Wayfinding | Aaravos x Reader |

CHAPTER 35

CHAPTER 35: FORGED BY THE STARS

There it was again.

That blotted, suffocating feeling in your chest.

It came around periodically through the week, but you managed to dismiss it with deep breaths or a warm hand to the sternum. However, that day the universe thought 'enough is enough' and commanded the sinking sensation to disperse to every inch of your body. Being too tired to even move, you tried to scuffle off the discomfort. Yet, as the tautness bubbled to your throat, you couldn't help but jolt upright and fight to keep the contents of your stomach in their rightful place. You scanned the ambit - eyes adjusting to the unacquainted lights - before you located the restroom and sprinted to it with hands folded over your mouth. By maker's grace, you made it the basin before you heaved your stomach dry. And good golly - the relief that cocooned you was something you would surely pay good coin for.

As your cheeks were restored with color and you raised your gaze, that sentiment budded even more. Your reflection in the grandiose mirror was no different from any other time. Yet, it felt like it was its own entity. Maybe your illness soiled your reason, or maybe you were just potently grateful that he was there for you the other day - but all you could do was eye up yourself like some deranged narcissist.

Would your eyes ever convert back into those regal, peerless orbs again?

Your lips - would he use them to whisper secrets to you?

And your fingertips - what power or delicate object would he let them wield in his name?

All too soon, you hankered in on the finer details of an unexplored fantasy. You unconsciously leaned towards the mirror with a curious intent in mind. It was silly - aye. But you had a dim hope that, when you'd met the glass with a kiss, he would replace your reflection and you'd finally repay him for safeguarding your modesty, not once but, on two separate occasions.

Fortunately, perhaps in an effort to keep your sanity intact, your stomach cried and made you empty its contents once more. Having been occupied with your ailment, you failed to register the gentle hands that combed away your hair until your face was out of the basin. Thankful, you uttered a few words beneath your breath and gargled some water. Yet, when it was time to greet your helpman, you inhaled sharply as though to suck in your shared gratitude.

Helixia matched the tension in your body as you backpedaled to the sink, but her expression remained as fixed as a mannequin. If you squinted enough though, you may have caught a glimpse of the toneless amusement that ladened her porcelain features. Eventually, the woman's posture deflated and regardless of the tension in the air, she addressed you the way she knew best.

"Child."

You furrowed your brows and let go of a breath you did not know you held. A few adults called you the same in the past, but the lack of flavor in the female's voice made it sound impossibly unpleasant. Reading your unsaid criticism, as though it were written on your forehead, the paladin bit her lower lip and kept her eyes locked with yours for no more than seconds at a time.

"Theodore Seymour of Katolis sends you his regard. He informed us that your afflictions should cease with proper rest. If any infections develop on your wounds, he advised us to apply minced calendula. But I have a better cure." After unravelling the arms she had crossed behind her back, she raked through the items in her belt pouch and fish out a furrowed, rusty-looking succulent. "This is a brittlewort - it's commonly used amongst earthblood elves to heal. I found it on some of Enox's men-"

"You know of Enox?"

Of course, you knew the answer, but you thought it would appease you somehow to hear it from the horse's mouth. Helixia, having not seen you for decades, did not share the same attitude. But she knew, to ease into conversation, it was best to satisfy your quest for honesty. "He was once a pawn of a greater enemy. But with greed and disloyalty he made himself into a more imposing threat to our lives."