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gikmo9

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            With a start I wake up and look around through sleep filled eyes.  For a minute I forgot where I am and I look around in confusion.  I see Lia lying on the bed and my heart sinks as I remember everything from the day before.  I swing my legs over the side of the cot.  Leaning forward I grab her hand which I had dropped sometime during the night. 

            Awhile later I look up at one of the windows to see the sun just beginning to come up.  I realize that everyone will be up soon and I am still in my pajamas from the day before when I had first found Lia.  I reach out with my free hand and feel her forehead.  It is cooler than the day before but still way too hot.  Leaning forward I kiss her softly on the lips and whisper that I will be right back.

            As I open the door to leave the room I look back at her.  I know that if she were looking back at me she would see the worry and pain filling my eyes.  Somehow I had the feeling this was entirely fault.  Turning around I walk out the door moving towards my room in a haze. 

            I reach for the door knob and pull back as it turns on its own.  As it opens I look up to meet the sympathy filled eyes of Gadvar.  He backs up to allow me into the room.  He goes to talk to me but stops when I lower my eyes and walk past him.  As I walk to my closet for different clothes I hear the soft click of the door closing behind me and the footsteps as Gadvar follows me.

            I find a light gray almost white colored tunic that laces up in the front and a pair of loosely flowing dark midnight blue.  I close the closet door almost completely and discarding my clothes from the day before I begin to get dressed.  As I pull on the pants I move closer to the crack I had left I the door.  I had noticed that Nina was no where to be seen.

            “Gadvar?  Where’s Nina?  Did something happen to her?”  I pull the shirt over my head and walk out puzzling over the laces on the shirt front.

            “She is with Esti.  Don’t worry.  She hasn’t left the room since yesterday morning and this morning Esti woke her up early.  She said that Nina can’t barricade herself in here forever and then she took Nina out to the garden.  Nina didn’t want to go but I agree with Esti.  You might want to think about taking a walk yourself.”

            Choosing not to answer him I fall silently and fiddle with the laces.  I think about just choosing another shirt but as I turn back to the closet Gadvar reaches forward.  Pulling me forward he makes quick work of the laces and then looks at me still waiting for a response.  Instead of answering I mutter a thank you and walk past him to the door.  I tell him to tell Nina hi and to send her over to Lia’s room when she got back.

            When I walk back into Nina’s room Kali is standing over her with a hand pressed against her forehead.  She glances at me and then continues with her inspection of Lia.  She shakes her head after several minutes and then turns towards me.  Before she even opens her mouth I see the confusion in her eyes and in the crinkling of the wrinkles around her eyes.

            “I don’t know what your friend has but it isn’t what I thought it was.  Whatever it is the herbs are helping and she’s fighting it.  I’m almost positive if she keeps fighting it then she should be fine.”  Seeing the shock and dismay on my face though I try to hide it she leads me over to the chair beside Lia’s bed.  As soon as I’m sitting she makes an excuse to leave but I don’t hear her.

            Not long after Kali leaves Nina walks in with a grim look on her face and circles beginning to appear under her eyes.  I explain what Kali had said as nicely as I can manage.  She begins to cry with great sobs as she asks me what she’ll do if anything happens to Lia.  I pull her over and hold her as she cries just like I would my own sister.  Her cries subside as she falls into some much needed sleep.

            Like Gadvar had done for me the night before I pick her up and arrange her on the cot.  After some searching I find a blanket in the back of Lia’s closet and drape it over her carefully so I won’t wake her.  Finished I turn back to my seat beside Lia.  An hour and a half later I find myself nodding off again and I go to the bathroom.  Splashing some cold water on my face I look in the mirror and grimace at my appearance.

            Drying my face I walk back out.  I look at Lia’s bookshelf and choose one hoping I won’t fall asleep if I’m doing something.  I read aloud in case Lia can hear while she’s sleeping.  Before I realize it I’ve read four chapters and my voice has gone hoarse.  At some point while I was reading Nina had woken up and she now sat on the edge of the cot listening while I read.  We both jump as the door opens and Kali walks in.

            She looks at us with the sympathetic look that I am beginning to hate and then goes over to the opposite side of Lia’s bed.  She holds her wrist for a few seconds checking the pace of her pulse.  With a frown she drops Lia’s wrist and touches her forehead.  Her head snaps in our direction and she speaks sharply.

            “How long has she been like this?”  I hesitate and Nina answers before me.

            “What do you mean?  Been like what?  She looks fine considering the circumstances.”

            “She’s burning up.  We have to get rid of this fever or it’s going to end up killing her.  You,” she turns her gaze on me, “get me some small hand towels from the closet down the hall two door.”  I rush out to of the room cursing myself.  How could I have forgotten to check on her?  She means so much to me.  If she dies because I neglected to check on her I won’t be able to live with myself.  This all goes through my head in the thirty second it takes me to find the closet.

            Reaching in I grab ten of the hand towels and run back to Lia’s room without closing the door.  Nina rushes past me with a large bowl filled with water.  In her haste she almost drops the water but I drop the towels without hesitation and grab the bowl just before it falls.  Kali gathers the fallen towels and drops them all into the water. 

            After a minute she grabs one and wrings it out.  Folding it into a square she places it on Lia’s forehead.  Turning to me she orders me once again to the closet.  This time I grab several of the largest and heaviest blankets I can find.  When I return to the room the three of us pile them on top of Lia.  Kali says the best thing to do is try to sweat out the fever.

            We sit and wait for several hours changing the towel on her forehead every fifteen minutes.  Finally when it has gone dark outside and it must be nearing midnight we send Nina back to her room.  Kali says that she needs to go.  Before she leaves she tells me to change the cloth on her forehead every half hour and to come get her if anything changes.  With a sigh and a last look towards Lia she leaves.

            I manage to stay awake most of the night watching Lia but in the early hours of the morning I finally give in to sleep.  Only an hour or so later I wake.  I don’t know what caused me to wake up so I look towards the door to see if anyone had come in.  No one had so I turned back to the bed and stopped in shock…

I think this one went a bit slow and i'm sorry but personally think it needed to go that slow. just so that you understood how much he likes her and cares for her but also how he feels that her sickness is his fault.  that part will come into the story later.  R/R/C.