37. Here, There, and Elsewhere

Hopes and Dreams: Part 1

Amara threw the book she was reading against the wall in frustration.

Another dead end, she thought, uggh is there really nothing that can be done? Why can't I find anything about how to cure a curse?

As she lay down in her bed Amara rubbed her temples trying to calm herself down and think clearly. For several minutes she simply laid there starring at the ceiling, trying to decompress. Though after awhile she sat back up not any more relaxed. Finally she pulled out her harp and began to play music in an attempt to calm herself down.

Playing music always helped me, thought Amara, and this song in particular helps clear my mind, which is what I feel I need right now.

Amara continued to play guiding herself into a more relaxed state. She didn't even realize how tired she was, and after a few minutes put down her harp and fell asleep.

When Amara woke up she recognized the world she was in. She had been here before, the area felt like a void of some kind, though it wasn't black or empty it was filled with stars as far as the eye could see. Amara remembered the last time she had come here and she could hear that magical song that she and Gustav had played before. She could hear it playing around her seemingly coming from everywhere. Though eventually the song became more focused and seemed to be coming from one specific point. Amara walked towards that point, which was admittedly hard as everything looked the same, but she pressed on. As she continued walking she started to hear a different song, she had heard this song before in her first trip to this strange place and suddenly remembered meeting a figure when she had first come here. As the music kept playing a new figure emerged, seemingly from out of the air, in front of Amara. She recognized the figure immediately for it was wearing a red cloak that hid its identity. The figure was also playing what looked like a violin, the song she was playing was the one that Amara had been hearing as she walked to this place. Finally the figure turned around and noticed Amara stopping their song and giving a light gasp.

"You, I've seen you before," said the cloaked figure.

"Yes, I thought I was dreaming, maybe I still am," said Amara.

"If you're dreaming then so am I," said the figure, "in fact I think we both are. I remember playing some music before I went to bed. I had theorized for awhile now that there was some sort of "dream realm" as it were. My mentor had a theory that the world I live in, was only one of many worlds that existed, and that there may be some way for those from other worlds to commune with one another. I think this might be it!"

"If this is a dream then….is any of this real?" asked Amara.

The figure didn't reply right away, "I think it is real, not everyone who goes to sleep can come to this place. It takes focus and concentration, I think playing and listening to music is what helped me to come here."

"But what exactly is here?" asked Amara.

The figure looked around taking in the site of the dream realm, observing the numerous stars, and the endless void.

"I think here is some place beyond our worlds," as they said this they finally looked at Amara and realized she wasn't human or a witch, "you….your form is interesting are you a newt of some kind? Your not a demon are you?"

"Yes I am a newt," said Amara, "I come from a world inhabited by newts, frogs, toads, all manner of Amphibians, it's called Amphibia, I'm not a demon."

"Fascinating! it seems this place is a realm where our astral forms can move freely," said the figure in the red cloak again looking around and taking in their surroundings, "here peoples from any dimension or world can share ideas and come together, remarkable!"

"Are you from another world then? Like Luz?" asked Amara, "Who are you? Where are you from?"

The figure didn't answer, it continued starring at Amara before finally removing its hood to reveal its face. Amara looked into the face of the stranger they were a bit on the old side. They had green hair, matching green eyes, and an earring on their right ear.

"My name is Raine, Raine Whispers I'm a witch from the Boiling Isles."

Training with Friends

Marcy and Anne stood barefoot in the dirt with their eyes closed, Luz was close by using her phone to play some music to try and help them relax. They were both trying their hardest to concentrate as they listen to Luz talk.

"So this is how Uodeela first helped me to unlock my powers," she said to Anne and Marcy, "and I figure we should at least test and see if maybe this method helps you."

"So how long do we have to stand here?" asked Anne.

"Well you shouldn't just be standing there," said Luz, "you should be listening to the sounds around you with your ears, feeling the wind against your face ,the ground beneath your feet."

"Ow!" said Marcy snapping out of her relaxed state, "I think I just stepped on a stick." Marcy lifted up her foot to try and brush off the debris of the stick, Luz coming over to steady her as she began hoping around.

"Hmm breathe in breathe out," said Anne out-loud as she continued to breathe though she began to smell a rather pungent smell.

"Oh I think Joe Sparrow just left a present somewhere nearby," said Anne opening her eyes and pinching her nose, "Ah that smells terrible I'm out."

"Wait no don't leave yet, we aren't done with the training," said Luz.

"Okay I'm all better," said Marcy having recovered from stepping on the stick, "I'm ready to try again."

"Great so let's get you back to focus and see if it helps you unleash any hidden powers," said Luz.

"It's just-" began Anne, "I don't think this is working."

"Can we try one more time just to be sure?" asked Luz.

Marcy and Anne looked at each other before looking at Luz.

"Okay," they said at the same time. With that the girls again closed their eyes and began to focus and concentrate on the area around them. They tried to listen to the sounds around them, feel the sun and wind on their faces.

"So when you feel your focused enough I want the two of you to try and imagine how a gust of wind behaves. See if you can imagine it coming out of your hand," began Luz, "when you're ready try moving your hand straight forward and letting that wind out. Just like that show we all like."

Anne and Marcy kept their eyes closed and continued breathing, finally they brought up their arms and at the same time thrust it forward in a punch, only for nothing to happen."

Marcy and Anne opened their eyes and each gave out a sigh.

"Doesn't look like it's working," said Marcy.

"Well let's keep trying just to make sure," said Luz a hint of desperation in her voice.

A few hours later the girls were still trying to activate their powers with no success. Neither of them had been able to do anything even with Luz trying to help. Anne was a little to distracted to focus properly and Marcy had managed to cut her foot on a rock requiring them to stop and bandage it. By that time frustration was starting to take it's toll on the group.

"Listen I appreciate that you're trying to help us Luz, but I think we need to stop," added Anne.

"Yeah it's a bit hard for me to stand up with that cut on my foot," added Marcy.

