Another week passed by. I did not do anything special other than to eat and drink medicine the doctors gave me. And although they were proclaiming to see gods doing in my healing, which was joyous news for the duchy, it did strike me as at least strange, that a poison which made someone to be bedridden for half a year and brink him to death's door, could (almost) stand up on his own legs after only 2 weeks after the symptoms disappeared.

Wait!... God, I am not complaining, ok! No need to prove me wrong, thank you for your cooperation! Amen?

So I decided to use the week to further calm my emotions of my reincarnation and to analyse the memories I got, so I would not scare my family to death and to understand the world around me better.

“My poor little Leo! I am so sorry I could not visit you any sooner. I … I feared that if I saw you bedridden, that I would lose my mind as last… I was praying for your health, but it just got worse and worse … I am really happy to see you alive!” An old woman hugged me since the early morning and just repeatedly talked, kissed and cried. She was really a mess, but so were my own emotions as I hugged her back, even though my body hurt all over.

In my memories she was red-haired 1,95 tall woman with brown eyes, packed with muscles and always having a sword or Warhammer (most of the time both) at her side. And while she was not a heavenly beauty, she was a proud woman that would do and say what she thought, even if standing in the Lord's Hall berating the king in front of the realm. Even with an age of over 60 years, she made most of the kingdom's knights question the meaning of life and was still duelling every morning her knights into shape. And now this woman, my grandmother Eleonora, was shivering and crying while hugging me for half the day. Which did not help my emotions any bit.

What should I say in this situation? My own situation was not the best, but Eleonora was a loving grandmother for me and my little sister Donita. My own body, maybe out of reflex, hugged her and tried to calm her down. And there was already the ten-year-old tragedy, when my parents died, which devastated Eleonora and brought her to the brink of insanity. And to almost lose her grandchild after this…

“Grandma…, I am so sorry to make you worry about me so much.” I finally got out of my throat.

“Shhh, child. It is okay, everything will be alright.” Eleonora interrupted me, shushing and hugging me even closer.

As time went by, we both stabilised again, and Eleonora, my grandmother and the current Grand Duchess of the Sarembrian Islands, sat up on my bed and slowly shifted the blanket away to look at my legs. She looked at my right leg and touched lightly it to feel any disfigurements on it.

“My little lion, how could this be. The scar will not heal, sure, but I really cannot find anything that would stop you to walk normally. Are you in much pain?”

“No grandma. It is fine now, but when I stand up, I have to shift my weight to the left. It is more of a sharp pain: there more weight there is on the right, the more pain I feel. And walking is more like jumping around…” I explained to my grandmother, which just made her look even more worried about me. “… but! I am lucky to be still alive and it could be even worse. I am just happy to soon leave the bedchamber grandma!” I smiled with a toothy grin, trying to break the ride of emotions for her and for myself.

Yeah… that did not help, as Eleonore looked even sadder as tears started to build up in her red eyes. But she caught herself and tried to smile back (which really did not look good) “You are right little one, you are right. We need to treasure what we have.” She nodded at me and looked into my eyes. “I am so happy that you are well. And your sister is also. But you need to know, I could not bring it to my heart to tell your sister about you… I just told her that you were away travelling. It is my fault she is not here today.”

She took the walking cane, more a massive wooden stick with a bronze knob on top than an elegant cane, and put it down next to me, so that I could reach it with my hands. “At least try to walk some Leo. You need to build up at least some muscles to be healthy again. Will you?” She asked me in a loving voice.

“Yes grandmother, I promise. And thank you for your gift.” I nodded to her.

She smiled, stood up and walked to the door of my chamber. A quiver of sadness, hope and rage was in her voice. “Take the next month to get back into some shape. The situation is not stable out there and I need to make you ready for your succession. And do not hope to have some free time with your friends, Leo! Your uncle Gennach will come tomorrow to look into your rehabilitation.”