A Myth Explained- A Friendship Strengthened

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Shalamar Ovanisse

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Linda
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Shalamar began to stir slowly, the pill that Henric had given her held rejuvenating powers and at last it worked its way through the pain. One magical concoction vying for supremcy against a more ancient and magical mark, neither wanted to give up its control and neither did. The pain was ebbing of its own accord now. The dragon egg had been lain, it's mother protected it while it's keeper was marked for her destiny. She felt the strong hands holding her still and as she came around and her vision became clearer, she realized she was looking downwards at the passing floor. The feet she looked at were not of the boy she had thought she had seen but of Artemis'. A smile spread across her face, she had imagined him then. He been just a beautiful figment of her hyper active imagination.

"Artemis" her voice was low and soft, "Artemis where are we..." but as her head raised she saw exactly where they were, "you can put me down dear friend".
 
"Aye, that I'll do, but ye'll be put on a bed thank 'ye very much and ye'll stay there till I'm satisfied," said Artemis sternly to Shalamar. But her eyes were open to her friend, and the rush of relief and empathy was evident in her face. Art did as she was bid, lifting Shalamar onto the nearest bed right beside the door. There was a short pause as the two girls shared a look, and Artemis was not convinced of her friend's well-being just yet. "Do 'ye know what happened to 'ye?" she asked slowly, taking care to tuck her hands behind her back so that Shalamar would not notice just yet. If all went well, she could distract her into missing the little bloody hand prints on Shalamar's waist and lower legs. With aching fingers, she traced the split skin nervously though her face remained calm. It hurt like the devil, but what on earth did it matter? It seemed that Henric's 'magical pill' had done the trick.

"Ye mustn't frighten me like that again. I've not seen anyone look so pale in all my life!". Nimbly she stepped up to the bed, but to Art's embarrassment, she discovered the need to climb up there with Shalamar if she was to do any good. She left two red smears behind her as she fisted her hands into the sheets, and she kicked her legs to get a leg up onto the bed, taking up basically no room at all as she shuffled over to look at Shalamar's birthmark. In the short silence that followed, she chuckled, then laughed. "Why, you're Harry Potter!" exclaimed Artemis.
 
Danny had arrived at the hospital wing only to discover not a sinner in sight. He had then gone knocking on the office doors and finding one open had gone in, of course only to find that empty as well. Exasperated he decided to head back down to the dungeons and hope that he'd meet a professor along the way. He wasn't quite prepared for finding both girls in the hospital wing when he came back out of the nurses station.

"How did you get here? Are you alright?" both girls were on the one bed, but both were small enough not to make this look strange. Though the smaller girl of the two looked like she was no more than five or six. Puzzled Danny looked at her for a minute before looking at Shalamar.

"I couldn't find a single nurse" he shrugged walking slowly over to them, "So you're both ok now? Just like that?"
 
Shalamar wanted to laugh badly by the sound of her friends voice and all the force behind her words. There was no way she was going to argue with her and she soon found herself placed carefully on a bed. She smiled at Artemis as they looked at one another, a bond between them now that she knew would be hard to sever.
"You're very strong" she smiled, her entire body seemed limp and light as if a gentle breeze could blow her over. When Artemis asked if she knew what happened she frowned reaching up as best she could to touch her shoulder but her hand fell down to her side again. Her mind seemed alert enough now but her body felt as if it would take a while longer to catch up.

"I remember the pain, my mark burning. I ..." she frowned trying to focus, why the sudden image of Henric popped into her head again was beyond her but obviously when she was in need he was the one she had first thought of. She felt elated that he had not been around this time, no matter how her imagination had made her believe otherwise. Shalamar was sorely becoming fed up of him always seeing her at her worst, her weakest but at least this time she had been spared, or so she believed.

"Artemis, you... your hands" she looked at the bedspread as her friend climbed up beside her, "Oh Artemis, don't mind how pale I am. Your hands, your beautiful hands ... because of me. I am so sorry" She looked quizzically at her friend as she strained to see the shoulder that had caused the commotion earlier and had to laugh at her comment.
"I am no..." her voice trailed off as she heard a voice, "Danny?"

