“Yahero.” He breathed her name over her lips. It was the last thing she remembered before slipping back into darkness.
She woke up again, another inordinate amount of time later. This time her body was being submerged in a pool of water, one she didn’t recognize. She tensed from toe to nose as she was slowly lowered in but when Galan and Sundamar’s reflection shifted over the clear water, it soothed her more than the water ever could.
“Please,” she rasped and clenched her eyes shut at the sound. What was that famous quote?Butter scraped over too much bread.She had never sounded so weak and when she tried to swallow this time around, little saliva formed in her mouth, causing her to cough.
“Er noum mana.” Sundamar sank into the water next to her, cupping her cheeks.
“Yahiro er noum,” Galan sighed heavily and came into view next. It took her that short amount of time to realize she could barely turn her head. “You can’t understand us anymore,” he said in perfect English. “Them,” he corrected.
Her hair swirled around her chin as she nodded slightly. “No, it’s broken.” Yahiro pointedly stared at where Galan had his translator piece still embedded in him.
He touched it and frowned. “Can we fix it?”
She mirrored his downturned lips. “I can’t...” Each word was an effort.
“Nothing at where you crashed?” Her lips thinned into a line. “Can I give you mine?”
“No.” It hurt so much to say it.
“Then we’ll teach you our language and you and I will teach them yours.” Galan sat back into the water and as both her valos came into view, she realized how dissimilar they looked. Lusheenn could’ve been Sundamar’s twin. Galan was rugged everywhere Sundamar was heroically handsome. She concentrated on them as they cleaned her body. Too afraid to look down at herself and find what was there, or what wasn’t.
But some hope bloomed in her heart. She now knew she wasn’t going to die, and that whatever had happened with Lusheenn had left her valos intact.
Yahiro let the numbing haze retake her as Sundamar and Galan massaged her wounds.
Where was Quist?
When she woke a third time it was because someone was choking and drowning her to death. She flailed in fear, knocking something hard with the back of her hand across the room and soaking the clothes over her body. Salty liquid came up as she gagged, attempting to breathe. The effort was excruciating.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s me. It’s Galan.” The softened tone of his voice and his unending mantra found her.
Galan held an oval-shaped disk in his hand, half-filled with what she thought may be an alien version of broth. Her tongue ran around the edges of her mouth and the homey taste of warmth and seasoned salt hit her.
She sucked in a gasp. And it was easy.I can taste!
He looked at her warily as she tried out a smile. It didn’t hurt. “I feel...” Even her words flowed smoother.
“Healed?” He finished for her.
“Yes!”
Galan replaced the bowl she accidentally cast aside with a new serving of soup and she seized it from him greedily, drinking it down until her body couldn’t take anymore. When she was done he took it away.
“How long?” she asked.
His eyes hooded. “Too long. You’re weak, far weaker than us.”
Yahiro stiffened her back and finally looked down at her body. She wore a gossamer shift that revealed everything but that wasn’t what caught her eye; it was the tendrils of molten gold running in random patterns over her body, a splatter of it concentrated between her breasts.
Where it cracked.She was reminded of the stone and the weight came back. She pressed her fingers into her belly where the pressure was the worst and found it within moments. She dropped her hand away as if burned.
“What happened?” she asked after a long moment.
“You swallowed the heartstone.”
She knew that.
“—and the light it contained stopped spreading when you did.”
