Abalyes Voltaris

The Song's Toll

The Song Gallaniara had was starting to take it's toll on me. I was slowly dying of blood loss. Gallaniara held my head across her lap, gently stroking the side of my face, watching my markings, that were slightly dulled, carefully. I heard footsteps but didn't react to them.
"What happened?" Thalleous asked, he looked at me with very slight worry.
"My Song requires her blood to make me look like her. It's slowly killing her and this is the state she's in right now," Gallaniara replied. "The Song also tests blood. I can find out what blood type anyone is. The problem now is I have a different blood type to Abalyes. I can't give blood." She looked up at Thalleous with a pleading expression. "Please, help her. All I need to do is test your blood. If you match her blood type, you give it. If you don't, she'll be out of action for a very long time or, possibly, die of the blood loss." Thalleous sighed.
"Okay, I'll help." He held out his arm and Gallaniara took a needle out. "That thing clean?" Gallaniara rolled her eyes.
"Of course it is. I'm not gonna give you any diseases or infections." He slightly relaxed. She put the needle into his arm.
"Ow!"
"I forgot to sharpen it though." She took some of his blood out and a tiny amount of mine and put it onto her Song. "It matches Abalyes' blood type." She looked at Thalleous, he sighed and put his arm out again. Gallaniara took a much bigger amount this time and injected it into me. "She should have a greater chance of survival now. Thank you so much!" She carefully put my head onto the blanket that she was sitting on and hugged Thalleous. He didn't know how to react to a Voltaris thanking him and hugging him. He returned the hug anyway.
"You're welcome." He smiled and seemed to be blushing, well, blushing as much as an Ardoni can. "I uh, should be going now before someone sends a search party out for me."
"Okay. Be safe!"
"Don't doubt me."
"I wasn't doubting you." Thalleous smiled again and headed back in the direction of the main camp.

A couple of days after Thalleous had given me blood, I was up and about, not fighting yet though.
"Did I ever say that I heard and saw most of your conversation with Thalleous? I saw you hug him," I teased. Gallaniara rolled her eyes.
"No, but I figured you would've heard and seen a bit of it," she replied. "Wait, what are you suggesting?"
"Nothing."
"Abalyes.."
"Okay fine. You like him."
"Not in the way you're thinking." I sighed.
"You always try to prove me wrong when it comes to these things."
"And you're surprised about that?"
"Unfortunately no. I know you too well to be surprised anymore." We were silent for a few minutes.
"When will you be ready for fighting again? I feel horrible everytime I miss a battle because I can't use my Song and people will recognize my markings if I used yours."
"I guess one of us needs to fight. They're gonna start getting suspicious." I thought for a moment. "How about, in the next few days, I start getting ready for battle?"
"Okay, but it means I can't fight, we can't take that risk of using the Song again."