Shalamar bristled slightly, she had no recollection of him being near them earlier and still had the memories of the Yule Ball.
"What are you doing here?" she knew she had been hard on him, she was not one to hold a grudge her nature did not permit it. He had been looking for a nurse and seemed to be aware of their situation. She looked from him to Artemis, hoping her friend would fill in the pieces because she most certainly could not.
 
"Aye, that's my goblin blood!" Artemis told her proudly. She was only feigning a little of her enthusiasm, for though she was excited to have her friend at least partially well again, she was still not pleased that her Sparrow had been sick in the first place. She crossed both of her legs underneath her to listen with the worry line re-appearing on her forehead, and her little bloomers puffed up like muffins as she sat. Her friend was still pale, and the jugs of water were nearby so she reached over while listening intently to pour her a glass and handed it to Shalamar. "Drink," said Artemis, but motioned for her to continue.

Artemis almost smacked herself in the forehead, for the glass she handed Shalamar had a tiny blood hand mark on the base, also. "Never mind, 'ye probably shouldn't touch that now." It seemed that Shalamar had already noticed her hands, and Artemis turned her head away guiltily. "Look, never mind about them. I've had much worse than that in my lifetime." she laughed, but exclaimed in pain silently as she accidentally clenched her fists together. It was written all over her face, and Art cursed the heart she wore on her sleeve. She opened her mouth to say more, but was interrupted by Shalamar's greeting.

"Aye, I'm quite alright. Shalamar must stay here though," she answered Danny before looking to Sparrow-chan. "Danny noticed 'ye as he passed and went off to find a nurse. But Henric got there first, and carried 'ye halfway here. I carried 'ye the rest of the way, but 'ye needn't worry about her anymore, love." said Art to Shalamar before addressing Danny in the last half of the sentence. "Henric gave her a little brown pill with yellow speckles. Heard 'o it?" Art asked Shalamar.
 
Danny inched forward towards the girls not believing for a moment that he was actually seeing them here when they had been so clearly in serious trouble down stairs. The smaller girl spoke after Shalamar had asked him what he was doing here and he was glad that she was able to fill in the blanks for both of them. Of course mentioning the younger Slytherin boys name was enough to make the hairs on the back of Danny's neck rise. Him again! Why hadn't he thought to carry her, he was damn strong enough. His face contorted in a frown.

"He gave her a pill? Does he think he's some kind of healer now as well? bloody super-hero complex that kid has" he muttered mutinously, "he could very easily have made her worse".

He looked at Shalamar as he came to finally stand beside the bed, his face was pale from worry for her. He had felt helpless down in the dungeon but had not dared lift her in case he had done her more damage. All he ever did was seem to upset her somehow which was never his intention and then the viper comes along and he ends up looking the damn hero. Danny was not happy about any of this. Even the small girl had managed to carry Shalamar part of the way, his shoulders slumped as he sat on the bed beside the one they were in.
"You sure you're feeling alright now?" he addressed Shalamar hoping she would speak for herself instead of the other girl doing it for her.
 
"I don't care that you think you've been in worse pain before, I don't want you in pain now especially because of me. You were very brave back there and I thank you" her eyes went to her friends blood stained hands and her eyes welled up on seeing them, "Oh dear".
She hoped a nurse would hurry up and help them soon but when she had turned and seen Danny there and he announced that none were to be found she withered slightly.

It was with wide eyes that she turned as Artemis began to speak letting her know everything that had taken place in the dungeon. Slowly it seemed her eyes widened until they were sure to pop from their sockets.
"Henric was there?" she had thought it her imagination, her fevered brain conjuring him to rescue her once again and he had. She had thought she had actually managed to escape him this time but life seemed to will him to see her only when she was weak, in pain or in trouble. That situation had to be remedied.He had carried her, half way but he had and Artemis had carried her the rest of the way. She placed a protective arm about her best friends shoulders as Danny began to speak. He clearly was not a fan of Henric's by any stretch of the imagination. Shalamar took great umbridge to his tone and his words.

