Blessing Moon

Twenty-Seven: Back to Reality

When Beanni was woken from her light magic induced slumber, the sound of her screams took over the healing chamber. Claudia Slànacus, the appointed healer for the royals, and Oslac hovered by her as she writhed on her bed. The sounds she made ricocheted through the prince and the sorrow he felt for his best friend punched him square in the heart.

"Your Highness, I need you to restrain her, before she tries to scratch her own eyes out!" Claudia yelled her instructions over the powerful screaming. Without hesitation, Oslac leapt to Beanni's side and tried to move her hands away from her face. She fought against him, but he had just enough strength to struggle with her, then pin her arms to her sides in a firm but warm embrace. She squirmed relentlessly in his grasp, her teeth gnashing and her eyes squeezed shut.

"Shh..." he tried his hardest to soothe her. "We are going to help you, Bay. Everything will be alright."

Still Beanni would not stop moving, she thrashed her head back and shouted louder.

"Slànacus!" the prince called over his shoulder towards the healer, who was busy fumbling with pages of a book and grabbing various ingredients at a table behind him. "Will she be okay?"

Without saying a word, Claudia finally turned from the table and made her way to the other side of Beanni's bed with an open vial in her hand. She then stroked Beanni across the forehead and encouraged her to drink the dark blue liquid the vial held. Beanni instantly ceased screaming and flopped into a deep, peaceful sleep.

"What did you give her?" Oslac asked after a huge sigh of relief, then lay her motionless body back onto the mattress and tucked her in with great care.

"A potion that we Slànacuses haven't needed to mix in a long time, not within my lifetime at least. I had to look it up, that's why I took so long. This was a sleeping potion," she said holding up the empty, blue stained vial. "Fiosolim used to take this regularly to cope with ongoing gazing." She lowered her hand and glanced at Beanni's peaceful face. Now that she was still, the scratches on her temples and down her cheeks seemed more prominent. Claudia let out a deep sigh and continued, "This poor girl had not slept properly since she was taken by those criminals."

"The Fiosolim woman said it was my fault she was hurting. She said, I took her out of the smoke too soon." Oslac shared through quivering lips, then glanced towards the leather pouch hanging on the bedpost by Beanni's head. The light that glowed from her light orb inside dwindled for a brief second, seeing this made the prince's heart sink. His face threatened to crumble and he bowed his head.

"That might be so. I can't say I understand smoke gazing in its entirety," Claudia confessed, but then seemingly out of nowhere a much harder tone plagued her voice, which grabbed Oslac's attention and he met her now intense emerald gaze. "But you should've called me to Strelle, rather than putting her into a light induced daze. Stupetuain is not a safe spell, all it did was trap her in her state of anguish with no physical release. That's why she now has these," she explained, then pointed to the red marks lining Beanni's tan face. Oslac looked away, biting his bottom lip, he tried his hardest to stay calm. "But you got her to me in plenty of time, Your Highness," Claudia added in a much kinder tone. "You did well today."

"It doesn't feel like it..." Oslac said, not able to speak above a whisper as he fought against the tears that threatened to make an escape.

"You saved her, Your Highness."

Oslac shook his head, not able to look up into the healer's face.

"She will be fine, you'll see. All we need to do is let her sleep, sleep will help heal her mind. We just need to give her time - give her space."

"I'm not leaving," Oslac announced with unshakable determination. "I'm staying by her side until I know she is alright."

Claudia gave him a slow nod and a tight-lipped smile. "Very well, Your Highness, I won't argue with you."