FireBound

Chapter 4

I woke up to screams.

I tried opening my eyes- but they felt heavy as if a couple of boulders had been pressed against my eye sockets. Everything was a comforting black. But waking up to a kind of duel going on inside the room I was in did not expect count as comforting.

At least I was alive. That still counted as something, no?

There was some kind of incense burning. Lavender mixed with cinnamon and maybe a hint of honeysuckle which made breathing a bit easier.

I laid in wait as I my body finally started feeling mine again. To my relief, the screaming had quieted down. Even if I didn't know if that was because I'd intentionally toned them out or if they had actually had the decency to realize that shouting close to a wounded person was not the smartest thing someone could come up with.

I snugged deeper into a pillow, my fingers sinking deep into the fold I felt under the palm on my hand. Everything hurt- every limb felt sore, my muscles strained, and my throat dry as if I was still falling down the sky with the air slapping my face.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a couple of eyes staring right at me. Or to be precise- only one was staring at me. The other one was simply starting down where I was, eyes vacant and mouth slightly parted. The emotions I saw travel inside Alyssa eyes as we crossed gazes made my heart cry out of gratitude.

Something touched my hand- and I didn't need to know it'd been Alyssa's doing. This was something she did- touching, to make sure she was not imagining things.

"I would slap you if I could prove you I'm well," I wondered if she'd even understood what I'd just said.

She shook her head and gripped my hand tighter. Her eyes filled with tears that just did not seem to fall down. I took that as a sign that she'd understood what I'd just said.

I exhaled. Inhaled. And the exhaled again as slowly as I could. Lifting my head was not an option, so I abandoned my body once more against the pillows. I would have recognized the wooden beams of this ceiling anywhere- the numbers of nights I'd spent in the infirmary was something I wasn't really proud of.

"You give your friend here a good scare, girl," the poised voice of Madame Roween's made me crack a smile. But even smiling had now turned out to be font of pain- a sprang of pain made the muscles inside my mouth snap shut.

"Don't tell me you didn't miss me too," I tried making a joke to alleviate the mood, but it seemed that Madame Roween wasn't in the mood.

Not that I was in that mood myself- but someone had to try and crack a smile, otherwise I would have easily died under a pressure I knew I could not control.

"I would be happy see you roaming the streets of Arcane and not end up here," she said.

"You just need to get used to it." I replied. My throat felt on fire, in desperate need of water to quench the growing thirst. Madame Roween gestured to Alyssa to bring her a cup of water before I could even finish formulating the thought in my mind.

"Stop ending inside my infirmary at the end of each school term and I'll start thinking about it." Madame Roween snatched the cup from Alyssa's hand and brought it to my lips.

I felt as a young child who'd just woken up after coming down with a cold and needed to be continuously tended to. Inutility was something I loathed, but at the same time being on the wrong side of Madame Roween could easily be classified as the end of a career that hadn't even started in first place. I stared at her for a couple of seconds after trying to get something down my throat. Her eyes could not truly see me- not anymore at least, but the precise she had used was just impeccable- chirurgical even. Many years ago; she'd been the Head of Division of the Astral Scholars, but an accident happened and made her loose her sight- she never went into details no matter how many times I asked.