Fixing a Hole

Chapter 13

(Sorry, really short. I've been working on a Halloween Beatles Story a lot lately and haven't been updating as much) 

The two brothers warmly embraced and began slowly talking about the past events  with an awed and horrified tone to each of their voices. Paul, John, and George had demanded some food for Ringo, which had been readily provided, and they huddled around their drummer.

"You alright?" Paul asked yet again, and Ringo nodded.

"Good," John replied with a tight smile, attempting to lighten the situation, "Drummers like you can be hard to replace." 

Ringo gave John a lopsided grin, before once again feeling a bit light headed.

"You sure you’re ok?" George said quietly, and Ringo nodded. "Well, tell us if you change your mind." George replied, and Ringo smiled.

"Thanks for saving me, mates," He quietly declared, "I was pretty worried there for a while."

Rathiard helped Thodron stand, and the two reunited brothers glanced at the four friends. 

"I'm sure you want to go home after all of this," Thodron said, "But first, I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for returning my true brother to me."

"And I thank you." Rathiard added warmly. Then he looked down, again embarrassed, "And I'm so very sorry; truly, truly I am."  

Suddenly Ringo gasped as he felt the ring melt back into his finger. Rathiard gave a small smile at him, saying, "You'll need that to get home. I realize an apology is a lot to ask of you, but can you forgive me?"

The Beatles glanced at each other, and then Ringo said, "I suppose you weren't really yourself exactly. Yeah we... We can try to understand."

"Can you send us home?” George asked.

"I wasn't lying about the cave. My powers only permit me to send you home from there. Perhaps my brother...?" Rathiard glanced at Thodron.

"My powers are awfully weak to send you home not from the cave, but I'll give it a try. The spell won't take affect right away. After I cast it, it'll still be a few minutes. Here goes, Englishmen."

Thodron closed his eyes, and concentrated hard. The air almost appeared to ripple around him, and each of the Beatles appeared to almost glow a grayish white. Suddenly the air stopped rippling, and Thodron sighed tiredly.  

"Come on, brother, you can do it," Rathiard encouraged, and Thodron tried again. Again the Beatles glowed for several moments, and then their image wavered. Then Rathiard smiled warmly at them.

"It is done, I can tell," Rathiard said, when suddenly Thodron appeared to faint. 

Rathiard caught him quickly and gently lowered him to the ground, "Ajdhingh uiu sijjdib?" he asked Thodron, who nodded thankfully.

"He's alight," Rathiard told the Beatles, "Just exhausted. I'll be happy when he's well again; I’ve lost so many years with him..."

 "It's hard to believe all of this even happened." Paul commented quietly.

"Ah, that reminds me." Rathiard made a pencil and paper appear seemingly out of nowhere, and wrote something, folding the paper. "Read this when you return." he offered them the paper, and John tucked it in the brim of his hat. 

Ringo glanced at the ring, which appeared to be glowing, and then asked, "Will the ring still be stuck on my finger?"

Rathiard gave a tiny laugh that still hadn’t lost the sound of tears, and told Ringo, "No, Ringo, it'll disappear when you go home. No one ever knows where it goes, but it'll probably go into hiding for a while before choosing somebody else for a quest.... I guess this is goodbye. Again, I can't even begin to apologize for all of this. I can just hope you realize how remorseful I am."

The Beatles gave small nods, and then saw Ringo was beginning to fade away.

"Oh dear, there he goes! You must all be touching in order for it to work.  And say the words, 'Guru Jai,' then you may all return together."

The other three Beatles crowded around Ringo, and each muttered the words. They felt their thoughts become fuzzy, and glanced up to see Rathiard kneeling next to Thodron. He looked up, mouthing, 'Good luck,' and then a bright blast of light surrounding the musicians.