Stephanie woke first the next morning, to find Stump flitting about on patrol and the rest of the sprites unconscious on the couch, with the television on, but the volume off.  The TV was tuned to cartoons - Steph thought it was one of those 1980's retro-channels - she recognised the care bears from back in her youth, when she was still Keith.  She motioned to Stump she wanted quiet, and he stopped a moment before greeting her, nodding.

 

Urg.  Bathroom. She thought, climbing carefully out of bed.  I’m glad Billy doesn’t snore. She got about eight steps from the bed before bashing her small toe hard against the butt of Billy’s rifle, and stifled a yelp.  Ouch!  Dammit - we need a bigger hotel room next time.  It feels like I’m dancing a pirouette to avoid the sprites, Billy and his weapons, Roo’s luggage and my stuff.   A suite would work - or two rooms... Oww!   She went into the bathroom, and began her daily routine.

 

A few minutes later, just as she was taking care of business, the bathroom door opened up to reveal Billy, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts.  Steph exclaimed “Hey!” - and looked both annoyed and amazed; Billy’s boxers didn’t hide much in the morning, and this morning they hid far less than usual.  By the time he realized what she was staring at, she was blushing, and so was he.  “Could you give me a minute please, Billy?  I’m not done yet.”

 

“Uhh... Damn - sorry Stephanie.  I should have knocked.”  Billy backed out, closing the door - still blushing furiously, and looking more than a bit mortified.

 

Inside the bathroom, Stephanie was just as mortified as Billy - but for different reasons. So he walked in on me?  No biggie, she thought. Why the hell did I stare at his... thing?   I mean, it was right in my face, but still!  It’s so big.  Am I mad that he walked in with it hanging out, or that I think it’s bigger than Andrews?  Dammit.  She finished up and got out of the bathroom.  “Your turn next Billy.  Knocking protocol is engaged.”

 

“Yes ma’am.”  Billy said, rushing past her. 

 

Andrew smirked from the bed.  “Everything okay, dear?  I saw Billy backing out of the bathroom pretty quickly - I can guess what happened.”

 

“Yeah.”  Stephanie said.  “Everything’s fine - I was just surprised.  I think we need a bigger hotel room next time.”

 

“Yeah, I agree.   I guess I’d better get in position too.  My turn.”  Andrew said as he got out of bed.  Andrew was about 5'8", and over 300 pounds, with short curly brown hair and brown eyes - a far cry from Billy’s athletic body.  Still he didn’t seem to be self conscious when the young Einherjar swapped places with him in the bathroom.

 

As Billy came over to his cot, he gathered up his weapons - a rifle, an axe, and a shield, and set them on the cot.  “Sorry about the bathroom thing.”   He said, turning to Stephanie.

 

Stephanie smiled a bit.  “Well, let’s never talk about your ummm... thing... again, shall we?”

 

He smirked back.  “I wasn’t aware we were talking about it.  Are we talking about it?”

 

“What!? No!”  Steph said, a little surprised.

 

“Oh, okay.  Cause if we were, I wouldn’t mind.”  Billy said.

 

“We aren’t talking about your ... your thing.”  Steph said firmly.

 

“Okay.  Still, sorry for walking in on you.”  He started getting dressed, and put his uniform on.   It was stained, and in used condition.   He still had dog tags, and his kit of tools and such, like canteen and so on.

 

“Apology accepted.”  Steph said.  “Still, I think if we’re going to keep you out, well either need a suite or two rooms next time.”

 

“Suits me fine, ma’am.   What’s the plan for today?”

 

Huh?  That’s my line!  Steph thought.  It actually threw her off her stride a bit as she tried to formulate an answer.  “Well, Andrew and I were going to drive us to Toronto, where all of us minus the sprites, catch a plane to Stuttgart, Germany where we will make our way overland to the village of Biederbach.  Once there, we can ready ourselves to kill the giant wolf.   I guess we’ll have to stop somewhere first and buy some camping gear and weapons - but I don’t know what else.”

 

“I see.  I’ll grab my stuff so you can send me back then.” Billy said.

 

“Huh?  Why?  We were going to buy you a plane ticket.  We could use your advice on the plane.”

 

“Not gonna happen.  I don’t have any ID on me, including a distinct lack of a passport.  No airline in the world would let me fly.  You’re going to have to send me back.”

 

“Crap.”

