Chapter 34: Varian in bed
Here is at last the long wanted chapter where our little hero returns. I'm sorry it took so many chapters, but details are important in a story sometimes. I hope you'll enjoy this one. In return for letting you wait so long, I've made this a long one.
After many many chapters *chuckle* the day is more or less over very soon. We're back to Varian at last here. He's had a long day behind him, and even though he remembers only half of it, it's been a weird one.
After a long day of confusion, Varian were tugged up in bed again, full and clean at last. He wore a plain, white night shirt that reached him below his knees and were a bit too long on his arms, so he had rolled up the sleeves to his wrists. He thought his arms looked skinnier than usual and thought it was from the huge shirt, as he was not really aware himself that he had months of nurturish neglect behind him. But from the situation itself, he felt little where he lied leaning on the back of the bed supported by the pillow with his knees pulled up under the blanket. Ruddiger laid curled up by his left side and enjoyed the cuddle Varian gave with one hand. He too was all worn out after a long time worrying about his master, and now that Varian seemed to have gotten allot more back to normal, he felt that he had earned the rest now.
But his master's mind were far from calm. Varian was disturbed and confused and as he cuddled his friend's fur, it was actually something he did to comfort himself. Right now, Ruddiger was the only familiar thing he had near him as not even his goggles were present. And Ruddiger were also the only one he knew among many new strangers. As he had only been in contact with the people from the village of Old Corona, and meeting so many new faces in one day had been more than odd for him; especially with the King himself.
Varian let a heavy sigh escape through his lips as he lookedtowards the closed curtains. He had been ripped off everything he knew and were now stuck on odd, strange surroundings and didn't know how to handle it. He struggled to believe that he really were missing over half a year of memory. He had been told how he got there, but that story itself were so odd in his mind.
The old Physician saw this clearly on his face as he approached him. The boy was confused and worried and even though his brain had stopped him from recalling anything of the past, it was obvious that his logical mind was trying to figure out of this puzzle. So when he approached his bed, he had the pure intention of disturbing his mind from this in order to give him some peace.
And eventually prevent another possible fit.
He carried with him a little cup of a white liquid that he put on the nightstand beside his bed as he spoke. "Are we comfortable?"
"Eh..." Varian woke up from his thoughts and faced the friendly face of the physician with an insecure smile that didn't reach all the way up. " Sure, yeah. Sure. I'm just... fine..." He flicked with his eyes as he spoke, not able to meet his friendly gaze.
"I brought you something to make your head feel better." he said, pointing at the small cup. "I would recommend you to drink it all in one sip."
Varian bit his bottom lip before he spoke. "Thanks, but... I'm fine, really. There is no need to..." he interrupted himself when he spotted something behind the curtain by the right window. "Is-is there someone at the window?"
He said this mostly to distract the old physician from his constant concern for him, but he was reviled when Phineas actually turned around and walked towards said window, making Varian silently let out a small sigh of relief.
Phineas on the other hand were curious, and as he approached the window, he swore he could hear voices. As he discreetly peeked under the curtain, he widened his eyes and put the curtain on place. Then he looked up at the boy with a smile.
"It was probably nothing. Now, I'll be right back, and we'll both tug up." the Physician said smiling and headed for the door.
"But, Phineas..." Varian said, looking after him as he walked towards the door. "You don't have to sleep in here for my sake. I'll be fine, really!"
"I'm the one who decides if you are fine or not, and if I choose to observe you during the night, that's my decision." the old man said adamant, but he smiled as he went through the door. "Now excuse me, I have one last issue to deal with!" And then he closed the door behind him.
Varian scoffed and leaned back on the pillows.
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The moment he closed the door behind him, Phineas frowned as he stormed towards his own chamber across the room, first entering his laboratory to close the curtains on the window. Then he walked to the other door, where there was a small corridor with three other openings covered by curtains. He entered the two others, covered the windows and he went to the first, that were his own. His two assistants had been given some days of since they had been covering for him in his absence. Besides, Phineas were afraid they would only be in the way. The two other chambers would therefore be empty, and this fitted Phineas perfect for his plan.
Inside his own chambers, he walked over to the window, opened it and turned to his right. There he spotted several guards, up to about eight, standing by the windows of the sick room.
"Fools! I thought I only said a pair..." he muttered, but then he spoke louder in their direction. "Gentlemen!?"
They all turned to his direction, in a rather disturbed hurry.
"You're on the wrong spot. THESE are the windows you're supposed to watch!"
They all muttered to themselves as they walked over to him.
"It is this, the two others here..." he pointed at the two others to his left. "...and this. Now, I demand you stay quiet all night through. I don't want you to disturb my patient! Or me for that matter! And I know the King will be very upset with you if you disobey at this!"