For a second Luz was going to protest but then decided not to, instead she said, "It's just I thought maybe there was a chance we had all gained powers of some kind. It would be SO COOL if all of us had powers, then we could be like a superhero team!"

"That does sound cool," said Anne, "I mean it would be awesome if the three of us had powers like you Luz, we'd be an even more unstoppable team."

"But hey we're already an unstoppable team!" said Marcy raising her fist in the air for emphasis, "we've already conquered two temples, we only have two more to go. We can do anything!"

Anne and Luz looked at Marcy before nodding their heads in agreement.

"Yeah we are an unbeatable team!" said Anne, "the three of us can conquer any challenge!"

"I mean just imagine if we tried this again but in another world," said Marcy, "do you think if we used the music box and went somewhere else we could have another great adventure?"

"Huh what are you talking about Marbles?" asked Luz.

"I mean hypothetically if we used the music box to travel to another world I bet the three of us could conquer whatever challenges that world threw at us right?" asked Marcy.

Anne and Luz didn't reply right away, but after awhile Anne said, "I'm sure we could Mar-Mar, but I've honestly had enough adventure for now. As fun as it was getting to explore Amphibia and facing all its challenges I am more than ready for a nice hot bath and a bug free meal when I get home. Oooo you know what I'm really craving now, some good Ramen!"

"Mmmm good Ramen," said Luz, "we have so got to go to Noodle World when we get back!"

"You guys are already thinking of going home?" asked Marcy in a somewhat sad tone, "I mean neither of you even want to think about maybe keeping the adventure train running?"

"I mean I wouldn't mind going on another adventure," said Luz, "especially now that I have magic anime powers. But I also miss my mom, she must be worried sick about me, as much as I'd like to go on another adventure I think I'd also like a break first."

"Despite everything that's happened, the good and the bad, I am actually glad for the time I spent in Amphiba," said Anne, "but I agree with Luz I'd like a break too. Not sure if I'd ever want to go to another world, but certainly not right away."

"Don't you miss your parents too Marcy?" asked Luz.

"Oh I….I mean yeah I guess so…." said Marcy, "I just thought….I mean how cool would it be if we went to another world and had more adventures like this one. Except this time we could be together we wouldn't get separated and we'd have the time of our lives."

"I think someone liked there time here a little too much," said Anne playfully pushing Marcy, "but hey you were the only one who got sent to an actual city and managed to become a local celebrity so I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"I mean yeah that is true, while I was in Newtopia I got to sail on a warship, I stopped a creepy cult, and battled a killer cobra! But all the time I was doing it I thought how much more fun it would be if you guys….and Sasha, I know we all feel differently about her, but if you guys were all with me," said Marcy.

"Well I'm just glad we're together now," said Luz coming up to Marcy and putting her arm around her, "and hey we got to have adventures with the temples, and we still have two more to go. So don't worry Mar-Mar we still have time to have fun together!"

"Yeah," said Anne also coming up to Marcy and putting her arm around her, "and it's not like once we get home we'll stop hanging out. I mean yeah Creatures and Caverns Campaigns may not seem like an adventure compared to what we've been through here, but we'll still be friends. We'll still see each other all the time!"

Marcy did her best to remain stoic as Anne spoke, she didn't want her face to betray her feelings. So instead she simply nodded in agreement.

"Oh hey," she said quickly trying to change the subject, "while we may not have powers like Luz does, we do still have these." Marcy pulled out some pre-drawn glyphs.

"That's true," said Luz, "hey Anne I know you kind of don't like magic, but do you want to at least try and use one of these glyphs just to see what it feels like?"

Anne paused, looking between Luz and Marcy's faces before finally acquiescing, "alright, here give me that paper and let me have a go at it."

Anne took the paper and listened as Luz described how to draw out the symbol for the light glyph. When she was done Anne tapped it with her finger causing the paper to morph into a small ball of glowing light, as it rose up Anne held it in her hands mesmerized by it.

"You know it kind of looks like a little star," she said starring at the orb.

"Huh, yeah it does," said Luz.

"I never thought about it like that," said Marcy, "but yeah you're right."

The three girls continued looking at the orb before Anne eventually sent it up. The sky had started to darken and now shown as a brilliant array of colors. The girls kept looking at the spot where Anne had sent up the orb, not saying anything but enjoying each other's company.

Hopes and Dreams: Part 2

"So the world you're from is one filled with witches and demons," said Amara, "and it's ruled by this Emperor Belos person."

"Yes exactly, and your world is inhabited by talking amphibians, ruled by King Andrias," said Raine, "but what's most interesting is you say that magic exists in your world?"

"It does," said Amara, "but it's not like how you described it. We basically only have two forms of magic: potions and curses."

"No bard magic then?" asked Raine.

"No," began Amara, "although, there was an incident that happened a few months ago with me and a friend. We were playing music and were able to conjure up a vision into the minds of some of the people who heard our song."

"Go on," said Raine intrigued by this story.

"Our instruments began to glow when we played," said Amara.

"Hmmm I wonder, could it be that other forms of magic do exist in your world, but you simply don't know how to tap into them?" asked Raine.

"What do you mean?" said Amara.

"Well in my world all witches and the bi-pedal demons have the innate ability to do magic," expalined Raine, "we all have an organ called a bile sack that produces the bile we need to cast magic, but your species doesn't have something like that do you?"

"No we don't," said Amara.

"I see, then perhaps that's why magic is more limited in your world," said Raine.

"The thing is music is still a thing here," said Amara, "there are a lot of people who can play music and we have concerts and operas here. So why hasn't any form of magic related to music been discovered?"

"Well it takes more that just the ability to play an instrument to make bard magic work," answered Raine, "anyone can learn to play a musical instrument, but not everyone can learn how to play it with passion! If I had to guess it's because since your species doesn't have an innate way to cast magic so therefore only certain individuals are able to truly do it. Maybe you are one of those few who can utilize magic."

"Huh, wow that's, if that were true it would be amazing!" said Amara.

"I heard that song you were playing," said Raine, "when I first came to this place myself I had never heard a song like that before. Would you play it again for me please?"

