The Lightning Mage

36 | The Changed Priorities

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With a cup of coffee in one hand and a basket of fruits in the other, Irene skipped into the brightly-lit room, her legs light and buoyant.

Six hospital beds lined both sides of the room, while a few nurses stood around with their clipboards, jotting down vital signs and whatever it was they usually wrote. Lyn was sitting up on one of the beds, her auburn hair sprouted messily from her head like a lion.

"Oh, you're finally awake." Irene hopped over to her friend before slamming down the items she was holding. "I got you coffee and some fruits." She settled on the chair next to the bed and grabbed an apple. "This is such deja vu, you know; the last time you were hospitalized was also after a commission for the Witches, except this time you don't get a private room. Maybe this is a sign that we shouldn't go near the Witches ever again."

Lyn did not say anything to that; not a quip, not even a chuckle. Huh, that was weird.

Irene frowned. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Lyn said with a nod, but Irene had never heard a more dejected reply in her life.

"Want an apple?" she offered.

"Nah."

"Alright then." Irene shrugged and took a bite of the apple, her curious eyes lingering on the pale-skinned woman.

She had known Lyn too long to know that she was, in fact, not okay at all; it was almost unnerving to see the usually animated face just staring into space, as expressionless as a blank piece of paper. She forced the piece of apple down her throat.

"Is it true, then?" she asked, her voice was coarser than she had expected. "Did the Witches... do something to you?"

It had been a stupid rumor that had been going around, but Irene could not help asking about it, seeing the way Lyn was right now.

"Nah."

Again with the unenergetic, one-word answer.

Irene stifled an annoyed grunt before deciding to change the topic. "So how's the Crimson Witch? You met her, right? Is she as scary as she's made out to be?"

That finally got somewhat of a response from Lyn: a small scowl, followed by a soft, "I don't want to talk about her."

"Hm, okay then." Irene took another bite of the apple. Yet again, she found herself unable to get through to Lyn.

Ever since Lyn got back from jail, it was as if her soul had been transported to a different world, leaving an empty shell of a body here. Even as she smiled, or talked, or laughed, or teased, Irene still felt an invisible barrier between them, pushed away from Lyn's true thoughts, Lyn's real life. Was this what it felt like, losing a friend? Irene took another huge bite of the apple; the fruit was gradually losing flavor in her mouth.

"Anyway, rest well, alright?" she mumbled. "Take the next few days off or something."

Back in the normal days, Lyn would have huffed and said something along the lines of, "I don't need breaks! Not me! This girl never rests!" But this time, she just nodded.

"Sure, I'm actually hoping to take the next two weeks off anyway. Sorry, Irene, if that's too long of a break, the three of you can do some smaller quests until I'm back."

"The three of us?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm hoping to do something with Neil during this time."

Irene's eyes twitched. What the heck?

"What, are you going on a vacation with Neil, not me? Are you changing besties already?" she asked, coating her question with as much humor as she could manage.