Roxane blinked back her golden eyes as she looked at the auburn haired woman in front of her. Then she ran into her, grabbing onto the skirt of her dress.
The woman laughed, rubbing her back with one hand while mixing the bowl with a spoon she held in the other.
"Roxane, what has gotten into you? You almost made me drop the mixture." She wasn't being scolded, just lightly reprimanded by her mother. She did that a lot.
"I missed you." Roxane heard her small voice say as she buried her face into her mother's side. She was already leaving wet marks on her mother's dress.
"Roxane?" She heard the sound of her mother setting down the bowl on top of the table before she was gently peeled off from her mother's side. She sniffled as her mother's caramel colored eyes calmly looked at her.
"You were only gone for a day or two." She told her as she enveloped her into a warm embrace. "What could have happened when you went with the others to look at the sea?"
"Asial told me about the sea serpents." She confessed into her mother's soft hair. "He said they gobbled up dragons whole if they dared to go into the sea."
She heard her mother chuckle a little as she squeezed her tighter.
"The sea serpents will never be able to swallow you up. Not while I'm around." Then she kissed Roxane's small forehead, making Roxane momentarily close her eyes under the tender feeling of her mother's lips. She didn't feel as frightened as before.
"Mama, is Asial right? About the sea serpents?"
"Honestly I don't know." Her mother's answer was unexpected, but she knew her mother wasn't in the habit of lying or giving her half-truths. "I've never been out at sea. Your father did though. He flew across the ocean and nothing happened to him."
"Really? Was it because Papa was as big as a castle?" Roxane golden eyes widened, causing her mother to laugh at her daughter's cute reaction again.
"I think it was because of that, yes." She moved her head closer to Roxane, bringing their noses together in a manner she does often.
"Oh how big you've grown Roxane. Soon, you will be as big as your father was. That is if you keep eating properly." Her mother teased her, her hands reached under to begin tickling Roxane. She giggled as she pleaded for her mother to stop.
Her attack stopped as it always did. With a kiss on her daughter's cheek.
Her mother's image faded as the memory was disrupted. Roxane's little hands morphed back into her adult hands.
Then she realized she was awake.
She blinked up at the open sky above. Her eyes watched the slow moving clouds swirl past her head for a minute or two before she began to try to sit up.
Roxane let a painful groan escape her lips as she lifted herself hallway up. Her hand immediately went to her stomach where she felt a stiffness. Her shoulder and stomach were nicely bandaged underneath the clean white shirt, the only thing she currently wore under the blanket that had been draped over her.
Next to her, a sleeping Diana woke up with a startled expression on her face.
She got off the ground in a flash, her green eyes were swollen red and the poor woman had bags of dark blue underneath her eyes. She looked like she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep for days, or even a bath. Roxane observed her friend's clumped together strands of silver hair as she filled her whole view.
"You're awake!" Diana sobbed as fresh tears dropped from her white lashes. "Thank Kara you woke up!"
"I'm alright now Diana. You can't keep crying like that, look how raw your eyes are." She smiled as she gently reached out her hand to brush off a single tear from her friend's face.
"You're finally awake." She heard the man say before Kian knelt down beside her body. "How are you feeling?" He too had bags underneath his eyes, but nevertheless kept his face void of any emotion. He helped her stabilize herself, placing one hand underneath her so she could continue holding her upper body up.
"Sore, but other than that, I'm happy to be alive." He nodded at her words.
"That's normal. You're healed, but the soreness will persist for a couple more days. We were mainly worried that you wouldn't wake up even though there wasn't any more poison left inside your body."
Her forehead creased at his words.
"How long was I asleep?"
"Four days and two nights." He responded without missing a beat, looking down at her with his violet eyes.
"Thank you." She told him, but he only shook his head at her.
"I only did a little. You should be thanking Diana. She was by your side, pouring all her powers into you even when it was beginning to affect her too. She fainted on more than one occasion."
Roxane's eyes quickly went over to where Diana was on her other side. She searched her friend's face, asking her silently if the wizard's words were in fact true. Diana didn't at all look one ounce of remorse as she stared back at Roxane defiantly.
"What did you expect me to do? You were dying!"
"I expected you to not put yourself at risk! Even if I'm dying right in front of you! Even if I'm already dead!" She was surprised at the amount of force behind her voice. She had never before talked to Diana like that before in all their years together. Diana was also taken aback, and tears sprang into her eyes.
She lowered her voice but kept by her stance on the matter.
"I protect you, not the other way around."
"You always do that. You always put me first, but when will you think about yourself for once?" Diana fought hard against the tears that threatened to fall down her face. "When will you let me help you?"
"You don't need to understand. Just do as I say." She coldly said, staring at her with mental fortuity Roxane never knew she had.
"That's enough you two." Thatcher butted in, appearing over Diana and placing a hand on her shoulder. "We should let her rest some more." Then his grey eyes made their way over to land on her.
"How are you feeling? Do you think you'll be able to ride?"
"She has just woken up Thatcher," Kian answered for her, looking up at Thatcher with an unwavering stare.
"I'm fine." She said, earning a stare from both men as they turned their heads towards her at the same time. "I'll be able to ride if someone supports me. We'll need to keep going right?"
Thatcher nodded down at her while something flashed through Kian's eyes.
"No, you're not fine. You were barely hanging on by a thread. You should really rest for another day at least."
"I don't remember asking for your opinion." She shot at him without thinking. Instantly she regretted it as whatever she saw brewing inside his violet eyes was extinguished. She saw him set his jaw as he looked down at her.
"You're right. My opinion doesn't matter to you." She felt that whatever progress she had made to get closer to the wizard now crumbled away, and it was all her fault. "But at least try to preserve your life for a little bit longer or all of Diana's hard work will have gone to waste."
He removed his hand from behind her, and she knew he was angry at her even when there was no evidence of it on his face.
"Rest easy now." Thatcher followed after the wizard. He gave her a small smile before doing so.
Roxane could only stare at the two of them as they left.
"Roxane you fool." She had to agree with Diana as her friend shook her head at her. She still chose to stay by her side though, and for that, she was grateful.
She sighed heavily as she let herself fall back slowly, lifting up her good arm to shield her eyes from the heat of the sun.
"Forgive me Diana. I didn't mean to talk to you like that." Roxane cleared her throat, not expecting an answer from her friend. Not after she had made her cry.
"I know." She felt her friend's hand run through her hair and she cleared her throat again. Even while her arm covered her eyes, she felt the sting in the corner of her eyes. She was choking up, and Diana knew it.
She let the tears fall down from her closed eyes. Now that it was just the two of them, she could finally let her emotions run their course.
Roxane cried without so much as letting a single sound come out of her mouth.