I'm Here

Cheetara had yet to open her eyes to the world; she was conscious, but held no desire to focus on anything but the inside of her eyelids and the throbbing pulse in her head. The pain reverberated from the back of her head and into her eyes, and scaled up to her forehead. She grimaced as she came to more and each pulse became stronger. Open your eyes, she told herself. Maybe if she did then the throbbing would stop or she could find a way to ease it.

Opening her fuchsia eyes, her vision was blurry and unfocused. She furrowed her brows and blinked a few times to drain the fuzzy vision and gain access to clear pictures. The first thing she focused on was the young lion by her bedside.

His handsome face was buried in his large hands and his elbows rested on his legs. His body was tight like a coil and he was hunched over in a miserable posture. Her king was unmoving and he held an air of despair about his usually bright outlook.

Why was he so sad? Her mind raked anything and everything recent that could have him in such a sorry state. Tygra had left a couple of months ago and left the both of them in shambles, but she had thought they were moving on from that. Things had been going smoothly since then, that is until the shock they had received about two weeks ago. But as far as she knew, her king was taking it in stride and wasn't just completely broken up about it.

So what had happened? The last thing she could remember was fighting the generals and an army of lizards before Kaynar got a hold of her and nearly...

Oh.

A sense of horror filled her for a brief moment. She nearly died. She couldn't remember how, but she must have been saved somehow. Kaynar had such a tight hold on her neck that she have passed out- although she was sure that her king must have had something to do with her livelihood at this point in time.

Relief filled her; she was alive. Yet a haunting feeling still lingered in her veins and all she wanted was to know that she was in fact alive and not just watching everything from the outside of her body. "Lion-O," she rasped almost desperately. Talking hurt and she winced as her head throbbed again. She brought her hand out from under the covers and placed it against her skull.

Lion-O's head shot up from his hands and he gawked at her in shock before shooting up from his chair. He immediately went over to the head of her bed and leaned over to wrap his arms around her, "Cheetara..." he breathed her name in relief, "Oh thank God..."

The cleric was still in a bit of a haze. She couldn't believe how hyper sensitive she was to his touch; how good it felt to know that she was alive to feel his arms around her again, and to bury her nose in the crook of his neck and breathe in his scent. It was all almost too overwhelming for her, and her head started to throb again. She groaned and the lion released her, a concerned look plastered on his face.

"How are you feeling?" he brushed a lock of hair out of her face as she turned her head to fight the pain.

"My head hurts," she mumbled through gritted teeth.

"I'll go get you some pain medication," he stood up. "I'll be right back."

Once she had gotten some medication and a bit of bread into her system, the headache slowly died out and she was left sitting up in her bed and trying to completely grasp everything at hand. She was alive and safe in her small pristine room. The room only consisted of a closet with drawers and the bed. It was such a small room, but it suited her just fine and she had never been happier to see it in her life.

"How are you feeling?" Lion-O asked again as he sat down in the small chair he had placed next to her bed.

"I'm better," she smiled lightly.