AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Good morning everyone, just one quick note. I am going on vacation for a week starting today. Because of this I will have little to no time to write. What this means is that there will not be an update next week. Thank you in advance for understanding.

Everyone took a seat on the ground and some pulled out some water. Curtis finally released Lilia from his arms as he laid her against Grawder's side after Grawder had laid down behind them. Curtis' behavior was unusual, and if anyone could think beyond the worry they held for Lilia right now they probably would have felt happy for her for the attention she was getting from the former prince.

"So Arthur, how long do you think till she can move?" Claire asked Arthur as she leaned back against the rock wall.

"No telling," Arthur replied as he took a seat. "It's all a matter of how fast the antidote works its way through her body, how much venom got into her body, and a bunch of other factors that we can't possibly know."

"How did this even happen?" Feyrith asked no one in particular. "I would say we were doing pretty good. So how did one of them get in that close?"

"I don't know, how about we ask Claire?" Curtis replied in an accusatory tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Claire asked in a defensive tone.

"Well let's see, Lilia was between you and Arthur, and technically she was behind Arthur. Do you see where I'm going with this?" Curtis replied angrily as he slowly walked towards Claire.

"You think this is my fault?" Claire yelled.

"Well how else could one of those damned things get so close!" Curtis shot back. The two of them practically nose to nose as they yelled at one another.

"And how about you? You abandoned your position just to catch her! One of us could have done that? But instead you run through half our party just to catch her!" Claire continued to yell.

Arthur was starting to get back up to bring this argument to an end, when the temperature dropped suddenly to the point they could see their breath.

"Enough both of you," Kathyln said in a calm tone, allowing her magic to take the place of yelling. "Curtis, sit down and tend to Lilia." Curtis glared at his sister for a moment, then turned around and stomped back over to Lilia. Kathyln then turned to face Claire and bowed. "I apologize for Curtis' behavior towards you. You know how he is about his friends, he doesn't mean anything that he said, he's just frustrated."

"It's ok, I get it," Claire replied in a much calmer tone, then turned around and sat back down.

Kathyln then looked over to Arthur to see him looking at her with a surprised smirk on his face as he was sitting back down. Kathyln blushed slightly, but then noticed Tess was already sitting very close beside him. Kathyln wasn't pleased with Tess being that close to Arthur, but wasn't going to let it stop her from speaking to him and walked over.

"I'm sorry that I intervened, I know you could have and would have been able to handle it, but I believed that I needed to handle him so he'll calm down," Kathyln apologized.

"That's fine, but why did you feel that you needed to handle it?" Arthur asked.

Kathyln looked hesitant at first, uncertain as to how to answer. "Before Curtis and I attended Xyrus Academy, with the exception of royal balls, we rarely ever came in contact with anyone our own age. Curtis never cared for the noble children at the balls, the boys were told to become his friend so that their family may be in our fathers favor, and the girls were told to make him fall in love with them, and then the opposite was true for me. Since we both knew this we were reluctant to let ourselves ever get close to anyone. That day at the auction house when we first met, after what happened it left Curtis angry for at least a week. You see when our father suggested the two of you having a friendly duel after he learned you were getting a sword, Curtis had hoped that could have been an opportunity to make his first friend. Last summer when Director Goodsky decided to form the disciplinary committee and Claire recruited us, that was when Curtis finally made his first friends."

"I guess it doesn't matter the race, princes and princesses seem to have the same problem," Arthur thought out loud. Kathyln's eyes quickly shot over to Tess to see a sympathetic and understanding expression, showing something they had in common. "But I still don't understand why you felt you needed to handle him?" Arthur asked.

"Now that Curtis has friends he is protective of them, almost to a fault, but Lilia seems to be different. He is extremely protective of her. Claire was one of his first friends and you saw how he just acted towards her. I just want to ensure that he doesn't do anything that would cost him any of his friends," Kathyln explained.

"Back to your comment about Lilia, are you saying that he..." Tess began before Kathyln cut her off quickly.

