It had been two days since I fought the monster. My fever had settled down after I made it through the first night. When it was finally certain that I was recovering, Mara drained my blisters and rebandaged my wounds just like I thought she would.

Supposedly it made them heal faster with the medicine able to sit directly in contact with the injured skin, although even if that was true it was a practice I wasn't particularly fond of. As a result, my blisters stung. If I wasn't careful not to touch anything I would feel a jolt of pain. The medicine smelled nice at least, but the sting made it hard to get any real rest.

As I lay in bed I could hear a dull ringing hum through the air. I had grown used to it though, the same as the ever-closing darkness that I felt with the bandages over my eyes. They no longer seemed to bother me.

“Siya…” My father's voice cut through the air and shocked me, grabbing my attention like electricity had suddenly connected us.

“Father?” I wasn't sure if I was still a bit delirious, or if it was really him. If it was him, it would mark his first visit since the battle.

 “You're so pale…” he paused, trying to find his next words. "Are you tired at all, stomach pain, headaches?”

Before he even finished my mind began to blur back into a haze. A pause hung in the air as I slowly processed what he had said, but when I unexpectedly felt his stern hand rest on my shoulder I nearly jumped.

“I'm fine!...” I blurted out, giving a response purely out of habit, without enough time to actually think about it. It was so sudden that I began to hiccup. “Sorry, I– didn't mean to yell.” My voice went from too loud, to so quiet a part of me wondered if he could even hear as I felt blood rush to my face.

It was surprising enough that he had somehow ended up by my side without me hearing him enter the room, but suddenly feeling his hand on my shoulder was something else entirely.

My heart raced. I couldn't read his expression without the use of my eyes. ‘Will he be mad because I was reckless? Or maybe proud that I killed a monster…’ I bit my bottom lip trying to hide how nervous he was making me.

“Did you need something? Or a-are you saying goodbye again…” I muttered. I admitted the thought of him just wanting to see me crossed my mind, but it seemed almost too good to be true. He was kind, yes, but he was far from what I would call a doting father.

He was so busy with his duties as lord that we hardly ever got to speak. That lack of connection made it impossible for me to feel close to him or guess how he was thinking 

The tension in the air seemed to vanish as his warm, soft covered the room. “Don't you worry, I won't be leaving for a while this time, as for you, are you sure you're alright? You don't look so good.”

“um…” ‘He should know I'm in pretty bad condition. What does he want me to say?’ Out of habit, I started telling him everything, trying not to hiccup while I was giving the report, it was something I was used to. Mara often had me give her such reports to assess how hard she would make training… Somehow she would always know if I was lying too…

 “My hands and feet sting… My ankle still hurts when I move it, but I doubt it's broken. My stomach hurts a little as well, but I think I just need to eat something, doing that is hard though, because of the aforementioned stomach pain. We still don't know how my eyes are, Mara said I needed to keep the bandage on a bit longer to be safe. I can't remember it, but apparently, my eyes looked pretty bad. My skin burns all over my body from the acid, but only a little. I think–”

“Ok, that's enough…” He let out a soft sigh and mumbled my name as he gently moved his rough and calloused hand across my cheek. I couldn't help but lean on it. It felt like sun-warmed concrete on a brisk day. It was so hard and calloused, but somehow it still felt like the softest hand in the world. “Is it ok if I hug you? It won't hurt will it?”

Another hiccup escaped from my lungs as I quickly straightened my posture again. I couldn't explain why something so simple made me feel so anxious and filled my cheeks with hot blood, but it did.

I nodded, too embarrassed to speak. Any form of affection seemed almost foreign to me, so the thought made me almost uncomfortable. Still though, he was so warm and kind, holding me gently in his arms, careful not to squeeze too tightly. “I missed you,” I whispered, my voice carrying the weight of all the longing I had felt while I was still feverish.

He didn't respond. Before long I had completely lost any sense of time or space. I had no idea just how cold my weak body was, but as soon as he began to hold me in his arms I came to the conclusion that I must have been freezing. That was the only thing that explained the intense warmth I felt in my chest.

After a while, he moved away and cleared his throat. “Siya, I'm going to do something I shouldn't. I don't know what will happen because of this decision, but I've made up my mind.”

His voice became deadly serious all of a sudden. “And what decision would that be exactly…” I softened my voice, realizing my hiccups were gone.

“I… It would be easier to show you. I'm not the best with words.” I could hear him let out a small embarrassed laugh, considerably easing the tension and worry that I felt.

He grabbed my hands. An intense heat burned through me as the injuries across my body began to heal. My blood shot through my veins like fire and my heart began to pound as my breath got caught in my lungs. “Wha-” I tried asking him what he was doing, but before I could my body fell completely limp. I didn't even have the energy to speak. It was like I was paralyzed with fatigue. ‘Magic? But…’

“I'm sorry, but I know you'll make it through this too, you're my daughter after all. You'll be tired for a while, but you shouldn't be in pain anymore.” He leaned forward and slowly unwrapped the bandage from my eyes.

I opened them. At first, everything looked blurred and they hurt deep inside, but they quickly adjusted and soon even the itchiness was gone. “You have such beautiful eyes… Goodnight Siya.”

I could see his massive frame delicately laying my head on my pillow and tucking me in as all the tension I was feeling left all at once and my heavy eyes closed again. ‘Using magic… Father, what were you thinking?’