Vanessa's childhood and her years in Vesuvia before the plague

Chapter five

Not too long after, Vanessa had fallen asleep out of exhaustion. Slowly, Julian carefully carried Vanessa to the guest room in the Vesuvian palace. The palace servants had collectively prepared the room by replacing the sofa-like bed with a golden bathtub with a canopy above it. Covered with large windows that revealed the incandescent starry sky and lanterns hanging from the ceiling; the room pervaded a warming and comforting aura. Gently, Julian laid Vanessa inside the water filled tub and sat on a chair beside her- ensuring to monitor her throughout the night.

Hours had passed and the bustle of the palace had quietened down. In the guestroom, Julian sat there, patiently observing Vanessa's breathing while her chest slowly moved up and down. Desperately trying to keep awake, the Doctor sipped on a cup of black coffee while scribbling down on his journal- trying to figure out how to get Vanessa healthy and well in order to teach her how to adapt to the Vesuvian way of life.

Studying his notes, Julian wondered "Vanessa seems to be more cautious than I thought and she seems to not trust anyone here. That's the first thing I have to do- gain her trust. But how?". Suddenly, his train of thought was quickly cut short by the creak of the door opening. It was Nadia.

"Countess, " Julian chimed with surprise in his voice, "What are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?".

"Well, let me be frank with you Julian. How am I supposed to sleep while knowing there is a mermaid in my palace who is unwell?" Nadia whispered while looking at the sleeping Vanessa; soft whirring sounds escaped from the mermaid's mouth as she dozed deeply.

Julian chuckled, "That's very true. I have to observe her throughout the night. It's too risky to just leave her like this- anything could happen,".

"I agree but couldn't you have just asked one of the servants to do this? You're going to lose a lot of sleep. I could observe her for you so you can sleep for the time being?" Nadia suggested as she stared at Julian who was clearly worn out.

"No need for that. I've got my black coffee to keep me going and I need to get on top of my notes anyways. I'll be fine," Julian assured with a smile.

Nadia nodded and asked Julian, "By the way, what was Lucio planning to do with her? He brought her here for a reason didn't he?"

"I'm not so sure of the details but if Lucio wants something, we have to stick with it. Once she recovers, I'm planning to teach her how to adapt to the new surroundings and the people here. However, I can only really do that if she trusts me which will be a big task," Julian responded.

"Well then, I am always here to help if you need it. It will be intriguing to introduce a new creature in our city. Anyway ,I better go. I-," Nadia utters while glancing at Vanessa however stops mid sentence; her eyes wide open.

"Countess, is everything okay?" Julian questioned, curious of Nadia's reaction.

"Julian... I think Vanessa has stopped breathing, " Nadia alarmed.

In disbelief, Julian stated assuringly "No that can't be the case, she's surely just sleepi-" yet halted his speech as he too looked at Vanessa. The mermaid's chest remained stationary.

"Vanessa!" Julian distressed while rushing beside her. Meanwhile, Nadia bolted out the room to the servant dorms for help. The Doctor began to frantically touch her head to feel her temperature which was feverish. A bundle of half asleep servants staggered to Julian who ordered them to get his supplies and help him revive Vanessa.

A plethora of hands began to apply various ointments onto Vanessa's forehead and Julian had gotten into the bath again to prepare for more chest compressions.

In the meantime, Nadia had darted to Lucio's bedroom where the Count was fast asleep.

"Lucio!" Nadia shrieked, "Wake up, Vanessa isn't breathing!".

"What..." Lucio grogged sleepily, "What do you mean?"

"Can you not hear? Your mermaid ,that you said you were responsible for, isn't breathing! So get out of your bed and get to the guest room immediately!" Nadia ordered before racing away back to Julian. Still in a daze, Lucio stumbled up and put on his robe while finding his way to the guest room. Finally, the Count made his way there, only to be exposed to hectic orders from Doctor Devorak who was now getting into the bath with Vanessa.

Rushing towards Vanessa, Lucio demanded, "Julian, what's going on? How come she isn't breathing- I thought she was fine?".

The agitated and stressed Julian replied, "Look, I don't have time to answer questions! Can you hold her hand to keep it warm? I'm going to do compressions so hurry up!"

With hesitation, Lucio grabbed the mermaid's hand and rubbed it against his so he could keep it warm and allow her blood to flow. Simultaneously, Julian began to pump her chest however once the doctor did one compression on Vanessa, the mermaid woke up in confusion.

'What are you doing?' Vanessa cried in fear as she looked up to see the faces of Julian, Lucio and many servants she did not know.

Julian ,who was puzzled but also relieved, remarked ' We thought you died! You didn't seem like you were breathing!'

'Mermaids sometimes sleep while holding their breaths- it's a habit because we live underwater!' Vanessa moaned. While Julian laughed the situation off and reassured the tense crowd of servants that it was a false alarm as he moved out of the bath, Vanessa realised Lucio was still holding her hand.

'Get off me you pervert!' Vanessa bitterly yelled at the Count while furiously yanking her hand from his grip and shuffling away to return back to sleep- leaving Lucio feeling awkward and embarrassed.

"Sorry about that, you can all go back to sleep" Julian laughed nervously at the furious group of servants who had been disturbed of their sleep. As they ushered away, Nadia approached the Doctor with anger in her eyes.

"Are you kidding me Julian? How did you mistake this?" Nadia thundered.

"Countess, you were the one who alerted me that she wasn't breathing!" Julian justified.

"What do I know! You're supposed to be the Doctor- shouldn't you have worked that out straight away?" she boomed ferociously.

"I guess I wasn't thinking straight..." Julian muttered sheepishly while Nadia shook her head in disappointment and left the room. Lucio, who was about to leave as well, was halted by Julian.

" Lucio!" Julian announced but was interjected by the exasperated and lethargic Count.

"Just don't talk to me now. I don't want to hear it..." Lucio yawned as he slumped away back to bed.