"I think so. He's never told me, but he's never been very good at keeping his emotions in check, so I'm pretty good at reading him," Kathyln replied quickly. Arthur appeared to be completely clueless as to what was about to be said and Kathyln had full intention of keeping it that way, since she didn't feel it was her secret to share. "But if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go check on Curtis and see how he's managing," Kathyln concluded and walked off.

"Well if this is any indication as to how the rest of the summer is going to go, things aren't looking too promising," Tess commented as she leaned against Arthur.

"Why do you think that?" Arthur asked.

"Well let's see, Lilia nearly died, Curtis and Claire are pretty much at each other's throats, and all of this at only the first level of our first dungeon," Tess replied with a sigh at the end.

"Do you know what happened to me a few days after becoming an adventurer?" Arthur asked. Tess shook her head as she looked at Arthur with a curious expression. "I found a bush of wild berries and ate about half the bush."

"That doesn't sound bad, actually that sounds pretty good," Tess replied with a smile at the thought of eating a ton of berries.

"That's what I thought at first, until I learned these berries aren't good for anything except for curing constipation." Arthur said as Tess tried to contain her laughter. "About five can fix you up and make everything normal, but half a bush? Well you can imagine how that turned out," Arthur concluded with a small laugh at the memory.

"That sounds disgusting," Tess replied as she was failing to keep from laughing.

"Oh it was, but I also learned from it. I learned a lot every day as an adventurer, just like we are now. Yes things didn't go as planned, but we all made it out ok, and we learned a few things. Things will never go as expected in the beast glades, especially when in a dungeon. What matters is that we all make it out in one piece and we get stronger from it, both physically and mentally," Arthur said, passing on a piece of wisdom he learned over two lives.

"Is that how you learned about that flower?" Tess asked.

"Yes and no. My mentor Jasmine taught me a lot about how to survive here, but that flower never came up. But she did teach me how to accept what happens and to be as prepared as I can be for the worst, and to use what I have to the fullest. So when I was planning these dungeons I read up on all the known mana beasts that had been seen in them, and prepared accordingly. Most adventurers can't make that medicine in a dungeon because of how quickly it loses its effectiveness, but having you with us made it possible, so I brought a couple of seeds with me," Arthur explained as he pulled two of the fruits he got from the vines in the previous chamber from his dimensional ring. They were round purple fruits that gave a slight glow, handed one to Tess

"So you're taking advantage of me?" Tess teased as she took the fruit.

"When you put it like that it sounds like I'm doing something bad. With your help I was just teaching everyone a lesson about how to survive in a dungeon, and showing another way the power of a plant mage can be used other than combat," Arthur replied innocently as he took a bite of his fruit.

Tess laughed a little at how well Arthur took her tease and turned it around, then took a bite of her fruit. "Oh wow, this is so good!" Tess commented excitedly. "Did your mentor teach you about these too?"

Arthur's expression darkened as he stared at the piece of fruit in his hand. "No. I learned about these long before I became an adventurer."

Tess could hear the pain in his voice and could see the change in Arthur's mood. She wasn't sure why this seemed to be causing him pain, but chose not to push the issue knowing that Arthur wouldn't share anyway. Instead she hooked her right arm around his left and rested her head on her shoulder to try and show Arthur that she was there for him.

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Kathyln walked away from Arthur and Tess, feeling a bit annoyed at the former elf princess for being so close to Arthur. However, at the same time she felt that she now understood why she appeared to be so close to Arthur so often, and pitied her a bit, as she at least had Curtis, while Tess had no siblings. As Kathyln approached her brother she could see him brushing a strand of hair from Lilia's face as he was kneeling down beside her.

"How is she doing?" Kathyln asked as she came up on the other side of Lilia.

"Ok I guess, but her forehead feels a little warm. Do you think you could make a little ice to cool her down?" Curtis asked.

Kathyln nodded as she put out her hand and formed a piece of ice as long as her hand and as thick as her palm.

"Thank you," Curtis replied as he took the ice. He was about to place it on Lilia's forehead, when Kathyln put her hand between Lilia and the ice.

