On hold to heal

At least she was being given something to do.

As soon as Miss Casandra told her to get more ice, water and towels, Ailylaeli jumped up from the chair. She even knocked it backwards as she did. It wasn't that she wanted to leave his side. She just wanted to feel useful. She nodded and headed out of the room. And as she was headed to the kitchenette, Miss Casandra told her that she was going across the hall for a moment.

She heard her and nodded again. She was afraid that if she tried to talk that she would either babble on endlessly, or start to cry. She didn't want to do either. She opened a few cabinets and fount a big bowl. She checked in the fridge and found ice in the freezer. Then she filled the bowl full of ice with water. She carefully carried the bowl back into the bedroom.

Now where would she find more washcloths?

She wasn't sure if she would need to get washcloths or other towels. But she was willing to bet that washcloths would be best. So she went into the bathroom and looked under the sink for washcloths. She did her best to not pay attention to anything else that may be under there. She found some white washcloths and pulled out the whole stack. Then she was back at Cad's side.

She checked the washcloth on his stomach. It was a little warm. So she did just what she saw Miss Casandra do. She soaked a wet washcloth in the ice water, then rang it out. Then she laid it on where he had been cut. The other one she put in the bowl of water that didn't have any ice left in it. She checked his forehead too. It wasn't warm, but he was getting a little sweaty.

So what should she do about the sweat?

She picked up a dry cloth and moved to wipe the sweat from him. After all, he was getting wet so use a dry cloth to dry him off, right? But she paused before she wiped his face. She thought about it for a moment. Then she reached for the cloth that wasn't in ice water, just cold water. Sweat makes you sticky and stinky. So she washed his sweat away with cold water.

She was doing that when Miss Casandra came back into the room. Ail looked up at her when she came back in. "Fresh ice and water, fresh cloth on his stomach, and I washed his sweat from his face. He doesn't have a fever. I don't know how to do anything else or even what else needs to be done." She wasn't sure what else to say to her at that point. She was just worried.

At least he was in the hands of the Healers.

Cas looked at Ail and smiled at her as she moved a chair beside Cad's bed and sat next to her.

"I know what it is like to not know what to do when someone you care about is hurting. Cad will be fine. I promise you that."

Cas put a hand on her shoulder before she checked Cad out. The cloth was cool. She felt his forehead he didn't have a fever but he was sweating a bit.

"You did a good job. He is sweating from the heat of the medicine Tasha used to heal his wounds. I have seen it used several times. It has always worked in every instance I have seen it used."

She folded her hands in her lap and prepared for the wait.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

The knock at the door was Jason. He had brought up the plates of food that Tasha had asked be taken to her room. He had no idea what was going on inside that room, but he figured that if and when the door was answered, he would ask if there was anything he could do to help. After all, it wasn't every night that Tasha showed up in the bar in such a state.

So he waited patiently, with a rolling cart of food beside him. He wasn't tired yet, and had no homework left to do, so he was free for a couple hours in case he was needed. Though, he didn't want to spend them standing outside the door waiting for an answer. He started absently playing with his bracelet that Juliet gave him for St. Valentine's day.

Cas had a feeling that Ail was about to open up and talk to her about what had happened to Cad and herself. That was untill there was a knock at the door.

Cas put her hand on Ail's shoulder and got up to answer the door. She was suprised to see Jas standing there with a cart of food. He looked agitated. She smiled and opened the the door further for him.

"Let me guess Tasha?"

Jason smiled at Casie as she opened the door. "Hello Miss Casie." He moved the cart into the room and started talking right away. "Please let me help with something. I know something is wrong. I have never seen Tasha so preocupied and upset." Seeing Cas in Tasha's room he knew someone was hurt.

Cas held up her hand to stop Jason or at least slow him down.

"Relax Jason; slow down. Cad got hurt; Tasha healed him but he is still sleeping. Why don't you move the table into the bedroom for me. You can stay so you can help me feed Cad when he wakes up. I will need help sitting him up. He will be in a lot of pain."

Jason relaxed when he heard that Cas was not going to send him back to his room. He moved the table for her and smiled at Ail. He set the food up on the table and moved the cart back out into the hall and closed the door. He saw there was not another chair for him to sit in and just sat on the floor at the foot of the bed.

Thank goodness Miss Casandra was getting the door.

Ailylaeli didn't think that she had the strength to get up and answer the door. Not physically, but mentally. She was quickly starting to feel the exhaustion of the situation and it was taking a tole on her. But she wasn't sleepy, just even more shy and nervous that before.

So she might have looked a bit terrified when Miss Casandra let the person at the door into the room. But on the bright side, he brought food. And at the moment, she couldn't remember the last time she and Cad had eaten a descent meal. But it was at the other Inn for sure.

They should make a point of stopping to eat.

She watched in silence as he brought a small table in from the sitting room and placed plates out for them. A small smile crossing her lips in appreciation. There were three plates, and she heard Miss Casandra say that the young man could help them feed Cad when he woke.

She continued to watch what was going on as she checked the washcloth on Cad's stomach again. The young man did not take a plate with him when he went to sit on the floor at the foot of the bed. To her that meant that one plate was for her. So she slowly lifted it from the table.

No need for anyone to sit on the floor.

The bed was big, big enough for two easily. So she rose from her chair and began to move to the other side of the bed. "No need to sit on the floor, you can have this chair." She slid her leg up first, moving slow and easy. Then held her plate up high as she crawled up onto the bed.

She didn't want to disturb Cad so she was very careful as she climbed up on the bed. Then she got comfortable and sat against the pillows. As for what she had said to the young man, it was probably the most she had ever said to a stranger other than in an emergency setting.

