4. Stubborn

Callista woke up to the sound of coughing, and to the sound of someone swearing.

"You're still damn sick, aren't you, brother? It's worse than I thought..." She heard Zepha mutter. There was the shuffling movement of him getting to his feet. "Look, I'll go inform Lord Zangurak about this when I go attend to him, and I'll inform you of anything important when I get back. Just...rest in the meanwhile. I'll get one of the servants to send some food to your room…"

"O-oh. Alright…" Zesha was heard responding quietly. Callista uncurled herself as best she could in the cage, watching as Zepha vanished in an instant, leaving her alone with Zesha. She winced as she heard him cough a few times, and she glanced towards the floor to see a discarded, wet towel, the armor, and the rest of the clothing crumpled on the ground. She guessed that Zepha probably got Zesha to bathe earlier, to get rid of all the sweat from the previous days' training and to help him freshen up a bit. Pausing for a moment, she managed a few words.

"Are you...faring any better from yesterday?"

Zesha's head immediately turned to face her, a bit surprised that she had spoken.

"Why would you wish to know, human?" Her captor rasped, bringing a hand to his mouth as he coughed some more. "As far as I would guess, I had assumed that you wished the worst for me."

She frowned at this. "Not all humans are like that-"

"Silence." He snapped back, still coughing a bit as he glared at her. "You filthy humans have never done any good towards us Gurak. Pretending to feel pity towards me is not going to earn you any favor."

Callista was a bit more frustrated with this. Couldn't he see that she was genuinely trying to be considerate towards him? "I'm not pretending. And I'm not pitying you, either. I'm just... concerned."

"Hmph. You lie, human..." He turned away from her, just as a servant walked into the room and quickly put a tray of food down on a table close to the bed, before exiting quietly. The two were silent once again.

Zepha reappeared, glancing at the food tray before turning towards Zesha. "Lord Zangurak informed me that we are still under preparation for those humans to come here and attack us. He told me to stay by your side until you are well enough…" He held his brother sit up in the bed, before bringing a glass of water to his mouth. "Drink."

Callista watched quietly as Zepha tended to his twin, coaxing him into eating and drinking at least some bread, vegetables and the water, and medicine that must have been bitter-she noticed the grimace on Zesha's face when he consumed it.

"Really," She heard Zepha scoff half-heartedly, "This is most likely the reason why you keep collapsing like this, because you don't eat enough to sustain yourself. You need to eat more, brother."

Zesha coughed a bit, before speaking. "I...know…"

Zepha still didn't look too pleased, although his expression softened a bit. "I know you are so willing to give whatever you didn't touch to those who don't have as much as us, but you won't have to worry about that anymore soon. Once those filthy humans are conquered…none of us will be in poverty. Lord Zangurak is sure of it."

Zesha merely nodded in agreement. "It will be so. When we find the Outsider, we will be free from the humans' oppression…"

His brother seemed to smile faintly, picking up the tray in both hands as he stood. "I'll let you rest." He spoke. "I'll be back in about an hour, brother. Sleep, in the meantime."

Zesha nodded, lying back down in the bed again as Zepha vanished again. Callista paused, unsure if she should say something. Then again, Zesha needed sleep, and so she said nothing instead. Instead, she pondered over what Zepha had mentioned earlier, about Zesha giving the rest of the food he got to the poorer of the Gurak. It was considerate of him, far more considerate than the guards back at Lazulis that stole food from the vendors instead of paying for it as they should have, all because they had a small bit of status. Still, though, Zepha had a point-one did need to eat enough to sustain oneself, whether they were human or Gurak.

Callista nearly fell asleep herself, a little later, and she would have if Zesha suddenly didn't speak up.

"Why must you humans be so….stubborn about getting your menial points across?" She turned towards him to see that he was looking at her as he spoke. "You humans...are so insistent on thinking that such an incorrect point of view about things is correct, no matter how wrong they are. Can they not realize that they are the ones in error?"

She paused, thinking about it for a moment before speaking. "I don't think it just applies to humans. Anyone can be stubborn about a certain point of view if they're so...passionate about it. And..." She paused again, letting out a breath before finishing. "A point of view about something like stubbornness of humans be seen in different ways. There is no wrong or right answer in that-you can't discern it for yourself like that."

He turned away from her, silent and refusing to say anything else.

She let out a sigh, shaking her head and turning away from him. Trying to at least get along somewhat with him would not be easy, if it was even possible.

Therius lay on the dungeon floor in his cell, doing nothing but thinking and recovering from his injuries.

Thinking, because he was still trying to think of a way to find Lady Callista and to escape this place. Recovering, because those injuries would definitely need time to heal, since there was no healing mage by his side to assist him.

Zesha hadn't come down to the dungeon for the past two days, and for this the white knight was grateful. Perhaps the Gurak captor had gotten bored of beating him so constantly, and-

-No. He did not want to think that someone else, a fellow human, was forced to take his place. He then thought of Callista again, before thinking-

He can't be hurting her, can he...? Could he be...?

And his mind immediately starting thinking faster, harder, for a way to try to find Lady Callista and to get out of this place.