Emilio woke up to a terrible headache that went from his head down to his neck. He blinked his eyes open… and immediately clenched them shut as the light from outside hit his eyes. Pressing a hand over his eyes, he groaned loudly.

“Close the curtains!” Someone said. The voice sounded familiar.

Evan.

He heard shuffling and then the sound of the curtains being drawn reached his ears. Tentatively, he removed the hand from his eyes and opened them. Though the furthest windows were still open, no light reached his eyes and he exhaled softly in relief.

“Are you alright?” Clara’s voice reached his ears.

“I think so,” he rasped out. “The headache is killing me.”

He tried to get up. But the moment he raised his head from the pillow, pain shot down his head and neck. He groaned again and fell back onto the pillow. The headache was so bad he was feeling nauseous.

“Don’t get up.” Balsea. “I’ll go call the healer.”

He didn’t reply but knew that Balsea had gone off immediately even without waiting for his reply. He finally blinked the bleariness out of his eyes and looked around. A small group of people gathered around him.

Evan, Clara, the Princess and … who was that girl again? The red-haired girl from the Magical Creatures class. She was related to Han Klevin if he remembered correctly.

“What are you guys doing here?” He asked softly.

“We came to see you.” Clara was the one who replied. “You passed out during the fight and would not wake up. We brought you to the Hub. We were so wo-” she cut herself off, flushing and looking away.

Emilio sent a weak smile her way. The girl still denied having a heart. He gulped in an attempt to mitigate the nausea - it did not help at all - and spoke. “How long have I been out?”

“Well, you passed out yesterday. It is now midday, lunch break. We came to see you.” It was that girl who spoke.

He tilted his head slightly, a curious expression on his face. “Do you mind if I ask why you are here? You had nothing to do with this incident.”

“Oh!” Her eyes lit up. “My team ended up finishing pretty fast. Professor Sullivan handed me your Leviathan to take care of. I ended up coming with you yesterday after your Leviathan chased after you and I chased after it-”

“Him.”

“What?”

“Sal is not an it. Him.”

“Oh.” Her eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, right, him. I ended up coming with everyone. You looked so pale last night. I felt worried so I came with them!”

He frowned as he realized something. “Where’s Sal?”

“Here.” A voice said from beside his head and he slowly turned his head around to see the Leviathan lazily lounging on the bed by his head.

Once again with a weak smile on his face, he turned to his side and rubbed Sal’s head. “Did you miss me?”

To his utter surprise, Sal hissed and bit down on his finger. He heard loud gasps around him but he himself did not move. He did not panic. He knew Sal would never harm him. Sure enough, Sal let go after a moment.

“You idiot,” Sal hissed. “Do you have any idea how worried I was? I should have never let you out of my sight. I knew you would push yourself. But to push yourself so much that you passed out not once but twice? For a stupid exercise? Are you completely insane?!”

Emilio chuckled softly. “Thank you for worrying about me.”

Sal paused in his rant and looked at him. If Sal was a human, Emilio had a distinct feeling that he could have labelled that look as a death stare.

“Okay, okay,” he said softly. “It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

“You’re right, Mr. Florian.” Emilio turned his head to see Healer Adron approaching the bed, a stern look on his face. “Mr. Florian, is there any way you can keep yourself out of the infirmary for more than a month?”

Emilio resisted the urge to shrink back. “I’ll try, Healer.”

The man sniffed. “You better. You have barely even started here and I have lost count of how many times you ended up in this room.” The man shook his head. “Now, let us see if the endocoprus fluid has done its work, shall we?”

The man reached out and took the hand that was still on the bed. Emilio was surprised to see the small box attached to his wrist. He had not even realised that it was there. But then again, his entire body felt so heavy and the box was already empty. He supposed that was the reason that he had not felt it.

“Well, you absorbed all the fluid,” the man said. “That is a good sign. A day of rest and your body should recover.”

“So, I can resume classes from tomorrow?”

Healer Adron sighed. “Yes, yes, you can. But you must be careful. Do not push yourself.”

“I promise,” he said softly.

The man looked at him suspiciously. But it wasn’t like the man could stop him from going to classes. Finally, he sighed and nodded.

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“Very well.” The man turned around and looked at the group. “How do you feel now?”

He hesitated for a moment. But he did not have the time to decide whether to speak. Evan stepped forward. “Healer, he has a headache.”

The Healer raised an eyebrow and looked down at Emilio sternly. “And you did not think to tell me?”

“I was going to!” He claimed indignantly.

The Healer looked like he did not believe him but let out a small sigh. “Tell me. How does it feel?”

