A Decade Like This
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 118129
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Lila blinked down at him, stunned, but Ginnie caught her up in her arms, laughing as she easily spun the much smaller woman around in circles. Lila was even more disoriented as she placed her on her feet, but caught her words: "Lila, Lila, you've done it! Without saying a single word! This changes everything for you!" And, in a flash, Lila found the two of them standing in Ginnie's tower, in one of her workshops, Sir Will still fast asleep at their feet. At once Ginnie bent over and began to haul him across the room, into a small cot. Lila trailed after, and pointed at Will, raising her eyebrows meaningfully to Ginnie, wanting to ask what she intended to do with him. Ginnie clearly didn't understand her meaning, only laughing again and saying, "Yes, yes, he's perfect! Better than perfect! Oh, you brilliant old hag, you!" Lila, frustrated and dismayed, turned her gaze down to Will again. "Oh, you really, really came through. I should never have doubted you." Ginnie sighed, beginning to calm down. "Oh, we can't be doing this too often, but you know, capturing a knight, and so quickly? I'd say you've more than earned some regular time as a human. Even a few years on the ol' lifespan! That'll take a bit of brewing, but don't you worry, I can do it soon enough." She once again hugged Lila close, though Lila was still too dazed to hug back. Releasing her, Ginnie said, "All right then, out with you! Into the common area. Enjoy your next few hours of humanity! I'll see you... well, when I see you." Lila, having little choice, left, and Ginnie shut the door behind her. Lila spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in something of a daze, and not a pleasant one. She hated not having a voice. Not being able to ask questions. But... in a strange way, having been able to do something, at least, felt... good. And that felt not so good. Thinking was becoming harder and harder, it seemed... Some time after dusk, she felt the pre-transformation tingles coming on, and was very close to the garden before she was a toad yet again. She crawled the rest of the way there and fell asleep shortly. The following day she saw Ginnie only once, when she arrived in the evening to tend to the plants. Ginnie did see her, and smiled, saying only, "Tomorrow, Lila! Big day tomorrow!" And indeed she woke up in the morning in Ginnie's hands already, being carried somewhere. Ginnie was singing her relaxing song, and Lila was peaceful and entirely thoughtless as Ginnie brought her to one of her potions rooms, placed her on the floor, and grew her into her human form. She placed a robe around Lila's shoulders and tied the sash around her waist for her, and held a vial up to her lips. She was no longer singing at this point, but Lila accepted the brew readily, drinking deeply until not a drop was left. And she changed. Why she shed something like six or eight years, her hair growing fuller, her muscles spryer. In the end she appeared in her early sixties, and though she wasn't thinking anything at the moment, she was feeling better than she had in a very long time. And when Lila's mind returned to her, very gradually, she tested her rejuvenated body in wonder—her range of motion, her eyesight, everything. She ran to Ginnie, and this time she did throw her arms around her in tearful gratitude. Sir Will still scratched at the back of her mind, but she knew now: it was worth it. If she could feel like this all the time, she'd gladly lure in as many more Sir Wills as Ginnie asked her to. And thus it was. Suddenly, Lila was spending upwards of two-thirds of her time as a human, and she nearly wept in joy every time she returned to that form. She felt like she was, at last, beginning to form meaningful friendships with some of Ginnie's other helpers. At one point, Ginnie began speaking to her with the following words: "Oh, Lila dear, I thought you might want to know what I ended up doing with that knight you brought in! He—" and at once Lila was covering her ears and shaking her head earnestly. Ginnie took the hint. And Lila went on having no idea what had become of the young man. Months passed before Ginnie asked anything else of her. Lila was beginning to genuinely like her life here—maybe even love it. She had friends. She had peace. What more did she need, when her mind seemed to grow duller and duller with every passing day? There was no hope of returning to her quest. Not ever. But this life was so far superior to whatever she'd had outside of Wenda's hut that she often found herself crying with no warning at all. But, understandably, Ginnie eventually did want her services again. "Lila, dear," she told her beforehand, "I'm sorry, but I must be up front with you: if you're to continue the doddering old woman routine, I can't be making you any younger. You understand, of course. I'll continue to lengthen your lifespan, if that's what you wish—you'll stay this same age for years, decades, as long as this arrangement lasts—but you can't get any younger. You understand." Lila did, just barely. She was disappointed to hear it, but all the same, she knew she could continue to enjoy life just the way it was, so it didn't seem there was much to complain about. This time it wasn't a knight she lured back, but it was a strapping young man, perhaps not even twenty years old, who had simply been looking to help an older woman who seemed lost. She continued to spend most of her time as a human. At a certain point, it became a bit difficult to listen to other people, as her focus continued to wane, and other people in turn stopped trying as hard to engage with her, especially considering she couldn't contribute much to conversations. She was still happy just to be around people like her, and at least was able to save her concentration to spend on Ginnie. A few years passed. The toad population in the garden continued to grow. She spent a lot of time around Tandrus, who seemed to enjoy her company in both human and toad form. Lila never aged, always appearing as a beautiful, graceful woman in her early sixties. She was sent to various different roadsides, bringing in somewhere around a dozen lonely travelers who never suspected a thing. Her moral dilemma lessened with each victim until she didn't think of it at all. Thus passed ten quiet years. And at one point during the eleventh,
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