Lotus

Chapter 20

I sat in the middle of the rainforest, light pouring down through the leaves above me. I watched as large, pink and white flowers bloomed on the surface of the pond in front of me, whispering something I couldn't quite hear. Or maybe something that I couldn't yet understand.

The pearly white dragon that sat next to me was doing the same. I could see that her mouth was moving, but I wasn't sure what was coming out of it. I was about to ask when she turned to me, her black eyes meeting my blue ones.

The world around us flickered; one moment, it was sunny, the next, it was a downpour of rain. Then it was sunny again. Then rainy. The forest around me switched back and forth between these two, never focusing very long on one or the other. I felt my talons digging into the mud beneath me.

The white dragon turned her eyes back towards the pink and white flowers, the only things not changing as everything else around them did. If anything, they seemed to grow even larger.

Still watching the flowers, the white dragon spoke again. Only this time, I was able to understand what she was saying.

"My little lotus."

She smiled slightly, then everything around me began to disappear, fading into black.

The black then morphed into a gray, and then light and color began to flood in. I opened my eyes, squinting as they adjusted to the light. I didn't recognize my surroundings. Where am I?

Familiarity slowly started to settle in as I took in the cave around me. After a few moments of looking at the array of bottles and jars, I finally realized that I was in the healing center. I moved to sit up a bit, wincing at the stiffness of my joints.

"Ah, Kamala. I see you're finally awake." I turned to see Marmoset in the far corner of the cave, pouring something into a small cup. He then brought it over to me. "For the stiffness."

I took a small sniff of it. "Knyolnix and ginkgo?" 

He smiled, then chuckled lightly. "It seems you have your wits about you again." He then proceeded to describe how he made the medicine as I drank it. I tried to listen, but it was hard to focus as I started moving all of my limbs again.

I tried to piece together what had happened, but I didn't remember much. Something about mangoes, oleander, and the world spinning. "What happened? And how long was I out?"

If he was offended by my interruption, he didn't show it. "You have been unconscious for three days. I didn't want to risk slowing your body's natural healing process, so I kept you asleep the whole time. As for what happened, I don't know the whole story, but from what I've heard…"

He proceeded to describe to me what had apparently happened. Not that it helped. Either my brain was still foggy from being asleep for so long, or Marmoset was just being Marmoset.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Your, uh, friends wanted me to tell you 'hi'. They, especially the MudWing, wanted to stay with you until you woke up." Yeah, that sounded like Sienna. I smiled at that. "Of course, I couldn't let them miss several days of classes, now could I? Oh, and speaking of which, the teachers have all excused you and the others affected by the oleander from classwork for the time you've missed."

Grateful, I nodded. I wondered who else had been affected. I vaguely remembered splotches of color in here, but not enough to know who they were. I eyed Marmoset as he talked, wondering if he would give me an actual answer. Deciding against it, I figured that I would just find my winglet later and ask them.

"Well, I'm assuming you'd like to be on your way now, wouldn't you?" Marmoset asked me. I nodded, but before I could say anything, he continued. "Let me just run a few tests first, just as a precaution."

I sighed inwardly, wondering how long this would take. I then chuckled silently at myself. After all, it was pretty funny seeing this from the patient's perspective instead of the healer's for once.