A collective sigh seemed to sound from the party as they entered the small town of Forest Cape. Janet dropped to her knees in exhaust and began to complain loudly.

"I'm hungry, I'm tired of walking, and I want a nice bath."

"Oh wah, like the rest of us don't feel like that?" Jason rolled his eyes.

Lucy shot a quick glare at him before helping Janet back on her feet. "Maybe the Inn will lend us a room to rest in for a while, and we can bathe there." She glanced at Brandon and Ray hopefully.

Brandon just shrugged and looked over at the dragon. "Well, that depends on just how quickly you want to reach the sea of trees."

Ray sighed and offered a shrug. "Well, let's see, there's a demon who's gaining power there even as we speak, so it would be nice to get there as quickly as possible..." Ray glanced around at his fellow travelers for a moment before continuing. "But then... I suppose it would be easier for all of us to travel if we're not busy complaining about everything, so... I suppose it's in our best interest to see if we can't get a room at the Inn to rest in for a while."

A pleased look passed quickly over Janet's face as she immediately began heading towards the Inn. "Well then, let's go get a room already!"

"What do you mean they're all full?" Janet's whining was almost as bad as her complaining.

The Innkeeper shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry, but it's like I said. A large group of travelers came in here a few days ago and have paid enough to stay for weeks!"

"There can't be so much of them that all of the rooms are full..." Lucy walked up to the front desk and stood beside Janet, trying to quiet down the enraged windian. "Surely there's at least one room left?"

The Innkeeper just shook his head. "Nah, there's so many of them. Makes me wonder why a group like that wanders around so much though." He sighed helplessly. "I've had to turn down a lot of travelers since they've come here, but I can't kick them out. They are paying customers..."

Ray sighed loudly. "Okay, well then, looks like we really have no choice but to keep going."

"Hey! What about lunch?" Jason glared over at Ray. "I'm not heading out there again until I've gotten something to eat..."

"And I'm still too tired." Janet crossed her arms defensively. "I need to rest a bit longer before I'm really up to walking for a long while again."

"Maybe you can get one of the residents here to offer you a room." The Innkeeper shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"Maybe..." Ray nodded as he considered the idea and then turned to the rest of his party. "Well, let's go out and ask around. Maybe someone has a few spare rooms or something." The group followed the dragon out of the Inn, Janet muttering sourly as Lucy walked with her out the door.

"I wouldn't feel right... asking someone to have to offer us a room for a while." Lucy glanced over at Ray.

Jason shrugged. "So don't ask. Just find a place and crash for a while."

"Some of us do have more manners then that." Lucy's voice was unsettlingly flat and made Jason feel uneasy as she spoke. Janet glanced at the houses around the town.

"It's such a small town." She made a face, having lived in Windia all of her life it was odd for her to be in a place as small as this. "I wonder why those travelers wanted to stay here so long."

"Excuse me!" The party turned to see a young woman approaching them. Her hair was tied up in back, and she was wearing an apron over a faded blue dress. She approached the group timidly and spoke up again.

"Excuse me, are you travelers here?"

Ray nodded at the woman. "We were looking for a place to stay for a while..."

"... but the Inn is full..." Janet added.

The woman nodded. "Yes, I know. I'm here to warn you though, you should not stay too long in this town. An odd fever has been going around and they're talking about quarantining the place."

"A fever?" Lucy glanced at the woman curiously. The woman nodded as she continued.

"Yes, a fever. No one knows what's causing it. My son has it, you see, and he's so very sick... none of the doctors who have seen him know what to do. And the neighbors boys, they have the same thing..."

"Who else?" Lucy studied the woman's face as she spoke.

"Oh, many of the children around here..." The woman shook her head sadly. "No one knows what to do. You shouldn't stay here too long or you might catch it as well."

"May I see the child?" Janet and Jason looked at Lucy like she was crazy. Ray just raised his eyebrow at her curiously.

"Didn't you hear what she said?" Jason motioned to the woman as he spoke to Lucy. "We should get out of here before one of us become sick with whatever that kid has..."

"I heard. But I'm not going to just walk away." She glanced at Jason momentarily before walking up to the woman. "Please, let me see the child."

The woman's eyes went wide in surprise. "Why? There's nothing that can be done. Not even the doctors can..."

"Then, if the doctors can't do anything, there's really no harm in me seeing what I might be able to do." Lucy's voice seemed to carry a soothing tone that calmed the woman as she spoke. With a bit of hesitance, the woman finally nodded.

"Alright, I'll take you to see him." She motioned and the small party followed her as she led them to her house.

"I don't believe you really think you can do something to help that kid..." Janet spoke to Lucy quietly as they approached the woman's home. "You don't have a clerical bone in your body..."

"Maybe so, but perhaps if she thinks I can do something, she'll offer us a room or two for a while."

Janet was so startled by Lucy's comment that she stumbled in mid step. That doesn't sound at all like Lucy... She studied the windian for a moment. Something's up... she's defiantly acting different.

The woman escorted the party into her house, then proceeded to lead Lucy upstairs. "He's been sick in his bed for all these days," she was talking quickly and in a grieving voice. The others could hear as tears of worry began to choke the woman's words. "The strangest fever, and he's so pale, it frightens me."

The woman turned down a small hallway at the top of the stairs and led Lucy to a door at the end of it, laying her hand on the doorknob and turning to the windian once again. "His name is Robert. I've had to keep his windows closed because he complains that the sun hurts him, so his room is rather dark..." She opened the door slowly and allowed the windian to enter. Lucy stepped into the room and glanced around. Sure enough, it was pretty dark. The only light was filtered in from a few cracks in the window shades and the lamp in the upstairs hallway. In the center of the room rested a small bed. Lucy approached it and knelt beside it, studying the small child that lay there, buried in the covers. She reached out and touched the child~~s forehead lightly, then turned back to the woman.

"How long has he been like this?"

The woman sighed. "A few days now. He seemed okay at first, like it was just a cold or something, but then it got worse..."

Ray, Brandon, Janet and Justin were waiting downstairs in the woman's house.

"I wonder why Lucy wanted to see the kid so much..." Jason asked quietly, not really aiming the question towards anyone.

Ray shrugged. "Maybe she can do something to help? I don't know why else she would have asked to see him."

Janet remained quiet. She just kept thinking about Lucy's words. That's so unlike her. She can't really be using that kid as an excuse to stay here... Lucy's never been that desperate. She said so herself that she could never consider forcing herself into someone's house... Janet was just beginning to convince herself that Lucy hadn't really meant what she said when footsteps suddenly were heard rushing down the stairs as Lucy appeared in the room with the rest of the group.

"Well?" Ray glanced questioningly at Lucy. "What's going on?"

"I found us a place to stay in for a while," was the only answer Lucy offered them before she headed past the group and made her way out the door, leaving three confused windians and one very confused dragon standing alone in the house of a stranger.