Guardians of the Sword (on-hold)

Chapter 11: Woman in His Memories

Rei was sleeping on a hammock on the porch when Altaecia, Zedina and Yume arrived. Majica was sitting next to that hammock, waving her hand from side to side as if looking at something only she could see. Cloud was sleeping on a chair nearby while Garr was chopping wood right off the porch. Anyo was gathering the chopped woods and piling them up. Zedina headed straight inside the house without addressing Garr or anyone. Altaecia just shook her head at them when she saw Garr’s questioning look. She then dropped the heavy basket she was carrying on Cloud which startled him. Yume carried her own basket to the kitchen with Cloud and Garr following behind her. Altaecia stayed behind to watch over the prince. Anyo picked up the ax that Garr dropped and continued chopping the woods. Majica remained where she was as if she couldn’t see anyone.

“She wrecked the place?” Cloud asked in a whisper.

Yume nodded as she unloaded the basket she was carrying on the table in the kitchen. “It was frightening. I never thought I’d see her like that.”

“She risked her life again,” Garr said with obvious disappointment in his voice.

“And Altaecia’s and Yume’s,” Cloud added.

“She has to stop doing that,” Altaecia said as she came in the kitchen.

“Where is she?” Garr asked.

“She’s sleeping.”

“Where’s the prince?” he asked next.

“I moved him to one of the beds.”

Garr fell into silence again.

“What are you thinking, big guy?” Altaecia asked, sitting next to Garr on the table.

Garr was looking at the cup he was holding. He was in deep thoughts.

“It’s obvious that he’s worried about Zedina,” Cloud said.

“We’re all worried about Zedina,” Yume said.

“She cast three ultimate spells in succession. That’s a death wish,” Altaecia said.

“I’ll talk to her,” Garr said.

All three stared at him but he didn’t react to those questioning looks they were sending him. He was thinking of Zedina and what could have happened to her if she wasn’t strong enough. He realized that it scared him to even think that Zedina fainted and was unconscious for more than a day. If he was there, he might have done something to stop her from casting the spells. He could have fought his way to weaken the enemy to spare Zedina from casting the third spell that must have probably drained her energy. It simply scared him to think that she had done that again.

“She can’t cast another spell for a few days,” Altaecia said to the group.

“Is that a rule for spell casters?” Yume curiously asked.

“No,” she replied. “That’s my rule.”

Yume chuckled.

“I agree. She can’t be asked to cast another spell in probably a week or so,” Cloud added.

“If you ask me, she shouldn’t be casting spells in the next three weeks,” Garr said.

“Three weeks?” Altaecia and Cloud said in chorus. They were a little surprised.

“One week for each spell,” Garr explained. “She’s lucky she survived. If she isn’t as stubborn as she is sometimes, I wouldn’t want her to cast a single spell, not even a simple spell, in more than three weeks.”

“We understand that you are worried about Zedina, but keeping her from casting spells for three weeks will make her difficult to deal with and a difficult-to-deal-with spell caster is the last person we’d want to live with,” Cloud argued.