The Raven's Source

Chapter 7 - Nightmares

"What the hell did you give him?" Twyn asked, looking in the room at Shej who was still passed out in bed.

"Sedative tea a medicine lady gave me," she said softly, folding a few pieces of laundry and putting it away in a drawer.

"It's been three days, Leena."

"Yeah, I accidentally made it a little strong, but this also goes to show how exhausted he was." She sat down on the edge of the bed, looking at Shej, sadness in her eyes. She took in a deep breath, having been trying to find the right time to talk to her brother about a sensitive topic, "You said his heart stopped when he built the hospital? When were you going to tell me about that?"

"Honestly? I wasn't."

"What do we do if he doesn't recover like he should?"

"Force him to go to the hospital he built, duh."

Leena sighed.

"Dude's gonna hafta pee something fierce when he wakes up, I can tell you that much," Twyn threw to the wind randomly.

Leena couldn't help but laugh. "At least we'll know when he's awake. Don't change the subject."

"I don't know, Leens. We've never known anyone who has as much source talent as he does. He says he just has Creation magic, but he healed you. Plus, I don't think anyone has ever seen a drain like we've witnessed with him either."

"I'm scared," she whispered, looking over at her sleeping husband, her brother staring at her. "I don't want something to happen to him and I fear something will. I fear something big is coming."

"I won't let anyone talk him into anymore projects for a while, even boss man. I'll even get boss man to put him on a medical leave until we know he's okay."

She looked up at Twyn who also was now looking at Shej, a worry in the furrowed folds of his forehead. In this moment of being so open and both of their walls down, she wanted to tell her brother everything. She refrained, quickly turning away and stuffing another small stack of shirts into a drawer.

"LEENA!" Shej cried, jolting up in bed, looking around the room in a panic, tears streaking his face. The room was bright with sunlight but Leena was nowhere to be seen.

Both her and Twyn came running into the room hearing his terrified cry. Leena wrapped her arms around him, shushing him quietly. "I'm right here. Was it a nightmare?"

Shej clung to her, burying his face in her chest and sobbing heavily.

"Hey, hey...it's okay," she continued to try comfort him, petting the back of his head.

"I was dreaming these wonderful things...then suddenly everything went dark. All the villagers claimed I had murdered you and I fought them, trying to tell them the truth that I would never hurt you and you were still alive. But then I turned a corner and you were lying on the ground all bloody, torn up...dead. Twyn too. I...I..."

"It was just a bad dream. We're both right here."

After a few moments, Leena was able to calm Shej down, even getting him to crack a random chuckle. Twyn grinned, knowing what would instantly lighten the mood in the room.

"So dude, how's that pee sack?"

"Shit..." Twyn's words were like a hammer straight to Shej's bladder and he gently pushed himself out of Leena's arms, running for the bathroom.

"Twyn!"

"What? He was going to notice eventually and if I could take his mind off the bad dream, maybe he would be able to take that moment to really wake himself up and realize it."