Demesne

When Lori woke up, her initial confusion and almost panic at waking up in a strange place was detoured by the fact she hurt. Her right side throbbed and felt stiff, as if solidifying, and her right forearm… it didn't throb, it had been dipped in molten wax and someone had opened her veins to push that wax into her veins. It pulsed, keeping time like a painful heartbeat, and the bandages felt too tight. She also had a headache for some reason, and she was thirsty.

For a moment, she just lay there on the bed, recalling the events that had brought her there and stewing in immediate regret.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. She shouldn't have ridden the dragon scale conglomerate, no matter how much her feet ached from walking. It had been such a dangerous, stupid idea, and now here she was stuck on a, admittedly very soft and comfortable and so much nicer than her own, bed.

And now she had to relieve herself, and she had a feeling that one way or another, this was going to be very undignified.

As she thought of struggling out of the nice, soft bed, there was a thump next to her, and she painfully turned her head— pulling at her right side, ow—to find Rian sleeping on the bare wooden bed next to her. The thump was his bent leg inexplicably kicking the planks under him, even as his eyes stayed closed and the rest of him lay tranquilly.

She watched, bemused, as he kept kicking the bed despite giving all signs of being fast asleep. Absently, she heard a door open, and one of the doctors came out, blinking, to see what was wrong. He took one look at Rian, turned around, and went back to his room, shaking his head.

For a moment, she just lay there with nothing but Rian's strange sleep-kicking and her pain to keep her company. Why was her neck hurting? That was one of the few part of her right side she hadn't hit…

And then her body reminded herself it had other functions with which to make her uncomfortable.

Wincing, she tried to get to her feet. Her right arm still worked, despite pulsing with agony, and if she held it against her chest, it wouldn't swing around and hurt. No, instead it would stay in place and hurt, but at least it was hurting because she was keeping it under control, not because it was just hanging loose. Her hip hurt from moving, but it was not incapacitating. It was… pain. She could live with it.

The stone floor was cold under her feet, and for a moment she wondered where her socks were. The thought was fleeting, however, as her standing up seemed to give added urgency to her needs. Fortunately, she'd been the one to put the latrine here, and she'd been back recently to alter it so the waste could be cleaned out from outside, so she knew where it was.

It was dark in there, but she was a Whisperer. Light was not a problem. Taking off her skirt was harder, because she hadn't worn a skirt since she could stop and had to remember how to get it off…

Putting it back on was also a challenge, but having one less thing hurt let her find the strength to do it. Limping across the cold stone floor, she contemplated… what? Going back to her room in her bare feet to get new clothes? Which she'd have to put on one-handed? Work through the day like this, her right arm beating like a second heart that only pumped pain?

…

Sighing, she tried to look for her shoes and socks without needing to bend down so she could go outside.

She was trying to remember how to make a reflective binding with lightwisps so she could see under the beds without bending over when she heard someone say, "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Looking for my shoes," she said, finally remembering that it was simple redirection and making the necessary binding, swaying a little as she bent down to look though it. "I have work to do. I need to finish the second level so the people can start moving there." No, her shoes weren't under the bed. "Where are my shoes?"

"I had them washed," Rian said. "And someone with cobbling tools is going over them for any damage."

Oh. Well… good!

"What about my socks?" she asked.

There was wooden creaking, and the sound of bare feet on the stone floor. "Getting washed, along with the rest of your clothes. People are very happy with the new washing area, by the way. People had already put up washing lines yesterday. I think we're going to have far fewer incidents of people 'borrowing' each other's washboards in the bath house. How did you know about that?"

"Know about what?" she said, trying not to move her head too much. It seemed to ache from inertia when it had to stop.

"Ah. Never mind, then,"

She frowned, annoyed. Why did he waste her time when she was trying to find her shoes? No, wait, he'd already told her…

"Lori, why don't you go back to bed and I'll get you some breakfast," Rian said. "I'll get you some water too, how about that?"

He held out his hand.

She glared at it. "I'm not decrepit," she said. "I don't need physical assistance getting to the bed."

Rian nodded. At least he was acting reasonable now. Whatever color had gotten into his head that had made him such an insolent little bug seemed to have washed away. Not that she was going to forgive him, but at least he wasn't making things any worse for himself. "Do you want me to get you that water then?"

"Fine…" she grumbled, swaying slightly as she turned to return to the bed. "I'll just… wake up all the way first before going back to work…"

"I'm sure the weavers and ropers can wait a little," Rian said as he went to step out. "I'll have Daising come and put ice on your bruises again. Does it still hurt?"

Obviously.

"Obviously," she said, sitting down carefully since the bedroll on the bed was thin and the bed's planks hard. Her brief time away had given the thing time to cool, and now it felt nice under her as she took a moment to get her dizziness under control, using both hands to keep from swaying too much.

