So, what do you do while you’re here?” Merton asked, looking around, seeing no sign of
monsters. “Explore?”
“Yes! It’s a wonderful place to explore.” Cathy chirped. “But we are also on a quest,
Rosie and me.”
“A quest?”
“Well, we were told there is no cure for our illness,” Rosie answered.
Merton nodded. “My parents told me that too.”
“So, well, I thought that maybe we are supposed to look for a cure here.” Rosie
continued. “I had only been here a few times after Doctor Tess— she is my doctor— told me
about this place. I didn’t wander too far because I wasn’t too sure if any of this was real or a
dream.” She explained.
Merton nodded again.He could certainly relate to that.
“Then I stumbled on Cathy here, skipping on some stepping stones down the way from
my door. She’s been coming here for a while, I guess. So, she started showing me more and
more each day. And every time I would go back to my room and be sick again, I started really
wanting to come here to have the energy to do the things I can’t do back at home.” Rosie took a
breath and continued, her words all bubbling over like she had been wanting someone to
explain this to.
Merton waited patiently for her to finish her story, eager to hear what she had to say“And
I just sort of started wondering what the point was. Is this place just to provide relief? Then I
remembered what Doctor Tess said about being warriors, and the items, and the beasts. We
are supposed to find our beasts and battle them. So, I assume, maybe, we will get better if we
can do that. But then, I thought that maybe, if something in this place makes us feel better, we
can find a way to take some of it back with us as a cure. Or, at least, get rid of the cancer.”
Merton nodded, thinking over Rosie’s theory. He didn’t see any reason why it didn’t
make sense. Rosie was clearly a very bright and insightful little girl.
“Can’t you just take some water back from the streams or something?” He asked the
obvious question and awaited an obvious answer— which he got.
“It can’t make it through the doorway!” Cathy, who had opted to sit down for Rosie’s
speech, squeaked, gesturing like she had just dropped something on floor. “We tried that
already. We think the cure must be something less obvulis .”
“ Obvious , Cathy.” Rosie corrected gently.
“That’s what I said, obvulis .” Cathy fumbled over the word again. “If it’s here, it’s gotta be
something deeper in the world. So, we are on a quest to find it! Do you want to help?”
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