{ 3 × 14 } { 3 × 14 }
{ 1 × 3 } { 1 × 3 }
{ 1 × 3 } { 1 × 3 }
- "H-huh?" Mello felt her blood run cold and her vision grow slightly hazy as if she were dizzy. She...hadn't just asked that, had she? There was... There was no way she should be able to know something like that, unless it was some kind of wild and off-the-wall guess — but that face she was making and her wording of the question proved it wasn't. Why would she... What did her apprentice tell her?
"No need to look so frightened," the apprentice said as he returned from getting the herbs, setting them down next to Nemea's lounged out body. His voice was gentle and his eyes kind as if he were dealing with a scared and hurt animal (which was exactly what she was at the moment) — a complete one-eighty from the way Nemea had acted. "It's kind of obvious, though, once you've lived around them for so long." He gave a light shrug. "I could tell by your eyes."
"O-oh..." The small bird shifted a little, now being too embarrassed and scared to look back at Kiru to see how he was reacting. She looked to Caspar, then to Nemea. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
Nemea gave a small, almost nonchalant shrug. "It could be easier to heal you in that form. It happened that way in the past." She used a paw to sift through the items Caspar had brought over, giving a satisfied nod to him. Turning her head back to Mello, she tilted it off to one side slightly. "Well?"
With a sheepish and almost repulsed look, the bird looked down and within a moment — and with a faint glow of light — a girl was sitting where she once was. Her clothes, though still wearable, were torn. On her face, hidden beneath hair as red as her feathers had been, were faded scars. The arm that had been the broken wing was bent in a rather disgusting way and was turning a slightly grayish color.
Nemea rose to her feet and looked at her arm closer, then frowned. "...Well. Seems it's not going to work out again." She pushed the pile of plants back to Caspar, who took them and returned them to the back of the cave. Looking back to the girl, whose expression was now one of confusion, she explained, "I can't fix that. Not easily or painlessly." Her lips pursed a bit. "You could go into the town, however. They would probably be able to fix it."
At the mention of going into town, Mello shook her head so quickly she nearly gave herself a headache. "I-I..." She looked down, still refusing to look behind her at Kiru. Pursing her lips together into a thin line, she stood up from the ground and made her way out of the cave, wanting desperately to be alone. And to cry. "I-I'll deal with it. I'm not going back."
I'll be fine.