Work Text:
A hot itch wrapped around Palina's leg.
She stopped dead in the water except for the churn of her arms and the gentle shake of her leg. Tentacool venom. If she freed herself carefully, she should have nothing to worry about.
The constant push of the waves made it difficult to see, let alone extricate herself. She'd done this a thousand times, but the water was especially choppy today, and it kept jostling her. She kept her eyes fixed on the red glow of the Tentacool's pseudo-eyes. All her kicking only seemed to be disturbing the it, but she just couldn't quite get her leg free.
It moved closer, flooding the water with yet more purple toxin. The stinging got worse, braids of fire wrapping around her calf and foot.
Okay. Perhaps things were not so simple. She just had to... If she could just...
Try as she might to give the Tentacool space, the waves kept rocking them closer together. She kicked again just as the waves dropped, and her foot bounced off the gelatinous bell.
The Tentacool shrieked and stabbed her in the thigh with one of its stingers. Immediately, a deep ache bloomed through the muscle. A red cloud joined the purple in the water, making a cloudy brown haze.
Shit! Palina turned over, back onto her stomach, and swam for all she was worth. Her right leg resisted all attempts at use, sending white-hot flares up her skin. The muscles in her thigh seized up violently, squeezing and shaking with every attempt at effort.
But every time she raised her head above the waves, the shore was a little closer.
If only Iscan were here in his boat. But it seemed lightning didn't strike twice, and coincidence was only coincidence. Iscan had his own duties to attend to. He didn't know where she was. He didn't know that she needed him. Shouting would only waste breath, but Palina couldn't help it. Her muscles clenched, and her skin felt like it was melting. It drew a shriek out of her, cut short when saltwater splashed into her mouth.
When the waves pushed her to shore, she barely noticed the rocks and shells digging into her knees. She crawled out of the shallows and collapsed in the sandy dirt, gasping and shaking. Her vision pulsed black at the edges, and blood ran down her thigh in watery rivulets.
Footsteps splashed in the water.
"I-Iscan?" Palina couldn't raise her head.
"Lina!"
No.
No, no, no.
Anyone but her. Anyone. Even that tall, obnoxious one from the Diamond Clan. Even Jubilife's frightening Commander.
Anyone but Irida.
"Lina!" Irida fell to her knees, blocking out the harsh light of the sun for a moment before she shifted. Pain exploded through Palina's thigh a moment later as Irida shoved a cloth against the wound.
Palina gasped, the back of her head driving into the dirt as her back arched. "Get— get off me—"
"You're bleeding," Irida said, sounding genuinely sorry. But she didn't let the pressure ease.
"It's not that bad!" It really wasn't. She was out of the water now, and Growlithe couldn't be far. If anything tried to hurt her, he'd come running, Lord Arcanine on his heels. So she really didn't need Irida here, taking something she was sure to hold over her later. 'I saved your life, Lina, don't you remember?' 'Is that any way to talk to your savior, Lina?' She'd be insufferable. Mighty Palkia could put them at opposite ends of vast Hisui and it still wouldn't be enough space.
With a deep exhale, Palina sat up. Reality distorted and pulsed, and she had to stare for a long time before it made sense.
Irida had both hands pressed into a scrap of cloth that had gone damp with blood and seawater. But it was only a little red spot, and it wasn't growing much. Farther down, scarlet lines made strange tattoos on her lower leg. Her stomach rolled, irritated, hoping to release some of the toxin.
"I have Pecha berries," Irida said, glancing toward her pack. "Do you have muskroot? I can get a fire started—"
"I don't need your help!" Palina crossed her arms, glaring. Typical, this was so typical. Leave it to Irida to barge in where she wasn't wanted, because (as she was so fond of reminding everyone) she was the leader of the Pearl Clan. So entitled to everyone's space.
Irida jerked back a little, loosening some of the pressure on Palina's leg. "Lina—"
"I told you to stop calling me that."
"Palina," Irida amended, all apology. "You're hurt. You're bleeding."
"I know how to handle myself," Palina snapped. Like she really cared, anyway. Probably she was just going to take this story back to the Pearl Clan so she could reinforce her superiority. Telling everyone how she rescued poor, eccentric Palina. Palina who couldn't cut it. Palina who needed some strange sky-faller's help to reach her true potential.
Irida sat back and crossed her arms. "Can you even walk?"
Little brat. Palina swatted the cloth off her thigh and got to her feet. Immediately, her leg began to scream and her pulse pounded in her ears and in her eyes, darkness flashing at the edges of her vision. But she stayed up. At no point would she ever faint or falter in front of Irida. "There," she said, forcing her voice to remain even. "I told you I can handle myself. I've been swimming in these waters almost as long as I've been alive."
Irida looked at her for a long moment with a hard, unreadable gaze. "...Do you really want me to go?"
"Yes."
"Right." Irida nodded shortly and took a step back, but hesitated. "I could... go get Iscan for you."
