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Dimentia’s place is across the street from Minga’s Inn. When we enter, Dimentia greets us.
“Welcome, welcome, to Dimentia’s!” She says. “Who is this couple?”
“My name is Lord Blumiere and this is Lady Timpani,” Blumiere says.
“Lord Blumiere, you say? Do you know my brother, Dimentio?”
“Yes, in fact I do. But that is aside from the matter. Right now, I need something for my dear’s foot. She was stung by something.”
“Ahh… may I see it?” Dimentia asks with hesitation. She leads me over to a bed and I sit down. “Looks like a Bzzap sting… a minion Bzzap sting.”
“A minion?” I ask. “What’s the difference between a normal Bzzap and a minion Bzzap?”
“Minion Bzzaps are more poisonous. They are designed to hunt intruders in the borders of Dockside…” She answers.
“Is there a cure for such a thing?” Blumiere asks with fear.
“Hmm,” Dimentia thinks. “Yes, I think there is. Please wait here for a second while I retrieve the antidote.”
“Thank you,” he replies.
“See?” Blumiere says as he rubs it in my face. “She is peaceful, nothing like her brother.”
“Yes. I guess you are right.” Dimentia returns with a small bottle.
“This should do the trick,” Dimentia says to us. Then she squirts some on my sting. It makes it sting even more.
“Youch!!” I say.
“No worries,” Dimentia warns. “No worries. It will sting at first, but after a few minutes, it will start to heal.”
The stinging starts to fade on me. “Well, thank you Dimentia,” I say.
“Yes. Many thanks,” Blumiere adds.
“Any time, my friends! Farewell!” Blumiere picks me up. We go back to Minga’s Inn, to buy a sleeping bag for us in the Meadow where I woke up the first time.
“You return?” Minga asks us. “May I be of service?”
“We’d like a sleeping bag, please,” Blumiere says nicely.
“Of course!” She leads us over to where she keeps them. “Fifteen coins please.”
All Blumiere gives her is three of our red apples from the tree. “Is… this enough?” He asks.
“Oh… my. Yes, it is!!” She says happily. “Those are Cure Apples, apples that cure anything! With those, you’ll be immune to any disease or sickness! Those will make do. Thank you.” She hands us a blue and green sleeping bag rolled up. We thank her on our way out, then take a look around Dockside.
“Timpani, would you like some shoes?” Blumiere asks me.
“Yes, I would. My feet are starting to ache anyway.”
Blumiere finds Showzit’s Shoe Store, and we enter.
“Good daaaaaay!” Showzit says to us. He is a tall man and probably in his forties. “Haven’t been getting much activity today, I’m gonna help you two young lads. What will it be? Shoes for the beautiful young lady?” I blush. “Or dress shoes for the handsome young man?”
“Do you by any chance have any slippers of any sort?” I ask slowly.
“Why yes, yes I do! This way, please!” He leads us to the back of his shoe store. “Would glass slippers interest you, young woman?”
“Actually, yes, they would!” I say happily. “Do you have clear slippers?”
“Hmm.” Showzit looks around. “Oh! There they are!” He reaches for them and takes one out. I take a seat in one of the nearby chairs.
He lifts the slipper to my foot. “May I?” He asks.
“Yes, please,” I answer. Gently, Showzit slips the clear slipper onto my right foot. It immediately feels comfortable where it is.
“And… the other?” He asks.
“Sure,” I answer. He takes the other slipper and does the same to my left foot, the one with the sting. The slipper makes the sting feeling fade away. I love these shoes.
“Are these okay, Timpani?” Blumiere asks me.
“They are,” I say back in joy.
“These will cost eighty coins, please,” Showzit says as he steps away from me.
Blumiere takes out every one of our Cure Apples. “Will this work?” Blumiere says to Showzit.
“Oh, yes, indeed! I wouldn’t be mad if you only gave me one in change for the slippers!” He replies. So, Blumiere gives Showzit one Cure Apple.
“Thank you,” Showzit politely says as we get up and walk to the exit. “May we meet again!”
“Yes, thank you, Showzit,” I say. Once we leave his store, I tell Blumiere, “Blumiere, these shoes… they’re starting to hurt.”
“What?!” He says, but then sighs. He takes my hand in his. “Come.” We sit down on a bench. Blumiere keels down and takes the slipper off of my left foot. The sting has gotten three times its size! It is also swelling fast.
I gasp. “Is… is that… the sting?” I say like a scared child.
“I… I’m afraid it is, Lady Timpani,” Blumiere replies. “We should go back to Henry’s!”
“Oh yes! But who did this?”
“I think it is that Dimentia that I doubted. She is exactly like her brother.”
“That she is. Will you carry me to Henry’s?”
“Of course, Timpani.” And Blumiere takes me back to Henry’s.
“B-Blumiere!” Henry says in happiness of seeing us again. “And… Lady… Lady Timpani! What is it?”
“We are wondering if you will repay us for the incident earlier,” Blumiere says.
“Oh yes, yes! Of course! I thought you’d never return for that!”
“We tried going to Dimentia’s, but she made it worse.”
“Ah, Dimentia. I despise her as much as she despises me. We are rivals, you know. The only healers in town. People tend to come to me more, though.”
“Ah, that explains it. Will you take a look at Timpani for me?”
“Why sure!” Henry takes me over to a chair and I sit down. He examines me. “It is a mutated Bzzap minion sting. Very, very hard to treat. I… I might actually have the cure. I beat Dimentia in a bet last week and the reward was… this.” He held up a blue liquid in a baby bottle.
“This will heal your sting. Fast too. I sure hope this is worth it…” and he puts the blue liquid on my sting.
I let some air escape me. It feels like Blumiere’s warmth at night. Amazing.
“It… It’s gone! Timpani, it’s completely gone!” Blumiere says with surprise.
“There,” Henry finishes. He lifts the bottle, now half gone.
I can’t help but hug Henry.
“Oh!” He says with a jump.
“You… saved me. Thank… thank you so much.”
“Any… anytime Lady Timpani.” I feel much closer to Henry now than I did earlier. We leave Henry Hackman’s Healing, and head back to the Meadow.
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