Title: Fallout
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: General
Length: 6000ish words
Content notes:
Author notes: Post-canon body-swap shenanigans?
Summary: Ferio falls out of a tree.

If he hadn't also fallen into Ascot and the spell he was casting, he'd have acquired a few bruises. As it is, he seems to have acquired a new body...

oOo


The uinka harvest had always been one of Ferio's favourite times of the year - he'd always loved climbing up to reach the highest and the furthest of the fruits - he'd taken a fair few prizes for it, back when he was young enough to take part in competitions. Now he was nominally a grown-up, he didn't get to take part in the competitions, but that didn't stop him volunteering to help with the fruits which were out of reach, in more dangerous locations. A group of them would go out the day before the harvest games and clear the trees of anything particularly worrying.

One or two kids would always fall from the trees anyway, but just a few was fine - there were enough mages watching to make sure they were caught. What they couldn't afford was a lot of people falling out at once, so a bit of damage control got done. Plus, it made the competition fairer - and gave the tree-climbing enthusiasts an excuse to play even though they'd grown up.

It was pretty late, and Ferio worked his way up to the very top of the last tree he'd been assigned, and stood balanced with his feet on separate branches, and his head poking out of the leaves, looking across the fruit-studded canopy of green.

He frowned. There were a good number of trees that didn't look like they'd yet been touched.

The orchards had been expanded, earlier this year, in an effort to keep up with the growing population - a fairly high number of whom at the castle part of the week. The headquarters of all the major guilds, as well as the seat of government and home to all those who worked there as well as those who simply had not found an alternative yet, the kitchens catered for several thousand people. Still, Ferio wasn't sure they needed this much uinka.

The tree to his left rustled slightly; he reached down to get hold of the nearest reasonable branch and turned that way, to see one of the women he knew through the Guard giving the remaining trees the same dubious look he had.

"Hey, Kia," he called across. "You got any friends who can deal with the high places? I think we need reinforcements."

"You're a little late," she called back, waving a rude gesture at him. "Kadjar sent two of the Captains half an hour ago, they're going to round up some extras and send them over."

"Good," Ferio said, looking back across the trees. "...Hopefully, they'll find quite a few."

"If you stop lazing about and get going, we won't need that many," she called and shot down her tree cackling before Ferio could retort.

Just because he'd dumped her in a pond in the last training session...

Ferio crouched, took a moment to actually look about and confirmed he was done with this tree, then headed for the ground.

He was most of the way there when a sharp light from below made him look back over his shoulder, to see Ascot close by the tree, a hand out and summoning circle starting to inscribe itself in the air before him. Ferio grinned, and lowered his feet - if he could get a lift from Ascot's friend from tree to tree and pass things to them instead of clambering down each time his carry-sack was full - that would be much quicker.

He reached for the next branch down with his feet, landed on it, let go with one hand - and his foot slipped out from underneath him. Ferio had just enough time to realise he'd stood on a small branch coming off the one he'd been aiming for (Which was what happened when you didn't look) before all his attention went to turning his fall into a controlled tumble, pushing away from the trunk and turning it into a tumble worthy of any entertainment group he'd been part of.

Until he slammed straight into Ascot, who yelped and stumbled with the force of Ferio bashing into his back.

They fell through the light of the summoning circle together, the white blazing, a sharp prickle running across Ferio's skin. He didn't have time to swear before the light flashed across the whole of his vision, and he knew nothing else.

oOo

Ferio blinked his eyes open, feeling mildly bruised and wrong all over, not just the bits of him that should have hit the ground, or the bits trapped under Ascot as they'd thumped down together.

His hair was in his eyes, and he went to shove it away with an impatient hand - he hadn't realised he needed a haircut this badly - only to pause before his bare fingers did more than brush the tips of it. His hair wasn't just too long, it was the wrong colour. And falling out of a tree wouldn't have made his gloves fall off, let alone given him fingerless hand-warmers which came with a distantly familiar gemstone attached to the back of them…

He pushed up and turned, blinking, to stare into his own face looking back at him from the body Ascot now appeared to be wearing.

"…Well, shit," Ferio announced.

"What did- why are you-" Ascot stared at him, then around again, then down at his now-gloved hands. Ferio's hands.

Looking down at the legs that were currently his, Ferio started to laugh, and the sound of it was strange enough he started laughing more.

"What is it?" Ascot asked, and his wary expression on Ferio's own face was enough to set him off again.

