"It can't just go on forever."
"Yeah, I'm sure it'll stop pretty soon. We ran out of the hot stuff a while ago."
"I don't get why it didn't stop running then. You said that it would."
Roseluck opened her eyes, blinking away the grime that had gathered overnight. She'd really passed out. Eldon and Cato were staring at her kitchen sink, and she could only assume that they were wondering how it went on forever. It went without saying that her water bill would be high this month. Then again, she'd been gone for a week too, so that probably evened this out.
Apparently she dozed off again, because the next thing she knew, Eldon was shaking her awake. "Rose! Your faucet keeps going forever!"
"Turn it off." She mumbled, and Eldon moved out of her field of vision, returning a moment later.
"How big is your water tank?" He asked.
"It's- It gets filtered from a reservoir somewhere, and then water pressure brings it down through pipes from near the Canterhorn."
"I'm going to assume that's a place, right?"
"Yeah, a mountain a ways east of-" She yawned, stretching her hooves over her head. "Ponyville. How're you feeling?"
He shrugged, affectionately messing up Cato's feathers as the kid walked up. "Better than I was a few days ago, I guess."
"I guess that's pretty clear." Rose responded with a chuckle, eyeing the easily visible cuts along his cheek. She wondered how visible the scars would be. Hopefully not too much, although she didn't particularly mind herself. But they were trying to make Eldon look friendly, and the bounty hunter look didn't do him well. "You got plans for today?"
"Should I?" He scratched his head. "What do you think is fun?"
Rose bit her lip, mind screening most of the activities she could think of. "We should probably stick together for a while, or make sure that you're around ponies that can help. I don't want a repeat of what happened three days ago."
"I second that one." Eldon agreed.
"Let's just write down things that you'll need to do, and then we can branch out from there. Maybe you'll get an idea." Rose grabbed a pad of paper from a small coffee table and flipped a few pages, pulling a pencil from the spiral binding. "You wanted to get Cato into a school, right?" She asked. He nodded, and she scribbled it down. "We can register that later this week, I suppose."
"Flying." He said, and she wrote half the word before looking up.
"For you or like lessons for Cato?"
"Either or." Eldon responded, hearing Cato let out a few excited sounds as he took to racing around the room and buzzing his wings.
"Alright, flying and school. Anything else?"
"I'll get a job doing something at some point." Eldon said, staring into Rose's eyes. "So write that down."
"You don't have to if you don't want to." The mare replied, keeping her pencil still.
"Look, I'm going to really bored around here if I can't find something. I'm sure someone needs some hard labor anyway."
"Do you really want to just go back to that?!" Rose shot back, raising her voice. "Everything's completely different, you could do anything!"
"Yeah, but I was good at what I did. I may as well start there." He shrugged. "That should be a good way to start to narrow it down anyway." He looked around, taking in the house once again. "So, is there anything you need done that doesn't involve things I don't understand?"
"I'm not letting you do anything today." Rose said, crossing her arms.
"I don't think I want to anyway." Eldon replied, grimacing. "I'm kinda tipsy as it is."
"You think you're tougher than you are." The mare said with a smirk, poking him in the chest. "How's about some breakfast? I don't have meat, so don't ask. Eggs should be pretty okay, right?"
"It's been forever since we've had eggs!" Cato yelled, sprinting down the stairs. Apparently he'd gone up them at some point. He made a fast turn, trying to come to a stop on the kitchen tile. He lost his grip and slid into a cabinet, flopping onto one side.
"Cato!" Eldon exclaimed, propping him up. "You okay?"
Cato wheezed a few times, finally pulling in a breath of air. "Just- landed funny." He replied, trying to catch his breath.
"So how many?" Roseluck inquired, opening up a box of eggs.
"Those are big eggs." Eldon noted. "Is six alright?"
"I'm going to need a bigger pan."
_______________________________________________________
"Is it ready?"
"It would be if you stopped hovering over me, Eldon!" Rose exclaimed, shoving him playfully back. "Besides, if this is your first good meal here, I have to make it look presentable."
"You just gave Cato his, this isn't-" Rose covered his mouth with a hoof, shushing him.
"Oh, shush. You'll get it when you get it."
