MISTRESS OF FLAME

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

CIRA'S RECOVERY EXPECTATION was nothing but a mistake. She calculated that she would recover in half a day, but that did not happen. She only gave her essence to Sollel for two hours, and the consequences were severe. She was spent, like her whole essence had been drained from her. Cira felt weak; she couldn't even move a muscle, and she stayed on the bed for days.

Cira was grateful that even though Sollel already looked better, she stayed and cared for her. Though she couldn't comment about her cooking—it was awful. But she had to stomach it, even though it made her stomach hurl.

As Cira lay on the bed, she couldn't help thinking back to when she was healing Sollel. She felt as if she were filling an enormous empty cauldron, and that cauldron felt like an abyss. It couldn't be satiated by her essence alone, and if she tried, she'd die without a doubt.

Cira turned her head on her house's door when it opened and saw Sollel carrying a bowl in her hand. She flinched. Cira was sure that it was another one of Sollel's horrible dishes.

And Cira was right. It was, indeed.

But Cira did not complain, since Sollel was feeding her diligently. She was actually delighted, but she didn't show it. At that moment, Cira was still having doubts about Sollel's identity. 

The days passed by with Sollel's horrible dishes as Cira's nourishment. Finally, after a few couple of days, Cira was now able to stand, and the first thing she did was cook.

"Just go get some water," Cira said when Sollel offered to help. Cira wanted Sollel to be away so she could think clearly. 

Sollel listened and silently went out, holding a wooden basin. When she arrived at the riverbank, she filled the basin with water, but instead of lifting it back to Cira's house, Sollel stared at her hands.

She didn't mean to drain Cira's essence. It was her flame that wanted to devour everything to recover its former strength, but she still felt guilty. If she didn't stop her flame, it would've devoured all of Cira's essence, including her life.

It was actually easy to recover her strength, but it meant killing innocent elves and draining their essences dry, starting with Cira. But such way of recovering was brutal and dark. She would never be like the humans she loathed, sacrificing other lives to alleviate their own.

Sollel heaved a deep sigh and clenched her hands when she remembered what she gained after Cira's essence entered her body. Cira's essence was drained, but her strength was only raised a little bit. Not enough to gain back one-eighth of her strength, but close enough.

At least with her strength now, she could deal with her pursuers—only if their numbers were low since she was still weak to fight a dozen of soldiers. She could damage them at most, but killing them? It would take a lot of time.

Sighing, Sollel picked up the basin and started walking back to Cira's house, but before she reached Cira's home, she felt her strength being drained.

Moonrite!

Sollel clenched her teeth and was about to run as fast as she could and hide when she remembered Cira. She was weak at the moment because of the essence she had given her. What if the empire did something to her?

Sollel couldn't stand the thought of her healer suffering because of her. Therefore, with everything she got, she fixed her dark red cloak and put on her hood before walking to Cira's house, leaving the basin in the middle of the forest.

Slowly inching closer to Cira's house and hiding behind trees, Sollel saw more than a dozen of soldiers outside. Cira was forced to kneel, her face pressed on the ground while being interrogated.