Amara complied and took out her harp she began to play the song, as she did she could hear it amplified throughout the void. She looked into Raine's eyes and could see them staring intently at her as she played. After a few moments, Raine closed their eyes and perked up their ears listening intently to the song Amara was playing.

"That song is very beautiful, but also very sad," said Raine, Amara stopped playing as Raine began to speak. Raine took out a violin from their cloak.

"May I?" she asked, Amara nodded her head

With that Raine began to play the song on their violin, after a few moments a blue aura emerged from their instrument and spread out in a circle away from them. The aura engulfed Amara who instantly fell to her knees and began crying. It was as though her mind was filled with nothing but sad memories and they all became overwhelming all at once. Raine noticed this and stopped playing.

"Are you alright?" they asked coming up to where Amara was and helping her up.

"I'm fine, I think," said Amara as she stood up, "I….what did you do? That's never happened before when I played that song."

"I added some of my magic to that song," said Raine, "I tapped into my feelings of loss and pain and put those emotions in this song. There must be powerful magic in that song to have an effect like that, what happened to you? When the aura hit you what did you feel?"

"I felt….I felt all the worst experiences of my life just overwhelm me, it was too much and it made me sad," began Amara, "but it wasn't like I could just feel sad no, it felt like I was compelled to cry, I think whatever you did with that song caused that effect."

"Remarkable," said Raine as they starred down at their violin, "This will certainly require further study." They looked back at Amara.

"Listen I'm sorry for doing that to you, I didn't mean to. As a way of an apology why don't I teach you a song?" proposed Raine.

"Oh sure I'd love to learn a new song," said Amara.

"Alright, this song is called Raine's Rhapsody," said Raine.

"Oh did you compose it then?" asked Amara

"Actually, no I didn't, it was written for me by a friend….a very dear friend, a long time ago," Raine looked off into the void their face smiling as they recalled that memory, "someone I haven't seen in years but maybe I should."

With that Raine got their instrument ready checking to see that Amara was ready too. Then they began to play

[Begin Playing Raine's Rhapsody]

Amara listened as Raine started playing their song, she let herself be immersed in its essence. As Raine continued to play Amara noticed a white aura emerging from her violin. The aura spread out in much the same way as the blue one had though when it hit Amara instead of feeling sad she felt joyful, more than she had ever felt in her life. The aura seemed to filled with such positive energy that she felt as though she could do anything! Amara listened to the song many times trying to learn it in her head, when she was finally ready she closed her eyes and pulled out her harp and began to join Raine in a duet. The two played together for a few minutes, though Amara's song didn't produce an aura.

"Hmm, is there something I'm doing wrong?" asked Amara.

"When you play music to cause an effect you have to put emotion and passion into it," said Raine, "this song is meant to cause an area of good feelings and positive energy. You need to put in a feeling of happiness and contentment into your music when you play it. Do you have a strong memory of you being happy that you can draw upon when you play the song?"

"Hmm, I think so, I'd have to think about that for a bit," as Amara spoke she noticed that Raine seemed to be disappearing.

"Hey you're fading away," said Amara.

"I must be waking up," said Raine, "it's alright though, now that I know that you're here I'll try and come back in the future. You too try and come back when you sleep. I feel there's a lot more we can talk about!"

"Okay," replied Amara, "see you soon!"

With that Amara opened her eyes and shot straight up from her bed. She looked around realizing she was back in her own room. She looked around and saw her harp sitting next to her bed where she had left it. Picking it up she stood in her room and let out a long deep breath, trying to clear her head. As she did she tried to think of a happy memory she could focus on. After thinking for a long time she settled on using the memory from the night of the first performance of Azura's Troop. When she had talked with Gustav, Lilly, and Luz and truly became friends with them.

When she was finally ready she closed her eyes and began to play the song Raine had taught her on her harp. After playing for a few minutes she opened her eyes and was taken aback by what she saw. A white aura just like the one Raine had made was filling her entire room causing the objects in it to shine and sparkle, and filling her with a wonderful feeling.

"Incredible!" said Amara to herself.

Training and Growing

Wooden swords clashed as Lilly and Gustav sparred with each other, her father close by. Gustav swung at Lilly attempting to hit her but Lilly ducked under the blow. Gustav tried again and Lilly blocked the blow and then quickly stuck back at Gustav. The Toad brought up his sword blocking the blow but only barely. Lilly switched positions and managed to strike Gustav in his chest. The blow staggered him but he quickly regained his balance. Gustav shot out his tongue trying to ensnare Lilly, he managed to catch he and pulled her back towards him, but as he did she brought up her sword and stuck him forcing him to drop her. Gustav again charged at Lilly with his sword and swung around wildly. Lilly jumped into the air to avoid his attacks. While she was in the air she shot out her tongue at Gustav's sword wrapping around it and pulling it away from him. As Lilly landed she pointed both swords at Gustav causing him to put up his hands in surrender.

"Well done Lilly," said her father coming up to where she was, "I see you've been taking those lessons to heart."

"I'll say," said Gustav looking at her with awe, "I mean I know I'm not the best fighter but still, that was impressive."

"Aw shucks it wasn't much," said Lilly putting her arm behind her head.

"Don't sell yourself short dear," said her father, "you've been practicing as hard as any of the others, you've come a long way. I see how well you handle a sword now."

"Any progress I've made is due to you being a great teacher dad," replied Lilly.

"Hey I can't take all the credit," said Emmanuel, after a beat he looked out to the other soldiers who were paired off sparring with each other, "though I am worried about how the resistance is doing as a whole."

"What do you mean?" asked Gustav.

"I mean I'm worried about us facing the Toad Army," he said, "when Uodeela and I first started the rebellion, our goal was recruitment. We knew that in order to stand a chance we needed to get large numbers of frogs to join. Uodeela kept saying that we needed to bide our time and slowly recruit more frogs until we had enough numbers. There were times when we thought about taking our forces and trying to overthrow one of the towers but Uodeela said we weren't ready for open war against them. Now here we are forced to fight a united Toad Army in what may be the most important battle yet, and I'm not sure if we truly can win." Emmanuel hung his head as he finished talking.