"But-"
She turned off the magical flames that he didn't understand, pointing to her eyes and then to his. "Be right back. Don't eat it." Then she disappeared out the back door, and Eldon wondered if this whole thing had been a plot to leave him hanging over food from the beginning. That would be the definition of pure evil.
But after a minute or so Rose walked back inside. She ignored the still hovering griffin and slid the omelet onto a plate. Some sauce went on top, scribbled artistically. She followed it up with some leaves, and then leaned over and set it on the table. Rose grabbed a couple utensils, and stuck them next to the plate with a napkin. "Try to look civilized, alright?" She asked, taking the spot opposite from him.
"It's always something with you…" He murmured, before digging in. Roseluck watched him eat, not feeling particularly hungry herself. She looked at the clock, noticing with a sigh that it was just after five in the morning. Turns out the days of traveling at random hours had messed with her sleep schedule after all. She rested her head on a hoof, staring out into her darkened backyard. Rose could only see the corner of her greenhouse, and wondered for a moment how her plants had weathered her time away. Her spice garden seemed fine, at least.
The ones in the shop were showing their lack of water, though a lot less than she would have expected. Any wilting she saw had been turned around in a day or so, but she hadn't yet had the time to attend to her greenhouse plants. She figured that they would hold up the best anyway, in such a warm and humid environment.
"Can I have some more, Roseluck?" Eldon asked, looking at her.
She looked at his plate with disbelief. "Six eggs… It took you a minute to eat those." Eldon blinked, as if to say 'obviously'. "I have some snack foods, but not really that much that I can make up. We'll go to the market later today, alright? It'll give you something to do."
"Yeah, that sounds nice." He replied, watching the mare open a wide door near the stairs. She peered her head this way and that, before pulling free a couple things. She brought them to the counter, out of Eldon's view, and started cutting whatever it was up. "What is it?" He asked.
"Just an orange and an apple that look like they're still mostly good." She stuck a plate with the slices on the table.
"Do they taste good?" Cato asked, swallowing some omelet and taking an orange wedge.
"They smell good." Eldon said, biting into the juicy slice. He reached into his mouth after a moment, taking out a bit of rind. "The outside part sucks, Cato."
"How few things did you guys have access to?!" Rose exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air. "I mean, you come over here and act like everything's futuristic, and it's not even close! You didn't even know not to eat the side of an orange!"
"Hey, we knew about a lot!" Eldon shot back, taking a slice of apple as he screwed up his face in thought. "Just- not the same kinds of things. Betcha a pony around here wouldn't know how to clean meat or… uh… " He trailed off.
"Look, Eldon. I don't expect you to know much about how we live, alright? I guess it's just weird talking to somepony that doesn't understand the concepts for most of the more advanced things we have. I can't believe your home was so backwards."
"Depends on where you look." The large griffin said. "I mean, I'm sure the leadership is plenty advanced. You ever seen them?" She shook her head. "Yeah, alright. I'm not sure why any of the inner ring would pass through, but when he did… Wow, the craziness that went on. I got an extra day off, it was so out of control. Lots more guards."
"And he had expensive things?"
"They built a house for him to stay the night." Eldon said, deadpan. "Spared no expense."
Rose opened her mouth, scrunching up her eyes as she stared. She moved her lops to pronounce the beginning of a word before deciding against it. Eventually she settled on just one syllable. "How?"
"How what?"
"How do they get the money?"
"I dunno." Eldon replied. "I pushed a heck of a lot of coal carts. That's a good start."
"Yeah, but-" One of her ears flicked backwards, and she turned around a moment later. Eldon heard a faint jingle. "Hold on, I have a customer." She darted into the shop, shutting the door behind herself. Eldon looked around, finding himself with a sudden lack of ideas on what to do. He picked up a short list from the table, reading the words grocery list along the top. He looked out the back window, wondering how dangerous it would be to go outside.
On second thought, he wanted a weapon as well. More than a knife. Images of pickaxes and hammers went through his head. "Cato, let's do something." Eldon said, scratching at his forearm.
"You were in a hospital bed yesterday, and you aren't supposed to be doing anything physical today." Cato replied. "Besides, Rose has soft chairs."
Eldon sighed. "Well I need to move. If there's a market, then it's bound to be full of ponies. The griffins would be stupid to attack there anyway." He took a few steps forward before Cato could protest, leaning his head into Rose's shopfront. "I'm going to pick up the stuff on the grocery list!" He exclaimed.
