Essentia

by Ninana Howard

  "You are welcome brother. One thing though, I think it would embarrass her if she knew that both of us stripped her down, cleaned and changed her. So when she asks, don't say anything about me helping ok." Both of our faces are flushed. I do not want her to feel violated or anything of the sort.

  "I agree with you. I don't think she would take that too well" Enre says.

  Just then there is a knock at the door. Aiden must be here already. I go to answer the door. When I open it, Aiden stood there with a bag in his hand. Looking past him I see two of his guards both with their arms full of bags. I step aside and let them enter. The guards put the bags on the sofa in the living room and leave to stand watch outside. "You brought enough for an army Aiden" I smile at him.

  "With everything going on, I thought it wise to bring everything I had, you never know when we are going to need it, My Lord." Aiden states. Looking over at the couch full of bags.

  "Thank you, if you have some vaxen leaves I will go make a tea for our Terra. Her fever is really high, and when I get done, I will explain what happened alright." I say to him. He goes over to one of the bags and looking through it for the leaves. He pulls out a brown paper packet and hands it to me. "Thank you, no more formalities alright, you can call me Thegan," I say to him. His eyebrows shot up, but he doesn't say anything. He just nods his head. I motion for him to come with me to the kitchen to make the tea. While it is boiling, I ask him "have you had any luck on finding a Haruspex?"

  "Not yet my lord, I mean Thegan. My men are searching as we speak. It shouldn't be long, though, we have a few good leads on a couple of them." he says.

  "Good, the sooner, the better." I finish the tea and put an ice cube in it to cool it down. Then we both head to my room.

  Chapter Twelve

  Enre

  Continuing to wipe the sweat from her, I notice that Thegan and Aiden have just entered the room. Aiden noticed the pile of blood-soaked clothes laying in a pile and gasped. "That's a lot of blood, is it all hers?" He asked I just nod at him. The thought of all of that blood makes me almost sick to my stomach knowing it all came from her.

  "It is from a wound on her leg. We got it stitched up, and the bleeding stopped." Thegan said to Aiden. I am just glad she was not entirely conscious for that. It would have hurt her a lot worse.

  "She is going to need a poultice to prevent infection. I will go make some up for her. I have the ingredients with me." I nod at him, and he turns on his heels and exits the room in a speedy manner.

  "Here Brother, it Is Vaxen leaf tea. It will get rid of her fever." Thegan said handing me the cup. "She has to drink it all for it to help. I'm going to help Aiden with the poultice." He added as he leaves the room as well.

  I clean her up a little, cradling her head with my arm. Saying to her "My lady, you have to drink this it will bring your fever down." As I tilt the cup up to her lips. But she will not open them. She is too weak to drink the tea on her own. How can I get her to swallow the liquid? I will have to force it down her throat. That is the only way. "Please let this work. I'm sorry My Lady, but this is for your own good." I take the liquid into my mouth and slowly lean down and place my lips on hers. Her lips are soft like feathers. I think as they touch. I push my tongue out, to open her lips. When she opens them, I let the medicine glide slowly from my mouth to hers making sure she swallows it. I rub my hand up and down on her neck just to make sure. Once she has gotten all of the tea, I slowly remove my lips from hers. When I open my eyes, I jumped in shock. Her eyes were open, and she was looking straight at me. "Terra," I say in a low voice.

  "Enre, thank you," she expressed in a weak voice. I was not expecting that to happen.

  "Shhh My Lady. You need to rest now." she just slightly nods her head and falls back into a quiet slumber. After I know she is good and asleep, I change the cloth on her head and go to talk to Thegan and Aiden.

  As soon as I entered the main room, Thegan asks me "Did you get her to drink the tea, brother?" I blushed a little, not wanting to tell them how I ended up having to do it.

  "Yes, and she woke up for a minute as well. But she is resting now." I say. It is still very surprising that she was able to talk to me so soon after she had the pain medicine.

  "That's good. Hopefully, her fever will break soon. I have just finished explaining to Aiden what has happened brother, and he said he would help us any way he can" Thegan tells me. That's a relief, his help is much needed.