 

Andrew emerged from the bathroom about then...  “Crap what?”

 

“Billy can’t come on the plane.  He doesn’t have ID or a passport.”

 

“Oh... Crap.”  Andrew frowned.  “I guess we’ll have to summon him when we get to Germany then?”

 

“Pretty much.”  Billy said.  “And if you want my help, I recommend you do it as soon as you’re out of the city and in the countryside where no one will see.  You guys need a lot of help in a short time if you want to survive this.   Besides, if you don’t send me back, there’s no way I’ll be able to get my weapons through customs.”

 

“Double crap!”  Steph exclaimed.  “I guess you’re right.  Any suggestions for the flight?”

 

“Yeah - get a phrase book for Germany and Norway.  Learn ‘I am hurt - where is the Hospital?’  first and everything else second.   I hope you won’t need it, but it might help.”   Billy’s face showed he wasn’t joking.   “Bad things happen to Scions that aren’t prepared - like both of you.   Right Tink?”

 

Thorn, who had just woken, grimaced at the insult hurled by Billy.  “My name is Thorn.  Call me that one more time and you will wake with splinters in places you would not believe you had, human.”

 

“Fair enough, Thorn.  But I am right, right?”  Billy asked.

 

“Yes.  The Einherjar lout is correct, master Andrew.  You will need our help to do this - but our main role is preparing you to do this yourself, not to do it for you.   Stephanie may help you - as you can help her in her task, but for both encounters, you both need to do the heavy lifting, not myself or your other sprites, and not Billy.”

 

Andrew nodded, and looked at Stephanie, who nodded also.  “So how do I send you away, Billy?”  Steph asked.

 

“Well, you could say something snappy like ‘Fall out!’ while holding the dog tags, or just command me away.  Either way, there’s something you both should know right now: Scions are like the worlds movie action heroes.  The more they act like action heroes, the more the world responds by rewarding them.  It’ll give you luck, and replenish your energy once you know how to tap it.  It will make difficult tasks easy, and impossible tasks do-able.  It will make you a total badass - as long as you learn how to access it.  We call it stunting - and I’m sure Thorn or any of the sprites could tell you how it works as well as I can.  As soon as you can, learn how to do it.  It WILL save your life.”

 

“Thanks, Billy - Well think on that advice on the flight.”  Stephanie said.  “Now Fall out!”

 

Billy saluted - and in a flash of light he was gone.

 

“That is going to take some getting used to.”  Andrew said.  “But then again, my little guys take some getting used to, too, don’t they?”

 

“Like when they ate all the marshmallows out of my box of Frankenberry a couple of days ago?  Or when they pulled the toilet paper all the way out to see how long the roll was?  Yeah, that’ll take some getting used to.”

 

“C’mon, Steph - it was funny.”

 

“True - but still a change to get used to, hon.”  Steph grabbed her luggage, and got dressed.  “Speaking of the sprites, you had better put them away.”

 

“Yeah.”  Andrew said.  “Hey guys!  Front and center!”

 

The sprites flew up, ready for action.  “What can we do for you, master Andrew?”  Thorn asked.   He and the sprites looked ready to go - except Stump, who had been up on watch for quite a while last night - Stump looked pretty wiped out.

 

“Time to get back in the pouch – we’ve got to go on an airplane, and there’ll be too many people.”  Andrew held the pouch out for the little guys to get back inside - and aside from a dejected chorus of ‘aaawwww,’ the five sprites filed in one by one.  Stump, the last one in, looked grateful for the rest.

 

Stephanie and Andrew sat on the edge of the bed, half-dressed, looking at his pouch and her dog tags.  “When did our life become a three-ring circus?”  Andrew asked after a few moments.

 

“October 10th, 2014.”  Stephanie answered.  “Does that help?”

 

“Not really...  He laughed.  We’d better get ready.”

 

The two of them rose and readied themselves, each with their own morning routine.  About an hour later they were checked out, and on the road with a hot breakfast from McDonalds in a take-out bag on Andrews lap and a cold drink between them.

 

They drove without talking - each lost in their own thoughts.  The last several days had been tumultuous - everything they thought they had known was being thrown out the window piece by piece - and who knew where it would stop, or even if it would ever stop?   Traffic was actually pretty good, considering it was Thanksgiving Monday, and they got to the airport in record time.

