The Vigilant Yaksha

Chapter 2

"How is she holding up?" Verr had strayed from behind her desk to try to find the Inn's medic for some answers.

"It's hard to tell right now." The man answered with a deep sigh, trying to pick up a little of his mess before he went back to helping her.

They'd placed the girl in one of the room's on the top floor of the inn, so she could get as much peace and quiet as possible to rest.

"Had to give her quite a few stitches. She's lost a good bit of blood as well, hasn't regained consciousness... it's not looking good, Verr. I have the herbs on hand to help stop the bleeding and dull a good bit of the pain, but as of right now, I'm not sure if she's gonna pull through." The medic turned to face Verr, his expression quite grim as he furrowed his brows.

Verr's gaze turned to settle on the frail girl who was laid beneath the sheets of her bed, her eyes skimming over her pale face, noticing the subtle shine of sweat that now covered her body as well.

She was clearly struggling through this. This poor girl who was just traveling from Mondstadt with her friends to get to Liyue in time to see this year's rite of descension.

"Anymore info from her traveling companions?" Verr cleared her throat as she felt the sting of tears threatening to fall from her eyes, her empathy practically suffocating her.

"Not so far. Some of the others have been trying to help them settle in other rooms close by, offering them food and such to try and comfort them all. They were extremely shaken by the event. We're hoping once they relax a bit, they'll be able to tell us more. Right now, they all just seem pretty traumatized, understandably so." The medic confirmed, cleaning off all of his tools in a bowl of soapy water to sanitize them all.

"Keep me updated, please. Xiao went to clean up the roads of the rif-raf. Hopefully this won't happen to anyone else either." Verr turned to leave, knowing that if she stayed any longer, she'd be fighting the water works.

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"She still hasn't woken up..?" The pale blonde-headed boy spoke softly, his gaze focused down at his feet as he stared in disbelief.

"Not yet, child, but don't worry. Her vitals are slowly improving which is a great sign. I've sent some of my assistants out looking for more powerful herbs than what I had on hand here, and if any of them are successful, that will improve her chances drastically. Please hold out hope." The medic gently laid a comforting hand down across the young man's own, squeezing it ever so slightly in an attempt to settle his nerves.

"Aether, was it?" He continued, hoping he'd heard another assistant recall his name correctly.

"Yes," he nodded, his eyes now finally shakily meeting the medic's, his expression very clearly giving away his worry.

This boy was the leader of the group, and from what he'd gathered from the others traveling with him, he was always very calm and steeled, so seeing him like this sent the old medic's heart a flutter with empathy and sympathy. He'd also heard of the boy's deeds from other travelers. Word tends to spread quickly when you save the entire Anemo kingdom from a poisoned dragon and manage to save the dragon as well where others would have simply slayed him.

"We were on our way to Liyue to try to see this year's Rite of Decension. My friend and I aren't.... we aren't from around here so we wanted to experience it. I couldn't protect her." Dropping his hands to his lap, the boy scrunched the fabric of his pants between his hands tightly as tears brimmed in his eyes again, clearly blaming himself for what happened to his friend.

"She was a couple feet behind the rest of us, watching the birds fly overhead and taking in all the scenery... she loves nature so we wanted to just let her stroll and enjoy herself... and that's when they attacked, but they went after just her... why? The only time they decided to try to fight us was after we all came to try to save her... why her?!" Aether cried out, tears falling down the porcelain skin of the boy's cheeks, his eyes red and swollen from having cried so much already.

"You can't blame yourself for this, child. It was simply a matter of bad luck. I promise, we're doing everything we can for your friend, but she needs you to stay strong for her right now. Hold onto your hope. Get some rest, so you can be here for her when she wakes." The medic gave a soft bow after standing from his chair, his eyes glancing away from the clock as he realized how late it already was.

He needed to get back to the injured girl and keep tending to her wounds and cleaning her bandages to prevent infection. Hopefully some of his assistants would be back soon with those extra herbs. There was a bad storm brewing ontop of it all, the sound of thunder threatening in the distance.

"And what was your friend's name again? I'm sorry." He swiveled back around to face the boy before he'd walked out the door.

"Vena."