Fantasy ~ FableWood ~

[Flutterby]

Quincy shrugged, dropping her eyes to her lap. “Any water can help physically, this is something else." The kelpie's eyes closed, and she took a long, slow breath. “I can feel the sea calling me, Alexander. I felt it all night, stuck in that cage. I feel it now more, because the tide is turning, its going out. It wants me to go with it.." She trailed off, jumping at the touch of his hand. She slid her own inside his, squeezing tightly. “Its curiously strong. It must be something about Wonderland." The kelpie looked up at him, her eyes a little distant and cloudy. A shake of her head cleared them, but she was still feeling the tug of war in her mind.

 

[Hel]

He squeezed hers tightly, and said, "Well, perhaps while the other's sleep I'll have time to take you out there. Or not, I wouldnt want you to just swim away on me, you know." He kissed her cheek lightly.


Anya conversed with Ethan for just a little while longer before slowly dozing off just where she sat, her head drooped over to Ethan's shoulder and rested there. Her eyelids flickered, as though she was already lost in the realm of what should be dreams. She had an uncanny ability to sleep anywhere

 

[SkywardSocks]

Achyls looked back at Kallin with wide eyes.


"I...I know not what I did..." she said, her mouth barely moving as she spoke. Then, upon realising what she had done to help Luness, she nodded, a small smile forming on her face. She got to her feet and held a hand out to Kallin, he seemed exhausted, and support would always be needed.


She followed the guards into the infirmary where, upon entrance, healers fussed over her, checking for any kind of damage. There was none, not anymore. Once free, she tried to find Ashley and immediately picked up the pace upon seeing her.


"You are safe!" she grinned, looking between her and the soon-to-be child, "Such a brave mother you will be,". She knelt down, feeling a strange warmth in her heart. She placed a careful hand to Ashley's belly, feeling the baby kick and wriggle. It would soon be time. Achyls had never seen something, or felt something, such as this before, confusion and euphoria mixing into one her head. She smiled upon standing, bowing her head to Ashley.


@Shimakage Thunder @SilverFlight

 

[SilverFlight]

Kallin looked surprised at Achyls offered hand. He held both his own up in a polite decline. Baby steps. He was staring to get used to working with the heroes, but closeness still made him uneasy. He would keep his distance for now.


@SkywardSocks


Leia went to stand by Micthell, watching the worst injuries among their party treated on site. "That was one heck of a super power." She remarked, well impressed.


"I think I've had my fill of crazy giant storybook monsters for one day, what about you?"


@SwiftThunder


In the hours to come Ward had been taken to the infirmary and treated. The process was slow, the king's torture had left his body in terrible shape. An herb tincture was made to dull the pain in addition to magic. Not long after the gryphon was sleeping peacefully, still in human form.


He had no idea what time it was when he awoke, but the sun was well on its way down to the horizon. He looked about and saw Luness in a bed across the room. She looked a little odd wrapped up like that, but he knew Levinia's healers, they would have done everything to absolute perfection. It was the standard the queen demanded.


Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a boot, its owner leaning against the wall just outside the infirmary.


Kallin stood there, arms crossed, battling with himself about going inside. He glared bad-temperedly at anyone who gave him a questioning look, but stayed where he was. He had arrived not long after Luness, and hadn't moved since.


@Lioness075


Ethan had become the center of much attention in the castle. Everywhere he went the castle staff would stop and stare in awe. Word traveled quickly about the mighty slayer of the jabberwocky, the hero from the old poem. He received honored bows from most and several coy looks from the young ladies of the queen's court.


The queen herself had retired once all of the heroes had been taken care of. After everything that had happened she would need much time to recover.


@Sleipnir


Leia had her arm seen to and a handful of other minor injuries, she then set out for the coast just by the castle in hope that the water and wind there would help replenish her spirits. Lee dove into the water with a happy mewl and Tad floated beside her, growing steadily in size as he navigated the breeze. Overall, this was a beautiful place. She tried to imagine what it would be like to live here.

 

[DawnAntalios]

Nyr sighed, thinking anough about the insane world made her head throb. It seemed the others needed to serious medical attention so she headed back to check on everyone. She did not need to go too far to notice the commotion everywhere, hearing about the newest gossip: that a human hero killed the mighty Jabberwocky single-handed and that the king was also brought to justice by an another heroic human. Everyone in the castle was fired up and that made her smile.


