By the next day, Thanrie was still out for the count. It was no simple task to endure injuries like the ones she suffered from, though even Thanrie herself was unaware how seriously she was injured.
Caught away from the waking world, Thanrie was bound into the halls of her own worries. In her slumber, she felt as if she was lost within the darkness, being chased from every angle. She ran and fled uncertain what else to do. Suddenly, she was struck from behind, and she fell deep into a hole in the ground. She grasped for a ledge to stop her fall, finding a sinister shroud haunting the ledge. She tried to avoid it, but the shroud leapt for her, and thus she fell through the wall behind it. She found herself then within a dark corridor, alone, still lost.
She was tired and weak, but still she pushed on. She wasn't going to simply give up. As she traveled forwards, the walls moved and shifted, from stone to steel. The shadows gave way to gray, as an electric current surged along the walls in the same direction. Even lit, nothing had color. She pressed onward, but she was getting tired, unable to keep going for much longer.
The steel shifted to glass, and currents shifted to cars travelling much too quickly. She was lost among the colorless vehicles, passing as if in a blur. She couldn't keep up with everything that was going on, but still she moved on. From behind, one of the cars came right at her and connected, even on this side of the glass, and she went flying through the glass above her. Everything shattered, cutting into her. After a moment, she got up from the pool of gray blood to look around.
She was on a colorful flowery hill, her blood flowing downhill over the flowers, taking their color away. She reached out for a flower, as it withered and died. Soon, the blood had covered the entire hill in a lifeless gray. She went down to the bottom, and found just beyond the hill were three remaining roses, half wilted by heat. The dirt they were growing from was actually ash, the blood had stopped only because it was incinerated.
She stopped before the flowers, still herself bleeding gray colorless blood, knowing that she needed to do something to help these last remaining flowers. She reached out for the flowers in an effort to help them, and her hand lit on fire. She shifted the ashes away from the flowers, and the hill behind her inverted, going down instead of up. The ashes started to pour down upon her, but she pressed on. Soon, the ash was all behind her, the roses resting in normal brown dirt. They were going to be okay.
Rainfall started, the area behind her filling quickly with water. She scrambled up, but found that the water could not touch her. She passed through it like it was nothing more than air. Water filled the area, relinquishing all of the flames, including her own burns. Her other injuries, gone. She arrived at the area with the roses once more, and reached out to touch one. In response, it bloomed.
Thanrie opened her eyes, finally awake. The fading thoughts of her dreams left her troubled about what she had actually been missing in the waking world. She was back on a proper bed, the room filled with medicines and other simple medical tools, such as bandages. She herself was wearing plenty of bandages. A sudden twitch brought her agony. She was injured? She tried to look around further, despite the pain, and noticed she was not alone. Mhyl was asleep on the edge of the bed, otherwise sitting in a chair. She looked exceptionally ragged, like she had been pushing herself for a while. This only concerned her further.
"Mhyl?" Thanrie's own voice was very soft, a clear sign of her weakened state. She couldn't remember why she was so injured, but the whole situation had her very worried. Despite her soft voice, Mhyl shot awake right away, banging her foot in the process. "Oh! Oww.. Thanrie!!" Mhyl was visibly contemplating how to give her a hug, but could not figure a way to achieve that without causing Thanrie pain. Meanwhile, Mhyl sounded absolutely exhausted. Thanrie considered her circumstances awkwardly. "I'm sorry for everything I've put you through." "It's.. it's okay. I'm glad you're awake." Thanrie's concern only rose as Mhyl began to cry.
Zyuixqs dashed into the room, having caught on to what was going on. "Thanrie!! You're... by the divine." Zyuixqs looked ready to cry himself. Everything was dead quiet outside, the speed he came in, he could have only been just on the other side of the door. It seems Thanrie had been quite a problem for everyone. "I'm okay, thank you for your concern." Everyone's concern for her was making her feel very touched, being so blessed with good friends. She herself was ready to cry. She didn't know how to fully express her thanks, especially in consideration that her present company needed two different languages. It caught her in a bit of a deadlock, as she couldn't figure out what to say next.
Mhyl suddenly thought in consideration and poked Zyuixqs. "Lwyn. Qheria." Names were the same in every language, as far as anything mattered. Mhyl, having mentioned nothing more than the two names, still gave a very clear request to Zyuixqs. He got up and left the room. As he ran off, Chyurae showed up, who hadn't been very far away. He shyly entered the room, having very little to say. Thanrie knew she wouldn't understand the words anyways, but his meaning was clear enough. Everyone was pretty worried about Thanrie it seems.