"It's a good thing," Ferio gasped out, "that we both wear similar colours. Can you imagine waking up in all Lantis's black?"

"You wore white for a while," Ascot pointed out, levering himself off the ground with a look of fierce concentration.

Ferio shuddered. "Please don't mention the fancy-Prince-clothes. I've been trying to forget them for years now. Do you know how hard it is to keep white clothes from getting stained every time you move?"

Ascot looked back at Ferio - more precisely, at Ascot's robes, currently being worn by Ferio, which did have a fair amount of white in them.

"You've got huge bits of green about the edges on these, it doesn't count. It's always the hems that get dragged into everything."

He got the distinct feeling Ascot was trying not to roll his eyes or have any kind of expression at him. "We should probably talk to Clef?" he said.

Ferio looked down at himself again, and shook his head. "It doesn't seem to be wearing off, does it. I guess you're right. …how many faces do you bet he's going to pull at us?" Getting his legs to move took a lot more concentration than usual - they weren't the right length. Ascot came back and held out a hand to help Ferio up, and Ferio faintly heard him mutter 'pull faces at you, I didn't push you into your spell', but between them he managed to get them upright and Ascot probably deserved to be pissed off at him for - whatever he'd managed to do to them.

"Guess I'm not climbing anymore trees tonight," Ferio said, feeling somewhat wistful, as they headed out.

Ascot glanced at him - glanced up at him, and Ferio was bemused to find himself thinking his own body was that short. "Please don't," was all Ascot said.

oOo

Clef glanced at them as they walked in, turned back to his work, then paused and looked up again, glancing between the two of them. "…Ferio," he said slowly, and he was actually looking at Ferio-in-Ascot's-body as he said it, "what did you do?"

"Why do you think this was my fault?" Ferio asked, feeling his lips twitch. "I don't even have magic! Anyway, how did you know this was me?"

Pressing his hands to his face briefly, Clef sighed. "It's the same answer to both questions - I've known you since you were born, Ferio, I know the face you pull when you've been caught doing something you shouldn't!"

"I didn't do anything this time! I just fell out of a tree. …Into Ascot. And the spell he was casting." Ferio shrugged elaborately. "Complete accident."

Ascot flicked a glance at him, and you could actually tell he was frowning when he did it with Ferio's face - there wasn't so much hair to hide behind. Still quite a lot, but not enough to disguise the eyebrows drawing together. "How do we fix this?" he asked, turning to Clef plaintively.

Clef looked between them, and sighed again, exactly the way he used to when Ferio was hanging around and 'helping' with Emeraude's magic lessons. "You were casting a summoning?" he asked Ascot, who nodded. "And both of you fell through the seal together?" Another affirmative nod. "Then what has happened is almost certainly that spell effectively 'summoned' each of you into the other body present. The seal forces movement between planes, so will have shifted you out of your own body, and as there were no clear instructions for forming a body available - as you distracted Ascot at precisely the wrong moment, Ferio, well done - dropped you into the nearest available form which wasn't the one you'd been knocked out of."

Ferio blinked down at his hands. "So, if I'd fallen through the spell but not knocked Ascot through it with me…"

"You would probably have ended up in the body of one of his friends, while they found themselves in yours," Clef said. "If that had happened, it would be easy enough for Ascot to dismiss the spell, and you would drop back into your original body. As it is… I'm sorry, your best option is going to be waiting for the spell to run out."

Blinking, Ferio looked at Ascot, who looked upset but not surprised. "I can't feel my magic," he said, looking down at the floor. "I can still hear my friends, but…"

"Oh. Is that because I'm not a mage?" Ferio pulled a face. It was pretty amusing, being someone else for a few minutes, but it was going to get awkward quite fast. "Wait. If Ascot doesn't have his magic while he's in my body - does that mean I have his magic right now? Could I cast a spell to stop this?"

Clef pushed up from his chair and came across to them, muttering something Ferio couldn't quite make out. A shimmering filled the air between them, turning into a small image of Ascot. "A mage has magic because they have a connection between their heart and the heart of Cephiro," Clef said, looking at the image he'd made. A spark of light appeared over the mini-Ascot's chest, glittering brightly. "The connection lets magic in, when you call on it, and use it. When you do that, open yourself to power, it comes to you through the connection and is stored in the body - it goes through a transformation through the connection with Cephiro, to become yours. You use that stored power to cast spells, and you get in trouble if you cast something that pulls more magic than you have faster than you can pull in new power from Cephiro, but it means that a mage's body is normally the seat of their magic."

