Adventures of Jessa

66

Dhiren sends a message for Frosnak to have dinner there with Alaric. He doesn't think that she'll have a problem with that. She has a great deal of love for her princess and was honestly worried about her earlier.

Dhiren goes up the stairs and checks on Jessa. When he sees that she is still sleeping he just grabs his clothes and takes a bath.

"She hasn't awakened yet, Prince."

"Has Alaric said anything?" Dhiren asks in concern as he sits next to Jessa.

"No, he said that she will awaken when she awakens. That he'll have to force feed her until she does wake up. He won't let any one else in the room when he does that though. He says it would upset us all and that would just create problems."

"Yeah, he said something similar to me earlier when he kicked me out. Go get you something to eat, Sorsha. Those greedy guts will eat all the good food and just leave the heavy proteins that Alaric will be eating."

"Would you like me to fix you something, Prince?" Sorsha asks getting up and stretching.

"No, I'll be eating with Alaric and Frosnak later."

"That Frosnak is scary. She cleared the way even better than her people." Sorsha mutters to herself.

Dhiren smiles and thinks, "If she only knew just what Frosnak and Alaric are she would be far more afraid than she has shown."

There are times when he is afraid of them as well. They are both excellent at hiding their feelings, but there are times when he can tell that they are angry and he feels very unsure that he will be making it out of whatever situation he's in at the moment. He wonders what it will be like to be a dragon, then he hopes that he never finds out.

Then he thinks about how effortlessly he's seen Alaric fly and he wonders what it would be like to fly like that.

"Dhiren? What has that smile on your face?" Dhiren turns to face Jessa and his face lights up as he finds her awake.

"I was just thinking what it would be like to be a dragon and be able to fly."

Jessa snorts but that hurts her and so she carefully lifts herself up instead. "Why would you be wondering about that?"

"There are times that your grandfather and Frosnak terrify me. That got me to thinking about what it would be like to be a dragon and then I didn't think it would be all that great. Then I thought about how easily Alaric flies and wondered what it would be like to be able to do that."

"You my love, are a very strange person. Since when would elves like to soar in the air?"

"Since I saw a dragon do so. The freedom it would mean," Dhiren gets lost in his thoughts once more before Jessa brings him out of it.

"I'm sure that it will be nice, but you are aware that it's highly unlikely we'll ever make that point right?"

Dhiren helps her up since she was struggling. "What do you mean?"

"Dhiren, I managed to get through a nest of over two hundred bandits, many of which were dragon kin and one of which was a full blooded dragon. I was wounded but still not turned. If I made it through that then it's not likely I'll be turned any time soon."

"Don't be so damn cocky, Jessa. Reniel was used to taking out large groups of dragon kin without a problem, but it was a small group, less than ten that ended up killing him. All it takes is one to get their blood into you and it could easily kill you. Also, if that full blooded dragon had gotten his blood into you, you wouldn't have been strong enough to survive. You wouldn't have made the turn.

"Not to mention young Dhiren here, he will have an even more difficult time with the turn than you will. It is more than possible that we'll lose you both." Alaric says coming in to the room unannounced.

"Alaric, I know that this is your house, but be a bit more circumspect when entering my room. Especially when Dhiren is here." Jessa says more than a little waspishly. She really hates it when people come in without knocking.

"I did knock, you just didn't hear it," Alaric smirks back.

"All the more reason to not enter my room when Dhiren is with me." Jessa retorts and Alaric colors up at her reference.

"Well then, I guess we'd all be more than a bit red, wouldn't we?" Alaric finally finds his voice to reply.

"Yes, but Alaric, I'd rather not have you see me with Jessa and I'm sure that she feels the same about me." Dhiren manages to sneak in hoping to stall the imminent fight between the two.

"I just wanted to check on you before dinner. Since you are awake, would you like to join us downstairs or stay here in your room?" Alaric asks his glowering grandchild.

Jessa rolls her eyes, "Like you have to ask. Of course I want to join you downstairs. I might not be much of a guest, but it beats remaining in this room."

"How are you feeling, Jessa?" Dhiren asks as Alaric removes the nasty looking bandages and adds new salve before wrapping the wound once more.

"Better than I've felt since I got this damn wound. For the first time I actually feel like the health is returning to my body instead of leaving it."

Alaric grunts as he places the last bandage into place. "That's because, for the first time since you were wounded you are actually getting rid of all the contaminants and are healing. The infection has already gone down significantly. You should be completely free of it in the next day or so. It will take even longer for your strength to build up once more, but you should be able to get up and move around by the end of next week."

Alaric holds up his hand to stop her from speaking. She tightens her lips in anger. "I know it's difficult. As an elven trained ranger and as a dragon it is difficult for you to remain inside for long periods of time.

"You don't understand, you nearly died a second time from this infection. If I hadn't come to the camp when I did you wouldn't have made it to Castlerock. You need to let your body heal, Jessa. You damn near died twice from this wound. You are allowed to be weak sometimes. 

"Dhiren and the elves aren't going to think less of you if you take the time you need to heal. You are as stubborn as your father when it comes to taking the time to heal appropriately."

"My father was stubborn about it too?" Jessa asks curious about her father. Alaric won't talk about him often.

Alaric snorts, "No one more stubborn. You take after him all right. Now if Dhiren will help you, you will be allowed down to eat. You will be craving meat. Don't deny yourself. Your dragon side has awakened and needs the meat to heal. The more you eat the faster you will heal. Just no need to make a pig of yourself. You can eat the meat without going crazy on it."

"Ohhkayy," Jessa says more than a little confused on the reference. She's never eaten like a pig and has no intentions of doing so at this time.

Dhiren picks her up and carries her out of their room. She has him set her down outside of the dining room and gives him a quick kiss to show her thanks.

He opens the door and escorts her to her seat at the table.