Chapter 56: Very, Very White
The corridor outside the infirmary wing was quiet. The only sounds that could be heard there were distant walking boots on the field.
Three figures were standing near the door, and was speaking in low voices.
The Headmaster arms were folded, and his eyes were on the door. Beside him was Sergeant Mara Veridian, she had her jaw tight, the kind of look a woman wore when she had already made up her mind but was still listening out of courtesy. Professor Valerius was standing slightly apart from the two of them with his hands clasped behind his back.
"How long?" The headmaster asked, still looking at the door.
"It is hard to say," Valerius replied. "He drew too much for someone channeling for the first time. His body shut itself down to protect him. It is like a man who has never lifted a sword picking one up and swinging it a hundred times in one hour. The muscles just give out."
Veridian exhaled through her nose. "He is not just any man, Valerius. He took down all the highborns and not to add he took down Briar Coldwater and Zephyr Gale at the same time. Half the academy watched it with their own eyes."
"Which is the problem," The headmaster said, his voice dropping. "The highborn families will not sit still after today. Briar father is on the academy council. Zephyr mother holds three seats in the upper court."
Valerius turned slightly. "And what do you want us to do? Punish the boy for winning a challenge he was pushed into?"
Hearing Valerius words, the headmaster said nothing.
Valerius sighed. "There are already people who wants to send the boy to puppet the boy and send him to the enclaved in the last general council meeting.."
Both the headmaster and Sergeant Veridian eyes widened.
Sergeant let out a slow breath. "No. We can not allow that..."
"It was handled in the last meeting.." professor Valerius said, his voice firm. "I am saying this so we don’t allow today’s event to escalate and then end up having people pushing for him to be moved."
The principal finally turned from the door. "Then we make the first move. The boy stays, but not somewhere anyone can reach him easily." He looked between them. "The Ironhold."
Hearing the headmaster words, both Sergeant and professor Valerius were silent for a while.
Veridian raised an eyebrow. "You want to put a first-year cadet in the Ironhold."
"For his protection," The headmaster said. "Two months. Maybe four, depending on how things move. The Ironhold’s wards are the strongest in this academy and no student gets in without faculty clearance. Plus no outside message gets through without being screened first." He glanced at the door again. "When he wakes up and the dust settles, we take another look."
Valerius was quiet. Then he gave a slow nod. "He will not like it."
"He does not have to like it," The headmaster said. "He just has to be alive."
Veridian rubbed the back of her neck. "Fine. But the moment he is stable enough to move..."
Sergeant Veridian immediately went quiet when she heard footsteps coming down the corridor.
A girl in magic user uniform walked toward them with a lyon tucked under one of her arm. She is Nyx.
She slowed down when she reached them. "Headmaster. Sergeant. Professor." She gave out a small nod for each. Her eyes then moved briefly to the door, then back at them.
"Miss Nyx," The headmaster said.
"Just checking on a friend," she said simply, and pushed the door open.
....
The room was dim and the curtains were pulled halfway so that the light came in as one thin pale strip across the floor.
Reynold was on the bed close to the wall. He was not moving and his face was pale. The cuts on his arms had been cleaned and wrapped now, leaving only bruising along his jaw and collarbone.
It’s been roughly two hours since after the fight and Reynold is not waking up.
Gwyn sat in a chair pulled close to his side. Her elbows were on her knees, and her eyes were staring right at Reynold’s face.
Her fingers were laced together in front of her as she pressed them together.
She heard the door open and turned.
When she saw it was Nyx, she stood up.
Nyx stared at her and and then said, "You look like shit."
Gwyn let out a short, small laugh. The kind that was not really a laugh. "He is still not waking up." She glanced back at Reynold. "He did not even want to fight today. He stepped into that challenge because of me, and now he is..." Her voice started to crack. She pulled it back. "If anything happens to him, I..."
"Shh." Nyx walked to her and pulled Gwyn into her arms, holding her firm. Gwyn went still for a second, then her shoulders dropped and she leaned in.
"Nothing is going to happen to him," Nyx said quietly. "He took on two people st once. That is not someone who gives up easily."
Gwyn did not say anything. But she did not pull away either.
After a moment, Nyx leaned back and looked at her properly. "When did you last eat?"
Gwyn blinked. "I..."
"That is what I thought." Nyx held up the lyon. "Sit down."
"I don’t want to leave his side."
"I said sit down, not leave the room." Nyx pushed her gently back into the chair, and then she dragged another seat close, and set the lyon on the small table between them.
