Rocki tensed when they flew into Arinda's room through the open window, praying her injured leg wouldn't brush against the side. Kofi was careful though, and the window was large, so they got through without incident.

She grunted a little when he set her down in a chair. "Ow. Could you get a towel or something so I don't ruin the seat?"

"Don't worry about it," said Arinda. "I can replace it. Kofi, go get the doctor, I'll make sure the savioress is comfortable until then." Kofi hesitated, wings tightening. "Do you want her to keep bleeding? Go!"

"I'll be right back," he said, then dashed out the door.

Arinda walked away, probably to get something, leaving Rocki alone in uncomfortable silence. She glanced around at the spacious apartment. It wasn't quite what she was expecting, given Arinda's personality. The walls were mounted with guns and blueprints, as were most of the tables, which were also littered with various bullets.

She is a weapon manufacturer I suppose. It's her job. Looks like it's her life too. That might make an interesting character: a girl who has been around weapons her whole life, making them with her father, dating a general, but she still has a very sweet personality. Not like Arinda's personality though. She's a bit too ... sugary, I guess.

Her gaze locked onto a stand beside the window. It had a gun loaded onto it, a heavy one with a big scope. Although it had been put to the side, it looked like at one point it had been pointed out the window.

There's not much to see out there except sand and sky. I wonder if she was just testing the scope or if she can hunt from this distance. Maybe it's how she defends herself against the sariun attacks.

"Enjoying the view?" Arinda asked, returning from the other room.

"Mmm," Rocki hummed in agreement. "More like trying to distract myself. I am so tired of this leg hurting." She chuckled wryly. "What's that gun for?" She nodded at the rifle by the window. "Looks like you were using it recently."

The valicaran stood beside her, a little to close for Rocki's own comfort. "Long-distance prototype. I was testing it out."

"Interesting."

Arinda shifted beside her. "Yes. You know, I think you would actually be really interested in what I was testing it out on."

Rocki raised her eyebrows a little, keeping her eyes on the gun since she didn't know what else to look at. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

"You." A cloth was slapped over her mouth and nose before she had time to process the words. She gasped, inhaling a harsh smell that left a weird taste in her mouth. She stumbled to her feet, wings flaring, but Arinda grabbed her neck, keeping the cloth pressed over her lower face.

With more force than Rocki would have thought, Arinda shoved her to a wall, hitting Rocki's head against the butt of a mounted gun. The valicaran put her hand on the savioress's throat, but didn't squeeze, forcing her to inhale more of the unpleasant odor. Rocki put her hands on Arinda's arms, heart racing as she tried to shove them away, but the female was strong. She writhed desperately, trying to duck under or to the side, but could hardly move in Arinda's grip.

Her breaths were short and fast, almost as fast as her heartrate. After a long few moments of struggling, her eyes began to blur. Not with tears, but they wouldn't stay focused. Something was closing over her mind, making everything feel distant and sluggish.

Her legs were weak, giving out on her. Arinda allowed her to fall over, following her with the cloth. What ... in the ... help ... need help ... why ... what ... is ... Kofi ... Her eyes drifted so far out of focus, she could barely make out Arinda's face, which was close to hers. Her breathing was more labored now, heavier than before. Her body felt numb, like she was in a state of sleep paralysis that she couldn't shake herself out of.

A new noise broke through the ringing in her ears. The door had opened. Voices started yelling, but she couldn't make out the words in her daze. She barely noticed the cloth drop away from her face. Nothing was working, she couldn't move her body or even think with her mind; she was drifting to a new destination. Perhaps to sleep.

Sleep ... Sleep ... is nice ...

As her eyes slowly wandered to a close, one thing cut through her haze. It was distant, faded, muddled, but familiar and oh so sweet. "Rocki!"

#

She was cold. Her bed wasn't as warm as usual. How strange.