Making her way past the crowd she finally reached the infirmary where she saw most people inside, except for Kallin. He stood outside, observing the others so she did not want to disturb him too much either, but also did not wish to go inside. Thus, she found a spot not far from the dark mage and leaned against the wall, folding her arms as she looked at her companions.


" A strange, ragtag band of heroes. " she murmured with a smile " One can not ask for better allies. Or a better family even. "

 

[SilverFlight]

"Family?..." The word surprised him. He thought about how he would normally have come back with some sort of retort, but for some reason he didn't feel the need anymore.


"I guess..." He regarded her carefully through glowing eyes.


"I don't...remember anything before the curse. I can't tell you what having friends ever felt like to me, but...if its something like this, I guess its not so bad."

 

[DawnAntalios]

She shook her head, smiling slightly.


" Before I met them I was alone as well. " she said " Banished from my own kind by my own father. I had no one but the howling wind and the moon up in the sky. I know not if it was 'destiny' or blind luck was that brought us together... but I am glad. " she looked at him, inspecting the dark mage.


" You are curious. In a good way. " she said finally after inspecting him " I don't think I have seen anyone wield such magic since my mother... "


She fell silent. Shaking her head she smiled again and continued.


" You are very powerful and know a lot about magic. I am really glad that you are... our friend. " suggesting him to be a family member was a bit too soon perhaps, so friendship seemed to be an appropriate answer to the unspoken question of what he actually was for her.

 

[Bea Delaine]

Elena stuck through the process of Ward getting healed. After everything that happened, she didn't want to leave his side. She was too stubborn to just leave him alone despite some of the healers attempts to fix her up or get her to rest. She took to bandaging up her arm, after cleaning up the caked blood and allowing the to put something on it to decrease the swelling.


Afterwards, she curled up into a chair, waiting for Ward to wake up to ask him if he was feeling better... And apologize. Her blood loss and beatings got to her first when she fell asleep in the chair to sleep it off and replenish. She would wake up when Ward needed her, she decided.

 

[SilverFlight]

Kallin listened to her words silently, his eyes slitted ever so slightly in what was the only thing he could pass for a smile.


"'Curious' is one way to put it."


When she mentioned her mother he stopped leaning on the wall, his gaze falling to the red carpet under their feet.


"You know, if you want to talk...I'll listen. Since I guess we're...friends."


It was more than strange saying it. He had fought so hard to keep people away, part of him still believed he should, but Nyr had proven time and again her loyalty and kindness, not to mention her power, he found himself trusting her.


Ward heard someone stir and looked beside his bed to the chair Elena occupied. His heart fluttered at the sight of her. She had stayed by his side this whole time?


He reached over to move a strand of hair back from her face tenderly, marveling at her beauty as she slept.


((Did you come up with any songs for Elena @Bea Delaine ? ))

 

[Lioness075]

As some time had passed, the herbs and medicine used to keep Luness asleep during the healing process eventually wore off. Despite the pain still being present, which there couldn't be too much done about considering the intensity of her injuries that had been healed recently, Luness was well on her way to recovery.


Still, her mind swam in unconsciousness, but she could still hear voices around her coming from the busy infirmary and her friends, her one good ear twitching and flickering about.


Suddenly, her eyes shot wide open, filled entirely with panic while she began gasping for breath as if she were drowning. Absolute terror filled her, as the only thing she could remember happening last was the Jabberwocky crushing her body with its own immense body and the last thing she could see was the panicked look on Kallin's face, which had made her think that would be the last thing she ever saw.


The pain from all over her body hadn't registered right away and Luness immediately tried to sit up, but she hissed at the attempt, as sharp pain came from her back, her arms, everywhere and left her collapsing back into the bed. She couldn't even sit up this soon in the healing process and it only further terrified her. Where was she? What had happened?


Folding her ears against her head, the scarred and torn one looking a bit odd to be moving at all, Luness then narrowed her eyes at the ceiling, which was all she could see at the moment while in immense pain and laying back down. Letting out an almost inaudible whimper, Luness desperately tried to control her breathing, which was currently erratic.


