Page 137 of Journey to the Elderoak
The door opened and Kai entered along with Raine, who was grinning.
“Welcome back, little frog,” said Raine.
Ava frowned at him. “Is that supposed to be my new nickname?”
“It is.”
“How in the world did you come up with that?” Ava asked, voice still rough.
Raine laughed. “We have a frog that lives in the marshes near the coast. It’s called vilär’setis, which translates to little frog.”
“And…” Ava said.
Casimir scowled and finished for Raine. “This frog has a defense mechanism where it basically ‘dies’ to trick predators. When the danger has passed, it comes back to life. Raine thought it would be funny to call you that.”
“Because that’s kind of what you did,” Raine said.
Ava burst into a fit of giggles, Raine along with her. Casimir glared at them which made her laugh even harder. Even Kai had a subtle smile on his face.
“It’s so stupid. I like it,” Ava said.
“I don’t,” said Casimir.
“Well, the princess approves. I must get going. Glad to have you back,” he said as he walked out the door.
“How are you feeling?” Kai asked as he approached and examined her.
“Terrible,” she said.
She almost said ‘like I’ve been hit by a truck’ but realized they wouldn’t know what that meant and almost burst into another fit of giggles. How strange to be in a world where they’ve never heard of cars or trucks or phones or televisions. This almost made her laugh more. Maybe she was delirious.
Kai handed a vial to Casimir. “Have her drink this every day. It will rebuild her strength quicker.” He turned to Ava and squeezed her other hand. “I’m so happy to see you awake.”
He rose and left the room, leaving her alone with Casimir again.
“Kai said you would have died had you still been in your human body,” he said, worry in his voice.
“Well, it’s a good thing I kicked ass on the journey, isn’t it?”
“It is,” he said, holding out the vial. “Do you want to take this now?”
“Yes. Can you help me sit up?”
He leaned over and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her up to sit, arranging pillows behind her back. She winced and put a hand to her stomach.
“Thanks.”
“What hurts?” he asked.
“Everything feels weak, but my stomach hurts the worst.”
She lifted her nightdress to inspect the stab wound. It was mostly healed, but the skin around it was still angry and inflamed.
“I’ll see if Kai has anything to help,” he said as he began to stand.
She grabbed his hand. “No. Don’t go.”
“Alright.” He reclaimed his seat and handed her the vial.
