Thank you for the reviews :D I'm both delighted and slightly worried that my writing won't remain good enough XD
Time seemed to tick away so slowly as Safiya waited in the same room she had appeared in earlier that morning, both her brother and the healers occupying one of the adjoining side rooms; this left her all alone for the moment. A slight buzz of noise could be heard from the other side of the door, but nothing definitive could be made out, so in the meantime, Safiya kept her fearful thoughts at bay by studying the room's interior.
There was plenty for her to look at too, as she had barely spent any time here. When she had first been adopted into the family, she still harboured some serious trust issues and so had refused to be treated; instead preferring to deal with injury and illness herself. After conquering Buer she had simply not had the need to go see the healers, having never received any injury she couldn't take care of.
Where she was currently was the main room of the medical wing in the palace, and as such, was where the healers spent the majority of their time. As with all other rooms in the palace, there was a high ceiling, with ornamental mouldings, the detail picked out in gold, standing out against the clean white of the rest of the room; matching ceiling roses surrounded where the simple chandeliers hung down. Grand windows lined the side of the room opposite the main door, letting in plenty of light during the daylight hours; thick, white velvet curtains edged with golden detail draped impressively at the sides, currently tied back with golden tassels. Opposite to where Safiya was sitting (and to the right of the main door) stood an exquisite, white marble, fireplace that took up a third of the wall; a gentle crackling accompanying the flicker of light. On the opposite side were three doors, each leading off into a treatment room; Ja'far was currently in the middle one as it had simply been the closest to where they had appeared. The hardwood floor lay bare in this room; stains from one source or another being an ever present threat to any possible carpet.
Either side of the fireplace stood impressive cabinets that seemed to house a variety of dried plants and prepared medicines. They also housed an array of poisons that Safiya had, herself, concocted over the years, because she needed to be prepared! Originally they had been in her room, having been prepared secretly in a little corner of the greenhouse whenever she had a chance. However, upon their discovery, the King had had them moved to the medical wing as it 'wasn't very Princess-like to use poisons'; I'm sure the Princess in my country used them!
Large, sturdy desks were scatted about the bulk of the room, accompanied by matching chairs; the desks littered with numerous pieces of parchment that showed various research into better magical healing procedures and medicines, or new discoveries of plant properties. She had thought to look through these, to give her something to think about, but she didn't want to disturb any possible thought process the healer had had before her arrival, or ruin them with bloody fingerprints.
Instead, her eyes drifted to the outside and to the gardens and the impressive palace greenhouses that lay just beyond where the healers grew all of their ingredients. The sun had finished rising; it was still early but she had started hearing the palace staff wandering up and down the hallways. Whilst lost in thought as she stared out at the gardens one of the maids came in to rekindle the fire, coming to an abrupt halt as her eyes fell onto the princess whom she had not expected.
"Good-morning Safiya-sama", greeted the maid kindly, curtseying in the process. The palace workers had long since gotten over the possibilities of finding their princess where you wouldn't expect her.
"Oh...Good-morning", she smiled back, or at least, her mouth moved slightly in an attempt at one. What she actually managed to produce she wasn't sure, but luckily the maid didn't seem fully awake yet and simply moved on to her duties.
As the maid busied herself at the fireplace, the click of a door opening caught Safiya's attention; one of the healers, the head physician in the Palace, was finally leaving the central treatment room, looking tired and weary. As she was about to stand up and go over, he held up his hands, gesturing for her to remain seated as he made his way over and seated himself just in front of her. Morgan Tud had been in the Palace for as long as Safiya could remember, barely having changed since she had first met him over 10 years ago. He came across as kindly old grandfather figure, but apparently back in his day had been known as 'Tud the Stud'; if you looked closely you could see where they may have been coming from, maybe.
"We have dealt with the remainder of your brothers internal bleeding". Brother? How did he?... Oh right, I think I remember rambling something at them earlier.
"He'd suffered numerous broken bones, as I'm sure you're aware of Your Highness" continued the Morgan, "most of these are ribs, some of his fingers too, and his right arm was broken in several places".
"Several...places?"
"Yes", was the only answer as the kindly old healer placed his hand on her shoulder, "but you would do best not to think of how these injuries came to be". He was right, for now; at least, she would keep those thoughts at bay whilst Ja'far was healing, and kill all responsible later.
"How is he?"
"Stable, however, as you know, he had lost a lot of blood and due to the conditions he'd been kept in, was suffering from hypothermia". She looked down at the ground; dread starting to creep up her body; a knot appearing in her stomach.
