Leo tossed and turned in his bed. His body was covered in sweat. He cried out in his sleep.
He said, "No, no..."
Rachel held his hand while he was sleeping. She was worried. This had been going on for the past few weeks since he arrived, and he was struggling he to get decent sleep, or any sleep at all.
Leo jerked up in his bed and said, "No!" as his eyes opened with a look of panic and his eyes darted back and forth.
His hand was not longer being held by Rachel, and he noticed her after she said, "Don't worry, I'm here." while sitting next to him.
Leo looked to his right and his breathing slowed.
He said, "Thank you."
"Oh," she said, "I didn't, I can't do much, but you're welcome."
She was a breath of sunshine for Leo. He felt warm whenever she was around. He thought about Hannah and thought, 'No, I don't deserve Rachel's kindness, not as I am now. I need to become stronger!'
A pain struck Leo's body: he felt the pain from his broken bones acutely; he hated himself for being weak. He hated not being able to protect anyone.
Rachel noticed something about Leo, a vibe she didn't like. His eyes were intense and violent. His soul seems to tremble... out of anger.
But when Leo turned his eyes to Rachel, they softened, and he stopped his inward spiral of anger.
He said, "Thank you."
"I didn't really do much..."
"No," he said, "I mean it."
She was silent for a while and stared at the eyes that were staring at her. He turned away from her eventually and looked outside of the window. He seemed to be contemplating go something. He seemed conflicted.
She felt a little uncomfortable staring at him, when he wasn't interacting with her, so she left the room and made her way down the hall.
She dragged her finger against the stone walls, and she contemplated what she had seen and heard from her mother time and time again concerning Leo.
Her mother had told her, "Don't get attached to him."
When Rachel asked why, her mother said: "the next Deborah can't be married to a Blackcloth."
Rachel pursed her lips. She thought to herself, 'Wouldn't it be funny to see the look on mother's face when I run away with him?'
"Just kidding," she said aloud to herself.
"Kidding about what?" Her mother said.
"Nothing the Great Deborah should worry about."
"This girl... You won't get married with that attitude."
"And what attitude is that?"
"Be serious. All Deborahs should be serious and sober-minded in temperament."
"I still don't understand a word your saying. A demon must be playing tricks on my ears," Rachel said playfully.
Rachel was shocked: her mother had slapped her.
"Never!" Deborah said, "Never speak lightly of demons! How dare you say that! Unbecoming, unbecoming of the next Deborah!"
Rachel hung her head and said, "I... I apologize."
Deborah left the house out the front door in a fit of anger, and Rachel stood there... with anger in her soul. She thought about summoning a demon. 'Maybe that will disqualify me from becoming Deborah,' she thought, but quickly realized that idea would get her burned alive instead.
She thought to herself, 'Watch me marry that Blackcloth.... Then she'll have to pick my sister.'
She played with the thought for a while, and the more she played with it, the more it became a fixture in her mind. Another, convenient way to drive her mother mad. Maybe she would flirt with Leo in front of her mother. Maybe she would flirt with him in secret. She didn't know and didn't care. Leo was a way to get back at her mother.
Meanwhile, Leo neared the pain of his injuries while he practiced different applications of fire magic combined with void magic. He combined the void magic "compress" with the basic fire magic "flame". The fire magic wasn't anything special, and neither was the void magic, but he created a flame that resembled a flame from a blowtorch.
He practiced various different combinations. He didn't dare practice the mid-tier flame magic, because he didn't want to accidentally blow up their house, but he did enjoy the peace and quiet of the home.
He would hear the footsteps of the two other daughters running through the house from time to time as well. The youngest was five and named Crystal; the middle daughter was name Joan, and she was thirteen.
Just as he was thinking about them, Joan entered his room.
She said, "Sorry I didn't knock, but can we come in?"
Crystal peeked her head around the corner.
"Sure," Leo said.
"Don't get too attached; you hear," Joan said.
"Attached?" Leo said.
"Yeah. Big sis Rachel is too nice sometimes, and men misunderstand. So don't get too attached."
"Okay," Leo said; he didn't think he would have to worry about that anyway.
"I don't think you get, so I'll make it clear; Rachel is special! She's probably gonna marry a noble named Nabal! So don't get too attached!"
Crystal nodded her head up and down vigorously in response to Joan's speech.
"Don't worry. I won't get too attached"
"Not too attached," Joan said, "Don't get attached at all."
Joan and Crystal led the room right after that statement was made, and Leo returned to looking out the window.
His gaze then turned straight ahead of him, and he was faced with the picture of children dancing on the plains. 'Would the kids from Ahab's city be like her?' He thought. A smile appeared on his face while he was thinking, and unbeknownst to Leo, he hadn't smiled very often since arriving in Sodom.
The clouds. The sea. The city.
All was peaceful, or seems to be at first glance, but no one knew how tall the clouds really were on this day. No one knew how high the clouds reached and how ominous they really were.