  "Thank you Aiden," I say to him. Tilting my head in his direction.

  He bows his head at me and says. "No thanks needed. The poultice for her wound will be done in a minute, it needs to be applied while it is still warm." After talking for a few minutes, we go to Thegan’s room to put the poultice on Terra’s leg. When I sit down on the bed, I notice that Terra has stopped sweating. Her fever has broken.

  I look at them and say "Her fever has broken." They both smile. I raise her gown up just high enough to get to the wound on her thigh, then I start to unbind it. Her wound has healed much more since the last time we changed the bandages. I put the poultice on her wound as gently as I can.

  "Ow, that hurts" I hear very softly.

  "Terra you are awake. I am sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. This poultice will keep infection away from your wound" I show it to her.

  "It's ok. It's not as bad now. It is just really tender. How many days have I been asleep?" she asked. We all looked back and forth at each other.

  Thegan is the one to answer her "My Lady, you have only been asleep for 9 hours." Her eyes went wide, and her mouth fell open when she looked at her leg.

  "How is that possible? My wound was massive. It looks almost healed now, healing takes time. I feel like I have been laying here for days." she said, confused about what's happening.

  "We do not understand it either My lady, but for now, whatever it is. I am grateful for it. I thought that you weren't going to make it " I say, the last part almost a whisper. I was terrified that the Gods were going to take her away.

  "I am glad that you are feeling better My lady," Aiden says to her. She gives him a small smile.

  "Thank you, Aiden. I owe the two of you my thanks as well it seems. If it wasn't for you, I don't know what would have happened." I know what would have happened. She would have died.

  Thegan, with a wink in my direction, bows a little and says, "We are here to serve, My lady." A grin spreads across her face, and she starts to giggle lightly. He did that to make her smile, I think to myself.

  After her leg is wrapped up, she looks down, her eyes full. "WHO changed my clothes?" She asks. Both Thegan and Aiden turn to leave the room very quickly. Thegan saying over his shoulder with a smile "I will let you handle that question Enre" and then they were gone.

  I could feel her eyes on me. I slowly turn around and lowered my head and say to her "It was I, My Lady, I'm sorry. The ones you were wearing was soaked with blood and sweat. So I thought it wise to change them."

  I figured she would be angry, but the look on her face said otherwise. "Thank you," she stated in a small voice. Then she added "I'm sorry I have caused you so much trouble" her expression saddened for a moment. That look caused pain in my chest.

  I walk over to the bed and sit down beside her, pulling her to my chest. "It was no trouble My Lady, you have my word. I am just relieved that you are alright." I say to her. The tension in her shoulders relaxes. I sit there holding her, running my hand through her hair.

  The next words out of her mouth were spoken quietly "Did you kiss me?" I can feel the heat rise in my cheeks remembering when my lips touched hers, the softness of them and the taste of sweetness on her tongue. I go to reply, but she spoke first. Just above a whisper she says "It's alright if you did." I look down at her as she looks up at me. Her face as flushed as mine.

  I lean down pause just before I place my lips against hers, her intake of breath is oddly arousing. "May I?" I ask her. "Uh-hu" she breathed out then I went the remaining distance. Our lips touched gent
ly and moved my hand to cup her face. I ran my tongue over her lips, urging them to part. When our tongues were intertwined, it was feeling of need and longing. Like Home. A feeling that I have never had before. A small moan escaped her lips. Oh, what a beautiful sound that was. I want her, I have to stop this before we go too far. I am almost at my wits end. I will not be able to hold myself back if we don't stop this now. I think inwardly. I don't want to hurt her. She is still injured. I slowly pulled away and looked at her, I have to say something to her, to cover the fact that I am almost at my limit. "Will that hold my Princess over for a while?" I say to her.

  Her response was not one I expected. She says "Only for a while good Prince, Only for a while." Then she smiled at me weakly.

  I grin at her in return and say. "I am sure you will not have to wait too long Princess." She blushed a little and said "Good." Fascinating creature indeed, I think to myself.

