Who's Blue?

Chapter 9 - Healing Teas and Soups

××Blue××

The morning after Diesel and I's study session, I woke up with a splitting headache. Stumbling my way out of the large bedroom, I found Diesel awkwardly splayed out across a couch much too small for him. I had offered to sleep out here instead, feeling bad about taking his own room away from him but he had won the argument.

I gripped my hair roughly as another wave of pain overtook me.

"Diesel," I breathed, barely able to raise my voice above a whisper. He miraculously still heard me, his blue eyes popping open and immediately focusing on me in the early morning light. He was up in moments, tripping over the blanket he had draped over him as it tangled between his legs.

He grabbed my arms as I reached out to him, lifting me up into his arms as he took me back into the bedroom. 

"What's wrong?" He worried, eyes glancing between me and the bed as he got closer. I was unable to answer, only gripping my hair tighter and shutting my eyes as his voice reverberated through my skull.

"Blue?"

Unknowingly he was making it all so much worse. Tears began to escape my eyes. I felt the soft sheets of the bed at my back and the loss of Diesel's arms around me as he pulled the blankets up around my legs. With the silence, I was finally able to open my eyes. Diesel was staring at me worriedly, seeming to finally have understood I needed quiet.

His hand came up and gently caressed the back of my head, where the majority of the pain was centered. I simply nodded. He frowned and stood, holding up one finger before he grabbed my empty glass off the nightstand and refilled it in the bathroom sink. Then he was gone from the room for what felt like hours.

When he came back, he had a cloth filled with ice in one hand and a tea filled with medicine in the other. The smell gave it away. Before giving me either, he gently leaned me forward, going about undoing the bandages around my head. When he found nothing amiss, he wrapped a new, clean bandage around my wound.

"Please drink this slowly," He whispered. His voice was so low, I almost didn't catch the words.

I took the warm mug from his hands and did as instructed, leaning back against the pillows slowly so I didn't spill any of the green liquid. Diesel climbed into the bed from the other side and pressed the ice slowly against the spot on my head. Once we were both situated, a quiet fell over us.

It wasn't an uncomfortable silence though. It was a soft, warm silence that showed me just how much Diesel cared. With others, he was so rough but to me, he was so sweet and caring. Even in such a short time, he had shown me a side of him I wasn't sure others knew about.

At some point after finishing the tea, I fell asleep and when I woke again, Diesel was gone with the empty mug and wet cloth. My headache was missing too. I was immensely thankful for that.

Crawling carefully out of bed, I wandered into the large closet and dressed for the day. I was getting a very late start to it. As hungry as I was, I wanted to find Diesel first. Instead of wandering through the halls and getting lost, I found a servant.

"Lady Blue, how can I assist you?" The woman smiled, the title catching me off guard for a moment.

"Could you take me to Diesel?" I questioned. She gave me a strange look but I didn't understand why until she began speaking.

"His highness will be in the training room at this time. Please follow me." She wasn't able to see my nervous look behind her back. It was going to be difficult to learn honorifics and people were going to notice how out of place I was the longer it took me.

She led me down a flight of stairs and then into a wide open room, both of us stepping out onto a raised area of the room where we could look down on those training below. It wasn't hard to find Diesel in the crowd of men below. He was the largest of them all and he commanded power while the others followed his lead.

His shirt was off and sweat trailed across his tanned skin as he moved. I forced my eyes away from his flawless skin and addressed the servant still standing next to me, also watching the men training below.

"He actually seems busy. Could you take me to the dining hall instead?" I asked, giving her a small smile. She nodded her head and turned, leading me back up the stairs and to the familiar dining hall I had seen the day before. It reminded me that Diesel's father was sick and I hadn't heard a word about it.

Before I could question the servant on that topic as well, we were at the hall and the servant was heading the other direction.

I pushed the door in and found a new person sitting at the table, one I hadn't been introduced too. He was the only one sitting st the table too. He eyed me curiously as I slid into a seat near the kitchen doors.

I tried to keep my eyes off him but he was doing the opposite. And after a few minutes he stood and took the seat right in front of me.

"Hello. I'm Benedict Barrick, call me Ben," He spoke quickly, like getting his words out were a chore.

"Who are you?" He drew these words out, staring at me intently.

"Uhm, Blue. I'm Blue," I muttered, trying my best to hold his gaze. Now that I was looking at him, the last name clicked. He resembles Diesels brothers. Diesel said he only had 2 so maybe a relative.

"Where'd you come from?" He asked, propping an elbow on the table and leaning his head on it. Once again, staring directly at me. His eyes were blue, a little darker than the brothers. And he had light blonde hair, the biggest contrast compared to them.

"I'm new, a friend of Diesels."

"I didn't know Diesel had friends." Ben laughed quietly to himself at the joke. I didn't say anything, just stared.

Malachi appeared from the kitchen doors, a steaming bowl in hand. A wide smile grew on his face at the sight of me.

"Hi Blue! Ben." He greeted, stepping towards me. Ben finally leaned back in his seat.

"Hi." I smiled, my stomach taking the chance to growl as I smelled the soup held in his hands.

"Did you come here for lunch?" I nodded, "Well you are in luck, there's more of this soup back in the kitchen. It's meant to promote healing which is something you still need."

He turned and I got up, following him into the kitchen and leaving Ben behind. A few chefs and kitchen hands were still cleaning from lunch but it was otherwise empty. He only set the bowl down once we were next to the soup and even as he was dishing me out some in a bowl, his eyes constantly wandered back to the soup.

I realized he was making sure it wasn't tampered with.

"Is that for your father?" I asked, as he returned the lid to the soup pot and handed me the warm bowl.

"Yes. And he was actually wanting to see you. Why don't you follow me up there and talk while he eats?" Malachi said. I nodded and he smiled. I tried my best to give one back as we began the trek to his majesty's room.

I worried how the conversation would go without Diesel and I suddenly wished I had interrupted his training and brought him with me.