"Mhyl... I uh... what actually happened to me again?" Thanrie really wanted an answer at this point. While Mhyl was explaining the accident and her need for care, Lwyn had showed up. Qheria still hadn't arrived. "Thanrie!! I..." Lwyn stopped mid-motion in an attempt to give her a hug. ".. I knew you would be alright." Lwyn's motion settled into further tears, making it unclear if her own words were an attempt to convince herself of the same matter. After a pause, she continued. "You had us pretty worried there, you know. It's been like.. 2.. 3 days?" Lwyn had clearly lost count. Thanrie was still worried, that's more than just a short nap.
"So, how am I doing now?" Thanrie thought she could get a rather good gauge of how she felt, but if everyone had been looking after her so hard, getting their opinion just felt.. right. Personally, she felt like hell. That might even be literal, her body was still tender from all the burns, while also sore from all the injuries. Mostly, she felt thirsty and hungry. "Much.. much better. It was a miracle, really. Thank goodness you're going to be okay. Oh, Lwyn, could you get something cool for Thanrie to drink, and maybe a snack to eat? She should be starving at this point." "OH! Right! On it!" Mhyl's statement was almost troubling how much it carried uncertainty. Lwyn however dashed off quickly as was requested of her. Thanrie marveled at how Lwyn could look so full of energy and so ready to fall on her face both at the same time.
"I can tell everyone has been so busy, I'm sorry for putting so much work and worry on everyone else. Thank you for being a miracle?" Thanrie's comment took Mhyl off-guard for a second. "No, that's not what I mean. Your injuries, no one knew if you were going to survive. We just knew that being hurt so seriously, you would be down for a week, maybe two, at the very minimum. We would be lucky if you survived.." As Mhyl broke into tears again, Thanrie realized she was being serious. This is why she called it a miracle, because being this well shouldn't have even been a consideration. Still, it was clear that Mhyl had devoted so much into Thanrie's care, she clearly still deserved some of the credit.
Qheria eventually also showed up, somehow looking worse than everyone else. Not in quite the same way, she looked mentally and emotionally exhausted much more than physically. Her eyes looked half dead and half ashamed, no room left for life. "I'm.. terribly sorry for.. letting all of this happen.. to you." Qheria hardly had the stamina to finish a sentence, but didn't sound as ragged as the others. Thanrie thought back to what Mhyl had explained. It was obvious Qheria was shouldering the entire blame for this incident. Considering what Mhyl had also said about Thanrie's chances of survival, having felt like Qheria had almost killed Thanrie.. it had ripped Qheria apart.
Lwyn showed up with some water and a few spare sandwiches. "I'm back! Oh, and we're all here! Awesome! The gang is together again. Here, Thanrie, for you." Lwyn almost stumbled trying to pass her everything. Thanrie could tell what role Lwyn had played in the process, trying to make sure everyone didn't fall apart. Lwyn's own energy felt so much like it was nothing more than an illusion. Thanrie accepted the generous offering Lwyn had presented to her, and began slowly to partake of it. It hurt a bit to move, but watching everyone try so hard... She was adamantly also very hungry and thirsty, so that was due enough cause. When she was done, she laid back down.
"Thank you. Thank you so much, all of you." "I.. I haven't been able to do anything. I've done nothing but let you down." Thanrie was very thankful, but Qheria was still broken. "What do you mean, you've done nothing? I can see just how much concern you've had about.. everything. You've wrecked yourself over everything ever since I got hurt, haven't you? I'm sorry for having left you in such a state. I knew something felt wrong, but I was too much of an airhead to figure it out sooner. This is totally my fault for having been staring at danger the whole time and being too stupid to figure it out." Qheria was caught speechless as Thanrie shifted all blame onto herself, and even still Thanrie kept going. "I thank you for being the focus of your care and thoughts through all of this, and I'm sorry that it's hurt you so much."
Mhyl was passing Qheria a 'I told you so' faint smile. Meanwhile, Zyuixqs had returned, having also passed message to Rhyde and Yuxzn, the latter two waiting outside the cramped room. Zyuixqs stop and froze, the words not forming for him. Lwyn stepped in with some Izhaethyx on his behalf. "Oh my word, and this guy. He's been strung to the front door the entire time. But really, you should have seen him. When the explosion happened, he dove right into the fire and single-handedly brought you out. He's still got the bandages from his own burns, he was roasted pretty hard. Carried you out like a knight would a princess. .. wait, you are a princess..." Lwyn's faint joke managed a small chuckle from those who understood. Mhyl would be asking Lwyn later what was said at this moment.
Thanrie contemplated the seriously brave rescue made by Zyuixqs, the same guy who was known for simply trying too hard to impress girls. He might have gone overboard once again, but this time Thanrie was genuinely thankful for his effort and sacrifice. "Thank you so much, Zyuixqs. I knew you could be a real gentleman when the time actually came." She gave him a soft smile, covering at least a bit of her appreciation with a counter-joke for Lwyn's own statement. Zyuixqs himself had gone red.
