Hard Light (NaNoWriMo15)

Chapter 27 - Reunited

Leah woke to the same disorientation that was becoming far too familiar for her liking.

There was no Kieran waiting for her this time, only one of the white-haired guards standing outside the sunlight-flooded room. Their head turned as Leah stirred, the cold still inside her bones. They continued to watch her, impassive as she struggled to sit up.

A piece of hard Light fell out of her fingers, rolling off the bed. Leah heard it hit the floor as her fingers crawled to her shoulder, finding smooth skin. Whatever was causing her injuries to crystalise was clearly doing it to heal her. The only question now was why.

"How long was I out this time?" she asked the guard. Why she had a guard she wasn't sure, but she could at least try to get information out of them.

"Three days," answered the guard in an undoubtedly female voice.

Leah absorbed that information as the rest of her memories settled inside her head. "And what about Kieran?"

"The Lightless has been cured."

That took Leah by surprise. "Cured? What do you mean cured?"

"I understand that you have been unconscious for an extended period of time, but this is not a hard concept," said the guard. "The Lightless has been cured. He is no longer Lightless. He is Radiant once again."

The insult wasn't enough to stop the flicker in Leah's heart. "Can I see him?"

"No."

"Why not?" said Leah. "If he's cured, then--"

The guard looked away. "I suggest you remain on that bed until Asriel or someone else of importance has the time to answer your questions."

Leah knew she'd been dismissed. She was tempted to ignore the fact, but the edge to the guard's voice warned her off. There was something else to this situation. She wasn't free to go--the guard's presence alone indicated that. So then, why?

She didn't have the answer, and she didn't know enough to guess. She'd made that mistake before, rushing in to Kieran's defense without evidence to back up her facts, and it'd only made the situation worse. Good intentions were one thing. Resolve to act on them was another. Neither mattered if she didn't know why things were happening, if she didn't understand the situation before she tried to change it.

For an hour, Leah sat in the corner of her bed. The strength slowly came back to her muscles as they woke up with her brain. When they stopped trembling, she started playing with her orb.

It acted a lot like her Light, which it liked, flashing each time she drew Light around it. It reacted to her requests. Sort of. It seemed to be learning with her. At first, it was reluctant to be touched, but eventually she coaxed it into her hand. Her skin burned where it rested, but it wasn't painful. Rather it was like the jolt that ran down her arm when she used a Displacer, only amplified several times over.

She'd just figured out how to make it flash when Asriel arrived.

The guard inclined her head as Asriel passed and approached Leah's bed.

"I'm glad to see you're awake, Leah," said Asriel. "I've been checking on you where possible. I assume you're healed?"

Leah didn't see the point of asking the question. Her shoulder was in plain sight. "I think so. Can I see Kieran?"

Asriel touched the side of a curled finger to his lips before answering. "That is a possibility, yes. But as I assume Iyarin mentioned, we have performed the Enlightening ritual on Kieran as means of a cure for the parasite, and he may still be recovering. It is a great ordeal to have the parasite removed from your body after three years."