Chapter 5

Alex didn't know what to think. What a world it was that they had fallen into. No other real human beings on the entire planet, weird species of all shapes and sizes who all possessed equally strange powers, and on top of all of that this little old elf guy thought that they were the only hope the whole weird world had against these... Squicky things. Alex wondered briefly what they looked like. Had anyone even seen them before? And who came up with these names? She found them more interesting than more ordinary names like Bob at least. It would be very hard to feel threatened by the Bobs. Alex would be more inclined to laugh than scream in terror and run away. However Squickies got their name, they certainly didn't sound like pleasant creatures. And that was before she'd even been told their species name.

Still, Alex didn't really want to be the hope of Fantasie. She was essentially a pacifist at heart, and didn't relish the thought of anyone depending on her fighting to save anything, let alone an entire world. She felt guilty when she fought with Sean over a piece of candy... what would fighting for an entire world be like (even if it was for survival against true evil)? Alex had serious misgivings about the whole thing. The pressure of having the whole world depend on her was already making itself felt and she hadn't even done anything yet! But even with all the misgivings she had, Alex simply couldn't resist any hope of returning home that was offered. So she'd do her best to learn the new powers she might or might not have and help Fantasie as a whole against the chaos that threatened to destroy their world. In the end, Alex didn't really see any other option for her and Sean. Before she committed to anything though, she really needed to get Sean's opinion on this. Maybe he had thought of another solution that didn't require them becoming embroiled in the problems of the entire planet.

Sean's thoughts on the matter were even more convoluted than Alex's had been. He was more ambivalent about the actual need to go home than Alex was. His home life had never been all that stellar. Sure, he loved Brian, Meg, and his Mother. But the slim benefits life back on Earth offered were more than overwhelmed by all of the problems, his father chief among them. And although he didn't have to live within the reach of his father's fist, he felt a duty to protect the rest of his family. To a point, at least. He would have eventually had to leave home even if he hadn't been abruptly and fantastically pulled into some weird book. He had planned on college as an escape, but he really wasn't the best of students. His grades in school were dead average, a cause for many a bruise from his father when grades were mailed out. They were good enough to get him into one of the three public universities in Iowa, but not good enough for any them to offer him a scholarship to attend there.

Being stuck in Fantasie gave Sean a way to successfully avoid his father's rages for eternity - assuming he either stayed or could find no way home. It also meant that he'd never see any of the rest of his friends or family except for Alex for the rest of his life. He didn't really have any close friends aside from Alex, so that took care of the friends portion of that objection. As for his family... his Da was a right pain in the ass and he loathed him just as much as he loved the rest of his family. But in some tiny corner of his psyche, he wondered if he loved them because of who they were or because of the victimization they all had in common. He couldn't help but speculate: if his family had been normal, or his father had been absent, or even if he had simply not been abusive - would he, his mother, and his siblings still be as close as they were now? Or would the lack of a common enemy to bond against turn them into merely a bunch of people disinterested in the lives of those they were closest to genetically who went about their lives separately, only seeing each other briefly perhaps at suppertime or on weekends as they dashed out to whatever activity they were currently involved in. In other words - would their family have ended up like Alex's (and an alarming portion of American families) was now?

Sean's lack of familial feeling towards his father was certainly understandable, as was his inability to come to a decision with ease in this particular matter. After awhile, Sean even had to actively search for reasons to return to the world he knew. The best, and most relevant one that he could come up with was that Earth, and that dilapidated trailer he lived in, was home. For all its flaws, it was familiar, safe (or at least he had a better idea of how to navigate the dangers), and there were many conveniences he was betting this world didn't have.

It was eventually this last factor that made Sean decide to try anything to return home. Already he really missed motor transportation, green grass, and the yellow sun he was used to having shine on him. He was absolutely certain that there would be a multitude of other things he was going to miss by the time he and Alex finished what they were supposed to do here and went home. It was just too strange here to fit in with any ease. Being the only humans on the planet really didn't help, either. So when Alex began to speak after a thoughtful, almost uncomfortable period of silence, he was ready with his decision.

