(yay! Rach lives! lol)
"Kan?" a voice rasped in the young girl's ear. She slowly turned her head and tried open her eyes; nothing. She tried to lift her eyelids once more but still something white held them down. A hand flew to her face to find a white cloth bandage had been wrapped around her head and covered her eyes. "Sh..." the voice whispered. "Ulthra said the light blinded you, that's all. You'll get your vision back in a few days. It's only temporary."
"Who are you?" Kanni finally asked, feeling the strains in her muscles begin to ache. "Who are you?" Kanni asked again when there was silence.
"Why, it's me. Can't you tell?" the voice asked and Kanni shook her head. "It's me, Prem!" the voice said again. It sounded familiar enough but she couldn't pin-point it right now. Then the person sighed. "Yes...Ulthra also mentioned that you would have a temporary memory loss that should be back by tonight."
"Ulthra? Where am I?" Kanni demanded and tried to pull the bandage off her eyes. Two warm hands wrapped with cloth around the knuckles grabbed her, pulling them away from the cloth. Kanni wrenched her hands away. "Where am I? Where's mom?" she asked again, getting annoyed. Then she felt an icy coldness sweep through her and another, deeper voice rumbled, "I told you not to mess with her until I came back, Mr. Anthen."
"Sorry."
"Yes, I'm sure you are. Now step away; I have a memory to restore." the voice rumbled.
"What the hell--?!" Kanni began but suddenly felt a flood of inmages, feelings, and incidents rush through her. Suddenly she could remember who she was...where she was....and what had happened just minutes before. "How is that, Miss Merrane?"
"Good, Ulthra." she answered with a smile. Yes. Now she knew them all again. She was herself again. "Prem? You still there?"
"Yea." he replied. "You know me now?"
"Yes." she sighed and rubbed her temples. Her head throbbed slightly and she didn't dar venture back to the pain she had felt maybe only hours ago.
"Oh, just so you know, that new girl is a Salarsh." Premidas said hastily. "You know? Lara something...She was sorted into the Salarsh house. It's okay; she won't be bothering us much now. We're pretty safe. Salarsh and Tibileek have always been rivals along with all other houses."
"Lori Helken? The blue-eyes?" Kanni's voice became icy at the thought of her. What had that girl said to her? What had she called her? "Remus"? Who the hell was Remus? She stifled a groan of pain that seared through her head a minute and then ebbed away. "Ugh...That was enough pain to last me nine life-times..." she muttered.
"Yes. And I'm afraid this isn't the last time you will have to go through the trial, Miss Merrane. This "exraction" will be conducted every time you steal three powers." Ulthra mumbled. "Well, then, I'll be on my way. After all, with you dealt with Themrus and I must continue tending to the "Birge Problem"."
"See ya Kanni. Hope you feel better," Themrus said from a distance and Kanni jolted. She didn't even know she was there. Her hands groped towards her night desk and she assumed correctly; she was in the hospital wing again. "What are you looking for?" Premidas hastily asked before she knocked something over.
"Can I get some water? My throat is so dry," Kanni withdrew her hands until a glass was set in them. She tilted the cup to her lips and cherished the icy cold liquid washing down her parched and hot throat. She kept it in her palms and leaned her head back onto the pillow, being careful not to hit anything. "So how long am I gonna be blind?"
"Two or three days tops. At least you'll get off of homework until then."
"But I still have to go to class?" she asked hopefully, even though she knew the answer.
"Yea, you do. They'll give you an escort; maybe Alice, Kaleb, or me to help lead you to your classes. You can still listen to the lecture, can't you? And if there's book work they can read it to you, and have someone copy down notes for you."
"Just make my day, Prem," Kanni growled and a silence followed. Kanni then touched her head and was releived to feel that she had her normal ears back and that her skin was no longer fur-covered. She yawned. "What time is it?"
"It's about nine at night. We'll be heading back to bed soon."
"Prem, I need you to do me a favor. I've been neglecting Rothen a while; only quickly feeding him each morning. Will you take him into your room with the food so he can have someone around him until things cool down? Lately I've been stuck in bed for quite a while."
"Sure. What's your lock code?"
"I can't tell you that." she nearly laughed, almost picturing his confused face.
"Well, how am I supposed to feed him and get him out then?"
"You'll take me up there to open it for you. C'mon, I could use a little walk to stretch out my stiff legs and see if my full memory is back."
Premidas sighed. "I think Alice is a bad influence on you."
Posted at 06:30 pm by Silicon_Scrifice
