Awareness crept back to the Captain slowly. When she finally had the strength to open her eyes, she gasped in pain. Sunlight, sharp and warm, flooded the room, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. After blinking a few times, she recognized the room she had stayed in previously.
The windows that dominated the wall to her left were open wide, and a salty breeze wafted in. She was propped up in the enormous, feather-stuffed bed, a wall of pillows behind her. She wore another ridiculous nightgown, sheer and white with ties down the front. She had been cleaned, and her hair had been plaited back away from her face. Bandages had been placed on her various wounds, and some sort of brace was on her injured knee.
Though the windows had an expansive view of the sea, none of them faced the harbor. She hoped her crew had not abandoned her.
She realized she desperately needed to relieve herself. She maneuvered her way to the edge of the bed, but when she tried to put weight on her legs, she cried out in pain. The door to her room burst open almost immediately, and a young, thin boy scurried in. His hair was white, falling stick-straight to his shoulders. Seeing her precarious position on the edge of the bed, he rushed to her.
"Miss!" he said, his voice as clear as a bell. "You mustn't leave your bed!"
She shied away from his touch. "And who are you, exactly?"
He fell back, seeming to sense her discomfort. "Oh. I am Fenno. I am your healer."
She laughed, then clutched at her abdomen from the pain. "You are my healer? You're a child."
He shrugged. "A gift as powerful as healing is rare. I am one of the strongest healers left."
"Ah." she said. "Well, Fenno, I'm afraid I have to use . . . well, whatever the Fae use for, ah, bodily waste."
"Oh, the washroom!" Fenno said, the pointed tips of his ears turning red. "Of course. I will take you."
She frowned, but he seemed harmless enough. I can't believe I need the help of a child to relieve myself, she thought to herself as Fenno eased her into a strange chair with large wheels on either side. I should've stayed a vestal.
Fenno rolled her out of her room to a tall door across the hall, the creaky wheels echoing on the marble. The door pushed open to a large room dominated by an enormous tub. A large chamber pot stood in the corner.
"You have indoor plumbing! Impressive," she crowed, eyeing the structure. "Some cities still haven't managed to figure out plumbing. It was quite a change when I left --" she paused, realizing what she was about to say. She shook her head. She must have been fatigued, not thinking straight. She had to be more careful. The truth about who she was could be dangerous.
Fenno frowned. "Yes. Plumbing has always been here. They do not have it in the human world?"
"Not everywhere, no," she said.
"Why?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Too expensive, too difficult perhaps. And people are used to chamber pots." Fenno grimaced.
He helped her transfer herself from the rolling chair to the pot, carefully arranging her dress so that she could remain modest while she relieved herself. He placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her.
She cleared her throat. "Would you mind leaving the room?"
He frowned. "Leave the room? But what if you fall?"
"I'll be fine. Please, I would like privacy."
"But, miss, in healing I have seen all there is to see -- there is no need for shame, really, I have already seen you nak-"
"My body may recover, but my pride never will. Please, leave."
Her tone left little room to argue. He nodded, hurrying out of the room.
"I'll be just outside if you need me!" he called.
Gods forbid I die falling off of this chamber pot, she thought.
When she had finished, Fenno returned her to her bed and fed her a bowl of broth. He changed her bandages and cleaned her face with a damp towel.
"You seem like just a nursemaid to me," the Captain said. Fenno looked up from his kit, where he was carefully putting his supplies back in their places. "Do the Fae really see this as a 'gift'? I thought 'gifts' were magic."
Fenno swallowed and looked away. "I've only used my gift on you when you were unconscious. I'll be back tonight with others to continue working on your wounds on the inside."
"Unconscious? How long have I been . . . ?"
Fenno avoided her gaze. "Five days."
"Five days?" she cried, sitting up. She began coughing violently and was forced to retreat back into the pillows. Once the coughing subsided, she said, "My crew? Where are they?"
"Your ship is still in the harbor."
She relaxed slightly. "I need to speak to them at once."
"They are not allowed on the island, and you are not leaving this room until you are healed."
"Then heal me! What are you waiting for?"
Fenno's face darkened. "Healing . . . takes its toll on the healer. I need others with me to help me. I need time to recover. And I need to save my gift for wounds normal medicine cannot help." He snapped the wooden lid of his case shut and left abruptly. He didn't look at her once as he hurried from the room, and she did not call after him.
