Chapter 12

Taylor did not know how long she was alone in the tent. She also had not noticed just how very tired she had been.

Some time later, she was roused again by Anya.

The general was bent over her and shaking her shoulder slightly, while her expression clearly showed her worry.

Taylor blinked her grey eyes open slowly. Her mind felt heavy and slow with exhaustion and she had not noticed that she had fallen asleep at all.

"You look extremely pale" Anya assessed in a curt tone. The general still held a plate with food in her other hand. She placed it on the small table next to the bed for now, where a steaming cup with tea was already waiting for Taylor "Locating healing herbs took longer than anticipated" she added after a few seconds.

Taylor just inclined her head tiredly. She hissed under her breath as she tried to upright herself fully. Her senses may still be slow, but the pain ripped through her so strongly that she could not breathe for a moment and most definitely not form any words.

"Here…" Anya of course had noticed the blonde woman's struggle and she immediately reached out to help her. As gentle as she could, she put her arms right under Taylor's armpits and pulled her fully upright. It was obvious though that the movement was highly painful to Taylor. The speed in which her features drained of all residual colour, alarmed Anya greatly.

Next, she took up the cup with tea from the bedside table and carefully handed it over to Taylor. It appeared to her as if the blonde doctor was close to fainting again and she definitely needed to eat before that happened. Anya knew that a body needed a lot of sleep to heal, but it also needed nourishment.

Anya took up the few pages of paper lying next to Taylor on the mattress. She guessed that they had slipped from her form while she had fallen asleep earlier. She placed those on the bedside table as well and sat down there, ready to reach out and help Taylor again if necessary.

Taylor took a few sips from the tea in silence, waiting for the strong sensation of pain to slightly fade into the background of her mind. She had wanted to tell Anya not to put the pages away, but she just needed a few moments to gather her focus again.

The tea was bitter and definitely not any brew Taylor would have chosen for herself. She had always preferred fruity tea and definitely not this kind of herb tea. During her medical studies she had only gathered very little knowledge about natural healing methods. She had always known that she wished to work in a modern hospital, using standard up-to-date methods and not natural methods of healing.

Now that Taylor was in this reality where electricity and modern technology were not accessible, she wished that she had visited a few classes about natural healing methods. She knew that a lot of her medical knowledge would not be applicable here at all.

If Lexa decided to keep her alive, maybe it would be possible to learn from one of the resident healers here, Taylor mused internally.

Once Taylor had finished half of the cup, she gingerly gave it back to Anya "I'll try some food" she said in a strained tone. She gave the general a thankful smile when the older woman reached over for the plate of food.

Taylor inspected the food for a moment. There was mostly some kind of meat on the plate. Thankfully, she was not a vegetarian, like her best friend was. She did not recognize what she assumed to be vegetables of some kind. There was also a piece of bread on the plate.

She had not been given any utensils though and after a short moment of contemplation, Taylor just reached out and took up a piece of meat with her fingers.

"You are not used to eating with your hands" Anya observed the doctor handling the food delicately.

Taylor frowned slightly, but nodded in agreement "I am used to always using a folk and a knife or such" she explained easily.

"I can fetch you some, if you pre…" Anya was quick to offer, already in the process of getting up from the bed again.

But Taylor shook her head in denial, assuring the general quickly that she could eat without them as well. If she ate spareribs, she would eat those with her fingers as well after all. The vegetables all seemed to be raw still and Taylor found those easier to eat with her fingers. She often had eaten assorted crudités for dinner before.

"You are looking slightly better already" Anya assessed when she accepted the mostly emptied plate back from Taylor. She had to remind the blonde doctor though that the tea was not finished yet.

Taylor slightly pulled a face at the bitter brew. Now that the tea had mostly cooled down, the flavour had just intensified. Taylor noticed that the herbs were still covering the bottom of the mug, which explained why it just tasted vile now.

She had to agree though that the food and the tea was already enhancing her well-being. Taylor could still feel the pain in her abdomen, but she felt stronger now and could focus once again.

She reached out towards the bedside table, but immediately regretted the movement. It pulled on her abdomen and she hissed loudly at the intensified sensation.

Anya furrowed her brows in alarm "What do you need?" she asked immediately. She was still sitting beside the other woman, so, there was no reason for Taylor to have to move at all, she was very well able to fetch the doctor anything she would need at this moment.

Taylor had a crooked smile on her lips, when she pointed towards the pages Anya had put onto the table "Try to read it, please?" she asked the general while her tone was once again strained.

Anya was obviously confused by that request, but she did not question it any further as she reached out and retrieved the pages.

The same scene repeated itself though. Anya had barely lowered her brown eyes onto the written words in her hands, when the paper suddenly sat itself aflame.

Anya quickly got up, letting the burning page drop and stomping the small fire out before anything else inside the tent could begin to burn as well.

