Déjà Vu (Summer Challenge, Strawberry Banana)
‘Verse: The Sun, Radiant
Challenges/Toppings/Extras: Summer Challenge ‘14: Special Brownie #27 (And I feel like I've been here before), Strawberry Banana #9 (breakfast in bed)
Rating: PG-13 (references to violence)
Title: Déjà Vu
Summary: A king wakes after an attempt on his life.
Notes: N/A
Gavin had woken several times over the three days he fought off the poison, according to the bright-eyed, mousy assistant healer who was watching over him for the night when he woke fully, gasping and sweaty. Gavin found this hard to believe, if merely for the fact that he didn't remember any of it. But the little Arambhi woman was hardly deceitful-looking. In fact, she fell over herself to sit him up and bring him water and some bland oatmeal. It wasn't exactly a feast, she said apologetically, but she explained that the healers hadn't been able to feed him in his fever-haze and richer food would upset his stomach. Better to reintroduce him gradually. He knew the concept - starving men being rescued from the wilderness and dying from the bloat shortly after they thought they were safe - but it was weird being part of the wisdom.
“Matthew?” he croaked after a sip of water, realizing who was missing. He'd expect the guard to be hovering over him by now, clucking like a hen, but he wasn't.
The little healer's face fell, and Gavin feared the worst until she said, “he's in the next room over. He refused to sleep, and ate very little, and collapsed this morning. Heat exhaustion, as well. Here, let me wake the senior healer, and he will have a look at you.” She trotted from the room, leaving the door open so he could see her poke her head into the room opposite. “Sir,” she called. “His Majesty is awake.”
Being a senior healer must have made the man a light sleeper, for almost immediately the doorframe was wrenched from her hand and a wide-eyed, wild-haired man stood there, looming over the girl in his nightshirt. “Mesvati!” he barked. “What are you-” He glanced up, saw Gavin sitting up and staring at him, and backed down. “I’ll be right there,” he bit out to the little assistant, and disappeared into the room again.
Mesvati stood there after the door slammed in her face, hands clenched into fists. She was still standing there frozen when her master reappeared not a minute later, and he shoved her roughly out of the way as he swooped, now fully dressed, into the sickbay.
“My lord, don’t try to move too much. The wound has not been healing well due to the poison. Most of it should have passed out of you by now, but this variety lingers, and you’ve lost a lot of blood. Girl! Why is he sitting up? I told you, he’ll get lightheaded!”
“I’m not lightheaded,” Gavin growled. And he wasn’t. He actually felt fine, except for the stretch of the skin on his back when he moved. The worst of it was this condescending healer.
He’d survived assassination attempts before. None of them in a foreign country, of course, and for a moment he reflected on poor Queen Ruhana. He knew his advisors would likely be warmongering even now, and he just hoped she could avoid a return to the feud. He didn’t for a second believe she was in on the plot; Arambh had been hit just as badly by the war and even the well-loved Queen would probably have a revolution on her hands if it continued. Besides, he was good at reading people. The surprise on her and Ravir’s faces just before the knife struck and Gavin’s back exploded in pain was real.
So it wasn’t her. But he knew better than to think the assassination attempt was solely about him, either.
Challenges/Toppings/Extras: Summer Challenge ‘14: Special Brownie #27 (And I feel like I've been here before), Strawberry Banana #9 (breakfast in bed)
Rating: PG-13 (references to violence)
Title: Déjà Vu
Summary: A king wakes after an attempt on his life.
Notes: N/A
Gavin had woken several times over the three days he fought off the poison, according to the bright-eyed, mousy assistant healer who was watching over him for the night when he woke fully, gasping and sweaty. Gavin found this hard to believe, if merely for the fact that he didn't remember any of it. But the little Arambhi woman was hardly deceitful-looking. In fact, she fell over herself to sit him up and bring him water and some bland oatmeal. It wasn't exactly a feast, she said apologetically, but she explained that the healers hadn't been able to feed him in his fever-haze and richer food would upset his stomach. Better to reintroduce him gradually. He knew the concept - starving men being rescued from the wilderness and dying from the bloat shortly after they thought they were safe - but it was weird being part of the wisdom.
“Matthew?” he croaked after a sip of water, realizing who was missing. He'd expect the guard to be hovering over him by now, clucking like a hen, but he wasn't.
The little healer's face fell, and Gavin feared the worst until she said, “he's in the next room over. He refused to sleep, and ate very little, and collapsed this morning. Heat exhaustion, as well. Here, let me wake the senior healer, and he will have a look at you.” She trotted from the room, leaving the door open so he could see her poke her head into the room opposite. “Sir,” she called. “His Majesty is awake.”
Being a senior healer must have made the man a light sleeper, for almost immediately the doorframe was wrenched from her hand and a wide-eyed, wild-haired man stood there, looming over the girl in his nightshirt. “Mesvati!” he barked. “What are you-” He glanced up, saw Gavin sitting up and staring at him, and backed down. “I’ll be right there,” he bit out to the little assistant, and disappeared into the room again.
Mesvati stood there after the door slammed in her face, hands clenched into fists. She was still standing there frozen when her master reappeared not a minute later, and he shoved her roughly out of the way as he swooped, now fully dressed, into the sickbay.
“My lord, don’t try to move too much. The wound has not been healing well due to the poison. Most of it should have passed out of you by now, but this variety lingers, and you’ve lost a lot of blood. Girl! Why is he sitting up? I told you, he’ll get lightheaded!”
“I’m not lightheaded,” Gavin growled. And he wasn’t. He actually felt fine, except for the stretch of the skin on his back when he moved. The worst of it was this condescending healer.
He’d survived assassination attempts before. None of them in a foreign country, of course, and for a moment he reflected on poor Queen Ruhana. He knew his advisors would likely be warmongering even now, and he just hoped she could avoid a return to the feud. He didn’t for a second believe she was in on the plot; Arambh had been hit just as badly by the war and even the well-loved Queen would probably have a revolution on her hands if it continued. Besides, he was good at reading people. The surprise on her and Ravir’s faces just before the knife struck and Gavin’s back exploded in pain was real.
So it wasn’t her. But he knew better than to think the assassination attempt was solely about him, either.