Chapter Text
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Once you get back to the Inn, your steps are shaky as you walk through the entrance, breathing heavily.
Okay, maybe, you pushed it just a bit too far…
Your body is practically on fire. It burns and aches, to be honest, you think you could fall asleep for a few days.
You grip the door just a bit tighter, trying to grab purchase before you push off towards the stairs.
You hide a wince as the pins and needles feeling returns. The stairs to the second floor suddenly feels like a much larger and impossible obstacle to overcome. A sigh flows out as you grip the handle and begin the ascent up the stairs.
You try to turn your focus away from the pain in your body, but honestly, you don't think it's working.
Maybe you could just ask Mira to heal whatever is wrong with you. Actually, you don't want to worry her. Asking for healing will probably make her think you got hurt. All the pain is just some stupid body reaction. You think your body is overreacting, but maybe you just need to lie down. Sounds good. A proper rest and everything.
As you reach the door, taking out the key, you notice how shaky your hands are. You breathing is heavier, almost like you can't get enough air. Very strange.
It doesn't feel like you're going to panic anytime soon, but your hand still shakes, along with the rest of your body. You rack your brain for any reason why.
…
Did you even eat anything today?
Stars, you're such an idiot!
On top of probably being sick and pushing yourself to the extreme to enjoy a normal day, you didn't even eat anything and your body is probably going to collapse soon, running low on energy.
You should probably get to your bed quickly.
It takes a minute with your hand shaking to actually put the key into the hole to turn it open, but you eventually do it and it's not that big of a deal. It's okay, just go lay down.
You see Odile reading a book, muttering under her breath and doing some hand movements. Maybe she's learning new crafts? You have no idea what she could be learning it for, there's not much to fight anymore.
Sure, Sadnesses still lurk about, but even then, they aren't that dangerous anymore. Even the basic craft that some normal civilians know can easily subdue the Sadnesses. So you have no idea why she would need to learn more craft moves, unless she just genuinely wants to learn. You hope that she doesn't overdo it and learn any craft that's too strong (like yours, that you probably can't even control now without pricks and shivers of pain rolling into you. You seriously have to learn how to hold back soon before serious harm gets done).
You hear Bonnie and Petronille in the kitchen, and the scent of the food slams into you. It smells so good and you just wanna scarf down whatever it is. But, you need to wait a bit because it probably isn't done and you might collapse into the food before you get a bite in.
You pass by the couch, desperately hiding a limp as you pass Isabeau, who's drawing in his notebook with his tongue sticking out. It's actually adorable, seeing him so focused on creating things, but the pain in your body and need for rest overshadows anything else.
You continue walking down the wall until you're at your room, opening the door and swiftly shutting it and locking it. You sigh, taking off your boots and your cloak at the door and gently placing them away. The rest of your gear goes off and before you know it, the bed sheets and blankets are surrounding you in a warm little cocoon. Your head is resting on the soft pillows and you feel your eyes droop down instantly.
Your body is entirely feeling like numb static all over, your head is pounding, and that's not ever mentioning the sickness you feel in your throat and the heat of your forehead.
Definitely a fever or sickness of some sorts. Maybe closing your eyes will help. Yeah, that might help. You turn over, gently taking off your eye-patch and resting it on the bedside table before your eyes slip shut.
☆
Okay, Mirabelle needs to do something. She's been at the House of this town all day, just speaking with the many Housemaidens that revere her just as much as the Change God. Which is a little worrisome and definitely panic inducing. She honestly doesn't wanna be here and would rather be wrapped up in a book but she has to push through. At the end of the day (which, thank Change, she only has a few minutes left before she can go to the Inn and eat all of Bonnie's delicious food that they've been cooking up all day) she'll be at home with her friends and she'll feel a lot calmer and at ease. Especially when she takes her medicine that is literally used to help her anxiety.
