THE WEEK
✻ ✻ Day One ✻ ✻
The healer, Faela, immediately spotted the three as they walked through the church doors. She quickly rushed over.
“What in the heavens happened!?”
“He’s been hurt-” Lana began.
“I can see that!”
“Can you help him? I-I don’t have any money, but please, can you at least help him?” Lana begged. The Healer led them over to an empty bed. Shard placed Rin onto it, Faela disappearing a moment before returning with a handful of nurses. They began to draw the curtains to give his portion of the ward a sense of privacy.
Shard took his leave as Lana was sat down in a chair. A nurse began to clean her face as Faela called out orders. Lana kept moving to better see what they were doing to Rin. She watched as they removed the tattered clothes from his body.
“What’s his name?” Faela asked.
“Rin.”
The Healer began to mutter his name over and over. “He’s too hot,” she commented. Faela turned to her table of ingredients as nurses poured over the Halfling, cleaning his wounds and placing cold clothes on his head.
“What happened to the two of you?” Lana’s nurse asked. She explained that they had been kidnapped and beaten, her eyes continuing to watch her friend. She hadn’t a clue how long either of them had been gone. Lana was then asked who had abducted them when she watched Faela administer a potion to Rin. A moment later he began to convulse.
“What’s wrong!?” Lana cried out, “Is he okay!?” She began to stand to go help him but was met with resistance. Her nurse tried to keep her situated, but the urgent voice of Faela’s commands had Lana’s heart racing. She tried to get to Rin. She had to help him! He deserved to live over her!
“Get her out of here!” Faela ordered over Lana’s commotion. It took all three nurses to carry the screaming girl out of the ward.
The church was filled with Lana’s hysterics. She collapsed on the floor, sobbing and begging to be taken back to her friend. When a nurse was finally able to get a word in, she passed Lana a vial of medicine and told her to go home. “Get yourself cleaned up. Take care of yourself. That’s the best you can do for your friend right now.” The nurse then turned on her heels and left with the other two back into the ward.
Lana gripped the medicine, rocking a little as she collected herself. She eventually got to her feet and walked out of the church. Sylis was leaning against a pillar out front. His face softened a moment when he spotted Lana, but she wasn’t about to let him speak.
“I can’t deal with you right now,” she said, barely keeping her tone level, “And I’m not coming back with you either. So go find something to keep yourself busy with because I don’t know when I will want you near me again.”
Sylis took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Alright,” he said gently, “I’m going to go report back to my Dean. See you when-” the Wizard wanted to say ‘when I get back,’ but quickly corrected himself, “See you when you’re ready.” Lana gave a shallow nod to acknowledge that she had heard.
Once he was gone, Lana went to the only place she knew she’d be alone; Rin’s. She entered the dim home and was barely there a minute before losing herself to her misery. Would she ever forgive Sylis? Would Rin live? Would either want her after all that had happened? They had every right to hate her.
Though Rin’s place was warm and inviting, Lana felt as though she was back on the stone floor of Barut’s prison.
✻ ✻ Day Two ✻ ✻
When morning came Lana’s mind felt more clear, aside from the phantom sensation of cold molasses all over her face. Her head ached as did her whole body. She picked herself up off the floor and proceeded to do as she was instructed. Lana took her medicine and began to clean herself up.
Whatever was in the vial worked remarkably well. As she used her magics to wash off the sweat and blood, she watched as her wounds shrunk and the aches disappeared. However, even when she was clean, in the back of her mind she knew she wasn’t. Barut still lingered under her skin like a disease she’d never be cured of.
With great effort, Lana put aside her self pity and dressed so she could go find out the fate of Rin.
Approaching the church doors seemed to fill her boots with lead. The closer she got, the harder it became to lift her feet. She wondered if she’d be able to accept Rin’s death.
Faela came over to Lana and hugged her. For a moment she thought she knew what it meant, but soon the half Elf informed her that Rin was stable. Lana reminded Faela that she hadn’t any money to pay for her services to which the Healer told her not to worry. All she needed to do was return everyday to see to him.
Faela lead her over to the Halfling’s bed. There Rin laid, covered in bandages and poultices. He wasn’t awake, which was good. His face was puffy and dark purple patches were all over his body. Lana took comfort that she could see him breathing.
“I want you to help in cleaning his wounds. You need to see the depths of his suffering,” Faela informed her. As if I already didn’t know, Lana thought. However the Healer was right. As Lana worked with the nurses to clean and apply new ointment and dressings, she could see how severe some of the marks were. Her fingers ran along a few that went to the bone. Some she knew would always remain as a reminder of that awful day. Lana made it a point to keep her face impassive to mask her remorse.
“He spoke your name during the night,” Faela said as a new poultice was applied to one of the bone deep gashes.
“He did?”
“Yes. Spoke of Barut too. How you were the reason he was there.”
Lana’s lips quivered. Faela was the one who revived them after she, Sylis, and Shadar had tried to assassinate Barut. She knew what the Healer was wondering; was it her doings? Though Lana felt like it was, she denied such to Faela.
“No,” she squeaked out, “I never knew he would be kidnapped. I-I don’t even know how they got him.”
