Chapter 9

The infirmary was in the quietest wing of Night Raven's main building. A deliberate choice, meant to relax the sick and injured as they recovered from whatever ailment had befallen them. While most appreciated it, Grim did not.

He tried scratching at the glowing cone that surrounded his head, scowling when his paw met the barrier. Stupid collar! The constant thrum of magic emanating from it was starting to make his teeth buzz. Not to mention he looked ridiculous. He couldn't wait to take the thing off and be done with it. A powerful mage like himself was above such things.

Besides, his nose itched something fierce.

With a heavy sigh, he fell back onto his pillow. The very tips of his hind paws were barely visible over the bottom edge of the cone.

"This is so boring," Grim complained. He didn't expect to get to get a reply.

"Well, now you have a visitor."

Grim sprang to attention, swinging his head clumsily towards the entrance on his left. "Parker!"

His dorm mate strode in from the doorway, arms folded in front of her as she allowed herself a very, small, very rare smile. Grim's cot dipped as she sat at the edge. "How are you feeling?"

"This place is awful!" Grim wailed, "There's nothing to do but count the bricks on the wall, no one ever comes in here except Crewel to make me take those super gross potions, and I can't even scratch my nose!" he let out a little sniffle. "I want to go back to Ramshackle."

He was too wrapped up in his pity party to notice the uneasy look Violet was giving him. After something of an awkward beat, she pulled a small paper bag from under her arm and spilled its contents on the bed between them. "If it helps, I brought this."

Grim snapped himself back to reality. The sight of two unopened cans of tuna flipped his pout into the biggest grin that could fit on his face!

"Oh, gimmiegimmiegimmiegimmie! I'm starving," he whined.

Violet rolled her eyes, but popped the lid off one of the cans all the same. She twisted the aluminum top into a makeshift spoon to help Grim eat. She felt like she was feeding an infant. A furry, pyro kinetic infant.

"Mmm! Delicious," Grim said around his last bite. He'd finished both cans in record time.

"At least your appetite is still strong," the human joked, tossing the trash into the paper bag.

"As always," a little bit of the old Grim shone through as he lifted his nose in the air. A beat later, the itching was back. He scrunched his nose, wincing at the sharp pricks of pain that accompanied the action. "Hey, human. Could you…?"

She seemed to have gotten the message by the way he inched his head forward. Her fingernails hit the exact spot after a bit of guidance. Grim melted. This was wonderful! He didn't care how the contact sent a steady purr through his throat, nor the way his ears dropped and dimmed in contentment.

"All better?" Violet chuckled.

"Aw, yeah," Grim plopped forward, or as much as he could with the cone around his neck. "Thanks, human."

She waved off the gratitude with a shrug as if it say "Don't mention it." Grim, on the other hand, looked her over for a moment, quiet for once as if considering something. At long last, he mumbled, "So, where have you been?"

Violet went stiffened at the question, struck at how softly he asked. It was very un-Grim like, especially when she could sense the unspoken words that hid under the question: I missed you. All signs of smiles, bemused or otherwise, vanished from her face.

Grim watched her again. Human expressions were still somewhat foreign to him. Though after a month of living with one, he was getting the gist of what conveyed irritation, anger and frustration. They were all the things she was doing now. Pouting her lips, furrowing her brow. He'd seen her do both a million times, but something about how she did them now didn't quite…fit.

"About that," she was staring down the floor instead of looking at him. "I should have come sooner. Last night. This morning... I'm sorry."

After a handful of seconds, she grimaced and asked, "Did anyone tell you what happened after?"

Grim's right ear twitched, "After?"

"Yeah," Violet said. "After you were knocked out."

When he shook his head, she sighed and spent the next several minutes recounting what she'd done and what was done to her. By the time she was done, she was practically hunched over and a shade of frustration stained her features.

"Geeze, human," Grim's eyes were wide. "You didn't have to fight the guy, y'know?"

Violet shrugged, "He made me mad."

Grim couldn't stand this strange, stilted awkwardness anymore. He considered the story one last time before huffing, "Well, at least you tried to avenge your master. Even if you did lose."

"Gee," Violet deadpanned. "Thanks, Grim."

There's the Parker he knew! Honestly, the sorry sack of human from before was making his head hurt. "Now, fetch me a drink. All that delicious tuna made me thirsty."

Violet stood to do as she was told, knocking her hand against Grim's cone in the process. His head bumped up in the most disorienting way. "Hey!"

"Whoops." She batted her eyes at him, adjusted the cap on her head and strode away in search of some water.

Violet returned to the infirmary after dinner with Ace and Deuce. Between the three of them, they worked to convince Professor Crewel to release Grim back to his dorm. To their surprise, he agreed so long as they promised not to remove his cone or touch the stitches for another day or two. He expected Parker to bring Grim to him before classes the next morning. The trio agreed, and they were back at Ramshackle by the time the sun disappeared.

That night as they slept, she could have sworn Grim curled into the crook of her body a little closer than usual. She let him, ignoring the little voice that told her to scoot away. Though it had only been a night, she found that she'd missed him, too.