She takes a deep breath and continues with the social interactions, before she finally departs from the House. It honestly wasn't as bad as she thought the day would turn out. None of the Housemaidens asked any overly invasive questions, like about their quest or what happened at the Dormont House. They asked her pretty mundane questions and such basic questions that honestly threw her off guard.
She was glad to answer them and she might've made a few friends? She's really glad it was better than some other Housemaidens, asking her how she got blessed, what happened to the King, how did you meet your group, what was going to happen now?
Too many questions ended up causing her to spiral and needing to take a step away, so it was really a nice change of pace for her.
Mirabelle breathed in the late air, watching as fireflies started buzzing out of the glass, illuminating the sky. She watched as little kids ran down the streets, laughing and playing silly little games. The market was a lot livelier, many citizens and travelers trading simple little items and laughing with each other.
Mirabelle smiled. It was also nicer to have so many people not be frozen in place as well. They get to live and fulfill their life because Mirabelle and her friends were able to beat the King and stop his plan of "saving" Vauguarde. Even though nobody thought of it like that...
She takes a deep breath to clear her mind and she approaches the Inn. Mirabelle was so ready to crash. Today was quite exhausting honestly.
She opened the door, greeting the Inn Owner. They smiled and waved before disappearing back behind the counter. Mirabelle smiles too, glad that it wouldn't be too much of an interaction. It's a bit rude to think, but Mirabelle doesn't really think she would've survived another one today.
She hurries up the stairs holding her skirt. She feels like a little princess! At the top of the stairs, she giggles and gives a little curtsy before running off to the room. Mirabelle takes out the key and unlocks it swiftly.
A single step into the room and the smell immediately hits. Oh, Mirabelle is starving. She's ready to eat.
Bonnie runs out, their little body practically vibrating with excitement.
"Belle! You're here!" They jump up and down, very excited and proud of what they accomplished today. Mirabelle can tell. They're probably so excited for everyone to eat their food they made.
"Bonnie! You need to calm down, no running in the kitchen…" Petronille says, softly scolding their sibling. Mirabelle just chuckles at the two siblings as Bonnie starts throwing a fit. Saying it's not their fault that they are too excited about this meal.
Mirabelle counts the two of them, before swinging her eyes to the living room section and counts two more. Missing just one more person…
Did Siffrin not get back? Mirabelle remembers him leaving with Madame Odile before she left for the house. She also knows Siffrin like exploring and working, but hopefully he isn't working too hard. They are still recovering from their craft sickness.
Sure, they were able to move around and were actually doing well after a month. But lots of previous records of craft sickness show signs of lingering exhaustion and weakened systems. It also doesn't help that Siffrin might accidentally use their Wish Craft or use Craft out of habit to fight Sadnesses. Even though everyone in their group tries to avoid fighting, it would unfortunately happen whether they liked it or not.
Mirabelle sighs, wringing her hands before she notices Odile is looking at her. Madame Odile gets up, walking towards Mirabelle and to the kitchen. She just makes a short pit-stop in front of Mirabelle.
"Don't worry, Siffrin came home a few minutes ago. They went to his room to take a nap, surprisingly," she says. Mirabelle feels a bit lighter knowing that her friend is here, but it is a bit weird that he wanted to take a nap.
Since Dormont and the loops, Siffrin has tried to avoid taking naps. Which was very unusual for him. However, he did tell them that a lot of the loops started when he woke up in the meadow, with Mirabelle herself waking him up.
It must've soured his opinion of naps then…
It doesn't matter, maybe he was just exhausted?
"I was thinking you could wake him up for us? if that's alright with you," Madame Odile suggested.
Oh! That was an easy task! Mirabelle could do that.
It would be nice to actually see and talk to Siffrin since she was really busy all day. She nods, running off to the separate bedroom part of the Inn room (she feels bad internally every time they go to any Inn, because everyone always makes sure they have the biggest room. The largest rooms always end up feeling like a home rather than a simple little Inn room, to be honest. She understands of course. They were the Saviors before they actually stopped the King. A lot of people feel like the most they could do is give them free things. Mirabelle has been very lucky to gamble with some people to actually pay for things, but other times she hasn't been lucky…).