@SilverFlight @DawnAntalios

 

[DawnAntalios]

Nyr smiled at the dark mage. He seemed to be a very nice guy despite what he wanted to make others believe and somehow, some way she felt that she might have found a kindred spirit. She adored and loved everyone in the group, but none of them seemed to have an answer to the secrets she hoped to unveil. The one closest to the topic was her sister, Achyls but even she only dabbled in dark magic which was a bit different.


Carefully, blushing a bit to ask something like this from Kallin she asked.


" Say... I know this might be an improper question but... " she gulped as she bowed her head and took a deep breath " Do you happen to know anything about... chaos magic? "


She felt ashamed to ask something like this from him but... he was the most powerful mage she had ever met... she had to ask it. It was then when she noticed the whimper and that Luness was awake. She smiled at her and tried to soothe the panicking werecat - this time not with hugs but only words.


" Luness! Glad you could make it. " she smiled at her " You are safe in the infirmary with us. Just rest easy, your wounds are great. "

 

[Lioness075]

Luness' panic attack was quiet now, despite her erratic breathing being the only audible sound to show that she was panicking at all. Her eyes erratically flickered back and forth while she stared at the ceiling. The sounds around her seemed to fade away, leaving herself feeling as if she were alone in some odd room with no one around that she knew. Her ears filled with a ringing noise, as if she had been just deafened by some loud noise.


Despite Nyr being close by and speaking up to Luness, Luness didn't even hear what she said or process that words were spoken. She just felt as if she were her mind filling with pure panic and her thoughts jumped everywhere as she recalled her final memory and the way she had closed her eyes at the last second and accepted her fate.


So much had happened leading up to this point and Luness had accepted her death, accepted the end of everything with open arms when it became inevitable. Was she dead now? Seriously, what was going on?


Luness' panicked thoughts then took a sharp turn, as she remembered Kallin's panicked face right before the Jabberwocky's body slammed into Luness and buried her alive. All she could think about was if he'd made it. Had her efforts been for naught?


@SilverFlight @DawnAntalios

 

[SilverFlight]

((Hold your horses I'm coming ))


Kallin looked at her seriously. "Chaos magic?" he echoed her. "Yeah, I would say I do. It powers my curse." He looked away, becoming more uncomfortable with the topic.


"As for details...I don't know how to summon it...or control it beyond the confines of what its done to me. It...consumes things. I'm not even sure you can control pure chaos magic..." His eyes suddenly narrowed as he stared at the floor, they grew slightly darker. "...at least, not for long."


A gasp from inside the infirmary made him turn around. He strode into the room after Nyr, a little worried at Luness reaction at returning to consciousness. He placed a gloved hand on her shoulder gently. "Hey, relax."


He still felt angry at what she had done, but now was not the time for it. He shoved the emotion back stubbornly.

 

[Lioness075]

Luness jerked to the side suddenly at someone's touch, the clouded panic that had filled her mind becoming disrupted. Blinking, she took in a shuddering, deep breath and then attempted to speak, opening her mouth, but only letting out a strangled gasp instead. It seemed that she wouldn't be speaking so soon in her recovery.


Narrowing her eyes at her inability to speak yet, Luness then gritted her teeth and shakily tried to raise up of her arms to communicate that way. Alas, her arm was in worse shape than her throat and it uselessly flopped back down onto the bed, resulting in Luness wincing at the pain.


Feeling panic at the edge of her mind, waiting to swarm her again and make her its captive, Luness slowly shifted her head on her pillow to see that Kallin was standing beside her with his hand on her shoulder. Confusion showed on her face at first, but she instantly felt an overwhelming sense of relief flooding her mind and it was visibly seen, as she finally stopped trying to move and instead let her whole body relax in place. At least, as relaxed as it could get with all of the pain resonating through it at once.


Still, she eyed his hand on her shoulder warily, not keen on it being there, but being in no condition to remove it herself. That, and she couldn't speak so all she could do was swallow her panic and force herself to remain calm in the moment. He was here to help her, not harm her. She was safe now, right?


Luness' efforts hadn't been for naught then, as Kallin appeared to have survived the ordeal. Though, Luness had absolutely no idea how she had either. The moment the beast had landed on her, Luness had heard cracks sounding from all of her body and before she could've even screamed, she'd blacked out from the immense pain.


The moment she'd blacked out, Luness had entered an odd dreamscape, that looked like her forest home, but the trees all seemed to have been made of ash, which steadily and slowly floated up into the sky above, as if someone were draining the very life essence out of everything around her.


