I focused on meditating properly for the next hour. It left me feeling calmer and less inept, and when I returned to the fire the three of them were deep in conversation.
Sylvie welcomed me with her enchanting smile, scooting over to make room and leaning into me when I sat down. She was carving something new and indiscernible. "Welcome back," she whispered.
"Thank you," I said.
They were talking about what it's like to have no one, Grim filled me in. And he's curious about us. "We're the opposite of you two; we don't know what it's like to be on our own because we've always had each other." He included me with a nod.
Sayid nodded, stifling a yawn. The hour wasn't that late, but he'd certainly had an exhausting day. An exhausting life at that. "It is quite difficult. How old were you two when you met?"
Grim was eating again so I fielded that one. "He was just over two in human years when we bonded with each other. Well, technically we were born bonded, but we were together for the first time then. I was but a week old at the time."
He had safeguarded the sacred memory and I could see it through him; both of our mothers standing nearby as we found each other, delighted that their children would be best friends as well.
We had lost them not long after.
I shook my head to help clear it. Time for a different topic. "Are you up for a little healing?" I asked, wanting to have done with it because I was feeling apprehensive again.
You'll be fine, quit it, Grimmer assured me. And now you have the ring, should you need it. So do the thing.
"I think so," Sayid said. His wall was up so I couldn't read his aura.
Sylvie leaned to put her lips to my ear, making me shiver, and murmured, "Will it have the same effect on you as when you did it for me?"
"It might not," I said, though it probably would. I didn't really think about that part. It was what it was. Healing was my purpose, and my discomfort was irrelevant when it came to it, especially in matters of life and death. "Try not to worry, I'll be okay," I reassured her quietly.
She took that in but was visibly apprehensive. "Would using the ring help?"
"I don't think I need it, and I would hate to use it and then not have it available if we did need it," I admitted. That was the trouble with as-needed items with limited availability, not that I was complaining.
Sayid squared his shoulders. "What do I need to do?"
"Absolutely nothing," I said, rising and leaving Sylvie with a kiss on her head. "It won't take long."
"Okay," he said nervously.
I knelt beside him, putting my hand on his arm and closing my eyes. Feebur gave me an inquiring boop. I tuned in to Sayid, immediately feeling all the chaos there. I assessed it and was confident I could help, so I began. It wasn't the same as going through a body to repair damage; rather I just sort of let the healing flow into him and it did its thing, balancing his brain chemicals and diminishing some of the pain.
As much of the inner torment became soothed, I was able to notice how his physical body was in its own turmoil. I was pretty tired at that point so it took me a minute before I realized what the reason was. It wasn't anything I could assist with at that point though as I was out of strength and had already taken some of Grim's, so I recalled my magic and withdrew my hands.
Sylvie was waiting next to me when I opened my eyes, her purple ones anxious. "Are you well? Did it work?"
I smiled at her as she wrapped her arms around me from the side."I'm fine."I was exhausted but felt pretty good otherwise. I tried not to dread the seizure that would likely hit me, and hoped it would be a small one. "And I'm almost certain it worked."
Sayid had an almost serene look on his face. "Oh, it worked," he said, surrounded in bright orange amazement. "I feel...better." He half-laughed, making Feebur purr louder. "When you've been hopeless for so long, it's hard to recognize hope. Words cannot express my gratitude."
"I'm so glad," I said, yawning. My ability to stay awake was waning. But miraculously, I didn't feel any different. "No seizure maybe," I dared to say aloud.
Both of my companions were quite relieved. "You're amazing," Sylvie said, kissing my cheek. "What you do is so important."
Grime was elated as well. He had seen the downfalls too many times and hated it maybe even more than I did. This is excellent. You did so well controlling it too. Have to find you a cookie or something.
Sayid jerked his chin up a little. "Which one of you made me come down from the railing?"
Grim gave him a lazy, smart ass salute. "You're welcome."
The boy was solemn. "Thank you, for though it was strange to experience, you saved my life this night."
Despite himself, Grim was touched, though he tried not to show it. "I don't like standing in the rain," he said haughtily by way of explanation, though of course it had been more than that. "And watching people die ruins my appetite."
You are the absolute worst, I told him. "Ignore him," I said out loud, though the boy didn't seem offended.
Thank you.
"C'mon, you're mostly asleep." She pulled me to my feet and led me to our tent, the front of which was missing as she didn't like being confined. When we had a need for privacy it was easy enough to open the roof and put up a front wall. She tucked me in and lay next to me, snuggling close with a happy little sigh. "Amazing," she said again.
I was half asleep, my mind on Sayid. I wonder if I can heal this for him too, I sent to Grimmer, who of course knew what I did. I didn't speak to Sylvie about it as it was not my business to tell.
Not tonight you can't, he half-scolded. Go to sleep. But yes, I believe you can.
I believed I could too.
The next morning I was back to normal, and the whole thing left me absurdly pleased. Avoiding seizures would make our lives so much easier. I tried not to get too excited, however, in case it was a fluke or something.
It's not a fluke, Grim butted in, as if he had any idea.
Oh good, I didn't realize you were able to see the future, how convenient this will be for us.
He made a face at me. Yeah, yeah. Just wait and you'll see, I'm right. As usual.
Oh please.
I rounded up some fresh clothing and a spare length of cloth for Sayid, which I figured he needed. When he took the bundle from me he held the extra fabric up for a moment, then met my eyes. I smiled a little and busied myself with other things while he changed.
There were thorned bushes nearby covered in tart purple berries that none of us knew the name of, and they picked a large bowl of them while I fried up some corn cakes. Feebur had gobbled down his fill at dawn and whatever agreed with him usually did the same for us so there was little trepidation on our parts when it came to eating them.
We spread them over the warm, sweet bread and had a leisurely breakfast in the cool sunshine, Feebur racing around to beg bits off us. We were packing up an hour later when Sylvie nudged me and jerked her head toward the boy. "He doesn't know if he's coming," she said in a low voice, and indeed he did look apprehensive. "Is he coming?
I realized we probably should have addressed that with him. "I figured he was," I said. "Hey Sayid, you're coming with us, right? For a while at least?"
His face lit up, and he looked at Grim in his dragon form. "Can you carry all three of us?"
Grim turned to give him such a scornful look it was surprising he didn't feel it. "I'm a dragon, you know." Lords have mercy, he sent me. What's a guy gotta do around here to get a little respect.
You'll live. "He can carry much more than us," I assured Sayid. "As for our flying arrangements, Sylvie sits behind me and when we fly we're pretty close together; where would you prefer to be?" I had a pretty good idea of what his answer would be and I was not wrong.
"I'll be first, if that's okay," he said as expected, and we were on our way.
a/n Hey everyone, I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Thank you for hanging in there through the slow updates. I really appreciate your support and interest.