It was a bomb to swallow for Aliyah, never had she bathed in front of anyone talk less of her NOW husband.
"Relax I'm not asking you to strip." Luke said like it was noting to him but it was everything to her.
The sun started setting and Aliyah sighed.
"Let's go then."
She finally said with a heavy breath, she could feel something go wrong. And must certainly her instincts couldn't be wrong.
After a few minutes of strolling around, Luke actually managed to get a lake in which they could bathe.
Luke undressed and the only thing on him was a short. He dipped his toes into the water, testing whether it was cold or warm.
Before Aliyah could take her eyes off such a sight he entered into the warm water.
Aliyah hesitated for quite sometime as she looked at herself in the water. Her light pink dress she previously changed into before being kidnapped was now red and when Luke lifted up his gaze to her, his eyebrows fell.
"What did he do to you?" Luke asked Aliyah. She stood there for a while clutching her left arm close to her stomach. Those were the two places that hurt the most.
Blood was staining everything and as she looked at herself more she started to notice her wounds has been dressed presumably by Luke.
She hid her arm behind her, in fear of Luke coming to dress it more.
He stood up from the water due to her sudden movement. He walked towards her in slow meticulous steps until he was towering over her.
"Let me see your hand" he said with so much power she felt inclined to show him her hand and when she did. He took it in his and examined it.
"Get into the water."
Aliyah didn't need anymore words before she got into it. Luke slipped down into the crystal blue lake and both of them were now submerged into the water. Luke stared into her eyes for an awkward 5 minutes before he muttered something under his breath and walked away.
A few minutes later he came back with shrubs and herbs. He slipped into the water where he had left Aliyah.
He took her hand and quickly muttered the following words under his breath:
"Refre fruit
Dry oak
Lerad seed
Up down left and right."
He followed the steps until Aliyah's left hand was covered with the green goo. He saw a slash from glass as he was dressing it and his heart was pierced at what torture she must have gone through.
Now it was silent. Luke finished dressing her wounds. The water splashed delicately on them, Aliyah's dress was now soaked with water and her hair fell on her shoulders.
They looked at each other for a long while until Aliyah broke the ice.
"We are lost aren't we?" She asked.
"Do you want the nice truth or the harsh truth?"
"Both"
Luke sighed.
"The harsh truth is that I don't know where exactly we are and if I don't get back to the kingdom soon I fear Draken will invoke a war on us. And the velocity of the blow to your stomach can lead to serious challenges. The nice truth is that I told you the harsh truth."
Luke said all in one breath the only thing Aliyah could focus on was;
"Hold up. Health challenges?"
Luke sighed.
"I don't know I have limited medical experience but we need to check it up when we get back."
Aliyah was struck by fear and she started going up to dry land. She could barely walk so she stood up to try, the only thing Luke could see was her back.
"You mean, if we come back." She said finally. Ignoring how hard it was to walk around. What health problems, she didn't want this to happen.
She found her way back to camp and sat down on the floor of her tent, she hadn't expected Luke to come running after her, she couldn't expect much from a guy she barely knew.
She just fell into a well of her emotions. Nothing was going right, she could barely roll to her side to sleep. Everything just seemed to get harder than they were before.
Before all this happened it was just her, Leah and dad against the world, against poverty against hatred against their enemies. Sometimes just sometimes she wished she could just rewrite the start and start again.
She wondered if there really was a reason for her to be part of this world it should be clear. She rolled herself on the floor into a ball and cried slowly.
She cried till nightfall she hadn't changed her clothes and was getting cold. Luke hadn't arrived yet. And when he did she had already slept off.
He brought her some clothes, food and water, where he got that from, it shouldn't matter.
She remained still and felt Luke hovering over her body. She couldn't blame him. He just might have noticed how frail she looked. Maybe he even pitied her.
She flinched at the thought and Luke noticed. He gripped her as if she was going to vanish right before his eyes.
He inched closer and whispered a foreign tongue into her ear.
"Dalem Irise Larum Iknu"
And he stood up to walk away and tossed a clothe over body.
Aliyah woke up and sat up, making Luke turn back in surprise.
"Aliyah?" He asked.
"Look, don't leave me alone. Please" she added in desperation.
She looked at her laps in sadness.
"Luke I can't feel my body, I can barely turn and move around. I'm in pain my stomach hurts, everything is just horrible." She says with her head hanging low.
"I just don't understand, I want to go home, a place I don't need to worry, a place free from worry and stress. Sometimes I just want to die!" She finally said and looked up at Luke with tears in her eyes. She had every right to feel that way.