That morning, Lambert and his wife, Falitna, were two of the first ones to wake up. After they were ready for the day, Lambert looked at her. "Falitna, would you mind checking on Nagit? I'll check on Chezem, in the meantime." he said. Falitna looked at him. "Of course, dear." she replied, smiling at him. They each went down separate hallways after about a few minutes of walking together and a kiss between them. Falitna eventually reached Nagit's room. She knocked on his bedroom door. "It's Falitna. May I enter?" she said. A moment passed, then another. Finally, just when she was becoming concerned, she heard him say, "..Come in." She entered his room and immediately noticed he was sitting by the window, looking out at the snow with a vacant expression. "Lambert went to check on her and Chezem. I'm sure she'll be fine. If she made it this far, then she should be able to recover." she said, trying to help cheer him up. A moment of silence passed, then Nagit said, "You know the snow started covering the ground, last night, don't you?" Falitna wondered if that had anything to do with him being upset. "Yes, so I heard. Why do you ask?" Nagit then sighed as he kept staring out the window.
"Usually, when the snow starts falling, I want to smile. However, when I had realized what happened to her, the snow had just started to fall. It didn't make me want to smile, this time. Honestly, I wanted to cry, but no tears came to my eyes. Therefore, I couldn't cry, even though I wanted to do so. I felt a heaviness inside instead. How would I be able to live with myself if she dies from this?" he said with a hint of sadness in his voice. He was trying to appear stronger than he was on the inside, but it was obvious that he was trying not to break down and cry. After all, she had already been able to tell that he had already cried a bit before she had arrived at his bedroom door. She walked over toward him until she stood beside him. "I suppose you are in need of a hug? I know you've been crying." she said. It was then that Nagit was fighting back tears, but he couldn't for long. "I don't want her to die, Falitna! I feel so terrible about the fact that she could die because of me!" he said then started to cry as much as he had wanted to do so since last night. Falitna hugged him until he was able to calm down, trying to reassure and comfort him.
Meanwhile, Lambert had arrived at the room of which he was told Chezem and the woman were currently located. Doctor Perry had arrived a few minutes after. "Prince Lambert, may I ask why you're standing out here instead of going inside the room?" he asked. Lambert looked at the door. "I wanted to check on my brother and to see if the woman's condition has improved, at all." he replied. Doctor Perry walked to the door and knocked. "Prince Chezem, it's Doctor Perry. May Prince Lambert and I enter?" A moment of silence passed. "Enter." Lambert opened the door and went inside, followed by the doctor. "Lambert, it's suprising that you'd check about her condition." Chezem said. Lambert looked at the woman. "Anyone who'd risk their life for one of us should be considered a friend of ours. Last I heard, friends try their best to look after each other. Am I correct, brother?" he said. Chezem, unable to argue, nodded and looked back at the woman. She was awake, but it was obvious she was still feeling drowsy. It was partially the medicine, but most of it was from having rescued Nagit and trying to avoid dying from her wound which she obtained as a result.
"Okay, miss, how are are we feeling today?" Perry asked. The woman didn't speak, which was no surprise to either Chezem or Perry. However, Lambert was curious as to why she hasn't yet said a word. "Why don't you speak?" he asked as the woman looked at him. "Are you unable to speak?" he asked. The woman shook her head. Lambert then started to get frustrated, but kept his tone in check. "Then why do you not speak? How will we know if you're in any pain, let alone if you need anything?" he said, only to soon see Chezem raise a hand. "Brother, calm yourself. Nagit said that she didn't even speak when she rescued him. I'll admit she never spoke a word the whole time I was trying to bring her here, and even up to this point, it remains the same way. If and when she chooses to speak, we'll have to let her do so when she's ready. How do you know that she even trusts us, Lambert?" he said, to which Lambert couldn't offer a reasonable response. "I don't know, but she should trust us! After all, we're saving her life!" he said after a minute.