As he spoke, a glimmering light welled up through the figure, less bright than the spark at it's 'heart', then Clef waved a hand and another figure appeared - a mini-Ferio, looking plain beside the glittering Ascot.

"The connection to Cephiro isn't tied to the physical heart, it's tied to your spirit. So when you knocked through the spell and transfered into each other, this happened." Another wave of Clef's fingers, and the spark leapt from the mini-Ascot to the mini-Ferio - but the glittering shift of Ascot's magic stayed behind. "Because Ferio doesn't have a connection to Cephiro, his body isn't open to magic; if Ascot cast a spell, it would open that connection up and pull magic through, and Ferio's body would adapt to store it. At the moment, because you're not using it and the body you're in doesn't feel there's anything missing, it won't draw power unless you ask it to. If you did, Ferio would go back to a body which is holding magic, and it takes a long time for that power to dissipate naturally if not being used; the chances of accidentally calling on it and creating your own connection to Cephiro are pretty high, and there's no true way to undo that."

Ferio tilted his head. He didn't really want to end up a mage, not after all these years determined not to be, and without even choosing to do so. "So you're saying - Ascot's body right now is a fully charged battery, and if I try using it I'll be a mage when I go back too, but if Ascot uses a spell now, I'll go back to a fully-charged me?"

"Hopefully the spell will wear off fairly fast, and you're less likely to use Ascot's power by accident in his body, because everything you do is going to feel slightly unnatural." Clef shrugged. "In your own form, you won't think so much about every move you make - your arms will be the right length, your legs will end where you expect them to."

"Sounds like you've been through it before?"

"It's not so different to how it feels to radically change your own form in a short period, I would imagine," Clef said, dismissing the image and looking at Ascot. "But in this instance, you won't have to put up with it long enough to get used to it. I could try forcing you back to your own bodies, but it would not be a pleasant experience, and would rather increase the chance of either or both of you actually using magic if you instinctively fight it, so… I would suggest you wait. But you should stay close, in the meantime; when it does switch back, you don't want to be far from each other."

"How close?" Ascot asked.

"In the same room, as much as possible." Clef looked between them, face serious. "If you're too far away when the spell ends, you spirit might get - lost, on the way. Which would be unpleasant for you, and also for me, as I would have to go rope the Priests into helping find you and drag you back into your proper bodies. Please don't make me do that. I'm in the middle of an extended argument with the Soru in Council and I do not want to have to go asking for help one hour before she has a chance to try and ruin my plans for the Academy extension."

"Right." Ferio looked at Ascot, and pulled a face at him. "So. Your place or mine? Also do you think Caldina is more likely to listen calmly to you-in-my-body, or me-in-your-body when we try to explain this?"

"You can tell her," Ascot said, crossing his arms. "You crashed into me."

"…Fair enough."

oOo

They went to the family suite Ascot shared with Caldina and LaFarga, because it was dinner time and he had people who would miss him, whereas Ferio wasn't sharing quarters with anyone and usually just ate in the dining hall with some of his friends. Caldina didn't catch on in the first three seconds, as Clef had, but mostly because she was in the middle of dishing up a plate of food from a set of heated dishes for herself and catching kisses from LaFarga as he buckled the last bit of his armour back on and headed towards the door, flushing horribly when he saw the two of them coming in.

"Ferio?" He said, looking at Ascot. "I thought you were with the harvesters, aren't you going to eat with them? The kitchens are sending food out. You too, Ascot."

"…Ferio?" Caldina's head came up, and she looked at the two of them, then frowned. "…What's wrong? Ascot? Ferio?"

Ascot just glared at him, and Ferio sighed. "There was a bit of a mistake, it's not Ascot's fault - I'm Ferio, by the way, he's Ascot right now - I mean, he's Ascot all the time, he's just Ascot in my body right now. Anyway Clef says it'll wear off only we need to stay close until it does."

Caldina and LaFarga both stared at them, then looked at each other. LaFarga shook his head. "You deal with them, I need to get out to the harvest, especially if they're two down."

"Oh, so I get stuck with these two?" Caldina grouched, but waved LaFarga off and the two of them in. "Okay," she said, pointing at a chair for each of them and sitting at the table with her dinner. "You explain while I eat."

So explain Ferio did, feeling rather like he was on trial - not helped by Ascot prickling next to him - only once he finished, instead of the lecture he'd half expected, Caldina burst out laughing.