 

At Pearson international Airport, their terminal was busy - a lot of people coming and going on the last day of the holiday.   Stephanie grabbed her luggage, and motioned to Andrew to follow her as they headed to British Airways kiosk.  The two waited in line for what seemed like an hour, and surprisingly were able to get tickets to Stuttgart, with a small stop for refuelling.   They took their tickets, checked their luggage, went through the Airport security and X-Ray machine, and went to sit down.

 

“Weird that they actually had tickets, eh Steph?  I thought we’d have to wait till tomorrow for sure considering it’s a holiday.”  Andrew said.

 

“Yeah...  I’m just glad the Service rep got that last minute cancellation, or we’d have been stuck here.  I guess it’s just a good coincidence in this case, instead of a bad one.”

 

“True.”  He replied.  “You gonna get the phrase book?”

 

“Oh crap.  Yep... you want anything while I’m there?  A magazine or something?”  Steph asked.

 

“No thanks - I’ve got my tablet and I can snooze or we can talk if it runs out of juice.  You’re probably going to do the same with your Kobo, right?”

 

“I guess so.  I’ve never been on an 18-hour airplane trip before.  You want the window seat - I don’t really care myself.”

 

Andrew smiled.  “Sure – I’ve never been on an airplane. It’ll be cool!  Thanks hon!”

 

Stephanie left the waiting area, and bought a few phrasebooks, and several magazines for the trip - a few fashion mags like Elle, an Omni, a Scientific American, and a Discover.  I don’t think I could stare at a tablet the entire flight - my eyes would go wiggy if I tried, she thought   She remembered the time she had tried something similar - a 12 hour run on Diablo II when it came out in the 1990's. It was a bad idea then, when she was two decades younger, and she thought it would probably still be a bad idea now.

 

When she got back, she took the cold McDonalds breakfast from Andrew and nibbled on it.  She hated eating while driving - it was just as bad as texting while driving to her mind - so she ate it now.  The Hashbrowns tasted pretty good and the sausage sandwich was kinda cold and not too appealing.  Considering the length of their coming flight, she ate it anyway.  Oh well.

 

Soon their gate was called, and they boarded the plane.   The long tunnel from the terminal to the plane looked like something from a movie - to Andrew it was all new, and his excitement grew as they approached the plane

 

“Tickets please.”  The stewardess asked as they moved into the plane.  She smiled, and pointed to the back of the plane, and gave us our seat numbers.   Steph and Andrew filed down the aisle until they got to their seats, and sat down, Andrew on the window seat.

 

The two began to get settled, when Andrew realized he had a problem... the seat belt wouldn’t buckle up. Oh shit!  He thought, his face burning with shame. I’m too damn fat to get the belt across.  If I can’t get it to fit, I won’t be able to stay on the plane.  Embarrassment raged though him as he struggled with the belt.   Stephanie noticed his struggle, and called over to a stewardess, and a few minutes later a seat belt extender solved the problem, but Andrew could see the laughing smirks on the faces of several passengers nearby, and was ashamed all the more, and much of the enjoyment of being on a place for the first time left him.  He settled into his seat, staring quietly out the window, both so he wouldn’t have to see their faces, and because he didn’t want to face Stephanie - he didn’t want her to see the dejection on his face.  She knew!  Right away, she knew...  I’m too damn fat - no wonder she’s been looking at Billy.  Who wouldn’t?   God I suck.  

 

Stephanie could see Andrew was upset. Who wouldn’t be? She thought. Being singled out as heavy really, really sucks.  Maybe once he’s cooled down I can talk to him...  I mean, if we’re going to be heroes, we’re gonna have to hit the gym right?  In time those pounds will come off... I mean, I did it - he can too.  Stephanie thought back to those unwelcome years where she was overweight like Andrew.   Nothing changed, no matter how much she tried, until she realized the change she needed to first make wasn’t her diet - it was in herself.   After she knew that, the only thing she did was eat less, exercise more and the pounds melted away like smoke.  100 pounds in one year, and it was super-easy.   I think he needs some time to himself, she thought, and left her upset boyfriend to calm down as the plane taxied down the runway and got ready to take off.

 

Only 18 more hours of this, and we’ll be in Germany!  Steph thought to herself a bit sarcastically.  She had always wanted to travel - but never expected to have to spend a chunk of it salving her boyfriends hurt feelings.  As the plane took off, she was left wondering what the future would bring.