She knocks on Siffrin's door.
…
Okay…
Maybe he's just taking a minute to actually wake up. Naps are like that sometimes. They can be so good that you don't want to wake up and just stay cozy.
So, Mirabelle just decides to knock again, a bit louder. She doesn't want to open the door and disrespect their privacy.
…
...
Okay, she's getting a bit worried. Is he really sleeping that deeply that he can't hear her knocks?
She knocks again, announcing she's coming in when the door doesn't open.
Is it locked? No, yeah, it really is locked. Okay, so this is really weird.
Change, Siffrin rarely locks his door. Does he not want anyone in? She knocks a bit harder and speaks up.
"Hey, Siffrin, I think dinner is ready? Bonnie and Petronille said it was done," Mirabelle says. She hears the way her voice is shaking and she grips the doorknob a bit tighter.
Breathe in and out. Stay calm, she can't start freaking out over a locked door.
No matter what, all of the keys actually unlock every door. So she could technically use her key to unlock it and check on him.
But the privacy! What if-….
…
She takes out the key she has and unlocks his door, slowly opening it while knocking again.
"I'm coming in Siffrin," Mirabelle announces. It would be really embarrassing if she ended up walking in on her friend because she was getting a bit paranoid.
She takes a peek into the room, only to see a mound underneath the covers.
"Siffrin?"
No answer. How deep is this nap?!
She walks over to the bed and gently taps on what she thinks is his back. Mirabelle honestly can't tell with how covered they are in the blanket.
"Hey, Frin. Siffrin. Buddy, you have to wake up," Mirabelle says, reaching over to his forehead. Maybe he's feeling a bit under the weather? She rests her hand on their forehead and winces.
Wow, he's really warm. He also seems to be shivering under the blankets? Their face is screwed in a tight grimace as if he's in pain. Breathing sounds a bit harsh as he tries to take in more air.
Yeah, Siffrin might be running fever. That's okay.
Mirabelle will just wake him up, heal him up and take medicine and then he'll be good to go! Probably…
She shakes them again, gently trying to rouse the deep sleeper. Well, more like sick sleeper. A very sick and exhausted deep sleeper.
There's a wince, then a groan, before Siffrin tries to open their eyes.
It takes a bit because the light seems to be affecting him, and Mirabelle covers his eyes with her hand. It's most likely that he has a headache then if the light is that much of a trouble.
"Hey, Siffrin. Are you feeling under the weather? I could heal you up and give you medicine?" Mirabelle asks. Siffrin stills seems pretty out of it, but he shakes his head no.
Okay, guess we're denying it then.
"Well, Bonnie and Petronille finished their dinner feast. Do you wanna get up and come eat?" Mirabelle asks. She's not really sure if he's actually fully here or not…
Siffrin just seems to sit there, looking a bit confused as their brow twitches. Mirabelle pouts a bit, feeling more concerned the longer he just sits there. Siffrin slowly blinks, wheezing out a breath before shifting to sit up.
His arms are shaking under the weight, and it just seems like an overall struggle for him to even sit up from his laying position.
So, Mirabelle almost instructs him to lay back down and take some damn medicine before his hand reaches for his eye-patch and he puts it on.
It ends up a little lopsided, not even actually on the entire eye before he swings his legs around and their feet are softly swinging on the edge of the bed.
She hears Siffrin mutter something entirely intelligible (No, this wasn't one of the days or times he wakes up, speaking in his language sometimes. Which Mirabelle still doesn't fully understand how it works without hurting him. Siffrin has told them that saying just the country's name had hurt him so bad he had to loop back. So to be speaking in almost fluent sentences with no repercussions seems very shocking. Unless he genuinely forgets he was speaking like that, they always seem upset every time anyone tells him about it). Mirabelle just ends up staring, not even sure if he was actually talking to her.