"I'm sorry, we've done what we can to aid in his recovery; however, all that can be done now is to wait and hope he responds. As a start we've covered him in blankets in an attempt to raise his body temperature, but he should be moved to a room with a fire".
"Not a problem, there's one next to mine that will do", and then remembering that the maid was still in the room, turned round to add, "excuse me, could you please see to it that the room next to mine is made ready?"
"Yes, Safiya-sama. I will prepare you a bath whilst I'm there", and with that she bowed and left on her way.
"A bath?" She thought as she looked down at herself, ahh...right. I'm covered in blood fro-. No, stop that thought!
"I'm sorry to say this, Your Highness, but you could do with one" the Morgan added with a chuckle when he saw her looking down at her clothes, "it's not just the blood".
"Oh...I see". Right, I've been running around in armour. I wonder how badly I smell?
With added reassurance from the healers that Ja'far was at least stable for now, Safiya sunk into the pleasantly warm water, washing away the dirt and some of the built up stress from that day. It was common amongst the nobility to have maids help wash you; some would have handled her hair whilst others dealt with scrubbing; apparently it was relaxing. Safiya did not find that relaxing in the slightest; after all, she had working arms and hands, so she could clean herself. As she moved her hair so that it wasn't being sat on and settled into a relaxing position, head leaning back against the rim, her mind began to wander to the thoughts she'd been keeping back. As she stared up at the ceiling, her first thoughts went to Sinbad, and her undeniable anger towards him.
As things stood she wanted to throttle him, no, to punch that stupid smile off his face and then throttle him. Honestly, what was he thinking, jumping into a battle like that? Stupid man! Not only was she fuming at him for her brother's current condition (even if she could reason some of the blame onto herself), she also blamed him for her embarrassing behaviour in front of the other Sindrian General. Spartos, wasn't it? She thought back to him; he'd seemed quiet, but calm and pleasant, and Safiya had taken a liking to him.
Ahh, she sighed out, I hope he doesn't think I'm some crazy lady. I bet Sasan's women are nothing like me. I bet they're all 'ladylike' and don't destroy things; or tie up their guests; or throw things at their guests; or electrocute their guests, hah, all that's left is to set him on fire...I should probably try and keep my anger in control next time we meet.
Realising that that particular 'next time' might well be in the presence of one idiot King, it seemed like a good idea to vent her anger now, whilst she was alone, and try to let things go, for Ja'far's sake too. He must like Sinbad; he clearly followed him for a reason, even if she couldn't figure out why, and so until her brother woke up, she could probably just stay out of the way of him; and if he didn't wake up. Safiya didn't really want to think too far down that path, but she could be pretty certain that the red mists of vengeance would rise up and engulf her; she knew her emotions all too well to doubt that. Yes, and he doesn't seem like he would be too hard to kill, either. Then she could move on to Kou, the ones responsible for his torture. I wonder if Judar would join me in the destruction if I asked? I heard he's into that sort of thing now.
The sound of life in the next room along brought her out of her thoughts; a good thing, too, as in the short time she had been in the bath, her mind had wandered down some disturbing routes. It sounded as though there were quite a few people, so it seemed reasonable to assume that her brother was being moved into the room. Wanting to be there when he woke up, Safiya quickly left the relaxing warmth of the bath behind, drying off as quickly as possible before heading to the dress.
She could see where the maids had been coming from when they had picked out this particular garment. True, Royalty would be visiting and she would be expected to make a good first impression, normally, but all she'd wanted was something quick and simple to get on. I wonder what they'd have chosen if they knew how I 'greeted' him earlier? The dress was beautiful, but corsets were both a pain to get on (especially alone) and a pain to wear. They restricted your movement, your breathing, and were just overall uncomfortable; why the women of Mercia chose to wear them she had no idea, and so she only wore one when attending balls or for entertaining guests.
Luckily, she was still alone; taking this opportunity she instead chose a simple red and cream one from her wardrobe, or, at least, as simple as her attire ever got when not fighting. Thankfully, it laced up down the middle of the bodice so no help was required to fasten it. Not that Safiya minded looking feminine and pretty or even dressing up; it was just that some of the fashion trends seemed stupid to her. She did, however, put on the petticoat under the dress; it was just another layer to her, but it was the 'done thing to do' in Mercia and she did want to appear as at least some kind of lady, even if it is the scary, insane kind.
The centre of the bodice and the bottom layer of the dress' skirt were a cream silk with a floral pattern picked out in cream embroidery. The outer layer of the dress which included the remainder of the bodice and sleeves was a red silk with a rose pattern picked out in red embroidery and edged down the centre in embroidered silver ribbon; lacing up with a simple ribbon, the same red as the dress. The long sleeves cuffed near the upper arm in the same silver embroidery, flowing elegantly out and falling down by her sides; the inner sleeved lined in the cream fabric.
