Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 212: Lives

Thank you to my beta reader and editor, GlassThreads!

Arthur Leywin

Relief like a hot balm settled across my body as I saw my childhood friend, a tension I didn't even know I'd been carrying washing away in a slow trickle.

Tess looked far, far better than the last time I'd seen her. Her gunmetal gray hair was damp as it clung to her shoulders, clearly just having been washed. No longer was her face covered in blood and bruises. Instead, milky pale skin stood out, the only bit of red remaining the flush on her cheeks from exertion.

As I saw Tessia, I remembered the words Elder Rinia had told me. That Spellsong would be targeting the princess of Elenoir in an upcoming attack, and that only I could stop it. The seer had informed me that I couldn't tell anyone about this, lest I risk upsetting the delicate future she'd foreseen.

And so I'd rushed to the place she had indicated, throwing caution to the wind. The last time I'd seen Tess, she'd been battered and defeated alongside her teammates as Toren Daen loomed over her.

But that image was nowhere to be seen now.

Tess lingered at the doorway as she met my eyes, hesitating for a reason I couldn't understand. Her turquoise eyes simmered with a bundle of emotions I didn't fully comprehend as she looked at me.

"What?" I eventually asked, a bit of a smile crossing my face. "Am I that shocking to look at? I didn't think anything happened to my head during that fight, but if you're looking at me like that..."

I jokingly patted my head, miming looking for scars or burns of some sort. The act seemed to break Tess from her nervous stare, and she rushed into the room as if carried by the wind itself.

The breath was pressed from my lungs as Tess enveloped me in a crushing hug. "Shut up, idiot," she said, burying her face into my shoulder. "You shouldn't even be talking right now, much less making stupid jokes that aren't even funny."

I returned Tess' hug the best I could, her smaller frame easily wrapped by my arms. "I thought it was pretty funny," I wheezed as her grip tightened. "And if you keep squeezing me like that, I don't think I'll ever be able to talk again," I eked out, tapping my childhood friend on the back in a sign of submission.

Tess sniffled as she released me, pulling away slightly and frowning at me as emotion writ itself over her face. "You can't have been awake for even an hour and you're already like this again? Do you know how worried we all were about you?" she asked, her hand squeezing my shoulder. I got the distinct impression Tess wanted to hug me again, but there was a worried cast to her expression that stopped her.

"Tessia has been checking on you constantly," Sylvie supplied helpfully from where she was curled on the edge of the bed. "We didn't know when you'd wake up, or what the effects on you would be. She took charge of caring for you, Arthur."

A bit of color flushed Tess' face as her eyes darted nervously to Sylvie. "Yeah, well... I was the one who was there, and we've known each other since forever. And we both know that he would've gone and run off to do something stupid if I wasn't here to curb his poor tendencies when he woke up."

Sylvie settled her head between her paws, her topaz eyes glimmering slightly in quiet amusement. "That much is true," she agreed. "He does have a habit of doing stupid things when you aren't around, doesn't he?"

Tessia nodded in agreement, a surprisingly serious look on her pristine face.

I looked between my bond and the elven princess, my brow creasing as I crossed my arms. "I don't think it's exactly fair that I've just woken up and you're both teaming up on me," I lamented. "I'm a wounded patient. Shouldn't I be given some–ow!"