"Don't put the ice directly on her skin, put a towel in between. Otherwise the cold could be too much and could hurt her," Kathyln said with an ever so slight lecturing tone.

"Oh, right," Curtis replied and pulled a small white towel from his dimensional ring. He then wrapped the ice in the towel and placed it on Lilia's forehead.

"Have you told her?" Kathyln asked quietly as not to be heard by anyone else

"Told who what?" Curtis replied not paying much attention to Kathyln's question.

"Lilia you have a crush on her," Kathyln replied.

Curtis froze and looked at his sister. "What makes you so confident about that?" Curtis asked, keeping as quiet as he could.

"Unlike me, you don't restrain your emotions much. I could see it clearly at school from the bomb threat incident," Kathyln replied.

"You weren't even there, how could you see anything from that?" Curtis scoffed.

"No I wasn't, but Lilia was. She told me about how without warning you swept her up off her feet and began running with her in your arms, how you didn't stop until after you notified a knight and she asked you to put her down," Kathyln replied.

"Th-th-that doesn't mean anything. I-I-I was just getting her to safety," Curtis stuttered.

"You always would sit in front of her at morning meetings, oftentimes trying to discreetly look at her. Then just minutes ago you practically bit Claire's head off, blaming her for Lilia getting hurt. She was one of your first real friends, so you had to be in a heightened emotional state to be like that. Someone you care a great deal for getting hurt should cause that kind of response. If you want to keep denying it I can keep going on listing the signs I've seen," Kathyln listed off with a tone of almost superiority.

"Does Lilia know?" Curtis asked in defeat.

"No, although she did notice your behavior to be odd, but she doesn't appear to have put it together yet," Kathyln replied.

"Good. I'm not ready to tell her yet," Curtis replied with a sigh of relief.

"Are you worried Mother and Father wouldn't approve?" Kathyln asked as she tried to figure out why he hadn't told Lilia about his crush on her yet.

"To be honest I don't really care. Every time they try to act like real parents when it comes to our personal lives they just make it worse. I mean the way dad handled things with Arthur, I mean throwing gold at them as an apology? I heard about how Arthur's dad handled the representative dad sent, I'm surprised he didn't punch the guy. If dad could have just swallowed his pride and just apologized in person I bet there would have been no issues, even if he gave them some gold." Curtis looked at Lilia laying there against Grawder admiring how beautiful she looked. "I know mother and father said we could choose our own partners, but I just don't expect them to be ok with anyone that wasn't from a noble house."

Kathyln sat down next to Lilia and also leaned back against Grawder. "Outside of the noble families sometimes the children defy their parents to do what they feel is right. Technically we aren't even a noble family, just a family currently holding two seats on the council. It's not a permanent position, eventually someone else will take those seats and our family will just be remembered as the former royal family. So if mother and father disapprove why not take a page from normal children, and follow your heart."

Curtis chuckled a little. "Quite a long winded way of telling me to follow my heart, but thanks. Who would have guessed my seemingly emotionless sister was deep down a romantic."

Kathyln glared at Curtis with a scowl at that comment. "Just because I don't show much emotion doesn't mean I don't feel emotions," Kathyln replied with an angry tone.

"Sorry," Curtis replied with a small laugh while putting his hands out in front of himself in a defensive manner. "Honestly I think it's good for you to be a little more expressive, it might make people feel more comfortable around you."

"Arthur said something similar at school once," Kathyln commented as she looked down and away from Curtis.

"Kathyln, don't," Curtis said in a sympathetic tone.

"Why not? If you can want a relationship with Lilia why can't I want one with Arthur?" Kathyln shot back defensively.

"Because Arthur isn't available. I've talked with him, he's in love with Tess. He's just clearly too nervous to tell her," Curtis explained. "But besides that, I'm not ready for my little sister to start dating yet, but even if I was I would want you to fall for a guy that won't unintentionally break your heart. A guy who loves you and only you."

"Well thank you, but I'll decide when I'm ready to date, not you," Kathyln replied softly.

