Aria held her breath and wondered if something was seriously wrong with her as Miss Anhao continued, "I have discussed this with Professor Thomas and he agrees, and was originally going to be the one to tell you. But now that we are on the subject, I might as well do that."
She took a deep breath and continued, "Everyone, including you, knows how many times you've been seriously injured ever since coming to the academy. It is a lot, even comparable to some soldiers of the army who are in the most active areas. Not to mention all your minor injuries and waves of exhaustion for which you have had to come in time to time. And you are a smart child Aria, I am sure you can guess how harmful this is for your body."
Aria couldn't even give a tiny nod of her head to indicate that she understood. "But what I suspect is that you don't know exactly how harmful it is to your body." Looking at the confusion on Aria's face, she decided to elaborate, "The more you get hurt Aria, the harder your body has to work to heal itself. You are young right now, so you might not feel it now, but as you get older it will make itself evident. What I'm trying to say Aria, is that you need to stop getting injured so seriously and frequently. It's taking quite a toll on your body. If you don't, I'm afraid your body's healing capacities will reduce, leading to slower recovery and major injuries even by some small accidents."
Aria's breath hitched. Was Miss Anhao trying to say what she thought she was? Miss Anhao nodded, "Yes. If this continues, your body will give up on you one day. Which might even lead to paralysis, damage to the mind and a reduction in bending abilities."
Aria sat stunned for a few minutes. She didn't know how to reply. She wasn't even sure that she could reply. "So sorry to suddenly drop this on you dear, but I thought you ought to know." Miss Anhao spoke, picking up the tray with more than half the food still there. She knew that Aria was in no condition to eat now.
"Please think this through, it may become a life or death situation. And please tell me if there is anything I can do to help." Miss Anhao spoke and left.
Aria watched her retreat. Some little part of her brain registered the fact that she hadn't asked her for permission for Jacob and Helen to visit together today. But she couldn't bring herself to care about that. She might . . . . lose her . . . . bending abilities."
Aria still looked to be deep in shock when Jacob walked in. He called out to her a few times and had turned around to go call for Miss Anhao when he bumped into someone. Regaining his balance, Jacob looked at the person he had knocked to the ground.
"Helen?!?!?!!?" Was the only word that left Jacob's mouth before he was scrambling to get Helen back on her feet and seated into a chair. The collision and the commotion also seemed to have brought Aria back, who blinked and looked around. Seeing the two of them beside her bed, Aria shook her head and decided that her own problems could take a back-seat right now.