"As in stay here while half the village is away?"

"Yes." Mira pushes past Jezio through his doorway at which he opened rather slowly and carefully as if he were hiding something.

His room smells of sour rum and weed, but he is sober from looking at his eyes. But still, Mira didn't appreciate this side of him.

The rest of his room remained untidy as per usual —with clothes littering the corners of his room, an unmade futon, old food and plenty bottles of alcohol. Looks like a festival itself here catered for a few people even though he could down those bottles himself.

"Why can you go but not me? I thought you weren't even interested in this ceremony." He tugs his hair loose and reties it again. He looked especially comfortable in his tunic and loose breeches. Comfortable most importantly. And at home.

She sits on his bed steering lightly into his flow blue eyes. "I still don't."

He frowns then and puts his hands into his pockets. "So why are you going then?"

She raises her chin and forces herself to not burst into tears right before him. She could feel her throat becoming heavier and heavier feeling like there was wire being wrapped around it, squeezing ams choking her to death. She wills the tears to not fall down but it wasn't hard enough because she could feel one trailing down her cheek. She immediately puts her head down.

Jezio comes towards her, she hears his footsteps briskly heading to come sit next to her. "Mira? What the hell?"

He pulls her into his arms but she pushes him away and wipes her tear just as quick as it came.

"Nothing. I just need you to promise me that you'll stay here during the ceremony."

She pats her messy bun as she looks deeply into his curious and concerned eyes, looking at her gently.

He first hesitates to remain sitting but decides to stay put beside her. "There is no reason for me to go anyway, so aye I'm staying."

Shs closes her eyes in relief and could almost feel her thundering heart settle down through her thin cotton vest. Beside her, Jezio results to throwing himself on his futon staring at the ceiling above with his arms on his stomach.

"Why are you going then?"

She had to quickly think of a lie; wishing in the meantime that she could cut her own tongue off and swallow it for lying to Jezio. She lifts her chin. "I decided to go with Adelaide and Zalaena. No big reason." She had to lie about this.

"While I have to stay here because you say so?"

She pinches the inside of her wrist between her nails. "Yes. I will bring back some cakes if there are, considering we are running out of food."

He sighs and places both arms over his face as if he desperately needed to block out the light above. She could see the exhaustion in the set of his shoulders and the tense muscles of his lean arms. She pitied him.

"Are you alright Jezio? You seem... Out of it."

He mutters indistinctly through his arms but she could at least make out what he said. "I am just tired that's all."

She wonders whether she should bring up his secret about his mysterious lover Cary or whether she should leave it until the truth reveals itself.

She crosses her one thigh over the other and looks down at him. "You have been quite quiet since the Elemental were here. Found yourself a new crush?"

She smiles to herself internally.

That makes him sit up swiftly and he sends her a scowl and an annoyed glance before getting up so fast she could feel the rough breeze that passed onto her from the momentum at which he stood and rose, before stumbling towards the door looking every bit aggravated.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I took it as a shock like every other villager here." He opens the door and stands to the side. "I think you should go. I have shit to do."

She felt hurt. A little sting in her chest but it soon passed because that was not her main concern. She doesn't even know why he has to act like a complete asshole about a mini jest she made. Him of all people should be the one delving into it since he was considered one of the most wanted jesters in the Village.

She didn't allow herself to put more thought into it, she only had one objective and that was to keep him alive. Knowing and trusting that he would stay here was the first part of her plan. Him and his women issues were last on the list. He needed to rest. She refuses to see another drunken outbreak of him saying he messed up and never speaking about it again. Then his little secret he might reveal to her afterwards. Might. She'll keep her hopes up for him.

She gets up and lifts her chin berore scratching the back of her neck and making her way to the door held open.

She turns to him before exiting. "Make sure you rest brother. You are clearly not yourself."

He rolls his eyes but nods. Then she nods and finally leaves.

She forgot to say that she loved him.

                                                           °°°
  
She made it quickly to the old man's home.

Only extremely bizarre moment for her was to not see him home.

Everything else in his so called home looks the same, the scattered bones, the horrid nauseating stench of garbage and of course his pile of rat skins and bones. She had to place her hand over her mouth to stop from puking; and the hot sun above made the smell more potent especially from the sweat accumulating between them— that would include the alive rats that went to hiding beneath his mattress and through the pile of rubbish in the corner of the alley.

