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“Hey, Cain. Have you seen Rhys or Geoffrey around recently? I know Titania is sick, I don’t know if they’re helping her. I mean, certainly Geoffrey would not help Rhys with that kind of thing,” Marth said to me as I walked through the throne room this morning, “I feel that they’ve gone missing.”
“No, they haven’t. They haven’t gone missing. Geoffrey is changing and Rhys is making sure Caeda is doing better, remember? Titania is doing better than yesterday, so Rhys let her independently choose what she wanted to do today. She said it would be one more day before she ends up training Lucas up again. Although, really, he could be done by the end of today.”
“They’re not missing then?”
“Nope. Could Lucas graduate from the recruit program at the end of the day? He’s practically done.”
“All right. Can you and Abel teach him today? Geoffrey! Continue helping Ike, alright?”
“Of course!” Geoffrey said as he hurried out of the throne room.
Abel came with Lucas a half hour before training started. I pulled Abel to the side and told him what the plans were.
“Lucas is practically done. Like he just needs to practice one more thing. Be able to graduate at the end of the day.”
“Same deal for the graduation? With what happened to you, Abel?”
“Yeah.”
Lucas’ graduation came practically around lunch. He mastered the attack pretty quick, and we went to go talk to Marth about it.
“Really? This is the second cavalier recruit in a week!”
“So I’m, uh, officially a knight now, right?”
“Yup.”
“SWEET!”
I got the rest of the day off, and by the end of it, I was really tired. More than usual. Rhys had someone else working with Caeda, and came to where I was-- the room that Marth let me have in return for training the recruits. Unfortunately, I was completely asleep by the time he came to check on me. Asleep in my clothes, I might add. On top of the bed sheets. Hot. I was really warm. I had bathed and EVERYTHING, and yet I was still warm. I had fallen asleep with wet hair. Marth had asked Rhys to come because I seemed “out of it.” Marth had come in, too-- I heard his voice outside the room.
Rhys walked up to the bed and I heard him say, “Cain. Roll over. Please.”
I groaned in my half sleeping state. I slightly opened my left eye. Rhys and Marth both stand up above me, looking down. I just realized I was thirsty. Geoffrey came in to toss me a capped up pitcher full of water.
“Drink up, Cain.”
I distinctly remember catching the pitcher, which Rhys opened, and chugged. I don’t remember anything after that. Rhys had probably pulled Marth or Abel over at some point. Lucas wanted to visit, too. Rhys told Lucas and Abel to visit when I’m awake or better, probably.
I woke up the following morning starving and freezing. I wanted to know if I could change out of my pajamas. I slipped myself slowly under the covers. Rhys walked in and told me I was sick-- almost everyone that moved here after the war had gotten it. I was the last.
“Can… I… at least… get something… to eat… and drink?” I asked.
I realized my voice was coming out slowly. Lucas came in and practically tackled me.
“Cain! You alright?”
“Sick…”
I looked at Lucas. I smiled, even though it was kind of hard. Lucas handed me a homemade card.
“Well, I was thinking… You know, since you were the one that kind of taught me better than Titania, I’d thought it would be good to give you a card.”
I slowly started propping myself up to a sitting position. I looked around the room, confused. I don’t know if this is Rhys’s room or if it’s just mine.
“Hey, what’s with the confused look on your face for?”
“Ah, I don’t know.”
“I better get going.”
“Alright.”
Marth and Abel walked in soon after Lucas had left. Abel was holding a pot of Est’s food, and Marth tossed me another pitch of water. I ate and drank so fast that I almost puked. Marth almost told me that I shouldn’t be eating and drinking that fast, but he kept it in. I burped.
“Cain, you any better?” Abel asked.
“I think so, yeah..”
I tried standing up and moving a couple paces, and broke a dead sprint towards the bathroom.
“You’re not puking, are you?” Marth asked.
“No, but I drank so much water…”
It’s true though. I did drink so much water last night. Wait, was it really last night?
“How long was I out for?” I walked back into the room and asked.
“Since the day before yesterday.”
“At least I’m better, right?” I said, laughing.
This is the most adventurous thing I've done since we got here. I got sick ! Wait so if Rhys said everyone got sick, and I was the last one to get sick, then who was the first person to get sick? I remember Marth didn't get sick for a couple of weeks, because Abel had had it before he came to join the recruits, so it must have been from him. I remember Lucas complaining the day that we started up that he had gotten some sickness or whatever before he made it here, and wasn't able to join the recruits before him. It made him feel better that he had one on one lessons, though. After I managed to stumble out of my quarters to the training grounds, Lucas walked up to me.
"I really enjoyed it though. The one on one lessons. But, everyone else was sick where I came from, and the place is really really remote. I thought you taught me better than Titania, Cain. For that, I'm really grate--"
"I know you're grateful, Lucas. You don't have to tell me more than once. I've seen you show your gratitude to me on several occasions."
I looked at him with a small smile. Marth came out, and walked up.
"Cain? You decided to get out?"
"I couldn't breathe in there! It was too humid!"
"Sorry I borrowed your shower this morning..." Lucas said, "but my entire village is coming over 'cause they think there's some big recruit graduation ceremony. I would write to them and tell them not to come, but they insist on everything."
"Ah! Lucas!"
"Mom! No, no!"
The rest of Lucas' village came up and asked him when the ceremony was. He looked at me, and I shrugged. Marth turned to me.
"Cain, why don't you go clean yourself."
"You sure you can wait?"
Marth realized Abel was walking by.
"ABEL! Can you do me a huge favor?"
"Sure."
"Help with this alright?"
I had the idea of running into the stables and using the horses' wash stall to clean myself up. Geoffrey had left some of his shampoo there, so I used it. The worst part was when I heard footsteps. It was just Geoffrey. He walked up to me.
"You alright, Cain? You're showering in the horse wash stall..."
"In my clothes, yeah. I'm fine. Could you go get me a chang of clothes, please?" I asked as I finished up showering.
"That's why I keep a spare pair of your clothes here, Cain. And here's a towel. I'll bring the wet stuff back for you."
"Thanks!"