Awake

A day later, on the second floor of Ken's Bakery, laid Kora on a bed.

Kora awakens and slowly opens her eyes. She looks at the unknown ceiling and tries to remember what happened.

*Coughs*

"Oh, yea... there was a battle and--" Kora says with a hoarse voice before she coughs again.

Kora tries getting up from the bed slowly but starts to feel a sudden pain in her body. She puts the blanket to the side and looks down at her wound that was patched up.

"Oh right... I got stabbed by that guy...It really hurts ugh."

"Now that I think about it, where am I? Where's Emili...? What happened to the war? And my clothes...who changed them...?"

Kora looks around, slowly, careful not to make her wound open up.

Just as Kora was about to get out of the bed, the door opens.

Emili walks in with a bowl of food and looks at Kora.

"Kora! You're awake!? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere? Don't get up yet, you haven't fully recovered."

Kora, relieved that Emili is alive, lies back down on the bed.

"I'm fine...are you okay? Where are we? I remember we were almost killed by that soldier...and my clothes..."

"This is my room. I helped change your clothes since your clothes got stained with blood. I'm okay but...You should be worrying about yourself. YOU were the one that almost died. I'm so sorry for putting you in danger... I promise I won't take such risks next time..." Emili says as she looks down ashamed.

"It's alright...but your room? Why am I in your room...? What about the war?"

Emili chuckles. "The war is now over, Kora. We won! I took you to my room so you could rest."

"Over...? How long was I unconscious for?" Kora says confused.

"For about three days."

"Three days!? This place must have really strong soldiers...Oh yea, were my wounds treated at a hospital or something?"

"Hospital...? What's that?"

"It's like a place to treat people that are sick, injured, or have disabilities."

"Hmm... I think you're referring to a clinic. There were medics at the shelter so I asked one of them to treat you."

"Ohh..."

"If you are feeling unwell, please let me know. I can ask my dad to call for a medic or a healer."

"I'm fine. Thank you though. Also, by any chance...could I go to the clinic to see it? I'm just kind of curious..."

"I wouldn't recommend going there... If you're hurting just let me know though! It's better to call for a medic or healer than to go to the clinic."

Emili explains that clinics are for those who can't afford to pay for a Medic or a Healer. Medics are doctors that heal you with medicine and tools and Healers are magicians.

"Healers, of course, are more expensive but if you need one, I will ask my dad for one. You saved my life after all. I'm willing to pay anything to help you."

"Nonono, please don't! I'm really fine! It just hurts a bit when I move but I've already been bandaged. Please don't spend money on something like a healer or medic. If I need it, we could just go to a clinic and it's free, right...?"

"Well...it is free but... It doesn't offer good service though. The living condition there is horrible. The better clinics are only for soldiers who serve Askalandra"

Emili looks at the food that is starting to get cold.

"You must be hungry from not eating. I brought you some food. Dad told me to save some soup from the shelter for you but I don't think you would want soup from yesterday..."

"No, I wouldn't", she chuckles. "Thank you again, Emili."

Emili helps kora up from the bed and hands Kora the food, still warm. Kora takes a few bites to fill her empty stomach.

"Come on, you saved my life! This is the least I could do. Now all you have to do is rest here and eat until you recover! Oh, wait! Do you still want to eat my new recipe? You only ate a bit of it before, right? I'll go make some for you right now. Wait here, I'll be back soon!"

Emili walks out of the room in a rush.

Kora continues to eat and finishes the meal. Then, she slowly lies back down on the bed.

Kora stares at the ceiling and whispers to herself.

"I guess I am sort of lucky for meeting such nice people…"

Kora thinks about how she got to Askalandra and wonders why everything is so different from where she originally came from. She worries about not being able to go home. She starts thinking about her family and how much she misses them.

"I'll get through this someday I hope. The wound still hurts a lot, but I don't want to make a fuss about it... Emili is going to be all over the place if she knew..."

She blinks a few times slowly, still staring at the ceiling, before falling asleep.