I can tell Kay is worried, but his ranting seems to be helping him calm down and distracted me from the pain as well.
"Good Ami. I am glad that you are in agreement. So you have to keep your head up, okay? And you also have your work here. You are really good at that, I think you look super cute in your dresses and uniform. This will give you time to make lots of money and buy the best weapons and armor!"
That hit home. I had just bought those fans after all. And even though they did not serve me long, they served me well. They were rather beautiful and I would like to hang them on the wall when I was feeling better. I do not believe that Mama Tia would mind very much. Oh, but I should ask her shouldn't I?
"Earth to Ami. I'm sorry. Am I talking too much? I am talking too much aren't I?"
"You never talk too much Kay. I like that sound of your voice. It makes me feel happier and is a welcomed distraction during my current tribulations."
"Well if that is the case I can just keep talking on and on and on if you would like. I have years worth of words that I have been storing up. Because I am just that cool. I am that cool right?"
"Of course you are Kay. But maybe instead of just talking you could read me something?"
"Thank you for your wonderfully obvious lies, and of course! I love to read. I will read you anything and everything you could possibly ever want read to you. Do you want me to get you anything from the library? Do you want me to recite something from memory, because there is a very good chance that I will be able to!"
"Do you think you could read something out of the Rockeater's book?" I ask him. Maybe there is something in there that could be helpful right now.
"Ohhh I'm interested in that book too, though last time I tried to read I fell asleep. Which if you didn’t know is very odd, me falling asleep while reading, I mean I read the dictionary once. Do you think I should go get Cat? He might want to listen too since this is something that he knows about as well."
"What is something that I know about as well?" Cat asked. It seems that he might have been coming into the room to check on me.
"Kay is going to read something from the Rockeater's book. I would love it if you could join us!" I tell him earnestly.
Cat looks around, most likely looking for somewhere to sit. I pat on the bed next to me. Whether humanoid or beast form Cat was Cat, and I wanted him near me. He climbed onto the bed and laid down next to me. I look over at him and he is hanging slightly off of the bed. We both laugh and he shifts into his beast form and curls up on my chest. I stroke his soft fur and he purrs a little. I wonder if he is doing that intentionally, I am quite certain he feels a great deal of sympathy for me, quite possibly enough for me to finally pet the forbidden tummy.
"Ehem." Kay says, clearing his throat. "Once upon a time in a little village there lived a little girl names Anita, and she was very special."
"Seems this section may have been written for children." I say.
"Is that bad, should I choose a different section to read?"
"Oh no! Not at all! I very much like children's tales. I feel that there is a great many truths within them."
The pain had briefly subsided when I first woke, but that did not seem to last long. Another bout of pain lanced through me, instinctively I curled up against the pain and perchance I might have accidentally squeezed Cat a bit too hard.
"Well then, I will continue!
"Anita was very special because she was a Rockeater. However, Anita did not know what a Rockeater is. One day Anita went up to her mother. 'Momma, why am I so different than the other kids. Why do the special glowy rocks disappear when I touch them? I want to be able to keep one of the pretty rocks.'”
Kay pitches his voice up into a semblance of little girl, who had a strange accent that I could not quite discern. Note to self Kay is probably not the best at acting, still though it did make me smile.
"Anita's mother hugged and comforted her. 'Oh my lovely little girl. You are very special! The glowing rocks disappear when you touch them because you are loved by the gods very very much. There is a little spark of the gods in those rocks, and they gift that spark to you when you touch them! It makes you stronger and faster when you play!'
"This made Anita very happy. Anita was a healthy kid who never got sick. Her mother wondered why that was, but was very happy that she had such a strong and brave little girl. Anita's mother believed that the gods must be looking after her sweet little girl." Kay yawned and the book slipped from his fingers. Oh dear, Zayne did tell us that we would only be able to read so much of this book at a time. I wonder if anything we just learned would be helpful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kay, Ami and Cat all fell asleep. Cat ended up waking up before the other two and quietly snuck out of the room. He was on a mission. The words of the book stayed in his mind. Could it be that she was so healthy because she absorbed the mana crystals. It was just a story, but he planned to follow up on any lead. He knew the person to visit if he needed some mana crystals.
"Crestin!" Cat says once he located him. "Your help now… please."
"Oh? That is a new one. You are usually too proud to ask for favors. What do you need?"
"I need mana crystals. As many as you can spare. Any that are too chipped, cracked, or broken to be of any use."
"I sell those you know."
"I will buy them from you, all of them." Cat said. He was desperate and trying not to show it.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Does this have anything to do with Amaya and her poisoning?”
"I think they might be able to help her."
"How?"
Cat didn't know how to respond so he just stood there.
"Fine. I don't need to know. I do have some. Not mine, they are ones that came in for testing. They are not in the greatest condition though so no one will notice if I give you some. I will give you these free this time."
"Are you pitying me?"
"No. I feel bad. Ami is so bright and her stats? She tested brilliantly. I hate what happened to her. I don't know how you are intending to use them, though I have heard some people use them as components in potions, secret recipes or something. Anyway, have you found the culprit yet?"
"Yes and I have all the proof. I just need to see her survive the next few days. She will most likely be called upon to testify, so I need her alive to do that."
"A crueler person would say you have a better case if she dies. But I want her to live just as much as the rest of you. Follow me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I awake to the feeling of something on my skin, and no Kay in the room. On my skin or dissolving into it. I couldn't tell. I wake up enough to see Cat placing small piece after small piece of mana crystals on me.
"Open your mouth!"
