Roses, Thorns, and Love

Relief At Last

    The water trickled from the porcelain cup into janners mouth. All the sudden, an apprehensive feeling crossed through the Wingfeathers and Sarah, everyone watching carefully as Artham pulled the cup from janner, setting it down and letting out a shaky breath.

"Do..do we just wait?" Everyone turned to place their eyes on kalmar as the young boy spoke, fidgeting. "Yes, my dear. We wait."
Minutes passed. They felt like hours as the family listened to the chattering of crickets or the trickling of water. Sometimes, now and then, they would exchange worried  words or glances. Leeli kept silent, watching her brother. Her gaze unwavering as Baxter sat behind her, his tounge lolling out of his mouth. Even he seemed tense, the muscles rigid under his soft fur.

"Mom!" Leeli gasped, quickly moving from her spot to Janners side, picking up his hand. Her mother rushed over, giving Leeli a confused look. "His hand...look." Her mother's eyes followed Leelis gaze as Janners hand slightly trembled. Eventually, everyone crowded around the boy, Leeli and her mother slightly pushing them away and standing back themselves to give him some room. Suddenly, Kalmars face lit up, and took Leelis hand in his, whispering something barely audible to the rest of them. "Leeli sing. Please, you need to sing, listen to me."

   Leelis eyebrows raised a hair, but seeing the desperate look on her brother's features told her that she should listen. He dropped her hand and she straightened her back, attempting a note and wincing slightly as she took a sip of the water they brought with them to sooth her throat from crying.
She opened her mouth, recalling the words as she closed her eyes and took a light breath to stop her trembles before letting the music pour out of her.

"O holoré lay thee low," She took another breath, opening her eyes slightly, "Holoél dark in the deep, Down beneath, the earth you go, Go holoré fast to sleep," She took a step closer to her brother, her voice becoming softer and more passionate. As Leeli sang, her voice was that of a nightingale, the melody echoing through the trees. "O holoré lay thee low, Holoél dark in the deep, Down beneath the earth you go, Go holoré." She saw janners hand rise slightly, his eyebrows knitting together. It was working, and her mother joined in, quickly picking apart the pitches and harmonizing with Leeli.

   Soon enough, the whole of the family was singing Yurgens tune. Leeli dropped to her brother's side, whispering the lyrics to him.  Sarah leaned janner up against her and whispered sweet nothings. Slowly, his eyes twitched and Nia struggled to maintain her composure, her hands tediously wearing away the seams of her dress. Leeli watched, her voice now grew quite, sounding something akin to the bristling of the leaves everytime a gust blew through. Janner's eyes peeled open, enough to where they could see the pools of dazzling blue. Leeli inched away, allowing a trembling Nia whose sobs echoed through them to cradle janner in her arms as Sarah cried silently. Slowly, the sun set, the wind becoming brisk.

"My prince...my son...come back to me."
If Leeli weren't next to her weeping mother, she wasn't sure that she would catch the meek words. Janner looked frail, as if he could easily break. He tried to raise up, only to be stopped by his mother and her scolding glare. "No. Rest, you must be parched." A flask was passed to Nia, and anyone might have mistaked the scene of Nia giving her revived son water as a mother cradling a newborn and giving the child a bottle of milk. Leeli almost laughed at the thought that was immersed in the mass of others. "Mom, Sar-"
He coughed, Nia's gaze turned soft as the boy could barely get the mere words out.
"Sarah. What is going on?" His voice, though shaking, grew strong and his mother helped him to sit up more.

"Finally you're back. Next time you want to
sacrifice yourself, let me know. That's an order."
Kalmar spoke with a witty tone but his eyes betrayed his emotions as he sat with the rest of the family. "Thank you. I owe you."
Janner's laugh filled the air. "Of course, oh great one. Your welcome."
Artham dropped down and a smile rested on his lips.
"You are the best Throne warden the world has ever seen. Janner, my boy, you are everything Esben had wanted you to be." The corners of the winged man's lips were tugged up, his grin proud. He ruffled Janner's already-messy hair. "We should get moving if we want to reach the boat before we lose sun light completely." Nias words were thoughtful as she spoke with an otherworldly grace. "Then we best get a move on." Artham scooped Janner into his arms as the boy winced. Leeli walked to Baxter, the great beast lowered himself as Leeli flung herself onto his back. "Maybe it would be best for Janner to ride with me. Baxter will be careful. It also would be good to reserve our energy."

But a few minutes later, the family crossed through the forest. Baxter led, his strong strides accompanied by a stiff side trot here and there which Leeli slightly reprimanded him for as Janner breath was tight with pain and aching muscles. "Are you okay?"
Leelis hair whipped around as she faced Janner after he let out a sigh. "I'm fine, just a little uncomfortable, being dead can do that to a man." Leeli debated wether to laugh or not. She didn't fine Janners lackluster attempt at humor "funny" as he gave her a grin. "What? At least I'm honest."
Leeli laughed and reached around to cuff him over the ear before paying attention to the trail ahead of her.

The sun was low as the Wingfeathers neared the ending of the trees and sagged with exhaustion. They made their way to the treeline and walked across the ground to the ship that stood, waiting for its passengers to climb aboard. "Let's go, quickly." At Nias word, the family scampered onto the ship, sitting down on the deck after the eventful trip.

I hope yall enjoyed this chapter, but I kinda felt as if the singing part was kind of cringy. It's okay though. I have a question,

Who is your favorite character in the Wingfeather saga?

With that being said, word count- 1082