Lissie scampered out of the dining hall, but there was no getting away from Riley. She opened the bedroom door to see Cora sitting on one of the narrow beds, a handful of mushrooms in front of her. They still glowed, even against the dim light. The room had no windows, just stone walls covered with the soot from years of burnt candles. Cora’s pen was furiously running across the open page of her journal.
Lissie collapsed onto one of the empty beds. The black spots had returned, at the edges of her vision. They framed Riley standing over her, hand on the hilt of her sword. Lissie tried to close and open her eyes, to see the light inside of Riley.
All she saw was more blackness edging out her vision. She closed her eyes hard.
“I’ll help you get these boots off. You just nurse that arm.” Lissie felt Riley’s hands working at the laces of her boots which hung over the side of the bed. One was removed, then the other. Her feet were lifted off the floor, one by one. She felt herself turn as Riley laid her legs on the rough blanket.
My arm feels fine. Lissie thought.
She didn’t hear Nelli’s voice, but she could feel the grin in her mind. It felt like spider eyes. Lissie flexed the fingers of her hand, and the muscles under the cast. There was no pain at all.
“You just sleep, Lissie. I’m going to go find someone to spar with.” She could hear the smile in Riley’s voice, and felt a hand patting her shoulder. “See if they can keep up with me.”
The heavy door opened and closed with a click. Cora’s pen was the only sound she was left with. Lissie tried to pretend she was back in the library at Ariland castle. She pulled the smell of old books to her mind. The sound of Riley fidgeting in her chair. The endless scratching of Cora’s pen. Cora wrote in the books they were studying from. Lissie just read them, it felt wrong to her to mark a book. Riley said she learned best from Cora’s explanations and never read.
Squeeze, and release.
It’s healed. They said the Dust could heal, but Dahla had no time to teach me anything.
Nelli’s voice answered her thoughts, and pulled her out of the memories. You don’t need her anymore. I can show you the Wind. I can show you the Earth. The Fire and the Blood.
Lissie’s eyes snapped open and she sat up in the bed.
“Was I too loud?” Cora looked over to her. Her red hair was pinned back with a pencil. “I can take this somewhere else…” She looked around and then started writing again.
“I need my bandages changed. I want to take a look at the break.” Lissie tried not to sound alarmed.
Cora wrote as she talked. “That’s a good idea, after that cave. Didn’t you say you hurt your fingers too?” Her eyes slid slowly from the paper up to Lissie’s right hand.
“No, no. That wasn’t as bad as I thought it was,” she replied quickly.
“Good.” Cora gave her a weak smile. “I was so scared, with you hurt in that cave. I couldn’t see it to help…” The words trailed off for a moment before she said, “I’ll go get Alexander. They should have a medic in this place. They can get you a proper cast.”
“Don’t bother them with the medic, it feels a lot better. I just want to look at it first.”
Cora gave her a weird look. “You are a real Dust Woman, aren’t you?”
Lissie shrugged.
Cora slipped out of the door and Lissie was left alone. She closed her eyes, the blackness dancing in her vision.
Lissie sat up and wrestled off her coat. She went to throw it on the bed, and stopped. She hung it on the chair in the corner. The Dust Boxes rattled in the pocket of her pants. She went to take them out, and then pulled her hand away when the door opened.
“Cora here says you don’t trust an Ellium cast.” Alexander was holding a jar.
Lissie sat back on the bed, trying to look innocent. “It’s not that I don’t trust it. My arm is feeling a lot better, I want to look at it.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow. She forced herself to breath steady as he applied the solvent. Layer after layer peeled back, until she saw the flesh of her arm.
It was perfect. Lissie flexed her hand, and shook it. Alexander gasped.