In the midst of this forest though, Luness had found her dead parents and packmembers, all of whom had told Luness to wake up. It had seemed to be their biggest concern, until Bigby terrifyingly had roared at Luness in the end and then changed into the Jabberwocky. He had then charged at Luness and jumped before proceeding to crush her beneath him...hence the sheer terror when she'd first woken up.


@SilverFlight @DawnAntalios

 

[SilverFlight]

"You're safe," Kallin echoed her thoughts. He stood back and crossed his arms. "Seems like you're just that hard to kill huh? Not many could live through something like that."


He turned back to Nyr with a questioning look. "Why are you interested in chaos magic?" The question was a serious one. Her connection to the moon spirit was intriguing enough, he knew little about the abilities of dread ravens, but light magic he was pretty sure wasn't on their list, and yet, here was one who could wield it freely. Curious indeed.

 

[Bea Delaine]

(No... It's harder than I thought.)


Elena awoke to a strange combination of a warm touch and hearing a yowl of pain and whimpers. She scrunched her eyes in pain from an onslaught of headache, then slowly in curled to see Ward being the one to wake her up so pleasantly. That meant Luness must have also awoken. The poor werecat maintained serious injury.


She gave ward a tired smile and stretched out, carefully as to not open cuts or send stars in her vision, then she very gently and mindfully hugged Ward.


"You scared me half to death.. And I practically killed an army for you, so how are you feeling?"

 

[DawnAntalios]

Nyr folded her arms together as she saw Kallin soothing the werecat with his comforting touch. She raised an eyebrow, seeing that Luness tolerated him more than anyone else - which made her curious and a bit jealous too.


" So you let HIM to touch you yet you bite me face off when I do. " she laughed jokingly, smiling at her " I am glad that you are all right. You have made us worried. "


She then looked at Kallin. Deep down she had hoped that he would say no that he does not know about anything and that would have been the end of the discussion. But even though it was not comforting for him to talk about the topic he did know something about it - and that lit up a small glimmer of hope in her heart. Maybe she would be able to...?


No, the time was not right, she did not want to pry anything from him against his will... especially if it conflicted with his curse.


" I... " she said as she looked at Luness. She knew how she detested magic so she was unsure about revealing the topic " I would discuss something like that in a less public place. Let's just say for now that... I am not completely a stranger to magic untamed as that. "

 

[Lioness075]

Luness listened to what Kallin said, but wasn't exactly in any position to have a reply for him. Hearing his last statement, Luness looked away from him, returning to her position of staring at the ceiling since she was in no position to maneuver herself into a sitting position with her pillow behind her head and upper back.


Thinking about what Kallin just said, Luness felt her heart skip a beat. Why couldn't that have been it? Luness had accepted her fate and had felt so relieved at the time, but now...now she felt the old panic and pain returning to the dark crevices of her mind, awaiting to make its presence once more. She thought she'd escaped it all with her heroic death, but here she was. Breathing and slowly but surely coming back to life.


@SilverFlight


Hearing Nyr, Luness' thoughts were interrupted and she slowly shifted her gaze to Nyr, who was standing not far from Kallin.


Attempting to smirk at Nyr after hearing what she said, Luness ended up grimacing more than anything. If she could speak, she would've told Nyr that she didn't really have much of a choice considering she couldn't push his hand off of her or push him away from her to give herself more distance...or speak up about it.


Still...she had oddly felt relieved when after she'd gotten over the initial shock of Kallin touching her. She wasn't used to such feelings from being touched like that. After all, Alta had been the first person for Luness to allow to touch her beyond the means of letting someone help her when she was physically injured.


Yet, upon hearing Kallin's mentioning of chaos magic, Luness' good ear perked up and straight towards the pair while Luness let out a low growl. Her growl was quickly silenced by a small cough from Luness, but still.


She couldn't imagine anything good coming from a magic named like that, and she wasn't keen to hear one of her companions being so interested in it.


Feeling flashbacks threatening her, Luness was rather relieved when Nyr mentioned discussing it elsewhere. Despite Luness not wanting them to discuss it at all, she definitely didn't want them discussing it in front of her.


Luness returned to staring at the ceiling, as she assumed that the pair would probably wander off now to discuss this 'chaos' magic. Whatever it was.


