From Ashes and Dust (Book One)

Chapter 26.2

Vatra awoke with a pounding headache. The steady ache in her arm forced her to reposition herself from the clutches of her sheets and pillows. She pushed aside the last pillow from her face and stared at her ceiling.

Her eyes flickered to Aspi's tank. "I don't suppose you know how I got here?" she questioned the creature.

An unhelpful bubbling sound was her only reply. As if the creature could speak, anyway.

"You're even more important now, you know that?" Vatra groaned and pulled herself to the edge of her bed.

Shooting pains rolled up and down her arm in waves. She looked at the brace with a scowl and noted her bare feet dangling over the side of the bed. Drawing a confused gaze around the room, Vatra's eyes fell on her boots tucked at the foot of her closet.

The door to her room slid open. "I did not expect that you were properly taken care of when I heard you were left here in such a state," Spyro stated. He stepped inside, but didn't close the door behind him. "I took the liberty of removing your magnetic boots for you. I hope you do not mind."

"No, thank you," Vatra said quickly. She felt as if she owed Spyro a thousand apologies for whatever may have happened while she was out of it. "You'd think whoever put me here would have helped a drunk friend or two to bed," she added with a grumble.

"You were not under the influence of alcohol," Spyro said. He was expressionless, unreadable. He might as well have been reading Vatra her own medical chart.

"I would hope not." Vatra stepped down to the floor and walked over to her boots. "I haven't been black-out drunk in a few hundred years."

"I do not understand the mortal's appeal to it," Spyro commented. He watched Vatra put on her boots with a careful eye.

Vatra shrugged once she finished and turned back to Spyro. "Pray tell, who got me here? And did they tell you what happened? I don't remember much." She held back how much she actually remembered about the fight and their talk with Ares, just in case she needed to approach her conversation more carefully.

"I do believe it was Hisato, Enyalius and Fulgora who escorted you to your room. They even told me Enyalius was the one who carried you here," Spyro said, the corner of his mouth turning ever so slightly down in a frown.

"Really?" Vatra laughed.

"And I did have a talk with Hisato. He filled me in on what was discussed back on Tau Honnor," Spyro added.

"Hisato didn't take very long to step up, then. I'm sure we need to have a meeting to go over everything. A lot happened on Tau Honnor," Vatra said. She went to step past Spyro, but he turned and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Some time has passed, Vatra. You were out for nearly a full day. I do not believe what you intended to bring up gently was meant to be kept quiet for so long," Spyro warned.

Vatra paused. Her eyebrows raised, heart fluttering in her chest. "What do you mean, Spy?"

Pausing for a second, Spyro stepped out into the hall first. "Enyalius found out Ares is here, and he is not too pleased with what was discussed when you and Hisato met with him."

"Hisato snitched on me? And here I was thinking we had such a good relationship between us," Vatra said. Her stomach felt heavy and weightless all at once. She wanted to vomit. The truth behind Enyalius and Vatra's fate was supposed to be her story to tell.

"No," Spyro said. "I do not think Ares was as patient as you might have thought him to be. Nor was he so willing to wait for you to do what you wanted with the information he gave you. Ares snuck his way through Tau Honnor to our ship and spoke with Enyalius directly."