Pinfeathers

Chapter 6 - Agreement

---

Chapter 6 - Agreements

---

Athira was conscious. 

She knew time was passing, even if she didn't know how much. A thick layer of viscous fog held her thoughts below the surface of her body, constantly trying to pull them apart and push her off the edge of dark oblivion. A prisoner of her mind, she heard whispers of conversations, felt a yellow warmth pass through her body at least six times, but no matter what she did she couldn't make her body listen to her. 

She hated it. 

With nothing else to do, she managed to form her thoughts into a movable entity and it was like that she found another path riding on the currents of her internal river of colour. Somewhere along there, she found herself standing on a grassy plain covered in flowers and other flora that reminded her of the Snowlily hills, just outside of where the monks resided.

The whole area seemed to be in eternal twilight. Athira found an ethereal type of beauty in the way everything shone, the dewdrops glistening under the steady rays of a moon she couldn't see...but something didn't feel right. She found herself constantly looking over her shoulder to where the edges of the grass decayed into dirt, expecting to see something stalking her from the bushes. Once, her ears caught the sound of a distant rumble. 

She didn't dare stay long after that. 

The warmth came and went another three times before the fog thinned enough for Athira to get through it.

Even opening her eyes was an effort. Her body felt washed out, weighed down by something she couldn't see though she didn't feel like moving anyway. Her body was hugged in a soft fabric, her cheek resting against a pillow. Athira found it comforting, even though it wasn't the silky texture of her cloak. This was fuzzier and warmer, inviting her to snuggle into its depths and stay there forever. She was seriously considering it when the implication of the thought hit her. 

Not my cloak. 

Athira's blurred vision sucked in her surroundings as it clicked that this wasn't the warehouse. Her eyes refused to adjust fast enough. Everything was made up of vague yellow splotches. This wasn't the monastery. This wasn't any place she'd seen before, unless someone had decided yellow was the new everything. 

Where is my cloak? Her fingers fought against the blankets to fumble across her chest, searching for the amulet that lived on the fabric. It has to be here. It has to be!

Panic seeped in. Athira struggled to shut it down, thoughts of the people who'd more or less kidnapped her before and their hands and threats winning over logic. It didn't look like the same place they'd taken her--she hadn't seen a trace of yellow there--but she still didn't know--

The door cracked open.

Athira struggled upright. Her muscles felt like jelly. They refused to support her as the room spun around her and she was forced back to an elbow to watch the person invade the room. 

The panic froze into confusion. 

Zoe's mum slipped through with only the whisper of her clothes to mark her entry. She placed her long brown hair back behind one ear while the other hand balanced a tray. Her eyes flicked up. They caught Athira's, and she smiled. 

"You're awake," she said. "I was starting to think I might have to take you to the hospital after all."

Athira blinked. 

Memories pushed through--the uncontrollable shaking, the rain she couldn't get out of her clothes and the realisation that she was going to black out unless something changed. The desperate hope that in this unknown city, there might be someone nearby who could help her.