"We must...thank you..." Starfire panted.
"Yes, we are in your debt for your kindness," Robin humbly announced.
With that the door to the outside world was shut and secured.
PART THREE:
Dark, dank, and dreary, was the room the six had entered. A faint scent of pine swelled as they shifted further into the cavernous abode. "Dark much...?" Raven squeaked.
Cyborg elbowed her in correction. "Don't be rude!" he squirted out of the side of his mouth.
A match was struck and their host began lighting candles all around the room. A webbed piano was visible in the corner of the front window. Strange wooden carvings were visibly placed on the weathered mantle. Creaky old stairs winded up to the second story of the small dwelling. Hanging in a crooked disposition on the green wall, a vibrantly painted mask with spurts of dead grass tilted sinistral. The ragged purple couch rested its withered body underneath the head residing on the same wall.
Rushing to the couch, Emma began hastily shoving the sofa towards the fireplace. Out of chivalry, Robin heaved his weight in as well. After rapidly finishing their task at hand, Emma parted from Robin and ran to the closet next to where the couch had been sitting, and thrashed it open with embarrassment. An avalanche of blankets, jackets, nick-knacks and paddy-wacks came upon our heroine. "Blankets for warmth..." she whispered with mumbled words as she placed a plethora of blankets on one of the cushions.
"He's fading..." Raven stammered.
Replying to all in the room, Starfire trilled, "HURRY BEFORE ITS TOO LATE! We must give him the warmth again, yes? What will you do?!"
Stopping her business, and gazing up at the speaker with narrowed eyes, Emma replied, "One must be very careful in situations such as this. He is hypothermic, therefore if his body heats up too fast he will die."
"But how can this be? We cannot give him the cold, for then he would also die, would he not?"
"Yes that's true, but let me explain," Emma said as she pranced over to the fireplace with a pile of wood in her arms she had obtained from the crowed closet, "When the body begins to get cold it shuts of the blood flow in certain parts of the body, for example when you lose the feeling in your fingers or toes...As the body progresses through the stages of hypothermia, it shuts down more and more to keep the core - the heart - heated. So...in your green friend's case-"
"Beast Boy," Cyborg abruptly interrupted.
"Yes, in his case, he is at the stage where most of his body has already shut down in hopes of keeping his core heated. Thus if we were to abruptly warm him up, such as throwing him in a hot water bath, it would confuse his body into thinking that its is warm and well again, and it would release the cold blood, which would then flow into his heart killing him."
Starfire gasped.
"Oh......my........." Robin muttered.
"So the best way to bring someone back from this state is to heat them up from the inside out, for example with tea," she gestured to the kitchen directly behind her, " Or increasing the heat in the room with a fire" she then held up the wood and plopped it down on the floor next to the opening.
"Or by other means," the knowledgeable stranger stated as she walked into the kitchen, and then precipitously running water was heard, "With warm steam."
"Steam?" Robin Questioned.
"What good does that do?" Raven grumbled.
Annoyed, once again, Emma explained, "I am going to erect a makeshift humidifier."
Raven jousted in a monotone, "Seriously though, what does that do?"
"By using warm water, it makes steam and thus will heat room in addition to the heat emanated from the embers; and at the same time heating your friend-"
"Beast Boy!" shouted Robin.
"Yes, heating him from the inside because of the warm air he will be inhaling from the boiling water I am putting in this pan," she said as the tea kettle whistled.
Pouring the hot liquid in the pan, placed it on the ground at her feet, then crouched near the fireplace, thus getting to work on birthing a few measly sparks.
Laying Beast Boy's limp body on the couch, Cyborg trotted over to wood pile Emma was trying to ignite, "Here let me do it," he held out his finger aglow with a spark, "See I'm made for this stuff, I can light it."
Eye brows raised, Emma stood up from her crouched position, "Thank you..." and ran up the stairs to her miniscule room.
Confused, Robin question, "Where'd she go?"
"Like we would know..."
Immediately the other three glared at Raven. "Well she is strange...jumping from mood to mood..."
"It doesn't matter, she can help us, and we need to let her, no matter how weird she is," Robin decided.
Now finished with the fire Cyborg was taking in the scenery of the mask on the wall, "Tell me about it, THAT sure is weird..."
"It was a gift from my cousin Tristan...he once lived in Africa..." Emma walked down the stairs, "He was a great person," she whispered.
"It looks most like a face of a morflak," Starfire said in fright.
"Well then it does its purpose," Emma chuckled with a smile, "According to African folklore it is supposed to rid off evil spirits."
"Please what are these spirits of evil?"
"Star," Robin smiled, "They aren't real="
"They're what people blame their bad luck on," Cyborg piped in.
"I am a spirit of evil?!"
"Naw, I was just kidding, here!" Emma threw loose flannel pajamas at each of the titans, "Use these, you'll freeze in the clothes you have on now."
Eying her pair, Raven gagged in distaste, "I would rather remain the way I am..."
"Suit yourself, but someone has to switch his," she replied pointing at the unconscious Beast Boy.
Knowing this was a rather filthy task all four of them stepped back. "Hey I carried him."
"And I have made friends with Emma to search for our dear Beast Boy."
"And I am so not gonna go anywhere near that...."
"I guess I will, then," Robin tittered.
"There you go then," Emma placed the last pair in Robins quaking hands.
Gulping, he heaved Beast Boy over his shoulder in disgust and staggered to the bathroom adjacent to the kitchen.
Stay Tuned For Part Four
