The Sage's Vow

7.1 || Growing Unease

"OW."

"You know," Mateo mused, "the goblin only managed to bite you because you were trying to do that, uh... What did you call it? Spinning lightning slash?"

Josh's glower turned into a wince when Akachi's wife, Onika, applied a salve to the wound. She had taken up learning how to help without magic since Hisato was pulled away both by his teaching and on missions so often. As it was, Hisato had returned from a mission mere hours ago and was supposed to be somewhere resting at that moment.

"It wouldn't have gotten close enough to me if you had killed it first," Josh shot back.

Mateo grinned. "That's the issue. I was watching you instead of fighting. You looked hilarious, by the way."

"Oh really? You think that was hilarious? I'll show you—"

"You will stay seated," Onika said when Josh started to rise. She placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him back down with surprising force.

Sighing his defeat, Josh settled back into the cot and tried to ignore the continuous sting as Onika smeared the salve on his shoulder. Who knew he had to worry about monster rabies?

Mateo sat on the plastic seat across from the cot. He patted Josh's knee good naturedly. "Easy. Can't have you getting sick. We go to visit your parents again tomorrow, yeah?"

Josh started to grin, but a thought he'd been avoiding peeked out its head, and his lips slowed to a stop. "Yeah. Can't get sick and miss that."

Mateo said nothing more, instead sitting back in his seat and whistling to himself. Still, when Josh averted his gaze, he felt Mateo's stare searing into his arm. At some point, Josh would grow so curious he'd ignore the awkwardness of the situation and demand to know if Mateo knew how he could do that.

Until then, his mind shifted to his trip. Well, the fact that enough time had passed for him to find time to go on a trip again. He'd promised himself he wouldn't take four months to visit again, especially after everything with Hannah, but he'd still waited two weeks before requesting another weekend away.

That was two weeks since Cale and Mara left.

He'd heard from Xander—admittedly after a bit of pestering—that the two were alive and well, and even if that eased his mind, he couldn't ignore the void left by their absence. He longed for Mara's gentle smiles, her quiet laughs, and her body curled up against her side. She wasn't icy like her element could suggest, but instead her warmth was cool and controlled.

Something Josh hadn't expected was the ways he kept expecting Cale to be there. Even when he'd been goofing off and trying an over-the-top attack, part of him had waited for Cale's exasperated sigh and chiding about why that was the very opposite of what he should be doing.

He didn't miss Cale's killjoy personality nearly as much as he did Mara's cuddles, but the feeling was there.

Onika suddenly clapped a hand on his uninjured shoulder, jolting him from his thoughts. "Alright then! That remedy should clean any leftover bacteria that your own body can't fight off," she said.

Josh fiddled with the sleeve he'd forced up. "So, I'm good to go?" At Onika's nod, he unrolled his sleeve and hopped off the cot. "Awesome. Thank you, Onika!"

"You may need to see Hisato if the injury grows irritated or begins to release any liquids, so keep an eye on it," Onika said.

With that pleasant farewell, Josh and Mateo departed. They talked about their plans for that weekend, but Mateo cut it off when they reached a split in the hallway.