The Burning Light with Shadows (A SOTAM Fan Fiction)

Healing (Sophie's PoV)

I slowly eased my eyes open, and saw pale-blue silver flecked eyes stare back at me, filled with worry and concern. Tam tugged on his bangs nervously, giving me an anxious smile. "I really should get around to calling this place the Foster Center," Elwin said, his face drenched in sweat. "What- what happened?" I asked. The past few minutes felt fuzzy, and I could barely remember anything about why Elwin looked so stressed and why Tam was in the healing center. "Why are you here?" I directed my gaze towards Tam.

"I... uh, Elwin said you had passed out and that the echoes were getting worse. And then Bullhorn was laying beside you, you were shivering as if you were having a nightmare, and..." he trailed off, looking away.

I couldn't recall anything that had happened while I was knocked out, but the fact that Bullhorn had been laying beside me was alarming. I scratched the back of my head with my unbandaged arm, trying to uncover any of my previous memories.

"Luckily, once again, Tam had his imparter with him," Elwin said, giving a side eye to Tam. Tam's cheeks went slightly red. "I probably need to keep it on me from now on," he said jokingly, yet his expression betrayed what he was thinking about. I had a sudden small blurry flashback about the monster and the echoes. A sharp pain spread throughout my mind. I grimaced, gritting my teeth.

"Are you okay?" Tam asked, making a sudden movement and holding my gloved hand. We both stared at where his hands cupped my own. He quickly let go and turned an even brighter red. "Just- just a headache," I murmured softly, and I felt my cheeks grow warm. Elwin quickly turned around and gave me a painkiller, which soothed the pain to just a dull hum in the background. I coughed quietly.

"So..." I started awkwardly. "Where's everybody else?" I had been wondering why Tam was the only one here, without even Linh. "They should all be having lunch... though I'm surprised nobody else has stopped by the healing center recently," Elwin said, circling a light gray orb around my head. I heard Tam mutter something under his breath.

"What did you say?" I asked, looking up toward his cloudy silver-blue eyes. He mumbled something along the lines of, "They're probably all busy with each other." He didn't specify anything, but I understood what he meant. They were all busy with their girlfriends or boyfriends... We both looked away uncomfortably.

Elwin looked somewhat amused and somewhat horrified at the exact same time. He coughed a couple times. "So, Sophie, you should be able to leave the healing center in a couple days. Luckily, you didn't thrash too much, so it barely set back your recovery." He turned around and picked up a tray of elixirs, and I felt myself inwardly gag. "And here's your afternoon dose of elixirs," he said, putting it on my lap. He spun away towards his office. I groaned, tempted to slam my head on the tray, but decided that wouldn't be wise.

Tam shuffled his feet. "So, uh, do you need my help opening the caps on the elixirs?" he asked quietly. I nodded subtly. It felt like the atmosphere in the healing center just got a whole lot more unpleasantly awkward. He quickly grabbed the nearest bottle that was a light turquoise color and twisted it open, handing it to me. I tentatively poured into my mouth, feeling a twang of bitterness spread throughout my mouth. It wasn't quite as bad as I knew some of them would be. Tam walked over to a nearby table and picked up a silver tray filled with elvin treats, including the weird hard candy that tastes like a snickerdoodle. He unwrapped it, then tossed one of them to me, and I eagerly caught it with my telekinesis. "Nice job," he said encouragingly. I felt my cheeks grow warm. "Thanks," I said softly, dropping it into my mouth and letting the sweetness wash away some of the bitter taste. I sighed contentedly.

We continued this for the next twelve elixirs, as since I gradually reached the end of my recovery process, the amount of elixirs slowly died down. We went through lime green and vermillion and amber colored elixirs, until we reached the last one, which was a light gray that had tiny specks of glitter in it. Tam uncapped it, giving it to me just as I heard a familiar deep voice call out incredulously, "Dude, Bangs Boy, are you actually feeding Foster?" I whipped my head around to the entrance of the healing center where Keefe was strolling in, Biana gripping his wrist. She gave me a large grin.

Tam gave me a snickerdoodle candy before turning bright red, pulling his silver bangs even lower over his eyes. "I- I..." he stuttered, before turning away. I felt myself flush. I quickly downed the gray elixir, nearly choking when I tasted the sourness enveloping my tongue. I coughed loudly. We all stared silently at each other until I asked, "So... shouldn't you guys be at your next session?" Keefe shrugged. "We just finished up lunch quicker than the others and headed here." He paused, giving me the chance to ask jokingly, "And you didn't have detention?" He smirked at me. "Let's just say that somehow I didn't cause trouble today." I highly doubted that. Then he seemed to realize something. "Wait, Tammy, why were you dashing away from the cafeteria when it was lunch time? And shove me as well?" Keefe asked, turning towards Tam. Tam noticeably groaned at the nickname.

"Elwin hailed me about Sophie's echoes," Tam explained. "I had to sort out some way to calm them down." Keefe went slightly pale. "Oh," he said simply. He looked somewhat... guilty for some reason. Biana cleared her throat. "I think it's time for our next session," she said, tugging on Keefe's arm. They both awkwardly left the healing center, but not before Biana gave me a quick wink.

At that moment, Elwin walked out of his office, nodding at the empty tray of elixirs. "Well, Sophie, you should be able to walk around Foxfire for a nightly tour today," he said enthusiastically. "But you'll need someone to assist you just in case," he added. He observed my arm before bobbing his head up. "Just let me know who you want to go with you and I'll hail them to let them know. And then two days after that, you should be able to go back to Havenfield, as long as nothing gets set back." Elwin then stood back up, realizing that another elf was waiting for him near his office, and walked back to help them with whatever was wrong.

Tam mumbled something under his breath. He really needs to stop being so quiet when saying something, I thought. "What is it, Tam?" I asked. He looked at me, almost compassionately yet sadly, before replying, "I think the others are doing some sort of triple date tonight." My heart stopped beating for a second. "What about you?" I asked, biting my lip. He shrugged. "I guess I was supposed to escort Linh or something to Atlantis," he said. I felt a weird twang throughout my body. I looked into his hazy pale-blue silver eyes, seeing some sort of sadness behind them. At that moment, I felt really, really bad for him. And for myself at the same time. All our friends were going on a triple date while we were left out. I felt almost... angry at them. But it was somewhat understandable as well. "I can do the walk with you tonight if you want," he volunteered hesitantly. I nodded. Maybe we can help each other feel better, I thought, feeling the slight sense of loneliness dwindle slightly.

"You should probably go to your next session," I suggested, pointing outside the healing center. He inclined his head. "I'll see you later, Sophie." He gave me a small smile before stepping out to his next session.