Chapter 23: 22 – First morning

 

It wasn’t an easy sleep, however, as every little noise wake her up. And then every time she would double check the locks on the doors, losing precious minutes of sleep every time.

 

Even so, her fatigue was slowly fading away and another feeling was taking root. Or rather it was there since the previous night but had been ignored in favor of her fatigue. Her body ached all over, especially the places that had been healed and should no longer hurt. ‘That bitch must have somehow botched the healing,’ Dene deduced.

 

She wasn't really aware of a way to fake a healing. But then again, up until last night, she also wasn't aware of a way to heal with light.

 

The southerner wasn't sure how long she had slept, but it was clear the pain wouldn't allow her to fall back asleep. Furthermore, she had to go out and get an idea of her new situation.

 

Kneeling over the bed  –which still blocked the door– she brought her face to the keyhole. Nothing. She waited for a couple of minutes, but nothing changed.

 

She then got up from the bed and headed to the wardrobe –which was blocking the other door– and took a pair of male pants and a shirt. She could’ve taken a dress, but felt safer with a pair of pants.

 

The shirt was clearly too large, but she had to choose between too large or too short. With the pants though, the choice wasn’t even there. She settled for a pair of baggy, beige pants, too short to go past her ankles.

 

She finalized it with a pair of comfortable shoes

 

Dene then went back to the keyhole, watched for a few more minutes without movements outside and finally decided to leave.

As noiselessly as possible, she moved the bed away from the door. It wasn't hard, being such low quality. She then slowly turned the key and unlocked the door.

 

Having opened it, the southerner immediately felt a drop in temperature. Somehow the main bedroom was colder than the one she slept in. It wasn't uncomfortable though.

 

Better rested compared to last night, she took a better look at the room. The carpet was a deep red, same for the canopy of the large bed. There was also the large wooden wardrobe, one nightstand on each side of the bed, some landscape paintings over the walls and a center table.

 

Besides the door to the bedroom where she slept, there were three other doors.

 

To her left, at another wall was the door to the main corridor. To her right was the one to the washroom which Jonathan told her about yesterday. And further away, at another wall, was an open door to what seemed to be a balcony and a sunny day.

Before going to the balcony, she decided to check the center table. Over it were a small wood box, a corked glass bottle with some green liquid and another lidded tray. She had a suspicion and sure enough, the lidded tray carried more food.

Grabbing the glass bottle, Dene uncorked it and took a sniff of the green liquid. She wasn’t sure but guessed it to be an analgesic. Decided to find out she dipped the tip of her pinky finger on it and brought it to her mouth. It wasn’t long before her tongue became slightly numb.

 

Corking the bottle once again, she put it back where it was. Its contents could help her with the pain, but would also make her more sluggish, something the southerner couldn't accept.

 

The last item on the table was the small box. She checked it for traces of mana, but it was a simple wooden box. Inside of it was a single incisor tooth. Her tooth. The blood and bile had been washed off, and now it sat there in front of her.

 

Unless the noble planned on having a healer reimplant it, she didn't know what it was for.

 

After putting the box back on the table, Dene silently made her way to the balcony.

 

It had a rectangular shape and was about the same size as the servant’s bedroom. A waist-high, white metal railing enclosed the platform and beyond it, she could see as many buildings as there were trees in the forest. On the walls were four, still lit lightstones, arranged in a line and at equal distances from one another. From a few feet above it extended a white awning which cast a shade over the whole balcony.

 

Finally, there were some cushioned stretchers. At the rightmost one was the sleeping Jonathan, a book spread open over his face.

 

Although the face was blocked, she recognized him by the clothes. The same he was wearing the night before. Inching closer, she was able to read the book’s title.

 

“The southern continent. Remains of the Ryk empire” by Manuel Câmara da Nóbrega.

 

The first thing which came to her mind was that Ryk already meant empire in the old tongue of the desert. Calling it Ryk empire effectively means empire empire.

