Chapter Text
You open your eyes. Eye. Eyes. Whatever. You go from asleep to awake, and you stare at the ceiling. And your thoughts swirl in front of you like ink in water, and trying to focus on one is like trying to separate them with a spoon.
You're also hungry. You lazily roll over and.. your bedside plate is empty.
Boo. You don't even remember eating it. Whatever it was.
The door opens. "Siffrin!"
Oh, Mirabelle. She looks pretty today.
"Ah - you think so?"
"Ha!" Someone laughs. "How cute." It's Odile, entering behind Mirabelle. And she's holding a plate of food!!! Odile is now your favourite.
"Aw, Sif, I thought I was your favourite!"
"You were only their favourite yesterday, and nevermore. Get with the times, Isabeau."
Mirabelle, Odile, and Isabeau. Three of the most important people you know in the world. Where's the last one, Bonbon?
Where are they? Are they - are they okay?
"Boniface is with the- hey, Siffrin. Don't touch that.."
The Sadness - you ran as fast as you could, but as you were being carried away after hurting yourself, you saw they were afraid. They must have been afraid because they were hurt, right? Did you fail? Did you fail them and hurt them?
"No- no, no, you did it! You protected them!" Mirabelle hastens to say. "They were afraid for you - you looked really.."
"We, uh, thought you were going to die, Sif."
What an odd thing to worry about. You think about the food. Odile places it in your hands - it was yours! How kind. You scarf it down.
After that, sleep rises, wanting to take you back down. It's very fast, you'd be alarmed if everyone wasn't so calm.
Odile leaves, probably to hang out with Bonbon. Isabeau and Mirabelle stay with you: Isabeau on the edge of the bed, and Mirabelle on the bedside chair. She smiles at you.
All your thoughts fall into the whirlpool of sleep.. except for one, that sticks with spines where you can grasp it. They were afraid that you'd.... Die? What's so bad about that?
You want to understand.
You grasp the thought.
You wish that you'd understand.
You grip the thought, it bites at your skin.
Sleep cradles your mind.....
And you open your two eyes to a scream.
You look up from your carving. The Sadness is huge. It towers over the tallest trees, and-
You're too far, even with Make Up The Time, but Mirabelle is closest. She dashes towards Bonnie without her rapier- Odile's cleaning it and your other weapons by the river. Isabeau is collecting firewood.
The Sadness strikes.
Bonnie screams.
And Mirabelle's body hits the grass.
You are now within striking distance, and you unleash your worst onto the Sadness. Behind you, Mirabelle also attacks.
Soon, the Sadness is no more.
But
Bonnie
Is
Still
Screaming?
You turn around. You see Odile and Isabeau running in your direction.
You see blood, and a lot of it, even though Mirabelle's facing away. Bonnie is screaming, stumbling backwards, but has their eyes locked on Mirabelle.....
Mirabelle's jaw. Or lack thereof.
Mirabelle doesn't realise. She's torn between prodding her face and trying to reassure Bonnie, mostly attempting the latter. You're torn too, but you at least grab the hand that's touching her neck, preventing her from worsening the wound.
The others arrive. Odile aims a slowing spell at Mirabelle, and then smoothly takes Bonnie by the shoulders, turning them away all in one movement.
Isabeau presses a fabric to Mirabelle's throat, then hefts her into his arms. You grab it off the floor, snap your fingers again, and then you're both running for the nearest town, trusting Odile to take care of Bonnie.
The nearest town is a day of walking away.
Your hand stings, but you snap your fingers again.
Despite everything, Mirabelle already looks half-dead.
Skin bloodless, hands limp -and she has nothing to say about how fast Isabeau's running, no joke, no reference.. she always has something to say, why can't she..! Why.....
Her chest heaves, and she coughs blood. Something's ripped.
Isabeau grimaces but stays focused. You latch onto his back, crawling up over his shoulder and reaching around to press the fabric more firmly into her throat.
It hurts, now. She groans, and it's wet and garbled. You snap your free hand. You pat Isabeau's shoulder. You feel useless. And! If the House can't reattach Mirabelle's jaw.. then what next? Mirabelle's voice is important. She's the Chosen One. She's going to need a lot of support, but you don't know if she'll accept it - she's already so anxious. How much will this set her back? How will the rest of your journey fair?
.. you're going to help her. You're going to help her no matter what she says.
You're
"Oh! Good morning, Sif!"
You blink your eyes..... eye, open.
Isabeau is beside you, with!!! A plate of FOOD!!!
You make grabby hands. You eat.
Yum.
Someone touches your face - someone, Odile, cleans your injury.
You force yourself to relax back into your sheets.
Sleep ebbs and flows and takes you.
And you open your two eyes to a scream.
You look up from your carving. The Sadness is huge. It towers over the tallest trees, and Bonnie's frozen, and-
You're too far, even with Make Up The Time, but Isabeau is closest. He drops the firewood and flexes his hands, running, feet pounding the earth.
The Sadness strikes.
Bonnie screams.
And Isabeau's body hits the ground.
