It felt like Jonah’s limbs were being sawed off at the cuff, his muscles screaming. The moments from waking to Diana’s fiery arrival stretched on forever. His heart beat in his teeth, there was so much pain. She switched on the lights, his eyes wincing at the sudden change. When her shadow darkened him, he saw her face twisted in anger, but it quickly softened.

“I’m sorry, the spores have run their course,” she said quietly.

Her familiar mewed at her.

“I know, I know,” she said, zipping about the room. “I’m a heartless bitch, shut up. I’m getting the Daisy, so stop it.”

“It all hurts,” he whimpered as she returned.

“I know,” she repeated, shame dragging down her face. From her hand bloomed a thick stalked flower and she snapped it in half. The sap trickled onto his cuff as she raised his sleeve, whipping away the blanket. “I can’t apply any more spores, the side effects won’t help you. The Daisy eases the inflammation, but you need to exercise the prosthetics, something about the body getting used to them. I don’t know, the mechanic should be here. The damn Healer should be too.”

The pain started to dissipate in his arm to a general discomfort. She sat him up, stuffing more and more pillows behind him. Sitting beside him, she brought his other arm across and circled the cuff with the sparkling fluid. She was close enough to breathe on him, a kind of intimacy he hadn't felt in far too long. Now his heart beat not in pain, but with nerves. Clinically, she raised his leg, letting the gown fall. He shivered as her hand held his thigh, the other dripping the flower’s contents onto him.

“Is it cold?” she asked, face close to his, a knowing smirk on her face.

“No, it’s fine,” he said, flexing a smile back.

“Good, as it should be,” she said, switching to the other leg.

He wanted to keep looking at her face, but he focused on the cat, who was watching him from beside his legs. Then he remembered it was her other set of eyes and set his sights on the opposite wall. Diana rose from the bed, setting the flower in a bowl. The agony gone, replaced with a weakness in all his organics, he tried to get off the bed. He was too feeble, the metal too strong for what he had.

“Yes, I need your assistance, and Stephan’s as well,” Diana was saying into the intercom.

“Um, you told me you had him. We’re kind of busy right now,” came Kalyah’s voice, breathless and distressed.

Diana wiped her face, seething with a laugh of disbelief.

“I left all the equipment you need in a drawer of the nightstand,” said a man’s voice, equally distressed. “I’ll be there tomorrow to help him. I’m sure you’ve got him, princess.”

“Go, get back,” Kalyah hissed. “I heard he was awake, but you got to him. Not that fast, but eventually. Don’t let the poor baby suffer.”

“It’s been bloody hours!” Diana roared into the intercom.

“I know, it’s been weeks. I’m not blaming, Jonah, I’m not honey! Diana has got you, keep working those muscles. Call Monty, he’s the chef, have him whip up some oatmeal for Jonah, he should be able to eat that. I’ll come if you really need me.”

“I need you,” the man said.

“Shut up!” the nurse barked. “Take care of him, okay Diana?”

Diana pressed another button on the intercom. “Kitchen.”

“Hello, newbie?” said a strange voice like a rich snob, but one chewing on something. “I heard you were still bedridden.” Spit was hitting the microphone.

“He is, I need oatmeal, plain. He’s still recovering,” she said, grimacing at the other side.

“Ah, yes, I see, I see. I seem to have a menu for him right here,” the chef said. “I will have it brought to you in a moment, your highness. Would the princess like her dinner in her cabin?”

“No, here,” she said, brow furrowed. “What are you?”

“Me? Sir Montgomery the Third, chef premiere to lords and ladies all around the Magi Kingdom,” the voice said with flourish. “But your highness may call me Monty.”

Diana thought for a moment. “I thought you went missing years ago,” she said.

The chef coughed, swallowing extra spittle with some effort. “I did, I did, rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated, I’m afraid,” he stated with a chuckle. “You see, I insulted a Sorceress of some merit and she saw fit to curse me. And you know how tricky those types of curses are to break. Ha ha, I am so grateful to Miss Angelina for taking me in, given my affliction. It’s why I shan’t be bringing the young lad his food, Lucy sent out the warning that he may faint at the mere sight of such inhuman persons as myself.”

“The hell is he?” Jonah asked.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Diana repeated her own question, smirking.

“Oh, why the Sorceress saw fit to give me the appearance of an Orc,” Monty said, forlorn. “She said my mind should match my appearance.” He cleared his throat. “Anywho, that’s all besides the point, that wretched old woman is long dead and I live on, given the resilience of my new species. I will have the food brought to you in a moment.”

“By whom?” Jonah wondered. “I wouldn’t mind seeing some fantasy… I mean creatures.”

The princess had held the button down this time.

“Oh, hello our little scamp, you’ve drawn so much attention in your stay,” Monty greeted. “How about I send down the little Coal? He’s the least threatening one we have aboard.”

“What’s he?” Jonah said.

Diana’s face was drawn, but flashed a forced smile when he met her eyes with concern.

“Why he’s a Tengu, the crow in the crow’s nest. An apt job for the little one,” Monty cheered.

“Um, cool, thanks,” Jonah said.

