Finvarra's Circus

17- Always and Never (Part One)

Minerva sat on the edge of the bed, the dip in the mattress nudging at Leanna's attention. "How are you feeling?" she spoke between their stares. She brushed an errant strand from Leanna's forehead. "Does anything hurt?"

Leanna shook her head. She regretted it instantly. Torn from the calming blue of Finvarra's stare, the world waved before her eyes though, beneath her, it remained soft and still. "My head," she rasped. "But just a little."

"Good, good." Minerva swallowed. "And your feet... Your arms... Can you feel them?"

Worry threaded Minerva's voice, and it pricked Leanna's skin. She had indeed fallen—from a great height at that. Hesitantly, Leanna willed her fingers to flex. An answering crack from her joints resounded. Minerva nodded encouragingly, black eyes focused on the two lumps of her feet under the blanket. Leanna extended one and then the other. Minerva smiled at the moving mounds, and settled back with a relieved sigh. At the fireplace, Finvarra's shoulders lowered with a slow exhale and he turned away, his reaction a secret between him and the fire.

"You had quite a fall," Minerva revealed, patting Leanna's hand. "Thankfully, Yelena arrived in time. Had she not liquefied the earth beneath you, this would have all ended very badly." Standing, she aided Leanna in sitting up. "It's always good to have a Merrow around, I say. Her water bending saved your life."

Leanna blinked. "Yelena is a mermaid?" Thinking back to Yelena's graceful performance, to her fluidity when dancing to Vicente's song, there was no doubt. She moved like the very ocean. Still, it was so very... magical!

A bell rung outside and Leanna grimaced, her awe shattering to pain. The echo resounded in her head as if the bell tolled right behind her eyes.

"Come in," Finvarra said just above a whisper, moving toward the tent door.

Minerva made to adjust Leanna's blanket higher, but when she touched her arm, Leanna hissed. Lifting the sleeves of her nightdress, Leanna sucked in a trembling breath. Small bruises marked her skin in tiny blotches of black and blue.

"The pixies," she asked, alarmed, "My arms—they tried to pull me back, but—" Cut off by flashes of the vicious attack, Leanna stammered, "A-are they alright? So many of them fell, and the pins were poisonous and—"

Tomas walked in, and Leanna silenced, the answer to her question marked by the solemn look on his face. Still, she kept her eyes fixed on him, refusing to believe it. Tomas would reveal something different from her fears. He just had to.

Meeting Leanna and Minerva's eyes respectfully, Tomas turned to Finvarra. "Ringmaster," he murmured and nothing more. The void of any more words sent a chill through Leanna. She fisted the sheets, tighter with each heartbeat.

When Finvarra nodded for him to continue, Tomas slowly shook his head once and lowered tired brown eyes. "We saved some, but the others... there were so many and the daggers were poisonous..."

Finvarra stiffened, extending a blink as if the pain of Tomas words so­­ught to map his veins. He turned back to the fire, his hands curled to fists at his sides.

"No," Leanna moaned brokenly through the heaviness in her chest.

At Leanna's side, Minerva swallowed deeply and lowered her face. She reached out for Leanna's hand and gave it a tight squeeze.

Opening her mouth, Leanna found no words, only grim silence as the room grew colder with the familiar chill of death.

"Did you find it?" Finvarra asked tightly after a moment, his gaze undisturbed from the flames.

"Yes, Ringmaster. I was able to destroy it before it left the crystals. We have searched the grounds and all of the tents to see if more happened to get through, but it appears the contraption was the only one." Tomas' brows gathered, thoughtful lines marking his forehead. "The crystals still contain power, so to be honest; I don't know how it got through or how it knew we were here."