Chapter IV-The Goddess of Dawn awakes
About midnight Dom woke up by falling off the bed onto the floor, causing a noise loud enough to wake the dead (according to Neal, who hadn't gotten enough beauty sleep). And wake the dead it did. Kel stirred and opened her eyes.
"Kel!" exclaimed Neal. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it." Dom, who was also around her bed, just stood there looking pale and a bit odd.
"Dom," she said, "I dreamt you were here, where you are now, pleading with me not to die." Dom blushed, hoping she didn't 'dream' what had happened after that.
"As a matter of fact, I was here, keeping watch over you so Meathead could sleep. Are you okay? We were all afraid you were dead, you lost so much blood and were running such a high fever. You are never allowed to scare us like that again, Mother," he said sternly. "Nevertheless, I'm glad you're back and conscious, Kel," giving her hand a comforting squeeze.
"Hey, are you injured or did I just dream that too?" asked Kel. "You look a little tired, you should go rest."
"Yes, Mother," said Dom in a teasing voise, his eyes sparkling despite his exhaustion.
"Would you stop talking so I can conduct another healing on her, please? Really, if I know Lady Knights at all, she'll try and get up and move around before she should even be out of bed, so I may as well heal you as much as I can beforehand."
"If I know Lady Knights at all..." snickered Dom. "Exactly how many of them do you know?"
"Well, there's Kel, and Alanna, that's two, and ..." Neal racked his brain for what everyone else called his massive stores of useless information read in books. "Well, I read about Kotlena of–"
"The point is you don't know her. There are only two female knights in Tortall."
"Not for long," muttered Kel with a grin, remembering what Irnai had said, looking meaningfully at Neal.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?! There really is something wrong with you, first you let me work a healing on you without even mentioning the plight of the stoic Yamani warrior," Neal said indignantly as Dom blushed with the mention of the word 'Yamani', and Kel noticed it with confusion. "And then you tease me about something I don't even understand."
Neal finished his healing and left, dragging his cousin with him and giving Kel strict orders to sleep and stay in bed. As they went through the door, Kel caught a piece of their conversation: "...you doing on the practice courts..." she heard Neal say with an air of disbelief. She wondered what that was all about, shaking her head, as Gainel came closer and closer...