Panic gripped Judy as she woke facing an unfamiliar, beige coloured wall, instinct took over as she let her mind sink in order to Reach around her. Instead of getting a sense of her surroundings, white-hot lances drove her mind alight. She tried to get up but it was at that moment her body decided to make her aware of how much pain she was truly in; the weak movement ceasing as her vision turned black.
“She’s awake it seems.” A quiet voice intoned; then, louder. “Ami, you're newest visitor is awake”
“A minute please” The unfamiliar voice answered back.
“Stop shouting” Judy managed with a groan.
“So you are alive? I doubt even Her Grace could have survived being thrown into a wall at what seemed to be mach 4 and yet, here you are. It is good you're alive, not sure I could have got the princess to stay without maiming her had you died. Though, now that I think about it, I would have enjoyed that, how exactly do you stand her?”
Judy’s vision began to return and she took in her surroundings. A simple, grey curtain enclosed her in a small space consisting of a bed, on which she was positioned, and an uncomfortable looking burgundy armchair. Situated on the chair was a woman in a tight, sleeveless turtle-neck, dark as her blackened lips, a light smirk dancing as her ice-grey eyes met Judy’s.
“Eve is my friend.”
“Which is why she’s here and not me, oh wait. Your ‘friend’ is a selfish, conceited spoilt little rich girl who only picked you up for validation. Trust me, you’d be better off forgetting about her and finding a place here.”
Judy fought to lift the cloud of pain that had enveloped her mind, enough to focus on the words and think of a response.
“Right, and i’m supposed to be taking advice from a practical stranger who only seems to be getting more confusing and scary by the second. A stranger who very clearly lied to my face last night. Does speaking shit about people to their friends behind their back give you a kick or something?”
Ash smirked. “You forgot cute, ‘in a deaths daughter sort of way’” She quoted in a mocking tone. Judy glared at her but Ash made a placating gesture before she could speak. “Believe me I said a lot worse to her face earlier, and the last thing I'm looking to do is ostracize or scare you, most people here are nice, I'm serious when I say you should stay here, among your kind. Im what you’d call an abnormality.”
“And what the fuck is ‘my kind’, i dont even know where here is!”
Before Ash had the chance to answer, the curtain was pulled open to reveal a pretty faced marred by what could have been frustration, but Judy struggled to place the emotion. Her rounded, hazel eyes were narrowed towards Ash and her mouth was set in a grim line.
“Ashlyn, stop antagonizing my patient, I don’t know why I let you in here in the first place.”
“Don’t lie, you still have a soft spot for me Ami” Ash replied in a breathy tone, a smirk playing on her lips.
“Out.” Was the strangers terse reply, the force in her voice brooking no argument.
Ash winked at Judy before slipping out of the door. The newcomer allowed a small, comforting smile towards Judy. “Sorry about her, to answer your question, you are in Sanctuary”. Judy cautiously turned to fully face her, taking in her tawny skin and lovely, dark green dress - emblazoned by a single snake coiling around a roughly hewn staff.
“Wonderful, you're not screaming in pain. Its incredible really, you should be dead, I barely had to help you heal. I’m Amida, nice to meet you”.
“Err, Judy. So what exactly happened?”
“Well, what do you remember?” Amida leant back in her chair and took a small notebook from her pocket. “If you don’t mind i’ve been asked to record your version of events aswell”
“Why, by who? What actually is this place?”
“By Her Grace, leader of our little community, you’ll have to ask her for the why but it makes sense that she’d want to know, especially if Jaxon was involved” She tapped her pen to the paper. “Don’t worry about it for now, i’ll ask again later, it’s a miracle that you’re alive, you probably need rest.”
“I’m fine, and you didn’t answer my other question” Judy tried to sit up and immediately failed, slumping with a grimace. “Fuck! Goddamnit why is it so fucking cold!”
“Hmm, you may have a fever, it wouldn’t come as a surprise; some part of your recovery has to function normally and god knows what you had to fight off. If Ashlynn’s account of the story is accurate.” She let out a sigh. “And if theres one thing she isn’t it’s a liar, despite it all. What was I saying.” Amida muttered to herself for a second before recollecting her thoughts. “Oh yes, if her account is anything to go by you were thrown across a room and impaled by a large chunk of rebar. Anyway, point is that should be fine, but frankly I have barely understood a second of your recovery.”
“I get it, I should be dead. Everyone is shocked by my current state of not dead. I hope thats the reason neither you nor Ash will give me a straight answer about this place, cause its starting to look shady as shit. Not only that but it clearly doesn’t have any form of damn heating”.