"He does not have a super hero complex. He does not think he is a healer. He was being a good friend and came to our aid. He did not run off to have someone else do it for him but chose the more gallant route and took it upon himself to ..." her face flushed as she had a sudden image of being over his shoulder, his strong hands about her. Her dazed vision fixing on the handsome face. Without meaning too her hand about Artemis shoulder tightened.

"And the pill..." she thought for a moment of the description her friend had given, brown speckled with yellow. There was only one pill she knew of like that and it was only for rejuvenation. That Henric carried them was amazing in itself but that he had the foresight to give one to her was even more so. How much of her life was indebted to him now? "The pill was to rejuvenate me, it was fortuitous that he had it to give".

She watched as he approached the bed and sat on the one opposite, her eyes weary as she seemed to move herself closer to Artemis but more as if to protect her smaller friend from the boy who seemed not to care that the smaller looking girl was more hurt now than what Shalamar was.
"I am fine" her chin lifted proudly, "Artemis is the one in need of assistance but as you are no healer I think it best for you to leave now".
 
Now Artemis didn't know who to scold, Danny or Shalamar. They were both being equally callous; Shalamar to Danny and Danny to Artemis. It was obvious that Danny underestimated the miniature half-human. Perhaps he did not know that she was a part-goblin, and therefore wicked tough and not one that he or anyone else could contend with. He hadn't noticed the pointed ears, by any means. She simply shook her head at them both, hurt by Danny's disregard and shamed at Shalamar's dismissal of a boy who seemed to genuinely care about her.

Once again she was forced to distract herself, and Art patted Shalamar's hand with her wrist. "What did I say about fussing over me?" she warned her with a smile, and cuddled into her affectionately when she put an arm around her shoulder. Contrary to the fierce looks she gave, Art was a sucker for the saccharine. She jumped when Shalamar's hand tightened on her shoulder, and decided that it was time to salvage the situation. "I, however, am a healer. And I say I will be fine. Now you," she eyed Danny with a piercing hazel gaze. "Ye'll not speak slightingly of Henric, for it is plain that 'ye care about Shalamar and ought to be thanking him for his care of Sparrow-chan." Art didn't notice that she had not called Shalamar that in front of her before.

"And you," said Artemis to her friend in a perfect knock of Shalamar's pedestal of pride. "This boy, though a bit gruff, did run to get a teacher when I could not. It was no lack of gallantry, only a different method of rescue. There'll be no dashing of his help, whatever was between 'ye two before or not." Though she was being quite firm in her chiding, Art's face eventually crumpled into misery. This was not how things should have turned out, and she shuffled to the end of the bed and slipped to the floor, turning her back on them both. Art scrubbed her tears away with a fist and mumbled "I'm going to get some dittany. 'Ye stay with Shalamar." before bustling off to a nearby beside cupboard. Her tiny chest hitched every now and then as she hiccuped her tears away.
 
Danny could only marvel at the seeming intelligence and wisdom of the younger girl, he cast her a smile not liking the fact that she was now crying as she got from the bed. He turned to Shalamar with every intention of making amends.

"Look I'm sorry. For trying to kiss you, for spilling drink all over your beautiful dress, for not being more helpful earlier. I'm sorry I'm not who you want me to be. I won't, I won't get in your way any longer. I did not mean to slight him. Well that's not true of course I did, but I am not going to lie about it. You obviously prefer him well I wish you luck with that. I can't see it going any where to be honest but I want you to know one thing" he slid off the bed and looked at her with earnest, "I will be there. I may not show up to do all the cool things, I may not be a class act but I will always be there when youwant me to be. I can't say I'll be there when you need me to be but I will when you want me."

