The Forgotten Light

19. Fairlight

Streams of icy water ran down her body, washing away sweat, dirt and blood. She had already procrastinated bathing for too long, all because of the terrible fatigue after a day's work and the pain in her shoulder, which seemed to get worse every day and woke her up even in the middle of the night.

Like now. So she took the opportunity that everyone was asleep and snuck off to the bathroom to take a shower. It was usually full of women, taking baths one by one under one of the dozen streams of spouting water. Fairlight knew that it would take her longer to wash herself with one arm in a sling than it would if she had two hands to use. She couldn't imagine standing there naked among the other women for longer than she should have.

In the very center of the ceiling was a strange stone that illuminated the bathroom with a cold pale blue light. It wasn't the first one the girl had seen so far, so she wasn't surprised by its strange features.

Before putting on her clothes, she shook as many water droplets off her skin as possible. She expected that getting dressed would be even more difficult, but because of the shivering cold and the thought of returning under a hole-punching blanket that gave a little warmth, she managed to put on her pants and shirt in a flash.

The absence of her father's belt bothered her a lot, and she couldn't get over its absence. Her father's one and last request to keep a close eye on it... And she lost it.

Passing in the semi-darkness on tiptoe between the sleeping people, she thought she heard a quiet conversation. She stopped in the middle of the room and looked at the men's side. She heard a giggle, a peck, and immediately after that someone started walking toward her. Fairlight squinted.

"Kendra?" she whispered.

The girl jumped up frightened. "What? Who...? - She frowned and immediately let the air out of her lungs with relief. "Fairlight, it's you. Why are you awake?"

"I was taking a shower," she replied slowly, looking over her friend's shoulder. A playful smile began to grow on her lips. "Who were you talking to?"

Kendra looked back shyly and then, wrapping her head in a green shawl, looked around at the people, as if making sure they were asleep. 

"Come, I'll tell you what happened in the past few days." She grabbed Fairlight's healthy hand and pulled her along until she stopped at the empty bed, which was literally three steps away from her mattress.

Kendra threw a tattered blanket off so they could sit comfortably. She made a concerned face when she noticed a grimace of pain on Fairlight's face in the faint light of the stones.

"Are you all right? How are you feeling?"

"When someone stabs a sword into your arm, it will rather hurt like hell for a while." She hugged the inert arm. She didn't mention the killing and stifling feeling of emptiness that flowed her like a huge tsunami wave after the loss of her closest friends.

"I'm sorry. I'll tell the guards to let us go to the hospital tomorrow. Because of the work they sent me to, I haven't even had a moment to look at your wound."

"It's been a while since I last saw you. What kind of work is that?"

"They sent me to the building site. I really pissed off the guard there when he yanked you out of bed."

Fairlight blinked at her. They made that girl toil at the building site? But that's ridiculous!

No wonder she hadn't seen her lately. She probably went back to her bed and was dead to the world, exhausted after a day of carrying wooden beams or whatever else she was ordered to do.