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Yelan did not fear pain. She did not even particularly fear death, but she still preferred to avoid that one. The threat of pain or discomfort, nor its execution, could not dissuade Yelan from her path. In fact, the raised stakes often added a rush that made the chase all the more thrilling. After all, Yelan would not be as enthusiastic to do a job such as hers unless she found even the dangers exciting.
However, she was quickly reminded of her limits in the face of the mundane, and even Yelan was forced to admit that there was one malady she absolutely could not stand: being sick.
It was annoying, it was aggravating, and it was aggressively persistent. There was no brute forcing her way into not having a fever or clogged airways. She could ignore it, perhaps, and wait for the medicine treatment to run through its course, but because she was sick with some innocuous viral infection and not an insidious poison, everyone in her circle was perfectly content in making her rest.
Not like the idea of staying home and laying low was particularly bad. Yelan understood that it was undeniably the best course of action in this current state, since she was not in top form and that could be taken advantage of. However, it was dreadfully dull and boring because her mind was active enough to fool herself that she could do things, except here she was, clutching her kitchen counter hard enough to break—if she wasn’t so weak, anyway.
Archons, she hated this… It was a frustrating state to be in, and all the more frustrating in that she could not plan her revenge or counter-strike for this, because there was none to give. Just nature.
“Yelan?”
Footsteps rounded the corner, and took Yelan a few blank seconds to determine whether or not she should be concerned until she remembered that no, she wasn’t alone, and no, it wasn’t a threat. If it was, then she would likely be dead by now, which… probably cycled back to it being a good thing that she wasn’t alone. Even though she was admittedly exasperated that she needed a babysitter at all.
Yanfei tutted behind her, her hands on her hips. “I told you, if you needed anything you could ask me.”
Because Yanfei was far too kind for her own good, she had easily been convinced by Ningguang to stay with Yelan for the worst of her illness; her adeptal blood made her resistant, more than a Vision alone could. Yelan knew that her companion was kindhearted, of course, but admittedly even she was surprised. She didn’t think they were that close, to warrant Yanfei taking time away from her own beloved work to comfort Yelan while she was forced to lie low and recover. It was… a warm feeling, but also disconcerting, because Yelan had never intended to grow that close—to allow the threshold from companion to friend to be crossed.
Or maybe she was missing something obvious due to the fever.
“Yelan…?” Yanfei said again, significantly more worried, and Yelan realized she spaced out.
“Oh. Sorry.” That was embarrassing. “I was just going to—” She coughed against her will, unable to suppress it. “—get some water. And stand up.”
Yanfei narrowed her eyes, the action accentuated by her slanted pupils. It wasn’t intimidating, of course, but it caught Yelan’s attention all the same. “You shouldn’t be moving around too much. Doctor Baizhu was very specific about that.”
“I just moved a room over…” she muttered sourly, irked more from being actually tired from the simple action more than the stringent order. The renewed coughing was worsening her throat past the point of water helping anyway. Ugh. What a mess.
While she was busy trying to remember how to breathe properly, Yanfei crossed the room with ease and reached upward to place a hand on her forehead. “You’re burning up again. Come on, go lay back down and I’ll make you some tea and medicine.”
Defeated, Yelan obliged. Yanfei returned as promised with the discussed goods, as well as a cool rag for her neck.
“Thanks,” she mumbled, mentally bemoaning the way her muscles protested both laying down and standing up. The uselessness of it all rubbed her the wrong way. And here Yelan thought that she would never be anyone’s burden. “Guess I owe you, hm?”
Yanfei, purer and honestly far better than Yelan and her twisted heart, just smiled back. “Just for you to get better—though I wouldn’t say no to you treating me for dinner, afterwards.”