A hand went up to brush some hair from her face before he quickly moved his hand away again and shoved it deep into his pocket. He walked from her then to let her think about what he said as he walked over to the younger girl. He was not being condescending as he knelt down but rather simply wanted to be on level with her as he handed her his hanky.
"You're a good friend and a good person. I didn't mean to upset you or her".
 
Shalamar felt utterly awful and not just because of her weakened body, she had upset her friend which was never something she had ever wanted to do. Not only that but Artemis was right she should not be upset with Danny when he had tried to help as well. She could not help it though, finding out that Henric had come to her aid again had unbalanced her completely. Her pale face turned to look at Artemis as she climbed down from the bed to get something for her hand. She was quite willing to follow and help her when Danny began to speak. She owed him the courtesy of listening at least.

She was beyond humbled and apologetic though his own apology was still not what she had expected, it was sufficient in her view. Shalamar would have much preferred he not mention Henric at all or that he lay it on quite so thick about him being there for her. She had thought she had made it plain about being friends and nothing more. That was all she had to give.

"Daniel wait" she sat up a bit on the bed and winced slightly, she may have been rejuvenated but not by much it would seem. Her body felt as if it were after going through a war. She walked unsteadily to where he was kneeling with Artemis
"I have been unfair on you. Unkind. I over reacted to the drink on my dress and ruined your night as a result of my hasty departure. I wish us to be ... friends. I am sorry too".

It was all too much now. She should have stayed on the bed, the sudden movement and all the other crazy things that now muddled her brain had taken their toll. Shalamar's eye lids fluttered as her eyes rolled back and she fell in a faint to the floor.
 
Artemis took the handkerchief from Danny in a gesture of truce and acceptance, giving him a tiny smile. Carefully she dabbed her eyes with it and folded it into a tiny package before handing it back to him. "I know. It's alright, really. Ye're not a bad sort." This she had deduced from his rather kind, if slightly overdone, apology to Shalamar. All of the happenings that he had described were news to her; spilling a drink on Shalamar's dress, trying to kiss her? No wonder Danny had been in Sparrow-chan's bad books. Yet still she could see the earnestness of his feelings for her, and bowed her head at the knowledge that they would never be returned. Art did not blame Shalamar for falling in love with Henric Lee- she only pitied her, wishing her the best of luck and vowing to giver her all of her help.

Art hadn't been expecting Shalamar to get up after she had explicitly told her not to. She had no time to protest as her friend began her apologies, but made little noises as if to interrupt her every now and then- but it was too late. "No, Shalamar 'ye mustn't-" she said in one breath, but abandoned speech as Shalamar slumped to the floor. Artemis skittered and dived, just managing to catch her head before it hit the floor. There was an agonising thump as her tiny hand was squashed between Shalamar's head and the tile floor, and she let out a harsh cry of pain. "Blast!" bellowed Artemis a moment later, and the pain so great that she smashed her other fist into the floor. The tiles crumbled with the force of it and the floor rippled in protest, almost knocking Danny off his feet.

Then the tremors died, and all that was left was a crying girl, cradling the head of her friend and a shaken fifth year boy. Silence reigned in the moments after, and Artemis took advantage of them to lift her friend off the ground again and stagger back to the bed to roll her unceremoniously onto the mattress once. "Ye'd better-" tried Art, bottom lip wobbling like jelly. "-ye'd better get off 'ta dinner then." she finally managed to tell Danny. "I'll be right with...with some 'o that Dittany, and Shalamar needs a sleep."
 
Danny could not but help smiling at the younger girl but he was quickly distracted by Shalamar coming to talk with him. He stood abruptly looking at her, she seriously didn't look right and he was too busy worrying about whether she was capable of standing to hear all her own apology to him. He could not even tell her that it was alright when she fainted. Daniel felt completely inept as she was hastily picked up and carried back to the bed by the small girl. He frowned, couldn't any one around here let him to the chivalrous thing even once. He had been more than capable of carrying her back to the bed himself.

