He-Thing was awakened

when someone came into his room.

It was night again,

and darkness covered

everything,

oozing intangibly

through the air.

There was a click,

the lamp was illuminated,

and golden light spread its wings

across the room.

It was Geuraine.

She came to the bedside,

took his wrist into her hands,

and felt his pulse.

“How are you feeling?”

she asked.

He did not respond.

The lamplight was

incredibly disorienting,

and his mind was watery.

He-Thing tried to shift in bed,

but with his slightest movement,

rivers of pain emerged

in his abdomen,

and he winced in shock.

Geuraine watched him

stoically.

“I will give you something

for the pain,”

she said.

She let go of his wrist,

but her touch lingered

afterward.

He-Thing clenched his body,

freezing it in place,

willing it not to move,

so to not experience

such pain again.

He had thought the surgery

would relieve his agony;

it only worsened it.

Geuraine took a small pebble

from her pocket,

and smeared a dark paste onto it.

“Here,” she said,

“Suck on this.

It will relieve the pain.

But it will not taste good.”

He-Thing did as he was told.

The strange mixture was fetid;

but that was only a hint

of its moldy taste.

“I am sorry,” said Geuraine.

“I know it tastes terrible.

I tried it once.”

She gave a small laugh.

“But I did not try

as much

as you have in your mouth.”

He-Thing’s tongue

shivered in disgust.

He sucked at the pebble

with as much strength as he could,

hoping to absorb the medicine

as quickly as possible.

Geuraine cupped her hand

beneath He-Thing’s mouth.

“Spit,” she commanded.

He did.

She wiped his chin with a cloth,

and disposed of the pebble.

“I have to see to your wound,”

she said.

“Alright,” he croaked,

the first words he had spoken

since he awoke.

Geuraine lowered his blanket,

revealing his wound.

He averted his gaze.

“Do you not want to see it?”

She asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Her tone betrayed her curiosity.

He did not have an answer.

He just could not bear it.

He-Thing felt

the medicine taking effect.

A warm feeling

spread out from his chest,

his heart slowed,

and his fingers stilled.

Geuraine cracked a fire rock

and dropped it into

the basin next to the bed;

instantly the water inside

became steaming hot.

She dipped a cloth into the water,

and cleaned the leakage

from his wound.

“Are you feeling better now?”

She asked.

“Yes.”

“Can you feel what I am doing?”

“Yes. The water is warm.”

“Good,” Gueraine said.

“I did not give you too much

medicine.”

“You grew up in the capitol?”

Geuraine asked.

“Yes,” He-Thing answered,

groggy,

“For the most part.

I travelled around a lot

with my teacher.”

“What is the West like?”

she asked.

He-Thing thought about it.

“A lot of old architecture.

A lot of the history

is embodied

in the cities, the buildings,

everything.”

“Do you miss it?”

she asked.

He let out a chuckle.

“Not a lot of adventure to be found

in the West.

But —

the summer evenings,

when the air is cooling,

I miss that sometimes.”

“That sounds nice,” said Geuraine.

She finished what she was doing

and disappeared from the room

for a moment.

She returned pushing in

a squat, gray sorcery-machine

on wheels.

“I’m going to infuse you

with the Blue Nectar now,”

said Geuraine.

“Lay your hand palm down.”

He did.

She took a hose

from the sorcery-machine,

at the end of which

was a long needle.

“You’re going to feel

a sharp poke,”

she said,

and he did, distantly.

She attached the hose

to a vein, and then flipped

the sorcery-machine’s

switches.

It began to hum.

“I am going to leave you now,”

said Geuraine.

“Try to get some sleep.”

She threw her cloth into a bucket

and wiped her hands on her apron.

She moved to the lamp

to extinguish it,

but then turned back to him.

“I am sorry this is not over yet,”

she said.

“It will take time.

I know a man like you,

in the situation you are in...”

her voice trailed off.

He-Thing grimaced.

“I have no choice,”

he told her.

“What else can I do?”

“Yes,”

she agreed.

to be continued...