41 Reasons to Figh (1/2)

When he woke up, Lilly wasn't in bed, nor was she in the room. James got up and went to the study. Lilly sat at one of the tables. There were several books and pages in front of her. Her hand moved quickly as she wrote. He watched her flip through some of the books, and she wrote down more information. He approached her and she set several pages closer to him without looking up. He took them and read through them. They were battle plans mixed with statements of pain and remedies. Their motion was circular and he had a hard time seeing the breaks between one topic to the next until he was all ready halfway through it. Why was she doing this?

'Lilly?'

'Give me another minute, James.' Pain laced her words as she continued to write.

He set the pages next to her as she wrote. She finished her sentence then turned to the other pages. With ink renewed on her quill she wrote long slashes between certain words then handed the pages back to him.

'I've written battle plans to the generals and remedies to your doctors.'

'What about the rest?'

'I just needed to vent some of my pain.'

'How are you feeling?' he asked, turning her chin to look at him.

The Gerrabella poison streaks had gone black, but they weren't bleeding. Blood tears ran down her right grooves and normal tears the left grooves. 'I'm a mess,' she replied.

'Why don't you get some sleep?'

She nodded then stood and hugged him. 'I love you, James.'

'I love you, too, Lilly. Very much.'

He watched her leave before calling for the generals and doctors. He gave them the plans and instructions Lilly had written and by early evening he was free to return to his room. In his room he found a young servant girl helping Lilly drink a bowl of soup. In between swallows the girl would nod, or Lilly would smile. Once both of their shoulders shook with laughter. It was good to see Lilly laugh. He was also given a bowl of soup as he continued to watch these two interact. Whatever they talked about he didn't hear. It was almost as if they didn't speak at all. Was the girl Adremedian? When they were finished, the girl took the bowls, bowed, and was gone.

'Lilly, was she Adremedian?'

'No, she's Human.'

'Then how were you able to talk? Did you open another channel?'

'Life around her is so quiet even the softest of Adremedian speech can be heard.'

'How is that possible?'

'She's deaf.'

'But her voice...'

Lilly's soft smile became a grimace of pain. 'She doesn't dare try to speak.'

'Are you okay?'

'I'll be after a little more sleep.'

'Okay,' he replied, kissing her. 'Um...Lilly?'

'Yes James?'

'Is it possible to have Adremedian healers help the sick in town?'

'Not in the way you're thinking.'

'But with the new Adremedians surely...'

'James. The only way to have that happen would be to harm one or the other to protect both so the healing can happen. Then either Humans would be mute or Adremedians deaf.'

James was silent for a moment. 'Won't the extra Adremedians live for a while after the war?'

'No.'

'Lilly...'

Lilly turned her back to him and closed her eyes.