Quickly getting on a pair of socks and some red and cream slip on shoes to match her dress, she grabbed her metal vessels as she exited her room, placing them upon her person. As her hair was still wet she simply plaited it to the side and placed the hairpin at the top. Usefully, the rose pin had little silver leaves branching off underneath which Buer could manipulate to hold the metal vessel in place regardless of its precarious positioning; a sort of teeny weenie Djinn Equip, if she had to sum it up to someone. Her other metal vessels were also silver with rubies inlaid into certain places. Ose was in the ring on her middle finger that matched her hairpin; a delicate, thorny stem made up the band; a small, full opened rose with a ruby inlaid to the centre finishing it off. Ose had been Safiya's second Djinn after Buer and upon realising the vessels matched she had decided that, should she gain any more, she'd stick with a theme (so that they didn't clash when worn).
Upon entering the room next door, the healers parted; bowing in polite respect to her. Ja'far had been placed in the middle off the grand, four-poster bed that was at the centre of the wall to her left; his clothes had been changed in favour of the long night-shirt that the men of Mercia wore when sleeping. Opposite the end of his bed, was the magnificent, white marble fireplace; detailing picked out in gold leaf which reflected back dancing red of the flames. Blazing out heat, it efficiently worked to heat the room, and hopefully Ja'far.
The room was an exact reflection of her own; white walls as with almost the entire palace, with gold detailing on the moulding and ceiling roses. More grand windows looked out over the private gardens, framed with deep red curtains; a rose pattern similar to the one on her dress picked out in gold flocking, and tied back with red and gold tassels. These matched the curtains of the bed, three sides of which had been draw to keep out any rogue drafts. The carpet that took up almost the entirety of the floor was a pale cream, with a border of golden thorns. Towards the centre were three large, red roses; golden thorns snaking between them and interlocking to form a circle.
"Your Highness, we shall depart back to the medical wing. Should you require anything please let us know. The maids have been instructed to keep the fire stoked, so you don't need to worry about that either", spoke Morgan.
"Thank you Morgan-san, and thank you everyone for helping my brother when I could not. I am grateful to you" she added with a small curtsey in their direction.
"Ah, no, please, there's no need to thank us so much" one of the other healers piped up, Merlin, she thought his name was, Morgan's apprentice, I think? Despite not going to see the healers much herself, she was acquainted with them as most could be found in the library at some point or another and she loved learning new things from them. Merlin was relatively new to the Palace; despite only being 24 he had been picked for his abilities with magical forms of healing. Fair skinned and freckly, he had uncontrollable black hair that stuck up slightly towards the front; the rest pulled back into a short ponytail. Apparently he'd been the only healer in his village and had only left to learn more so that he could help them further. So whilst he was a bit of a clumsy twit sometimes, he had Safiya's respect.
All of the healers simultaneously bowed even deeper in response to her curtsey. Usually this would make her chuckle; everyone was so polite here and as a child she had taken advantage of this on several occasions, trying to see just how low she could get them to bow. Today, though, all she wanted to do was sit with her brother.
"We shall excuse ourselves now" and they bowed once more, really not necessary, she thought, and left her alone in the room with Ja'far.
A chair had already been pulled up at the side of the bed, but she instead sat on its edge. Ja'far's arm had been placed in a sling; a temporary move until either the healers or Safiya could fix it. Moving some of the wisps of silver hair out of his eyes, she could take in the awful bruise that stained one half of his face; swelling had started to appear, making his eye seem less like an eye and more like a weird dimple. Placing her hand on his cheek she could feel how cold he still was, but on the plus side, the blue tinge from his lips was gone, even though he was still deathly pale; something that just made the bruise stand out more.
"Buer, can't we heal that? I must have some magoi left that can be used".
"...Yes, my Queen, but only that. You're already at your limit".
"I get it, thank you Buer".
As the a little light shone out from her hair for yet another time that day, she moved her body over to the chair and lay her head down on the bed instead, hand gently resting on the crook of his arm.
"Sleep well, Onii-san".
As the bruise and the swelling disappeared before her eyes, a wave of dizziness took over her senses and her breathing started to get more difficult; her heart began to pound against her ribs in protest as the strain from magoi depletion started to take its toll on her body; weakness spreading through her until movement became almost impossible. Briefly she thought she heard someone call out to her, Buer? Both her hearing and thoughts were groggy; she really had pushed herself today and this time the exhaustion was going to get the better of her; with that she passed out.