Chapter 11: The Phenix Situation
About three days into their trek through the snowy pass between the Drachma and Amestrian borders the weary soldiers found a nice cave to camp in; it would certainly keep the elements out better than their flimsy tents. Kimblee had lost a lot of fluids and a fever had crept up on him in the damp, cold weather. Sapphire sighed as she changed the wet cloth on his forehead. He hadn't stirred much since Dimitri had knocked him out, only coming to just enough for Sapphire to get him to swallow some water or broth. They had managed to feed him about an hour ago, and that in itself was an ordeal. It took several minutes of coaxing, rubbing and sighing to get a bite down, just to have him cough it all back up and suffer through dry heaves. Water was slightly easier, but not by much. Kimblee would take small sips, but give him too much and it all came up.
Kimblee shifted and groaned, trying to curl against himself. Sapphire silently wished that she had something for the pain he was in.
"Damnit Stringbean, why couldn't you have listened?" she sighed.
She ran a wet cloth yet again across Kimblee's forehead.
Sapphire had lost track how often she did this quite a while ago, busy as she was trying to keep the alchemist's fever down and to get some much-needed liquid to slip past his lips and stay in his stomach. It did not help either that Kimblee had long stopped having a sleeping rhythm of any kind, but just spent his days and nights alike drifting in and out of consciousness; Sapphire had taken to simply dozing off whenever Kimblee was in one of his comatose phases, with no care for what hour of the day it might be.
"Sa... fir..."
Sapphire winced as she heard her name barely making it out of the man's dry and inflamed throat. Her paws twitched as another fit of painful, deep coughing followed this pathetic attempt at speaking. Her beak clenched as she listened to Kimblee gasping for air in short, fast, rasping fits.
She waited until his slender frame had stopped shaking before she dared disturb the alchemist again.
"Kimblee?"
His eyes slowly half-opened, and Sapphire cursed inwardly as she noted that they were still as glassed over with feverish heat. She called out again:
"Kimblee."
Sluggishly, the amber eyes turned towards her, though they did not quite manage to focus on her, but that was enough: Sapphire was satisfied that Kimblee could hear her. For the umpteenth time in the last few days, she held up a cup of tea and explained:
"You need to drink some more."
The tired eyes closed and re-opened; Kimblee understood and agreed. Carefully, Sapphire slipped one paw under his head and lifted it from the blanket; she cautiously brought the cup down to the parched lips and tilted it while praying that this time everything would go just fine. Please, let the tea go down the right way and not cause another coughing fit, and please let it stay nicely in the stomach and not prompt another one of those violent and pointless vomiting episodes.
Kimblee had not eaten in days, there was absolutely nothing left for him to be sick about anymore, and yet his stomach still went on random convulsing bouts every now and then - and Sapphire positively hated those spells. She hated the helplessness she felt as she was forced to sit and watch her ward's body seize up and double over, and listen to the dreadful heaving sounds and the subsequent desperate gasping for air that always followed.
"How is he?" a familiar voice asked.
It was Dimitri, with their dinner. The soldiers were at least able to hunt, and Sapphire had even managed to help them before Kimblee's fever had taken a turn for the worst. The rabbits and other mountainous rodents in the pass had provided plenty of meat to be dried. At least they wouldn't starve out here.
Sapphire bit off a chunk of jerky and sighed, she would have had a smoke if it weren't for her ward's lungs.
"Not good. He's only getting worse." She replied.
Just then, Kimblee choked. He managed to turn on his side right before he gagged, bringing up what little they had managed to get down his throat. There were cries of disgust from the side of the cave the soldiers were huddled on but Dimitri shouted something to them in Drachman and they quieted after a bit of grumbling, too tired and cold to argue further. Sapphire waved her paw and the snow bank outside turned to water, washing away the sickness. Then she took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth gently.
"You've done this before?" Dimitri asked.
Sapphire smiled sadly.
"Yeah, actually I have. I'm surprised you can tell." She said.
"You are careful with him, and you know what to do to help." Dimitri replied. "Who was it that you cared for before you came here?"
Sapphire sighed and sat back, her ears drooping.
"His name was Phenix. He wasn't a griffin. He was an elf. They're tall, beautiful people who live long lives barring any sort of health problems. That's what brought me to him. I had been a healer for a few years and I was hired to take care of Phenix. He was sick like Kimblee is now, only what he had was terminal. I was supposed to be making his last few years as comfortable as I could and this wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't formed a bond with him."
"You fell in love?" Dimitri asked.
Sapphire shook her head.
"No, it wasn't love, more of a kinship of the soul, like the traveler's bond I have with Kimblee. I formed that bond with Phenix, and eventually Phenix died. That's when I stopped healing. I didn't want to risk that happening again; I didn't want to risk the pain. That's why I have to save Kimblee, I can't lose another person so close to me."
Dimitri scratched her head in a friendly gesture.
"Do not worry, we will save him."
So we finally find out who Phenix was. In Karma, where Sapphire is from, Griffins are a 'helper' race. They like doing things for others, such as healing or crewing airships, any sort of useful task. They aren't usually scientists or leaders of things outside their own community, however, they like being submissive, to a point. Eh...it's easer observed than it is explained. But yeah, the next chapter introduces a new OC. Also, there's art for this on my DA site AND, AND, Aisha'Istar is doing a Kimblee/OC story too! With Scar and Miles and other OC's! It's called Beauty of Destruction. So look it up! It's great!
