It didn't work
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 118095
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What Ginnie did not know but I will remind you of now is that Lila's voice had not been lost naturally, or simply never existed at all, as Ginnie had assumed, but instead had been taken intentionally by the spell of an extraordinarily powerful wizard [104461]. Her potion had not taken this into account, but even if it had, it would take a brewer with skills and knowledge nearly to match his in order to overcome his enchantment. She deflated, and so did poor Lila. "Oh... Oh dear. Don't fret, Lila, perhaps it will work if we give it more time? Please, roam the tower at your leisure. Attempt speech every so often. We'll talk about it later, all right?" Lila nodded, trying to find some hope, and began wandering around Ginnie's home. Much of the space was taken up by reading materials, but it was true that Lila had little interest in such things; Fred had not been too much of a reader (couldn't be, really; he wasn't exactly carting around packs full of books during his questing life), and her literacy had atrophied completely in her time as a toad. Occasionally she glanced at a few books, but quickly lost interest after painstakingly putting together a sentence or two. No, she'd much rather look at Ginnie's extensive collections of herbs and magic items and bric-a-brac from, it seemed, half the kingdoms in the world. She stopped to greet a few other helpers she encountered and hear what they'd been up to for the last six months, which took up plenty of time as well. Some hours passed, and Lila was desperately opening her mouth to try to speak every few minutes, but never yielded any results. At last, when she felt the odd tingling signaling her return to toadhood looming not far off, she went to find Ginnie, and simply shake her head sadly. "Oh, Lila, I can't tell you how sorry I am," Ginnie said, taking the older woman into her arms. Lila suddenly buckled, and began weeping silently into Ginnie's shoulder as the witch rubbed her back comfortingly in small circles. "It should've worked. I can't work out what went wrong." As Lila cried, she abruptly felt herself changing, and the world around her grew so much bigger. Ginnie deftly transitioned from hugging her to holding her in her hands, and Lila found the tears stopping, though the overwhelming sadness and disappointment didn't. As a toad, she could feel, but she had never been able to express those feelings in particularly meaningful ways. Ginnie went to the nearest armchair and sat down, holding Lila in one palm. "Well, I suppose we must start thinking about the future once again. If that elixir didn't work, I'm afraid I can't think what will. Everyone else around here is pulling their weight, but I'm still at a loss for how you could do that. I've grown rather fond of you, so I might simply let you live as a toad in my garden; that would demand precious little extra effort on my part. I might even spare the energy to let you be human for a little while on very special occasions. Or I could send you off to be examined by a mage more powerful than I, and see if that can't get you a voice. I don't like asking for help though, and if I'm to owe a favor to someone else, you would owe me even more than you already do. Especially if it doesn't work. And if it doesn't work, there's not too much else you can give me." Chewing the inside of her cheek, she stared thoughtfully down at Lila, who was listening anxiously. At length Ginnie sighed, and began to sing a soft little song. Lila's brain abruptly transitioned to that of a simple toad, registering only a vague tingle of enjoyment as she listened to the tune. Ginnie covered her up with her other hand as she rose, and Lila sat, completely at ease, as she was carried through the tower. She didn't recognize that they were in the garden until Ginnie uncovered her and let her down at the edge of one of the ponds. She left still singing, and Lila's thinking didn't clear up again until quite some time later, at which point she found herself terribly sleepy anyway. It wasn't until evening the next day that Ginnie returned. Lila had spent the day watching her tadpoles darting around the small pond, and looked up in anticipation when Ginnie walked in. She appeared to go unnoticed at first, as Ginnie only stood still, scanning the garden, so Lila hopped out onto the stone path. "There you are," said Ginnie, smiling, and approached Lila. Arranging her skirt daintily, she took a seat on the path in front of the little toad, and said, "My dear Lila, I've given it a great deal of thought...
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Toad
5/11/2021 10:48:02 PM
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