 

The old desert empire –the same one her father had hoped to one day bring back– was called RyknRyk. It meant empire of empires, and such things were basic knowledge to basically every southerner.

 

On the stretcher next to the sleeping man were a couple more books. Dene read their titles.

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One read, “The desert tribes and their power structure” while the other was, “A study on the religions and customs of the desert people.”

 

Dene felt a bit happy that the noble was trying to know more about her culture. But if the first book’s title was anything to go by, then these books would have some glaring mistakes.

 

Deciding to find out by herself, she grabbed one of the books over the stretcher and headed to the other side of the balcony. That’s when she found another book. This one laid open on the floor, behind the leftmost stretcher. That’s why she didn't see it before. It's leather spine had a large nick in it which coincided with the metal railing.

 

Jonathan must have hurled it across the balcony, it hit the railing and feel there. Reading its title she could see why.

 

“The Soot people, demons from the desert” by Fire Priest Maximilian.

 

A knock on the door called her to attention. It came from the door separating the bedroom and the main corridor. Dene considered answering it, but she didn't know who it could be. For all she knew, it could be Jonathan's brother, that Angela or any number of people sent by those two.

 

Making up her mind, she lightly nudged Jonathan on the shoulder, waking him up. He took the book off his face revealing his disheveled hair and some dark circles under his eyes.

“Yes?” The groggy and yawning man asked while rubbing his eyes.

 

“There’s someone at the door.”

 

The young noble then opened his eyes in surprise. Not because of what was said, but because of who did it. “Miss Dene, you’re awake,” he said before sitting up. He tried to straighten his hair and wipe the dry drool from the edge of his lips.

 

There was another knock at the door.

 

“Oh right, the door,” he quickly got up, bumped his shoulder against the doorway, ignored it and crossed the bedroom to answer the door.

 

Dene followed a few steps behind him. He opened the door to reveal a young woman with black hair, dressed in a maid uniform. She bowed with both hands together in front of her body and spoke, “My Lord, your Grace asks for your presence in the audience room. Your guest’s presence is also requested.”

 

“Thank you, Agnes-” the young noble paused, trying to stifle a yawn before continuing, “tell father that we’ll be there in a few minutes.”

 

“Yes, my Lord,” she bowed once again and left.

 

He closed the door and turned back to Dene. “You must still be tired, but unfortunately we can't keep father waiting.”

 

Dene just nodded, ignoring the protests from her body.

 

Jonathan grabbed some food from the tray and, as if reading her mind, he asked her, “Is your body aching too much? There’s an analgesic potion if you want.”

 

Dene declined with a shake of her head. Then remembering something she asks, “That bi- Angela… healed me yesterday. Why would it still hurt?”

 

He looked at her, not quite sure how to answer. To him, it was one of those things so obvious he didn't think much about. He grabbed the small box from the center table and told her, “Well, she used light magic so it was to be expected.”

 

She still didn't understand.

 

With the box in hands, Jonathan opened the door to the outside for her. Soon they were walking through a corridor with a long red carpet fully covering the ground, just as his bedroom. They went down two flights of stairs and another corridor while he tried to explain it to her.

 

“Well, light healing is different from water healing. We usually call it ‘light mending’ because it doesn't totally heal, that’s why you must be feeling some pain. If you break a bone, for example, water healing will make it just as good as before breaking. Light mending, on the other hand, can only set the bone straight and hold it together, but it’s still broken. Yesterday our healer wasn’t here, so you had to make do with light mending.”

 

Dene nodded, finally understanding. That Angela had not botched the healing, though she was sure the blonde would do it if she could. “So, water healing is always better than light mending?”

 

“When comparing just the results? Yes. But there are other things to consider, especially when in battle. Time to cast and mana cost can’t be ignored, and mending comes out ahead in these aspects.”

 

The duo stopped walking. They stood in front of a large double door. The two Paladins standing in front of it just bowed to the young noble.

 

“Are you okay?” Jonathan asked and received another nod as an answer. Then he signaled to the Paladins and they opened the doors.

 

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