Crescendo

Chapter 3: Half Rest

I wake up to the sweet floral scent of the roses perched on my face. I blink and spit out the daisy that has been carefully placed between my teeth. Soft torchlight illuminates the room and my eyes ache as they adjust to the brighter light. I'm on a cot of some sort, my head resting on a soft satin pillow. I can't see much lying down, only the tan stone walls, intricately carved with circles and clovers. Above me is a high stone ceiling like the ones in the hall Maya and I had travelled through.

Maya.

I bolt up, my hands clenching the silky, sky blue sheets that are draped over my body. I whip my head around, looking for her. A dull pain radiates from the base of my skull and I remember what happened in the hall. "Some welcoming committee," I murmur to no one in particular.

I swing my feet over the edge of the cot and am surprised to feel the cool stone tile beneath my toes. Someone has removed my shoes and placed them, I see now, at the foot of the cot, my socks folded next to them. I stand, letting the sheets fall from my shoulders to the floor, and walk through the long room.

Cots identical to the one I was asleep in line the walls, the only variation being the type of flowers potted on the nightstands beside them. I see roses, daisies, lilacs, lavender, and some green flower that I can't name. The air is cold, and I start to regret leaving my sheets behind on my cot. Cabinets are placed intermittently between cots, and when I open one, I am relieved to see folded blankets on each shelf. I grab one and wrap it around myself, comforted by the warmth it provides. 

"Okay but if you have to take the flannel off just be gentle with it. It's my 'getting girls' flannel."

I inhale. Found her.

"Maya?" I shout, peering out into the sea of cots.

"In here, Finley!"

Her voice comes from an open doorway to my right. I run into the room and see her propped up on a cot, her torso heavily bandaged. Thamara is standing above her, timidly holding Maya's flannel away from her body.

"Hey, Finley!" Maya exclaims. She winces. "Ooo, okay, too much force there. Should've whispered it."

"Are you okay?" I ask, approaching her.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Thamara here says she's gonna fix my ribs, which, she assures me, are definitely broken."

Thamara nods gravely, placing Maya's flannel on a chair in the corner of the room.

"How many of her ribs are broken?" I ask Thamara.

"Well," she says, not meeting my eyes, "we have no way of telling that for sure. But!" She looks at me, brightening up a little. "Chyrinth will be here soon to heal her!"

"Chyrinth?"

Maya shakes her head a little, the look on her face saying, "I have no idea either, I'm just as confused as you are." A comforting sight.

I press a little harder. "So- So this Chyrinth is a doctor?"

"Of sorts." Thamara adjusts the sheets on Maya's bed. "She is the eldest healer in our community." She smiles and whispers, "She's something of a legend."

"Only the best to fix me, huh?" Maya laughs, then coughs hard.

"Don't kill yourself with your own sarcasm," I tell her.

"That's the only way to do it, babe," she grins. I roll my eyes, ignoring the way I smiled a little when she said "babe." 

"I will go and see if Chyrinth is on her way." Thamara fluffs the pillow behind Maya's head and grabs the basket of medical supplies that had been on the chair next to Maya's bed. "Please, try to remain as still as possible," she instructs Maya.