"Oh! Of course!" Sequoia grabbed a glass from the bathroom, filling it with water from the tap. She hoped it would be good enough for Aniña. She couldn't leave the room, just in case something went wrong. She handed it over with a weary smile, kissing Aniña on the temple before she walked back over to her makeshift potions table.
“Thank-you.” Aniña gave Sequoia a thankful smile and took a few sips of the water before holding the cup in her lap. Focusing on the water she made a little heart from the water. Biting her lip to stop herself from smiling too much, she drifted the water over to Sequoia.
When Sequoia caught sight of the little heart, she blushed, pushing a couple strands of hair out of her face. Her heart felt all squishy and warm. Very unlike this heart, which was wobbly and cold. "Th- thanks, Habibi." Her voice cracked with happiness and she finished chopping the herbs in record time. Ten minutes for her to laze around. She crawled into bed with Aniña.
Aniña smiled and snuggled into Sequoia when she was in the bed with her, “You’re warm…” She muttered. Her temperature had changed drastically, instead of feeling like she was on fire, she felt like she’d been dumped into an ice bath.
Sequoia noticed her shivering and frowned, gathering Aniña up in her eyes. Instead of burning up, her skin was clammy and cold. "You okay, Habibi? You seem…off." She vaguely remembered that switching from hot to cold was a sign of the poison advancing stages, but she suppressed it. No need to worry herself when the antidote was nearly done.
“I’m cold.” Aniña said mater of factly, snuggling herself into Sequoia more for her body heat. She tangled her legs with her wife’s and pressed herself closer. She was freezing.
Sequoia smiled as she became entangled with Aniña, letting out a light laugh at her wife's fragment of a sentence. "I can tell." She stayed quiet for a few minuted, enjoying the sensation of skin against skin before she began grilling Aniña for symptoms. "Do you feel dizzy, nauseous, or bloated?"
“Nauseous… but that’s it.” Aniña muttered, wrapping an arm around Sequoia before she let out a small painful groan and a wince. She glued her eyes shut tightly.
Sequoia made a little noise of sympathy, pressing comforting kisses into her head. "Where do you feel the most pain? Shoulder? Chest? Stomach?" That would let her asses how far the poison had spread. Based on her calculations it should be in her chest right now, spiraling ever closer to her heart.
“Everywhere… it just hurts everywhere.” Aniña said quietly. She was in too much pain to figure out where it hurt the most. Her brain wasn’t functioning properly at this point and couldn’t make sense of everything, “Am I going to die?”
Sequoia shook her head furiously. "No! You'll be just fine. Speaking of…" She peaked at the clock, reassuring herself that it was time to continue with the potion. "I have to go." She got up, placing a doting kiss on Aniña's head. She finished chopping up the herbs and dumped them into the potion which was giving of a sickly sweet smell. It was a gelatinous purple- grey blob, one which she quickly mushed into a paste as she added the herbs.
Aniña groaned when Sequpia moved and wrapped herself in the blankets again, “Pleas be quick,” She muttered. Everything felt stiff and sore, her head pounded and she couldn’t make sense of anything anymore.
Sequoia tutted. That wasn't good. "Can you tell me how you feel? Is your heart pounding really hard? Are you sore?" Those were signs that the poisons were progressing into her heart at a far faster rate that Sequoia had anticipated. She was supposed to have days of coherency, but it looked like that had been reduced to mere hours.
Aniña groaned again, “My body feels stiff and sore, my head is pounding.” She explained as best she could. Gods she hurt and all she wanted to do was sleep and sleep. She new if she fell asleep she wouldn’t wake up again so she tried to keep awake.
"Shit!" She cussed, rushing over to take Aniña's temperature with her hand. She as freezing cold and pale as a sheet of parchment. That meant her heart was having a hard time pumping blood all the way around her body. "Do your fingers or legs feel numb or tingly?"
Aniña shook her head a little, “N-No, they don’t,” She swallowed a little and buried herself under the covers again, “C-Can I go to sleep?” She asked quietly. That’s all she wanted to do right now, sleep.