  "Well my Lady, if you think you can handle it, and you think you won't be in too much pain. I will carry you to the main room. I'm sure you must be hungry by now" I say to her. She has to be tired of laying in the bed.

  She laughed a little and says "I am starving."

  "We can't have that now can we. Hold on tight and let me know if I hurt you alright" I say to her. I then pick her up very gently and proceed to carry her to the living room. I walk her over to the sofa and set her down as gently as I can, as to not hurt her.

  "Thank you," She says to me. A light rose color filling her cheeks.

  "My Pleasure My Lady." I sit in the chair next to her. Thegan and Aiden are in the kitchen cooking something to eat, so I decide to take this opportunity to ask her about her dream.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Terra

  All that has happened is a little overwhelming. I can tell by the look on Enre's face, that he feels bad about it. There wasn’t anything he could have done to prevent it. The thought of it really does scare me, though. What if it happens again? What if next time it is worse and I end up dying? I can't die now. There is something that I am here to do. The only thing is, I do not know what it is yet. I am glad that I didn't dream after Enre gave me that pain medicine. I wonder if the medicine is from their realm. I bet it was a wondrous place before it was cursed, I will have to ask him about it sometime. Reading the look on his face, he has questions for me. I suspect he wants to know about the dream that caused my injury. So I ask him "You want to know about the dream, Don't you?"

  He raises his head and says "I do want to know; I just could not find the words to ask you." sitting there fidgeting with his fingers.

  "It’s okay, I will tell you everything. Before that, though, I want you to know that this, is not your fault Enre. There is nothing that you could have done to prevent it, and I know that if it were anything else at all, then you would have protected me from it. So do not feel bad about this, alright" I say to him. His body visibly relaxing, sighing out a breath of relief.

  "I told him the same thing, but he needed to hear it from you My lady, I am glad you are feeling better," Thegan said smiling at me. He hands me a giant bowl of some kind of stew, that smells amazing.

  "Thank you Thegan, and thank you for everything else as well, this smells great" I grin at him and my stomach growls. they all snicker, well that was embarrassing.

  "At least she has an appetite" Aiden adds. We all laugh for a minute. "Go ahead and eat My lady. Then we will talk". I do not know what I have gotten myself into, but one thing is for sure, I am glad that I am with these guys. I eat my stew, and it tastes just as good as it smells. I scarf down as much as I can of it, and I am stuffed to the point of popping.

  Enre notices that I have stopped eating and asks me, "Are you full My lady?" He looks at me with a sexy grin.

  "Yes I am. over full" I say with a giggle. I really shouldn't have eaten that much, but it was so good I couldn't stop myself.

  He gets up, walking over to me, takes the bowl and asks me "Is there anything else you would like?" Come to think about it, I am a bit thirsty, but I hate having to depend on people to do things for me. I must have had a hesitant look on my face because he says to me in a quiet tone "Do not worry my lady it is a pleasure to wait on you" then he winked at me. He knew it was bothering me, he is very observant.

  "If you don't mind, can I have something to drink?" I ask him, and he leans down close to my ear and says "I don't mind at all. If you asked me for the world I would conquer it, just to give it to you My Lady" his voice was deep and husky, and his words are like warm honey. I can't help but picture him fighting in armor swinging his sword. Mmmm... my face instantly went tomato red. Thegan says "Stop teasing the poor girl Enre. She looks like she is going to burst from embarrassment." Oh great, they all noticed I was red.

  "Who said I was teasing," Enre says to him. Then he winked at me and sauntered off to the kitchen.

  "How is your leg feeling my lady?" Thegan says. I am thankful for the subject change, maybe I can cool off a little. "It is feeling much better, thank you for asking," I say back to him. Remarkably, it did feel much better. Not really sure how, But I am not complaining.

  "If it starts to hurt any worse at all, let me know, and I will get you some more of the pain medicine you had earlier," he says to me. They are all very caring. It is kinda shocking in a sense.

  "I will" I reply to him. I was curious as to what they had given me so I decide to ask "What is it that you gave me earlier if you don't mind me asking?"

