Nociceptors

Chapter 24: The calm after the storm

The sun had already risen, and the first rays of light were peeking in through the window and leaving golden strings of sunlight on Ajal's face. Though they didn't seem to bother him as he remained asleep in their bed. Ella smiled at his calm face where he was lying next to her all bundled up. She slowly stroked him over his cheek with the back of her hand taking on every moment of this quiet morning. The air outside had become a bit chilly the past couple of weeks and when mornings like these showed up Ella couldn't help but enjoy them. She stared at Ajal for a long time before someone knocked on the bedroom door. A small crack opened, and Luci stuck in her head.

"Hey, I figured you were up" Luci smiled at her as she walked into the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to Ella. She reached foreword and left a light kiss on Ella's head.

"Sleep well?"

Ella nodded and carefully sat up in the bed not to wake Ajal.

"How about you?" Luci smiled and brushed away a strand of hair from Ella's face.

"I would sleep better with you by my side" Ella rolled her eyes and looked down on Ajal.

"I know, I just wanted to spend more time with him after everything that went down" she whispered and kissed Ajal on the cheek before turning back to Luci. Her smiled had disappeared as she were staring at Ajal's sleeping face. Something was bothering her, and this time Ella knew what it was. She took Luci's hand and kissed it.

"Don't worry about it" Ella whispered, "it's going to be okay". Luci nodded slightly but it didn't look like she had been convinced.

"I made breakfast".

Without looking at Ella Luci got up and left the room. She sighted it had been a hard couple of weeks for her.

After the incident with Drogo Luci had been ready to step down from her post and hand it over to someone she thought, deserved it more than she did. The different clan leaders had gathered to choose a new leader for their city.

It had only been three days since Drogo got captured and his clan brought down. The twins had been working day and night tracking down his men and the drug that he had called nocere. Luci later found out it was the latin word for harm. She had also had her men working alongside the Cronos clan with the cleanup. Now she was sitting in a meeting room waiting for the rest of the clan leaders to arrive. Luci had made up her mind she still felt like she no longer deserved to be the leader of this city. Ella had desperately tried to tell her it wasn't her fault, but Luci had just waved her away. Maybe it was time for some change Luci thought as she continued to stare at the table in front of her Freya entered the meeting room. Luci quickly stood up to greet her.

"Freya" she nodded towards her, and Freya walked through the room to take a seat in the chair next to her. As Freya sat down Luci followed.

"Miss. Luci. I am glad to see that you are okay" Freya's voice was soothing as the words left her mouth, a word from Freya could make you forget all your troubles. Luci thought before answering.

"Likewise," and before Luci could say anything else Ethan slammed open the meeting room door and strutted inside. He seemed to be in a good mood. His brother Kenzo followed him in a calmer fashion. Kenzo nodded towards Luci and Freya over the table before sitting down next to his brother. None of them said a word until the new leader of the Sun Wukong clan entered. They all stood up to great him. Luci observed the man as he sat down next to Freya. His features were similar to Mr. Han, but he lacked the belly.

"So, you all know why we are here today" Luci said as she sat back down. She looked at each one of the clan leaders in front of her before continuing.

"Due to certain events that have occurred the past couple of days, I wanted to bring you in to discuss the change of authority" Luci said calmly. As she opened her mouth to continue Kenzo cut her off.