Chapter Nine
Professor: Warning, Nel has a small panic attack in this chapter. Nothing major and Crowley talks her through it, but I wanted to give you all a heads up!
Nel had just finished putting her shoes on when someone began banging on her door frantically. She was confused, but opened it as quickly as she could. A breathless Edvin stood on the other side, panting as he leaned against the door frame, his windswept hair falling in front of his eyes.
Before she could say anything, Edvin was already talking.
"Nel…come quick…accident…they need-"
"Edvin," she cut him off, "Breathe. Calm down."
"No time!" he yelled, grabbing her hand and yanking her out of her room.
"What's going on?!" she screamed after her initial yelp of surprise at being tugged down the hallway.
"There was another accident! Cattle got loose and stampeded straight through part of the town! The hospital's swamped! They asked me to get you as fast as I could!" he said all in a rush.
Nel didn't need to hear anymore. She picked up her pace, running alongside him now.
When they reached the hospital, Nel started in surprise. Edvin was right. The building was crammed full of people, all sporting an injury of some kind and yelling over one another in pain and pleas for help.
Nel tied her hair back and immediately got to work.
"Gilan! Gil!"
The tall Ranger turned around when he heard his name called, seeing Will running down the hall towards him.
"Hey!" he called, waiting for him.
"Have you seen Nel?" Will asked when he caught up to him.
"Not since last night at dinner," Gilan answered, "She left right before Erak started singing."
Will grimaced at the memory, "Remind me to hide the ale tonight."
"No one needs to see that twice." Gilan agreed, shaking his head as if to physically get the thought out, "Anyway, why are you looking for her?"
Will's expression instantly turned apprehensive, "He's here."
"He's here?"
"Sort of?" Will said uncertainly, "The Arridi ship that was spotted last week just pulled in and Duncan sent me to find Nellie, just in case."
"So, he might be here?" Gilan clarified.
Will nodded and Gilan groaned, "Well, that's just great. Did you try her room?"
"Door was open. No one's there."
"Gorlog's beard."
Will raised an eyebrow at him.
He could only shrug in response, "Picked it up from Halt."
"I'm starting to think that he should've never become friends with Erak."
"Agreed." Gilan said, "Speaking of Halt, have you asked him where she is?"
Will shook his head, "You're the first person I've seen."
The two of them fell silent, thinking it all over. After a moment, Will raised his eyes nervously, "You…you don't think she would run, do you?"
"Nel?" Gilan asked, shocked, "No, no, course not. I mean, she's Nel…right?"
He suddenly sounded very uncertain.
"She is Halt's daughter." Will whispered after a very tense pause.
The two of them exchanged a very sudden, very worried look.
"I'll find Halt!" Will burst out.
"I'll see if Cassie's seen her!" Gilan yelled at the same time.
They both rushed off down opposite directions of the hall as fast as they could.
Will raced around the corner and barged into Halt's room.
"Will!" Halt yelled immediately, jumping up in surprise. Crowley, who had been sitting next to him, cursed as the movement dumped a cup of coffee into his lap.
"Nel here?!"
"What? No, of course not!" Halt huffed, "Now why are you in such a panic?!"
"He's here and Nel's missing!" Will called over his shoulder as a way of an explanation, already running out of the room.
"Missing?! What do you mean missing?!"
Will didn't answer, practically flying down the hall towards Pauline's rooms. In much the same manner, he burst in, found no sign of Nel, and left, leaving a very confused Lady Pauline behind. Halt was hot on his heels, Crowley not far behind. As best he could, Will told them what was going on and soon enough, they were splitting up; Halt to the stables and Crowley to the hospital. Nel didn't spend time in a whole lot of places, if she wasn't there…
Well, Will didn't blame her for running. Only for her timing on the matter.
He rushed into the library, truly hoping that Nel was there doing some sort of medical research. Instead he found Shigeru and Atanyan hunched over a paper and discussing…well he didn't know and frankly, didn't really care at the moment. As soon as he entered the library, Will's brain had shorted out.
If Nel had run away, if they couldn't find her, Atanyan was the absolute last person in the world who could know.
Will immediately backtracked, almost slipping on the floor in his haste to do so. By some miracle, the two men hadn't seen him yet, which Will thanked the gods for. He could only hope that the others were having better luck.
"Little tighter," Nel said encouragingly, bounching the child on her knee. Anytime she stopped, he began crying, no matter what Edvin was doing to his arm.
Edvin tightened the bandage on the kid's wrist, tying it off and then holding it up for Nel to inspect.
She eyed it critically before nodding her approval. His medical skills were improving daily.
"Thank you," the child's mother said, smiling gently at the baby boy.
Nel smiled back at her, "Of course, it's no problem."
She glanced down at the almost two year old on her knee. He had run away from the stampede, but had fallen on the ground and badly scraped up his arm, "Just change the bandages regularly and keep it clean and he'll be fine."
"Thank you," she said again, relief in her eyes.
Nel continued to smile at her, but glanced around the room. It had been a very busy day, but it seemed to finally be settling down. There had been some serious injuries, the worst of which were upstairs resting after their surgeries. It looked like this woman and her son were one of the last people to come in.
