In. Out. In. Out.

Min Li was wading in and out of consciousness.

She couldn’t manage to keep her eyes open or talk back to the people who were trying to communicate with her, but she could hear them.

She could hear them up until, without her permission, her body waded back out of consciousness.

But thankfully that didn’t last long, when her body waded out of consciousness, it waded back in.

Min Li could still feel remnants of the intense burning that she felt when Fenhua was trying to separate her from the tree that she was stuck on, but all in all she felt miles better.

There was only one worry. Though her skin wasn’t burning as intense as it had before, the nape of her neck was burning more intensely than she had ever physically felt it previously.

It was the pain of her nightmares. She never thought that she would experience that sort of pain when she was awake.

She wondered if she was wrong about the situation. She wondered whether she had imagined going up close to the tree and touching it. She wondered if the situation wasn’t real at all, but it was just one of the many variations of the reoccurring nightmares she had to face.

There were people all around her. Min Li knew that just by the amount of hushing that was going on.

Whenever anyone spoke, it didn’t last for long they were being hushed by countless different voices.

“I am just taking her pulse now.”

Min Li recognised the voice straight away. It was that of the cheeky, old doctor, the best doctor of the kingdom. It must not be a dream, she thought, I have never had another person appear in my nightmares. It has always been me and only me.

The doctor liked to work under quiet conditions which was why there was so much shushing taking place.

“But doctor will she be okay?”

“Shhhh.”

“Quiet.”

“Husshhhh.”

“Silenceee.”

“Cease your uttering.”

Five different voices hit out to stop Lily from talking.

“Don’t worry, I will try my very best to help her.”

Very best, Min Li thought. That didn’t sound positive. Very best meant that he had to work hard in order to save her. That meant she was naturally not in a good position. At once Min Li felt light-headed. That was laughable. Was the good old doctor trying to make her get up in vengeance from the bed in which she laid?

“Doctor, you must. Doctor, you really must.”

When the queen spoke, no one dared to shush her.

“Let the man work.” The king, and the only person bold enough to come against a scared mother said.

Even when the king just spoke, even when he simply whispered, it still sounded as if he was booming his words for the whole nation to hear. The sound of his voice was very comforting.

The queen wasn’t deterred by the voice of her husband. She had decided that extra incentives were the way to go.

“Heal her and when you do, I will give you half of all my kingdom!”

“Ahem...” the king cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t be able to do that. There are rules for such things you do know.”

Through the pain Min Li chuckled deep inside her brain. Some people never changed. She could just imagine the queen giving a deathly stare at her husband for that statement.

And just in time, it was evident that the queen had stared her husband down just as Min Li had thought, the king’s voice rang out again justifying his statement.

“I am sure that I might be able to give you some of the land of my kingdom. But not up to half. That wouldn’t be feasible.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t need anything. This is my job. I am happy to serve the royals and the whole kingdom.”

Min Li was upset for the doctor.

Didn’t he know that his word was everything?

Just like the crown prince had done before he had won his fight, the man said he didn’t want to receive anything. Did he not know that he would really not receive anything if he said that?

A man should get paid his due. If Min Li died, she was sure that the queen would say ‘off with the doctor’s head. Send him to the dungeons` and end with `feed him to the lions.’ The man shouldn’t be so humble. It really wasn’t becoming. They were going to make him try to save her anyway and he was already having to work under harsh conditions.

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Everyone in the room waited for a minute including Min Li as the doctor continued on with his assessment of her. The doctor was fortunate that he was nearly always accurate in his diagnosis, because usually when he was diagnosing, he went so slow.

Everyone in the room was nervous and for good reason.

Not just because the doctor was taking a long time but because, the old doctor was the best doctor in the kingdom but when he said nothing could be done after surveying a patient, he meant nothing could be done and he did nothing.

What are my chances? Min Li had a little inner cry. Why was the doctor making her wait before he delivered his verdict? Did he hate her so?

“Well....” the doctor started.

Die. Am I going to die? Min Li thought.

“She has a fighting spirit with all she has faced. That’s for sure.” the doctor said.

Is he trying to insult me? Min Li thought forgetting all the pain that she had once felt.

Fighting spirit? What did that mean? It sounded as if she would be Cinderella without the marrying of a prince for her whole life. It sounded like she was destined to a life of pain, just pushing through because of something as annoying ‘as a fighting spirit’. Princesses didn’t need fighting spirits. They had husbands and dads that could fight for them. Having a fighting spirit was reprehensible. Disgusting. Sickening. She did not like that.

The doctor chuckled as if he knew that he had offended Min Li.

How dare he laugh when I am not in the position to tell him exactly what I think about his amusement?

Min Li was now really trying to open her eyes and get up to say something back.

But then she stopped. She wondered whether it was possible that this was all a part of the doctor’s evil plan? What if he wants to get me so emotional, so annoyed that I get up and then he gets all the credit for my awaking? Ridiculous.

Min Li stopped trying to wake up to destroy the doctor. She resolved that if the man kept making such mischievous, nonsense statements that she was better off giving up to the pain.