The intercom went silent after another promise of food and a cheerful goodbye to the princess. She sat down at the edge of the bed, Aiko climbing in her lap. The silence was horrific to Jonah, feeling he had made a fool of himself.

“Is everything okay?” he asked quietly, pushing himself to sit up from the bed.

The grunt of pain brought Diana up, searching through the drawer. She took out a small rubber ball, finger strengtheners, a stretching coil, and few other such items, setting them on the bed. She examined them as if they were artifacts of another world, which they were. Jonah knew them all too well, his grandmother having a whole host of them in her living room. The tools were not toys, even though he wanted them to be then. He had been sent flying back trying to stretch coils with his whole body when he was six or so. The sudden shock of the hard floor had left him dazed and crying. That pain, even long gone, wasn't one he had forgotten easily.

Quietly now he requested the ball, and gripped it, feeling the real muscles working as the metal did most of the rest. He had used something similar to ease strain in his wrists. No longer a worry at all, he wondered if these new arms could play guitar or piano like he had before. Maybe one day, if this world had instruments like Earth.

“The sap reactivates the spores at a lower level,” Diana said, watching him work. “Does that make it feel better?”

“Yeah, I hope this doesn’t go on for too long, I want to explore this world,” he said, trying to hide the effort. There was also excitement, a desperate need to get all this out of the way.

“With all the healing you’re on, it shouldn’t take too long,” she said, her expression drained. “We can both train, I suppose… Hopefully my goal doesn’t take too long either.”

“What is it?” Jonah wondered. “I mean, um, what’s wrong, what happened? I’m here for you, I can’t really leave now, can I?” He gave her a nervous laugh, even though he knew what he said was so stupid.

She took a deep breath, eyelids low as her arms folded tightly. “I lost someone, as you did,” she said.

“Your mother?” he asked, squeezing the ball firmly, fearing a shout. What a stupid question, he should say something more. No, just let it be.

“No, my sister,” she said evenly. “Two weeks past she was murdered.”

The ball nearly slipped from his hand, but managed to keep hold of it. “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s horrible. I can’t imagine,” he said, a little more confident.

Her lip corners tugged up, but it was nothing like a smile. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a mother, at your age even,” she said. “We share a language, somehow, our worlds must not be that dissimilar.”

“I guess, no, they aren’t,” he said. “I’m twenty six, um years, you have those here, yeah?”

She nodded. “Yes, and cars as well.” This lip tug was closer to a smile.

“Ah, I bet they’re different though,” he said. His mind flashed with all different kinds of fantastical vehicles. For a moment he thought a magical and mechanical horse would be plausible.

“Hmmm… yes, I assume,” she said, flicking the coils of the chest expander.

“So… what’s your Kingdom?” he asked, swapping hands.

A dark laugh left her. “You don’t know how much I have wished to be ignorant of everything the last few weeks,” she admitted, looking up. “To not know any of this.”

“I do, I wanted to crawl in a hole and die myself after my mom passed,” he said plainly. “She was the last person I was related to. That I really knew and wanted to talk to. I had friends, but they were far away. All of them moved before she got really sick. They tried to make nice with me, but I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to do anything. Nothing really improved for… well, forever. Now I’m here.”

She gave him a sympathetic smile. “And you come here with more loss,” she said, watching his workout. “Where was your father?”

“I didn’t really know him, my mom was a musician. I lived off the royalties of her one song that made it big. Not enough to get anywhere nice, but it and her life insurance kept me going.” He sighed, switching hand positions. “Like a worthless lump on the couch.”

“When did she die?” she asked gently.

“Two years ago,” he confessed. “I was so fucking lazy, I don’t deserve a second chance like Kalyah was talking about.”

“Ha, you better!” Diana declared. “Do you know how long we spent on those limbs?”

He sat up, gasping. “A long time, I’m sure. Don’t worry, I’m just being stupid. Really, I’ll be up and running by tomorrow.”

She laughed, a wonderful sound. “No, don’t push yourself. I understand your grief, your desire to do nothing. It’s why I’m here. To kill the one that killed my sister,” she said, sinking into deadly severity. “Though, I doubt that’s going to happen any time soon.”

“Why did they do it?” he asked.

“That’s a rather long story,” she said.

“I have time,” he replied. “I’m not going anywhere, yet.”

“No, not yet,” she said, thinking for a bit. “I’ll tell you, I have no issue, or I shouldn’t, in retelling it.” She moved her jaw about.

A knock came at the door. “Food delivery! Coal at your service,” cawed a voice.

A darkness took over her eyes. “This ship is a comedy play,” she said low and harshly. “No wonder my mother stuck me here. I wanted something and I am afraid I will get nothing for months, maybe years.”

A desire burst out of Jonah, aided by all the escapism he had consumed before he had inexplicably made an escape from reality. “I’ll be here, I want you to succeed,” he said quietly.

She looked at him, stunned, eased out of the shadow in her gaze. “You don’t even know what that entails,” she said. “Neither do I, truly.”

“No, but there has to be some reason I’m here, right?” he asked.

Diana’s focus shifted to the cat, who mewed long and loud. “I suppose,” she said, rushing to the door.