Edvin grabbed the last of the supplies they had out, putting them away in the cabinet. Nel stood up, turning her smile to the child instead. She rearranged her grip, sitting him on her hip. Reaching forward a little, she tickled his side, causing him to laugh and making his mom's smile only grow.
"Well, he seems like he's feeling better."
"Yeah!" the boy cried out, making the women laugh.
"You certainly have a way with children," his mother said, taking him back when Nel handed him over, "Do you have any of your own?"
Nel shook her head, "No, I don't, but thank you."
"Well hopefully you will, you'll be a great mother." she smiled at the healer again before saying her goodbyes and leaving.
Nel blushed to herself, 'I can only hope so…'
"We good for the day?" Edvin asked, jogging up to her as the woman left, supplies officially put away."
"For the most part." Nel answered, "I think it's just clean up now."
"I can do that if you like." he offered, "You've been working all day and with the Wakir arriving any day, you probably want to relax a bit."
Nel was touched at the offer. It was true, an Arridi ship had been sighted off the coast of Araluen. Although there was no confirmation that her fiance was on the ship, there wasn't really any other explanation for it. Nel had simply tried not to think about it, already far too nervous about meeting him. Thinking about it would only make her more nervous.
"I don't mind." Edvin insisted after she didn't reply for a moment.
"Are you sure? You've been working all day as well."
He just shrugged, "Clean up is easy. You took all the hard parts today, surgeries and such."
Nel conceded that point. With the research that she and Malcolm had done, she often helped in the surgeries, especially the difficult ones.
"Go, I can handle this!" He made a shooing motion with his hands.
Nel laughed, "Ok, ok. Thank you!"
Edvin gave her a mock salute before walking away, going to help finish the clean up for the day.
She just shook her head, looking around the room once more before heading out. The other doctors and healers were finishing up with the last of the patients and everything seemed to be in order. Her gaze landed on a nearby window with her faint reflection in it and she grimaced. 7 hours of work in a hospital after a cattle stampede had done nothing to help her stay clean. Dirt and sweat were smeared all over her face and dress, along with a spilled jar of medicine that was rapidly staining her bodice as well as providing a very intense perfume of bitter herbs. There were a few blood stains as well from when she had assisted in the surgeries, and a long tear up just past her knee from where it had gotten caught in the hustle and bustle of the work day, showing her slip underneath.
She frowned, looking at it critically. While the dress had been rather plain, it had been comfortable and easy to work in. She hated having to throw it out.
Normally Nel would be very embarrassed at her appearance, after all, her slip was showing. But none of the other healers looked any better, so she shrugged it off.
Coming to the decision that Edvin was right and she could go home, Nel began walking back to the castle. They were still behind on the wedding planning, but Pauline and Cassandra would understand the emergency for today.
She sighed as she walked down the street, trying to ignore the excited whispers that broke out when people saw her. The Arridi ship had sent everyone into a flurry of activity. Everyone was already working overtime to prepare for his arrival. Nel had barely gone a single second it felt like without someone stopping her and asking questions. Mostly, it was, "Are you excited to meet him?" which, honestly, Nel didn't know how to answer.
Meeting him meant she was a step closer to getting married and then leaving Araluen. Saying goodbye to her family and friends and then starting her new life in Arrida. One where-
The mother's words suddenly came back to her in a resounding clang, stopping Nel dead in her tracks in the middle of the street.
'…you'll be a great mother.'
A mother! She was going to have to become a mother! She was going to have to - oh she didn't want to finish that thought! This, this was, how could she have -
"Nel!" a familiar voice jerked her back to reality, making her look around in a confused panic before she saw Uncle Crowley headed right towards her.
"Nel, there you are!" he cried when he got close enough, "We've been looking for you everywhere!"
He stopped, catching sight of the expression on her face, "Are you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost. Is this because he's here?"
"W-What?" she sputtered.
Crowley nodded, "The Wakir is here. The ship pulled into port before I left the castle. He's probably almost there by now."
Her breath caught and she stumbled backwards. Crowley's eyes grew wide with his own panic and he reached out to steady her. Looking around, he spotted a destered alleyway nearby, a crate just inside the entrance. Quickly, he led her over to it, making her sit down, away from the prying eyes of those in the street.
"Nel, what's wrong?" he asked quietly.
"I can't do this. I can't do this!" she exclaimed, her whisper quickly growing in volume and panic the more she spoke, "I can't do this!"
"Ok, ok, calm down," Crowley said as soothingly as he could, "I know, meeting your fiance for the first time is terrifying, but we'll all be right there with you. It'll be-"
"No!" she burst out, "I just, I can't do this!"
"Ok, what happened?!" Glancing down, he saw that she was rubbing her palm furiously, turning it red, and reached forward to take her hands in his, kneeling down in front of her.
"I-I-I-" she just kept stuttering, tears pricking at her eyes, feeling a pressure beginning to build in her chest.
Crowley sighed, a little frustrated, "What? You have to what?"