"Don't worry dad," said Lilly coming up to him and putting her arm around him, "we'll be fine."

"I hope so," sighed Emmanuel.

"Hey Valeriana gave you that map to that temple right," added Gustav, "the one with the ancient sword. Are going to get that soon? It might give a boost in morale to the troops."

"Yeah, I'm almost done preparing for our journey," said Emmanuel, "we have to make sure the sword is there, if it is then I hope Valeriana was right when she said that someone in our army will be able to wield it."

"Well there's only one way to know for sure," said Lilly putting her training sword to the ground, "we'll have to find it ourselves. Now before it gets too late let me have a go at the obstacle course!"

Lilly darted from tree branch to tree branch carefully jumping between them as she continued moving forward, finally she landed on the ground and then ran forward to a lake and jumping straight into it. Lilly began to swim as fast as she could she made sure to move around some lillypads that had been placed there as markers. Near the center of the lake Lilly held her breath and dove down beneath the water, the lake was deep and the bottom murky, Lilly looked around for a golden ball at the bottom of the lake. With how dim and murky the water was it was hard to find, but she eventually succeeded, grabbing the ball and returning to the surface. Lilly swam to the edge of the lake and got out, then she ran over to a cliff and began jumping from ledge to ledge, taking care not to fall. When she reached the top of the cliff she saw a raised stage with a pedestal for the gold ball she was carrying. Lilly ran over and quickly put the ball on the pedestal.

"And time," said Gustav standing next to the pedestal, "wow you shaved five seconds off your last attempt Lilly, nice!"

"I knew you could do it," said Emmanuel encouragingly.

"Whoa," said Lilly a little winded from her attempt, "I admit finding the gold ball is always the hard part. That lake is so dark, plus you always drop it in a random place, though I've found it's best to dive near the center of the lake and look for it there."

"Your agility really has improved," said Emmanuel.

"If you want to complete the course fast you have to just keep jumping and not be afraid of falling," said Lilly, "there's definitely a rhythm with finding the right speed to move through the trees and not fall. Finding that rhythm is what lets me get through the course so fast."

They were interrupted however by another frog coming over to Emmanuel to deliver a report, "Emmanuel, our scouts have reported back, they have the location of the Toad Army." Emmanuel, Lilly and Gustav, let out a gasp!

"They've begun assembling their forces and will likely be ready to move into position around Newtopia in a few weeks," continued the Frog, "Bufo is leading the main force, but the scouts had no word on Grime, Sasha, or Beatrix."

"That is troubling," said Emmanuel, "why wouldn't they be with the army?"

"Maybe Sasha wants to find another weapon," said Gustav aloud, before realization dawned on him, "Oh, after finding Barrel's Hammer, Grime had said he wanted to get Glenn's sword too."

"Do you think they could actually find it?" asked Lilly with concern in her voice.

"I don't know," answered Gustav, "but we shouldn't wait to find out, we should make plans to head to that temple soon just in case."

"I don't think they would go after the sword," said Emmanuel, "and even if they did, I'm not too worried about them if they were to find it. Legend says that only a worthy frog will be able to wield it, still I wonder where Sasha, Grime and Beatrix are? Why wouldn't they be with the main army?"

"Well we can wonder about that later," said Lilly, "dad what do you want to do with the army?"

Emmanuel thought for a moment before replying, "tell the soldiers we march at dawn. Let's figure out the best way to approach the Toads. As of now they don't know we're even a thing so we still have the element of surprise on our side. Tell the scouts to meet me in my tent later and we can discuss strategy," he turned to Lilly and Gustav

"As for you two, you're coming with me, we'll go check out the temple Valeriana told us about, then regroup with the main army near Newtopia."

Hopes and Dreams: Part 3

"That's amazing to hear Amara!" said Raine as the two conversed in the Dream Realm, "I thought you might be able to do it! This is wonderful! To think there is another world where Bard magic might flourish, and you aren't forced to be in a coven."

"A coven?" asked Amara.

"It's something from my world," said Raine, "that Emperor I told you about, one of his rules is that in order to practice magic you must join a Coven. Covens are groups of witches who all use the same kind of magic." With that Raine brought up their arm and showed Amara their coven tattoo.

"This is the mark of the Bard Coven," they said, "it marks me as a member of the coven, but it also restricts my magic. I'm only able to perform magic related to Bards."

"That doesn't seem fair," said Amara, "why would witches agree to something like this?"

"The Coven system has been in place for longer than I've been alive," replied Raine, "honestly I never liked it, but in my world if you don't join a coven at some point then you get thrown in jail, if you're lucky."

"What happens if you're not lucky?" asked Amara a sense of dread filling her.

"You get petrified," answered Raine.

"Oh, but surely there is a cure for that in your world right?" asked Amara.

"No there isn't," answered Raine, "petrification is permanent. Once the spell is cast it can't be undone."

Amara listened to this scratching her chin deep in thought thinking of what Raine had said.

"Is something wrong?" asked Raine.

Amara held up her hand as she continued to think, finally she said in a loud voice, "We have a cure for petrification here!" Raine's eyes lit up at that.

"Or at least there is a cure for our version of petrification," clarified Amara, "here there is a creature known as the Chickalisk. It is a cursed bird that often guards treasure. It's eyes can cause petrification, but victims can be cured. I read about it in a book while trying to find cures for curses in my world."

"Do you know what the cure is offhand?" asked Raine.

"No I don't, but I can memorize the ingredients for the cure and then tell them to you," offered Amara, "but I don't know if those same ingredients would be available in your world."

"Well we make potions too, so I hope even if the exact ones aren't maybe I could find some good substitutes," answered Raine, after a second though they added, "why were you looking up trying to cure curses?"

"My teacher," said Amara, "something happened to her, and she got trapped in the form of a giant heron. But in my world curses can only be cured by the caster, and my teacher cursed herself."