After all, it wasn't like Luness was going anywhere. Still, imagining the two walking away from her, more so Kallin since she'd risked her life for him, made the dark panic inside of her creep nearer to her consciousness, making Luness let out an almost inaudible whimper again.


@DawnAntalios

 

[SilverFlight]

((Isn't it though?))


The gryphon hugged her too, burying his face into her shoulder and holding her as if he was scared to lose her. "I'm so sorry I worried you." He drew back to look at her, blinking in surprise. "An army?" And he did not doubt for a second that it was true.


"I'm feeling better, much better. These healers can knit bones so well you'd never know they were broken....as for emotionally, it was hard...watching someone I knew..become what he did."


An image of the torture flashed into his mind and he shook his head to clear it.


"But Levinia is safe, and not evil...and you are here. So I am fine." He shifted to sit up, finding it still a bit painful to move.


"And you? I don't doubt that there is still some injury you have not let the healers treat, am I right?"


Kallin shifted uneasily at Nyr's teasing. Was he really that much more tolerated by the werecat? In the end he chocked it down to her not being able to move. That must be it.


When she growled Kallin took an involuntary step back, but what Nyr said intrigued him.


"Fine, be cryptic, but this conversation isn't over."


He looked back at Luness, "Well, you probably need you rest." He turned to go but heard her tiny whimper. Looking back at her started another battle with himself. Part of him felt he should stay, that she didn't want him to go, but the other part reminded him just why he couldn't do that.


Don't get attached fool, or it will be worse for everyone.


The mage's eyes fell to his cloak, folded neatly on the chair beside her bed. Kallin left it where it was and walked away, clutching the brim of his hat in one gloved hand.


((I've got to clock out for a bit.))

 

[zCrookedz]

Once the soldier had gotten Leo to the infirmary, He waited for him before he quietly stood up. While most of the others where still recovering from the battle, Leo new it was his only chance he might have to slip away. A great sized beast such as himself, it was hard to move stealthily in such large numbers. But he managed to slip into the castle without arising suspicions. He was unsure of where he was going but he knew the general direction and began to head for the large hedge maze outside. After a while of searching he finally found the maze and began to wind himself through its twists and turns. He thought he had felt something in the maze before, if only just a glimmer of life. Finally he came to an opening in the maze and a small back well maintained garden. Leo smiled and made his way to one side of the garden planting himself against the hedge to prop his back against. He closed his eye, but did not begin his commune with the plants. He merely sat, listening wind rustle the trees and the strange noises from the strange animals of this land.


Hatter had made his way into the infirmary with the others, but was no where near in the state of some of the others. When a healer approached him with a bit of hesitation he merely gave her a sideways comment that made her huff away in a furry. With a large smile he poked his head around until he found the griffon and the human girl. He bowed to them both, grabbing the brim of his hat and removing it from his head to reveal a teapot and the little mouse inside bowing as well. "You have surrounded yourself with so many powerful allies my old friend. I will leave you in there very capable hands." He spun around on the spot and headed for the door with a smile, singing a little tune as he left them "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little bat; How I wonder where your at;......"

 

[Sleipnir]

Ethan had, at first, been extremely taken aback by the sudden attention - he had still been in enough shock that it took him a little while to realize just how important what he did was to these people and he wondered to himself how much damage it had caused. He slowly began to realize the immensity of his actions to these people -- they thought they had written poems about him! -- and he began to get used to the attention. The blond boy finally got his hand and shoulder tended to, content that his friends were all out of the woods so to speak, and was disappointed that some infection had already set into the hand, though it would only be enough to be painfully irritant and not cause him to lose it. Aside from that, his wrenched shoulder was his worst injury, which was both extraordinarily surprising and relieving.


He actually retold his story of killing the Jabberwocky once or twice to those who weren't in attendance -- adding a slightly more dramatic flourish depending on how many pretty young women were listening -- and once more was able to remember what it was he loved so much about Wonderland. Everything. Well, minus the ever-disappointing King of Hearts. After awhile, he managed to stop someone and, remembering how god-awful his clothes had become in battle and being certain he couldn't possibly be comfortable til he got some clean, fresh clothing, he asked, "...You don't happen to have some spare clothing anywhere in this wonderful castle I could take on?"