He walked over smoothing back some hair from her face as he gazed down at Shalamar on the bed. The other girl was telling him to more or less leave and he was loathe to do so but knew he probably should. With still a frown on his face he lowered his head and kissed her forehead.
"You had nothing to apologize for" he remembered quite clearly one word other than sorry that she had said and that had been 'friends'. So that was all she wanted from him, well that was what he would give her. Perhaps in time she would see he could be more than that if she left him.

Turning with a smile for the other girl he raised a hand in a farewell salute.
"You mind yourself then. I hope I see you around the school again" with a few backward glances before he even made it out the door Danny left the hospital wing.
 
The nurse opened the door just as a boy was leaving. She smiled at him and on entering the hospital wing noticed two girls. One on the bed and the other beside her.
"What seems to be going on here?" walking directly to the side of the bed she checked the unconscious girls pulse. It was steady which was a good sign.
"Care to tell me what happened here?" she smiled at the smaller girl.

Shalamar stirred slightly on the bed but though she made the slightest of moans did not otherwise regain consciousness.



Kelsey - no sign of nurse so conjured one =))
 
Artemis once again had another attack of nerves when a new person walked in just as Danny walked out. These sudden mood one-eighties were giving her a headache. Artemis had given Danny a slightly bigger smile, sensing that Danny respected and liked her just a little bit more, and had waved to him as confirmation. She still wanted to smack him for touching Shalamar, for it was evident that her feelings for him were far from cordial. Art had given him the sternest look she could muster in order to show him that even if she was weak, he must not take the advantage. Now the shock of meeting another new person jarred her to the bone once more, and she steeled herself against the nurses’ kind gaze.

“Hallo, Miss.” Artemis greeted the nurse with the appropriate measure of enthusiasm. “My friend here was getting pains in her shoulder from a...” she paused, thinking of how to explain Shalamar’s pain in her birth mark. It wouldn’t make any more sense to the nurse than it did to her, Art knew, so she improvised. “... from an old magical wound. A scar,” she decided upon. Tee hee. She’s Harry Potter now, if she wasn’t already. “It pained her greatly and was very hot, so I applied a cold compress,” Artemis lied again, tucking her hands behind her back discreetly. “But that didn’t help. A friend helped me to take her here, and in the meantime, gave her a bit of Chinese medicine, a pill. I’m not sure if you know it, but it was small and brown with gold speckles.” Artemis described it, hoping it would help. “I’ve been with her the whole time, and she id much better but still weak.”

Most of this was said in one breath, and Art took a great gulp of air after the long sentences. If all went well, the nurse would not notice the smears of blood on the abandoned glass of water and bloody hand-prints dotting the bed. With her back pressed to the side of the mattress as she face the nurse, Art took a glance behind her and wrinkled the covers over the mark with the back of her hand.
 
The nurse smiled nodding her head slowly as she listened to the young girl. As she did so she very gently moved the girl on the bed to take a closer look at the scar. She frowned looking at the shape of it, for all the world it looked like a lizard or dragon. Being gentle in handling her she placed a prop pillow just below the shoulder blade so that it would not graze on the bed causing it to open.

"That was clever thinking" she told the younger girl when she had relayed to her about the cold compress, on listening further she grew thoughtful. The pill was one she was not too aware of but could always look it up in one of her books. There wouldn't be too many with gold speckles on them.

As if the gentle pressure of her hands administering the necessary attentions that the prone girl needed, she slowly began to wake.
"Hush there now" the nurse smiled, summoning a potion and lifting the girls head helped her to drink some.

"That will help her rest for a while longer, she obviously needs it. Now you..." she looked at the smaller girl, "those hands of yours look sore".
with her wand out she scourgified up the blood stains around the sheet on the bed.

"Would you like me to take a look at them for you? You're friend will have to stay over night I'm afraid" she told her quietly, glancing briefly from one to the other.
 
