Without a word, I undress, keeping only my loincloth and signal her to lie down. I lie down at once and wrap myself in my wings for the night while castigating myself. But what an idiot I am! I had to sleep in the other room! Ah, it will be convenient to sleep next to her while my whole body shivers from her proximity!
I close my eyes and try to sleep. But I can't. After a while, I feel the bed shaking and see her body shivering in the darkness. She is cold.
If I'm going to have a sleepless night, I might as well make sure she gets some rest after the ordeal she's been through today. I reach out and bring her into the bosom of my arms, wrap one under her rounded chest and close my wings over our two entwined bodies.
After a few minutes, the shivering stops, her breathing calms down, and she falls asleep. For me, the torment has only just begun, the night is going to be interminable.
***
After what seems like dozens of hours, I feel her move slightly and guess that she will soon be fully awake, especially since the sun is now shining through the window.
I slowly move away from her body so that she doesn't guess the effect she has on me. An effect I can't hide for the moment. I have to find something unpleasant to solve my problem.
A few minutes later, her breathing changes and I know she is awake.
A painful moan brings my attention back to her wounds. I spread my wings and gently stand up.
“Lokk, please find us a healer. Let her come and redo Sarah's treatments and change her bandages.”
“Hello Sarah, are you in a lot of pain? We'll get you back to your healing box as soon as possible, your Sarconze,” I say.
“Hello. It is not so painful. You just have to clean the wounds and apply the very effective balm. As for our box, as you say, it is not recommended for small wounds, but for more important cases. The number of regeneration cycles is limited and I don't want to waste some of these cycles for injuries that heal naturally.”
I frown. What's the point of having this box if you can't use it when she's in pain? I remove the screen from the door to let in the young woman who has just arrived with something to treat my sweet's wounds.
“Hello, I'm here for the treatments. But I think it would be better to take a shower before I put some balm back on and change the bandages,” she says. “Do you have showers?”
“Of course, how else do you think we would wash?” I reply, surprised by her question.
“I didn't say otherwise, but I thought maybe you were going down to the streams to wash.”
“We may not be as advanced as in your world, but we are not animals anymore. We also know how to be ingenious!” I retort, annoyed that she sees us as primitive beings.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I didn't think you were primitive beings . . .” she says, looking embarrassed.
“The shower for the guests is just in a room next door,” says the young woman who came to redo the dressings.
I accompany them to the shower room and explain to her the principle of elevation and heating of the water of the canyon. I also show her the system of the evacuation of the dirty water thanks to a gutter that comes out towards the cliff.
She listens to my explanations with attention and seems admiring. I leave them both and go myself to wash in the shower room of Lokk's room.
“So, did you sleep well?” Lokk asks me with a little concupiscent smile.
“Hardly,” I answer him dryly. “And stop with those insinuations. I remind you that she is injured and that she is a stranger.”
“You know you could have let her sleep alone and shared the bed with me?”
“She was cold, so I had to wrap her up for the night. We need to find something for her to sleep in.”
“I see. Indeed, I guess you must not have slept much if you had to warm her with your wings.”
“We leave this morning for the Western Bastion. We have our agreement; we don't need to stay here anymore.”
I am well aware that I am changing the subject. And I am well aware that he is not fooled. Lokk and I have been friends since we were kids. And I know that if I decided to recognize the Link, he would be the first to support me, even though she is different.
But for the moment, I am not decided on anything at all concerning her. Sarah washed and groomed, joins us, then the three of us leave for the first meal.
Last night's room has been cleaned up and new dishes adorn the tables. This time, I am determined to do the honors for Sarah, to explain everything to her and to let her taste everything. The first meal is the most substantial of the day. It contains fruits like the ones in the evening, but many other things too.