She opened it. It was a small dark rye loaf, a portion of braised lamb with root vegetables wrapped in cloth, two wedges of hard white cheese, a bundle of dried sweetfigs, and a small flask of warm broth.
Gwyn stared at it.
"Eat," Nyx said.
Gwyn picked up a piece of the bread and took a small bite. Then another before she reached for the lamb next, and Nyx watched without saying anything, which was rare enough that Gwyn noticed.
After a moment, Gwyn looked up.
There was a small smear at the corner of her mouth from the broth.
Nyx leaned forward without a word. Her fingers came up gently to Gwyn’s jaw, tilting it just slightly, and she used her thumb to wipe the corner of her mouth.
Gwyn did not move. And they eyes stared at each other..
The room suddenly went very quiet with just Reynold’s slow breathing and the faint push of wind against the curtained window, the only sounds.
Nyx closed the small space between them and kissed her.
Gwyn kissed her back.
It was deep and soft kiss, and neither of them pulled away quickly.
.....
A different dimension.
There was no light and the place has no floor or sky above. Reynold was just standing alone. There were just heavy dull grey stretching in every direction with out no end.
Reynold stood in it, or maybe he floated in it. It was hard to tell which one.
He looked lost and exhausted.
He did not know how long he had been here. He had tried walking, but he always end up in the same place...
Just then, he felt it. It was more like a presence and something landing...
Reynold turned only to see his dragon, Aurion, the Black.
He did not speak. Dragons did not speak.
But it was like Reynold heard the word anyway, or perhaps he heard it in his heart..
"Come."
Reynold’s feet moved quickly and he walked toward Aurion, and as he walked, the grey started to get thin.
It was not all at once. More like in the way morning fog burns off when the sun decides to push through.
He reached to Aurion and pressed his hand against the scales along his jaw.
"Come back," he heard the presence said again.
And everything suddenly disappeared..
.....
Back to the real world...
Reynold eyes flipped opened slowly as his eyes landed on the white ceiling..
He stared at it.
It was not his bunk room in the cadet wing.
He blinked twice trying to figure where he is at.
His body then went stiff as the fighting scene with Briar and Zephyr came flooding back to him... He did not try to sit up. He just lay there.
Just then, he heard a soft sound and he turned his head.
Gwyn and Nyx were kissing.
Reynold stared for a while but neither of them noticed he was awake.
He turned his eyes back to the ceiling.
After a moment, he closed his eyes again.
Nyx and Gwyn still did not know Reynold was awake..
Neither of them wanted to pulled away from the kiss.
Gwyn’s hand found the front of Nyx’s uniform without thinking, and her fingers curling loosely into the fabric.
Nyx shifted closer with one of her hand still resting at Gwyn’s jaw, and the other moving slowly and trailing down the side of her neck, along her shoulder, then settling at her waist.
Gwyn exhaled against Nyx mouth. A small sound, barely anything.
Nyx tilted her head and kissed her again, slower this time. Her thumb moved in a small circle at Gwyn’s side, just above the hem of her tunic. Gwyn’s grip on her uniform tightened without her noticing.
Nyx’s hand slid from Gwyn’s waist and moved up slowly along her back, fingers spreading across the curve of her spine, pulling her incrementally closer until there was almost no space left between the two chairs.
Gwyn suddenly broke the kiss just enough for her to breathe.
They stayed like that with their foreheads close enough.
Nyx’s eyes were still closed. Her thumb moved again at the small of Gwyn’s back.
Just then..
A dry, cough broke the silence. Making both of them to go completely still.
Then another cough. They pulled away quickly and turned.
Reynold was lying with his eyes fixed on the ceiling above him. His expression were very neutral. His hands were folded over his stomach.
"Reynold..." Gwyn was on her feet before she finished saying his name, the chair scraping back loudly.
He turned his head toward her. His voice came out slow and slightly hoarse. "Hmmm.."
Gwyn’s hand quickly flew to her face.
Nyx looked away in embarrassment.
"When did you..." Gwyn started.
"Ceiling is very interesting," Reynold said plainly, and turned his gaze back up to it. "Very white."
"Reynold."
"Very, very white."
Gwyn let out a sound that looks like a breath and a groan and she pressed her fingers over her eyes. Her ears had gone red. "How long have you been awake."
Reynold did not say anything for a moment..
"Long enough," he said.
Nyx cleared her throat. She reached down and picked up the flask of broth from the table, then she turn it once in her hands...
"You should drink something," Nyx said.
Reynold’s gaze slid sideways to her.
Then back to the ceiling.
"Sure," he said and then yawn.. "I am hungry.."