"Okay!" She hollered back. "Wait, what?!" Eldon shut the door, figuring that she'd be after him in a second anyway. The door shot open behind him, and he toppled over as the mare ran into him. "Don't be stupid! You're not going anywhere, and definitely not without me!"
"But I-"
"You have like a billion stitches, and we both know you couldn't fight anything."
Eldon tried to move a talon to push her off, but Rose just pinned it with a hoof. He strained, but all he got was out of breath. "Get- off!"
"You can't even push me, Eldon! Can't you just accept the fact that you made it this far, and wait a few days?"
Eldon looked away, stopping his struggling. "I don't want to stay here because I'm afraid." He muttered.
Rose sighed. "Look, we'll go get some stuff later today. Until then, rest. If you really want to do something, I'm sure I can find the use for a couple extra hooves, er, talons in the shop."
Eldon blinked, keeping his eyes closed for a moment. He'd struggled for fifteen seconds, and he felt exhausted. "Is it alright if I just meet you in there?" He asked.
Rose nodded, climbing off of his body. "But I swear, if you try to leave anyway…"
"I won't." He confirmed, taking her hoof as she helped him up. He saw his reflection in the icebox thing, and his heart sank a little. "You sure I'll get better?" He asked. He'd heard dozens of stories of griffins that had broken bones and never been able to work as well. He may not have broken anything, but still…
Rose glanced at one of Eldon's hind legs, looking away again. "Of course you'll get better." She said, meeting his eyes. "I've gotta get back though." She said quickly, retreating through the door. But she'd seen the pictures and cuts herself. Maybe there wouldn't be a huge difference between what he could do before and now, especially with better food. That was far from perfect, however. The cut in his leg had clipped one of his tendons and while the thing had survived without much damage itself, the muscle damage was worrying.
If stuff didn't come together the way it was supposed to, Eldon could end up with a pretty bad limp for the rest of his life. The possibility of that much scar tissue was scary. He already had his fair share of nerve damage, though he hadn't seemed to have noticed.
Rose sighed, watching a pony walk by the windows. She couldn't tell him, not until afterwards. He hadn't sustained much damage to his wings, but she wasn't sure what the news would do to him. It wasn't good to have him depressed while he was recovering.
A pegasus stallion walked inside, perusing her wares. Rose didn't give it much thought. She'd gotten a rundown of physical therapy, and applying it wouldn't be hard. The fact that Eldon didn't know much would work to her advantage, as much as she felt like crap for thinking such a thing. She'd buy him an ice-cream later today. That'd cheer him up.
Actually, beyond that, some red meat would probably make Eldon go bonkers. As much as it weirded her out, it had tasted pretty good when she'd eaten a little bit. It wasn't that hard to guess why he would want to eat it, even if it disgusted her.
"Can I help you?" She asked, walking out from around her counter space. The stallion was looking at the flowers, and with a scratch of his head Rose knew he had no idea what he was doing. He looked over at her and nodded.
"I just need a few for my mare friend." He said.
"What kind of thing?" Rose asked. "Fight, spur of the moment, missed anniversary, event of some sort…"
"Spur of the moment, actually." He said. She couldn't help but be a little surprised.
"So what can I get you?" She asked.
He sighed, gesturing to the flowers. "I mean, would it be too much to ask for you to get a few nice looking flowers together? Last time I tried this I just cut my own and my buddy said that the colors didn't match. They're all grey to me, like I was supposed to know." He rolled his eyes.
Everything fell into place all of a sudden, and Rose smiled. "Any time constraints?" She asked, and he shook his head. "Come back tomorrow after lunch, and I'll have a nice one made up for you. But um, sir…" The botanist paused, waiting to see if he would reveal his name.
"Slipspace." He said, holding out a hoof with a grin. "Pleased to meet you."
"Roseluck." She replied, shaking his outstretched arm. "Does your mare friend know? If you don't mind me asking, I mean."
"No." He replied. "But then again, we haven't dated for long. As soon as I tell a mare that, they treat me like damaged cargo. I don't like it, but it'll come out soon enough. At that point, she probably won't care, I hope." He laughed, shaking his head. "I don't know why I'm telling this to you of all ponies. Tomorrow after lunch, right?" Slipspace asked.
