The whole time that Diana recounted the assassination she hardly looked up at Jonah. During one pause he insisted that they could talk about it later, but she kept going. She briefly mentioned finding the body, the shock of it. Drawn into a pause after her summary. Her eyes began to run over and he told her that he didn’t need to know any more. It wasn’t needed, he had spent a while watching documentaries of gruesome murders, it made his own horror lesser. He knew that they would hug the lifeless body, the blood didn’t matter. Diana wrung her hands in that silence.

“From my sister’s life blood Blodwyn was freed,” she said simply in conclusion. “The greatest evil our world has ever known.” Her finger flicked away the tears from her face.

“I’m sorry,” Jonah said after a moment.

She nodded. “Yes,” she said. “You have eaten all your food, are you full?”

“Actually, no, if you don’t mind,” he said, looking at the empty bowl.

“I don’t…”

The bowl held his thoughts now, his anger. He felt his answer had failed. It wasn’t any better than the hundred empty apologies he had received. He should have said more, he knew more than most and he had answered still in reflex.

Diana sat back down after finishing the order. Across the room from him. Such a distance, but they might as well be strangers still. Even if they had bared their souls out. There was an extra level to hers, and he had heard of her failure.

“I was too late, I should have told her not to sleep there. I should have slept beside her, anything,” Diana had said, as if in an aside. Before he could say anything, she went on, “It doesn’t matter, the man ran out, he was caught by our Court Mages. Something happened with the blood and it vanished.”

Now Jonah stayed staring at the dish so long that she asked him if anything was wrong.

“I wish saying that, ‘I’m sorry’ was enough,” he remarked.

She twitched a smirk. “It is custom, in my world and yours,” she said, her hands regally laying on her lap.

“It’s not enough,” he said.

“I’ve learned nothing is, save for time,” she said.

“Yeah, it’s like two weeks or two years when it’s someone who’s that close to you,” he said.

Diana swallowed at that statement, fear flashing in her eyes.

Flicking through his mind was a slideshow of his mother pale on the bed, the steady decline, the false hope, and that final release of her hand. It made him violently shiver. The instant he knew he was alone in his world.

“What’s wrong?” Diana whispered.

“I haven't done anything to feel better,” he said with a pained shrug.

A knock came at the door. “Should I leave it here?” called the Tengu.

“One moment, Mr. Coal,” Diana said, making her way there.

The bird man took the other tray with gusto. “Should you require any more, I can make it myself!” he cheered. “Monty has it set aside and all it takes is hot water and a bowl. He says he needs his beauty sleep, but I nap swiftly and always stay vigilant.”

“Thank you, good man, we shall see. I am glad he is so hungry,” Diana smiled.

“As am I, as am I. Food does a man good!” He waved from the doorway. “Look at you, Newbie. Why, you’ll be swabbing the decks with the rest of us in no time!”

“Not really motivation,” Jonah said with a grin.

“Ah, I see. You mean to stay with the princess and become a royal guard. A fine profession as well,” Coal declared with a rallying talon raised.

The two humans met eyes.

“I think she’s capable enough on her own,” Jonah said.

Coal gave a squawking laugh. “Of course, of course!”

Diana gave him a farewell, he could have easily jabbered on for a while longer. She handed the bowl to Jonah. “You’ll get better, we both will,” she encouraged.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “You know, this is pretty good for plain oatmeal.”

“A starving man is probably less picky,” she said with a grimace. “I prefer mine with strawberries and sugar.”

“A fine mix,” Jonah said, mimicking the crow’s enthusiasm.

She laughed and they were graced with another visit as two fairly large bowls wasn’t enough to sate the starving man. By the third cleaned bowl he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Aiko again wouldn’t leave, so Diana resolved herself to the couch as a supposed watch. He was tempted to tell her they could share, but thankfully didn’t say anything. She left to change into something more comfortable for bed. Unsure what to expect, Jonah forced himself to stay awake. He was confused and disappointed to find her night clothes was calf length nightgown and long socks with a band to keep her hair back.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The next day Jonah nearly made it to the bathroom on his own upon waking up. The sap had been freshly applied before he went to sleep, it wasn’t pain, but muscle weakness. His stumble had him nearly falling onto Diana’s still head with his own. With a growl, tiger Aiko burst up and let him fall into its back instead. He caught a tiger’s strong back to the armpit and the resulting groan brought Diana out of sleep. A half threatening swirl of wind came from her hand towards the open air. Shaking off a dream or something, she helped him up and handed him her staff for the return trip.

“It seems too nice for me,” he said, trying to give it back.

“Without me, it’s just a well crafted stick,” she said, wiping the sleep from her eyelashes. “Plus, even Aiko would struggle to dent it and I could repair it anyways.”

“Thank you,” he said.

She brushed it off.

“Thank you, scary tiger Aiko.”

The Druid chuckled at that. “She’s already in her more compact form. She knows you’ll get used to it.”

“Your magic is so amazing,” he commented.

“It’s a lot of study, endless study,” she told him. “Your magic allows you to move, probably much more. I will bring Stephan to explain it to you whenever.”

