A Place To Bloom

Dune

The place Geraln found was beset with columns painted in gold aside a pair of massive double-doors, both of which were fully opened and slid off to the side revealing plush chairs of red velvet and carved wood arranged around woven, woolen rugs of delicate patterns. The walls were covered in fine, green paper with flecks of gold patterns painted on, and interspersed between more gold columns, sculpted iron sconces graced the walls with low candles on each. At one end abutting the far wall was a water organ like the one I'd seen in the Count of Osenia's manse, set with glass jewels stained in a rich variety of colors, and across from that was a dark, stained-wooden desk behind which stood an elder Herali gentleman in a stiff pressed uniform that resembled that of an official from the Imperial Navy and a small, white tag on his chest that had his name on it.

"They can't come in here!" he barked.

I'd hoped he was talking to someone else, but he looked right at me, with Dune's good arm draped over my shoulder, Oasis and Sage in tow.

Geraln turned and looked at me with a look of frustration on his face. "I've got this. Room sixty-four upstairs."

He gave Sage the key and walked over to the man beside the desk and, with a quick glance my way, he leaned in close to have a private conversation with him while we made our way towards a staircase beset with wrought-iron balusters that spiraled up and into the heart of the hotel.

Dune struggled.

I had her good arm lifted up and wrapped over my neck, carrying her as she practically dangled from me. Oasis took her other side, held onto her waist, and mostly steadied Dune as she struggled to put one foot in front of the other. Oasis and I put our heads down and kept our way towards the stairs without making too much eye contact with anyone while Geraln tried to work whatever magic he could.

"Up here!" Sage spoke down to us from the floor above. I could then hear her footfalls as she scurried up the next flight.

As for Dune, her whole weight dangled over my shoulder, as she no longer had the strength to feign standing—we hadn't even started on the first step. The heat coming off her was far too intense for comfort. I glanced back at the front desk. The concierge looked at me for a second, then turned back to Geraln as he brushed the man's shoulder, leaning in close to say something else.

"Oasis," I said. She looked up at me. "Dune won't make it up these stairs. I'm going to have to carry her. As I lift her up, I need you to hold her arm here, and here. Then I need you to lay it across her body and tuck it in so that it doesn't fall. Understand?"

"Yes," she nodded.

With that, I wrapped one arm around Dune's shoulder and knelt low enough to wrap my other behind her knees. She fell into my arms. Oasis did exactly as I asked, catching her broken arm before it could drop down, then held it steady as I lifted her up and finally graced it over her friend's body with the utmost care.

Oasis took the lead, walking backwards up the stairs in anticipation of any little bump that might occur and keeping a close eye on Dune's arm. Up and up we climbed, and soon the floor leveled off into a dark hallway set with a dark-green rug with a yellow outline. The end of the hall hosted a large window that cast enough light to see the numbers on the doors: twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, all the way to twenty-eight.

"Up here! I find!" Sage called down from four floors above us.

Dune wasn't heavy, but even so four more flights of stairs were bound to tax my arms if I wasted any time, so we set out on the next flight.

On the third floor was an old woman with sandy-green hair and eyes the same color as Dune's. She was dressed in a gray frock with a light-blue apron and was busy dusting the ledging that ran the length of the walls. She looked at us with a curious expression, and didn't break her stare until we were up the next flight of stairs. Up above, an older couple was on their way down. As the way was too narrow to accommodate two under normal circumstances, there wouldn't be any hope of squeezing past them while carrying a girl. So, Oasis and I stepped back down and waited for them to pass. As they stepped into the light from the window, one could easily see their Goloagi features—curly hair, light olive-green skin, and eyes a deep emerald color. The man looked me up and down from beneath his ornate hat and gave a "hmmpfh" as he passed. The woman squinted at me, passed her eyes over Dune's limp body, and sucked her teeth as the two of them continued their journey down.