My Inner Demons S2 Continued

Lose Yourself

          Ava remembered what nurse rooms looked like back on Earth. The sterile smell that stung your nose and the cold room that gave you goosebumps. She had been in hospitals and doctor offices numerous times, thanks to her tendency to trip over air.
          But Appolline's house(office?) looked nothing like what Ava would expect. For one, there wasn't much white- sticking true to the general theme of Mersedith, Appolline's place was grown around a tree, and was very earthy.
          The tree pierced through the center of the long oval room, and fairy lights were strung up around the trunk and across the ceiling. A large counter running across about a fifth of the room walls held Appolline's medicines and concoctions. Couches and sofas were scattered throughout the room, plush pillows decorating them. Ava could faintly smell burnt wood and rain.
          Lounging on two of the sofas like kings, Leif and Pierce were knocked out cold thanks to Appolline's medicine. Everyone in their small little group had visited them except Ava, so after the scene by the waterfall with Rhys Ava came and relieved a tired Appolline of her doctor duties. Then she stayed through the entire night into the morning.
Too many things were pounding around in her head at once. No one had heard any news of Queen Melodie's survival, although they all thought she was Asch's aunt-in-law. Ava knew she had to come clean eventually, but she wasn't sure how to tell Asch.
Hey, your mom, yeah the one everyone thought was dead, was actually imprisoned by your sister-in-law, and I was too, but she escaped and now she's somewhere in the palace and maybe dead. Anyways let's find a way to get to Earth!
Nobody knew a thing about how to get Ava home, either, and word had arrived via messenger that King Brackon had put a bounty on each of their heads.
Staring into a nearby firefly lamp, Ava prayed that her Dad and Pops were okay. If her time in prison didn't discombobulate her sense of time too much, then that meant nine Daemos days had gone by. That was three Earth days. Her parents shouldn't be too worried, she mused, because they usually didn't check up on her that often, and it wasn't unusual for her to ghost them. Ava silently thanked her bad habits.
Looking down sadly at the two boys stretched out in front of her, Ava pushed their hair back off their foreheads. Leif and Pierce had been taken to Appolline's apothecary and medical care business, where they've been sleeping for the past two days. According to Appolline, Asch, Noi, and Rhys, Leif and Pierce used all of their magic to break Ava out of the palace, and it would take a while for them to regenerate enough of it to function because there was no human life fueling the magic on Daemos anymore. Luckily, the knights had lots of friends in Mersedith, and Pierce grew up there, so they all lived together in his house.
So there Ava was, playing nursemaid without a degree and trying to care for two boys at the same time. She hadn't seen anyone else the day after they arrived in Mersedith, except Marcos, who kept coming over to chat and brought her lunch.
          Ava was in the middle of replacing compresses on her friends foreheads when Asch walked in. He looked surprised to see Ava, who was giving him a small smile, there.
          "Princess Ava? I would've thought that you'd have gone back to the house to get some rest. What are you doing here?" Asch asked.
          Ava sighed, "I unfortunately volunteered to take over Appolline's night shift, so I'm sleeping here tonight, to look after the patients. I don't think Appolline likes me very much, so I'm trying to be nicer."
          Asch waved her off, "Nonsense. Appolline is just really overprotective of her brother, that's all. You should see her with her daughter. She's much happier."
          Ava glanced toward Pierce, "Appolline has a kid?"
          "Yup. She never lets her daughter leave the house though, ever since her husband's death I've been told."
          "Her husband died? That's horrible." Ava murmured softly, scared to wake the people around them. Most of the patients were sound asleep, but a few were starting to stir.
          Asch noticed this too and glanced at Ava, "Want to go to the balcony? Y'know, so that we don't disturb the other patients?"
          Ava nodded and began to walk, "Sure."