So was the old man shopping?

The villagers just passed the alley like it was nothing, she is not surprised that no one stood to his assistance, not even the med clinic; because the state of him...

She makes a raspberry with her lips and tugs her bag higher on her shoulder before scanning his home again. After this she had work to do for Grasel, and then in a few days time she was going to the ceremony where official shit would go down. She could just feel it deep inside of her.

She folds a loose strand behind her ear and reaches into the pocket of her breeches and brings up her sugar on a stick. Her new favorite. The yellow one was particularly more delicious today than normal.

Just as she turns around to leave the alley, her eye catches onto something laying close to the heavily battered mattress. She inches closer and frowns before leaning down and picking up the object. Her lolly drops out of her mouth as her heart begins to pound.

The rich blue velvet pouch that she could feel was heavily ladded with coin, settles onto her hand looking all too familiar. The velvet is soft and warm, as if it were being cradled to a bosom for warmth.

She turns it over in between her fingers and opens the bag seeing the glamorous gold peeking through before closing it tightly again.

She has seen this pouch before in familiar hands opening this exact pouch to deliver coin to Mira in exchange for opium.

It was in the hands of the Elemental herself.

                                                            °°°

Cleo was unconscious day in and day out. She didn't know how many surgeries were performed on her broken self, nor how long they took. But from her bouts of being awake she could feel the heavy toll that it took on her. Hence why she felt as if she could sleep for a full week without waking up.

She was only vaguely aware of the foods and liquids that were fed to her, to replenish her body and just after that the cloud of darkness once again took over her eyes and lulled her head.

She definitely didn't approve of it; but she finally woke up without green walls and sounds of a running waterfall — she is at last in her own bed.

Her cheeks still feel warm, but that could also be from the sun that shone through her room through the open balcony doors letting in warm air and light to wash into her chamber, brightening things up a little too much for her now weak eyes.

She tries moving her fingers but she could feel they were bandaged, in even thicker gauze. Her toes she could feel and wiggle. Her chest area still pained with each beat of her heart but it lessened since she was with Ezra. She wondered whether the healers questioned the previous dressing she had on. And she also wondered where the hell Ezra was.

She lay on her back as her injuries gave her minimal movement to her side and back so through the night whenever she wanted to move or turn around —she would feel a disheartening pain in her chest especially, forcing her back onto her back. Since then she remained there. She didn't approve one bit of her new sleeping habits either.

Her hair is tied somehow out of her face including her bangs— so she could see the ceiling above. She hoped nobody did anything else to her hair.

Next she feels for what she is wearing, which is actually nothing except for bandages; she only wore a vest and undergarments. Easier access to clean her body and change dressing most likely. Her legs remained beneath the blankets, with her arms and chest above — her entire body is stiff, all over her joints and muscles. It is mostly her hands and the inside of her chest that got affected, the rest of her is just inflamed muscle. Oh and she could now feel the bandages on her feet as well—  which must contain exposed skin there too, filled with blisters from the portion she remembered that got burned.

She arches herself up slightly and groans in pain before thumping her thick hands on the bed then feeling lightheaded before collapsing down.

She breathes hard and fast. Hearing the beats in her ears.

She is still weak. Extremely weak.

After some huge efforts however, she found herself up on her elbows and then her feet was touching the cold floor below. Her belly spasmed and burned from her sudden movements; she could feel bile rise in her throat. She became light headed again and saw  stars, so she pounds the edge of the bed with both hands and closes her eyes. Hating how the bandages rubbed and stung her raw flesh below. Needles and pins forms in her fingers from it.

After the cloud in her head disappeares slightly — she found herself standing up a little bit unsteady, and slowly tromps over to her dresser loving the breeze that blew into her face blowing away the depression that fell onto her. Her legs worked at least, but each step made her feel like jelly.

She first gasps and even takes a step back, not believing that this was her face looking right back at her.

Her face looks hollow, her cheeks sunken leaving her cheekbones more prominent and sharp. She has purple bags beneath her bloodshot eyes with plenty burst vessels in them — looking like mini pools of blood; but she knows it's from the heat and the extremities that her body went through.

She looks down to her chest wanting to rip her shirt apart to see what happened below, but through her thin sleeveless vest; she could see the patches of bandages sticking through her vest, as well as plenty dark, nearly black bruises starting from the top of her collar bone leading down to dissappear to even more bruises sh could only imagine beneath her vest.

