Yami walked up the steps and into the small shack carrying a handful of bright green herbs. He stepped into the kitchen, dog following close behind. A small white kettle nearby whistled, spewing hot air from above. He turned off the old stove and set the boiling hot kettle on the counter.
"I'm back grandmother!" His potent voice yelled down the hallway.
"Did you get everything?" A weary old voice asked.
"Yes." He replied tossing the herbs into the kettle, crushing them with a clean smooth stone. He heard shuffling followed by a frustrated groan, an elder woman walking into the room. Her white hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, amethyst eyes gleaming with the youth of a twenty year old. She took a seat at the wooden table dipping a white cloth into a small container of water.
"Her fever doesn't wanna go down." She said with a hint of frustration to her voice. "I don't know why you even bothered bringing her in." She continued, sighing to express her disapproval.
"She's as good as dead."
Yami had gotten used to his grandmother's negativity and simlpy brushed off the comment, knowing his grandmother always overlooked the positive. The girl's breathing had eased, her wounds weren't as severe as they had been the night before and her face had regained most of what Yami presumed was its original color.
He poured in a strange liquid his grandmother swore was blessed by the gods themselves and stirred the concoction until in turned a sickly mud color.
"Is she awake yet?" Yami asked pouring his creation into a stone bowl.
His grandmother grunted in response squeezing the cloth dry. Sometimes Yami was grateful she replied in grunts rather then spewing out her usual stream of ancient curses.
He took the bowl and the cloth into the small room at the end of the hallway shutting the door behind him.
Yogi decided to tag along and sat at the edge of the bed, just like he had since the girl had first been brought in. Yami set the bowl and cloth down quietly on the nightstand next to the bed and walked to the tall glass doors at the end of the room opening them to let the cool breeze in.
The day was still resenting yesterday's storm, resulting in a gray sky and stronger bursts of wind. The make shift balcony was less than a mile away from the shore surrounded by a few palm tress, it truly was a peaceful sight.
He turned back to the girl, sitting in the chair that had been positioned right next to the bed.
Her long dark curly hair had been towel dried last night and now spilled all over the crisp white pillow, contrasting with her pleasantly pale skin. Judging by the minor glimpse of her eyes he had gotten last night, Yami remembered them to be muddy brown with long eyelashes framing them. In general her features were a pleasant sight, nothing exuberantly beautiful, yet still pretty.
He gently pulled the covers off her body exposing just her right arm. He smeared the muddy substance on the cloth then onto her arm, covering the still open wound, appyling a complete layer. He proceeded to do the same with every one of her wounds until he was sure he got all of them.
He sighed and let his thoughts consume his mind. Everything that had happened last night seemed like a blur now. The harsh ocean waters, the barking, her body yanked away from the shore, everything was just bits and pieces in his mind. He vaguely remembered her shivering body against his bare chest and the few shaky breaths she had managed to take. He hadn't payed much attention but he was sure she was wearing some sort of skin colored dress that reached somewhere above her knees, not very beach common but then again when it came to tourists, nothing was common.
He shifted his attention toward her unnmoving body, maybe she would wake up soon, maybe she wouldn't wake up at all, either way he had no idea who she was much less if she should even be here. Still, he had been taught to never turn your back on someone who was hurt, much less a girl. Besides, she didn't look harmful and he had to admit she looked healthier than last night.
He had considered taking her to the infermary but the island had few doctors and even fewer honest ones. Most of them based their practice on magic and religion, only a handful had been educated at real medical schools, most of them tourists who had loved the island enough to want to stay and form part of their community.
Still, he didn't need a doctor to tell him what he already knew. That she had been hurt and badly shaken by the ocean, besides it was just a matter of waiting until she woke up to really know if she was alright.
His stream of thoughts ended when he heard a faint whimpering. His first thought was Yogi but he seemed to be in a fitful sleep right at his feet and the girl didn't appear to be trying to wake up.
Yami searched the small bedroom, his eyes landing on a cream colored dog standing at the balcony with its tail between its hind legs and its head bowed as if in mourning. Yami recognized the dog as the same one that had been running into the ocean with the girl, the reason she had ran into the tidal wave in the first place.
"Hey." He said in a low luring voice, extending a hand to signal for it to come closer. The dog semmed to trust him enought to take a few cautious steps into the room. It stopped to sniff the air and bolted towards the bed, tail wagging and all.
Yami was quick to get up and gently push the dog of the bed, making sure it hadn't hurt the girl. He figured the dog had recognized its owner after searching throughout the night. He knelt and smoothed through the dogs ragged hair, his fingers finding a black collar with a silver name tag that read 'Sable'. Yami peered down and found that the dog was indeed a 'she'.
"Sable." He repeated, petting the dog. Yogi seemed to have finally notice another dog's presence and proceeded to sniff the dog's nose, wagging his tail at finally having some company of the same species. Yami gave the pair a faint smile and got to his feet remembering his pending appetite.
He left the room leaving the two dogs to guard the stranger and made his way down to the kitchen only to find his grandmother chatting with a blonde girl, something definetly rare around here.
"Oh Yami you're here. Look this young lady here says she knows the girl you rescued last night." She said pointing towards the blond.
"I'm Skyelaar." She said shaking his hand, something he knew was only common amongst American tourists.
"Yami." He replied cautiously. Her hair almost reached down to her waist and her eyes were a mystical shade of green something like an emerald.
"Yeah... the girl is probably my best friend Diana. We came here for a vacation a couple of days ago and she said she would be on this side of the island while I went out for a date and honestly this sounds just like the kind of thing that would happen to her." She said finishing with a goofy grin. Obviously oblivious to how strong the storm had been the previous night.
Yami nodded and led her to the room he had just emerged from, his appetite momentarily ignored. They walked in and Sable seemed to recognize her by the way she ran towards her, wagging her tail in excitement. She ignored the dog and walked to the bed, brushing a strand of hair off the girls face.
"God, I didn't think it was this bad." She said upon inspecting her wounds, a hint of sadness in her eyes.
Yami did nothing but stay out of her way, standing in a corner of the room. There was something about this girl he didn't quite trust, still she insisted on being the girls friend so she couldn't be that bad. She finished inspecting her friend and sighed, a worried frown on her foreign features.
"Is she allowed to stay here? I mean she's too hurt to be taken back to the hotel, but if she's causing you trouble then..." She trailed off, shining emeralds never leaving the girl's face.
"No not at all, she can stay here until she's strong enough to leave." He said giving the girl a forced smile and following her gaze.
'If she wakes up..'