Chapter 26: A Visitor...Intentions Made Clear?
Aine, with much trepidation, ignoring the pain in her hands, opened the door. It was Jewellyn!
"Hi Aine, " she tried to make her greeting sound as upbeat as possible. Jewellyn saw how wide eyed she was and how stressed out she seemed to be. She had to stifle a laugh. "Are you that shocked to see little old me?" She tried to make that sound humorous but it didn't quite come out that way, much to her consternation. Had a little note of sarcasm crept in on my voice there?
Under these circumstances, and being that Aine and Jewellyn knew each other, the head of the Healer's hall had allowed her to visit Aine unaccompanied.
Aine knew she appeared unkempt and was still sweating from that strange ordeal. It had to have been a nightmare, had to be, she thought bewilderingly. "Um n-no," she faltered. "Uh, come on in, yes of course. I mean yes, I do feel a little better."
Jewellyn stepped in, noting that Aine's normally, almost platinum blonde hair was all sweaty and matted down. Her normally steel blue eyes had lost some of their self assuredness. As Jewellyn noticed this, she found herself thinking about her own appearance. She caught a glimpse of herself in the siverplate mirror as she went to sit down on one of the chairs. I think I look very nice, she thought, noting her lengthy and curly brown hair as it swept nicely around her shoulders. And my eyes...I never noticed they were quite that green before..." Now she felt a little guilty, not quite knowing why she was thinking that way. "Are you alright?" she finally asked Aine with a sincere tone in her voice. Now that came out alright, she thought, breathing a little more easily now.
"Er--yes, the Healers came in this morning and told me to just rest for awhile," Aine looked around with a curious look in her eyes, as if she was greatly puzzled. "So I did, but...I had this awful nightmare...I thought I was-" here she burst out laughing while looking at Jewellyn with an amused yet odd glance. Then the puzzled look resumed and she appeared as if she were trying to probe her own inner thoughts. "The problem is, it seemed so real," she said still laughing a little. She scratched her head, "I really thought I was someone else! And it scared me so much I thought I was going to have a heart attack." She shot another odd glance at Jewellyn, not quite meeting her eyes though.
Puzzled herself, Jewellyn stated, "Well, no doubt it was all due to the stress of that episode at Knoll's Ridge." She felt and thought she looked a little uncomfortable as she stood up, dusting herself off as if that would somehow make it less notable. "You are well taken care of here, in fact, you look much better," she tried to sound sincere and hoped it came across to Aine that way. "In the next day or two there will be a ceremony, formally inducting as us Herald Trainees along with some others. I hope you will come. I think you will be well enough then."
"Always the optimist, Jewellyn," she laughed.
Now, Jewellyn thought that maybe perhaps there was just a little hint of sarcasm in Aine's voice.
"Oh! Of courseā¦," Aine continued. "I'm anxious to resume training too, I miss the salle--by the way, how is Fenix? I heard a little, but only that he's still alive."
Ske knew it would come to him, Fenix. She tried to remind herself she was thinking childishly. What is with me and all these challenging emotions? It was a perfectly natural question for Aine to ask. Still...
Jewellyn walked towards the door. "He is...fine. He's coming around with my help and some of the Healers have been helping too."
"Your help? You aren't already enrolled in classes yet are you?"
"No, but I have certain skills..." Here she opened the door, tossed her hair back and said, "Please, take care of yourself ok? Get some rest." One of the Healers approached the door from the hallway. Jewellyn nodded to the Healer and he went in with a tray of herbs. Jewellyn smiled and waved back at Aine, "I'll see you later." She turned to walk out the door.
Aine was tempted to say something like, "Oh yes I have seen those skills in action, you are quite the soother aren't you?" She bit her tongue as the door closed. Aine, of course, noticed how handsome this Healer was and thusly flashed one of her most beguiling grins at him. He was there to check the wound, which had healed a little, but not much.
:Well, this is an interesting turn of events:
Aine, still stressed out at her seeming transformation, felt more than bewildered. She jumped a little at Xirthan's mindspeech to her. Xirthan was out at Companion's Field munching on some hay.
Aine felt a 'sigh' come from Xirthan. :Really, there must be better grades of hay about, this tastes like mildew. I never thought it would come to this:
Though slightly amused, Aine chose to ignore the hay comment for now. :Interesting is an understatement, Xirthan. I'm not really sure what happened here. Am I going crazy:
:Not yet my Love...give it time.:
This made Aine slightly angry. :Reaaalllyy Xirthan, you are a master of tact, I'm serious here:
Xirthan flashed a grin, as it were, in Aine's direction. :I am too, Chosen. Yet, I think what happened to you was real. I felt a strange inner turmoil coming from you:
:Oh yeah I know about that, when I looked into the mirror I appeared to be someone else. Or rather changing back to myself from being that someone else, I looked like Jewellyn, I swear.:
:I think this all will be quite interesting from now on...just remember Chosen, I am with you always:
:Ha! hopefully you will have more wisdom for me than what you displayed today.:
Xirthan smiled inwardly at Aine's comment, and then spit the rest of the hay out on the ground. He made a mental note to himself to tell the other Companions that if this vile substitute for choice Valdemaran hay were to continue to be fed to them, then it would be time to consider mounting a strike against the Heraldry.
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Notes from the Authors:
Koromiel: Huzzah! Part one of this section is completed! I wish this stupid thing wouldn't erase question marks! >. Ah well...I have the next section ready...just gotta get some reviews before I can post it! Neener neener neener! XD And in response to Cynthia:D Yes, we like being evilreview whoresand making cliffhangers! Actually that review made mine and Phoenix's day. So we're glad you are enjoying it.
Ok...Phoenix is making me post this...
Phoenix: To anyone who has read and enjoyed this story, you must really know the driving force behind it. She is now incarnate in the form as Koromiel, who I consider to be a cherished friend and a major inspiration. Without her editing, without her ideas, without her quest for a good story, there would have been only a blank page...and to me that is almost the same as that empty feeling inside you get when you are without love; and we all need a few less blank pages in our lives right? So thank you Koromiel, this story is yours and I mean it sincerely when I say that without your help, even this page I'm typing on now would be blank, it would never have existed without your most pleasant inspiration and without your most welcome presence. Thank you!