“Everything will be explained, you’ve only just woken up, the history of Sanctuary is not simple and it is fraught with sorrow, it would take more than a few minutes to explain.” She raised a small hand coveting a thin device. “This is an old, digital thermometer. We don’t tend to use Terce tech here–something that can be explained later.” She stressed. “If you let me place this under your tongue I can better determine whether you have a fever.” Judy’s eyes flicked between Amida’s face and the odd stick-like device, uncertainty warring across her features. Finally she nodded slightly and parted her lips. Amida took Judy’s temperature, frowning at the small display. “Hmm, you’re temperature is fine, but you’re definitely shivering, odd. How do you feel?”
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“Like shit”
“Hmm, yeah fair enough. That wasn’t the best question. Do you have any pre-existing medical conditions that could mimic fever like symptoms?”
“Errrm, not as far as i’m aware? I don’t think I have any health problems?”
“Ok, well it should be fine as long as I keep an eye on you. Though again, I haven't exactly done much to begin with. You're healing is remarkable. Yes yes ill stop mentioning it now.” Amida interrupted again, seeing the flinty expression flit across Judy’s strange eyes. “Well I assume your hungry so -” A knocking sound suspended Amida’s train of thought. “I swear if that’s Ash again.” She threw open the door, but in place of Ash’s pale visage was a much darker woman. Looking down at Amida, she spoke. “Is this where you people are keeping Judy?”
“A daughter of Terce indeed, yes your friend is here under my care, my name is-” Before Amida could finish she found herself shoved aside as Eve strode into the room, her imperious face melting into a winning smile as she saw Judy.
“Judy, I’m so glad you’re ok, ive had such a terrible time here, but now that you’re better we can leave. I have so much to tell you”
“Eve, hey, whats goin-”
“So it turns out my mum is the tyrannical ruler of this stuffy catacomb, as apparently she isn't dead she just thought it was fine to abandon me! Not only that but she’s as magical as you are. She is such a bitch aswell, kept talking into my head like some kind of freak.” She let out an exaggerated sigh. “This place, is horrible. I am so done. Can we leave now?”
“Eve stop, slow down, please. Shit, I'm not even sure I can get up, let alone walk.”
“Well then hurry up and heal why don’t you? This place is horrible, I just know youll hate it here anyway, filled with weirdos!”
“I was thrown into a damn wall, I literally only woke up 5 minutes ago. And what do you mean ‘weirdos’? ”
Eve gestured grandly around her. “They all do freaky magic, openly!”
“Magic, like me?” At this Judy made another attempt to properly sit up, her eyes watering from the pain.
“Of course they're not like you! Honestly Judy, sometimes I question you. Anyway, listen, you need to know about my mum, my family is even more messed up than i thought, im starting to wish it was more like yours.”
“You mean no recollection of them, at all. No memory of their faces, their voices, their names?” Judy’s voice was deadpan, her face caredully devoid of emotion.
“God that would be so great”
“Where would you get your money from then? Who would you be without your fame? You know what Eve, im tired, I need to rest. I still don’t really know or understand what happened or fuck, how im even alive. I don’t undestand what this place is or how im even here, the one thing I do know is that right now, it is taking every fibre of my being to stay cognizant, so please, leave. I feel like shit and i need to rest.”
“Leave?” An incredulous look darkened Eve’s face. “Why are you being so mean. I made the effort to come here to see how you were doing and this is-” A loud, lilting voice cuts Eve off.
“Enough! You will not disrupt a patient that is in recovery. You were asked to leave, and I expect you to do so as quickly as you can. This is an infirmary and the only damage you’ve suffered is to your personality. Now leave.”
“How dare you. I’d like to see you try to make me leave you skinny twig of a chi-”
“Finish that word princess, I dare you.” A gruff, whisper of a voice somehow cut through Eve’s tirade. “Amy wouldn’t even bat away a wasp if it were trying to sting her, but you’ve already seen me kill a man in cold blood. Your being the daughter of our leader means nothing to me.” Ash produced a plain, single edged knife with an odd looking button at the top of the rounded hilt. “Now, I believe you were asked to leave.”
Eve sputtered, failing to form a coherent string of words. She stomped out of the room, her face flushed.
“See what I mean about the princess?”
“Fuck off.” Before Judy could begin to process the flicker of emotion that passed across Ash’s pale features she had turned to Amida, a silent conversation seemingly occurring between a few blinks of the eye; then Ash flowed out of the room once more.
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That could have gone better Ash mused as she replaced her injection knife into the sheath in the small of her back. Granted it could have been a lot worse. She checked the rest of the few utilities she had on her, wondering why she had chosen to draw possibly her most vicious weapon (that she wore day to day at least). The princess may be frustrating, spoilt and self-centred but she was by no means a threat, hell she didn’t even have any magic, though that may not be the best metric given her own abilities. By any account, she didn’t consider it too deeply as the thoughts were quickly pushed away by the deep satisfaction she felt.
“Ashlyn dear, attend me.”
Tara’s presence arrived and faded before she could respond, but she wouldn’t delay if she was needed, her purpose, as always, was as Her Grace’s emissary, and her will was imperative.