Raine looked hard at Amara gently stroking their chin as she thought of something.

"Your mentor is trapped in the form of a giant bird then?" asked Raine inquisitively. Amara nodded her head.

"Maybe I can help you with that," said Raine.

Lady Anne

"Come on Anne," said Marcy, "it's obvious you need some new gear." Marcy motioned down to the sock on Anne's foot. It had clearly been worn to the point of failure, her big toe poking through a hole in the front.

"I mean maybe I do need some new gear, but what I don't need is another one of your make-overs," countered Anne.

"Were they really that bad?" asked Marcy.

"Um need I remind you about what happened the last time you tried to cut my hair?" asked Anne.

Marcy turned away embarrassed, "okay fair point."

"Oh hey there you guys are," said Luz coming up to the other girls, Sprig with her "what's going on?"

"Marcy's trying to give me a makeover," said Anne flatly.

"Oh no, not again," said Luz with a worried expression.

"Okay I know that last one didn't work out so well," said Marcy, "but I'm not even wanting to cut Anne's hair this time. All I want to do is get her some new clothes."

"What's a makeover?" asked Sprig.

"It's when you get rid of some old things and get new ones in an attempt to reinvent yourself," said Luz.

"Oh kind of like that thing I did with your make-up right Anne?" asked Sprig.

"Yeah kind of like that," said Anne, "except Marcy wants me to get some new clothes."

"I mean that sock looks like it's about fall right off you foot, though I will say it's very impressive how you managed to walk around with just one shoe," said Luz, "would getting a new pair really be so bad?"

"I suppose not," answered Anne, "I just don't want to go overboard is all."

"That seems fair," said Luz, "I don't see why we can't do something simple, if you had a choice of some kind of clothing make-over Anne what would it be?"

Anne thought for a moment before replying, "I suppose I wouldn't mind some armor. I've been learning to use a sword ever since I went to that combat camp and a good set of armor would be helpful, but nothing too cumbersome."

"Oh, if you want a good set of armor I know just the place, be right back" he said rushing off.

"I hope Sprig doesn't go overboard," said Anne, "I really don't want anything to complicated."

"Aww, but Anne I wanted to try and make-up for giving you that bad hair cut," said Marcy. Luz's eyes lit up at that statement.

"Hey so, maybe….instead of Anne you could give me a make-over," said Luz.

"Oh really," said Marcy excitedly.

"I mean nothing to major, but I was thinking of maybe painting my nails," said Luz as she held out her hands.

"Hmmm okay," said Marcy as she took one of Luz's hands and looked at her nails, "I think I can work with something here."

Sprig came back into the room carrying a few pieces of armor, he dropped them at Anne's feet. Hop-pop and Polly came in behind him.

"Whoa where'd you get this?" asked Anne.

"Remember the family room?" said Sprig

"This armor is from Polianna Plantar's room," said Polly, "the turnip farmer who was also a fierce warrior."

"Oh right the family room," said Anne remembering that adventure, she bent down and picked up the breastplate Sprig had brought, it was a golden-bronze color that had a few steaks of blue-green in it. In the center of the armor she noticed there was a large ornate "P" on it.

"I still can't believe what you ended up finding in our house," said Hop-pop, "to think we had such an interesting family history." Hop-pop came over to where Anne was and looked at the symbol on the breastplate.

"I recognize that symbol," he said, "that's the Plantar family Crest!"

"Whoa no way! That's amazing!" exclaimed Anne as she looked between the breastplate and her adopted family, "guys I can't accept this. It's a family heirloom, it's part of your history."

"Well you're part of our family too Anne," said Hop-pop tenderly, "considering all the crazy adventures we've had together I'd say you're also part of our history. It's likely this armor hasn't been used in centuries, but I'd be proud to have you use it, especially if it helps you on your quest to get home."

"Oh knight's armor would be perfect for you Anne," said Marcy her eyes widening at the site of the armor, "you can actually be Lady Annabelle the Paladin."

"Ha, ha, of course you would bring that up again Marcy," laughed Anne, "well it would be practical, though I don't know if I need a full set of armor, maybe just some bits and pieces."

"And of course you can take that back with you when you get back to your world Anne," added Hop-pop.

"What, no way really!?" exclaimed Anne.

"That way you'll have something to remember us by," said Sprig.

"Yeah I'm sure Polianna wouldn't mind, seeing as she's dead and all," added Polly.

Anne held up the breastplate one more time looking between it and her frog family smiling, finally she said, "Okay let's see how it looks, give me a second." With that Anne took the armor down into the basement.

After some time she reemerged. Anne was now wearing the breastplate with the Plantar's Crest on it, she also wore some armored gauntlets to protect her hands. Around her waist she wore another armor piece that just covered her skirt, she had attached the sword given to her by Tritonio to this armor piece. Finally she wore a new pair of armored boots on her feet. Anne twirled around showing off her new look and seeing how well she could move.

"Okay I'm liking this," said Anne testing out her new look, "It doesn't feel too heavy or cumbersome and I feel like I have some good protection with these pieces. What do you think?"

"Very sheik," said Luz, "that's a good look or you Anne!"

"Wow! You look amazing!" said Marcy, "but you didn't want a helm for your head?"

Anne walked over to where Frobo was and looked into her own reflection, "no I don't want to cover my face. You see the reason I didn't really want a new look is because….I'm finally happy with who I see in the mirror right now. So whatever I put on, I just want to see the same me looking back. And it's nice to see that me have something from the Plantar's."

Anne paused to look over at her frog family, "thank you again for letting me have this!"

"You're welcome Anne, I'd say you really are a knight seeing as how you were willing to fight Sasha to save my life," said Hop-pop.

As soon as he heard this Sprig was suddenly seized with an idea and came over and whispered something into Hop-pop's ear.

"Oh well it's not like it would be anything official or anything," said Hop-pop responding to Sprig's request.

"Yeah but it would be cool!" said Sprig excitedly.