 

[Flutterby]

Quincy gave him a smile. “It's not so far. Walking would probably be fine, you should rest your wings." She said, a worried expression flitting over her features. He had taken several beatings recently, and even though he had been healed in between, it concerned her. Glancing around, she noticed that everyone seemed content to stay here, at least for now. “But must we wait until night?" The kelpie smile sheepishly, revealing her impatience.

 

[andujarprime]

Malachai raised a brow at Ashley "A girl? That is wondrous indeed. Surely she will be as beautiful and strong as her mother." He said as he looked down once more. He took his leave and went to get patched up. Nothing too serious, just a lot of bruising from the jabberwocky fight. He looked over to Alex, hoping that he hadn't heard the whole dragoon bit. He wanted that to be secret he knew that other dragons treated dragoons differently, honorably, like they were special. He just wanted to be normal. Granted it was just hearsay to him, he hadn't come in contact with many other dragons since his escape. And those he did meet didn't know he was dragoon. After getting patched up he spent the rest of the time in close proximity to Ashley, trying to stay back to let her breath but it was hard from someone as big as him. He seemed to bump into everything around her. He finally gave up and sat on the bed he got bandaged on and went into a meditative state, his mind finding Ashley's presence. It wasn't hard to do, it was different from the others. Different mainly in that it had another presence glued to it, the child. He smiled to himself, happy to see the blessed mother safe.

 

[Lioness075]

Hearing Kallin saying that Luness probably needed rest, caused Luness to widen her eyes immediately. The mere thought of going to sleep and revisiting that ashy forest that haunted her dreams whenever she slept...it brought that panic from the back of her mind to the very front and made her heart shoot into overdrive.


Looking over at Kallin, Luness saw the look on his face and instantly recognized it as a face she often showed as well. He was clearly fighting with himself on the inside, but Luness could only guess what he was fighting with himself over.


Seeing Kallin's eyes moving from herself to this cloak on the chair near her bed, Luness looked at it as well. She wondered if Kallin was going to take it back now, but when she looked at him again, his back was to her and his hand on the brim of his hat, as he was walking away.


Luness creased her brows, changing her facial expression into a worried one, as she was unable to get up and stop Kallin from leaving or shout after him.


Feeling resigned to the fact that she could do nothing to stop Kallin or bring him back to her side, Luness looked back at the ceiling and slowly closed her eyes, though she had no intention of falling asleep. Instead, she slowly reopened her eyes and then surprised herself when she felt tears beginning to form in her eyes. As the dark thoughts in the back of her mind rushed forward to greet her with harsh reprimands, Luness soon forgot that Nyr was still present.


Why did everyone always leave her in the end? Her mother, her father, the two packmembers...It seemed that whoever got close to Luness was hurt in some form or fashion. Falarion had lost his foot despite all of Luness' efforts to keep her packmembers safe. Was it really worth it to try and get close to anyone else? It'd just happen all over again. Someone would get close to Luness and then they'd end up losing a limb or worse, dying. After all, it seemed that dying was more common with Luness than anything else. Every time someone else died around her, all she could think was why she hadn't tried harder to save them. Why she had failed to help them in the end. It seemed no matter how hard Luness tried, she always would fail in the end.


@SilverFlight @DawnAntalios

 

[DawnAntalios]

Nyr nodded as she watched the mage going away. She was happy that he did not turn her down immediately, but she was worried. She did not want to wake dark memories in Kallin if she could help it but this might be the only chance to rediscover what was robbed from her so long ago. She then turned to Luness once more, seeing tears of sorrow pouring from her eyes. Even without words this made her heart shiver and she knelt down near her so that their eyes could meet.


" You know Luness you are the strangest companion I could have imagined. " she said in whisper, smiling at her " Even though we have been through so much together I still feel that you want to keep your distance from us... from me. " she sighed but her smile did not vanish " But you know what? It matters not: I respect your wishes because you are more than a friend to me. You are a member of this family and I could not bear losing you. "


She bowed her head.


" For all those we have lost... we must do our best. They have sworn to protect us and they gave their lives to do so. " she looked upon Luness once more " It would be dishonorable if we did not give our best for them. "


She moved her hand towards her but she did not put it on her own - she put it right next to it so she would know she is by her side.


" Bigby would be proud of you. Just as we are. " she smiled happily.