Growing Heart

Ch 22 - A Medical Marvel

Sid didn't know how long she had been asleep. She didn't know where she was. She didn't even know what woke her up in the first place. It was either the stifling heat that bound around her like a tight blanket or the chattering of her teeth. Her body couldn't tell if it was too hot or too cold and her mind was so disoriented, it could not help her decide.

She sat up from whatever she was laying on and looked around her. She had to blink carefully because her eyelids felt heavy and whenever they closed, it seemed to make her brain swirl around.

The rest of her senses fared no better. Whether she had her eyes opened or closed, everything seemed dark and blurry to her. There were beeping sounds but she couldn't decipher if it was too soft or too loud. She put a hand to her forehead to steady her thoughts but that just added another sensation of cold, clammy skin against skin. Was it her hand or her forehead that was sweating?

Everything was just so very confusing. But then again, nothing made much sense ever since she left the White White Sea.

At the thought of that, her mind went to another fluffy, white mound and she sat up.

"Boo?!" she shouted but then she quickly sank back down onto her bed. Apparently, that was all the energy she had in her.

A sliver of light shone through the darkness and then it grew bigger and bigger. Suddenly, a man's silhouette appeared from the light and despite her blurry vision, Sid recognized that familiar shape of a disapproving frown.

"Ugh...Wyper...Of course, you tracked me down. Did you start a new war and need my help?" Sid demanded. At least, that was her intention. To her, she sounded like she was speaking underwater.

The only sign that Wyper understood her words was a single brow lift, which made Sid annoyed and then, in turn, thoroughly exhausted.

"Well...since you're here...Can you go find Boo?" she said with a yawn as she laid back down on whatever was beneath her, "Even though you two aren't close, I think it would be comforting for Boo to see someone from home. The Blue Sea is a confusing place."

"...Do you regret coming here?"

Sid yawned loudly again as she contemplated his question. She wanted to answer honestly and there were a lot of facets to this that she had to weigh out. It wasn't a straight forward yes or no answer. She thought about it for a long time as she drifted in and out of sleep. Was it the right decision to leave her people behind while they are building a new life with the Skypieans? Probably not...Was this something she had always dreamed about doing? Yes. Was the Blue Sea strange? Well, any new place would be. After all, the islands on the Blue Sea were pretty different from each other as well. Just look at Jaya and Lisart...

Thinking about those two islands made Sid remember Cricket and the ape brothers. She couldn't help but smile at their time together. Not just on the islands but travelling together on their ships was fun too. If she didn't come down to the Blue Sea, she would've never met them.

She woke up at that thought and she smiled at Wyper, who now had his back turned to her. "No."

Wyper turned around and gave her a look that made her feel like a babbling child speaking nonsense. She returned his expression with a glowering one of her own. It was quite rude of him to not even have the decency to pay attention to his own question...But then again what did she expect from the brutish and barbaric descendant of Kalgara.

"I asked you a lot of questions these last few days," Wyper stated, "Which question are you answering exactly?"

Did she voice her thoughts out loud? He said days...How long had she been sleeping? Sid tilted her head to the side to ponder these questions, which made the room spin again so she quickly righted it back up. A wave of nausea hit her and she groaned. "I...I think I'm going to be sick."