Rocki managed to raise her eyelids enough to see ... white. Just white. She stared at it for a few moments before realizing it was a ceiling. Interesting. She felt like she was surrounded by light—a headache greeted her almost immediately upon the thought. Instead of the groan she instead, she only released a heavy breath of air. Her throat was dry when she managed to swallow; the liquid branding a painful trail through what felt like a burning hot desert.

Maybe I should sleep for a little while longer. Before she could close her eyes though, she heard a timid whisper from her right.

"Rocki?"

Her eyes shifted to the side, but that only increased her headache, so she closed them, face wrinkling painfully.

A hand gently touched her face, caressing the skin beside her eye. "Hey, let me see those blue eyes again," the voice whispered.

When she opened her eyes, a face was hovering over hers. Kofi. Relief flooded her body. She slowly licked her lips and managed to force words past her painful throat. "What ... happened?" Memories were coming slowly. A glimpse of a gun. Yelling. The fog rolling over her mind. Arinda. What about her? Something with Arinda.

"I'll tell you later," Kofi said before looking away. "Go get the healer. And tell the Sovereign that she's awake," he said to someone else. She heard footsteps, but then all she could focus on were the dark eyes looking at her again. "How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"

She took in a long breath, trying to evaluate her body, but she couldn't really move. "I don't know. Water?"

"Oh! Yes! Of course." He gently reached under her head and raised it a little, bringing a glass to her lips. The drink was a very clouded blue, but it tasted pure, so she took three big gulps, intending to take more, but Kofi pulled it away for a second. "Don't forget to breath," he said jokingly. She took an exaggeratedly big breath and let it out in an annoyed sigh, raising her eyebrows slightly at him. He grinned, letting her take another drink.

Footsteps came running towards them. "Savioress!" a female voice exclaimed. Another face came into her limited vision. It looked familiar but she couldn't remember right off hand.

Oh. The doctor I met when I first came to Kliktal. What was her name?

"Whilin," said Kofi in relief. "She's finally awake."

Aha.

The doctor put her hand on Rocki's forehead, then started an exam, talking and asking questions about her health. Between answering, Rocki accepted more water from Kofi until her throat was finally appeased.

"All right, move your limbs for me. Let me know if anything hurts," said Whilin, taking a small step back.

Now that she was more awake, Rocki could actually feel her arms and legs and make them move. She carefully tested each of them; the only one that really hurt was the one with the explosion wound.

"That's good," Whilin said. "Your head stopped bleeding a little while ago, so it looks like the only real damage is the previous injury."

My head? The words sent Rocki plummeting through a torrent of memories. The cloth. Arinda. Struggling. Passing out. Arinda knocked me out! What was she doing? "What happened to Arinda?"

Kofi winced. "So, you remember. She's detained right now. She'll be facing a trial for attempted murder soon. She's saying she didn't do anything, that she was trying to help you, so we were waiting to hear your side of the story to make sure we're in the right of accusing her. It looked pretty violent to me."

Rocki clenched her jaw. "It was." She glanced at the doctor. "Can I sit up?"

"Of course." Kofi and the other valicaran helped raise her to lean against the wall.

Rocki noticed another valicaran standing at the foot of her bed with his back towards her. He looked well-armored, posture alert. "Who is that?"

Kofi glanced at him as well. "One of your guards. The Sovereign wanted to make sure no one tried to hurt you while you were passed out. I sent the other one to make sure Sovereign Faish knows you're awake. He's been worried."

"Oh." That's a little unnerving to know I need to be guarded while I sleep.

"I was kind of worried myself," he said softly. "I thought I might never see those beautiful eyes of yours again." The back of his hand gently brushed her face.

Rocki allowed herself to fall into his dark eyes—just for a moment. They were deep and sincere in his concern. But she pulled herself before dropping headfirst into those brown orbs. "Well, I'm awake now. And I'd like to go back to my room." She put her hands on the bed, about to lift herself up, but froze. My baby. Her head snapped over to Whilin."Wait, how is my baby?"

She hesitated. "Healthy as far as I can tell. It's hard to know if the poison did any damage. For now, I know it's alive, and that's a blessing."