The queen however hadn’t quite gotten over the doctor’s statement as Min Li had.

“Fighting spirit. I don’t want her to have to fight anything. Wake her up this instant!”

That’s right. Scold him for me mother.

Min Li had never really called the queen mother. It didn’t seem a fitting title since she wasn’t really one of the royals.

But now Min Li felt that the queen deserved the title.

The queen didn’t deserve the title when she was just clothing Min Li, feeding Min Li, giving Min Li her the most expensive gifts in the kingdom, and showing all her love to Min Li.

But she did now that she was saying the things that Min Li wanted to say. Now that she was advocating for her foster daughter. Now she was finally ready for the title of mum.

“Off with this doctor’s head. Send him to the dungeons. Feed him to the lions. How dare he say that my daughter has something as silly as a fighting spirit.”

Mummy, Min Li thought. Ugh, it doesn’t quite suit me.

A woman of my own heart, Min Li amended smiling inwardly.

Mind, the doctor was a man that the queen loved dearly. He was one of her dearest family members. And the queen was forsaking that all for Min Li. The doctor chuckled at the queen baring her teeth, but the queen had moved on to something better.

“A smile. I saw a smile. Do you see that?” The queen said sounding excited.

Min Li could feel that everyone was gathered above her searching her face. She imagined them tilting their heads to the left, then the right, then to the left again to check whether she was smiling or not.

Finally, someone gave their judgement.

“I don’t think so.” It was the king.

“I agree with his majesty. She looks the same as she did before.”

Copycat.

“Copycat,” the queen also spat out vehemently making Min Li smile all the more.

The queen’s elegance and grace towards her people was nowhere to be found when her children were in a bad position.

When the queen had calmed down a bit, she tried to persuade the people in the room once more.

“No. Look at the corner of the right side of her mouth. Surely you can see that it has lifted a little bit.”

“I haven’t seen anything.”

“She looks the same as she always has before.”

“I think that you are just exaggerating.”

Min Li tried her best to smile all the more. To the point where she thought that she was a clown, a court jester, Jess the retired bully. She just knew that she was smiling idiotically.

“Look properly!”

“No, I can’t see anything.”

“Me either, she looks the same as she has always done.”

Though Min Li just knew that she was smiling idiotically, it seemed that no one else could see it.

Idiots.

“Idiots.”

Both daughter and foster mother spat out their thoughts together.

….

The doctor took his time to think to find another way to deliver his verdict of Min Li’s situation.

"Well as I was saying before, it can’t be helped. It is going to be a long journey to curing her.”

Everybody in the room, except for Min Li though she tried, leaned in knowing that the doctor’s statement was not yet finished.

“... But, if she manages to pass the next week without any issues, then she should be perfectly fine.”

The whole room sighed in unison. Min Li tried to let out a sigh along with them but just belatedly.

“Did you see that?!” The queen shrieked.

This time with most of their anxiety calmed, no one paid attention to the queen.

“For me to be able to treat them both properly, they are going to have to be closer than they are,” the good, old doctor said.

“Why? Their rooms are right next to each other already,” Tom, Min Li’s slow-witted friend said.

Then Tom made a sound as if he was winded. Min Li was nearly completely sure that such was the result of Lily elbowing the man in the belly.

Min Li wasn’t annoyed with Tom unlike her friend. He had just reminded Min Li of a very important point.

Min Li realised that from all the voices that she had heard whether whispering or taking part in the quieting down of the room, not one had been Fenhua’s voice. Although he was trying to avoid her, she just couldn’t believe that he would take it to this extent.

Was Fenhua hurt too? Min Li’s heart ached even more. Was he hurt trying to save her? Was she the cause behind his casualty?

Min Li tried to ask what was happening, but she couldn’t move her mouth.

The doctor stood firm in his verdict.

“It would be more beneficial for both of them if they were right next to each other. I would be able to do my job better. I would be able to keep my eye on them at the same time. And my attention would be too frayed if I had to move between both the rooms. Of course, another person could help me keep an eye on the other room if they were to take different rooms, but would you be willing to take that chance?”

No. No. I for one will definitely not be willing to take the chance. Min Li decided that if the doctor had to stay in one of the rooms, then it better be hers.

What did the kingdom need Fenhua for really? He was only the crown prince... and the chosen one.

She needed more attention. She was more important. She was the chosen one’s chosen friend. A great example to the kingdom of what friendship should be like. The crown prince would not be able to deliver the morals to the people as she would be able to.

Min Li hoped that the people in the room would decide the same.

The king and queen seemed to be agreeing with moving Fenhua to Min Li’s room.

Min Li tried to speak and ask everyone what was wrong with Fenhua. But just like in her nightmares, and just like when she was up on the tree, no words would escape her. She couldn’t even more a finger or thumb.

She was trapped in her own body, and the only hope she had was the slow doctor hunched over her right now.

Before Min Li could try again to ask what was going on, she dipped out of consciousness.