“I’d like to leave this room first.”

She smirked. “A fine goal.”

After a massive breakfast of several bowls of a delicious porridge, Jonah set to walking around the bed, making laps. Kalyah came in of her own accord, checking him out, assisting him. The Pixie was delighted with his progress, feeling at his arms and legs with a gentle familiarity. There was more touching and feminine praise than he’d experienced for so long. The elf was so small, but she was strong as ox. He couldn’t help but wonder where she kept it, besides her stocky legs. Caught staring when he sat down after a few unaided laps, Kalyah laughed and he looked away.

“It’s okay, honey, I appreciate any admiring of my body, it's a complement to the goddess Herself,” Kalyah said with a stiff sideways turn to her profile and the bulk of her posterior.

Jonah said nothing, as nothing seemed right.

Diana scoffed, looking up from her papers. After his breakfast she had left to fetch something from the captain. Now before her was a list of locations and a sprawling map of the world of Hera.

“What was that?” Kalyah asked angrily.

“Weren’t you admired enough yesterday?” Diana asked.

“You think I did nothing but have sex yesterday?” the nurse asked. “Why do you think he’s eating more? I blessed all the food Monty has served him, that’s why he’s gotten so much better so fast. The goddess does well to strengthen him. I have had two weeks to prepare when he wakes, I’m not lazy, princess.”

Diana sighed. “I was unaware, I’m sorry,” she said, groaning and throwing aside the papers.

“It’s okay, honey,” Kalyah grinned. “Nowhere suit your fancy?”

“None of these can possibly be Blodwyn’s location,” Diana said, fingers deep in her hair. “They range from vague Ash Maker sightings to easily solved problems by the local forces. I did not come on this journey to fight a Blight right outside the Avarice woods where there are thousands of Druids to fight it already. I came for one target and one alone.”

“Why would they give you other places to go then?” Jonah asked. Rising up, he walked slowly and carefully towards the map. The unsteadiness was fading and weakness replaced by an exercising soreness. He could even walk a short distance with his hands by his sides now. He sat at the edge of the couch, where it was clear. Scanning the documents, he couldn’t tell if the script was a foreign version of cursive or another language.

“The Guardian wrote that he's twice the height of a grown man and struggles to use any kind of normal writing utensil,” Diana explained. “I suppose they want to fill my time up. I have a radio broadcast to give at the end of the week, I must have something to say in it.”

“Publicity?” Jonah huffed. “They’re doing this so you can talk about the ongoing war effort?”

She shifted around the maps. “That’s the only thing that makes sense,” she said. “I should just point at an Ash Maker sighting and go there. It will be the closest thing to progress until we find the bitch.”

Kalyah gave the maps a hesitant hum.

“What?” Diana said sharply.

“An Ash Maker doesn’t always mean an Order member,” the nurse said.

“These sightings list an ashen overcoat,” Diana said, tapping points on the map.

“Still, without any proper declaration, people start to panic,” Kalyah said.

Diana sneered. “Killing my sister was a declaration enough,” she snapped.

“It was a horrible, horrible tragedy, I’m not saying it wasn’t. I’m saying there’s no army stepping out, no places hit since that night. People will start going after any Ash Maker they see,” Kalyah defended.

“Wait, are Ash Makers, immortal, or evil, or what?” Jonah asked, trying to stop the fighting.

Kalyah spoke up first. “Ash Makers are people of any race, mortals, that for whatever reason are abhorred by the land based sources, where Diana gets her magic. The rivers will try to drown them, the roots will try to trip them to a deadly fall, and being close to natural environments will cause them pain. They have to live in stone or concrete and away from as much nature as possible.”

“The sources have a reason,” Diana said pointedly. “Their magic destroys, it is incapable of creating. It breaks down the world upon the leylines that run through every living thing. They use this power to explode people into chunks.”

“The pressure exists whether they use their magic or not. And their magic can come out of them in a number of ways. It happens before they’re even born Diana, your sources do that,” Kalyah countered, stressing to her.

Diana winced under two sets of eyes looking at her. “I don’t know why the sources do it. I told you, I have never even seen or heard of one besides Blodwyn and her army.”

“They’re rare, but they exist all over,” Kalyah stated.

“I heard you,” Diana growled.

“That’s pretty awful to do to people,” Jonah commented. He shrunk when Diana turned her glare on him.

“It’s nature, it is cruel,” she said coldly.

“I’m sorry,” he said, pleadingly.

She shook off the emotions, pinching at her nose bridge. “No, I’m sorry to have gotten so angry, both of you. I don’t want to mess around with individuals. I only want the one Ash Maker back in her Tomb,” she said evenly.

Kalyah rubbed at Jonah’s shoulders, easing the tension from them. “Do you want to talk to Stephan now? He really wanted to meet you,” she wondered.

“Maybe I should walk to him,” Jonah said.

The Pixie elf scoffed. “No, you don’t want to do that. His room is covered in shit and smells like a steel forging factory,” she said. “Why don’t we talk with him on the top deck? Get you some fresh air. You’ll freeze to death in that gown though, better get you some clothes first.”