Mhyl took account of the situation and realized some control would be needed, returning everything to English. Not knowing what was going on was probably also frustrating for her, but there was something more important at hand. "Okay, okay everyone. Thanrie only just woke up, and is probably feeling incredibly weak right now. We should let her relax, so she can finish recovering. Lwyn, you had some plans for dinner tonight, you should probably get started. Qheria, bring Zyuixqs outside, since he doesn't know what I'm saying. As we can see, Thanrie is going to be fine, make sure Zyuixqs actually gets his own injuries looked after. At this rate, Thanrie is going to be better BEFORE Zyuixqs is. Also, Rhyde and Yuxzn will probably want an update of the situation. You are our leader, after all." Mhyl smiled at that last statement proudly, showing her own confidence.
As Zyuixqs and Qheria left, Chyurae stepped forward, a look of concern showing over his face as he looked upon Mhyl. Lwyn picked up on it right away, and switched to Elaethyx before she herself left. "Oh, yes you are right Chyurae. Mhyl hasn't been looking after herself either, and yet here she is telling US to look after ourselves. I totally agree, she should take this wonderful opportunity to get some rest herself. I am so glad you are here to help make this absolutely clear to Mhyl. But Chyurae.. if Mhyl is going to take a break, she'll need a hand. Can you look after her, make sure she safely looks after herself, maybe even takes a proper nap? Oh, and when you're done, you could help me with dinner?" Chyurae had said nothing, having had words put in his mouth. However, he still nodded in full agreement, and went to help Mhyl. Thanrie, having understood nothing of the statement, still smiled when she caught on to the aftermath. Once alone, she took some more time to rest and recover.
When it was nearly dinner, she finally got up. She was still kinda sore, but felt well enough. However, she knew she would have to take it easy. Her right leg felt the worst, it had probably broken. Healing a broken leg in such a short time was seriously incredible. As she tried to get up, stumbling, Lwyn showed up again. "Ah, Lwyn, I'm mostly okay, but I think my leg could use some supports. Do we have anything like crutches somewhere?" Lwyn ran off and quickly returned with some wood from storage that would work for the role. She was sore, but getting up was making her head less dizzy. She made her way out of the room and went to the main room to take it easy. No one was there. She kept looking around and found the others, all asleep. Lwyn was the only one still awake, working hard to make sure everyone wouldn't go hungry. Thanrie was certain that, after dinner was done, Lwyn was probably going to take her turn as well.
Thanrie however felt rather restless, her mind running hard while her body was in no shape to keep up. She went to sit with some of the reports that were handy, and found reports that had covered the day she had been injured. With it, she also found reports on her own injury. Mhyl wasn't joking, her condition was very serious. But things then didn't make sense, to have healed all of that, in only a couple of days? Even the best hospital would have been hard-pressed to match those expectations. She set the reports down once again, lost within her own thoughts.
Ever since waking up, she had been more refined than her normal of late. She lacked the energy to be much more, so a lot of her usual ambition-less air-headedness was looking to have taken the front. Within her mind though, that wasn't fully accurate. She was very focused on thought, thinking very clearly. Everything they had done, it had been reckless, it had been depending on their good fortune. Fleeing the palace was itself reckless, the way she had done it. Fleeing the Inn was much less reckless, but was still with plenty of risks. They had been found by bandits, and almost taken in their sleep. Instead, they got lucky. Then they had crossed a wasteland of golden grass, barely accounting for anything with any practically, and had gotten lucky. They had fallen upon a camp of bandits with no preparation and had been victorious.. by luck. They had then come back for even more, with still poor planning, and had been unlucky enough to fall into a trap. Even being caught, they got lucky enough to at least escape. Their third attempt against bandits came with more planning, but more recklessness, and so she had almost died. However, instead of dying, she got very very lucky, and was now alive.
They weren't achieving anything by skill, talent, ability, nothing. They were just getting lucky. They have pressed their luck so much that someone, herself specifically, had almost died. The cost had taken its toll on everyone, as she probably would have also equally suffered if it was one of the others who had almost died. Depending on luck, just so they could always be reckless, they were using up quite a lot of luck, and there was no way they could keep up this level of good fortune. The most reckless member of the team was faced with the fact that being reckless any further could very well destroy them. They needed to find a way to build up their own safety, their own certainty. They needed something to turn probability into absolute, to gain an advantage over all of this danger. But they were faced with uncertainty everywhere, their enemy had way more technology then they did, it was a clear advantage. They needed a way to address the risks involved and increase their natural chances of success, to no longer simply depend on luck. She had no idea how this could be done, but knew they would have to find a way.
Dinner passed quickly and silently, the others going to sleep right away. Thanrie stayed up for a while longer, until her constant planning brought slumber upon her anyway.