Young Writers Society

Ky nodded. She could manage that… hopefully. No. She could. She had to. This wasn’t optional. She forced herself to take another tiny sip and started coughing this time.

Aleth was also trembling badly but was far too prideful to let the assistant help him, so he leaned heavily against the headboard and very, very slowly sipped it. If he was losing his toes, may as well do it when he couldn’t feel them. It’d be worse once he was warm.

“Sorry,” Tadaaki murmured, staring at the cup rather than the assistant. “Sorry. I—sorry.” This was so hard. He was making such a bad first impression — disobeying on something so simple. They probably hated him already. And for good reason. There was no use in a disobedient slave.

"Do you need help?" the assistant asked. He was a petite young man of about Tadaaki's age, with nimble fingers and an attentive gaze. "I can hold it for you."

"Slow, dear, slow." Sera rested a hand on her shoulder.

“I… sorry.” Tadaaki cringed and nodded slightly. He was going to spill it all over himself if he kept trying.

Ky flinched slightly but nodded. One more. Just one. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath then took another sip. She had to hold it in her mouth for a long moment before she managed to get her throat ready to accept the scalding liquid. That was it, right? No more? She looked back at the kind-looking woman hopefully.

"No worries." He held the mug to Tadaaki's lips.

Sera nodded to her. "Very good." She took the mug away. "Is some feeling coming back? Are you adjusting alright?"

“Yes’m.” She was dying is what she was doing. Her entire body felt like it was on the verge of shattering and somehow the longer she rested the worse she felt. But she couldn’t say that, obviously. She was fine. She had to be.

Tadaaki took a sip with about the same success Ky had had.

Aleth forced down a bit more than either of them and now sat clutching the mug. It felt like he was holding a flaming ember. But he had to trust it wasn’t as hot as it felt. An apothecary wouldn’t give him a mug hot enough to harm him.

"Are you sure? I need to know if you aren't."

The assistant nodded and waited for Tadaaki to recover.

Ky looked at her for a long moment, torn. Did she eat her pain like a good little slave? Or did she tell the truth? She couldn’t do both. She didn’t know which she should try. But. Then. All it would take was her poking Ky again to see she was lying if she claimed to feel okay. “… it feels… very… bad.”

"That's fully understandable. You're still adjusting to the heat, I expect. At least you're not shivering as badly anymore, right?" She took a warm, dry cloth from near the fire. "How about you tell me your name and how I ought to refer to you while I start warming your back and chest up?"

“…Ky, ma’am.”

She nodded. "Ky, then." She undid some of the blankets, moving toward Ky's chest and stomach with the cloth.

Ky sucked her gut in as far as she could and pressed herself against the mattress, but it helped not at all. Ky let out a sharp breath, entire body tensed. To the point that she couldn’t draw another breath. But that was okay. Maybe if she stopped breathing then she didn’t have to be awake for this torture.

She saw the binder and frowned, glancing at Aleth and Tadaaki and lowering her voice. "Why is this here?" she asked.

“I—“ Ky looked at her with wide eyes, panicked. They hadn’t talked about this. What was she supposed to do? If the woman told her to remove it — and she would be seriously surprised if she didn’t — then she’d see the truth for herself. Was… was it worth it to…?

She glanced over at Tadaaki but he was too focused on trying to drink the tea with the help of the assistant to notice.

Ky glanced back at woman then dropped her gaze and shook her head. “I don’t know.”

"You don't know?" Her brow furrowed. "Did you put it on, dear?"

“I…” Ky barely resisted the urge to look back at Tadaaki. Why was she expecting him to talk her out of this mess? That’s not how it worked, and they both knew it. She was supposed to be the talker. “I’m… supposed to…”

Was there any point in trying to maintain her facade at this point? She was a girl. If the woman made her take the binder off then it’d reveal the body of a girl. And that was the whole point of the binder in the first place — to keep people from noticing.

Perhaps she should just give it up. It’d be nice to be seen as who she was again. Well. Seen as a girl, anyhow. She was still… she still had to be Kyber. Even if she gave up his pronouns.