Confined to the bedspread, Royal fully expected a dull day. He didn't whine about it, that wouldn't solve anything. But he knew from the moment he woke up with a sore chest, it would be a long and slow day. Allegedly, Eldrie was elsewhere, so he wasn't expecting her to pop out of nowhere and give him a heart attack. Instead, it was just him and Esther, alone in a cave.
He looked around in the dim light. Esther entered the cave holding some sort of porridge.
"Good morning!" She said, happily. "Eldrie showed me how to make porridge this morning to help you feel better!"
She was absolutely glowing in Royal's eyes. Her positivity couldn't be beat. Complacently, Royal indulged himself in the food Esther had spent time making for him. But it was actually really good, like it was sweetened or something.
"Hey, what's in this? It's really good." He asked between mouthfuls.
"Uh, Eldrie put some kind of seeds, some water, and a sweet juice from river plants." Esther said. Eldrie had told her what the ingredients were called, but Esther didn't recall at the time.
"Ah, that makes sense..." Royal nodded. "Here, try some." He offered the dish back to Esther.
"But it's for you..." Esther said, uncertainly.
"Food is better when you share it, though." Royal said, sort of teasingly. He held out the stick he was using to eat. "Open wiiide!" He joked.
Esther took it seriously, to his surprise. And she enjoyed every second of it. But she didn't have much, just a couple bites before insisting Royal eat more.
"Alright, I'll finish it. Thank you Esther." He smiled up at her, a gentle smile. And he then proceeded to dig into his porridge with renewed fervor.
After eating, the full knowledge of how uneventful the day would be sink in. Even if he could do art or writing, he had nothing to use. He couldn't move around, so no training or cooking. He just sat and could talk to Esther if he wanted to. 10 minutes or so of crushing silence passed before Royal decided he might as well. As long as they'd been together, they hadn't talked much about their lives.
Of course, asking this was another matter altogether. So he went the slow route. "Hey, Esther. Since there's nothing to do, we can get to know each other better maybe." He stated.
"Hmm? I guess. What did you want to know?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Well, uh, what was your family like? Before... You know..." Royal only then realized how insensitive that sounded.
But Esther took it in stride. "I don't really remember. I didn't get to be with them long. Void Elves aren't very well liked... But my mother had a very strong laugh and smelled like lilacs. I remember that much." She said, mentally pushing away the bad side of her past memories. "What about yours? You never told me."
"My mom worked a lot, so I didn't see her that often. And my dad wasn't always around. Sometimes he would disappear for days straight. I didn't have any siblings, either. So, it was lonely a lot." He said. "You know, you're the first friend I ever got that stayed around this long. And that means a lot to me."
"Why did your other friends leave?" Esther asked, looking sympathetic.
"Well, I didn't do much of anything. I'd text them sometimes, asking how they were, but usually I would sit around, kinda like this actually. But instead of talking, I just watched television." Royal replied, forgetting for a moment that Esther didn't have a great understanding of electronic devices.
"Text...? What is a text?" She asked, curiosity peaked.
"It's a short little message you can send to people, and it gets there much faster than writing a letter." Royal answered. Esther nodded in understanding. "It sounds useful..."
"Sometimes. A lot of older people think it's just lazy." Royal chuckled. "I guess they thought a lot of things were kind of lazy though."
Esther took a seat next to Royal. "I wish I could see your home myself. It sounds so amazing!" She smiled.
"Heh, I suppose. I used to take it all for granted, but without all those things, it's easy to see how helpful they really are." Royal smiled back, before wincing. He turned too far... "It kinda sucks, having to sit around like this." He said as he straightened out.
Esther patted his head. "It's ok, Eldrie said it was just one day." She encouraged.
"Yeah, I suppose." Royal said, deciding to think about things. "Don't worry about me, I think I'm going to lie down for a bit." He said, making slow moves to take a nap.
