Something Greater

but i know one thing, that i love you (i love you, i love you, i love you)

I've been a lot of places all around the way,

I've seen a lot of joy and I've seen a lot of pain

But I don't want to write a love song for the world,

I just want to write a song about a boy and a girl

– Michael Franti & Spearhead, "Say hey (I love you)."

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The boat ride from London to Amsterdam had taken about a day and a night. On the way there, the three attempted to pass the time by starting small conversations and sharing fun stories while on deck, some of which were slightly embarrassing.

"So then, he tripped the nun with his cane and then she hit her head against a bookcase outside a shop and all the books just fell on top of her," Susan had rambled to Adelina at one point. "And he just looked over her and poked her with his cane, then said, 'Well, she's going to be out for a couple of hours. Mr. Link, you get her regular clothes, while I shall play the part of thy Sister.'"

"My, my, is that really how you mugged that nun?" Adelina asked, looking over to Lionel to confirm if it was true or not.

"Yes, that is how we mugged her," Lionel admitted quietly, not looking at her due to his embarrassment. "Though I much prefer the term 'snatching clothes' in this regard since we didn't really attack her, per say."

Adelina rolled her eyes and giggled. "Sure, whatever you say."

Lionel pouted slightly. "So Adelina," he said, trying to change the subject, "do you have any funny little stories you'd like to share?"

"Oh yes," Adelina replied, nodding. "I do, actually."

"Do tell us then."

"Well one time, I was in Colombia, searching through the forest for Madremonte and..." She fumbled, pausing for a few minutes, then went on, "I stumbled onto this path where there was this man, a local hunter... and well, I'd been so deep in the woods that a few plants got tangled around me and so the hunter, he... he..."

"What?" asked Susan. "What'd he do?"

"Adelina, what did the hunter do?" asked Lionel as well, a bit of concern in his tone.

"He must've mistaken me for Madremonte because he chased after me and tried to... to capture me," Adelina continued with her story, rubbing her arms in embarrassment. "I kept yelling at him as I ran away that I wasn't Madremonte, but he wouldn't listen. It took his little assistant catching up to him and holding him back and me ripping off all the plants to get him to see that and oh, if only you'd been there to see the look on his face!" Now, her embarrassment faded away to amusement as a smile crossed her features, and the way she spoke – it was as if she was trying to hold back a giggle. "His mouth was hanging wide open and his eyes were wider than moon craters, and he was gargling out gibberish. It was as if he'd seen a ghost."

At first, Lionel's blood had boiled at the fact that this hunter had tried to capture Adelina, but it quickly cooled down once she got to the bit where she'd shown him the truth. He couldn't help but let out a smug chuckle upon hearing that the fool who'd tried to hurt his Adi- Adelina had found that he'd been wrong and got a good dose of reality. "I bet he must've felt very foolish after that."

"He certainly looked like he felt rather stupid," Adelina tittered.

"Oh man, I wish I'd been there to see that!" Susan remarked, guffawing. "You know," he began, wiping a tear away. "All this talk of hunters reminds me of all that one bar fight Lionel and I got into, before we went to your house on that day." He looked to Lionel. "Remember? When that er... Stenk, was it? Yeah, yeah, I think that's it. Remember when he tried to kill us back at the bar but then you punched him and then all of a sudden, everyone was fighting each other?"