Chezem gave Lambert a firm look as he went to stand up. "She doesn't know us, Lambert. Tell me this, brother: If you were in her situation, having to be around people whom you've never met, inside an unfamiliar place that you also never knew until the day it happened, would you immediately trust us?" Lambert looked at the woman, then back at Chezem. "..I wouldn't..." he finally admitted after about three minutes. "And rightfully so, Lambert. You'd have to either be naive or insane to immediately trust someone you never met before that point in your life." During the time it had taken to finish the discussion, Doctor Perry had already checked the woman's vitals, checked her wound, and was finishing wrapping new bandages over it when they noticed. "Has her condition improved, doctor?" Chezem asked. Perry sighed, then gave a small smile. "Well, Prince Chezem, it'd seem her condition is improving, but not enough to allow her to skip being on bed rest. For starters, while her vitals may be more stable now, they aren't completely back to normal, yet. To put it simply, if she were to avoid a proper recovery, she'd risk reopening the wound, which could cause another medical threat to her life." he said with a serious tone toward the end of his warning.
Chezem had a look of relief, which Lambert noticed, even though no one else did. "Thank you, doctor. If you could do another favor for us, doctor, please inform Prince Nagit of her condition." Perry looked at Lambert. "Of course, Prince Lambert." he said before leaving the room. Once they were alone, Lambert looked at Chezem. "Don't tell me you are in love with this woman. You haven't even heard her speak, let alone seen her face." Chezem looked at Lambert as he narrowed his eyes. "I don't have to be in love with anyone in order to care about them. She saved Nagit's life. I'll admit that I'm curious as to who she is beneath the mask, but I'll let her decide that. For now, it's important that she recovers." Chezem said. Lambert couldn't help but to agree. "Why don't you come join us for breakfast? You look like you could use it, brother." he offered. After he noticed that the woman nodded, Chezem went with Lambert, though he didn't want to, for some reason. At the table, Nagit and the others were waiting. Tamir was the first one to walk up to Lambert and Chezem. "Are you feeling alright, my son?" he asked. Chezem nodded with as straight of a face as he could manage. Tamir looked at Chezem's eyes. They shown a different expression. "Why do you ask, father?" Chezem asked. Tamir shrugged his shoulders a little. "Because I noticed that, somehow, you look dejected. Why is that?" Chezem was surprised. "It's because I feel as terrible as Nagit over not being able to do much to help that woman." he finally admitted. Nagit shook his head. "You did more than I had thought to do, Chezem. You found her and brought her to get treatment without having to drag her here. If it wasn't for you, she might've died." he said.
About a few minutes later, while everyone was talking with each other, they heard Ivan saying, "Miss, you shouldn't even be out of bed, yet! Please allow me to take you back to your room." Everyone turned their attention toward the door leading into the main hall. There, propped on the doorway, she stood. Nagit and Chezem got up from their chairs simultaneously and walked over to her. Tamir couldn't help but to say, "I admire your determination. Is there any name by which we should call you?" Managing the best voice she could, she said strongly, "Hanako." Tamir nodded. "Hanako, while I admire your determination to be walking around, you should be resting. Your injury hasn't fully healed, according to Doctor Perry." he said.
Hanako narrowed her eyes and looked at him. Everyone noticed that she was fully dressed. "I must be on my way. I thank you all for your kindness, but I cannot stay longer. Just, if you ever meet someone that I know, then I ask a final favor from you: take care of them." Tamir was curious. "Who is this 'someone' that you know?" he asked. Hanako gave a long pause, then replied, "Tamiko... Her name.. is Tamiko..." and proceeded to leave. Chezem tried to stop her, but soon as he got in the garden, he soon found that she had disappeared. 'How does someone, that was wonded that severely, just vanish?!' he thought as his brothers, Falitna, Ivan, and Tamir appeared behind him. Upon learning what happened, Tamir couldn't help but to laugh. "It seems we underestimated our new friend. We just have to believe that she won't push herself too hard. Whoever she is, I'm sure she'd make a good wife to the one that's lucky enough to earn her love." he said, smiling. Chezem couldn't help but wonder if Hanako would actually be okay while trying to come up with some ideas as to who Tamiko was. He knew just as much as anyone else: Tamiko was a woman and Hanako was at least acquainted with her. The only things to figure out now would be who Tamiko was as a person, her connection to Hanako, and what things could happen, if they did care for her. Nobody had any ideas regarding those things, but Chezem had a feeling that sometime in the near future, they would receive their answer on one thing. 'Just who is Tamiko?' they all unknowingly thought at the same time as Chezem looked at the trees in the garden, watching the wintry winds blow enough to make the branches move.
[To be continued.]
