Fairytale?

Chapter 23- Existence of Extradition

If thus her mind to be defined
America exhausts,
And all that's grand in that great land
In similes it costs -
-

Edmund was pleased with himself for the first time in many moons.
Moons.
Moonshine.

He was already getting off track. Even five thousand kilometres away, Sanya could distract him so, so well.

Gosh, he needed to have his head examined.

But coming to what he had been speaking about- being pleased.
He was pleased with himself because he'd finally earned enough money to fix that old bicycle he had found in the Scrubb house a couple of weeks ago- it seemed it had been unused since Uncle Harold himself had been his age. Despite that, it had been in roughly good shape, except for certain tweaks and adjustments.
Edmund had asked Aunt Alberta if it was possible to get it fixed- and she had seemed deeply surprised that a bicycle existed in their house at all.

As such, he had decided to fix it himself.

But he was no mechanic, as was made clear when he accidentally took out the wheel- which meant the next step was to find the money to get it fixed.

It was a good thing he had already taken up the paper route in this neighbourhood. He'd taken it up because- because he needed money to call America.
It was costly and near-impossible to call overseas- but he couldn't go months without hearing Sanya's voice. He'd find a way. Even if it was only a 'hello?'- since she would surely hang up after realising it was him- it would be enough.

"Lucy- Lu!" Edmund called as he climbed up the stairs two at a time, to his sister's temporary bedroom.
The bicycle would help their commute to and fro the marketplace, reducing their exertion by quite a bit. It even had a basket!

However, as he heard a feeble "Come in!" and he walked inside, he realised his sister did not share his good mood.
Which was quite a rarity, since Lucy was practically synonymous with good moods.

"Oh, Ed." Lucy groaned from where she was lying on the bed, huddled under blankets and her teddy bear clutched to her chest. She looked very pale. "What's up?"

Edmund was horrified, "What's wrong with you!?"
That wasn't the most diplomatic manner of asking- but he was quite shocked.
Lucy hadn't been sick in- honestly, he couldn't remember the last time. Probably when she had been a much younger child, a decade or so ago?

"I look ghastly, I know. It's cramps." She said tiredly. Her stomach and bones hurt, and she wanted desperately to have just one sip of her cordial.
The only comfort she had was the teddy and the painting of a ship that hung on the wall opposite her bed- it somehow made her feel warm.
"And I think I have a slight fever-"

Quickly, her brother went to her and laid his palm on her forehead.
"Oh, it is a bit warm." He winced, feeling the feverishly warm skin. More than just a bit, actually, but he did not want to worry her. "Do you need more blankets- I'll bring mine up from-"

"No, no." She shook her head quickly, fighting the urge to cry. Ed was so sweet! She was so lucky to have him. "I'll be fine with a lie-in. Aunt Alberta is making me carrot soup-"

The siblings made simultaneous expressions of disgust.

Lucy carried on, "Which should help, even if it sounds revolting."

Edmund didn't think he'd ever wanted to know how to cook more. Some warm chicken soup would've done wonders- much better than smelly carrot anything. She wasn't a rabbit.
"Alright, I'll sit with you, then- we can gossip-"

"That does sound fun-" Lucy laughed, but the laugh soon broke into a cough, "b-b-but I need you to go get the groceries. Aunt Alberta-"

"For goodness' sake!" His aunt couldn't leave them alone for even one day! "Can't Eustace go get it one day-"