Lavender & Ice

23. Meeting the Family

"Sit, rest. Let me finish it."

"Stop smothering me. I want to prepare supper for you. It's late and you haven't studied at all for tomorrow. Go." She waved him off, pointing at his desk.

After meeting with his brothers, he had retrieved Ashima from the medical tent to bring her home. It was hours after sunset by the time they reached the tent.

"You need to rest. You will harm yourself further."

"I am not a fragile doll, Ki." She said with her voice full of frustration. "I will not break by doing simple tasks."

"You are insufferable! And why do you keep calling me this, Ki. This is not my name."

"It's a nickname. Your name is so long. You call me Shima when my name is Ah-Shima. I didn't think you minded, you never said anything."

"You never asked if you could call me this."

She stopped what she was doing and faced him, frowning. "I apologize, Kietnan. I didn't mean to offend you. I will stop."

"No, it's alright. I like it, honestly. I just..." he sighed and ran a hand behind his head and neck. "I am frustrated and I am angry about what happened to you today. Please forgive me for my behavior."

"You are forgiven." She said with a smile. "Now." She reached out, pointing at his desk. "Go." She watched as he walked the distance to his desk and sat himself in his chair behind it. "I'll just pull together a simple soup on a pot on the stove and then I'll go to bed. Make sure you stop and eat it before too long."

"As you wish."

~~~~~~

Shima woke and let out a yawn as she stretched. As she opened her eyes she realized it was still dark outside and only a dim lamp was on in the tent. She turned to find Kietnan grumbling frustratingly at the notes on his desk. She then looked over to the woodstove to find the top empty, no pots or bowls in sight. Good, he ate it. She smiled to herself.

She stood from her cot and grabbed a thin blanket, wrapping herself in it before going to stand beside him. "How is it going?" She asked with a yawn.

"It is fine, you can go back to sleep. You need rest."

"Not as much as you do."

"I am fine."

"It doesn't look like it. What's wrong?"

"I am just trying to figure out a specific part of tomorrow's trial." He said absentmindedly as his focus was already back on the map in front of him.

"What's the problem?"

He shook his head. "We are not allowed to discuss this with others or get help in any way."

"Hmm." She thought as she rubbed her eyes. "Do they give you the exact instructions or just hints?"

"More like a riddle. Along with specific topics to study. We don't know the exact task until we check in the morning of that trial."

"Well if I'm not allowed to try to help in any way, can you simply talk about it out loud while I listen? Sometimes that helps me when I'm stuck. I promise I won't offer any responses. I likely won't understand it all anyway."

"I... suppose." He hesitated.

"It can't hurt. Just try it."

"And you're willing to stay up and lose sleep just to listen to me?" He raised a brow muscle at her.

"Of course." She said as she began to pull a dining chair over to his desk. "This has to be the most dense wood I've ever encountered. These giant chairs weigh a ton." She said as she struggled to move it further away from the table than normal.