Tales of Avanturia 1

Chapter 21: Stitches

They've all returned to their residence in the silence of the night. They were quite slow, because of a terribly injured Fenrock, who was supported by one his best friends – Brynjolf.

Yes, yes, they were a strange bunch.. a tailor, a gambler, a princess and an outcast, but titles didn't mean anything to them, because the bond of their friendship was stronger than clichées..

Eventhough everyone said that Lucia should really get some rest after everything that's happened today, she couldn't find any sleep. Outside she saw Brynjolf and Bella talking, so she decided not to disturb them. From another room inside she saw light. Fenrock sat on a chair, treating his wounds. It was obviously painful, pouring the alcohol on the wounds, cleaning them, stitching them and so on.

„Hey, Fenny.." She said gently, „Can I help you somehow?"

„Lucia." For a moment, he stopped and looked up, „Nah, I'm good, you should really rest." he said before he returned to stitching his arm.

Lucia slowly approached him, sat down on another chair, then she took the needle from him, „Come on, I think, I'm better at this." she said smiling tenderly.

„You've done this before?" Fenrock asked.

„Kind of. My uncle used to teach me those things." she replied.

„Well, I must say, he did a good job teaching, you're really good at this." Fenrock commented.

After the first wound was stitched, Lucia put both her hands on it, her arm started to glow, „Hey, stop it, you shouldn't use your magic right now." Fenrock protested, grabbing her hand.

„And what are you gonna do about it..?" Lucia asked ironically, „Don't worry, I'll stop when I'm feeling too exhausted."

The young girl then continued to heal Fenrock's wounds, „You know," she started, „When you didn't return to the residence, I got so worried, if something had happened to you, then when you called.. I didn't know what to do.. I felt so helpless without your advise.."

Fenrock saw a single tear rolling down her face whiped it away tenderly, „Don't beat yourself up about it, that's nothing to blame yourself about. Only shows, how caring you are." he said.

„But I felt like I lost complete control.. And then.. when we found you.. in that room.. when you didn't move.." she started sobbing, „I wouldn't know, what I'd do without you.."

„Come on, don't even think about things like that." Fenrock said calm, „Trust me, I've been through worse and this wasn't my first interrogation that turned out like this. This time, I'm just very glad, that I've got you to have my back and save me. I guess, I just wasn't careful enough."

Lucia then immediatly stopped her healing and wrapped her arms around Fenrock, pressing her head against his chest, „Then please promise me to be more careful in the future!" she cried, „I was so afraid to lose you, Fenrock! Don't leave us! Don't leave me...!"

Fenrock put his arms gently around her, „I promise.." he said, „And don't be so hard on yourself, you really shouldn't. If it wasn't for you, none of us would've made it."

„You think so..?" she asked sobbing.

„Of course I do.. If you ask me, you're the actual hero here!" he replied.

„..Thank you.. Fenny.."

„But do you know, what heros need from time to time? Rest. And sleep, to recharge their energy."

Lucia smiled warmly as she rose from her chair, „..Ok then." she agreed, leaving the room. She felt a calming warmth around her heart and couldn't help but smiling.

Fenrock smiled aswell, however, it was a bittersweet feeling, which he had, „..I promise..." he quielty repeated as he finished bandaging himself.

Outside Bella and Brynjolf were talking. After everything, they were settling their differences..

„I think, we've got too worked up into this whole feud, huh?" Brynjolf said.

„Yeah, kinda.." Bella replied.

„...I'm sorry.." he said hesitantly.

„Oh come on, it's me, who has to apologize. I shouldn't have said some of the things I did." she replied.

„Looking back, we both made mistakes. But my code of chivalry provides, that I apologize, so accept, or be ignored!" he joked.

Bella chuckled lightly, „You're such a dork.."

„So, everything's okay between us again?" Brynjolf asked, extracting his hand for a handshake.

„Of course." Bella, however, didn't want to shake hands. She simply hugged him, which he of course returned.

„This island is really something else, isn't it." Brynjolf mentioned, „I'm really looking forward to the outcome of this whole thing."

„Me too." Bella agreed, „But I think, that there's more to it, than we know right now."

„Well, I think, we shouldn't worry about that know." Brynjolf sighed, „It's been a busy day and, frankly, I'm quite tired."

„Yeah, me too, I think, we should go get some sleep, tomorrow's probably going to be busy aswell." Bella agreed.

The two then went back inside, each to their respective rooms. Two hours passed and it was shortly after midnight. Strangely, it seemed like it actually got even darker. There were very few stars tonight, but the moon stood high, however, it didn't shine as bright.. The strange thing is, that this was just happened.

All three of the Blood Roses were in their room and more or less sleeping. Brynjolf was sleeping tightly, Bella also more or less and Lucia was well on her way, the exhaustion slowly got to her.

And Fenrock? Well..

Fenrock looked out of his window. He still sat on the chair at the small table. The way, the moon changed all of a sudden didn't pass him unnoticed. He was thinking.. Who could they trust? Fenrock was thinking about arranging a meeting with this Makoto.. But it would be difficult to manage.

„Maybe I'll give the others a day off tomorrow." he thought, „They've really worked their asses of to get me out of there and they deserve it, especially Lucia."

All of a sudden, he got a really strange feeling..

The direction of the wind changed..