Her head ached. Why did her head ache? Though it was also nice and cool, if a bit uncomfortable because it was against something hard… oh. Her face was against the floor. Why was her face against the floor? She tried to push herself up, banged her right elbow on something, and screamed in agony as her right arm decided it was a good time to be carved open and spill acid all over the floor...

"Lori?-! Lori! Where-! Lori!"

Ugh, Rian, don't be so loud, you were in the same room, there was no need to yell. Argh, be gentle, that hurt…!

"You're burning up… shit… Doctor! Samoth, Ganan, anyone, I need help!"

Again with the yelling. Why was he yelling in her ear?

"Stop yelling," she said tiredly. "I can hear you just fine…"

"Did you hurt yourself anywhere?"

Yes, obviously, she'd hurt herself yesterday… her right side ached, and come to think of it so did her the side of her neck and her armpits and…

She felt herself gently being pulled up, winced internally as she heard the commotion of the doctors coming out of their rooms. Together, the three helped her get back on her bed. She was perfectly capable of doing it herself, of course, if it wasn't for the pain on her right, and um… something…

"Lori…" Rian was in front of her. Why was he so close? She could smell his breath, and ugh it stank… "Lori, how do you feel?"

"Ugh…" she moaned.

"That's a bad moan," she heard him say. "That's a very bad moan... Lori, we're going to take off your bandages and clean your wound again, all right? This might hurt a little."

More pain. Wasn't she in enough pain? She tried to tell them no, but she could already feel the bandages being unwrapped and… ooh, that felt a little better, maybe this wasn't so—

She felt something dribbling down her arm. Was she bleeding? Argh! Argh! Stop poking, that hurt!

"Infected," she heard someone say. "This is bad, Rian. Her arm…"

Lori tried to open her eyes—when had she closed them?—but even that simple movement seemed to make her head swirl dizzily, so she had to close them again. Where was Rian with that water? She was so thirsty now…

Someone set her right arm on cold fire, and she cried out, trying to pull it away but it was held tight, and she felt so weak…

"Lori! Lori calm down! We're trying to help you! Lori, calm down!"

Rian?

"Y-yeah, it's me Lori, it's me, calm down."

Rian… it hurts…

"It'll be all right Lori, we're just cleaning your arm. Hold my hand, it'll be over soon…"

She tried to twist her body away, and immediately regretted it, her right side and her armpits and her neck and her groin all punishing her and making her suffer. She felt a hand on hers and held it tight…

––––––––––––––––––

When Lori woke up, her initial confusion and almost panic at waking up in a strange place was detoured by the fact she hurt. Her head felt like it was being squeezed, random parts of her body pulsed and ached, the whole of her felt like it had been set on fire, and her right arm… Never had she felt like she wanted to rip off a body part and cast it as far away from her as possible, but she wanted to do just that now. Her right arm wasn't hers anymore. It was clearly a traitor, sent by some unknown enemy to destroy her from within.

For a moment, she just lay there on the bed, clenching her eyes shut, trying to remember… something…

"Are we ready to launch?"

"The boat's ready, Lord Rian. Food, water, the new oars, the tent…"

"Then let's get started… hands under the bedroll everyone…"

Lori felt herself stomach lurch as she left it behind somehow, her head flopping back as her pillow fell from her head—"Shit, someone grab that!"—and her headache descended to new depths of disorientation. She felt her right arm on her chest, in fresh agony as if her wounds had all been torn open all over again…

Suddenly she was in the sun, and it was hot, so hot, she was sweating, her headache pounding even harder from the new heat, and there were murmurs of people like in the bunkers, hot and bright and noisy, and dread filled her as she knew that any moment now, people were going to start making noise and call it music…

She heard splashing, and suddenly the swaying stopped, her legs dropping on something, even as the rest of her went down a little more gently. She felt her pillow being tucked back behind her head, and she wanted to look, but even though her eyelids it was so bright, and she knew if she opened them the sun would be in her eyes…

Lori felt a gently swaying back and forth, and suddenly, darkness and coolness. Her body was still hot, but no longer from the sun, even as she felt wind against her sweat, cooling her gently…

Thuds. Crunching. Rocking sideways, and suddenly she felt like she was bouncing as well as rocking and swaying as voices sounded around her confusingly, and her headache couldn't take it, make it stop, please stop…!

One voice rose above the confusion, and she focused on it, trying to hear.

"Oars in the water! We've never done this before, so we have to learn now, and we can't stop! Down, pull, up, forward, down, pull, up, forward…"

She knew that voice…

Lori fell back into sleep to the sound of uncoordinated splashing.