Esther wanted to curl up with him, but she wasn't tired. So instead, she went outside to practice that tough spell again. She recalled using a weak version of what she wanted when she was mad at the Void Monsters, so she focused on that first. Trying to use old anger, combined with the sadness of seeing Royal confined to his bed for the moment, Esther concentrated in forming the attack.
Several tires passed, when she get something to work. This ring was tiny, with only 2 bolts. And the ring itself wasn't there. The only reason she even knew it worked was because the bolts were fireballs. She could have sworn last time they were the same type of magic as her Magic Missile... She sat to think.
Unfortunately, her contemplation came to an abrupt end as some of the pesky mushroom creatures crept up to her. She vented some steam unloading a volley of Shadow Bolts to send them lacking, before sitting back down. And then, she had an idea. She used her volley to make several bolts, why not try treating the spell like that?
Half an hour passed, sweat began dripping down her face. And Esther finally made a big leap. She accidentally used a Magic Missile volley. Not what she was after, not by a long shot, but it was nice to know. Sometimes efficiency was important for fighting. However, she was still down by her lack of progress. She decided to take a break and grab something to snack on.
Eldrie came back from stalking the Void Monsters to stalk Royal and Esther a few minutes later. Royal was still sleeping, but Esther was off who knew where. She didn't have any form of resistance if she got into a fight. With that in mind, Eldrie went to find her. She found her a few minutes later delivering spell after spell at a much smaller Void Monster that happened to be nearby. Eldrie intervened deftly, using one of her many catalysts. This one in particular was highly acidic and toxic. The moment it got onto the void monster, the thing ran.
"Can you please try to not die as well? I only have so many of thos." Eldrie frowned disapprovingly. Esther looked back, alarmed.
"Oh, um, sorry..." She looked down.
"Head up, Mage. It would be best that you return to your shelter. The boy will be fit for action soon enough." Eldrie interupted. "Go on now, before something else undesirable tries to do you harm."
Esther wordlessly scrambled off. Truth be told, Eldrie made her nervous. Not because of how quiet and neutral she was, but because Esther knew full well that Eldrie had bottles of liquid not meant to be used on any living thing.
She got back soon, and was treated to the sight of Royal, sitting up again. He waved as she entered.
"Welcome back!" He said sleepily. Esther have him a squishing hug immediately.
"Do you feel better? It's scary to be alone!" She pouted, basically wrapped around Royal.
"I should say so, but I'll stay put for longer. Just because I don't feel an injury, doesn't mean it isn't there." He replied wisely. "Now, um, please don't sit on my shoulders?"
Esther hastily scrambled off of him. "Oh gosh I'm sorry! I didn't hurt you, did I?" She asked frantically.
"No no, I'm ok. You were just putting a lot of pressure on my body is all. No harm done." Royal patted her head to soothe her. She settled down right away.
"Now, come on. I can watch you practice if I just..." Royal slowly scooted, turning to face the cave entry. "There! Now I can see what's going on."
Esther giggled, and went back out to work more on her spell. As expected, it still wasn't taking. She focused as hard as she could.
"Try to think about it in steps, instead of all at once?" Royal offered. "It could work..."
Esther stopped and thought about what she had been doing. She was trying to summon a spell made of many parts all at once. It wasn't working, so instead she focused on the ring first. After a few tries, she managed to get a shaky ring of shadow to appear for a few seconds. Royal applauded and offered encouragement to Esther when she did this. The energy made Esther feel more capable, and she tried again and again. Every so often, the ring would become less and less wonky. It was still short on time and very weak, however. But Esther was growing tired. She went back in again.
"Wow, you were going at that for hours. But look at that, you made progress!" He said positively. "I think it is late now, perhaps we should rest. We can go back out together tomorrow, too!" Royal said, cheering Esther up.
"Yeah... Yay!.." Esther bubbled, already dozing off. But this time, Royal best beat her to the punch, sleeping first.
Eldrie watched them silently. "They sure sleep a lot. At least it keeps them somewhat more aware... Maybe." She muttered, flying off for the night.