"Fine, but I'll still be looking out for my little sister," Curtis replied with a smirk.

"Only if I can look out for you too," Kathyln replied.

"Deal," Curtis said with a smile.

"Good, now as for my first job in looking out for you, go apologize to Claire. We both know this wasn't her fault," Kathyln told him.

"Ok," Curtis replied with a sigh, and stood up and walked over to Claire.

As Curtis left Kathyln noticed that Lilia's breathing had changed from her normal pace to a rapid one. If not for the fact that Lilia's breathing was still steady Kathyln would have been worried. So she sat there and watched over Lilia until eventually her breathing returned to normal. Kathyln then continued to watch Lilia suspiciously.

"Hmm. Lilia, were you awake?" Kathyln asked, not expecting an answer. Lilia's breathing then sped up again.

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Several hours passed as they awaited Lilia to wake up. Several of them took naps, while others either meditated, or cooked a meal. Some of them were expecting to be stuck in that spot until the next day. Although they wouldn't have thought that if they had only been paying attention to Lilia. Curtis had decided to take a nap beside Lilia, and ended up resting his head on her shoulder. At first there was nothing from Lilia, but within an hour one could tell she was fighting back a smile. Lilia probably would have liked staying like that for longer, but after several hours of not being able to move, she was eager to stretch her limbs.

"Finly," Lilia said and she stretched out her arms and legs, her tongue still a little numb.

"Lilia!" Everyone called out as she brought attention to the fact she could move.

"Huh!" Curtis said, confused as his head shot up from being disturbed from his sleep. "Lilia!" Curtis shouted as he looked to his left to see the young conjurer awake and quickly without thinking gave her a hug. Both of them blushed as they realized the position they were in, and quickly separated. "I-I'm happy you're ok," Curtis said as he looked away, a little embarrassed by hugging her in front of everyone.

"Tanks," Lilia replied, then realized how she sounded. "Whaths wrong with my thongue?" Lilia slurred in a panic.

"It looks like you're not fully recovered from the venom yet," Arthur replied. "Moving would probably be the best thing you could do right now, as well as talk to help with the numbing in your mouth. Just be careful not to bite your tongue when talking. Kathyln why don't you help Lilia up and walk her around a little bit to help with her balance."

Kathyln nodded and came over and gave Lilia her hand. Lilia took it, and with Curtis' help she got up to her feet. She was a bit wobbly, but was still able to stand.

"Han hi hath thun thin thoo theat?" Lilia asked.

"You want to eat?" Claire asked, trying to understand Lilia. To which Lilia nodded.

"For right now just try talking. As numb as your mouth is right now I'm concerned that you'll just bite your tongue or choke," Arthur replied. "Once you're able to enunciate your words better you should be ok to eat slowly."

Lilia nodded in understanding, and began walking with Kathyln's help. They walked a little ways from the group, just like Kathyln wanted.

"So how much of my conversation with Curtis did you hear?" Kathyln asked.

Lilia stumbled a little from being caught off guard by the question. "I-I don'th know thwhat thour thalking aout," Lilia replied nervously.

"Despite you not being able to move, I could still tell you were awake. So I ask again, how much did you hear?" Kathyln asked again.

"All of thit," Lilia replied, a tinge of pink creeping onto her cheeks.

"Good, then I can just leave it to you to act on it how you see fit," Kathyln replied as they turned back towards the party.

"What do you mean?" Lilia asked, sounding a bit more clear.

"As you heard, my brother has a crush on you. I don't know how you feel towards him, so it's your choice on how you use this information. Reciprocate the feelings or reject them, It's your choice, just know if you chose to give him a chance you have my support," Kathyln said as she looked towards Lilia and gave a small smile.

"Thank you. I don't know thow I theel towards him, my hearts been a mess since the athack, so I'd like to thort out my feelings first before I do anything. Curtis is such a nice and amazing guy, I don't want to risk hurting him," Lilia replied, her speech clearly improving as she spoke.

Kathyln nodded in approval as they returned to the party, with Lilia barely needing any help walking.