"Can you excuse us for a moment Armith, T'lar?" she asked politely. "We need to talk this over a little before we give you a definite answer."

"Of course," Armith agreed immediately. He hadn't expected them to jump at his offer right away. They were lost in a strange land after all and it was only common sense that they'd want to discuss his proposal before committing themselves to such a large task. "You may use the room where you first entered to converse privately. Return here when you have come to a decision."

The two teens went back around the partition to the receiving room. When they were as far away from listening pointed ears as they could get (in the corner a little ways from the door), they began to have a whispered conversation.

"Well, what do you think?" Alex began. "Should we take Armith's offer of training and help, or do you have another idea for how to get home?"

"I think we should take his, and any other reasonable offer of help we can find," Sean replied. "I want to go home, Alex, and asking these... elves, or even the dragons or anybody for help seems like the best way to get there. I certainly don't have any other ideas on how else we could get home. Hell, I don't even really understand how we got here in first place! You know that life isn't too great for me back home, and I can see how you might wonder why I want to go back at all. I had to think about it a lot too. But it's fucking weird here Alex, and I don't want to be here long enough to get used to it. I mean, we're the only two people on the whole planet. It's a really lonely feeling."

Alex nodded. She understood, really she did. She'd had some of the same objections to staying here. "I know. And I agree with you. I think this is probably our best bet. I'm kind of concerned about what we might have to do to get home. We're pretty much the heros here Sean, and they're counting on us to save all of them. I'm just worried that whatever these Squickies are, they're going to be really hard to defeat. We can't go home if we're killed in the process of trying to get there, you know?"

"Good point. But if this is our only way home and we don't even try, it wouldn't do us all that much good to be alive here anyway. Especially if the Squickies overrun the entire planet. So maybe the question isn't 'Should we help these people, ' but 'What other choice do we have?'"

Alex sighed. "I don't know, Sean. I don't think we really have any other choice. Unless you've suddenly been gifted with the exact knowledge of how we got here and how we can get back home?" She looked inquiringly at him for a moment until he shook his head regretfully. "I didn't think you had. Well, that's that then. We take the help Armith's offering. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Sean confirmed. "But maybe we should also keep our eyes open. I doubt his offer is entirely selfless and we shouldn't take everything he said at face value. It could be that the Elves are really the bad guys here and the Squickies are really this poor race of beings that the Elves just inexplicably wish to wipe from the face of the planet. We don't know. And until we've experienced the way things really are here for ourselves, I think we should be careful about believing everything we're told."

Alex nodded. "All right. Makes sense to me. Shall we go back then?"

"I guess so." Sean was less than enthusiastic about it. "Hey, I wonder what they have to eat here? It's been a long time since breakfast and I'm starving." Suddenly, Sean was much more optimistic about going back into the room where Armith and T'lar waited. The prospect of food always made teenage boys perk up. They were constantly hungry, but even Alex had been feeling hunger pains for some time.

The thought of food made the teens' steps just a touch quicker on the return trip to the inner chamber where the elves were waiting (one with more patience than the other... T'lar was pacing a bit and grumbling under his breath). T'lar and Armith both looked up as they entered the room. T'lar didn't stop moving, however. He preferred movement to stillness nine times out of ten.

"Have you reached a decision?" Armith asked.

Sean nodded and Alex said, "We have. We've decided that it would be best for now if we stay here and offer our help as we accept yours. We've agreed to learn and try to help you fight the Squickies, but we make no promises. If we find someone who knows a better way for us to get home, we'll try that instead."

Armith cocked his head slightly and his fingers moved absently on his staff as he pondered their response. It wasn't as enthusiastic as he would have liked, but at least it was cautiously affirmative. It could have been worse. And Armith was well aware that they'd never find a way back to where they were from unless the Great Goddess granted them a miracle and transported them when their task was done. So he was content enough with their response. "Very well then. It shall be as you wish. If you will follow T'lar, he will take you to Mab for some nourishment before escorting you to the small tree we keep ready for the rare occasions when we have guests in Arturia. Get some rest, I am sure you are tired. Your teaching will begin tomorrow." With this he rose from his chair; Alex and Sean were clearly dismissed.