"Leave him out of this," Palina snapped. Like she needed Irida inflicting herself on any more spheres of her life. The fact that even felt comfortable coming to the beach was bad enough. She'd probably been hoping for a fake chance meeting like this. Out for an innocent walk, of course, with no plans to accost Palina with her superiority. All so innocent.
Irida sighed. "Alright, Lina. You win. I'll go."
Lina. There it was again. She'd never change.
Palina glared at her. "So go."
And Irida went.
As soon as she had passed out of view,
Palina bent double and exhaled slowly. Her leg wanted so badly to buckle, but she couldn't give in. Nothing was wrong. If she was hurt, Irida was right, which meant thay she had, in some cosmic way, won.
Steeling herself, Palina began to limp toward her cabin. She just needed to sleep this off.
—
Palina's leg burned, but she had not made a mistake. It was very simple. If she was wrong, then Irida was right. And Irida was not right. Therefore, Palina was not wrong.
That made sense, didn't it? She ran the logic through her swimming head as she limped down the beach toward the outcrop where Iscan was waiting. The wounds in her leg burned as she went, but the bandages around her thigh remained dry and unmarked, so she was fine.
Her vision pulsed, but she was fine.
Her muscles seized, but she was fine.
Iscan's face lit up when he saw her, but the smile faded all too quickly. "Uh... Palina?"
She sidled up to the blanket, staring at it. Bending her injured leg would hurt, but maybe she could just bend the other one?
She tried it and wobbled, and Iscan leapt to his feet to help her sit. "Palina! What happened?"
"I'm fine," she said automatically, because, while Iscan's mile-wide caring streak was sweet, it would ruin the picnic if he started fussing over her. "I had a run-in with a Tentacool, but it's alright."
Iscan peered at the bandage, wide-eyed. "Are you sure? Those stings look nasty."
Palina gave him as sunny a smile as she could muster. "Of course I'm sure!"
"Alright." Iscan stroked her arm and cast a last look at her leg before turning his attention to what he had set out on the blanket. "Well, I hope you're hungry! I made a lot of food, and I didn't even have to use Shadow Ball this time."
Palina adjusted herself, though it made her leg scream, and leaned against him, nuzzling against his chest. "My brave Iscan."
Food was precious resource in Hisui. You didn't put together a spread like this for just anyone, full of extravagant foods that wouldn't keep. He'd even tapped a birch tree for her, and had the juice waiting in a little lacquerware cup.
Palina could have cried. Even a small amount of toxin in the bloodstream had a way of stirring up nausea, and she had taken more than a small amount. Just the thought of food raised a great, falling nausea, like the drop of a massive wave. She nuzzled Iscan's chest again, her head pulsing in violent bursts. "Thank you for this, Iscan. You're wonderful."
He stroked her hair, which was in tangles and stiff with salt. He never seemed to mind. "It— It's not much, really. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Irida is wrong," Palina said dreamily. "I'm fine."
Iscan shifted beneath her. "Irida?"
"Nothing. Everything's fine."
"Palina, no, um offense, but I'm starting to doubt that. You— You're beautiful, of course, but you don't look well."
"Oh, but." Palina sat up with an effort and nearly folded over at the fresh wave of nausea that washed over her. Her leg throbbed and itched, the puncture wound feeling more like a thick wooden stake through her thigh. "You went to so much effort."
"It's easy enough to get ice around here," Iscan assured her. "It will keep. N-now, um. Did you see Irida? Or are you... delirious?"
"Let's not talk about it," Palina said, looking him in the eyes to reassure him.
"Alright." Iscan got up. "I'm just going to run home. Will you be alright for a moment?"
"Oh," Palina said watching the waves roll, "I think so."
Iscan whistled for his Basculegion (much smaller than his noble) and took off at a run.
Palina was drifting by the time he returned, her body lulled to a restless, bilious sort of sleep. The sleep of the envenomated. She always woke up with a headache after.
The smell of wood smoke filled the air. She opened her bleary eyes and found Iscan tending a fire he had made in a small pit in the sand. In the water Basculegion swam back and forth, watching her. "Hi."
He looked at her through the smoke. "Hi. How are you feeling?"
"Pretty bad, " she admitted, because Iscan had been worried about her too. Never mind Irida. If she was wrong, then Iscan was right, and she could endure that.
"I thought so." He dropped something into a little pot sitting in the coals. "Mind if I take care of you?"
Palina lifted her head as much as she was able to smile at him, no doubt looking exactly as loopy and lovesick as she felt. "Not at all."
Iscan did more than treat her wounds. He rubbed her feet and bundled her up and carried her back to his cabin, and cleaned up all the picnic things they hadn't gotten to enjoy. She watched him with a wistful sigh. All the space in all Hisui, and she had been lucky enough to cross paths with him.
Iscan heard and looked up from the bag he was unpacking. "Are you okay?"
Palina opened her arms to him like a child, sighing in contentment when he took her into his arms. Her leg still ached distantly, and would for a while, but that was alright. She was alright. "Thank you, Iscan. I'm sorry about today."
"It's okay." Iscan pressed his lips to her forehead. "We have plenty of time."