  Thegan looks at Aiden, and he nods his head slightly and answers me "The pain medicine was a mix of Kosnamere root and Bolavie flowers, and the fever medicine was tea made out of vaxen leaves. They are all plants from Aelmere. We had to act quickly, and medicine and herbs from Aelmere seem to work faster than the ones that are in this realm." They sure did work quick. Nine hours ago I was almost dead.

  "Thank you for all for everything, if it weren't for the three of you, I would be dead. I owe you my life" I say to them. Enre had returned with my drink while Thegan was talking.

  "There is nothing to thank us for My lady, we just did what needed to be done," Thegan stated. an almost proud look on his face.

  "He is right My lady. We just found you. We couldn't lose you so quickly." Enre said. Aiden just smiled and nodded his head agreeing with the brothers. "Now if you don't mind. can you tell us about your dream My lady?" Enre asked. So for a while after that, I fill them in about my dream, about what happened with My tree and then I finally tell them about the shadow standing at the edge of the field and hearing Thegan pleading for help. All of their faces looked ashen. But I soon find out why.

  They tell me about their dreams as well. "All three of our dreams are connected, but how is that possible? And why are we getting hurt?" I motion to Thegan. What if this gets worse and all three of us end up dead because of it.

  "We do not know My lady, but Aiden has his men searching for a Haruspex, to see if they can help," Enre says to me.

  "What is a Haruspex?" I ask. Aiden answers my question this time.

  "It is a person with abilities like an oracle, umm... what your realm would call a witch or seer". Well, why not. They are from a different realm, why can't there be witches. I almost laugh, but I hold it in. Hoping no, one noticed.

  "Oh ok. Do you think they will help make the dreams stop?" I ask. I mean the medicine did a good job of making me not dream. I would just hate to have to drink that nasty stuff much more.

  "We are hoping so My lady, or at least hoping they can tell us what's going on and maybe a reason that it is happening," Enre answered. "So for now, we just sit and wait." Sit and wait, I am terrified of sleeping. I hope they find one soon.

  Thegan says "My Lady, for the moment we are safe. Hopefully, Aiden’s men can track one down soon. So we can get some answers. Are you alright with staying here with us?" Hmmm. Good looking men that tend to my every need. Good food and interesting conversation. What girl wouldn't want to stay? So I decide to play with Thegan a little.

  I say to
him "Hmmm. As long as you keep feeding me that fantastic food and stop calling me My Lady." We all bust out laughing. Do not get me wrong, I like the sound of it. But it is, way too formal.

  "Of course My Lady." Thegan replies with a haughty laugh. We all carry on like that for quite a while. The guys were talking to each other about strategy or something, and I find myself thinking back to the kiss that Enre and I shared earlier. His lips were soft and tender. The look in his eyes could only be described as hunger and longing. He was so gentle, but I could tell it took everything in him to hold his self back. It shocks me that he is so sweet and kind, but I know there are more sides to him. And honestly, I can't wait to see them. To see them all.

  I guess while I sit here doing nothing, I could work on getting their book fixed. Being I can't get up anyways. So I ask Enre "Enre do you mind going and getting my book repair tools and the white box for me, I am going to finish your family book while I sit here if you guys don't mind."

  He says with a concerned look "Alright, are you sure you feel well enough to be working?"

  "Yes, I will be fine, plus I really want to finish it while I have a chance," I tell him. He gets up and goes to get the things I asked him for. When he returns he scoots a coffee table close to the sofa and sets my tools on it for me, 'He is so thoughtful' I think to myself. "Thank you," I say and smile at him.

  "My pleasure Princess," He says with a wry smile. He then goes and sits back down and starts to talk to the others. I notice that he glances over at me often while I am working.

  Once I get the spine fixed and finish the cover, I ask them "What would you like written on the cover?"

  Thegan and Enre both look at each other than Thegan says "Essentia at the top and our last name at the bottom if that is alright. And if you can, can you put a symbol in the middle?" They must have already been thinking about it.

  "Yes, I can do that. All I need to know is whether you want silver, or gold lettering and what symbol do you want?". They both say 'silver' at the same time, and I giggle at them.