The food smelled so good.

She wanted to wait for Cad, but she was so hungry. And the polite thing to do would have been to wait for Miss Casandra as well. But she began to nibble at her plate of food without waiting. She didn't think that anyone would be upset with her for doing so given the situation.

The food tasted as great as it smelled. And it made her stomach very happy as well. She was going to have to remember to thank Miss Tasha for thinking about her when she went to order food for everyone. She was sure that had it been her, she would have forgotten someone.

But would she be able to tell her story in front of this person?

(Sorry it has been hell around here. Ask WW)
Cas laughed as Ail moved from the chair to the bed sitting next to Cad. She looked at Jas too. She had seen him grow up and he was turning into a fine young man.

"Ailylaeli I am sure Cad will be fine. The smell of the food will probably have him stiring soon."

She picked up a pice of fruit and ate it. She was not real hungry but she was tiered. She was going to have to get a bit of sleep on the couch. That could wait she had to see Cad awake and talk to him first.

"Now please tell me what happened tonight. How did he get hurt like that?"

It was safe to talk in front of this guy, right?

Ailylaeli thought about it for a moment. Miss Casandra would not have asked her to tell the tale of the events that had happened earlier in front of this guy if it were not safe to speak in front of him, right?

Going under that presumption, Ail began to speak. Well, in between bites of food when her mouth was empty that was. "Well, it all started when my friend Dalia lost the love of her life." There was a lot to tell.

That was the best place to start.

She began, trying to make it the short version. "I met Dalia at the other Inn. The one where I used to work. I had to quit, I keep getting sick because of something in the air here on this planet." It wasn't coming out short.

She tried to stop rambling. "Dalia had fallen in love with Zephyr. Zephyr disappeared one day. Dalia went looking for him. I met her just before that, and told her to go find him." She was just a little nervous.

She needed to try and relax a little.

She continued. "Dalia was keeping in touch with the noise box that Cadmon carries. She would ... Call ... Yes, that is what it's called. She would call me on it every day." Getting a little calmer, slowly though.

She took a deep breath to calm down faster. "But a few weeks ago, she stopped calling me. So Cad said we could go looking for her. I was worried about her. What if something happened to her? I sent her out to find him ..."

Telling this was harder than she thought.

Getting upset wasn't going to help. So she wiped at her eyes and continued. "So we set out to look for her. We've been out searching for a while now. Sometimes, we even forget to stop and eat." Deep breaths.

She was trying to not cry. "But tonight, we were headed through some woods. Not too far from here. And we ran into these monsters, I mean, um ... They were scary." But that was hard to do too.

The thought of getting eaten by those things.

She knew she needed to move on. "So anyway. The one guy, I knew he was a guy cause I saw his ..." She turned very bright red. "But he came up on us, and we thought he was going to hurt us." She shuddered.

She continued on with the story. "So Cad wanted me to leave. But I couldn't leave him alone. I was scared for his life. But when the monster cut him. I just ran. And I found this lone cottage." There was more.

Like the cut wasn't bad enough in and of itself.

She wondered if she still had that slip of paper. "The woman inside seemed scared like me. I think of the same monsters too. She gave me this note for the Goddess. I am supposed to give it to her." She found the note.

She opened her palm to reveal the crumpled mass of paper. "She told me how to get here. So I came here, and got the Healer like Cad wanted. And we rushed back to him. The monster had cut him with a knife." She sighed.

That was the story, well mostly.

As Ail was telling the tale of how they came to find themselves on the bad side of a pack of were's Cad was starting to wake. He hadn't had much of a fever, so it wasn't that the fever was breaking that revived him. It was the smell of the food that had been brought in. Well, that and the slight movement of the bed.

Eyes blinking open slowly would be the first sign of consciousness from Cadmon. Left hand would move to his forehead in an attempt to rub it free of the head ache that had taken hold. The right hand would move to his stomach, upon which he would find the ice cold cloth.

Once his eyes began to focus, left hand moved to the bed beside him in an effort to sit up. A task he would find more difficult that he had thought. "Wha ... Where am I? What's going on?" So many questions. Right hand moved from his stomach to the bed beside him in an effort to help his left hand push him up. The movement caused muscle ache in his stomach. To the point that it stopped him.

Not recognizing his surroundings, he looked to see who was in the room with him. There was Jason, he recognized him from the other Inn. And miss Casandra, he knew her in acquaintance. And upon the bed beside him was Ail. A smile crossed his lips, and he realized that he was parched as well as hungry. "How long have I been out? Where are we?" He could ask questions all night, or was it day already? He had no idea. He just knew he wanted food and drink, and answers along the way. Especially given he had sent for miss Tasha, and he knew she had come, but now miss Casandra was here. But he knew she was a Healer as well, or so he had been told. So he still felt safe. He was just confused.

(Sorry for the delay things have been hectic)

Cas was listening to Ail tell her story. So they had been looking for someone and had been set upon by monsters? Well stranger things had happened. She put her hand on Ail's shoulder to comfort her. About the time she was finished telling it Cad woke up.

"Please don't try to sit up by yourself it will cause you great discomfort."

Cas motioned to Jason to go assist Cad in sitting up while she got his food from the tray.

"You are at the Starry Myst Inn. Tasha brought you up into her room to recover. As to how long you have been out I am not sure I have been here a few hours and you were out when I was sent for."

She was sure that would be good. She placed a tray next to him. It had chicken soup and bread on it with some water.

"If you can keep that down there is some meat and potatoes over here for you."

It would be important that he ate to regain his strength.