"Yeah. But if you want me to slip in a hint, don't hesitate to ask." Rose confirmed with a wink. The stallion laughed, sending her a wave as he walked away. Rose jumped, slapping herself in the face before she called after him. "What kind of price range are you looking for, sir?"
"Money is no object." He replied, opening the door and letting it close behind himself. It opened a couple seconds later. "Actually, try to keep it under a hundred bits, alright? That should give you more than enough to work with."
Rose nodded. "I'll do it in ninety-nine." She replied with a grin, and the stallion chuckled nervously as he exited again. Rose counted to twenty in her head. Then she proceeded to jump into the air and let out a celebratory yell. The botanist toned it down after just a second, figuring that Eldon was sleeping. But still, a hundred bits. She wouldn't use then all, because the bouquet would end up looking like it was trying to compensate for something else, but she could use flowers she'd been itching to use, create artwork out of things that were out of her price range for cheap customers.
Usually the only time she got anything close to a hundred bits was over remedies and tea she sometimes made and sold. A rich pony in Canterlot, Mr. Pants, had been picking up most of her supply for about a year now. Even he didn't pay her a hundred bits per box. And with Eravel around, the boost in finances would be a nice thing to add to her bank account.
Rose pushed through the door into the rest of her house, looking around for Eldon. It barely took her a couple seconds before she found him, splayed out under the gentle springtime light streaming through her windows as the sun continued to rise. His chest was moving slowly, and she was glad to see him asleep. He looked kinda cute, minus the stitches and cuts she that stood out. But beyond all that, he seemed rather tranquil. His beak looked kinda like it was curved into a- she turned her head sideways, walking around him. Yup, that was a smile.
That just left Cato, who was chewing on a bit of beef jerky, comfortably snuggled in a pile of cushions. "How's Eldon?" She asked, and the kid probably shrugged, based on the way the pillows rose for a second.
"He walked over there and passed out. I built a fort, then it kinda fell on me like this. I don't know what you were expecting to happen in twenty minutes."
"Just try not to touch anything. I'll give you both a rundown of pony technology later today if Eldon feels up to doing that after we shop."
"Why's he so tired?" Cato asked, shifting inside his pile. "He slept for a couple days straight, he should be able to stay up all night."
Rose smiled warmly, taking a seat on the bit of the couch that Cato hadn't taken over. He eyed her, as if she was taking territory he'd been about to grab. "Well, when griffins or ponies heal, it's like they're constantly active. So it's almost like Eldon's body is walking around and using up energy as he lies there. The doctors just added a few things to get him back to strength sooner."
"Where's he walking to?" Cato asked, screwing up his face in confusion.
"No, I mean it's like he's constantly using energy."
"Oh, but to heal." He filled in, suddenly comprehending.
Rose nodded. "Yeah, that's the barebones answer, anyway."
Cato looked past her, checking that Eldon was still asleep. He turned his attention to Rose. "Do you care about him?" He asked, pointing to his brother. "Like, care, care?"
"I don't know what you-"
"I guess, you know how Eldon did all this for me? I just-" He ground two talons together, trying to pick his words. "I mean, I- would you risk anything like that for us?"
Roseluck sighed. Kids asked hard questions. She nodded her head, opening her mouth to respond. "When I met you two, I definitely wouldn't have. I just wanted to get out, and if I needed to help Eldon to do that, so be it. But he's a nice guy, and he grew on me." That still didn't explain why she hadn't dove into the fight at her first chance. "And I would definitely do the same now." But would she? Maybe that was one of the reasons Eldon had so much trouble trusting her. She didn't think she would hop right into a situation like that, and attempt to keep him safe even if it could mean the death of her. The sad part was that Eldon would probably do the same without a thought, and he had a brother.
That wasn't to say she hadn't helped him or saved his life, but she'd only seemed to join in when stuff was going her way. Landing a punch was easy when you could wait for the opportunity. He was a way better pony- griffin- being than she was.
"Roseluck, you okay?" Cato asked, as a pillow hit her in the side lightly.
"Yeah, just thinking."
"'Bout what?" He asked.
"Your brother." She replied, glancing over at his still immobile body. "Look, I'm pretty sure he'll be fine over there, at least for the time being." She got up, placing a folded blanket and a couple pillows next to him.
"Is this a good time to ask why you have a flower on your flank?" Cato asked, pointing with a talon.
