"Yeah, but at least I'm not going to get my skin turned into bark again..." Frederick countered. "Speaking of which, we should really be going to get that fixed..."
At this point, Aliana finally entered the hospital... where she discovered that Kyle was upset again, and being comforted by Cheryl. "What's the matter now
???"
“He’s upset...he thinks you don’t like him...thinks you decided he’s not worth the time...” Cheryl said.
“And how do you think we’re going to fix it?” One of the guards said.
"He
is worth my time," Aliana clarified, "but
only if he's willing to put effort into his own life. I understand it's difficult for him, and I'm happy to help him if he wants me to. But what I
can't do is just do everything
for him... if he wants to be useful, then he has to actually
make himself useful. And if he's not willing to do that himself, then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do... like I said, I'm happy to help, but I can't help someone who's not willing to
be helped."
"How about the Academia Magesteria?" one of the other soldiers suggested. "They have a small hospital which reverses curses... they should be able to put Frederick back to normal
."
“Probably. I guess we should head that way...” another soldier said. “You’re really a pain in the butt...”
”I am trying!” Kyle cried. “...but someday...you’re realize I’m not worth the effort...like you do now...”
"Well, if you really want, I'll just go home once I'm better," Frederick offered, looking a little miffed. "And you guys can just go on to New Atlantis without me."
"I don't!" Aliana countered. "I'm offering my help to you now. And it's up to you whether you accept it or not..."
“Doesn’t matter either way. We need a plan anyway to get Kyle.” One of the soldiers said.
”I...I know that....but why? I’m no good...that’s why dad doesn’t like me anymore...you will too...” Kyle said sniffling.
Frederick grinned, as he came up with another sneaky scheme.
"Here's a thought... how about we make it look like he's been causing trouble
? He's known to be a troublemaker anyway, so they're bound to believe us over him. Then, after a few days of this, they'll decide they don't want him any more, and they'll hand him over to us. Does that sound good?"
"Oh, knock it off Kyle
!" Aliana grumbled in frustration. "I offer to help you, and instead of accepting, you just respond by fishing for compliments. I want to help, but not if you're going to be like this... like I said before,
if you insult yourself, then you insult me. Anyway, since you clearly don't value me and you don't want my help, I'm going now. See you later."
Without even looking at Kyle, Aliana rushed out of the hospital, to head back to her own room and start on her work.
"I'm not fishing for compliments!" Kyle cried out before he started to cry.
"Its okay, Kyle..." Cheryl said softly patting his head.
"I suppose that could work." one of the soldiers said shrugging.
That evening, Aliana had finished reading her chapters of business textbook Gold and Greengrocers. She was finally beginning to get a grasp of basic economic theory: all those numbers flying around were still confusing her a bit, but she was pleased with the progress she was making.
Since she didn't have anything else to do, she decided to visit Kyle, and see how he was getting on.
"Good evening..."
Poor Kyle was laying just staring at the ceiling. He was quiet a moment before finally speaking. “...I wasn’t fishing for compliments....”