Chapter 48
The days flew by without further incident. Orion and Tanya recovered from the poison within weeks. Rick came back to Olhoe after Orion had recovered, astonished to hear that his brother had been poisoned, and that he had been accused of doing the poisoning. Rick had admitted to adding the majacka leaves to Orion’s tea, but he had no idea that they were so dangerous. He said that someone had given him the leaves and told him that they would taste as nice as they smelled. He had apologized all over himself whenever he seen his mother or his brothers, trying to reassure them that he wasn’t the one they were after. He did his best to stay away from King Frederic. True to his word, King Frederic made sure that Rick never made that mistake again, and had guards follow Rick everywhere. Rick was no longer allowed to see either of his brothers without bodyguards. Alex stayed with Orion every moment, much to Orion’s displeasure. Because of that, Alex learned about Orion’s levitation lessons, and swore secrecy.
The harvest festival came and went. Orion, being stuck in a wheel chair and being embarrassed by it, hadn’t gone at all. King Frederic offered to give Orion and Tanya a ride in the carriage, but Orion refused, giving the excuse of feeling ill. As the days began to cool off in the evening, Orion and Tanya would take strolls in the courtyard, followed by Alex. One day, Orion heard cheering and whooping when he and Tanya entered the gardens. Rounding a bend, he saw his friends, Chris, Jose, Shane, Teddy, and Kevin, along with his brother, Joshua, playing a game of three on three tawttuwy ball. Tanya watched in amazement. She had never seen a game of tawttuwy ball, although she had heard people talk about it. Orion, on the other hand, watched with envy. Orion wished he could get up out of his chair and play with them. He’d show Tanya what an amazing tawttuwy ball player he was. He sighed, depression sinking in.
“That looks like fun,” Tanya commented, “How do you play? Are you supposed to get the ball through that swinging hoop?” Orion proceeded to tell her all about tawttuwy ball.
“I just wish I could play, too,” he sighed.
“Hey, buddy,” Alex said, noticing Orion’s mood change, “what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Orion said, gloomily, “I just wish I could play with you guys like before.”
“Yea, that’s too bad,” Alex looked down, “but maybe someday you’ll conquer your paralysis, just like you conquered your pyrophobia. What do you think?”
“I don’t know, Alex,” Tanya spoke up, “A phobia is a condition of the mind. Paralysis is a condition of the body. The two conditions are very different, and must be handled differently.”
“I suppose you’re right, Tanya,” Alex admitted, not wanting to give Orion’s secret levitation lessons away. “So, Orion, you think you’ll conquer paralysis someday like you conquered pyrophobia?” Alex looked up hopefully, “I really enjoyed flying together with you, except for that time you hid from me in the woods.” Orion smiled. He remembered ducking into the trees to hide from Alex and ended up finding Nunu.
“Hi, Orion!” Shane called. Orion looked up. The boys had just finished their game and were coming over to meet him. Orion greeted his friends.
“So who won?” Orion asked.
“The blue team,” Shane said, sighing as he took off his red gloves. Jose laughed and clapped Shane on the back.
“Maybe next time, you won’t give us so many points, amigo,” Jose said, chuckling. Spying Orion he continued, “Shane kept getting the ball and scored about five points, but four of those points were for the blue team!” Orion explained to Tanya that no matter who put the ball through the hoop, the team that got the point was the same color as the side of the hoop with that color. If a red team member got the ball through the hoop on the blue side, the blue team got the point. Tanya didn’t really understand it too well. All of the boys launched into an explanation of the game, which just made Tanya even more confused.
“I’ll tell you what, boys,” she said, although she was years younger than they were, “You go ahead and play. I’ll sit on the sidelines with Orion and watch, okay?” Orion couldn’t hide his disappointment when six of the young men ran back to play ball, while Orion was forced to watch, and not play, his favorite game with his friends. Joshua decided to sit this game out and let Alex play instead.
“How about we go inside and play cards?” Joshua asked, noticing Orion’s mood. “I’ve had enough of this game for today. It’s too fast paced for me,” he lied. Joshua loved the game as much as Orion did, but he tried to hide it to support his brother. Orion nodded his agreement. “Hey, Alex!” Joshua called, “Orion, Tanya and I are going in to play cards.”
“Alright,” Alex said, disappointed that he had to cut his game short, “I’m coming.”