Rose turned to look at her cutie mark. "Yeah, I'm surprised you haven't asked about that. It's my talent, it appears on ponies when they figure out their calling."
"So you figured out you were good with plants, and that appeared?"
"Well, it didn't really happen like that, but-" She paused, thinking. "Look, I'll explain it all later when we go out to market. I'll have some examples of ponies to point out."
"Can that be soon?" The griffin asked.
"As soon as Eldon wakes up and feels up to it, we'll go." Rose took in a gentle breath. "You want to help me watch the shop?"
"Might as well." Cato replied, flaring out his wings and sending a few pillows tumbling to the floor. He hopped to the floor, fluttering his wings to slow his descent. Rose led him into the other room, hearing his talons clink at the floor as they entered her slate-floored shop. "It smells nice in here." He observed, stopping to sniff at a flower that was growing a bright yellow flower.
"If you think it smells good in here, just wait until I show you the greenhouse." Rose replied, walking behind her counter. "Wanna see something cool?" She asked, and Cato nodded unsurprisingly. The mare smiled, opening a cabinet and removing a jar and a little plant. She set them both on the counter.
"A bottle of bugs and a plant with green flowers?" He asked, giving her a look of confusion. "Maybe I don't know what cool is around here…"
"No, just watch." Roseluck began, unscrewing the lid to the jar carefully. The flies inside got excited as she flipped the jar over and removed the lid as she covered the plant in one motion. "Watch the little flower bits."
Cato watched the flies bump into the top of the jar several thousand times before they seemed to calm a little. One drifted down a couple inches, landing on a flower. It moved a few steps and the flower twitched, but the fly paid it no attention. The fly moved again, and in a flash, the plant closed over it.
"Woah!" Cato exclaimed. "Did it just- a plant that- with the fly?"
Rose nodded, knocking her hoof against the jar to dislodge a fly. "It eats them for sustenance instead of getting nutrients from the soil, since it doesn't get much that way."
"How long until it eats something else?"
"Couple weeks. Sometimes sooner." Rose shrugged. "It's like a cactus."
"Ooh, do you have those too?!" Cato asked, losing interest in the plant as it ate its last fly.
"I have a few." She replied, moving away from the counter once again. It was a slow day. Rose walked around a small wall with displays on either side, pointing to some elongated miniature steps where she'd set out numerous types of cacti in cute little pots. Well, she thought they were cute anyway.
"Ooooh…" The small griffin cooed, reaching out to brush along the spines of one.
"I'm surprised you have as much interest in these as you do with that bug eating plant." Rose observed, giggling.
"Yeah, well I used to have a cactus like this." He replied, picking up one that was shaped like several rounded fingers all pointed upwards. Not that Rose, or anyone else knew what fingers looked like. The term just happened to be applicable. "Until it died."
Was it the water? "Do you know why?"
"I wish I did, because I liked that thing." Cato let his head fall a little. "I figured it'd be the one thing to survive easily, 'specially cuz that's what Eldon said when he gave it to me as a birthday present."
The little guy looked like he was remembering a dead relative. Rose knelt down, putting a hoof around his neck. "C'mon, Cato…" she mumbled. "You can have this one if you want."
She wasn't sure if she saw a tear in his eye, but he blinked it away far too fast for her to check. "But- I don't have anything to pay you with." He said, his voice wavering.
"It doesn't matter. Call it a gift."
He set the pot down, lunging forward abruptly to hug her. His arms hardly reached around her neck, and Rose couldn't help but smile, reciprocating with her own hoof. "You two find the funniest things to be thankful for." She began with a giggle, squeezing him against her for a second before she let him go. "Tell you what, let's go find a board game and have some real fun."
_________________________________________________________________
Eldon shifted, the morning light in which he'd fallen asleep had fled long ago. Words sifted through his dreams, intermixing with the mindless chatter between characters fading out of existence. More mumbles, followed with a brief sharpening of the image in his mind's eye. Something flew towards him and he jumped, feeling a wave of pain coarse through his body.
"Aah-" He gasped, jolting awake. He was looking at a well painted ceiling in a house he only recognized after a few seconds. Rose's head appeared in his vision a few moments later.
"You okay?" She asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah." Eldon replied, almost in a whisper. He cleared his throat. "What'd I miss?"