"I have to be a mother!" she hissed, finally finding the words, "H-He'll be expecting children! I'll probably be pregant within a year! I-I planned for everything else in Arrida, but forgot that! How did I forget that?!"
She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders began to shake.
"I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready for any of this. I-I-" she muttered tearfully, voice barely above a whisper. Crowley had to strain his ears to make the words out.
Taking a deep breath, he started speaking as gently as he could, ignoring his own discomfort at the topic.
"Look, with everything that's been going on, anyone would've forgotten something. No one will blame you for that. And will this man want kids eventually? I'm sure he will. But no one is saying that has to be right away. If you aren't ready, then you aren't ready. You are well within your rights to say no, even after marriage, alright? Nobody expects you to be pregnant right away and nobody is going to force you to be. I can personally guarantee that if this man even thinks of…doing that," Crowley coughed awkwardly, unable to get the actual word out, "Then he'll have to deal with your entire family, which essentially means that he will be killed, brought back to life, and then killed again so many times that we'll all lose count of the deaths."
At some point during his speech, Nel had stopped crying, listening to his words intently.
"On the other hand," he continued, putting his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, "You might actually fall in love with him. There is no law anywhere in the world that says arranged marriages always have to be cold and loveless. This Wakir, he might be the perfect man for you. You never know Nellie."
"Do…Do you really think that might happen?"
"I hope so," he answered truthfully, "I hope with every bit of strength I have that you and him find happiness together. Otherise, I don't know what I would do. At this point, the only thing I can do, is hope."
Nel inhaled a deep, shuddering breath, "So what do I do now?"
Crowley shrugged, "How about you just focus on the next five minutes?"
"The next five minutes?"
He nodded, "My personal life motto. If something seems difficult or scary, I tell myself that the worst of it is in the next five minutes, so all I have to do is get through those five minutes. If I can do that, I can handle the rest of it."
She took another deep and shaky breath, "The next five minutes."
He smiled encouragingly, "The next five minutes."
She nodded and then gave him a small smile, her heart was still racing but the pressure was lessening now, "Thanks."
"Anytime Nellie-girl."
"I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
He waved off her apology, "It's ok. I don't mind."
She nodded again, mostly to herself this time.
"What do you say we get you to the castle to get cleaned up?" he suggested.
"That'd be nice."
"Come on." He stood up and offered her his hand and they resumed their way up to the castle, Nel telling him why she had been at the hospital in the first place. It was more babbling to calm down, but it helped, getting her mind off of her nerves.
They had just entered the courtyard when they realized the crowd right in front of them, staring in shock at the amount of people there.
Almost everyone from every delegation was there, most with matching shocked expressions on their faces. Will and Gilan were staring at her, completely gobsmacked. Erak looked like he was holding back laughter while Duncan was trying to conceal his embarrassment. Atanyan looked very annoyed to say the least. Both Cassandra and Lydia looked almost proud.
And her father was outright smiling.
But Nel could only focus on the tall Arridi between Duncan and Atanyan, standing in the center of it all.
He was the tallest man she had ever seen outside of the Skandians, being at least a full head taller than her, maybe more. He also had a long nose, but she found that it suited his face instead of detracting from it. His hair, as dark as hers was, looked just long enough to run his fingers through. He was handsome, she realized with a start, surprised at herself. She wasn't one to typically notice things like that.
But his eyes, a warm, lighter brown color, were wide as he stared at her, completely speechless.
She could've died of mortificiation.
"Lord Selethen." Duncan said stiffly, "This is Lady Aranel."
The words seemed to bring everyone back to the present, watching intently to see what would happen next.
Nel fought back a grimace. Could Duncan have sounded any less pleased?
Selethen smiled, showing his brilliant white teeth, and raised his hand to his lips, forehead, and back to his lips, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
His voice was incredibly soft and Nel found herself blushing. Doing a quick curtsey, she said, "And you as well. I…I must apologize for my appearance. I was helping in the hospital, there was an emergency."
"Ah," he said, a look of understanding dawning on his face, "Is everyone alright then?"
She nodded, dropping her gaze from his eyes, "Y-Yes. Everyone should make a full recovery."
"That's good."
They fell silent, the awkwardness practically palpable.
"Perhaps we should give everyone a chance to freshen up and then we can meet in a couple hours for dinner?" Pauline, ever the diplomat, suggested.
"Perfect!" Duncan immediately latched onto the idea, turning to the new guests, Nel just now noticing a few more Arridi behind the crowd, "We'll have someone show you all to your rooms."
"Thank you."
Everyone began walking back towards the castle, Cassandra quickly rushing forward to grab Nel's arm and walk with her. Soon, it was only Duncan and Halt left in the giant courtyard, watching as everyone else entered the building.
Duncan let out a very exasperated sigh, "Only your daughter would show up looking like that to meet her betrothed!"
Halt didn't respond. Glancing over at him, the king huffed, "Don't look so smug!"
Professor: They finally met! I'm so excited! I've been waiting for this since I started this story! Tell me what you think!