"What would be cool?" asked Polly.

"Sprig thinks we should "knight" Anne," answered Hop-pop, "I mean it's not like we're actually a noble family so the title wouldn't carry any weight or anything."

"Yeah but it would be cool!" repeated Sprig, "Anne's done more than enough to deserve it, even if it doesn't officially mean anything, it would mean something to us."

"You really do read too many of those hero stories," said Polly flatly.

"Hey that's where I got my love for action figures, all those heroes were knighted and I think since we're giving Anne some family armor we should knight her just like in those stories," explained Sprig, "what do you think Anne?"

Anne looked into Sprig's pleading face and decided to indulge him.

"Okay sure why not?" she said, "is there anything I need to do?"

"Well if this were an official knighting there'd be a one on one battle for you to fight, then you'd have to stay up all night reciting a code, then do a special dance with perfect coordination, then after all that you'd have to stand perfectly still and hold a candle until it burns out, but we don't need to do any of that. We can just skip to the part where you kneel down," answered Sprig.

"Huh what a relief" said Anne, with that she knelt down and gave her sword to Hop-pop. Hop-pop stood over Anne and placed the sword on her shoulder.

"Well I really didn't plan on making a speech, but here goes," he began, "Anne Boonchuy, child of another world, you came to us a stranger but over the weeks and months we've come to view you as family. You sacrificed your friendship with Sasha to save my life at Toad Tower."

"You saved my life the day we first met, and at least a few more times since then" said Sprig, "you're my hero!"

Luz, Marcy, and Polly didn't say anything, but they all looked towards Anne with respect, letting her have her moment. Hop-pop continued.

"Therefore in recognition of your bravery and as patriarch of the Plantar family I hereby confer on you the title of Lady Anne, rise milady"

Anne stood back up, looking into Sprig, Polly, and Hop-pop's faces and seeing them smiling back at her, a feeling of pride swelling up in her. She had become so close to her frog family in the months that she was here. Even if this knighting didn't hold any real title she was still glad that Hop-pop had taken the time to do it. Over to the side Luz and Marcy both clapped and shouted praise to Anne. The two coming up to her and throwing their arms around her in a hug.

"Congratulations Lady Anne," said Luz.

"You deserve it for sure," added Marcy.

Anne looked at her friends and her frog family feeling happy to share this moment with them.

Feeling Pretty

"Okay all done then Luz," said Marcy pulling away from Luz and capping the bottle of polish.

Luz raised up her hands and looked at her nails which were now covered in a deep purple paint. She blew on her nails to dry them and looked between her nails and Marcy.

"This looks good," said Luz, "you know I never really painted my nails before."

"Any particular reason?" asked Marcy.

"No not really," answered Luz, "I don't know, I guess maybe I was scared to do it myself and mess it up, or maybe I just never really found a color I liked. Though I did think one time about trying black nail polish with black eyeliner and arranging my hair so it covered one of my eyes. I wanted to go for an….anti-hero look."

Marcy laughed before replying, "oh you totally could have pulled off an anti-hero look. Were you trying to be like Hecate?"

Luz turned away slightly embarrassed, "it was a phase I was going through, there was a time where I saw myself more as Hecate than Azura."

"Aww nothing wrong with that," said Marcy, "I think most fans of Azura slide between wanting to be like Azura or Hecate."

"I guess so, but I do like this color for my nails," said Luz continuing to study her fingers, "I think I'll keep it even when we get back home."

"And it will match your eyes when you go all Avatar State," added Marcy causing Luz to laugh.

"Hey Marcy are you done?" asked Sprig suddenly coming into the room.

"Yeah I'm finsihed, are you ready to get started?" asked Marcy.

"Yeah sure, Anne just lent me her makeup again so I'm all good," answered Sprig.

"Wait what?!" said Luz caught off guard by this.

"Oh….so I thought," began Marcy in a coy voice, "that in addition to me painting your nails, Sprig here could use his apparently awesome make-up skills to help in your make over."

"This wasn't part of the plan," said Luz in surprise.

"I know, but Sprig asked if he could, apparently he's a make-up god according to Anne. He gave her and the whole a town an amazing make over," said Marcy.

Luz looked nervously between Marcy and Sprig, "I mean….it's just I've never really worn make up and….I'm not sure I would look good in it."

Sprig came up to Luz, "I mean if you really don't want to then that's fine, but I thought you might at least want to try. Anne said she doesn't wear make up that much either, but after months of living in the swamp thought it be nice to get a new look."

Luz listened to Sprig's argument and looked into his face after thinking for a bit she finally acquiesced, "alright I suppose we can give this a try. Just don't go overboard okay Sprig!"

"No worries, I got this!" said Sprig triumphantly, "Oh Marcy make sure you go get Anne, so she can see my latest masterpiece." For a second Luz began to regret agreeing to this after hearing Anne was going to see her, but didn't say anything and decided to let Sprig work his magic.

"No way! You got Luz to agree to a makeover from Sprig?" said Anne in surprise.

"Yeah, it took a little convincing though," said Marcy, "looks like he's almost done!"

"Okay I'm finished," said Sprig stepping away so that Anne and Marcy could see Luz.

As soon as she saw her Anne felt a very strange feeling in her stomach, that spread throughout her whole body. Sprig had once again worked his magic and Luz looked…amazing. He had applied some blush to her cheeks, purple eye shadow to her eyes and a reddish purple lipstick to her lips. Anne starred at Luz completely stunned at how she looked, she looked beyond beautiful.

"So what do you think Anne?" asked Sprig. Anne didn't answer and continued to stare.

"Uh Anne, you there?" asked Marcy.

"I…uh….yeah….I'm here," said Anne not really paying attention, keeping her eyes on Luz, "I…wow!"

"I think you did a good job Sprig!" said Marcy, "Anne wasn't kidding you are really good at this."

Sprig looked at Anne and noticed how she was starring at Luz, giving him an idea.

"Hey uh Marcy why don't we got outside. There's something real cool I want to show you."

