When Mr. Hooper entered the room at the change of class, he was almost as startled by Danica's appearance as the children had been. He'd been informed that she would be joining the class, but he'd not yet seen her. Consuela and Stavros were scheduled to present their project first, and, due to being distracted, Mr. Hooper didn't appear to notice that they'd not quite completed it as instructed...or so they thought.

Once they'd finished, Mr. Hooper raised an eyebrow and said, "Interesting. We'll discuss the ramifications of your conclusions at another time. For now though...."

He turned to the class and continued, "We'll proceed with the presentations. Next please."

From there on, the day progressed as usual. When lunchtime arrived, Consuela approached and introduced herself, "I'm Consuela, Stavros' sister. Please call me 'Suela."

Danica looked up at 'Suela then to Stavros, then back again. "Indeed. I see the resemblance. I'm pleased to meet you."

Stavros stood and turned to Danica, "It's time for lunch. If you'll come with us to the dining area?"

"Of course." Danica stood as well. "I'm interested to see what kinds of foods you have here. Please, lead the way Stavros. I shall follow."

"She talks sorta formal-like, doesn't she 'Suela?"

"Yeah, but she barely knows you, and she doesn't know me at all, yet. She's probably just using her 'be polite to strangers' speech. Besides, there's no way she could have learned our particular dialect yet. She probably only knows standard Italian."

"OK. That makes sense. Anyway, it's WAY to early for us to pigeon-hole her."

'Suela shrugged apologetically even though she was now behind Danica. "Yeah, guess it's sorta arrogant to decide what someone's like only a couple minutes after you meet them."

"Agreed. Let's see what happens. Besides, I'm more interested in lunch than sorting out her personality."

Once they arrived, the four friends that the twins usually ate with plopped down and introduced themselves, after which everyone concentrated on eating. No one said anything, as they'd decided that they'd first see if being around so many people of itself would make Danica uncomfortable.

Everyone watched as Danica quickly, but neatly, devoured everything before her. Once she finished she looked up toward the ceiling, stretched her arms above her head, and exclaimed, "Oh, that was lovely! I don't think I've had so much to eat in a single day in nearly a year!"

All who had heard her looked at each other with the same question in their eyes. "Did she say she hadn't had this much to eat in a whole day?"

As she lowered her arms, Danica lost her balance and Stavros quickly grabbed her upper arm to keep her from falling backwards.

Momentarily she seemed to be stunned, then she turned her head and glared at him. "A boy shouldn't touch a girl so casually when he barely knows her.

"But I'll forgive you...just this once...since you seemed to be worried for me. For that, I thank you." Then she smiled and all was well.

Conversations then began all around the room, and soon the dining area sounded much as it usually did during lunch. As the sounds enveloped her, and when nobody was looking at her, Danica took her left hand and gently brushed a finger across the area where Stavros had touched her. Then she brought her finger to her lips as if she were flicking away a crumb. While so doing, she tasted what was on her finger.

Had anyone been looking directly at her, her twitch of surprise would have been mistaken as her just shifting position on the bench...she hoped. Could it be? So soon? Within only two days of arriving?

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

While it was true that the Wise One in Soba had told the family that their destiny lay in this strangely named city, such things usually meant something like "some unforeseeable time in the future."

She shook herself. There was nothing that needed to be done immediately even if it were true. They were both still children after all. There was plenty of time for...

"Danica. Danica! What's wrong. Are you all right?"

She found herself leaning heavily against Stavros, who had an arm around her shoulders, supporting her, while Consuela was peering at her face from barely 30 centimeters away.

She struggled to sit upright, but found herself unable to do so. "Ah, uh...I think so, maybe? How strange. It seems that I can't get up."

"Stav, you carry her to the nurse." Consuela turned to the room in general and shouted, "Everyone else, out of the way!"

Stavros appeared to struggle with her weight, but Danica noticed that the arms around her were holding her firmly. The next thing she knew, she was being laid on a bed, and a woman was looking her over.

"I'm Mrs. Chandler dear. I'm the school nurse. Tell me, how are you feeling."

Danica murmured, "Tired. Otherwise fine. It must be that I'm a bit worn from the trip. Soba is a very long way away, and we were traveling for nearly three years."

Mrs. Chandler nodded and began her evaluation. She didn't see anything in particular that was wrong, other than that Danica was much too thin. Her heart and lungs sounded fine, and her pulses and color were OK as well. However, she did have a fever.

"I see. Well, the best thing for you right now is probably getting some rest at home. Is there someone we can contact who can come get you?"

"Sorry, no. I mean, yes there is, but I don't know where they are. I don't even know where our home is yet. My aunt brought me here this morning, and I was too busy looking around to notice how we got here. She is planning to come get me after school."

"Oh dear. That's not good. We're supposed to send children with fevers home straight away so the illness can't spread to the others."

Consuela spoke up, "I have a suggestion Mrs. Chandler. Stav and I can take her to our house. Our mother is a friend of Dr. Kaho Fukui. I'm sure she'll be able to find time to examine Danica before the day is out."

She looked inquiringly at Mrs. Chandler. "That is, if you will permit us to leave school."

Mrs. Chandler thought for a moment then slowly nodded. "Yes... I've heard good things about Dr. Fukui. It would be safest for the rest of the students that way. Also you two could get in a good soak afterwards. That should keep you from catching whatever it is she has.

"Yes, OK. I'll allow it." Turning to Danica she asked, "Does that sound all right to you dear? All of the staff know where the Donetti children live and can direct your aunt to their home once she arrives."

Danica nodded. Things were moving much too fast for her to follow anything more than the general outline, but it sounded workable...assuming she was able to walk.

She pushed herself up and sat on the side of the bed. Good. Not dizzy, and it hadn't been all that hard to sit up. OK. Now to see about standing up.

Hmm.... Standing was OK, but she was more than a bit wobbly. Before she could object, Stavros was next to her with his arm around her waist. He grinned up at her. "Looks like you'll have to do some more forgiving after we get you home, cause it looks like you're gonna fall on your face if you try to get there without help."

She tapped him on the face with her palm, just enough to sting a little. "Cheeky boy. You should be more respectful of your elders. However, I suppose that, just this once, I'll allow it. Falling on my face in public would be exceedingly embarrassing."

'Suela smirked at them then turned and lead the way to their home. The others followed, with Stavros supporting nearly half of Danica's weight.

As usual, Mimi opened the door just before 'Suela reached out to do so herself. Mimi smiled at them and said jokingly, "Well, well, what have we here? Has our Stavros finally found himself a girlfriend? And why are you here so early?"

Then she noticed the concerned expressions on the twins' faces, and how much weight Danica was putting on Stavros, whereupon she muttered, "First Mario and now this child. What are we, a hospital?"

Upon hearing Mimi's voice, Danica, who had been barely awake and looking mostly at the ground the past 100 meters or so, jerked her head up. Whatever was this person talking about?

Mimi caught her eye and, when the others were looking elsewhere for a moment, she winked at Danica, after which she said, "Well, don't just stand there. If we leave the door open a bug might fly in."

Once inside she lead the way to the large bathing room. As 'Suela made to take over from Stavros in supporting Danica, Mimi intervened. "No. Stavros will help her. You go get Kaho."

She looked intently at Danica for several seconds then added, "And the twins. We're going to need both of them this time. Since they're graduating next month, they don't have class on Friday afternoons, so they'll be at home."

Then she murmured, "But not Jason. That would be a bit too much for her to deal with."

Looking at Consuela's astonished face she asked, "Why are you still here? Get going!"

She got.