Overnight was fine with Artemis, as long as this never happened to her friend again. Artemis still didn’t fully understand the pain that Shalamar had been through, and she could wait for her to get a good nights sleep if only it meant that she got her answers the next day. They had been through enough together that day as it was. Artemis gave her most colourful curse inwardly as she realised that she had also not hidden her hands half as well as she had hoped. The nurse seemed almost casual about bulldozing through her charade and getting to the hard truth of the matter.

“My hands are a little sore, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.” mumbled Art into her sleeve as she rubbed her pink nose. All that crying, carrying and pain was beginning to exhaust her, and since she had been getting little to no sleep in the past few weeks, she swayed on the spot as she sniffed. Why am I always on the cliff’s edge of tears? thought Art, exasperated. She wanted to collapse into a waterfall of tears, or simply just collapse, but she did nothing of the sort. She stood up straight, kept her hands behind her back and looked the nurse in the eye with her own slightly unfocused hazel orbs. “A little essence of Murtlap’d do just fine,” she told her, and lowered her eyes to the floor once more.
 
The nurse admired the girls gung-ho attitude but had worked a long time as a healer to know that sometimes it was not just the body that needed healing, but the spirit also. Her kindly eyes smiled at her.

"How about you stay here too. The bed beside your friend is free. I will get you something for your hands and something to help you rest. There'll be no arguing alright?" she smiled once more but before the girl could do or say anything to stop her, the nurse had summoned what she needed.

"Drink this one for me" she commanded but her voice was not in any way harsh, it was soft and warm like the most comforting of blankets remembered from childhood, "then rub this onto your hands". She passed both vials to the girl before walking to the other bed and pulling down the covers. With her wand she first judged the other girls size before summoning some of the hospital pyjama's and placing them on the bed for her.

"I am afraid we don't have anything in exactly your size but the top on these boys pyjama's should do as a nightdress for you. Now come on, hop in" she stood aside for the girl.


Shalamar sighed gently and contently in her unconscious state. There was only one image going through her mind at that moment and it had nothing to do with dragons, her grandmother, childhood stories, her bestfriend or Daniel but it had everything to do with the notorious Slytherin boy.
 
This was not going at all the way Artemis hoped it would. She opened her mouth to protest; "Bu-" she started, before the nurse took out her wand. "Wai-" she began again, and two little vials zoomed into the nurse's hand and were handed to her. She looked at them, crestfallen. Oh, I'm too tired to argue, said a fairly unhappy Artemis in her mind, and tried to give the nurse rabbit-eyes, to no avail. "My hands are just a little chapped, that's all." Art told the nurse pleadingly. "And I'm not so sleepy. Just a little worn out, but I'll be f-" she managed, before a jaw-breaking yawn split her face in two. She yawned so hard that she was overcome with dizziness, and promptly flopped herself onto her bottom.

Meekly she took the vials and said nothing more on the subject. She began unscrewing the first vial with the sides of her hands and, giving up, she popped it off with her teeth instead. The open vial still in her mouth, Art simply tipped her head back and upended the contents of the vial into her mouth. She soon regretted this decision. "Blech, blech, blech!" commented Artemis vehemently as the small potion burned her throat a little. Suddenly she was very glad that the nurse had only given her a vial for a person as small as her, rather than an entire bottle like anyone else would have taken.

Her hands could wait, she decided, and with considerable effort she removed herself from the cold white tiles and began to start the journey onto the bed. It was several minutes of tired struggling and embarrassing flashes of her knickers before she managed to climb onto the open bed, just as the nurse finished summoning a night shirt for her to wear. "Oh, it's only six o-clock miss," protested Art, even as she began to blink up and down. Tiredly she placed the hand salve on the bedside table, just catching Shalamar's sigh in her half-awake state. "It's been a bad day," she mumbled to herself, and couldn't even summon the energy to take the shirt in her hands.
 
The nurse had tons of patience, it seemed to be sewn into the fabric of her persona. So she merely smiled all the while at the young girl as she climbed on to the bed. She did not want to offer help in case she was rebuked, the young girl seemed such a determined little thing. With an affectionate smile she merely patted the pyjama's once more.