Without thinking I did and a few mana crystals shards were popped into my mouth. They were sweet! And maybe a little spicy?
"Did you just give me candy?" I ask him. I had not seen mana crystal shaped candy. I thought that it wasn't made. For obvious reasons.
"Candy? No, those were mana crystals. I didn't know if they were more potent if they dissolve into your skin or in your mouth." Cat says and shoves a few more into my mouth. "They taste like candy?" He sniffs at one of them before shoving it in my mouth.
I let them finish dissolving before I reply. "They do. How do you have so many shards?"
"Once I asked Crestin for some everyone gave us a little and I might have gone dungeon diving to get some as well. They think that I am selling them to buy potions, or using them to make them. I don't feel like anyone needs to know about the whole Rockeater thing."
"Even if they were told they would most likely not believe you. And if they did, I do believe that they would simply forget about it. That is what happened to Crestin and Kay when they saw it happen during testing. And you went into the dungeon, I thought that… oh never mind, thank you." I say choking back emotion, everyone seemed to care so much for me.
"Hmm. Alright then." he says. "I apologize for how rude what I am about to do is." Cat says and pulls the blankets back. Someone had removed my cloak before tucking me into the bed, so my stomach was rather exposed. He dumped the remining mana crystals shards onto it.
"Cold! Ah, warm! Hot!" I say, as my body fluctuated temperatures rather quickly. I wonder if that has anything to do with the elements of the shards.
'Are they?' ‘I shall do so upon my recovery, wait but water doesn’t have a flavor. No, no do not try arguing with Zayne for that way lies madness.’ Not all of the shads sunk into my skin. It seems that I had absorbed all that I was currently able to, and the rest were rolling harmlessly off of me. Interesting. I do so wonder how I am to know when I am unable to absorb anymore? "Do you feel any better?" "I am not certain. Mayhaps it takes a little while for my body to process them?" I ask him. I truly have no idea how anything works, and Zayne seems to be delivering little information of use at the moment. Whenever I try to feel for him it seems that he is concentrating on something. I do wish I knew what he was doing. "I am certain that they are doing something, but I am not certain of what. From what I have gathered from the book thus far, eating and absorbing mana crystals increases a random stat, trait, talent or proficiency. Unfortunately, there truly is no way of knowing what it will increase." I tell Cat, hoping that he would not feel discouraged. "So then it is possible that it improved your constitution." "Indeed, it is possible. However, with so many things that could be improved I do not know the likelihood of such an occurrence." "We will just have to hope that this is enough to make some difference." "I am sure that it will be." I tell him. Everything still hurt, but I did not know how long I was going to be in pain, and for some absurd reason it was not keeping me from being hungry. I do my best to get out of bed. I do believe that I shall only briefly be parting ways with it though. "Cat, will you please assist me downstairs so that I might get a bit to eat before I lie back down for more rest?" I inquire of him. A large part of me was worried that he would tell me no and would instead bring me nourishment. I am well and truly aware that many people would relish such attention, I however was not one of them. "Okay." he says simply and helps pull me up. I lean on him all the way down the stairs. "Ami! Oh my goodness what are you up and about for. You know that if you had only requested I would have curled up next to you." Vita says in greeting. "I am simply up to acquire something to eat. I do not feel as though I have the energy to be awake for long, but I thought that moving about may help in aiding my recovery." "You could have told me that. I could have sat in bed and spoon fed you until you were full. Then I might have let you get up. Alas, I suppose I shall have to await another opportunity to snuggle up with you." Vita says a bit dramatically. "Indeed Vita, I do believe that there will be plenty of opportunities to cuddle in the future." I tell her, as I was bound and determined to have a future. At that thought I feel something pulsing within me. What is that? It does not feel like the fire in my veins. I still feel that. This was something different. However, as there was currently no way for me to know I choose to ignore it temporarily and hope it wasn’t a sign of something bad. "Oh good. Now that I have that confirmation that I will eventually get to have some cuddle time, what would you like to eat?" "I suppose something easy to eat and filling. I feel as though I have very little energy to put forth in doing anything." I say, and begin feeling out of breath from simply standing on the stairs. "Sorry that I stopped you! Let's get you into a seat by the fire. It does seem to be your favorite place to sit." she teased. "However, you are going to need to move to a table to eat. I'll bring you out some stew." "Thank you very much Vita." "Haha just leave it to me." and with that Vita seems to disappear she moved so quickly into the kitchen. I admire her speed. I wonder if... oh. I was about to wonder if I will ever move that fast. There it was again. That pulsing. What is that? 'Alright. I do not know what you are working on, but I suppose that for now I shall have to rely upon you.' he says, and he has that tone of voice again. The one that sounds sane. The one that I could believe is coming from a god. I sink into the chair in front of the fire and consider my options. I could go home and join the family business, or I could stay here. It wasn't much of a choice of course. I came here, and I had to see this through to the end. Somehow. So I would gain my strength to the extent possible. I would work and help bring in money for the Paws and Claws, and gift a large amount of my earnings to the Dragon Feather's guild. It was not the way that I wanted to free Zayne, not even close. But I could not allow myself to become narrow minded. I shall endeavor to do all I can. I must have been sitting there longer than I thought as I soon hear Vita. "Amiiii! Your food is readyyyyy!!!" "Thank you very much Vita. Would you like to join me. I would like to discuss increasing my responsibilities around here once I am back up on my feet enough to help." After a good discussion with Vita I had Cat help bring me back to my bed. Moving about must have done something bad because my body reached a new level of agony and the consciousness that I had manage to gain for a bit quickly left me.