Rocki put her hand over her stomach, closing her eyes for a moment. Hang in there, little one. "Good. Thank you. I really would like to go back to my room now. Is that all right?"

Whilin thought about it for a moment. "Yes, I think you should be able to do that. I want you to keep an eye on yourself though. If anything seems wrong, let me know." She put her hand on Rocki's shoulder. "I'm glad you're all right."

"Thank you," she said, carefully swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "And thank you for taking care of me."

"Of course."

Kofi held his hand out to help Rocki up. She initially just used the side table to support herself, but grabbed his hand when orthostatic hypotension hit, dizziness covering her vision for a moment. She nodded away the concerned inquiries, limping out of the hospital with Kofi by her side and the guard marching silently behind them.

As they walked down the halls, Rocki brought up the question in her mind. "So, Arinda says she was trying to help me?"

"That's what she says," he sighed. "She won't admit to anything else."

"Roxanne!" She turned to see Sovereign Faish hurrying towards them with a guard by his side. "What a relief to see you awake."

She raised an eyebrow. "How long was I out?"

"A few hours," said Kofi before bowing to the Sovereign.

"Are you feeling well enough to tell me what happened?" Faish asked. "We want to get Arinda to court as soon as possible to cause less fuss. If she didn't really attack you, the people need to know that immediately. If she did ... justice will be meted out quickly."

Rocki pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing as she tried to get to her memories through the headache. "We went to her room after we had been jumped by a couple sariun who tried to kidnap me. In the process, I reopened my leg wound, so she suggested resting in her room because it was closer than the medical area. Kofi went to get the doctor; Arinda left the room for a minute. When she came back, I asked about the gun by her window. It looked like it had been set up to shoot something from her home. She said she was going to test it out on me, then covered my mouth and nose with a cloth. When I stood up, she shoved me against the wall, making sure I was still inhaling whatever drug she had on there. I fell over and Kofi came back for whatever reason. I don't think he was gone near long enough to get a doctor?" She glanced at him.

"I found someone else to get the healer," he said. "I wanted to make sure you were taken care of by someone you knew. You don't seem to be a fan of strangers." He smiled wryly.

She nodded. "I passed out after that, so I don't remember anything else."

Faish sighed heavily. "That is ... hard to hear to say the least. I am so sorry, Roxanne, I never would have thought that Arinda would be a danger to you."

"Neither did I." Arinda was a danger to me. For how long? She seemed nice enough when we met, if not a little ... over the top. She gave me a hug when we first met. She offered to prep Kofi's ship in the middle of a battlefield. Her eyebrows knit together as Kofi and Faish discussed the upcoming court. Why would she do that? It would have been safer for her to send a soldier in front of us instead of going herself. She's not a soldier herself, so I can't imagine she has a lot of training. She seemed eager to do it too.

She remembered the explosion that destroyed her air tank and carved a chunk out of her leg. She had thought she was going to die. That's what Arinda wanted too; me dead. If the lopenants had been the ones to damage my air tank, they would have destroyed it instantly. But Arinda could have carefully planned for the tank to explode while we were on Sheere. She had time while she was getting Kofi's ship ready.

"Kofi," she said, turning his attention away from Faish. "My air tank on Sheere. Could that have been her too?"

He crossed his arms. "Why would she do that?"

"Why would she try to kill me in her room?" she shot back. "I'm just asking. She's the one who prepared your ship before we left. And you said that all the air tanks were damaged, not just mine."

"You think she's been trying to get rid of you since the beginning," said Faish.

She shrugged. "I don't know. You tell me."

Kofi looked at his leader. "It's possible."

"I'll let our investigator know," Faish said. "If that's true, she's going to be in for an even worse punishment. We're working on a court date at the moment, but when it comes, the both of you will need to witness. Will you be able to handle that?" He looked specifically at Rocki.

Testify against the person who tried to kill me even though I've done nothing against her? Oh yeah. "Of course."