Rest, Recuperation and ... A Driver's License?

Consider the obvious disclaimer stated. I'm sorry this took so long to get up, I've been working on another story too, a short one, being an original. This chapter is, I suppose, a bit of a filler whilst I try to figure out what should happen NEXT chapter. Having creativity problems. Anyway. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, I appreciated it.



When Llyraen woke up next, she was lying on a bed in a white room with obnoxiously bright lights, which she could only see out of her left eye. She tried to sit up but found that any movement jarred her right shoulder, and caused lances of pain to shoot out of the wound there. Finally she managed prop herself up against the wall and surveyed herself for damage.
Besides the shoulder wound, the only one she remembered getting, her left leg was bandaged from ankle to thigh, her left hand was wrapped up, her whole right side was on fire, and there was some sort of bandage across her forehead and over her right eye, hence her disability to see out of it.
At that moment, Keighvin walked into the room and made a disgusted noise. "Why can't you just stay in bed, lying down like a good patient instead of sitting up and moving around? You'll delay your recovery and I couldn't find anyone else willing to make sure you stay in bed."
She smiled crookedly. "D'you have crutches or something so I can walk around? I'm wasting away from hunger here, being hacked to itty bitty pieces is hard work."
Keighvin looked up at the ceiling as if it held all the secrets of the universe. "I'll get someone to bring you some breakfast. You are going to stay in bed until Lady Meriel says you can leave it." He gave her a stern look and she pretended to cower beneath it."
"Lady Meriel's here?" Llyraen gave Keighvin a horrified glance, "But I can't bribe her, she's my friend!" She appeared to be shifting between being disconsolate at that relevation, and glee that she would get to see her childhood friend again. "And where's Conal? How's he doing?" Llyraen looked apprehensive. Her friend had been in bad shape last she had seen him.
"Conal's already up and moving around, he got a few cuts and scrapes, broke his left arm, but he can still walk without messing anything up. Unlike you." He glared pointedly at Llyraen who had been trying to get up again.
"Casualties?" Llyraen always dreaded finding that part out, it made her feel guilty for some reason, although she knew there was never anything she could have done.
"None!" Keighvin's face lifted into a tired smile. "We had to work hard to save a couple, but they made it."
Llyraen grinned and settled back comfortably against the wall once more, relaxing muscles she had unconsciously tensed. "Splendid. How long have I been asleep?" Nervously, she chewed on a knuckle; anxious about the information she was about to receive.
"Six days. You were out pretty hard." It was then that Llyraen noticed the bandage on His arm.
"Well, I suppose that's to be expected. I take it you didn't get away entirely unscathed either, no?" She inclined her head in the direction of his arm.
He grimaced. "Remember what I said about the suicidal heroics? Well HE was right THERE, so I went for him. Only catch was, he moved and there were two others standing behind him, and I very nearly got cut off from the rest of my group, not to mention hacked to itty bitty pieces, as you so eloquently put it."
Llyraen snickered. "Practice what you preach Old Man, it gets back to you, otherwise."
"Old Man, huh? Why is it that an Old Man like me came out of it with just a scratch while you, idiot child though you are, but still one of the best and youngest knights at court, are still in bed?" He cocked an eyebrow at her, inviting her to respond to that barb.
"Respect for your frail mental and physical condition?" She asked him ingeniously, widening her eyes to imply that She would have let him off too. "And besides, I would be out of bed by now it you let me."
"Since in my frail mental and physical condition, there is o way I can make you do anything, why don't you try getting out of bed now, huh? Go ahead try it. Touch one toe to the floor before Healer Meriel OK's it, and you'll find yourself in a body cast young lady." He glared meaningfully at her. "Anyway. I want to hear your side of the story, Conal's already shared his, and I want to see if you can shed some light on a couple of questions I have."
So she started to tell him, meaning only to give a brief outline, but somehow it became a full-fledged narrative. " So that's what happened. Answer your questions?" She peered anxiously at him, she hadn't known she had remembered that much.
"Yes and No. A few, anyway. Like where that bastard Lorcan Dhu disappeared to with some of his best men. Sounds like you and Conal were outnumbered near on eight to one and you still managed to come out of it reasonably intact. But it brings up more, for instance, did you notice poison on their blades?"
"No, They were glowing sort of a nasty reddish color, like dried blood, but I just figured they were spells of strength or sharpness, or something of the sort. It might have been a contact spell, not effective until it reached either anything living, or a specific target. Why?"
"Because when we found you and Conal, you were both under some sort of drugged sleep- and growing steadily more paralyzed. Lady Meriel had a hard time getting you back."
Llyraen paled. "You mean he wanted to take us alive? How would that help him?" She winced as she thought of al the ways their capture could hurt Fairgrove or even the entire Seleigh court. "Ah. I see. So why did he go for us? From what you said, you were right there, and so was he, the change of targets looked pretty well planned to me." She rubbed her aching head. "Damn. Were you under any spells?" Her gaze flickered to his arm and back to his face almost imperceptibly."
"No, and that's the odd part. No poisons, no spells, nothing. I suspect the whole center and right attack was designed to be a diversion, keep us busy while he dragged you and Conal off. He seems quite contemptuous of us in fact." Scowling and glancing at her pale visage, he frowned even more deeply. "Enough for now. I'll come back with some food for you, but then you sleep." She just nodded reluctantly, and he took that as a sign that she was more tired than she had appeared or thought, and that called for measures.
