Some Fall By Virtue

Chapter Eighteen: 'cause they come and go

Healing without chakra, or so Sakura was discovering, was so very tedious. More so when one's soulmate was nowhere in sight. Though that was probably for the best, Sakura mused as she finished another stitch on the little piece of fabric she had been given to alleviate her boredom. She probably deserved the boredom over anything fun – dragons weren't allowed to have fun. Well, aside from when they were sowing seeds of dissent and hatred. Sakura had sworn off those aspects of her nature.

Though the golden thread she was using to stitch an ugly pattern on her fabric square probably proved otherwise though. She, like the rest of her kin, had an uncanny obsession with gold. It didn't particularly help that her soulmate's hair was practically an imitation of just that. Fitting, she thought, humming quietly under her breath. Oh, yes, the voice whispered, makings its appearance then. A golden hero has to be the most fitting soulmate for an ugly black dragon.

"Do try to avoid pricking your fingers this time," Noeneth called from the chair in which she sat a short distance away. "They hardly appreciate being stabbed many a times," the elleth remarked, a wry smile set upon her lips as those eyes flickered over onto her.

Sakura hummed. "I wouldn't be so sure," she mumbled, momentarily forgetting that elven hearing was better than an ordinary human's.

"Should you keep growing injured, no matter how small," Noeneth spoke, voice slicing through the oddly thick air in the room between them, "then I would fear there to be another problem. Though I have no doubts that between Lord Glorfindel and Lord Elrond, the matter would be seen to and solved." Grey eyes bore into her own, despite the metres of space separating them. "The pair of them tend to be rather... tenacious when their interest is piqued – and you dear Lothien, have definitely piqued the curiosities of many."

Sakura shifted in her bed with its far too soft mattress and quilts. "Are elves always so terribly curious as to the matters of others?" she asked, tilting her head, resuming her angry stabbing of the material in her hands. "I was rather led to believe it the complete opposite."

"You would be correct," Noeneth remarked. "However, you have taken up residence in our realm, injured and without home as you are. That, I believe, makes you somewhat of our business – how else are we to welcome a guest if we know nothing of them?" she questioned, and Sakura felt herself squirm once more. She didn't like attention. Sakura supposed she never had, aside from perhaps in her first and second lives, and perhaps she had wanted the attention of precious few in her third life. She had been a shinobi for two of her four lives then and there, and those rarely wanted to be noticed amidst enemy territory.

Elven territory was certainly just that. She was still waiting for the protections of the valley to scorn her so. She didn't quite understand why they hadn't, though Sakura supposed she was now a guest there. Maybe that was it? Her shoulders slumped, and blood welled up from the now-broken skin of her finger. She had tricked them into believing her a guest... That had to be the answer to many a mystery.

"I feel as though, perhaps, you may have been better served with taking up painting as a hobby," Noeneth said, and Sakura sucked on her finger, setting her stitching to one side as she flopped back on her bed. "It may have been far messier and harder to complete on bedrest, but I doubt even you could be clumsy enough to injure yourself by painting."

A snort escaped her lips before she could catch it. "My," Sakura muttered. "That almost sounds like a challenge..."

Noeneth sniffed then, glaring at her pointedly with those grey eyes which didn't really leave an impact on her. She had seen prettier, but then again she was probably biased. "Lothien, I feel as though I ought to remind you of the fact Lord Glorfindel has asked for confirmation of your activities upon his return – if only to ensure you do nothing so foolish, such as lugging around a heavy pot of water with broken ribs and numerous other bruises and abrasions to your skin..."