Marcy looked from Sprig to Anne and picked up what he was trying to do, "Oh right, I remember, let's go." With that the two of them left the room rather quickly, leaving Anne and Luz alone.

"So….uh yeah you look great!" began Anne before quickly adding, "not that you don't normally look good but-"

"No, no keep going," said Luz coyly, "let's see how deep you dig yourself Anne." Anne stopped talking her face full of worry, before Luz finally laughed.

"I'm messing with you," assured Luz.

"Oh…uh of course," said Anne relieved, after a few moments though she added, "you really do look nice though."

Luz walked over to a nearby mirror and looked at her face, it was her first time seeing herself like this, "yeah I guess I do." Luz continued to stare at herself in the mirror, with Anne standing next to her.

"You know I've never really worn make-up before, but I have to admit I do look good," said Luz as she continued to look at herself in the mirror, "but you know I don't want to make too big a deal out of it."

"Yeah I get you," said Anne, "it's nice to look pretty every once and awhile, but you shouldn't ever feel you NEED make up to look good."

"Agreed, I definitely don't want to be someone who gets obsessed over how they look, though I am keeping this nail color, I like it!" said Luz, "hey so can you take a picture of me?"

"Sure," said Anne taking Luz's phone and snapping the picture before handing it back to her.

"Oh and one more thing, while I have this new look I want to make a video for my mom," said Luz as she started to record on her phone.

"Hola Mama!" said Luz into the phone, "I'm sure this is a surprise, but hey we had some downtime in this frog world and I got talked into getting a makeover by Marcy and Sprig. How do I look?" Luz waved at the camera.

"I know I'm not normally into make-up but I like what Sprig was able to do, he's the one I introduced you to in my last video, Anne's friend. Ever since I found Anne and Marcy surviving in this world has been a lot easier, it's good to know that both of them are alright. Oh Anne do you want to say hi?"

Anne nodded her head and moved into view of the phone, "Hi Ms. Noceda! It was such a relief to know that Luz was okay. I'm so glad Marcy, Luz and I are together again, it won't be long until we make it back home!"

"Yeah exactly, we only have two more temples to go to before all the stones in the box are recharged and then we'll be able to use the box and go home!" said Luz in delight.

"Say hi to my mom for me if you see her," said Anne into the phone, she looked one more time at Luz before looking at the camera again, "I really miss you mom, but I hope to see you again soon."

"I miss you so much, and I can't imagine what you must be going through. I'll be home soon mama, deja una luz puesta para mi, te quiero," said Luz, with that she ended her video.

Scenes from a Newtopian Coffee Shop

"And so with a mighty blow from my tail that was how I managed to defeat Ragnar the Wretched and claim this medal for valor!" exclaimed General Yunann in a loud triumphant voice into the microphone that had been set up. She looked into the crowd expecting to see faces full of awe and respect, instead only seeing faces of confusion. Above her head hung a banner that read: "Open Mic Night at Kaldi's!"

"So was that a freestyle poem then?" asked someone in the crowd.

"Um okay," said a newt coming over to where she was, "that was a very unconventional poem, but let's have a round of applause for Yunann-"

"That's general Yunann!" began Yunann, in frustration

"Ehem General Yunann," corrected the newt in a clearly annoyed voice, "and her poem about Ragnar the Wretched."

"No it was a poem about how I defeated Ragnar the Wretched," she yelled into the microphone, "that's a very important distinction!"

The MC simply rolled his eyes and took the mic from her before ushering her off the small stage. Yunann walked in a huff back to her table where two other newts were seated waiting for her.

"I'm telling you a poem does not do that tale justice," said Yunann as she sat down with her other friends, "in order for my story to become more well known and for my exploits to go far and wide I will need an opera composed of me."

"Oh you want to be as famous as Glenn then?" asked Amara

"Yes exactly!" said Yunann, "think about it, an opera that told of my heroism in the Sand Wars or my battle with Ragnar, if there was music playing while action happened on the stage! Oh how amazing it would be! Then my fame would last beyond my lifetime and Newts that were yet to be born would know of the Great General Yunann!"

"Oh speaking of which," said Amara pulling out a wrapped box and giving it to Yunann, "here you go."

"Oh what's this for?" asked Yunann.

"I missed your promotion ceremony cause I was out learning potions, so here I got you something," said Amara.

"Aw that's so nice of you Amara," said Yunann bringing out her claws to quickly open the present. She lifted up the lid and pulled out a small black stone.

"That's an obsidian wheat stone," said Amara, "it's one of the best stones for sharpening things. I figure you'll get a lot of use out of it for your claws."

"Aww many thanks Amara, I will enjoy using this," said Yunann.

"Amara found that when we hung out at the Newtopian Markets," said Bella finally joining the conversation.

"Oh wonderful, have they had another Smash and Mash derby lately?" asked Yunann, "I found my love of fighting after winning one of those contests back in the day."

"They had one recently," explained Bella, "I heard a strange creature managed to win it. To bad we didn't hear about it sooner, I bet you and I could have won that Amara!"

"Well I've never entered, but I have watched a few, I've tried to develop a few strategies that I think could help a team win, maybe you and I can try the next one and see how we do Bella?"

"If I have time off from work, sure I'd be up for it," said Bella.

"Where is it you work?" asked Yunann

"Oh I'm a Bellhop at the Hemisphere Hotel," answered Bella

"I thought you had told me you went to Newtopia University," said Yunann intrigued, "why are you working such a menial job?

Bella was hurt by that statement but tried not to show it, "I haven't had much luck finding a job after college so I took the job at the hotel because it was the only one I could get at the time. Plus I have a lot of student debt."

"Student debt," said Yunann with a laugh, "why did you go in to debt to attend college? You should have joined up with the Newtopian Army, they paid for my education!"

Bella looked Yunann firmly in the eyes her temper beginning to rise, "well that's all good for you, but I don't relish the idea of being put in a life or death situation where I have to either kill someone or be killed myself."

"Psh, what are you a coward?" asked Yunann, "to afraid to serve in the army and do something to help the city?"