T'lar didn't even stop pacing. He simply pivoted on the balls of his feet until he was facing the door and began walking in that direction instead. "Come on then," he threw over his shoulder as he passed them entirely. "No sense in wasting time."

Alex and Sean scurried to catch up. It seemed as if that was all they ever did around since they'd first met T'lar; lagging along behind him as he strode off someplace. Each was tempted to wait, but he'd only scowl at them and grumble some more. Besides, he might get annoyed enough to actually leave them with Armith and then they might never get to eat and find out where they were sleeping. Food easily won out over irritating the grumpy elf.

T'lar exited Armith's tree and made his way around it to the part of the village they hadn't even seen. It was too dark now to see the village properly, but the light from the phosphorescent vines and the three moons that were only semi-visible through the leaves overhead made it possible to at least see T'lar's outline as he made his way through the village. The glimpses of the moon that they had were interesting though, and just as strangely colored as they were beginning to get used to. One was a pretty dusky rose, the middle one was a deep shade of red, while the third was a light orange. Their sizes were impossible to determine because of the foliage that partially blocked the view. They'd missed sunset in their hurry to reach Armith before full nightfall. Alex was sort of sorry she'd missed it - sunsets were very pretty on Earth and she suspected that they were absolutely marvelous here.

They followed the vague outline of his mobile form until they reached a tree "house" on the other side of the clearing. It was obvious that the tree dimly illuminated by the neat glow-in-the-dark vines was smaller than Armith's had been, but that was the only clear difference they could see between the two dwellings. T'lar finally stopped just short of the entrance and turned around. "Mind your manners now," he admonished. "Mab is a right good elf, she is, and I won't have you upsetting her in any way, do you hear?"

"Yes, T'lar," they chorused. At this point, they'd be nice to Amanda Marsh, the nastiest bitch at Central High School, as long as she was holding a pizza and two Cokes with their names on it. Some elf woman they'd never even met should be a piece of cake. Mmm... cake. Even the metaphorical thought of it made their stomachs rumble.

They eagerly, with looks of what they hoped was wary pleasantness on their faces, stepped towards the entrance. Before they could go in, however, T'lar put up an elegant hand to halt their progress. He wasn't quite done with his set of instructions yet. "After you've eaten, tell Mab that you're finished and she'll go find me. I'll take you to the tree Armith spoke of as being reserved for you. I'll stick around a bit then to show you how things work inside as I don't expect that you're used to the type of home we have here, what with you being foreign and all. Then I'll leave you to get some sleep as I'm sure Armith has plenty planned for you tomorrow morning and early at that. Now just let me go in for a bit to warn Mab. She's a good female, but I don't want to spring you two on her unannounced. She can be right testy when she wants to be. I'll be back in a moment." He then went inside.

His prediction of a moment was wrong. In fact, it was quite inaccurate. The two teens waited outside for a good five minutes, stomachs rumbling unhappily all the while. By the time T'lar finally reappeared in the doorway, both teens were starting to get more than a little testy. They were tired, had sore feet, and were experiencing a hunger the likes of which they'd never felt before. They'd never really been truly hungry before today. Oh, occasionally they might have skipped a meal, everyone did now and again. But they'd never before experienced real hunger, the kind that gnawed at your backbone with a ferocious intensity when food hadn't been consumed, energy had been expended, and nourishment was nowhere in the foreseeable future. It was that unfamiliar hunger that set their stomachs clamoring and feet shifting as they waited impatiently for T'lar to return.

When the incredibly long moment was over with and T'lar was in front of them once more, both teens sighed in relief. Finally they could get something to eat! T'lar didn't even bother to say anything further to them. He grunted and made a little gesturing wave towards the inside. Alex and Sean took that as permission that they could at last go in.