Which only made Ascot grouchier, but she pointed both of them at the food once she was done wiping her eyes, and that seemed to help. She ruffled Ascot's hair when he sat down with his plate, and he sighed. "You two had best stay here. I'm gonna go make sure LaFarga doesn't need more help out there with the fruit - try not to muddle up any more magic, okay? If the old man says it'll wear off, he's probably right. Chizetan magic doesn't do this kind of weird shit, so you'd best listen to him."

"I promise I won't fall out of any more trees," Ferio said, and she flicked a finger against his shoulder as she went past.

"You'd better not. If you get Ascot hurt, you'll regret it." With that, she left them to it.

They ate almost silently, Ferio missing the chatter of the dining hall, but when Ascot finished his last forkful he sighed, and let his head drop a little.

"I can't remember not having any magic," he said, only just loud enough Ferio was sure he was meant to hear it. "It's - like being empty. And I'm really tired. Sorry."

Ferio reached out and patted him on the shoulder, a little awkwardly. "Hey, I'm the arse who got us into this, you're allowed to be pissed off. Do you want to just go to bed? It's pretty late, and it's been a rough day. Maybe when we wake up we'll be back to normal."

"Maybe," Ascot sighed.

oOo

Getting ready for bed was worse than awkward. It wasn't really possible to get changed and use the bathroom without seeing bits of each other's bodies that they'd not actually volunteered for that person to see. Worse, some touching was unavoidable. That Ferio was the one feeling the touch did nothing to mitigate how uncomfortable he felt about it.

He came out of the bathroom to let Ascot into it, meeting Ascot's eyes for a moment as they passed - and then stopped, bewildered, as Ascot started to laugh quietly.

"What - do I have toothpaste all around my mouth? Did I mess up your hair?"

"No, it's - you're not really my type!" Ascot got out, around snickers, and Ferio blinked at him. "If I'd been picking the first person to take my clothes off-" He was bright red as he laughed, but he glanced at Ferio again, and it felt like he was offering the joke like a peace-offering.

Ferio relaxed, suddenly. "I mean, if you'd asked, I'd definitely have come up with a better plan than this." He glanced down at himself, and snorted. "Not sure there could be a worse plan than this, so it's not a high target, I'm pretty sure I'd have made it."

He got a smile out of Ascot for that, before he headed into the bathroom, but he didn't feel quite so tense anymore. Maybe he would be able to sleep after all - maybe his prediction would prove correct, and they would wake up tomorrow morning after one embarrassing evening to find themselves back to normal.

oOo

They fit into Ascot's bed together, just about. Only it turned out that both of them were fidgets when they were uncomfortable - and as neither of them were used to another person being in their space (Ferio'd slept with people, but it had been a while since he'd actually done the sleeping together bit of sleeping together,) they were both uncomfortable just being in the bed. The third time he wriggled away from Ascot's knee hitting him in the back and banged his elbow on the wall, Ferio seriously thought about lying on the floor to sleep, but Ascot didn't even have a rug down on it and he was too tired to go traipsing about looking for extra bedding.

Ascot huffed, and sat up so he could grab Ferio's shoulder and pull him further into the middle of the bed. "I'm bigger than you are," he muttered, "you need more space."

"I don't want to end up pushing you off the edge of the bed," Ferio grumbled. "Caldina'll thump me, for one thing."

"Just - maybe-" Ascot pulled him again, until Ferio was far enough into the bed that the wall wasn't a constant threat, then hesitated before flopping down so he was pressed against Ferio's side, curled against him. "Is… is this okay?"

Ferio blinked up at the shadows on the ceiling. He'd been distantly aware of a- a fizzing under his skin, an energy which wasn't quite in his muscles, which he assumed was Ascot's magic. Lying in the dark it had been impossible to ignore; with Ascot resting against his side, the prickling itch of it settled down to a faint warmth, taking some of the fidget out of him.

"…This is okay," he murmured, and felt Ascot relax a little further.

Whether it was Ascot's magic recognising it's rightful owner's touch, or whether it was just a different sensation to focus on than the one under his skin, it helped.

oOo

Ferio woke to morning sunlight streaming across the bed, and knew even before he turned to the warmth pressed against his side that they hadn't switched yet. Ascot had his face pressed into Ferio's shoulder, eyes shut too tightly to be actually asleep.

"…Sorry," Ferio said to the ceiling. Then he remembered which day it was, and pulled a face. "Well, shit, guess I'm not helping out with the competitions today. I probably shouldn't be climbing any trees today, either."

