Lehra had just visited Ian and it seemed they wouldn’t keep him in the field hospital much longer as they were also breaking it up now the last wounded people from the attack in the city had been patched up and sent home. Nevertheless, in light of the psycho responsible for the attack being a sword wielder and Lehra and Ian’s swords being taken away from them, they kept Ian tied to his bed for most of the time, in case he tried to escape and go after his sword. In his condition, he could do something stupid that could endanger both others and himself.
Yet, Ian didn’t seem the type at all to Lehra. Only when he offered to retrieve the swords for the both of them did she see a gleam of persistence in returning Lehra’s favor. Most would call it madness, like all the psychological problems that seemed to pop up when handling a legendary sword. In that respect, Lehra’s sword Nekathir didn’t seem that intimidating or dangerous at all. Fakes had been made before, so the indent in Nekathir’s handle didn’t prove much. If only she could’ve unlocked its ability to help Ian… At that moment when he was fighting Ugly and losing, she felt she needed to act, to help him. Was it because that’s how her father raised her, or because she’d involved him with her mess… Haha well well, if only Ian could hear her talk like this, she sounded just like him.
Lehra shook her head, shrugged her shoulder and kept walking as she saw she neared her hometown, Cottonfields. She had a lot to attend to. She saw an old man in a sharp suit, from a previous era, walking around impatiently near the fountain before he suddenly looked up and saw her. He waved. It was the mayor, who had been good friends with her father before the latter had been killed in the last raid on their village.
“Lehra, good to see you,” the mayor said as Lehra approached him and she immediately got hugged. He was like a big teddybear in that respect.
“Good to see you too, Mr. Bradley,” Lehra said and smiled.
It wasn’t a soft and fragile smile that barely concealed what she was really thinking about. For a long time, that was the only smile she’d been able to make, but today seemed different somehow.
“So, how is with that sword wielder? I couldn’t stay long as the townspeople needed me, but he’s okay right?”
Mr. Bradley had been real busy since the raid trying to reinforce their defenses. As a small town, it was a miracle it had taken this long for that gang to target them again, but unfortunately that probably meant other towns had been tormented in the meantime. The new leader and the strange lieutenant he had brought with him were bad news for all the towns around and they would surely return. It had everyone worried, but the friendly and kind mayor the most as he tried to make up a plan that had any chance of success against the bandits.
“Yeah, he’s recovering quite nicely, I think they’ll let him go soon. So how are things going around here?” Lehra asked, though she was afraid of what the answer would be.
“Well, Lehra I gotta say, it’s not looking good. Even if those bandits realize you don’t have your father’s sword, they’re gonna come back for our food and belongings, just because they can. We can’t hire any protection, let alone the kind that can protect against a legendary sword and a couple more cutthroats with their knives. I need to gather more information, but I’m stuck here.”
Lehra held out her hand and put it on Mr. Bradley’s restless hands as they had flailed about in his hopeless rambling.
“Hold on Mr. Bradley, I can help. I’ll go see what I can find out, you take care of the other things that need your attention, alright?” Lehra said.
Mr. Bradley came to rest and said: “Thank you, that would help a great deal. Your father would be proud. Be careful though.”
“I will,” Lehra said.
“Maybe take that sword wielder with you, he looks like he can handle myself,” Mr. Bradley said.
“Maybe,” Lehra said. “Might let him heal up a bit first though.”
She winked and went on her way. She hadn’t eaten all day as hospital food tastes like manure and she didn’t want to find out how field hospital food tasted.
“Hm, this is actually pretty good,” Ian said as he swallowed another spoonful of the hot pumpkin soup that Susan had to feed him, seeing as he was still restrained to the bed.
“Good. Then you won’t taste the poison,” Susan said calmly as she offered him another spoonful of that delicious soup with the bitter aftertaste, provided by her.
“Wait what?” Ian said.
“Oh don’t be so naïve, I wouldn’t do that. Besides, my mom checks in every five minutes or so, so she’d stop me anyway. But don’t try anything funny,” Susan said as she forcefully put another spoonful in Ian’s mouth and he was urged to swallow it.
“Yes I have been known for being a Houdini impersonator, all I’m missing is that hairstyle he had, ya know?” Ian replied.
“How is that not funny…” Susan began but cut off her own sentence when her mother came in.
“So, how are we doing?” she asked.
“Good,” Ian said.
“Good,” Susan said.
“Good. Alright then,” Sasha said in the sweetest voice possible.
Susan’s mother Sasha was a kind, sweet and nice woman. That seemed to be describing the same character trait in three different forms, but she really was all kinds of good-natured, nurturing and polite. The best nurse they ever had, Susan had said sarcastically. Just like her daughter, Sasha had long blonde hair and blue eyes, but her hair was tight up in a neat bun and her eyes always looked friendly and full of life. Besides Lehra’s visits, Ian was most pleased to get to talk to Sasha for a little while before she had to attend to other patients with grave injuries from that sword wielding attacker in the city. It seemed to be all over the news for a while, but now it seemed to be pushed away by some miraculous discovery in the field of magic medicine, Feel-Cream or something.
“Anyway, I’m off to my date, so honey, could you look after Ian a little while longer? The night shift will come in a few hours so you can go home, okay?” Sasha said.
Though she seemed to radiate a wise, almost all-knowing glow about her, Sasha was actually not that old at all. She had Susan when she was 16 and came to work as a nurse instead of fulfilling her dream of getting a doctor’s degree so she could get by and take care of her newborn daughter without the help of her deadbeat boyfriend or ‘inseminator’ as she sometimes called him.
If she however had to choose between her daughter and getting her degree, if she could do that all over again, she’d pick her daughter every time. She also told Ian to not let Susan know what she told him. If Susan wanted to, she’d talk about it. Though he could talk about anything else if he wanted to.
“Fine,” Susan said as she pushed another spoonful of the pumpkin soup in Ian’s mouth.
“Play nice now,” Sasha said with a smile.
As soon as she left, Susan turned around and set the bowl of soup down.
“Hey, I wasn’t done with that,” Ian said.
He’d took on an incredible moping reflex for the short time he was lying here.
“Yes you are,” Susan said.
“I’ll think I have to talk about Sasha about this,” Ian said.
He liked having it so easy, getting fed, a bed to sleep in and a pretty calm place to do nothing at all.
“Fine, I don’t like it here anyway,” Susan said as she bent down and rummaged through her bag.
Ian turned to see, stared for a moment, then looked away and asked:
“You don’t want to work here like your mom does?”
“If I could choose, I would go far from here and do whatever I want with my life instead of constantly working like this and helping my mom,” Susan said. “And now she’s left me here to go on another date with that cop guy, bah. And no, I don’t want you commenting on any of it.”
“Okay then. If you untie me,” Ian said.
Susan turned around and threw him a look that seemed quite melted down compared to her usual cold stare.
“What?” she said.
“You heard me,” Ian said with a glorious smile.
Susan came real close to Ian’s face, then pressed on the side of his head bandage making him yelp and then said:
“Forget it, sword psycho.”
“Ouch, that hurt,” Ian said before yelping. “That really hurt.”
