Displaced

Chapter 87

The glow of sunlight filtered through canvas greeted Arlette's eyelids. They fluttered and opened weakly, and she found herself looking up at the roof of a tent that she didn't recognize. The muted bustle of many assorted people could be heard coming from all directions, though nothing nearby. A soothing feeling of familiarity washed over her. She knew these sounds; she'd heard them hundreds of times before. They were the sounds of camp.

She took a deep breath, only to shudder as the act hurt for some unknown reason. Her vision blurry, she rubbed her eyes with her hands, or at least she tried to. Moving her left arm sent a burning pain running through her left shoulder and she immediately dropped it back down as memories of the battle finally came rushing back to her slowly waking mind.

She was alive. Arlette had not expected to live. Not by the end, at least. But here she was, wherever that would be, still breathing and notably free of restraints. They must have won.

A fountain of questions surged into her mind. Where was she? Whose tent was this? How had the battle ended? Were the Ubrans completely defeated or had they just retreated temporarily? How long had she been out? Most of them she couldn't answer easily, but at least that last one she could puzzle out some.

Gritting her teeth for the potential upcoming agony, she lifted her left leg so she could see her thigh, pulling away with her right hand the blanket covering her. She shivered as much of her warmth escaped but felt none of the pain she'd expected. The muscle ached slightly, but that was all. With her right hand, she felt for the large wound but found only a long thin scar.

Muscle injuries usually healed in about four days. This wound had been a bit more brutal and worse than the normal such injury, which might have stretched the time out another day or two. And that estimate was only accurate if there was nothing else that needed to heal at the same time. She had plenty of other problems, like her shoulder, her ribs, her diaphragm...

Placing her hand on her stomach, she found several thin scars there as well, but breathing didn't hurt down there. Only her ribs hurt from that. Bones fully healed on their own in about ten days. Since her ribs and shoulder didn't seem fully healed yet, her estimate fell between five to ten days. That was how long she'd been out this time.

Even just five days was a lot of time to lose, especially at such a critical moment. She had a lot of stuff she'd need to take care of once she was mobile again, including one specific alcohol-related debt that she really didn't want to- no! She mentally grabbed every thought related to that asshole and shoved it all into a corner in the far reaches of her mind to be dealt with at a much later time. She wasn't in the mood to even tangentially think about him and she wouldn't be for a while.

Arlette's hearing picked up the sound of soft, quick footsteps drawing closer. The rustle of fabric and a temporary increase in the ambient noise outside told her somebody had entered but she couldn't see who. A small gasp followed.

"Arly-sis woke up!"

Arlette tensed up immediately and raised her right arm over her chest just in time to stop one of Pari's patented pounce-hugs from crashing down on her rib cage. The beastgirl seized on her arm instead, wrapping her own arms around it and purring up a storm while Arlette patted her head between her ears.

"Hey there, kiddo," she wheezed. "What are you doing here?"

Pari was too busy purring to answer, but the joy on her face was bright enough to light up the night sky. This wasn't bad, as far as the first person to see after coming out of a coma went.

"Pari, what's taking you so long?" another familiar voice called as they approached the tent. The cloth ruffled again. "I asked you to bring me more cloth like ten- Arlette!"