"Maybe it'll wear off before the festival starts?" Ascot said, into Ferio's shoulder. But he didn't sound like he believed it.

It didn't wear off before the festival started. They spent the whole morning wandering around together, helping carry things around as neither of them were up to doing the tasks they'd volunteered for - Ascot was meant to be having his friends help move the big tables and the dias, and Ferio was meant to be doing final safety checks on the trees. Instead they were carrying plates of food, and they both dropped one of those before long, stumbling on the grass.

"Why are your legs so short?" Ascot asked, plaintive, after he'd nearly gone headlong into one of the tables.

"Why are yours so long Ferio demanded in return, setting his platter down and sighing. That was the last of them.

Caldina swung past, her arms full of decorative lanterns, which would be hung in the trees to light the place up as evening fell. "Oh, boys, excellent," she said, pausing - and Ferio had to remind himself that not only was she less than half his age, she was technically younger than Ascot, too. Just because people on Chizeta grew up nonsensically fast was no reason for him to feel like she was an aunt giving him orders. "There's a bunch more lanterns up in the big hall on the fifth floor of the kitchen tower. You'll fetch them, won't you. Thanks-" and then she was gone, before they could think of a response at all, let alone decline.

"…Is she always like that?" Ferio asked, as they turned back to the castle together with resignation.

"Always."

"Well, at least she's not using her powers for evil," Ferio said, and nearly tripped again when Ascot muttered 'not anymore'. He glanced sideways, but didn't say anything - they'd got to know each other a bit over the years, but they weren't really good enough friends that he could ask about Ascot's time working for Zagato.

They hadn't been, anyway. What they would be after this experience was beyond him to guess.

They trudged up the stairs to the room Caldina had named, gathered up armfuls of the waiting lanterns, and headed back out again without incident. But halfway down, Ferio looked away from the stairs for a moment - just a moment! - and misstepped. He felt himself begin to fall again, arms too caught up with lanterns to save himself, and a very long flight of stairs to fall down. He braced himself -

There was a flash of light, familiar from the day before, and something caught him about the waist and jolted him to a halt.

Ferio hung in mid air, panting, listening to the clang of the lanterns bouncing all the way down multiple flights of stairs. The great claws about his chest lowered him slowly to the stairs, and when his legs didn't want to hold him, lowered him carefully all the way down to sit on them. He looked up into the face of Ascot's bird-like friend, and pulled a wobbling smile onto his face. "Hey, Yaris, isn't it? Thanks."

Ascot was staring at Yaris, and then him, and then he flopped ungracefully down next to Ferio. "…That could have been-"

"Yeah," Ferio said, looking down the stairs again. He had no idea if he'd have been able to stop himself from falling - not when he could barely stay on his borrowed feet while walking on a flat surface. "…Your legs are really really long." He looked up at their companion, who chirruped softly down at the two of them. "…So. Did you summon him, or did I?"

"…I don't think I did," Ascot said, slowly. "I mean, I don't feel any magic, still. But you didn't say anything, or - do you feel any different?"

"I feel like I nearly just fell to my doom down a set of ordinary stairs," Ferio told him. "But… no? I don't think I do?"

"But…" Ascot looked up at Yaris. "Do you know who summonned you?" he asked, and then blinked at the chirped answer. "…Oh."

"Oh what?" Ferio said, feeling resigned. If he was going to be a mage now, well, it was better than having a broken neck.

"He, um. Yaris thinks he maybe - summoned himself?"

Ferio blinked slowly, then turned to frown up at Yaris, who mantled his wings up like a shrug. "…We're going to need to see Clef again, aren't we."

oOo

This time, when they walked in - with Yaris ducking to get through the door - Clef didn't look down again. He just stared, as Ferio explained what had happened.

"…It's possible, I suppose," he said, slowly. "As you aren't controlling the magic in Ascot's body - you don't have a connection with it, you're just sharing space… then your friend here may have been able to tap into it. After all, he does have a connection to it, or at least - a familiarity with it. And as you were in danger…"

"Clef," Ferio said, slowly. "If Ascot's magic is keeping Yaris here without either of us doing anything about it… is it possible that the spell which switched us is still tapping into his magic, too? Shouldn't it have run out by now, otherwise?"

Clef nodded, slowly. "I suppose… that is possible."

"How long would it take for me to run out of magic?" Ascot asked, and when Clef summoned a chair for him along with one for Ferio, he dropped into it.

