With Noah lying in bed unconscious, and with Ciaphia, Lisandra, and Lari beside him, Emma was feeling a little more confident that she could go outside and try to calm down.
She stayed there for a while longer as she watched the three sad girls beside Noah. Lari wasn't crying like before, but she still looked pretty dejected. Lisandra remained silent the entire time as she held Noah's hand.
No, she was still holding his hand as she continued to sit beside the bed.
Lisandra had laid her head on the mattress and seemed to want to sleep right there as she held Noah's hand. Emma wondered why that was, but when she looked out the window, she noticed that it was already dark.
Yes, hours had passed.
It had been hours since she had found Noah, and it had been hours since Lucio had gone out looking for help. Time passed too fast.
"It's already night and you still haven't eaten anything, I'm going to prepare something," Emma said to the three girls.
"No need to prepare anything for me, I'm going back to the house I'm staying in now. Taciane and Eli must be worried about me and Noah. I need to let them know how he is." The first to say something was Ciapha.
She had remained by his side all afternoon. She practically lay down on the bed beside him and took his other hand.
Lari and Lisandra didn't seem to mind her presence they didn't even talk to each other, the atmosphere was horrible in this room at the time.
Even though Noah isn't dead, it's like one funeral atmosphere, and it upsets Emma.
"All right. Tell them Noah is a little better and he'll be fine… Or I hope…" Emma said the last part low enough for Ciaphia not to hear, but the girl still seemed to understand.
But she was silent and said nothing.
"Tomorrow I'll come here again to see how you are, alright?" Ciaphia brought her face close to Noah's face and then placed a light kiss on his forehead. Lisandra who was expressionless the entire time widened her eyes.
Lari on the other hand didn't seem to have noticed it as she had her face buried in the mattress, apparently she had already fallen asleep.
And after that kiss, Ciaphia got out of bed and said goodbye once more before leaving.
And so it was only the four of them in the bedroom again.
"Okay, I'll fix you guys something to eat and I'll be right back." Emma put a smile on her face and then left the room. Lisandra who heard what her mother said felt her belly growling.
She was very hungry.
And Lari was sleeping.
####
Ciaphia, who left Noah's house, was met by some looks from the villagers outside. Neither of them asked how Noah was doing, but they managed to calm down a bit.
They noticed that Ciaphia wasn't crying and looked calm, showing that at least Noah wasn't in danger at the moment.
A woman who had been there near the house all the time looked relieved when she saw this. So after feeling calmer she finally went to her house and could sleep peacefully.
"I hope Taciane and Eli aren't too worried." Ciaphia thought as she approached her house (Temporary home)
When she arrived, she knocked on the door a few times as she hadn't taken a key with her and couldn't open the door.
"Wait." She heard Taciane's voice approaching the door. Soon after, the door was opened.
"I returned." Ciaphia gave Taciane a forced smile.
"Welcome back." Taciane didn't say anything other than that, she just looked sad.
Taciane, who could see Ciaphia's red eyes, knew that this girl had already cried a lot, so she decided not to ask anything about Noah at the moment.
She wanted to let Ciaphia rest.
She also told Eli to do the same thing, the two sisters decided not to talk about Noah once Ciaphia arrived.
Although the two of them were also very worried, they would feel bad if they made Ciaphia cry again if they started talking about Noah. Maybe he's not okay and that would just make Ciaphia feel bad again.
They heard before that Noah wasn't okay, but they didn't get to see him. Residents were talking about it a lot, but the information they were getting was limited.
And for that reason, they were both very worried.
"What's it? You look a little nervous." The three girls were already sitting at a table as they ate. Noticing that Taciane didn't look too good, Ciaphia couldn't help but worry.
"Is nothing," Taciane said to try to avoid bringing up the subject of Noah.
"I know what you guys are thinking, and don't worry about it."
"I know damn well you want to know how Noah is doing. You don't need to act like that, you can ask me calmly."
"…" Eli remained silent.
"Alright, how is he?" But Taciane decided to ask her directly.
"Well... It's a little complicated."
"He's not okay, is he?"
"Not." Ciaphia sighed and gave a slight smile as she placed her arms on the table.
After thinking some more, she opened her mouth again to say something.
"But even though he's not doing so well now, Emma told me he was a lot worse before, so that means he's improved a little."
"That's good... From the information we got from the other villagers, we think Noah was already dead."
"..."
"Oh, I didn't mean that, it's just that..."
"I also thought he was already dead. Can't you remember how noisy everyone was about the state he was in? Some people even said he was found dead."
"People just talk more than they should."
"Yes."
"But it's nice to know he's improved a little bit. I hope he recovers soon so you can declare your love for him."
"Urg, don't say that at a time like this." Ciaphia's face turned red and she quickly picked up her spoon to continue eating.
"I'm just kidding." Taciane smiled at Ciaphia but then her dark, worried expression was back.
####
After she finished preparing a stew of meat and vegetables, Emma went into the bedroom and found Lari sitting beside the bed in the same position, now Emma was sure she was asleep.
As for Lisandra, she had fallen into bed with Noah, she was also sleeping peacefully beside him.
"Did you guys fall asleep right now that the food is ready?" Emma said quietly as she smiled. She approached Noah once more to see how he was doing, he seemed to be stable, so she sighed in relief.
"I guess I should just let them sleep for now." Emma grabbed a blanket and covered Lisandra, then also grabbed a blanket and covered Lari as well.
After that, she turned off the lighting in the room and then left. Lari would be in pain sleeping in that position, but even so, she couldn't do anything about it.
"Okay, should I lie down too?" Emma reached the living room door and opened it to look outside. After feeling a cool breeze making her whole body shiver momentarily, she instinctively hugged her own body with her arms.
After that, she left her house and looked around. Most of the houses in the village had their lights out and the only people who were still awake were the guards who walked around.
One of the guards noticed Emma's presence but didn't move closer when he noticed that she had started to cry.
Now that everyone was asleep, she didn't need to hold back and could cry all she wanted.
####
At a considerable distance from the village, Lucio continued riding along the dark road without stopping once. The horse he used was about to reach its limit, but he continued to ride anyway.
Thanks to that, he had already come a long way, and perhaps he would arrive tomorrow in the town called Geirseyri which was the closest to the village.
It was a city that wasn't very big, but it was still the best place for the people in her village to look for help if needed.
"Come on, just hold on a little longer," Lucio told the horse to try to cheer him up, but even so the horse was too tired to continue.
Lucio had to stop so the horse could rest.
Luckily nearby was a small lake that had been formed by the rains that had been happening recently.
The horse drank water desperately, and so Lucio noticed that he had left the village with nothing. He hadn't brought food, hadn't brought water, and luckily he had his sword.
"Damn." He was so desperate when he left the village, he didn't even bother to take anything.
Because of this, he had to drink the same water the horse was drinking and also had to hunt at night.
He couldn't find anything but a wolf, but that was enough to satisfy his hunger for the moment.