Sequoia bit her lip, staring at the clock and willing time to speed up. There were…20- no 25- minutes left. "No. You need to stay awake Habibi. Can you do that for me?" She crossed the room so she could hold Aniña again. "Can you stay awake for 25 more minutes? How about you tell me another story? How about that?"
“A story?” Aniña looked up at Sequoia, “You want me to tell you a story?” She was only really repeating it to herself, making sure she could wrap head around what was being asked for her while racking her brain for a story.
"Please?" Sequoia's voice was a bit wrecked with nerves. What if the potion didn't work? What if Aniña died? Could Sequoia deal with that? Could she deal with another person's blood on her hands? After all, it was her fault Aniña got hurt. If she had been just a little faster, a little smarter, a bit faster casting the shield charm, they wouldn't be stuck in this mess.
“O-Okay,” Aniña took a breath and relaxed into Sequoia a little, “When I was younger, my mother told me a story about a dragon called Xreen. It lived in the mountains high above the city, minding his own business,” She sighed, “One day, a soldier was sent to kill Xreen to prove he was worth for the prince’s hand in marriage. But, when the soldier arrived, he couldn’t bring himself to kill the old dragon. Instead, they became friends, and the soldier managed to ride the dragon, tame him. He proved his worth to the king the his son and they married. Xreen and the soldier remained friends until they travel to Herria together.”
Sequoia hummed when the story was over. Aniña was such a wonderful storyteller, her voice smooth and lilting. It was peaceful. She could almost forget her wife was being poisoned. 15 minutes left. "Your country has such beautiful folklore. Mine is all so dull. A mess of saints and gods and everything in between."
“I’m sure it’s not all boring, I’m just telling you the interesting ones,” Aniña shrugged a little with a smile, “The stories of Xreen and Liarn were always my favourite. Dragons are cool. And stars are beautiful, they both make interesting concepts…” She giggled a little, “I remember my mother telling me stories of these terrible creatures that would come and eat me if I misbehaved as a child, they never came.”
Sequoia smiled bitterly, lips twisted with years of memories. Her parents hadn't scared her with stories of monsters and ghosts. They'd scared her with stories of punishment and imprisonment. he recalled nights with no dinner and long days stuck in a small room. She forced herself to laugh. "I should hope not. No monsters get to eat my beautiful wife." 10 more minutes. They were almost there.
Aniña blushed when Sequoia called her mine but sighed and her voice turned sad, “Yeah, the only monster I know of is… my father.” She instinctively reached up to her throat and the memory of the pain that once lived there for days. Days when she couldn’t talk or eat.
Sequoia grabbed Aniña's hand, kissing the knuckles like she had last night. "There are no monsters here now," She promised, scooting upwards until she was sitting in her wife's lap. 10 more minutes and then Aniña would be 110% fine. No more pain, no more suffering. "and there never will be. Okay?"
Aniña felt like she wanted to cry at Sequoia’s words but nodded in acknowledgment, “Okay…” She said quietly, lowering her hand from her throat to her lap, trying to forget the memories that went along with it, “Okay.” She said again, just to confirm it to herself more then anyone.
Sequoia searched Aniña'a face and was disappointed with what she saw. She didn't mean to make her cry. She was trying to be comforting. God, this was so hard. How had her old nannies managed her? "Do you want to hear about some of my scars?' Sequoia asked. She didn't know where the question had come from, but it hung in the air now, echoing through her mind.
Aniña was a little shocked by the question and cocked her head to the side, "But… I-I mean… if you want to tell me then… I-I'll listen… but only if you want to." She didn't want to pressure Sequoia into anything she didn't want to talk about, then she had an idea, "How about a thought for a thought… scar for scar."
Sequoia nodded. "I'll go first, I guess." She ran over her scars in her mind, picking the ones with stories she was ready to tell. She settled on one and rolled up her skirt until the pale, knotted gash in the middle of her left thigh was visible. She traced a finger over it, pulling the memory from the depths of her subconscious. "I got this when I was…17. Slept with a guy I really shouldn't have and he ended up stabbing me."
Aniña’s eyes widened a little and she felt angry for the guy doing that to her wife, “Bastard…” She muttered, she sighed then pointed to a small slash across her left cheek, “Snuck into the kitchens to find food late at night. Got caught and a dagger slashed across my cheek from the cook.”