I'm awoken the next day by a weak ray of sunlight on my face. Flipping over to avoid the nuisance of the sun I feel my arm hit the warm body next to me. Slowly opening my eyes I see Astrids sleeping face inches away from mine, her eyes flipped up far enough it's as if they're closed. I have no doubt she flipped around in the middle of the night. As she slumbers on I can't help but examine her skin.
When I first revived her all of her body was charred, cracked, and bled at the slightest provocation. Over the past few weeks she's been doing all she can to patch herself up(no matter how slight). She's already scrapped away some of the charred top layer, leaving gleaming red in the blacks place. When the red was finally seen she'd do her best to hydrate the revealed skin with water, she also did the same to her throat and it was long ago restored to its former health.
Her arms, hands,feet, and neck are now fully red and gleaming. From the looks of it she's about halfway done with her legs. On her head she's freed around her eyes, mouth, and her lips. Along her torso she's hardly started, from the looks of it she only bothered to free the area around her wounds. On her torso Lydia sewed every wound from her stabbing up nice and clean.
I grimace at the thought of how long her torso and head were going to take before they finally become red. My thoughts soon wander to another area, her organs. I've seen her eat and drink before, and she's told me once or twice when she had to relieve herself. A few wizards I've talked to speculate that when the person is brought back their fatal wounds slowly close themselves.
There's certainly no way she can ever regrown all (or most likely any) of her lost skin, but what about her internals? Would she eventually be able to do all the things she use to, or would I forever have to worry about a simple wolf bite killing her? It's only now I realized how lucky I was she packed my conjuration robes. I can't get the thought of all the dangers around here out of my head.
It's only when I feel her stirring I realize how late it's getting for sleep. As her eyes slide down to meet mine I can't help but once again think of how close we are. "Good morning." She says in her smooth voice I never tire of hearing. As she climbs out of our bed and makes her way to the cooking spit I can't help but remember last night.
As she roast the two pheasant breast over the fire I slowly get out of bed and make my way over to her. I pull out a hunk of bread and two jugs of milk, while Astrid places the meat on wooden plates. I expect this to be the end but am pleasantly surprised when she adds a shining apple to the plate.
As I crunch into the apple I see Astrid patiently waiting for me to be free. As I swallow the fruit Astrid begins, " We have enough food and water to last all winter, but I know I don't want to lay around all winter ." I briefly wonder how much food she packed. "Well, what do you want to do?" I say as I shovel down the bird breast.
"Well from the look of it a storm's about to blow in. A bad one. If we were low on food or it was a clear day I'd suggest we get some hunting done. But for now I want to get prepared." With this she begins crunching into her own apple. "Sounds about as good a plan as any. What do we need to do?" Placing her apple to the side she answers. "We can use some leather strips to tie some pelts together. Place over our supplies to keep them dry. We can pile some rocks and place the supplies on top of them in case mud comes into play."
"As for ourselves we should bundle up and be prepared to weather the storm. The outcrop won't offer much protection. There isn't a better shelter to reach in time so we'll just have to use a bear pelt and hope it doesn't rain hard enough to make our den into a mud hole.""Sounds like a plan." I say as I reach for a pelt.
As we step back to look at our handy work I hear a loud clap of thunder in the distance. Without hesitation we both run into the safety of our den and wrap the bear belt tightly around us. At first the rain slowly comes down and is hardly more than a nuisance, but soon comes down in more sheets. And by the time dark has fallen the rain is a barricade of water. And as the rain turns the dirt around us into mud I feel Astrid wrap her arms around me and bury her face in my neck. Without even asking I know this is how she'll stay the rest of the storm.