"…A while." Clef was frowning at Ferio's chest, and then he reached out and rested a hand on it - all the hair on Ferio's skin stood straight up, a sensation like static running through him, and it got harder to take a deep breath. But Clef was looking over his shoulder, at Yaris, who trilled nervously. "But if your friend would be willing to help… we may be able to run it out rather quicker," Clef said, slowly. "It will likely make the transition rather more unpleasant than it would already be - Ascot, you'll be completely out of power when you drop back, or near to it. It'll mean a few weeks of feeling under the weather, and not doing much magic-"

"But I'll be able to walk without falling up the stairs," Ascot said, nodding firmly. "I'm wWhat illing, if Ferio and Yaris are."

"I'm in," Ferio agreed, and Yaris trilled behind them.

oOo

What followed was the strangest three hours of Ferio's life, even including the moment he'd woken up and realised the body he was in was not his own. He sat in a chair, watching Yaris undertake what was effectively a magical obstacle course, and despite the fact he wasn't moving he felt more and more drained with each passing moment, until it was all he could do to keep his head up.

The moment of translation felt more like he'd finally fallen asleep than anything else, but Clef's voice calling his name snapped him back around, and his head was spinning like he'd just fainted. "I'm here," he said, voice rasping - but his voice sounded right, and he forced his eyes open to make sure what his senses were telling him was true; he was back in his own body, limbs all the right length, hands with the faint scars across the back where he'd had a falling out with (and out of) a thorn tree years ago and far from any healer.

He was okay, but he wasn't the one whose magic they'd been forcibly using up - he pushed himself upright and turned to see Ascot, collapsed against Clef's shoulder and looking pale as paper, but with his eyes open. When their eyes met, Ascot shot him the smallest, shyest smile, and Ferio grinned back at him.

Then Ascot's eyes closed, and his head slipped another inch down on Clef's shoulder.

"Is he okay?" Ferio asked, pushing himself up onto shaky legs and crossing the room. "If he feels like I was feeling-"

"He'll feel worse, probably." Clef's hands were glowing slightly where they held Ascot up. "If you could get to my desk, there should be some sweets in the top left-hand drawer; grab them for me, please."

"What are you doing? Healing him?" Ferio rummaged through the drawer, pushing aside more pens than any one person could possibly need to find a box of crackers and another of sherbets.

"You can't heal a lack of magic. You can't give someone some of your own, either. Well, not unless - not normally. Did you find them?"

"Here," Ferio flopped down beside them, and got one of the sherbets out, holding it up to Ascot's lips. "Hey, Ascot, you need to wake up and eat this or Caldina'll be pissed of at both of us." Ascot grumbled slightly, but his eyes opened a fraction again, and his mouth opened far enough Ferio could push the sweet into it. "No choking on it, either," he warned. "That won't help any."

Ascot shut his eyes again, but he did crunch the sweet, so Ferio got another ready - then he ate that one himself, and got a different one for Ascot.

"If you're not healing him, what are you doing?" he asked Clef. The temptation to ask when you could share magic with someone was quite strong, but he was pretty certain the answer involved soulbonds and terrible dramatic romance-novel happenings like that, and making Clef flustered wasn't going to help Ascot.

The light about Clef's hands flickered slightly, brightening. "I'm just - holding magic around him," he said, as if that made any sense. "To help him take it up more easily."

"…But if his magic needs to come from Cephiro, not you-"

"Guru," Clef said, shortly. "I can hold Cephiro's power as well as my own. Ascot, will you eat another of the sweets? It'll help."

"I've got crackers, too," Ferio offered.

"And once you've eaten another sweet, you can have a cracker instead, if you'd prefer," Clef negotiated.

Ascot looked rather like he'd prefer to go to sleep for a day straight without the two of them bothering him, but he let them get some more food into him, and by the time Clef let his hands stop doing the glowy thing, Ferio felt almost like himself again. So it only made sense to volunteer to get Ascot back to his room and stay to make sure he was okay. "I can fetch food, when he wants it, and get you if anything's wrong," he explained, earnestly. "…So if you could just let Caldina know he's okay…"

Clef snorted, and pushed himself to his feet. "I'll even tell her that he's worn out because of my recommendation," he promised. "But only on one condition."

"What's that?"

"That you look where you're going and warn people before you end up falling out of trees on them!"

Ascot was awake enough to huff a soft laugh at that, and Ferio pulled a face. He got the feeling no one was going to let himself forget this.

Maybe next year, he'd volunteer to do something different for the harvest festival.

oOo