Young Writers Society

Magic thought long and hard on James' question.

"Well, there's an arcade room," they said, thinking things over. "There's some bedrooms if you want to take a nap. I've got some clothing designers if you're looking for a new outfit. There's the cafe, which can make pretty much anything. And there's the library, which is absolutely massive. Oh, and the garden! If nature's your thing, then that's probably the place you want to go to."

Then Magic turned to Taber, giving him a curious look. "This, uh, isn't a dream. I know it seems like one, but it's definitely not. Uhhh....I can't really prove that to you right now, but just wait for me to get out of her. Then I'll prove it."

"Okay!" Taber said, looking over James' shoulder to find the garden on the map. "That's what they say a lot of the time, but if you have evidence and stuff, I'll believe you!"

It took him a moment, but he'd accomplished the work of storing the map and information back into his visual memory. He finally stepped back and looked towards the others - namely Maahes and Ari. He figured if he was going to do anything, he could at least do something somewhat productive.

"I'm going to go to the library," he said simply, giving Ari a pat on the arm, and looking at Maahes. "You're free to come with."

Not feeling at all threatened by everyone else grouping together and going to the library, Taber raised a hand. "If anyone wants to go to the garden, they can come with me!" he said.

"And I'll be off in the holodeck," Runi said, "if anyone wants a good fight."

As different options were presented, Maahes looked between Sune and James with a worried expression on his face. He had promised Sune that he would eventually show him Star Trek, but he didn't want to leave James - it had been so long since he had last seen him, and he didn't want to lose a single moment that he could be spending with his friend.

Sune suddenly walked over to where Taber was. "I'll go to the garden with you," he said, giving Taber a smile. After doing so for several seconds, he glanced over at Maahes and gave him a reassuring smile - had his moral dilemma really been all that obvious?

"I'll come with you James," Maahes said, eagerly joining his friend at his side.

"Great!" said Taber, taking Sune's hand. He lifted Sune onto his back and ran off in what he remembered was the general direction of the garden. Taber knew that it probably wasn't the greatest idea to drag Sune around like this, but the alternative was grabbing Sune's hand and literally dragging him away. But, no matter what, this was a garden. Taber loved nature, and the ability to see and smell and touch flowers and trees wowed him. It beat the boring gray floors, the constant smell of metal/blood, and the unforgiving textures that his claws scraped against.

Having been observing the group silently from off to the side, Dante knew she would have to make a decision on where on the map she would go. With a sigh, she finally made up her mind and followed Taber and Sune, guessing that some freshness and life might do her some good.

Fortunately, the ship wasn't as big as Taber had thought - he only got lost a couple of times making his way to the garden. He'd tried to justify it as wanting to get a bite to eat or taking an interest in some of those strange flashing machines, but he wasn't sure Sune bought it. As such, he breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped into the garden - he wasn't going to make a fool out of himself again.

Vines snaked across the wall, draping onto trees of various sizes and colors that surrounded a mostly empty clearing. It wasn't all that big, as Taber could see the wall on the other side, but he admired the sheer amount of multicolored bushes, leaves, and trunks that had been stuffed into it. The lights that glared overhead made the place hot and humid, which Taber wasn't so happy about. Panting, he set Sune down beside him.

In all honestly, it should've taken him a lot less time than it did to spot the fox slumped beneath the tree at the center of the clearing. The white fur stuck out against the brown wood of the oak tree, and his reflection was clearly visible in the ring of water that surrounded him.

"Jaron?" Taber said, taking a step forward.

That's about when he was kicked in the face.

Or, that was as much as he pieced together when he found himself on the ground with scratch marks across his right cheek. Oh, and there was a foot next to him.

He stared up at the face a few inches from him. In the harsh light, and particularly after the shock, she was almost unrecognizable for a few seconds. Then his eyes focused.

"Hi, auntie!" he said, beaming.

"Step-aunt," she replied, glaring down at him. "And I can't believe you're here."

Sune hadn't objected to Taber suddenly pulling him away from the group - he honestly reminded him of Arin, and there were only so many times that an action like that could be surprising after being around her for so long. He hadn't been surprised when Taber got distracted by all the new things he had discovered on their way to the garden, either - it was another thing that Arin tended to do.

And then they had arrived at the garden.

He had barely had time to process it all before Taber had managed to find two people he knew. One of them was slumped up against a tree, while the other had promptly attacked him. The air had grown hot for a moment after the initial attack, small, nearly unnoticeable sparks of fire dancing at his fingertips as he prepared to help Taber.

But, apparently, they knew each other.

And it didn't seem like she liked Taber all that much.

He let the flames die at his fingertips, but was still prepared to use them if the need arose. Seeing that Taber had the situation with his aunt under control, Sune made his way over to the person slumped against the tree. "Hello?" he hesitantly said, going to crouch down beside him.

Oh right, he'd forgotten about Jaron. Again. At least this time it was because of someone else.

"I dunno," Taber said, pointing to the fox. "What's he doing here? And how come you didn't help him out?" Jaron had already begun to wake up - one eye popped open, and then the other. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the light that had been partly blocked by Sune.

Denebola rolled her eyes. "I dragged him out of where we'd both ended up. I was hoping to use him as bait in case something like this happened."

"Ah!" Taber said, nodding. He quickly stopped and frowned. "Wait, that's not really a good thing, is it?"

Before Denebola could response, Jaron, realizing there was a stranger in his face, did the first thing that came to mind - scream.

Sune, who had almost completed his crouch, gave a startled cry at the sudden scream and went tumbling back onto the ground. This was followed by another startled cry, since his fall had just brought him in the vicinity of a patch of rosemary. He scrambled to his feet and darted a good few feet away from it - the entire time staring nervously at the seemingly harmless plant.

But once he had done so, he turned to look at the stranger who had screamed at him. "It's alright," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you. I was just saying hello and making sure you were doing alright."

Jaron abruptly stopped screaming. Pulling his knees against his chest and resting his snout on them, he peered down at the strange human that had just fallen into the rosemary. Why was the human screaming? Hadn't it startled him?

"I am alright," Jaron said slowly. Then he noticed the two familiar faces in the background. And that one face that wasn't. "Where's Kendrik?"

"I don't know," Sune hesitantly admitted, glancing back in the direction of Taber and the woman who didn't like him. He still made sure to stay clear of the rosemary, but began to approach the formerly screaming man. "I think he's wherever you were last. I don't know too much about it, but we've been brought to this ship by Magic."

Blinking, the fox looked over to Taber and Denebola, eyes widening and a pout (somehow) on his snout. Taber shrugged, while Denebola scrunched her face at the "magic" comment.

Without further ado, Jaron stood up. He ran past Sune, cleared the tiny moat around the tree, and stopped a couple inches from Taber. Then the fox wrapped his arms around Taber and buried his head in Taber's chest.

"Can you be my backup Kendrik?" Jaron whispered, voice muffled.

Taber perked up at the question. "Sure!" he said, looking up to Denebola when he noticed her roll her eyes. He beamed and stuck his tongue out at her.

Sune immediately froze up when he saw Denebola's reaction to what had been said. He knew that not everyone was comfortable with magic - or, for that matter, comfortable with the people who used it. He and Arin had encountered countless situations before their time with Maahes where they were shunned or even outwardly hated for their magic. He had just forgotten what it was like after spending so much time with someone who understood.