~.✧ Austora ✧.~ [COMPLETE]

~.✧ twenty-one ✧.~

I woke up still laying against Larklind's shoulder, my face sticky with tears and my eyes swollen from having cried long into the night. I wasn't sure what time it was, but from the way the healers worked with vibrance around the basement, it had to be at least mid morning.

I sat up, my neck screaming in protest at being in such a crooked position for so long. But I simply rubbed it, ignoring the pain as I looked down at Larklind. He looked just the same as when I'd fallen asleep. But he was still breathing. That was always the thing I looked for.

My stomach rumbled with hunger but I knew that if I tried, I wouldn't be able to eat very much. And maybe it was easier to cope with the hollow feeling in my chest where my heart should be when there was a similar hollow feeling in my stomach.

I wasn't awake for very long when I noticed two figures emerge from the stairs. I glanced over to find Braz and Asria walking toward me, each of them with something in their hands.

"I'm finally here with permission," Asria said with a tired yet mischievous twinkle in her eye. She extended the plate of breakfast in her hands to me. "Here."

"Thanks," I muttered, taking it from her despite knowing that she'd take it back with her at the end of her visit, nearly completely full.

Braz pulled over two stools, probably the same stools that Gentry and Ezalie had used yesterday, and they positioned themselves next to me. I looked down to see what he held. It was a bundle of daladias.

He noticed me looking at them and held them out, his smile sad and small. "I thought you wouldn't want to miss the last daladia blooms of the season."

I wrapped my slightly shaky fingers around their stems and instinctively held them up to my nose. Their familiar sweet scent wafted toward me and a conflicted feeling entered my chest; they helped bring a bit of peace, as they always did, yet at the same time, it made me think more of Larklind. It was strange how so many things these days were associated with him.

Swallowing, I rested them on the edge of his cot. "Thank you."

Braz nodded before his eyes slowly floated up toward Larklind. "Is he doing any better?"

My mind rifled back to what the healer had told me yesterday. "Yes and no," I muttered.

Both of them looked at me inquisitively so, in a small voice, I relayed what the physician had said. At the end, they were both quiet, processing this information. I looked down at the plate in my lap and used the fork to toss around the pieces of potatoes and vegetables, trying to not think about it too much. I didn't want to start crying again.

"At least the medicine is working," Asria said gently, eyeing me.

I nodded, not knowing what else to say.

"And it's not like he gave him a doomed sentence, right?" Braz added, always trying to be optimistic. "There's still a chance, you know."

Again, I was only able to nod.