After the final bandage was applied, Faela washed her hands in the table basin and dried them on a towel before ushering Lana well away from the nurses and Rin. She gestured toward a chair and sat down next to her. Faela pondered a moment, something pressing on her mind that made Lana squirm inside.
"I have heard tales of devotion and love and betrayal. Never have I heard of devotion like this man shows to you,” Faela told her directly, “Never have I seen such wounds. I’ve agreed to take him as my charge. But you. Must. Agree. that when he is well enough to leave, you will never forget and never take for granted who you are to this man."
Faela suddenly was on her feet and walking away before Lana could answer. It wasn’t a choice she was given. In most instances, she would have been oppositional. Nobody told Lana what to do! But she sat there watching the Healer’s back vanish behind the curtain that separated Rin from the room. All that came to mind was how much she agreed.
Never again will I take him for granted.
✻ ✻ Day Three ✻ ✻
Lana returned the following morning to help with the redressing of Rin’s wounds. His face was beginning to look more normal, but his bright, muddy brown eyes remained closed.
Nurses were in a constant flow, one always remaining near by. Lana did her best to keep out of the way, but with how they bustled about, she found herself leaving for a little bit. All she wanted was to be alone with Rin.
Her opportunity came as night fell. Lana was sitting in a chair next to the bed, when the nurse told her she’d be around if there was anything she needed. Lana watched as she left.
The ward was rather silent at night. The whispers of Faela and nurses could be heard and sometimes other patients, but for the most part nothing stirred. The only noise Rin made was his steady inhales and exhales. It certainly was music to Lana. It meant another day toward wellness.
She knelt beside Rin’s bed, taking one of his hands in hers. “Rin, Rin, Rin...” Lana began. All day she had been hoping he’d finally wake up and had been thinking of the words she’d say to him. Lana had thought of many excuses to explain why she was the way she was. Reasons to try and make him see that she wasn’t worth his time. Over and over the words went in her head trying to push him away, but the circle would always complete with Lana knowing she owed it to Rin to stay.
She knelt there too long, and before Lana knew it, her emotions had bubbled over again. “I’m sorry,” she said in a whisper, “I’m really, really sorry what happened.” And that was all she managed to say.
✻ ✻ Day Four, Five, and Six ✻ ✻
Rin continued to improve as days went on, but remained unconscious throughout. A quarter of his wounds had completely sealed while the bruises faded from purple to yellow/green. Lana also began to adventure farther from the church, so as to give her something to do over stewing in her thoughts.
The fourth day of Rin’s stay, Lana had walked the markets, just looking about. She spotted a girl selling flowers. There were a few dahlias and daisies in the mix and immediately thought they’d be something to brighten Rin’s room.
It then became a daily to do. At the end of each day, Lana would return and sit with Rin, regaling the Halfling with the day’s adventure. She’d also bring nic nacs back as gifts for him to wake up to. The first night was the flowers and her time at the market.
The fifth day Lana came across a group of performers. They wore brightly colored costumes and did all sorts of tricks. Some did aerial acts while others juggled. Her favorite were the hoop artists. Lana was mesmerized by the way they danced with the hoop, sending it around their body, up their arms, around their legs, flipping and crawling and all manners of stunts she would have thought impossible to do with an oversized ring.
Lana caught herself trying to reenact one of the moves as she told Rin about the performers. Quickly she remembered he couldn’t see or hear her. She sat back down, smoothing out the pennant she had acquired from the show.
At the end of the sixth day, Lana returned with hand drawn pictures. She hung them on the wall behind Rin’s bed, telling him all about her visit with Jessie.
“When I got there,” she began, “I found all the girls had been gathered into the community room. Up at the front, the girls were putting on a skit for the parents. Jessie was already on stage with another girl named Callie. Poor Callie began to see dragons again and started going off on an adventure.
“But I was rather impressed with Jessie. She was dolled up in a frilly kind of dress with matching boots and though she never talks, her expressions were great. She tried so hard to get Callie’s attention again.
“Then this other girl, Georji, she came out dressed up as a horse. She’s such a sweetheart and was the happiest horse around. Even when Jessie began to attack her,” Lana gave a soft chuckle at that. The moment before Jessie snapped, she had jumped up on Georji and gestured wildly like she was riding her very fast. It was rather comical.
“The play ended right quick as nurses swarmed the stage. I guess Jessie’s regressed some, but they allowed me to see her. I think a lot of the nurses were surprised I had come back.
“Jessie was very happy to see me. I was worried she might have been very mad, but she wasn’t. I told her about things of late and about ya. She even tried to draw a picture of ya, see--” Lana cut off as she realized what she said. She was placing the last picture up on the wall when the words slipped. It was like a knife in her stomach as she looked back down at Rin.
Lana sat on the bed next to the Halfling. She couldn’t help but wonder why she spent so much time telling him about her days. It seemed like forever ago when they were on the cruise. How his eyes would always be watching her, listening to everything she said. He was very good at that. Being so attentive, as though she were teaching him new and exciting things. But now she was the one watching him, hoping that the healing she saw his body working meant he would wake up.
With a sigh, Lana gave Rin’s hand a squeeze before wrapping her blanket about her body and curling up in the chair. Any day now, Lana told herself as she fell asleep.
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