Taylor watched the general with a sigh under her breath. It was just as she had feared. The other pages Anya still held, the ones which were empty as of yet, were completely unscathed. It obviously was impossible for her to record her knowledge of the show in form of writing. She did not understand how this was possible. To her logical scientific mind, this phenomenon made absolutely no sense.

She could only conclude that it was obviously impossible for one of the grounders to read about what she knew would or might happen.

"Exactly this happened before…" Anya observed in a puzzled tone, looking down at the little bit of ashes with furrowed brows.

Taylor nodded, feeling defeated slightly. "Lexa has tried to read another page before you returned" she told the general in a sad voice "The same happened…" she trailed off, looking down at her hands.

"But how is this possible?" Anya asked. She knew how a fire worked. You had lit numerous fires in her life, too many to count. But never had she seen something just suddenly ignite in flames like this and definitely not a single sheet of paper.

Taylor shook her head; she could not explain it after all. She only knew what it meant. If she wanted to help and try to save Lexa's life and other grounders, then she would need to stay alive and be there to warn to the commander of what would happen. She could of course try telling all of the events to the commander, but who knew just how many details she would be forgetting. Or if she mixed something up.

Somehow the knowledge that she would have to stay alive to help, filled Taylor's eyes with tears all of a sudden.

Anya watched the blonde woman's expression crumble in alarm. She did not understand what could have possibly upset her like this and although she did not know well on how to comfort someone in tears, she gingerly sat down again on the edge of the mattress, reaching out and carefully patting Taylor's shoulders in what she hoped would be a soothing gesture.

She did not know though if her attempts at comfort were doing anything as tears started to fall down Taylor's cheeks only a few seconds later.

The blonde doctor seemed to lose most of her strength again and she slumped forward, right into Anya's chest, still crying.

Anya carefully wound her arms around Taylor's form. The other woman was a few inches shorter than herself and her forehead seemed to fit perfectly against her collarbone.

Anya did not know for sure just how long she had held Taylor while the doctor cried. She did not know what had upset her, so, she was clueless on what words my sooth her. Thus, the general had kept silent, hoping that mute solitude would help the other woman regardless.

After some time, Anya had noticed how Taylor had slumped even further, obviously having fallen asleep again. As gently as possible, Anya extracted herself from the doctor. In her sorrow, the blonde woman had clutched the general's shirt in her hands.

Thankfully, Anya did not wake Taylor up as she softly tilted her backwards, quickly pulling out a few of the additional pillows.

Anya pulled a fur over the doctor's sleeping form, tucking her in slightly. The sight of the tear tracks on the other woman's cheeks unsettled her in a way which Anya did not understand just yet.

After a few moments of observing that Taylor's chest was still rising and falling rhythmical with each breath the woman took, Anya gathered the plate and cup, bringing it back to where it belonged. The commander's tent was under guard now, so, Taylor would be fine without her for a while.

Anya wandered through the camp aimlessly for a few moments. She knew that Lexa was with the Skykru prisoners still or the commander would have already returned to her tent.

Anya sighed under her breath, since the first invaders had fallen from the sky, her life had changed so quickly.

She had lost her second during the first attempt of attacking the invaders. If Tris was here now, Anya surely would have a training session with the girl now.

In all truth, Anya had not taken any time to mourn for the young girl. She knew that Tris would have made a fine warrior. The girl had been courageous and undoubtedly talented. She had already earned her first kill marks and there was no doubt in Anya's mind. The girl would have made it to the position of a general one day if she had chosen to.

Anya felt anger against Skykru flare up inside of her again. Of course, she could not blame the invaders for having been held captive by the Mountain Men.

As soon as she thought about the Mountain Men, her rage came to a boiling point though. With an angry snarl escaping from between her clenched lips, Anya kicked a rock away from herself.

The memories of her own people being encaged inside of this room in the Mountain played in front of Anya's eyes again.

She had seen seconds being captured together with their mentors. The younger warriors, not even adults yet, had all but died after one or at most two bleedings, being hung up like baby goats ready for slaughter.

The stronger warriors like herself had been held captive within this rooms for several days, being injected with something again and again. Anya had felt her strength waning with each day she had been there and she honestly did not even know just how many days she had been encaged there.

She knew that her strength was not back yet. Anya thinned her lips, resigning herself to the fact that she needed to train more again. She knew that there was a war brewing now. Right now, she did not even care all that much if they would fight again Skykru or against the Mountain, as long as they would fight soon.

Anya marched over to where she saw other warriors training, demanding in an angered tone that someone gave her a sword. She engaged in sparring fights with whoever was up to it.

For some unknown reason, thoughts of just having comforted Taylor invaded the general's mind time and time again, making her just a tad bit careless, suffering a few minor cuts in the process.

Soon enough, Anya was panting hard with sweat literally running down her face. The fact how quickly she felt weaker, only fuelled her anger and pushed her to fight longer, ignoring the signs of her body to rest. No matter what it would take, she would be back to her strength when the battle began.