"It may be six o'clock now but when you wake after drinking that, it will be morning. You and your friend here seem to have been through an ordeal. You need to rest. I will check up on you through out the night to make sure all is well. Now sleep tight" she smiled once more before glancing at the other girl and walking to the table at the top of the hospital wing. Opening up a folder she began two new files on the girls in adjoining beds. She did not know their names yet but she would get those in the morning.
 
It was a long and fretful night, filled with haunted dreams and frantic awakenings to check on the sleeping Shalamar. Artemis tossed and turned, and tossed and turned again in her make-shift nightie. By three am she gave up on sleep entirely, and lit a candle in the soft gloom and began to sew. An hour later she finally put down her needle with tiny purple bags under her eyes, but was left with a neat sleeping pinafore that fit her much better than the boy’s shirt that came down to her wrists. Perhaps with less material, she would be less hot. If she was less hot, then perhaps the nightmares of dragons and rivers of blood would leave her be.

Artemis hoped very much that Shalamar would not wake up at this time. For one thing, Shalamar looked like death warmed up, and it was eerie sleeping in the bed next to her when she could see her deathly pale skin glisten in the moonlight. For another, at the current moment Artemis was only in her knickers and singlet top. With hurried movements made as silently as possible, Art finally pulled on the finished night-dress and pulled off a loose string with her teeth. Sleep would not take her, and so she lay to one side, staring forlornly at her friend’s sleeping form and waiting till dawn to break. Either that, or she would either begin to cry or smack her brow into the iron bars of the bed head in a bid to sleep.
 
The night seemed to drag on the nurse well aware that the smaller of the two girls had a very restless night. The other seemed to sleep right through and when morning finally broke through the curtains Shalamar slowly stretched herself out and yawned gently. Rubbing her eyes she sat up, it took her a moment to gather her wits about her and when she did remember what had happened she turned quickly to look about her. Seeing her friend she smiled.

"Morning Artemis, you stayed?" she was completely unaware of why her friend was in the bed beside her convinced that she had stayed to see how she was. Thinking how unbelievably thoughtful her friend was she began to slide herself from the bed when the nurse walked over to them. With a quick glance at both she mumbled something before retreating to her office.

"Maybe we can leave now?" Shalamar was well aware that she would have some explaining to do today but as many of her own questions would also need answering by her grandmother, she was not sure just how much she could tell Artemis.
 
Artemis certainly looked like she had stayed the night, though not for the reasons that Shalamar apparently thought she had. Slowly she removed herself from the covers of the second hospital bed and rubbed her panda-eyes tiredly. Her short pixie spikes were flattened against her head and she was as pale as a moonbeam. "Yeah, yeah I stayed." she nodded earnestly, and tucked her hands behind her back once more. Grumpily, she realised that even though she had been awake for the entire night, she had still forgotten to put the ointment on her hands which were now aching and smarting. "Where would 'ye like to go?" Artemis asked Shalamar in a falsely alert voice.

Eventually she managed to extricate herself from the hot and sticky sheets, warm in the morning sunlight. Ugh, it's sweltering, complained Art inwardly as she slipped to the floor finally. "How are 'ye feeling now? Better, worse?". Her ears began to droop slightly. Now where are those water jugs...

(( Le lame. My bad. ))
 
It did not take long for Shalamar to be by her friends bedside or to see the pain cross her small delicate features as her hands touched the bed. It seemed fortuitous that before Shalamar could speak out the nurse walked over with a roll of parchment and seemed to have caught the same unmistakable measure of pain that Artemis displayed.

"Right young one" she put down the parchment and looking at the full vial on the bedside all but glowered at Artemis, "back into bed or I will use my wand to put you there. I am putting this on your hands and I am going to have to bandage them up as well. Silly girl thinking you are above my healing".

She summoned the vial to her outstretched palm then tapping her foot on the floor waited for Artemis to climb back in.
Shalamar ran to her friends side to help her if she needed her too.
"I have missed some thing haven't I?" she asked humbled that her friend had to stay for her own essential healing and not just for concern for her friend.
 