Though her mind was racing, she was exhausted. She allowed her eyelids to fall closed, and sleep dragged her under once more.
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When she awoke again, the sun was low in the sky and the light that filtered through the windows was a soft golden color. She ached all over, and she groaned as she tried to sit up further. Defeated, she sank back into the pillows and caught her breath.
There was a clatter at the windows, and she looked over to see a large bird landing on the settee. It was a beautiful bird, coated in rich brown feathers dappled with cream. She identified it as a falcon. It flapped its wings to steady itself, revealing the soft, white plumage on its belly. It tilted its head, as if to ask her who she was and what in the name of the gods she was doing here.
She laughed. "Hello, Falcon! My, you are a lovely bird." It squawked, and she giggled again. "You know, I wanted a falcon of my own when I was younger. I wanted to become a falconer, and train my bird to peck out the eyes of my enemies." It turned its head this way and that, its dark eyes trained on her. "But it was not meant to be." The falcon cawed again and flapped its wings. "Be careful there, you'll scratch that beautiful settee with your claws, friend. Although, I suppose I can't call you friend if you don't know my name." It crowed and lifted its head, seeming to agree with her.
She shook her head. "It's been so long since I've had a name. I had to abandon mine a long time ago. I was called 'sister' for a while. Now, I'm just called 'The Captain'. Silly, I know, but it does make sense -- I'm the captain of a ship. How, you ask? Well, it was a bit of an accident," she said, laughing. The falcon stared.
She studied the bird. Though she knew she should be concerned a bird of prey burst through her window and was perched mere feet from her, she found she enjoyed the company of another living being. She could not remember the last time she had spoken so freely, without having to carefully calculate each and every word. She thought she would find freedom in being a vestal, anonymous and respected. But it had been yet another cage, just like her home. She wondered if she would ever find freedom in this world.
She smiled sadly. "I'm afraid you'll have to settle for knowing me as Captain. Maybe someday, I'll tell you what I used to be called." The falcon cawed softly. "Say, friend, have you seen my crew? I'm worried they --"
The door to her room began to creak open, and the falcon flew back out the window with one last screech. Fenno and three other Fae women entered and approached her bed, their steps nearly soundless on the marble floor.
"Hello, Captain," Fenno said shyly.
"Hello," she said cautiously, eyeing his companions. They all seemed older than Fenno, but with their smooth, ageless skin and identical white-blonde hair it was difficult to determine their age. Despite their similar coloring, their features were distinct; none of them looked related, and each had eyes a unique shade of green or golden-brown.
"These are other healers. They are going to help me," he explained, attempting a reassuring smile. She nodded, still wary.
The three women carefully moved her to the edge of the bed and laid her flat on her back. One reached for the ties on her nightgown near the center of her belly, and she gasped.
"This is where most of the internal damage is," she said. Her voice was soothing and musical. After a moment, the Captain nodded and she continued to work on the ties, leaving a gap in her nightgown across her stomach.
Each Fae woman took a position around her body, one stationed at her head and one on either side of her. Fenno approached her slowly.
"This may hurt," he said before placing his hands on the exposed skin of her stomach.
Searing pain burned through her abdomen. She screamed, and she didn't recognize her own voice; she sounded like one of the demons from another dimension Malachai's followers liked to preach about. The Fae women held her down, keeping her still. She struggled, but they were surprisingly strong. A soft blue light began emanating from Fenno's hands, illuminating his face in a ghoulish glow. She wailed as black bloomed at the edges of her vision. The blue light grew brighter and brighter.
"Fenno, restrain yourself!" one of the women called. His face had turned red, while the skin around his lips remained white. His eyes rolled back into his head, and the Captain whimpered.
Suddenly, the light stopped, and Fenno collapsed, ending her agony. The Fae women leapt from the bed and carried Fenno across the hall. The Captain saw them drop him into the tub through the open doors of her bedroom and the washroom. Two of them rushed back to her while one stayed with Fenno. They tied her nightgown back up quickly and propped her back up against the pillows, their hands cold and wet against her skin. One dragged a cool, damp cloth across her face and neck. She heard them speaking in low, urgent tones to each other as consciousness slipped away from her.
"Stay with us, child. Stay with us."