You are now within striking distance, and you unleash your worst onto the Sadness. Behind you, Isa also attacks.
Soon, the Sadness is no more.
But
Bonnie
Is
Still
Screaming?
You turn around. You see Odile and Mirabelle running in your direction.
You see blood, and a lot of it. Isabeau is sitting on the ground, leaning over and tying his sash around his leg.
What remains of it, anyway. You kneel down to help, your gloves getting a better grip on the fabric than his bare hands, especially with his knuckledusters.
And Bonnie sways, and Odile takes them by the shoulder, kneeling down and whispering into their ear. Meanwhile, Mirabelle skids to a stop beside you, hands already out and bubbling with healing Craft.
Isabeau's putting on a brave face. You say something that you hope it reassuring. Mirabelle bolsters your attempt.
Isabeau says that he's okay. He's missing a leg and he says that he's okay.
And you think, how could he? He's missing a leg. He'll need to be wheeled, at the least to get a prosthetic leg fitted with craft. His leg is gone. It's way too shredded to reattach. You're all way too far from anyone who can try and craft it back together. He has so many factors stacked against him and he's trying to smile?
He's so brave. You hate that he had to be brave. You want everything to be better. You want the world to allow him a rest.
You say more reassuring things and plot about what wood you'll pick to carve him a leg. You hope he'll accept it.
"Who will accept what?"
You open your eye and see Odile. She's sitting at your bedside, reading a book. Something something Helping A Loved One Adjust to something something.
Odile moves the book, and also reads it out loud. "Adjust to unpredicted trauma, disability, or other unwelcome change." She looks to the side. "I thought it would be.. pertinent."
So nice, even though she tries to pretend she's not.
Odile looks away and blushes for some reason. Elsewhere, someone giggles.
You set aside your plate. You're still kind of hungry, but thankfully Odile seems to be full, and she gives you the rest of hers. You eat it just as fast.
Yummy!
"..You still think so, Frin?"
Of course, Bonbon. You'd like to praise their cooking more, but now you're sleepy.
Sleep flows around you.
And you open your two eyes to a scream.
You look up from your carving. The Sadness is huge. It towers over the tallest trees, and Bonnie's frozen in fear, and-
You're too far, even with Make Up The Time, but Odile is closest. She dashes towards Bonnie, clutching Mirabelle's rapier.
The Sadness strikes.
Bonnie screams.
And Odile parries the attack.
You are now within striking distance, and you unleash your worst onto the Sadness. Behind you, Odile also attacks.
Soon, the Sadness is no more.
You turn around. You see Isabeau and Mirabelle running in your direction.
Bonnie scrambles to their feet, while Odile crosses her arms, frowning at where the Sadness once was.
You make a pun. Bonnie groans and stomps their feet, which is infinitely better than being afraid, you don't want them to ever be that afraid again -and Odile looks at you.
She just.... Looks at you.
There's something off about that, but she's not wounded or anything. Perhaps she was disappointed in you?
.. you did make her run, by being too slow. And she had to use Mirabelle's rapier - so soon after cleaning it. She must be annoyed at you. She looks away, down to Bonnie, and she asks if Bonnie's okay. And you're so useless. You stuff that feeling down and also check on Bonnie.
Mirabelle and Isabeau arrive, and Odile.. also gives them that look?
Isabeau frowns and drops his gaze, and Mirabelle retrieves her rapier from where Odile dropped it. Odile doesn't uncross her arms, looking to the side.
You all messed up, didn't you?
Odile says that she needs to rest, and that she'll retire to her tent for the night.
Everyone pipes up with their own activities. Isabeau hurries back to his dropped firewood, Mirabelle heads back to the river, she must have left her fishing rod there when she heard it- and you-
You see a spec of blood on the ground, even in the dim firelight.
You smile at Bonnie and you chase after Odile.
She's kneeling in her tent, wrapping a bandage around her forearm tightly, but it's clumsy. She's using her non-dominant hand.
And, laying abandoned beside her bedroll, is her dominant hand. Severed, and too shredded to reattach.
Odile looks at you, wide-eyed. And you notice that the look was one of pain.
And you..
Are you enough?
Are you enough for her, for them all? Was she just going to hide her suffering, pretend that she can still write? You can help. You want to help, you care about her. You want to ease her suffering and for her to feel like she can trust you to help.
You reach out, hesitantly,
And
"Siffrin."
Frin!"
"Sif!"
"Siffrin!"
Your hand is held and cradled by warm ones.
You open your eye, and your friends are all around you- Odile standing at your side, Mirabelle sitting at the other, Isabeau and Bonbon sitting by your feet.
You move to sit up, and you are helped, Mirabelle pushing pillows to support your back and Odile tucking your duvet around your lap, freeing your other arm.
A plate is pushed into your hands and a drink is placed on your side table, deliberately passed close so you know it's there.
So caring, all of them.
You look at your friends and open your mouth. Close it.
Musters up some bravery, bolstered by your friends' gentle expressions. Opens your mouth.
And you speak.
"Hey, could you.... Could you all sit on my left? My neck aches when I turn."
And you are heard.