Lucky Clover

Aisling opened her eyes with difficulty. She winced as she felt the light sting her already sore orbs. She wanted to call out, but her mouth and throat felt dry. She felt like someone had stuffed cotton in it. She swallowed with difficulty while thinking about pickles to alleviate the oral dryness.

The first thing she thought about was that man.

She could not remember him clearly, but she could recall the vivid lava-like eyes. With that memory, her heart beat a little faster as she looked around her, hoping to see him.

"Good morning, Ms Flynn. How are you feeling?" A woman in a white jumpsuit appeared in her line of sight, and her green eyes stared at her from above.

The disappointment at not finding that man weighed down on her, but she shook it off quickly. The two of them were destined to meet. She was still alive, and the man was in Farallon. There was no real rush.

"Thirsty." Aisling finally croaked out.

The woman nodded as she tapped on a clear tablet at an incredible speed.

"We will have water delivered to you shortly. Before that, let me take a scan. We need to make sure that everything is alright." The tone was upbeat and enthusiastic.

"Who are you?" Aisling asked.

The woman frowned and looked closer at Aisling. "Ms Flynn, are you experiencing fuzziness or memory loss?"

Aisling rolled her painful eyes.

"No. I remember coming to Panthalassa on a yacht and fainting soon after. I have no recollection of what took place afterwards." She explained in a hoarse voice.

"My apologies, Ms Flynn. I was just called in, so I did not get much of a background about your situation." The woman smiled. "I am your doctor, Parvana Haema."

"You are a doctor?" Aisling looked at the woman with scepticism in her silver eyes.

"Now that I understand that you are new here, I will not take offence at your incredulous disbelief." She laughed.

"Sorry, I did not mean it like that. It's just your clothing." Aisling looked at the simple jumpsuit again.

This was the first time Aisling had put her foot in her mouth. She always knew what to say. However, she was like a child in a new world. Even with her foresight, she could not figure out things without some background information.

"You are a complete newbie." Parvana could not help exclaiming. "This is fairly standard clothing. Don't worry. You will see soon enough. Now, remain still for the scan."

Aisling was too out-of-it to do anything else but follow instructions. Mechanical sounds came from the hospital bed and a dome formed over her like a cocoon. A warm light washed over her body before the dome disappeared and the bed was restored to its normal state.

She felt like she had walked into the future or some kind of alien civilisation.

"Excellent. I will review your tests and let you know if anything comes up. But I don't think you will have a problem." Parvana explained as she looked up from her tablet.

"What happened?" Aisling asked with a frown.

She felt that it was strange that she had fallen sick. Her internal energy balance had always been exceptional, so she never got sick.

"It was a simple overload of energy. It is not common. At least, not as far as I have seen. But I have read of a case that happened some time ago when an outsider, a non-Panthalassan came to Farallon." Parvana paused. "From the initial data recorded after your arrival, your case was extremely severe. You almost did not survive."

Aisling remembered that she had been close to death. Her body had been burning from the inside out, almost liquefying her organs. She had even touched the veil to the beyond. And then something had happened, and all the pain in her body had drained away.

Her mind drifted back to that man who had come.

She still could not remember much about him except for the golden eyes with flecks of red. She opened her mouth at the memory, wanting to ask about him. But she did not know where to start. She coughed lightly.

"How did I survive?" She asked tentatively.

"The seal on your forehead drained or contained the excess energy from your body. My current assumption is that it was an underlying spell or protective ward placed a long time ago. It must have been activated when you reached the limits of your body." Parvana explained.

Aisling was shocked. "What seal?"

The doctor realised that the woman would not have seen the marking. She tapped on her tablet and the surface became a clear mirror. She turned it to Aisling.

Aisling looked at her familiar face. She did not have any blemishes that indicated her ordeal. However, there was a definite change on her face. At the centre of her face was a brilliant red mark in the shape of a four-leaf clover.

She lifted her hand and rubbed the mark. The whispers around her which had been like soft leaves rustling at the back of her mind became a little louder, and flashes of her foresight became a little stronger.

Aisling tilted her head as she listened to the strange whispers, pushing away her other amplified powers. She had become used to listening to nature spirits speaking. However, these new voices had higher intelligence than the ones she was used to hearing.

They had a sense of enhanced awareness.

They did not merely talk about the things happening around them. They have real cognition.

"Are you alright?" Dr Parvana looked at the dazed Aisling with concern.

Aisling was startled out of her reverie and stopped rubbing the mark. The sounds from the spirits became attenuated, and the flashes from her foresight became weaker again…

She wondered if she should tell Parvana about the man who had come the previous night. The mark must have been his doing. She would have known if she had a seal or a spell on her body if it had been cast a long time ago.

"No, I'm just a little surprised. Do you have a way to remove the mark on my forehead?" Aisling asked.

Parvana frowned. "If the seal were removed, it is likely that your body will be flooded with energy once again. As long as you are on Panthalassa, the mark must remain."

Aisling felt a little unused to the change in her appearance, however small. Moreover, the mark affected her powers. However, when she remembered the excruciating pain that had overwhelmed her to the point of madness, she did not insist.

Sooner or later, she would leave Panthalassa. She would deal with the seal then.

Regardless of her interest in the removal of the mark, her lips turned up a little when she thought of the shape. That man had a strange sense of humour. But again, she could use some of that Irish luck…

"Where is my water? I am about to become a prune." Aisling did not talk about the seal again.

"Sorry. This hospital does not get a lot of patients. Plus, it's a military hospital. You cannot expect great bedside manner." The doctor laughed.

Aisling smiled. "You are not from this hospital?"

Without the fog of sleep and the possible residues of medication, she was already feeling better, enough to chat with the doctor. Her mind even felt a little clearer without the constant listening and filtering of the whispers of nature around her.

"No way. This place is depressing. I work in a private facility. My focus is mostly on medical research. Farallon City is not a great place to be a doctor. No one ever gets sick." She laughed.

Aisling realised that the amount of information that people from the outside knew about the reclusive continent of Panthalassa was quite limited. She felt like she was in a completely new world.

"Then, why are you my doctor?" She asked.

"My research deals a lot with the conditions of subhuman species of the secular world so to speak. We develop medications and sell them to your people."

Aisling nodded in understanding even though she did not understand completely. She felt like she was being re-educated on how the world worked. She could not believe that she had always thought that she knew everything.

While she was contemplating her ignorance, a simple tray trolley rolled in with a glass of water, a bottle of juice and some yellow slices of fruit. The unit stopped beside her bed.

"Took you long enough!" She complained as she picked the water.

She gulped it down before pouring the juice into the same cup and drinking a glass.

"Hey, slow down," Parvana warned with a laugh.

Aisling finally took a breath after finishing the juice. "Have you ever been burned from the inside out? Trust me, it is dehydrating."

Dr Parvana did not know how to respond.

Fortunately, three people appeared at the door, dispersing the awkward atmosphere in the room.

Aisling's eyes lit up. "Little One, Two and Three, I have missed you!"

The three soldiers in black jumpsuits groaned inwardly. They had feared that something bad had happened to Aisling, but it seemed that she was as annoying as ever.

They showed dissatisfaction at their names, but the joy in their hearts could not be contained.