Fields of blue

Chapter 7-Still learning

Several days have went by, Adaline had healed enough for her to stand without limping or be in pain, her eye is no longer swollen but still slightly blacken, her ribs was not broken thankfully but bruised enough that the dark splotches can be seen through wool, and most wounds have healed over by now or became itchy scabs. The only problem was her arm, the acid spit had left terrible damage on her skin and small spots of the wool is not growing back, leaving behind a scarred patch the size of a baseball on her arm and some small bald spots on her shoulder. She is pretty glad that the new red fleece robe covers her upper arms and shoulders, as to her it is not something nice to look at...

Ratau was in charge while Adaline was out of commission by her wounds, he ran the small cult very well, like he has done this all a thousand times. He helped feed the flock, helped the flock build a shrine by giving orders and drafting blueprints, all while helping Adaline with her wounds...She felt so horrible to make Ratau do the hard work, she will have to make sure not to push herself to hard to prevent this in the future.

She stares at the built shrine, a sheep like statue made of wood and stone, the eyes are hollow leaving empty eye sockets that the faintest of heart may find unsettling, the stone has small patches of moss in certain places, a replica crown sits on its head with no indication of what it is made of, and multiple size different stones sits around the shrine like a fairy ring of stones. She would've almost find it nice if the statue had something for the eyes instead of something dark and hollow, maybe in the future she could find some items to improve the shrine as the wooden stick body is not structurally sound enough to be a permanent thing. 

She heard footsteps moving through the ankle tall grass and bluebells before turning around to see Ratau hold a book in his hands, it was made of red leather with gold markings on its spine, the red crown carved at its front cover "how are you feeling?" Ratau says as he slowly walks up to Adaline, struggling to lean on his stick like walking cane while holding the hard cover book with his free hand. "I'm feeling much better father" Adaline answers before she meets Ratau halfway to take the book so he can no longer struggle, the book was heavy in her hands, like the pages was made of stone and the cover was iron, she can see how bad it must've been to hold it for so long "I'm glad to hear it little lamb..." Ratau sighs, looking a lot tired then normal.

"Father, i think you should rest... you've been working a lot lately" Adaline pleads with concern for his well being "i will soon, but i needed to give you this before i do" Ratau then gestures to her to open the book, coincidentally the very first page that was shown was a ability guide on changing the weapon of the crown "this book will tell you how to use the crown during battles and rituals to teleport followers to the cult and raise faith in others..." Ratau explains as he flips the page to show a teleporting spell, the pictures showing someone teleporting another person to a location "i know you don't like fighting what's out there Adaline...but this is all i can offer to help you...the crown will adapt to you over time while you learn these small spells...the battles will get easier on you over time" He continued, Adaline knows he meant that she will get stronger so she won't get hurt as bad as she did in darkwood, yet she couldn't help that there was another meaning in his words...maybe it is only her paranoia.

"Thank you father...i appreciate the help you have done these past few days" Adaline spoke in sincere gratitude "I'll be sure to look at this before i venture to darkwood again, i promise" she smiled, she knew she will have to do something to prevent herself from passing out of exhaustion again, maybe some of these won't be so bad to use. "I am glad to hear it..." Ratau smiles before giving her a quick hug "i will go and rest...but i will be back tomorrow to check on you, please. Do not push yourself to hard again..." Ratau lets her go as he spoke in concern "I will do better next time, i promise. Please go rest, i have everything under control now" Adaline assures, Ratau hesitated before nodding. He has to let her make her own decisions now... So with a goodbye, Ratau leaves the blue fields to rest back at the now lonely shack...

"Leader! M-miss Adaline!" Panona shouted after many hours later, Adaline looked up from her book to look at Panona "yes?". A tabby orange cat is leaning against Panona, their face visibly green from a being sick with vomit on their tattered clothes. "T-they came from the anura door! They hardly could stand so i thought you would help!" Panona says in visible distress, panic making them not know of what to do, Adaline stands and leaves the book of where she stayed "take them to one of the unused sleeping bags, ill do the rest" Adaline ordered, also very concerned for the new comer but tried to stay calm and collected for both their sakes. Panona nods before leading the cat to a unused sleeping bad, helping them climb inside and tuck a pillow behind their head as Adaline comes over with medicine made of Camillia flowers.

"They will be ok right...?" Panona says, worried for the stranger that stumbled into the young cult "don't worry they will be fine...How about you go and help Amdusias with chopping wood?" Adaline suggested, hoping helping Amdusias would help Panona get their mind off things "R-right! ok! thank you leader!" Panona nods before they wander away to help Amdusias as told.

Adaline looks down at the gravely sick cat as she kneels down to help them take the medicine, the cat nearly spat it out as Camillia flower medicine, is not really the best tasting. "Do you mind telling me what happened?" Adaline asked the sick cat, they look at her with tired eyes, their sickly green face not at all dimming to their normal color just yet "w-well... I came from anura, when i was running away from hekets followers-" their story was interrupted for a moment as they made a quick gagging sound by the aftertaste of the medicine, Adaline waited patiently as they composed themselves to continue their story "i-i was hiding for a while, only had rotten pumpkins to eat...the mushrooms there can make you see things" they explained, it would make sense as there was never a mushroom that could give you no effects in centuries.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of fresh food here and medicine to help you get better" Adaline assures that they won't have to resort to rotten food "you don't mind me staying...?" "not at all. You can stay here as long as you want, or until you are back on your feet" Adaline smiles kindly, she would never force them to stay if they don't want to. She wouldn't mind just to help them with no favor in return "what is your name?" Adaline asked "I'm nona" "well nona, my name is Adaline" nona then smiles back "thank you for helping me Miss. Adaline" "you're welcome. You should go sleep, someone will give you some food soon" Adaline assures before nona goes to sleep...

Anura...That is the domain of heket.

If nona is from anura, there must be more like them out there at anura that would need her help. Adaline decides to go to anura next, as soon as she finishes the curses and relics section of the book. She has a lot of work to do now....