Young Writers Society

Author's Notes: 1,051 words.

As expected, Aquila was in the hospital tent. He'd been moved this time, onto a makeshift bed nudged up against one corner. Eremia hated the room - it smelled too much of blood and organs, and half of the objects had a pale yellow color. She pretended not to listen to the faint groaning of some of the patients, or notice that some of them didn't move. Eremia stepped daintly over sheets scattered on the floor as Katerina, tromping and slipping around, led her inside. Once or twice, Katerina nearly yanked the both of them to the floor, but her quick reflexes saved them. Why Katerina had decided to go barefoot, exposing her claws, was beyond Eremia.

Aquila tried to hide his amusement, but it was clear on his smile. Nestled among the blankets, he seemed almost complacent, if not for his drooping eyes. When Eremia looked at him, he wrapped a blanket around his head so that only his beak poked out. "Hello," he said nervously.

Katerina kicked one of the sheets aside. "I swear, Madeleine does this on purpose. She always said that I would be better off standing on the other side of camp while she worked."

Eremia thought of a sarcastic response, but shelved it - she didn't want to upset the person keeping her on two feet. I suppose she would be a friend? That might be a bit much, since I only met her such a short time ago. And she seems to be everyone's friend. Is she even ever angry? What would that look like? I cannot imagine her as intimidating, and yet -

Nudging her, Katerina whispered in her ear, "you've been staring at him for almost a minute now, and I think it's making him uncomfortable."

She was right; Aquila was shivering. Eremia coughed and tried to think of something. "Ahem - about that time - ". The princess in her scowled and crossed her arms; Eremia would have nothing to do with these indignities, she declared. She had merely acted rashly. It was he who should be apologizing to her for worrying and confusing her by failing to tell the whole story. Why did she have to stoop to his level?

Yet, she could see the quavering Aquila and know that he was afraid of her. He hadn’t known what to say to her. "- my apologies. I had not meant to be so - callous."

Aquila stopped shaking. "Thanks," he said, "You're my lady, and I just want to show that I'm still loyal. I was afraid you hated me and that I couldn't - I couldn't - ". He resumed shaking.

"Wait, is that it?" Eremia whispered into Katerina's ear. "That anticlimatic?"

Katerina glared at her for a brief, unnerving instant, but went back to smiling. "Yep! All he needs now is a hug." And she went up and embraced Aquila, leaning on the bedframe to do so. Eremia, cautious and awkward, followed, hugging him from the other side of the bed.

Laughing briefly, Aquila said, "I guess I was kinda jealous, because you were with her, and, whatever you were doing, I thought that I was less helpful than a foreigner, and that hurt."

"I'm not a foreigner," replied Katerina, eyes narrowing. Her voice was still soft. "The Confederacy isn't really that big, you know. Sure, maybe I’m not close enough to Exedor, but it’s not a big world. Also – excuse the segue - I've been meaning to ask a question."

"Hmm?"

"Every time I hear your name I think you're the King of the Eagles, because that's also his name. What's the deal with that?"

Aquila stuck out his head a little more as Katerina and Eremia both let go and went back to standing in front of him. "Sort of a respect thing? If it helps, I'm generally called Aquila the Lesser."

"Called it," whispered Katerina happily into Eremia's ear.

A voice, deep and low, came from behind them.

"Good day. It is nice to see you awake and well, Eremia. I was sent here to see that the sheets were still in place."

Eremia wheeled around to find Yorew. She felt the blood rush to her head as she saw him look between her and Aquila. When she began to lean, Katerina quickly propped her up with a shoulder. "Interested in Madeleine’s work, are you?" Eremia said when she had her coherency and a distracting subject.

"Healing is a very old profession of mine," explained Yorew, a tad too hastily, "And there are hardly enough healers here."

"You have been a constant presence in my childhood," said Eremia, smiling beatifically. "That you should suddenly disappear for longer than I can remember in so many years is particularly suspect, especially because you like to dote on me whenever I am ill. I did not think that it would take you this long for you to find someone you fancy."

"It is not - ah, it is not what it seems. The injury was rather large, and so Made- they did not heal it perfectly. I have had some issues in these past days, and they did not want me to upset you by acting so frail. Romance is hardly a thing on either of our minds."

Sighing, Eremia shook her head. “You are dreadful at lying, you know; I hope that you did not take lessons from Jonah.” She watched him as he bent over to rearrange the sheets, moving patiently and silently. He was not going to respond, and that was final.

Aquila yawned and stretched. “I think I’d like to go outside now.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” said Katerina, stepping away as Yorew smoothed the sheet next to her feet. She nudged Eremia. “Might as well see if we can find your handsome man again, am I right?”

Eremia blushed as they stepped away from the tent. For a second, in a passing glance, she thought she could catch Yorew smiling out of the corner of his mouth.

Katerina shook her head. “Nah, I know he’s wonderful, but word is that he’s only interested in Terasu. Old friends, always been together, a shoulder for her to lean on, all that. Has anyone heard from her lately? She’s so quiet these days.”