Needs

A Chapter by Centipedle

Jae-Ha strood in, pulling Kija by the back of his collar; hauling him to his feet. He looked at me, seeing the white bandage from where the robe couldn’t cover it and looked away, dipping his head as he turned to Kija,
“Stop your crying, okay?” He reached out and touched his cheek, brushing the tears away gently before looking back at me,
“Right?” A small touch of colour was present on his cheeks as he looked away from me again, continuing to rub the tears still falling from the sniveling white dragon. I suppressed a smile as I nodded to him.
I suddenly found myself surrounded by Zeno and Shin-Ah. Zeno rubbing the back of his head as he gave a bright smile,
“Zeno thinks you’re quite tough, misses.” Shin-Ah, on the other hand, fretted over whether I was truly okay, just muttering, ‘Arrow’, as he waved his hands, but Ao distracted him as she jumped onto my lap, squealing. I laughed at them, it truly looked like they were worried about me. I smiled as they looked at me perplexed,
“You’re all really weird, you know that?” I muttered as I covered my mouth. I could hear Yoon agreeing with me, which brought my attention to the door where he was walking in with Hak and Yona in tow. The Thunder Beast had a mask of indifference as he gripped his spear, but Yona was the one I was most concerned about. I could see on her face she was racked with guilt and I hated it. It pulled at my heart’s strings and I just wanted to make her smile in that moment, but I didn’t know how. I looked down into my lap, absentmindedly petting Ao as Yoon came next to me.
“You’re face is red. Your fever is raising…” He paused before turning around, clapping his hands together,
“Alright, all you noisy people,” he glanced mainly towards Kija and Jae-Ha, who were arguing intimately to themselves at the side of the room,
“Shoe needs her rest, so everyone get out. Yona, can you watch her while I go take care of dinner? She’ll need a lot of nutrition to get better.” Yona nodded quietly to herself and everyone began to file out of the room, everyone but Hak, but Yoon didn’t pester him to leave. Looking at his stern face I could see why.

The rest of the evening Yona stayed by my side to make sure I didn’t get out of the futon. I could hear voices and commotion from outside the room, which filled the silence since both Yona nor Hak spoke. I growled to myself as I shifted uncomfortably on my back, but luckily Yoon’s voice called into the room before I could snap at one of them,
“Dinner is ready! Yona, can you come get the food for you guys?” She called out as she stood stiffly, leaving the room for only Hak and I to occupate. I nervously tried to settle myself down. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t notice he had been watching me with those intense eyes since I got up with the arrow in my chest.

“Okay, enough of this. If you want to say something then say it. I know you want to, I can see it on your face.” I rolled on my side and put my arm up to cradle my head, but a bolt of pain coursed through me, making my face contort in mild pain. I decided just to let my head rest on the futon, looking at Hak sideways as he finally found some words.
”You’re an idiot, you know that?” He walked from the edge of the room to the bed, sitting down beside my head. I looked up to him and gave a grin,
“The biggest, as I’ve been told.” He gave a weak side smile as he ruffled my hair slightly, I was a little shocked at the comforting touch.
“If you know that then fix it. You and that idiot princess are a good duo; always making me worried.” I must have hit my head when that arrow hit me too because I never would have thought I’d hear Hak say he was actually worried for me with his own mouth. I sat up at this, not caring that my wound sent more pain to my receptors.
Hak gave a sigh,
“The princess cares for you as a valued friend, anybody can see that, so don’t you dare make her so worried about you again. She blames herself for this and I can’t make her feel better, I know that. So don’t be stupid, do it for the princess and yourself.” He pushed my head to the floor roughly, but with a certain gentle touch, as he arose,
“Get better.” And with that he left the room with me dumbly looking at his receding form.