She gulps down a rock and looks down to her bare legs, which even looks like jelly and a little bit too thin, and then to the gauze on her burned foot. Damn she looks like a skeleton.

Her eyes looks dead. She looks like shit. She could still see the fever in her cheeks, her eyes and face remains red. She so badly wants to take a bath in a pile of ice.

Next is to skims the marks, almost fully dotting her body, the pain she received from being in the Demon Tower has by now taken up the pain she felt from the formation of the marks. She could feel the nuisance of the stinging and scratching, but luckily the material on her hands were rough enough to scratch her thighs especially and the other itches away.

The blood red circles and engravings, has already circled around her legs and thighs, her arms, her neck and chest; she could also feel the deep burn all over her back so she knows now that they were there too.

How lovely. If only that Queen told her exactly what the hell was happening, she could have given her a cure for these new tattoos. Did she know that she was still alive? Cleo knew she had to take a turn back there and find out what was going on. But she will definitely need Ezra.

She sighs feeling dizzy again and sits down on her settee.

Well where the hell was her nurse? She's hungry and dehydrated. Through her shirt she could feel the itch behind the dressing of her bandages and could also feel the stitches — a part of her was rather happy that she couldn't use her hands, because even though she refuses to see her own stitches; the old Cleo with hands would have ripped her shirt open and perhaps just rip the stitches apart as well. She knows she wasn't supposed to. But she hated things on her body.

Then it would make everything worse. But she would feel some level of satisfaction in it-

Her door knob turns, steering her attention there and it opens to reveal Landon.

He looked the same, same old goatee, murky eyes; it even looked like he had less of a blueish tint to his lips. Well that was good news.

His jaw drops to the floor seeing her standing up and then realizing the lack of clothing on her body, before quickly turning around so that his back faced her keeping her door open.

"Miss you're awake. I will call for a nurse."

No shit.

She rolls her eyes after hearing him call for a nurses name. "I don't need a nurse Landon. I just need a servant, I can fend for myself now."

The nurse enters as Landon ignores her. Her brown eyes and red cheeks are big and puffy and she quickly comes to her with a silk gown.

Cleo lifts her arms and allows the nurse to dress her. Landon turns around again, now looking at her completely bewildered as if she were a beast that came from the Demon Tower.

"I will get clean dressing for you. But you must get into bed as you need plenty rest to build up your strength." The nurse tells her as she ties the robe closed around her waist.

"No" Cleo replies.

The nurse sighs and bows before leaving.

Landon takes a  single step closer towards her now frowning intensely at her. "I think you must rest. We have a lot to talk about, and many preparations for your ceremony-"

She scoffs and interrupts him. "Now is not the time, please." She goes to sit on the edge of her bed with Landon standing a few feet away from her.

"What happened in there? The guards? How did you make it here half dead? Gwen is astounded that you made it out alive considering your condition." He had to take several breathes to calm his beating heart, Cleo could assume.

She didn't bother explaining anything to him about Ezra and she sure as hell was not going to explain what she did in there. She wasn't in the mood at all. Her face as usual was glum, her insides felt down as well. This would be the time she goes to Jezio for some opium to take that feeling away. And Landon wasn't making this any better, he added to that bad feeling.

"It was a long journey. And yes it truly pains me for having lost all of those guards in there, it was partially my fault. But there was nothing else I could have done."

She was so glad to see the nurse come in quickly; preventing her from continuing this conversation —with a tray full of medical equipment, and another maid behind her with a tray to feed her since she couldn't do it herself.

It looked as if Landon wanted to say more to her but the two women were quick to sort her out causing Landon to get up and head towards the door.

"Make sure you close the door after yourself dear." Mutters the nurse to Landon. Cleo only realizes now with a shock that Gwen herself wasn't here to see to her. Strange.

Landon nods but Cleo looks away from him to the delicious soup she smelled that instantly made her belly grumble in delight, she was about to look more closely to the rest of the food tray until Landon speaks up again.

"Oh Cleo, something I think you would like to know. Kaleb is awake."

She choked on the spoonful of soup that was in her mouth being poured down her throat by the maid. Then she looks up to him but the door was already closed.

Suddenly she feels ten times more alive.

Her new first objective after this.