by Joseph Bonis
Tyra groaned, and changed the subject - sports. Tracy wasn't big into most sports, but she'd long ago learned the secret to participating in the conversations. Know your local team, know whom they played last, whom they're playing next, and whom their star player is. As long as you know that, you can make encouraging remarks with some semblance of participating, and just wait for them to run out of steam.
Which took a while for some of them. But after that while, Tyra ran down, and there was a long period of introspective musing.
“Tracy?” Tyra spoke up, breaking that quiet. “Do y'like it? Having the magic?”
Tracy nodded without hesitating. “There are things I don't like about it, but yes. For the most part, it's what I always wanted. It feels like I can finally do the things I always should have been able to do.”
“What do you like most?”
Tracy considered for a bit. “Well, I guess … it came at just the right time to break me out of a rut that I'd been settling into for years.”
Tyra laughed softly. “Yeah, so y'just dug a new rut for yourself, but this one with magic 'stead of without.”
“Perhaps, but … I made a new friend or three, too.” They smiled at each other. “That's enough for me. That's a true treasure I won.”
It wasn't long after that when both Tracy and Tyra had to get up to leave. Tyra had to get to work, and she dropped Tracy off along the way at a little ragged-looking clinic that was secretly the small hospital for the magical community.
The older woman manning the front desk smiled to see her and waved her through from the run-down waiting room into the clean, professional hallways. She made her way through the familiar layout to the right room, having been making the trip two or three times a week since the fight.
The door sat open, so she half-leaned in and knocked on the frame. “Knock knock!” she called.
Anthony looked up from where he was laying in the bed, smiling to see her. He'd lost most of the bandages by now. He should have been dead, or still in much worse condition, but magic did wonders for healing. “Ah, Tracy!”
Brightfur's head lifted up from Anthony's thigh. The wolf had been napping lightly on the hospital bed next to him, but woke up to Tracy's voice. His tail whipped into Anthony's face, and Anthony laughed and shoved at the wolf, knocking him off onto the floor.
The beast still intimidated Tracy. It was BIG. Much bigger than most any dog she'd ever seen. But she took care not to let that show as she nodded her head in greeting and reached out for him to sniff at her fingers.
“Tracy,” Brightfur greeted her solemnly, his voice a low rumble. His mouth didn't move right for the words, and Tracy had no idea how it happened, but apparently, animal focuses could talk.
“Brightfur,” she responded with equal solemnity, and the three of them waited a moment. Then Brightfur pushed his head under her fingers, and she played briefly with his ears before moving past to sit down next to Anthony's bed.
“Tracy,” Anthony repeated again, and reached out to take her hand. “Thanks for coming.”
Tracy nodded, and heard the desperate relief in his voice. “Still your only visitor?” she asked, and he nodded. It wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation. Pax had shown up only once – to let Anthony know he was very disappointed in him – defeating himself in the fight.
“Look, he's a jerk. And no doubt he's not letting anyone else show up. I'm sure they want to.” It wasn't the first time she'd reassured him with this, either, and it was helping him less every time. She sighed, hauled her bag up onto the bed, and pulled out the books and movies she'd picked out for him.
They talked about books for a while, and about his rehab. His face was still badly scarred, but the doctors had promised that would mostly go away after the final treatments with earth and water.
New friends, Tracy thought, and felt a contented smile on her face, even though she still worried about Anthony. His body was sure to heal soon, but his mind … how long would that take to mend? Still. He was a friend. He had been so grateful for her visits – first reading to him when he could barely respond, still half-loopy from pain meds. Then being there when he started the rehab. Then just visiting to bring him things to occupy him during the long, empty days.
Yes. She had won a treasure from that fight, and it was more valuable than any magic.