After eating the porridge Yoon made for me I tried to get some more rest, but after a few hours my fidgeting from staying in one place for so long was getting out of hand, so I had Yona and Hak come outside with me for some fresh air. The others slowly began to join us until everyone was outside looking at the stars above the buildings across the way. Tori put her hand to her chin suddenly as she grinned, turning to go back inside,
“Hold on a second guys.” The group looked at her quizzically but she reappeared in a few moments holding a box of meat. Zeno’s mouth physically watered as he looked at the assortment. Tori smiled sheepishly,
“I know we had Yoon’s delicious cooking just a while ago, but since I’m leaving tomorrow I thought we’d have a little party of sorts.” There was no complaints as Jae-Ha and Kija got some wood from inside the house and made a small fire a little ways from the building. There was a space between the road and the house that one could build an open fire if needed. As the fire was started we all sat around it, Yona and Hak sitting next to me and Tori across from me, on the other side of the fire getting the meat ready.
I was more excited about the food than anyone else. Meat as hard to come by as it was and if Tori was cooking it then you knew it was going to be absolutely delicious. I felt my fever raise though, making me swoon slightly. My weak health made it hard to avoid, just as Tori had said.
“Are you feeling any better Shoe?” Yona asked me as I nodded my head with a small smile.

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” I waved my hand for a moment as Tori passed the finished meat around. It was cooked in a broth so the flavor stuck around and it was seasoned with some amazing cooking herbs. Apparently the meat came from the pheasants Yona had shot down earlier today and she was quite pleased with herself for it.

I started to chow down into the meat, everyone was laughing and joking around the fire and it felt sort of like a family. I felt myself smile less, however, when people began to complain about how Tori had to leave. I would occasionally grumble about their teasing while they spin stories, but that all stopped asl Tori stood up once we finished eating. What she said next surprised me and made my anger jump.

“Everyone - I have something very important to tell you about Shoe.” Tori started and I was tempted to stand because whatever she was about to say was going to be very unnecessary, but I was too tired to do so.
“She… has been lying to you for the duration of the time she’s been travelling with you.” My jaw dropped for a moment, this is not going to be good. Way to settle the happy mood into a spiral of confusion, Tor. She raised her hand before anyone could speak, but that didn’t stop them from looking at me with piercing gazes.
“Not lying outright - more like she forgot to tell you something important. An aspect of who she is and I feel it’s time to tell you all. You need to know if you’re going to continue traveling together.” I stood up at that, digging my fingernails into my fist as I turned to her.

“Tori, why are you saying all this? I can speak for myself, okay. And I was going to tell them, just not now, for your information” I growled, a bit of electricity falling from my mouth. They were going to treat me differently, I knew it and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want them to know but it didn’t seem like we could go back at this point.

“Why don’t you tell us instead of leaving us confused?” Yoon interjected, Tori still had a simple smile on her face as she looked to him and then to the rest.

“Shoe is the crowned Queen of the Crystal Empire, a country on the other side of the Kai Empire. The three dragons run the country, but Shoe left her position momentarily because she got a bit curious about the legends here. She came in the hopes of helping you, Yona, and meeting fellow dragon cousins.” Yona blinked for a moment as Kija’s jaw dropped. More to the notion of hearing that I was a Queen, no doubt. Hak simply snorted his possible disbelief, making my skin crawl a little farther. I clenched my fists before turning my back towards the group to head back to the building.

“I’m going to bed, don’t talk to me. I don’t need it.” I growled under my breath. I was irritated beyond belief. Under knowing this new information it was difficult for people to treat me like they did previously, I’ve seen it. Kings and Queen’s were held at high esteem - something I didn’t want when it came to friends and even family. I burst into my room and immediately flopped down onto the futon, ignoring the pain from my wounds and the fever that made my head feel heavy, I closed my eyes from the pain, not only in my shoulder but in my heart. I listened for a moment, no one was following me, just as I had asked, but my heart constricted as I thrashed onto my other side and let a fitful sleep take me.

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© 2016 Centipedle

Author's Note

The story is coming to a close since I will not be continuing it. Today I'll upload all that I had written of the story. You can comment but nothing on this specific story will be improved upon ^^ Thank you everyone for the support I hope you'll support me on my future projects.