After hanging up the phone with Carina and Carve, I head upstairs to Tim’s room, where he and Aita seem to be playing each other at a round of Planet Puzzle League. As Tim has one DS in his hands to use, playing almost like any other video game platform, Aita levitates another DS and its stylus, both DS’s linked by a small cable.
“Holy cow, Aita! How much garbage did you send me?!?”
“...a lot... oh! Hi, Sophie!”
Wait. How did Aita know I w- reflection, of course.
“Hey, you two. Carina just called.”
“So, what did she say?” Tim asks.
“I’m gonna head to the vet at around quarter of five. That’s in five hours.”
I reach into my purse and take out a ten bill.
“Tim, here’s a ten. Treat yourself to some supper while I’m gone, okay?”
“Will do, Sophie. Thanks.”
I give Tim the ten, which he happily takes.
“So, what’m I going to do in the meantime?”
“By the time I leave, Aita, it’ll start to get dark.”
“So, that means just to go to bed at my normal time around this time of year?”
I nod.
“Yeah.”
“Well, doing that also means I wake up at the normal time too, right?”
“Right on, nymph. The time you wake up tomorrow will be the time we leave to see Carina together.”
“Okay, I got it.”
;=;
As I arrive at the vet, I’m greeted in the waiting room by the sight Jon and Roman, who are simply sitting, waiting for me. Carve is fast sleep on the chairs left of them.
“Hi Jon. Hi Uncle Roman.”
“So you made it here...” Jon notes.
“Yep. Carina expects this all to be settled by tonight.”
“Oh, you mean the egg?”
I nod at Roman.
“Yeah. Hopefully, Chrysalis and Carve have helped Carina enough for her to be fine afterwards. Speaking of Carina, should we head to her room?”
Suddenly, Carve springs awake.
“Carina’s visiting the hive again?!? HIST!! I wish I’d known earlier!”
“Oh, hey Carve. Glad to see you up now.”
“Oh. Sophie... it’s you. What’s going on?”
“We’re about to head to Carina’s room to see how she’s doing.”
Carve blinks.
“Oh. The egg. Yeah, I’ll need to see that.”
;=;
When Sophie, Roman, Jon and I arrive in her room, Carina looks like she’d discovered something terrifying about herself or someone she associates with. When I come to her right, I wave my right hoof in front of her.
No response.
At least she has her eyes open.
mmmmmmmmmm...
“Um, Carve?”
“Yeah Jon?”
“You may want to get out of the way.”
Suddenly, Carina lets out of a loud hiss, followed by a second moan. I squeeze into the corner in response.
“I think I’ll stand next to the wall. It sure won’t look pretty seeing an egg as it comes out.”
“Trust me, Carve. That was quite the case when I witnessed it at ho-”
The sound of crackling carapace gets me to gag a little. It lasts for about ten seconds before the room falls silent, the whole time I avert my gaze from Carina, and looking toward the wall to my right, with Jon, Roman and Sophie in the left corner in my field of view, who also avert their gazes.
However, in the wake of the silence, I seem to be the only one who doesn’t plug their nose. Sure, I can smell some of the stress that Carina probably just went through, but it seems to hit Roman and Sophie particularly hard. To me, it smells a bit like my right hoof did when I was first conscious in Rolling Acres.
As I look at the bed once more, I spot an egg right on Carina’s tail that looks to have more than half of it reflecting light from the ceiling. Inspecting the bed itself, I find that it looks quite wet around Carina, almost visually identical to a bedwetter’s situation. But deep inside, I know that this particular situation almost never happens. No changeling would ever release an egg out of the hive unless they knew they were way too far away to make it in time. Then I look at Carina, who appears to be unconscious.
“Well, here’s hoping Carina will be awake by dawn,” Jon remarks.
I yawn and nod.
“Yeah. I hope so too... alada rote.”
;=;
With Carina’s egg released, and Carve now crashed beside her, I think it’s safe to say that today’s main attraction is over.
At least Roman, Jon and I can all get home.
However, there is still one thing we’ll need to do first.
“Hey, um, do you mind us letting Carina stay here tonight?” I ask the receptionist. “We ought to give her a chance to cool off.”
“Alrighty then. We’ll make sure to have Carina back on her hooves tomorrow morning.”
Oh hey, Jon sure looks shocked.
“Wait. Isn’t Carve in Carina’s room?”
Roman and I nod.
“Okay. I’ll go get her.”
“Then who’s going to see if Carina is up tomorrow morning before we all come?” Roman asks. “We’re not going to be there at dawn.”
“Not if we don’t sleep early tonight. That’s what I plan to do. Jon, do you think you can get to bed early if I take Carve to your place?”
“Can’t guarantee it’ll work, but I’ll try, Sophie.”
“Good, then go get Carve. She’ll likely be up by the time we return at dawn tomorrow.”
“Alright. Thanks.”
Jon proceeds to walk back to Carina’s room to pick Carve up. Meanwhile, I check the time: 6:00. By now, Tim should be home from getting supper.
A few minutes later, Jon comes out, carrying Carve on his shoulder.
“Alright, guys. Ready?”
“Ready,” Roman and I answer.
The three of us get outside, me and Jon going to our respective cars. Jon first opens the front passenger door and puts Carve on the seat. After making sure she doesn’t fall, Jon closes the door and heads to his side. I quickly follow suit and the two of us turn on our ignition, ready to head home.