They suddenly look up, muttering again a bit clearer. Oh, wait, Mirabelle is kinda in the way of him standing up from the bed, isn't she?
She stands up, softly apologizing as Siffrin just smiles and uses the nightstand to stand up.
His legs shake under the weight, and not to even mention the absolute pain that Siffrin seems to wide behind a wince.
It only takes two seconds before Siffrin tries to take a step and immediately crumples fast first into the floor, groaning and wincing. Mirabelle yelps, kneeling down to the floor.
"Siffrin! Are you okay?"
She hears him mumble into the floor, she leans closer to hear him.
"I don't like thinking about gravity, it always brings me down," followed by a short huff of laughter. Which turns into delirious laughing.
Mirabelle is a bit confused. Was that a joke? She didn't really understand and she felt bad about asking what the punchline was exactly. The word gravity seems familiar, but it doesn't feel right saying it. Maybe this is something that's from his country? Mirabelle is really curious, but she needs to help Siffrin first.
The laughing turns into wheezing and coughs shortly after, followed by harsh winces of pain.
"I think I'm sick, Mira," he admits. Mirabelle fixes him with a face they can't see, considering his face is still in the floor.
Change, she's already exhausted and she feels horrible that she can't do more for her friend. Mirabelle can't find out what it is until Siffrin is more lucid to describe the symptoms they're feeling, but without help, he might feel worse.
She helps him up, placing him back into his bed before quickly dashing to the living area. There's a drawer that they ended up using strictly for medicine or anything that heals, just to be organized. Mirabelle grabs a simple cold medicine bottle before entering Siffrin's room again.
They've already cuddled and twirled back into a cocoon of blankets. She taps him through it, holding out two little pills.
Siffrin stares at them, eyes lidded very heavily and just takes the pills and throws them back. Once she's sure he's actually swallowed them and won't choke on them, Mirabelle reaches and takes off their lopsided eye-patch.
She sits on the edge of the bed with her hands clasped in front of her. Mirabelle whispers a simple healing spell, and her hands light up with soft, warm craft. Smelling like mints and plums.
Her hands are gently placed on Siffrin's back and she starts massaging his back, expertly moving the craft through his body.
She hears a soft groan and watches as he melts further into the bed. Yeah, this was a good idea. It seemed like Siffrin is relaxing a lot more, and it might feel really good.
Maybe it's craft sickness? A lot of the studies and reports had shown that it never really goes away. It was also very few cases that were able to get as intense as Siffrin's sickness. Maybe it came back like a normal cold? Just with the body pains?
It would be a bit more helpful if Siffrin was actually lucid enough to explain anything to her. Mirabelle could also document it and ask Euphrasie if this was supposed to be normal.
Focusing back on the present, it seems he's fallen asleep and it's actually coming a lot easier. Siffrin still has their fever, their body probably still hurts, but he isn't wheezing and gasping for breath in his sleep. A win for Mirabelle.
She stands, dispelling her healing craft and walking to the door. She closes it, taking a breath out before turning to go tell everyone when she sees Madame Odile standing in the hallway doorway. Mirabelle freezes, smiling anxiously.
"He's sick, isn't he?" she asks. Wow, she's really good at reading everyone. Or maybe Mirabelle just can't mask and lie as easily as she thought. Maybe she could take lessons from Siffrin about that.
"Yeah, he tried getting up out of bed and fell flat on his face…" Mirabelle said. Odile seemed a bit concerned, but she schooled her expression quickly.
"They had a fever and it took quite a bit of effort to stand or even raise himself on his arms. Like their body was in pain. I just gave him two of the cold pills," Mirabelle quickly explains. She doesn't really remember if there were any other symptoms, unless she counted her speculations at what was going wrong.
"Probably an aftereffect of craft sickness. We might need to read a book about it or contact Euphrasie, see if she knows anything that could help. I suggest treating it the same way we did before, taking it slow," Madame Odile instructs. Mirabelle nods. Now, they just have to tell everyone else and hope this sickness isn't too harmful for Siffrin.
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