Lavender & Ice

11. Expanding the Palate

"Brocht." Kietnan groaned as he pointed at the jars.

Ashima picked up a jar filled with deep blue liquid. Kietnan shook his head and groaned. He had tried to get out of bed as soon as he woke but his balance was unsteady and Ashima insisted he stay put.

"The red one?" She held up the red and he groaned again, standing on shaky legs and bracing himself on the bedside table.

"Brocht." He grunted in pain as he steadied himself.

"Yellow?" No.

"Brown?" Definitely not.

With each wrong guess, he was inching his way closer to the dining room to do it himself, despite her protests. If it took him this much effort to go a few feet, he had no business being up and out of bed.

"Green?"

"Yiet! Brocht!" He sighed and closed his eyes, relaxing against his desk. 

"Yes?!" She jumped up and down on her toes before rushing to him. "Brocht?"

"Yiet." He nodded and took the jar from her and guzzled down the jar in a handful of large gulps. She took the empty jar from him and pointed at him to return to the bed. He shook his head and tried to move to his desk.

"No." She said firmly. Moving to stand in front of him, she put her hands on his chest and pushed. "Bed." She pointed.

He stopped and the brow muscle above his eyes, where his non-existent eyebrows should be, raised to look down on her. She held firm, one hand on his chest and one pointing to the bed, her stern gaze unwavering. He looked over at the bed, then down at her hand on his chest. She watched as his eyes slowly moved up to hers. Her breath caught as his mouth turned up in a slight smile.

"Naa-in?" He motioned at the bed with his head.

She scrunched her eyebrows up, confused at his reaction and not sure how to proceed.

"Bed?" She asked as she pointed. "Naa-in?"

"Yiet." He smirked and slowly made his way back to it, allowing her to assist him. 

Once she'd made sure he was settled and resting, she went back to the crates and retrieved a mug of water, sitting it on the bedside table next to him. She was hyper aware of his eyes on her as she moved. She returned to the kitchen to find the small crate with medical supplies and pulled out the jar of cream for his many cuts.

She held it up to him and asked. "For your cuts?"

He smirked again and shook his head. "Right. You probably don't want to waste it." She said as she returned the jar of cream to its crate and returned the crate to its box. "Those cuts are a lot smaller than the big gashes you had the other day."

He simply watched her as she moved about. She stood up straight and placed her hands on her hips, not sure what to do next. "Oh!" She yelled out and rushed across the room as an idea hit her. She grabbed a green towel from the laundry basket.

"This is Brocht? Green?"

He nodded. "Yiet, Brocht."

"Brocht." She repeated and he nodded.

"Green." She pointed at the towel then at him. "Green."

He sighed but complied. "Geerein."

"Yes! Um... Yiet! Green! Brocht!" She never knew she would be so excited to learn such basic words.  

She threw the towel back in the basket and grabbed a shirt. "Red." She said as she pointed at it.

"Kra."