NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY: The Adventures of the Creeping Bam (BOOK 4: The Hunt)

CHAPTER NINE: ART

I stop before knocking on the door, my nerves just fail me for a long beat and I have to take a step back, wringing my paws fretfully, before turning back and taking a deep breath, working on summoning the guts to do this after all. What Kesla's having to do right now is so much worse, I know it, I told her I would be up for doing this instead of her, and I can't let her down. I gotta man up. So I ball the fist and raise it, only hesitating for a moment before knocking, standing up straight as I wait.

It rakes a few moments for the door to open, but then I'm not really all that surprised. Tulen's been right through it over the past night, and she's likely not had much chance to rest since, despite getting run even more ragged at the Vezrim estate. I got a look at her when they first brought her in after they all got back, she was barely conscious and bleeding profusely from her nose and eyes and even coughing up odd mouthfuls while Shul tried to hold her up enough to just get her to one o' the beds. It didn't take the two healers who snapped to it to help her more'n ten minutes to get her awake and sat up again, but she looked proper fucking miserable all the same, like she had the mother of all headaches from some kinda vicious backlash. So they just helped her out the room to join Sessa, who'd been moved into one o' the recovery rooms down the hall, and we ain't seen either of 'em since. Honestly, I feel a proper bastard calling on her in the first place, I'd much rather just let 'er sleep after that.

Certainly she don't look much better when she pokes her head out, mostly she looks worn thin and ready to drop. She blinks down at me for a few moments, like she's fighting to focus, and I wonder if maybe I just woke her up again as she'd finally managed to nod off, and it makes me feel worse to think that might be it. Damn it ... then she tries a smile that pretty much entirely fails to materialise, and when she speaks it's more of a sigh than actual words. "Hey ... are you all right?"

Wow ... I'm a moment answering for that. "What ... am I all right? I'm so sorry I disturbed you, clearly. We just wanted ... um ..."

"We?" She frowns over my head now as she casts about, like she's looking for phantoms accompanying me, maybe. "But it's just –"

"Kesla wanted to make sure you were all right. You and ... well, after we got back and you both just disappeared, we didn't get a chance to ..." I growl at myself, having to grit my teeth as I rethink my words. "Um ... how is she? Sessa?"

"Oh ..." She looks down, and for a beat I think she might be about to start crying after all. "She's ... well she's still out. But they told me she's finally started responding to the healing spells, which was good. They just had to ... had to cut away the ..." Her voice is starting to break after all. "The rot ... in her arm ..."

To hell with it ... I step forward into the doorway and just give her a hug after all, wrapping my arms tight as I can round her back and pressing my cheek into her chest. Trying really hard not to think the thoughts that that small part o' me starts having as I realise what I'm actually getting half a face-full of. This really ain't the time, she's clearly still suffering an' I really don't wanna make her even more uncomfortable.

Thankfully, she don't quite burst into tears like I kinda expected, instead simply responding to my hug after a few awkward, stiff moments and returning the embrace, tilting somewhat so she can rest her chin on my crown. Her silken hair tumbles into my face and it's cool and soft, and it just feels real nice with everything else.

Finally she pulls away, and when she reaches up to brush her cheek I see she started weeping a little after all, but has it under control. After a beat she beckons me after as she starts to withdraw into the room proper. "Come in. Please."