Bella stood up putting her hands on the table and moving closer to Yunann, "Is it really fair that if I want to have an education I either have to go into crushing debt or spend at least five years of my life serving in the army?"

"Okay that's enough!" said Amara trying to restore order, "can we please not do this right now?"

"Why not?" said Yunann in a boasting voice, "if your friend is too cowardly to join the army, then I doubt she would prove much of a challenge in a fight?"

"What I said was I didn't want to fight," clarified Bella, "not that I can't." She looked hard into Yunann face before saying, "I'm going to get some more coffee, I'll be right back."

As soon as she was gone Amara rolled her eyes and looked straight at Yunann, "really?" she said in a clearly annoyed tone.

"As a decorated member of the Great Newtopian Army I can't abide cowards," said Yunann, "especially of fellow newts, she should have more pride in herself and her species."

"You know it's not like she doesn't have a point," said Amara, "don't you think it's strange how we have universal healthcare but not universal college?"

"No I find nothing strange about that all," said Yunann in a completely serious voice, "newts should be proud to serve in the army, we are after all the superior species."

"Do you really believe that?" asked Amara, "or is it just you heard my parents say that so many times that you think it's true?"

"It is true, I mean look at me," said Yunann, "I was able to work hard and become a general, the youngest newt ever to obtain the rank of general I might add, and was able to bring back wealth and honor to my family. Despite my family having lost all their money we still had our name and our pride, your mother assured us that we were still worthy of out nobility. And when I obtained my new title your mother told me that I had restored the family honor!"

Amara thought for a second before replying, "that really was a lot of pressure on you wasn't it?"

Yunann looked at Amara, not understanding her.

"I remember how my mom would tell you all the time how you had to succeed in the army," said Amara a bit sadly, "she told you it was the only way you could hope to restore your family's name and fortune."

"And I did!" bragged Yunann in triumph.

"But is that really what you wanted to do?" asked Amara.

"Well I….yes of course it's what I wanted!" said Yunann.

Amara heard the slight hesitation in Yunann's voice and for the first time felt sorry for her friend.

Elsewhere

"You could have given me more notice about this," said Raine as they marched through the castle halls behind their mentor.

"I'm sorry I was only just told about this myself, and well you know it would be unwise to refuse an invitation like this from the Emperor," said her mentor.

"I know, it's just….you know how nervous I get in front of crowds, and now I have to perform for all the Coven heads and the Emperor," said Raine in exasperation.

"Raine, you've told me that you have ambitions to be a Coven head yourself one day," began her mentor seriously, "this sort of audience could help you on your way to that goal. You know I've been thinking of retiring in a few years."

"I know Professor Crane," answered Raine, "I suppose I just need to calm down and breathe." Raine did just that taking a deep breath and then expelling it.

"We're here," said Professor Crane, as he and Raine stood in front of a set of doors. The doors opened onto a set of stairs that descended down into the chamber where the other eight Coven heads were already gathered. The Emperor and Lilith seated above them on a raised platform. Raine entered the room cautiously aware of all the eyes that were focused on them. Lilith stood up to address the new arrivals.

"Professor Crane," she began, "we have heard whispers that your student has developed a new and intriguing use for Bard Magic."

"They have," said Professor Crane, "though I should say this meeting was called rather abruptly and Raine had not expected to perform for such a distinguished audience." The professor bowed his head, in respect as he addressed his fellow Coven heads and the emperor.

"Oh I have no doubt that young Raine here will impress us," said Terra Snapdragon, "I remember this young sprout from long ago, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she has in store for us."

"If you are ready then Raine," began Lilith, "we would like to see this new magic you have developed."

With that Professor Crane took his place among the Coven heads and gave one last encouraging look to Raine trying to instill them with confidence. After looking around one last time at all the faces gathered Raine made a spell circle with their finger bringing out their violin, and began to play

At first nothing happened but after a few seconds the blue aura emerged from Raine's instrument spreading out and engulfing the entire room. For the witches gathered their the effect was instantaneous as all of them immediately fell to their knees and began crying. Their worst memories amplified by the power of the song. Not all the Coven heads immediately succumbed to the power of the song. Raine could see that Darius and Terra were still standing though it was clear that they were struggling hard to not be affected. Eventually they too could not resist and fell to their knees. Raine looked around and noticed that now the only two who had not immediately fallen were Lilith and the Emperor, but Raine could also see that Lilith was struggling to resist the music's effect. After a few more minutes of playing even Lilith could no longer resist and began crying uncontrollably. The only one not affected now was the Emperor who sat in his chair stoically as the blue aura engulfed him but did not seem to affect him.

I suppose it was too much to hope that I'd found a way to incapacitate the Emperor, thought Raine in her mind as she continued to play. Eventually Belos held up his hand signaling for Raine to stop. Raine stopped playing and immediately the blue aura dissipated allowing the Coven Heads to recover and regain their composure. The Emperor stood up from his throne.

"Remarkable," he said, "this is the kind of talent we want to see in a potential Coven Head, wouldn't you agree Lilith?"

Lilith had only just stood back up and had not yet fully recovered her thoughts still plaguing her. She tried to get a handle on her thoughts. When she finally felt she was ready she replied, "I….yes of course my lord, I think it's incredible what Raine has done, to use Bard Magic in such a new and more powerful way."

"Agreed," said the Emperor, "we shall watch your career with great interest Raine."

With that the meeting was adjourned and the Emperor made his way back to his throne room. Lilith had left the chamber and as soon as she was out of sight rushed back to her room in the castle. As soon as she was alone she brought her hands to her face and said aloud, though in a whisper, "it's not my fault, it's not my fault…."

When he was finally alone, the emperor removed his mask and brought his hand to his face. A single tear had come out of his right eye while he was listening to the song, but that was the only ill-effect he had suffered.

"It would seem that those who already carry a great sadness within them are able to resist the song's affect," he said to himself alone, "I knew that inflicting so much trauma on myself would be beneficial. Trauma has made