Artemis all but moaned as she saw the nurse begin to approach both girls. Her body gave a tiny jerk as if to dive back under the covers, but she simply whimpered and stuffed both fists into the pockets of her night dress. "It's too hot to be in bed at this hour, Miss!" she implored, giving a pleading look towards Shalamar that was trying to say Come on, help me out here. It soon became evident that she was as much help as a cooked fish and equally confused (though the metaphor made no sense even in Artemis' sleep-deprived mind). There was a moments silence, before poor Art did something very childish. "I will not get back into bed!" she cried, and stamped her left foot. What resulted was yet another crack in the floor as the hospital wing shook from foundations to eaves. Artemis could be mature on occasion, but in the end she was still just a tired little girl in a fair amount of pain. She screwed up her face and tried to give the rudest look she could to the nurse, but only succeeded in look utterly woebegone.

Literally only half a second later, she calmed down. A bead of sweat trailed down her forehead, and Artemis gave a forlorn look to both Shalamar and the nurse before seating herself down on the visitors chair beside her bed. Finally she looked up to answer Shalamar, and held out her hands for her to see. By a night and half a day of untreatment, her ice-scarred hands were beginning to look quite like they had been scalded with hot water instead of frozen to pieces. Shocked, even Artemis stared. "That ain't lookin' too good ..." mumbled Artemis to herself, but decided to move on to more important things while the nurse did her work.

"Shalamar, do 'ye know anything about what happened to 'ye yesterday? I've been awfully worried, what with you collapsing and all that calling out in pain." She so needed to know, and it had been stabbing at her all night long that she hadn't been able to help her friend.
 
Shalamar watched the interaction between nurse and patient, shuddering slightly as the floor shook under her friends stomp. It still amazed her that such a small girl was capable of these things. Looking now as the nurse was finally given a chance to put some cream on to Artemis' hands Shalamar pulled up the other chair and after gingerly touching the mark on her shoulder thought it best to divulge what she did know.

"Will she be ok?" she asked the nurse before she said anything more, Shalamar was not used to seeing her friend upset or in this much pain and it disturbed her no end. Reassured by the nurses words and Artemis insistence on knowing what had happened she tried to put everything in a simple way so they might understand.

"My grandmother once told me stories when I was a little girl. I thought they were all ... just that stories. They spoke of a girl who was born with a horrible mark on her shoulder. Her siblings laughed at her because of this, for none of them had one. In an otherwise perfect body she was seen to be cursed because of this horrendous mark and was shunned by many. It came to pass that one day when she went to the well to draw water, her mark began to sting until she began to scream out in pain against it. It felt like scorching fire across her skin as if she were being branded with a hot iron. It took a long while for the pain and fire to stop, people had thought she was possessed and went to get the village elders but before they returned she ran away. High in to the mountains so the villagers could not hurt her. She found a cave and went inside only to find she was not alone. Inside it was a huge fire dragon, a very dangerous dragon who was guarding an egg. The girl thought the dragon was sure to kill her but it did not. Instead it stood aside as the egg began to hatch. The mother dragon allowed the girl to live with them, teaching her how to care for her baby. After many months the mother dragon had to fly away and as she was magical she spoke to the girl for the first time. She told her that she was a dragon keeper and the youngling was her charge. She would have to train it, keep it save from harm until the day came for it to fly away as well. She was told that this was a great honor and from hence forth every second generation of her family would raise a dragon keeper and she would be known by the mark on her shoulder. Only when the fire breathed into it would she come to know her destiny. For there on the young girls shoulder was not just an ugly mark but the glorious image of the fire dragon."

Shalamar took a deep breath before looking down at her hands folded in her lap.
"It sounds very farfetched does it not? I will know best when I speak with my grand mother but my birth mark is no longer just a mark now. It is shaped like a dragon. I do not know any other explanation for it".
 
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