was kept from her… but she understood why. They were right. She wouldn’t be better if she didn’t focus on healing.

But maybe she could focus more on healing.

She looked to Sophie. “We need to stop the cart.”

Sophie’s head shook into a double tale. “What? Are you sure?”

Ariana nodded. “It’s the only way this can work fast enough.”

Sophie hesitated for a moment… “Hayden. Ellie. Ariana wants to stop.”

They both turned back.

Ellie called to them. “Are you sure?”

Ariana took a short breath. “Yes.”

They rode on for a while longer, looking for a safe place to stop. They came upon a great felled pine, possibly blown over during a storm. The roots made for a fairly decent little nook to set up camp in.

They pulled the cart along next to it and propped a blanket between it and the nook. After that, Hayden carefully lifted Ariana, still bundled tightly, and settled her into the nook against the roots.

As difficult as it might be, she would need to push all else from her mind.