“My head is hurting a lot. Throbbing, really. It’s going to my neck. My throat. I feel nauseous.”

The man frowned. “Whatever you did in the forest must have taken a toll on your brain and physical condition. Alright, I’ll send you some medicine and an ointment. Make sure to massage your head and neck with it.”

He then turned to the group. “Do not crowd him for long. He needs his rest.” He glanced back at Emilio. “I will come back in the evening to check on you again.”

Emilio sighed softly as he looked at the gathered group. “Thank you for coming to see me.” He smiled. “As you can see now, I am fine. You do not have to worry. You can go back now.”

It was the Princess of Zahir who finally spoke up. “Are you quite sure? What if you need something? One of us should stay.”

“I’ll stay!”

“I’ll stay!”

Balsea and Viola spoke up simultaneously. His eyes snapped up to the girl. He could understand Balsea but he barely even knew the girl.

As all the others turned to her, she flushed, seeming to realize she might have overstepped. “Um… I meant that I have no class after lunch today, so I can stay. If you want.”

Balsea stepped closer to the bed, their stance protective. “I’ll stay with him. I know what he would need and I do not care about classes.”

Viola seemed to deflate and nodded. It was odd. That this girl who barely knew him would want to stay back and take care of him. He could not help but think that there was some sort of ulterior motive.

He pushed the thought out of his mind as the others said their goodbyes. He waved at them with a smile.

“What an odd girl,” he whispered softly as soon as they were out of his sight.

“I am pretty sure she wanted to stay because of me.”

“What?” Emilio blinked down at Sal.

“She was pretty excited when that Duke handed me over to her,” Sal elaborated. “She was trying to talk to me. She followed me all the way here yesterday.”

“Ah.” That made sense. That girl had been pretty excited in that Magical Creatures class, especially when Sal had been brought out.

“Don’t worry,” Sal brought him out of his thoughts. “She is not malicious. She was worried about you. She was also excited to see me.”

“Hey!” Balsea called harshly. “What are you two talking about?!”

“Nothing you need to know about, brat,” Sal hissed.

Balsea might not have understood anything but they apparently understood that the hiss was offending. They bristled. “What did you say?!”

Sal hissed again, this time there was no true meaning to it. But it did its job, provoking Balsea.

“You-”

“Hey!” It was Emilio’s turn to call out. “Play nice, you two, I do not want my friends fighting.”

Balsea seemed to want to continue the fight but Emilio stared at them like he sometimes used to stare at Jeremiah when he was being difficult. The fae huffed and looked away.

“Fine. For you.”

Emilio smiled. “Thank you.”

There was a knock at the door. A young man who had the blue belt of junior healer wrapped around his waist stood at the door.

“Hello,” he greeted, his voice indifferent. “Healer Adron has sent me with medicine and ointment.”

Balsea immediately stepped forward. “Here, give them to me.”

“The Healer said that he can apply the ointment now but he must eat something before taking the medicine. He has to take one now after lunch and one after dinner. If the headache persists tomorrow, he must take the medicine after breakfast and dinner and apply the ointment twice. If the headache still does not subside the day after tomorrow, then he must come to Healer Adron immediately. He must apply the ointment to his head and neck…”

Emilio tuned the rest out but Balsea kept nodding, carefully noting the instructions. A soft smile played on Emilio’s lips. For all their playful nature, Balsea almost always acted like a worried mother hen when something happened to him. He could almost imagine that his mother could have been like this, if… well if she was not the way she was.

He shook that thought out of his head as Balsea approached the bed.

“Do you think you can get up?” They asked. “I’ll apply the ointment now.”

“I can do it-”

Balsea interrupted him before he could finish that sentence. “You’re still weak, I will do it. Come on. Get up.”

The fae gently took his hand and helped him sit up. The pain in his head spiked, making him groan and prompting a “told you” from Balsea.

The fae arranged him so that he was sitting behind him, with a pillow between them that he could lean on. And then he began to massage the ointment onto his head and neck. Emilio groaned softly as those soft hands massaged the cool ointment onto all the right spots. It had a soothing effect and the strong minty scent of it helped the heaviness weighing down his head. It was so very relaxing.

Balsea’s hands slowly moved down to his neck, slowly massaging the tension out of him. His pain had not magically gone away but he could feel it lessening a bit, fading to the background, making him feel lighter. He let out another groan as the fae rubbed the juncture between his neck and shoulders. It felt so good.

“You look like you’re enjoying yourself.”

Emilio opened his eyes - which, when had he closed them? - to find the Prince leaning against the door, arms crossed and a soft smirk playing on his lips.