When Keighvin returned, he was carrying a tray with warm wine and some thin soup. "Your stomach can't take anything stronger yet." He told her, quieting her halfhearted protests.
"Fine." She grumbled, digging into the soup with ferocity only a starved elf could muster. Soon that was finished, and she drank the wine more slowly, sipping it carefully, before settling back, her eyes already drooping despite her efforts to the opposite. "You drugged it you son of a Turkish pole dancer! You bastardly umbrella! You..." Her face relaxed as the drug took over and, still chuckling at her barely begun description of his lineage, Keighvin exited the rim, taking the tray with him.
Four days later, to everyone's great relief, Llyraen was declared fit to hobble around on crutches. Keighvin had mandated that everyone shared the task of nursing the sick elf, and she had not been their favorite patient.
"Keighvin!" She announced, tottering into his office to bother him yet again. "I had an Idea." AT his sour look she make a face at him. "I didn't just come here to inform you about what Conal's been doing with the barnyard animals again." Keighvin groaned and raised his hands in defeat.
"Alright then, lets hear your latest brilliant plan." He gave her a pained look. She was better than when she had been forced to stay in bed, but not much.
"So. I was thinking... Oh don't look so surprised!" She glared at him as he feigned shock at that assertion. "I do it all the time. As I was saying, Llyraen Seaeyes is an odd name among mortals. It's been OK for now because everything I've done has been within Fairgrove, and everyone here knows about us. But I need to get a driver's license for this state soon, especially if I want to do any driving besides on test runs, and a name such as 'Lily Raen' wouldn't attract as much attention, and if I need to do some driving outside... Besides, all my racing permits are about to expire, and they're under that name, which is not the one I'm wanted under over on the West Coast, which makes it triply safe." She smiled triumphantly as Keighvin nodded.
"Yes, that would make sense, you'll have to talk to Tannim to find out what processes you have to go through if you have any questions. Just one thing Llyraen, I mean 'Lily'... Do it all legally so it holds up against a background check." He glanced tiredly up at her and she beamed back, turning to swing into the closed door.
After crashing into the door, Llyraen rolled vigorously around on the floor, laughing hysterically.
"What ARE you on?!?" Keighvin finally snapped in exasperation. "You're acting like a drunk on pot!"
"Hee, Hee, Hee! Nothing! I'm just always naturally high after I run into doors! And I might get to drive again! It just makes me so happy!"
"Dannaa help me girl, if you don't leave here and take your giggling fits with you, I'll let Mike practice his choir auditions on you!"
Gasping with mock horror, Llyraen grabbed her crutches and dragged herself out the door, eyes streaming from laughing so hard."
**********
"I have the government." Llyraen grumbled to Tannim and Shar as, two days later, minus the crutches, they left the DMV after Llyraen had finished signing and filling out masses of paperwork and driven around the neighborhood at half her normal speed.
"Look on the bright side 'Lily'," Tannim snickered at the name. Llyraen had challenged a young Elven Lord to a duel for calling her that, years before, and won.
"All you have left to do is apply to the SERRA and SCCA folks now, and drive a lap or two around a circular asphalt formation, and you're done!" Shar, who was driving, swatted him playfully.
"Be nice Tannim. You're used to following the law, for the most part. It's hard to do when you're not."
"Precisely." Llyraen agreed, nodding her head emphatically. "I know of at least 20 places this side of the country where I could get all this done with a lot less hassle, in fact, I have serious dirt on most of the people in that section of the black market, so it'd be cheap for me, too."
Tannim looked disgusted. "I thought you guys were supposed to be fighting the guys in the black market, not working with them!"
"That's the beauty of it." Llyraen beamed. "They think so too. I have a wonderful communication network, I've got connections in almost all the branches of it, so whenever I see something like what Aurelia was doing, with the kiddy porno stuff, or anything like that, I can track down their business, challenge them, and rid the world of one more scumbag. Besides. There's gonna be a black market no matter what, as long as it's mostly harmless stuff like drivers licenses, it's OK, because the people in the business would be on the wrong side of the law anyway, and if that's still open and fairly safe, that's where they'll head."
"I surrender," Tannim sighed, "But I suggest you stay out of the black market while you're at Fairgrove or Keighvin'll have your skin for a dart board."
Llyraen looked offended. "I wasn't even considering it. I would never do something like that! I'm a law abiding citizen, I am, and I would never do anything to jeopardize Fairgrove's legal record."
"Cut it you two." Shar gave them both a sharp glance, "You sound like you're brother and sister."
Llyraen gave her an innocent look, "but we are! It's just in our heads, you see."
Tannim snorted again. A long time ago her and Llyraen had sworn blood-sibs, even though she had been several hundred years old at the time, Llyraen had still been a 'teenager' as the term applied to elves.
"Lil, is it alright if we leave the racing licenses till tomorrow? I'm bushed." Shar did indeed look a bit tired, but, glancing from her to Tannim, she speculated silently on what exactly certain 'bushed' people did. She started snickering.
"Well?" Shar asked impatiently, looking as if she would like to know exactly what the hell Llyraen was choking on.
"No problem, I was about to suggest it myself." She grinned and they sped back to Fairgrove, companionably and colorfully describing each other's parentage.