The Light That Shines From Above

Chapter 52

I sucked in a sharp breath causing Ikzo to freeze. "It's okay, it's just cold," I said.

He began to move again but with the same over exaggerated gentleness. His fingers hardly applied any pressure as they swiped along the healing stiches. He was applying the antibacterial cream before I could bandage the area again.

He was terrified to cause any pain and every movement on my end made him pause. The cream, even when left at room temperature, was incredibly cold. I think because of how sensitive the skin was it made the cream seem colder too.

It had been over 200 starpasses since the incident and I felt back to normal. I still had some pain here and there but with the medicine it went away quickly. My biggest wound was my abdomen. With the medication it only tugged uncomfortably when I tried to anything. I knew that was a result of the stiches trying to stay in place.

During the first 192 starpasses Ikzo kept a constant watch over me. He worried about my head injury, keeping food and water near me at all times and he never turned the main light on in the room.

I was extremely grateful for him. I knew everything he was doing was to make me feel better and it helped. I had a bit of a headache earlier but it went away after I took more medicine and he clicked all the lights off.

"It looks better already," he muttered. His purple cat eyes inspected the stitching as he prepared a new bandage. "The redness has gone down anyway."

"It feels better," I commented.

"Does it still tug?"

I watched his fingers as he gently applied the clean bandage, applying some sort of an adhesive to the edges then softly pressing down.

"Yeah but it used to throb a bit even when I wasn't moving. It doesn't do that anymore," I informed him.

He pressed a kiss to the skin right above the clean bandage. "I'm glad." He rose from beside me.

I stretched up to kiss his lips. "Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome Likaliv."

I pulled down the loose sweater I put on today. Since we got back I was wearing my earth clothes. Usually I just wore my pajamas to bed and changed into a suit during the day. However the suit fit tight to my body and it irritated the bandage when I moved. With my jeans and loose tops nothing brushed against the area.

We walked into the eating area together and I was immediately relieved to see Haslo. I hadn't seen anyone from the group since the incident. Halso was the one I was most worried about, even though Ikzo said she was okay I couldn't stop worrying. She was shot right in front of me and I thought she died.

"Hello Heather," she greeted. Her long black hair was pulled back in twisting braids, her green eyes always standing out against her red skin.

She was standing by the table where a few of the others were. "Hey Haslo," I replied then when I was close I hugged her. "I'm glad you're okay."

She didn't stiffen at my action but her reaction was slow, almost robotic as she hugged me back. I realized then they probably didn't do that either. On earth it was common to hug someone you were relieved was okay or happy to see. I hadn't been in this situation before so I didn't think it through.

"Yes you too," she voice conveyed all her emotions. She was happy to see me but confused.

I pulled back with a sheepish smile. Glancing to the others I could see them watching me with strange expression, like they were trying to figure out what I was doing. Well everyone except Ikzo.

"Sorry was that weird?" I laughed under my breath.

"Yes," Halso said honestly.

"No," Ikzo said at the same time.