"You mean the prisoner?" one guard asked.
"Are there more than one?" another one asked.
"Were you sent to ask questions, gentlemen?" Phineas asked sarcastically.
They looked at eachother before a third one spoke. "No, but..."
"Then remain quiet for the rest of the night, and do NOT move from here one minute of the night. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes, Sir." the third one said and made a salute, which the others followed.
"Then goodnight, gentlemen!"
"Good night, Master. And good luck."
Phineas hurried to close the window and cover it. Then his lips broke into a smirk. "Yes, now these empty rooms will be well watched... as no one will be disturbed." Then he looked across the room.
While the other two rooms contained mainly a bed and a dresser, his own room were quite different. There were no bed here, but a writing desk with a panel covering it, the kind of desk with a working plate hiding the many shuffles inside it that you could lock with a key. A tall closet with painted wooden panels covering the doors stood beside it, decorated with a complex pattern. He approached the closet and opened it, grabbing a roll of clothing and a pillow. Then he closed the door to the closet and headed back to the sick room, preparing a key from the pocket of his sleeve.
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"I just don't get it, Ruddiger." Varian said out in the air, leaning back on the pillows as he stared up at the roof. "Nothing of this makes any sort of sense."
The raccoon only looked up at him with one open eye, as he too had a hard day behind him and as his master were seemingly back to normal, he felt that he could relax and wasn't really in the mood for anything else.
"I just find it so hard to believe that Dad would ask the King himself to look after me while he's gone... away." The last word died on his lips as the knot in his belly were getting tighter. "The only reasonable explanation I can come up with, is..." he suddenly became moody. "If no one of... Old Corona's folks would... take me in." he looked away. "I guess they were most likely afraid that... something would... that I would cause something, or... I bet Mrs. Sourson haven't forgotten, and... Ah, well..." He looked down. "I was only gonna help her with her baking... I didn't know the dough was gonna swell THAT much."
Ruddiger looked up at him, sensing his master's sadness, and not being able to sleep anyway, he stretched out and climbed up in his lap. Varian faced him as he spoke again, gently grabbing a hold on him with both hands.
"It's happened before. They think I'm odd or... just..." he lowered his head on his up pulled knees. "Can't say I blame them. It's just so odd that Dad would go to this level to keep me somewhere. I mean, he knows I can take care of myself. I'm not a child." He kept scratching his furry companion's head as he looked around the room, only lighted up by the candle by his bed table to his left as the curtains were still pulled for.
"And not just that..." Varian faced the raccoon again, whispering this time. "Did you see how filthy the water became when I bathed?" he made a face. "And the ham in my pocket, and that carrot... What have I been doing here? I am so ashamed that the King and Lars saw me like that. If Dad knew..." he bit his bottom lip and made a face.
Ruddiger nudged his head up under his chin, and Varian replied the cuddle by wrapping his arms around him, like a child that clanged to a stuffed animal.
"The only explanation I can figure out, is... I bet I've tried not to bother the Majesties, and... Let's say... Maybe I got hungry, and... Gosh, did I really go as far as stealing from the royal kitchen?" The shocking thought made him wrap tigher around himself. "What if the Majesties... I wouldn't be surprised if they forgot about me and... I've had to..." he shook his head. "No... Or could it? It would make sense since neither Karen or Violet knew who I was... And neither did Phineas..."
"That is true indeed, I didn't know about you. But I just arrived back today, so how could I?"
Varian went all stiff and silent when he heard the physician's voice in the room again, and blushed rapidly at sudden. But the old man didn't say more, only closing the door, and seemingly started quarreling with the handle as he discreetly put the key in to lock it. "Ridiculous old thing. Seems I must have Xavier up here again to have a look at the old doors." he smiled as he hid the key away and approached the boy's bed with a smile, holding a couple of clothing rolls.
In the end, the boy couldn't stand it any longer, and let out a heavy sigh. "Phineas, please be honest with me! What am I doing here?"
"I know nothing more than what I have been told, just like you right now. But I thought I instructed you not to ponder too much?" he said as and smiled as he unfolded a rolled madras on the floor beside him to his left.
"I know what you said, but my head don't agree with you." Varian said, not looking at him.
"Ah, I see. I know it's hard, but I know you can make it if you try, lad."
"I know, but I... S'cuse me, are you..." Varian forgot about himself and straightened up and arched an eyebrow at him as he watched him deal with the bed clothes. "You're not gonna sleep on the floor, are you? There are lots of other beds here." he flung his arm out in the room to point them out.
