Chapter Text
A familiar pain ached though Star as she woke up slowly. Her wrist, which she was pretty sure she had broken, ached. Her side still hurt badly too. But wait, it didn't feel as bad. Slowly, Star started to realize what was around her. For starters, she was laying fully horizontally and all stretched out, definitely not how she'd been sleeping for the past week, no, more than that. It was comfortable and soft too. Was she… in a bed? And she felt fabric, bandages, wrapped around her injuries. How…? A small, short memory came back. Marloth. He'd found her. He must've taken her back to the island! Star slowly opened her heavy eyes, her vision was slightly hazy, but she could see a ceiling above her. She glanced down, trying to scan the room. There! There was a figure, sitting in a chair next to her bed, leaning up against a wall looking up. She blinked and her vision and mind cleared a little more. The figure had long dark hair, and wore a purple jacket, Marloth! She blinked a few more times, then went to turn her head towards him. That was when she noticed the pounding in her head, and she made a small groan. Marloth immediately sat up and looked at her, a seemingly nervous but hopeful look on his face. Star smiled weakly and spoke, her voice a bit horse,
"Hi" He smiled and said
"You're awake!" Star winced slightly at his volume, but tried to sit up before she heard the soft elderly voice of Nurse speak
"I wouldn't sit up quite yet if I were you, Star." Star smiled a bit more and Nurse walked next to the bed, waving at Marloth to move over. Nurse looked at Star and asked
"How are you feeling?" Star gave a little shrug and she said weakly, but her voice got stronger as she spoke
"Achy, mostly. My wrist and side hurt the most, there's also a pretty big gash on my leg," Nurse nodded and said
"I've stitched that and your side, along with some of your larger scratches. It seemed like most of your injuries had been opened repeatedly, so they'll scar and they're not going to heal quickly at all." Star gave a small sigh and said
"Alright, that's good to know." Nurse nodded, then asked
"Other than your injuries, how are you? Any questions?" Star nodded and said
"I'm a bit thirsty and hungry-" Marloth suddenly got up and said
"I'll get you something." He walked away from the bed, and Star looked past him and realized she was in the castle infirmary. She couldn't help but smile. It felt like too long since she had been home, it had been too long. Nurse spoke
"That makes sense, when we found you, you were mildly starved and dehydrated." Star nodded and asked
"How long ago did you find me? I can't remember." Nurse nodded again as Marloth came back over, holding a water bottle and some of Star's favorite fruit salad. Star smiled and went to reach to take them, but Nurse stopped her and said
"I want to put some painkillers in that water quickly, and fruit salad may want to wait for now." Star sighed and went to speak, buy Marloth suddenly protested
"But she said she was hungry," Nurse pinned him with her classic "Who's the doctor here?" Look and said
"I know, but she's still not in good condition and needs to take things slow. Go get some warm soft bread, there should be some by my desk. And give me that water." Marloth sighed, cast Star a slightly worried look, and walked away a bit after handing the water bottle to Nurse. As she talked, she opened it and put some dissolvable painkillers in,
"You were kidnapped a little over three weeks ago." Star's eyes widened as she took the water. Three weeks? That was almost a whole month. Nurse kept speaking
"We found you four days ago, got you here yesterday morning and it's currently afternoon. Anessa said you slept the entire first day, and just barely woke up a few times the second one, but you were in pain. I kept you sedated yesterday while I worked." Star sipped the water, grateful for the painkillers Nurse had put in. Star took a breath, then said
"I need to call a meeting." She needed to talk about what happened on the ship. The fact that it seemed that the children of Hargon had new leadership, and that they had tried to keep her alive. The fact that they knew things they shouldn't. Nurse shook her head and said
"No official business for you until you can get out of bed and walk around on your own." Star gave her a look and went to speak, but Nurse added
"That being said, Lulu, Rosie, Babs, and Anessa are all in the castle at the moment and will be coming to see you once they find out you're awake. But I don't want you stressing yourself, you need rest." Star responded
"It's important!" Nurse smiled slightly smugly as she turned to grab something. She spoke with skepticality in her tone,
"Uh huh. I've heard that a hundred times from you. Didn't you say that last time you were in here? After you overworked yourself yet again?" Star huffed slightly, a little embarrassed and said
"That's different. But it's really important this time!" Nurse gave her a look and said
"You're whining." Star opened her mouth to protest again, but just sighed instead. Nurse was right. Nurse smiled at her and reached for her unhurt hand. She squeezed it slightly and said
"You just went through a lot. You need a break, so take it." Star smiled. She didn't know why but Nurse had a sort of grandmotherly presence. Something Star had never had. Star nodded and Marloth walked back over, holding a loaf of bread, Star took it and ripped off a piece and ate it. She felt exhausted, the excitement from waking up and being home wearing off. Nurse paused, giving her a worried look before she said
“Perhaps you should wait to see the others, you need some rest.” Star went to protest, but Marloth nodded and said
“I don’t want you to get worse.” Star sighed and said
“Fine, let me finish this bread though.” Nurse nodded and said
“Of course” And turned away to clean up some supplies. Marloth sat back down in his chair and looked at her, worry and relief in his eyes. Star finished her bread, looked up, and smiled at him, saying
“Thank you for finding me.” Marloth’s brow furrowed and he said
“Of course, why are you thanking me? I should have-”
“Nope, take the thank you, no should haves!” Star said, smiling a bit. Marloth relaxed and said
“Alright.” Star reached out and grabbed his hand and squeezed it as she said
“I’m okay now, and I’ll be out of this bed in no time. Without you and the others… I don’t know how much longer I could have lasted. I got lucky I didn’t drown in the wreck, but it was… hard being alone.” Marloth grabbed her hand and said
“I’ll make sure you’re never alone again. You’ll always have me.” Star smiled. That meant a lot to her, hearing him say that. She smiled and said
“Thank you Marloth.” He nodded and said
“Of course.” Star yawned and said
“Time to get some more sleep in an actual bed.” She paused, then joked
“Wait, I actually want to sleep rather than doing things, what is wrong with me?” She laughed and Marloth smiled, still holding onto her hand. Star considered pulling away for a moment, but decided against it. He had missed her, and she missed him. Star yawned again and closed her eyes, letting herself sink into sleep.