[Aylwen Dreamsong]

Not even the throbbing, pulsating pain running through his veins could keep Cartil from sleeping the minute his head hit the cot. Exhaust had overwhelmed him, and yet he slept restlessly in the cot next to Laurel. He did not wake when Jesslyn came running into the room to see him, but instead continued to fight for the rest that he needed. Cartil wanted to talk to Jess, but the practicality inside him ordered him to sleep. Cartil had been isolated from all of them for so long without knowing what had happened to any of them. He wanted to tell her all he had been through, how worried and scared he had been. Not just for himself, but for her, for Laurel, for Lanaey and Leena and Thagon and…

Jesslyn had come as soon as the nurse had called for her, and had wasted no time in getting to the room. She rushed in, slightly disappointed to see that Cartil was sleeping and she would not be able to wake him up, but still overjoyed to actually be seeing him. Not only was she able to see him again, she was able to see him alive again. Jesslyn would not wake him, of course, for he needed his rest. But she wanted to be there for him when he woke up.

Jesslyn found a stool in the main room of the Healing House, and placed it next to Cartil’s bedside. Soon Jesslyn was asleep too, her head resting on the edge of Cartil’s cot. She inwardly promised herself that she would wake when Cartil did, so that she could talk to him, but Jess rested so soundly that she didn’t even hear Laurel come back into the room with a makeshift stool of her own. Jesslyn was soon swallowed up in joyous dreams that subconsciously cast a contented smile across her face. Dreams of her, Cartil, and her other siblings at home, happy…she completely and temporarily forgot the darkness of the present and the danger that the Wild Men had caused.

~*~

When Cartil finally did wake from his restless sleep, he woke to the sight of Laurel, green eyes weary but alive all the same. Cartil smiled and tried to sit up, but couldn’t and opted to just look up at Laurel from his laying position. Jesslyn, he soon noticed, was sleeping in an awkward way with her arms on the edge of the cot to support her head. Cartil had believed Laurel when she had told him that Jess was alive, but he was relieved to actually see her.

“Feeling better?” Laurel asked kindly, her voice scarcely above a whisper.

“Much better, surprisingly,” Cartil replied, nodding, with a grim smile on his face. He tried to sit up again, and fought the dull pain that had formerly been so prominent. Cartil did feel a lot better, for the pain was not as acute as it had been, but had instead steadied to a fading ache that would pass. His wounds were many, but the nurse had done well with the bandages and Cartil felt numb to the sting. Turning back to Laurel, Cartil asked, “What will we do now? How will we stop the Wild Men?”

[ September 28, 2003: Message edited by: Aylwen Dreamsong ]