"They are required for patients and must be ready for use at any time." the Physician said as he put down a small pillow near the foot end of the bed and unfolded a blanket across the improvised bed. "Besides, in my father's homeland, they all sleep on the floor. In my mother's land, where my father was studying medicine, they used beds, but I have over the years found this a rather practical way of sleeping. Because you can just put the bed clothes away in the morning, and then use the sleeping spot for other kind of use doing the day. It saves up allot of space. And while I have been traveling for a couple of months now, this has been a practical way to sleep. I bring my own bed with me. Besides..." he unfolded and took off the long, light green robe of his and hung it over the foot end of Varian's bed and hung his hat on one of the bed knobs, leaving him in only a light yellow smaller robe underneath. "Madrasses makes my back hurt. I am not a fillie anymore, I must take care of myself in order to take care of others. "Phineas kept on as he crept under the blanket.
"Yeah... Sounds like a practical idea if you're living tight." Varian gave a short laugh, then he looked up and smiled. "Hey, what a great idea, I could do that in my lab... Once I get home that is..."
"I do not think I would have slept in my own lab, as the smells of my herbs would disturb me. I sleep in my study."
"You have a lab here?" Varian leaned forward with his eyes threatening to pop out of his head of excitement.
"Well, I need to make my medicine somewhere." Phineas replied and smirked. "If you're a good patient, maybe I'll show you."
"Eh... sure..." Varian replied a little insecure, feeling at sudden as he was treated like a child again.
The old man gave him a gentle look. "Do you find my presence bothering, young man?"
"No no, don't get me wrong. I know you're just doing your job. I just... I hate to be at bother to anyone."
"But you are not at all a bother, Varian." Phineas said honestly. "In fact, you're the most interesting patient I've ever had. Finally someone who understands my scientific methods and my desire for progress."
"Really? Eh..." the flattering compliment came a little unexpected towards him, as compliments happened to be rare to him.
"In fact, I believe you and I have allot we could learn from eachother, and I think we will have many interesting conversations in the future!" He stretched out his limbs. "But now I believe it's time for you to drink that tonic I gave you and get some sleep. I'll be keeping an eye on you for a while to make sure you're alright. But there's a new day tomorrow, and there will be plenty of time for us to explore eachother."
"If you say so..." Varian said as he grabbed the cup by the bed stand and emptied it on one sip, and immediately regretted as the taste made him practically twist his face in and out, making an awkward sound he had no control over.
"I take it I added too much salt?" Phineas joked with a smirk from where he sat.
Varian shook his head fast a couple of times and begun scraping his tongue with his front teeth to remove the taste as he kept making odd sounds. "If you have, I wouldn't have noticed." he shivered. "I don't think I wanna know what you put in there!"
"Better not!" the old man chuckled and laid his head down. "Now tell me, you said you were a scientist?"
"Yes, I am." he replied proudly, briefly forgetting the taste in his mouth.
"Now tell me, because I am rather curious, what you work with. What's your goal in life? WHat do you want with science?"
"I wanna make everyone's life better with the help of science. I'm making lot's of inventions and machines that's gonna revolution everything from washing clothes and dishes, and even whole rooms, to cutting wood and planks and beams and... I have this great idea for a saw... If only my Dad would let me try it..."
Varian wasn't aware of this himself, but as he kept speaking with grand eager of all his great ideas, he was getting more and more woozy and drowsy as the tonic were kicking in and making him sound less and less serious. Ruddiger were puzzling over his behavior and discreetly stretched out and sniffed the cup his master had been drinking, wrinkling his nose and pouting as he concluded that it was most likely not worth trying.
"Like that bed of yours... Now-fa a sudden I wonder if that could be m-even more pracicial... practing..."
"Practical?" Phineas helped him, smiling with amusement, not only for his behaviour, but because he was amazed by the boy's creative mind.
"Yeah yeah, like you said. What if... we made it into a folding..." he clapsed his hand together rather clumsy. "...either a suitcase to travel with, and on the way it could be used as a chain... I mean chair. Or maybe... Wouldn't it be cool if it could be disguized as a nice chair in daytime and then fold it out when you're..." he flung his arms out to demostrate, but his amr fell down on both sides as his muscles were losing their strength. Likewise, he wasn't able to hold back huge yawn, and failed as well to keep himself up anymore as his head sank down on the pillow at last, and his last babbling became only a mumbling.
"I... I'll show his Majesty... The chair bed... Once I get the chance..."Another yawn interrupted him. "Who would have thought... that the King had a squirrel...?"
Phineas had enormously trouble keeping his laughter at leech from where he sat and listened, but at last it seemed like Varian had drifted away. The Physician smiled and lied his head down. "Sleep tight, my young friend. Cause tomorrow will be an interesting day." the Physician leaned back on his pillow, letting himself drift away at last. "For all of us!"
More Asian knowledge for those who wants. Some might have guessed, Phineas' father is from Japan while his mother is from China. His origin will be explained later, but I just couldn't resist using the bed thing.