1.4
I'd been well on my way back by the time the girl woke up again. She'd slept for fourteen hours straight. It was fortunate that she awoke when she did, because I was just passing a spring full of nice, cool, clear water.
The girl was still a mess, but better than she was before. The life I had planted in her being had seen to that; leaking a little bit of the energy it had gained from harvesting the Warp energy she provided access to, soothing aches and sores. It wasn't much, not at this stage, not so early in their combined development, but every little bit helped.
Especially because she was still starved and dehydrated.
That... would take longer to treat than her wounds.
I had some food and water that I'd... recovered from the cultists, seeing as they had no use for it, but starvation and dehydration were tricky conditions. You couldn't just shove food and water into people; too much could very easily cause more problems as their bodies weren't prepared or capable of handling it. You had to space it, carefully.
Which I had. The girl was skittish, and tense, but she didn't resist when my Clasher-self brought her food and water. I was hardly a medical professional, even after all this time, but I didn't need to be when the life I'd planted inside of her gave me direct insight to the state of her body, and a relatively precise idea of what she could handle.
After she was fed and watered, I'd then had to clean her up. All the dirt and blood she was covered in was doing her no favours, after all.
That hadn't been too difficult. Or, at least, she was a lot more cooperative after she'd been fed and watered. Initial reluctance had been present, though it had faded after gentle coaxing.
She was quite pale, underneath all that dirt and mud. A pallid, unhealthy colour. The hair was a dark shade of brown, and I'd wager it'd look pretty with some more proper care.
Cleaning her wounds had been... a more tense affair. I'd been careful, of course, wiping the blood away with careful strokes of torn cloth, but she had been... a little sensitive. Twitching, minutely, with every wipe, grimacing as she did... Binding the wounds had been worse, but she'd soldiered through it.
Once she was done and clean, I'd continued on my journey. I'd put her on top of my Entity-self, where the gentle and smooth floating created a ride free of jostling. She hadn't done much, mostly laying against a petal, out of direct skylight, and staring at her surroundings.
Which... was fine, really.
Wasn't too much further to go. And technically, further for her than it was for me, as she also had to cross the physical distance.
Me... Not so much.
I sense it, the moment before it happens. A presence, Silent, and oh so familiar. I reach out to it, just as it reaches out to me. I am enveloped, and I envelop in turn. Awareness expands, memories fold together, and then...
And then, finally, blissfully, I'm whole. My mind no longer cast in two reflections. There's only one of me on the planet, now. It's good.
It was necessity, and necessity alone, that had driven the split in the first place.
Hmm. My mirror-self had experienced more time than the rest of me. Well, inconsistencies like that were unavoidable, on this planet. And aside from that...
The direction of that Entity-self shifts, slightly, minor enough to be unnoticeable to the only one around to witness it. I make a few changes to my planning, the return of this Entity-self and the attendant bounty of energy that had been brought back accelerating some goals. And, of course, there was my Entity-self itself to consider; another nexus of energy gathering efforts...
Of course, I'll have to drop the girl off first. And make sure she receives more proper care...
Would I have the time?
I look at the sky. Purple-pink was still shining brightly, so dusk would come in... probably a few hours, assuming that it darkened at the usual rate. Not always a guarantee, especially this close to full moon...
I should have the time. If it speeds by too quickly, then I'll have to arrange faster transportation, but until then...
Nothing to do but wait, I guess.
Two and a half hours pass, in silence. The girl has begun to yawn, though she's staying awake nonetheless. Perhaps a good thing, considering... She'd have awoken in a strange place with no clue what's going on, if she had.
We arrive at the base of a cliff, a sudden upheaval of rock. It's large, utterly massive...
But, where she's going is something my Entity-self can't follow. I stop at the foot of the cliff, and the girl jolts. Suddenly, she's at full attention, looking at her surroundings carefully.
I have a sky-self approach her, and carefully take her off of my Entity-self. She grips tightly against the sky-self, and only lets go when she's delivered into the waiting arms of my Clasher-self.
I waste no time. Dusk will come shortly. My Entity-self moves off, accompanied by the rest of my bodies- all except for my Clasher-self holding the girl.
That one instead heads to the cliff face, approaching solid rock. The girl seems confused, and holds up an arm in front of her when I don't slow- only to draw in a sudden breath as my Clasher-self walks into, and then through, the rock.
She shifts, trying to look back, and gets a view of a rippling wave of white-grey hexagrams reconstituting into what would appear to be solid rock.
Holograms. Such a useful thing, when you're trying to hide.
The cave on the other side of the holographic wall is quite large, more than enough to fit my Clasher-self. It's not particularly well-lit, but the glowing light of said Clasher-self provides enough to see.
One quick look at the cave showed that it was unnatural, too smooth and regular to be anything but. I follow the path for a short distance, before making a turn to the right and passing through another holographic wall, coming to face a large, dark grey, metal door. It's large, and thick, heavier than even the bunker doors back at the ruined city.
My Clasher-self approaches, releasing a pulse of energy into the air. The doors flash with blue sigils, and then open, slowly.
In my arms, the girl's hands clench tightly, knuckles paling to white. A sudden, sharp note of fear strikes through her soul. The reason is simple; because on the other side of the doors is a person.
He's pretty tall. Wearing loose and relatively thin robes, doing little to hide the blue life-light emanating from his chest. He raises an eyebrow, upon seeing my Clasher-self, and the bundle of cloth in my arms, holding the girl.
"Ah." He hums. "So, that's why I was called here." He uncrosses his hands, and the red crosses on his sleeves become easily visible. "Well, let's get her to the hospital, shall we?"