Sweet Disaster

SHIBA KLEIN

Shiba had always believed herself to be completely in control of her emotions when she was young, so much so that she hadn’t realized just how messed up she’d been after having to leave her homelands behind. The loss was something she’d ignored, swept under the rug and pretended it hadn’t affected her. She’d found her remaining family twice, and twice she had lost them again. For a while she told herself it had been an accident, incompetence at being alone perhaps. But once she found Deathbelle and Ashen, she finally realized that her wounds cut much deeper than she’d allowed herself to think. She had expected to return and feel at home and have everything settle into place and resume as it had been before, but she quickly realized how foolish the thought had been. Everyone had moved on, created a new space for themselves in this land she was still unfamiliar with, while she had still been stuck in the past. Most of those in Ashen had been her family, she’d known many of them before, but she somehow felt like a stranger among them. Like they were somehow worlds away from where she was, they had grown, and things had changed in ways she’d never dreamed of, and she hadn’t minded the changes exactly. It was just… different.

When she left on her most recent adventure, she never intended to be gone for so long. Just a few days to wrap her head around everything, to process and come up with a plan for what exactly she should do with herself. The last thing she’d expected was to find him. A beast of a man curled in the dirt, with horrible festering wounds that smelled like death, the light wiped from his one remaining eye. As desolate as he seemed, he gave her something she hadn’t expected. Hope, a challenge. As deplorable as his condition had been, it excited her. The thought of the challenge that would come from her trying to piece him back together was one she’d never faced before and damnit, she wasn’t about to walk away from that. His wounds were deep, and old, and vile, and it was just what she needed.

The process had taken more time than she’d expected, but she’d been so lost in the work at hand she hadn’t quite noticed the passing of seasons. His younger sister had been with them as well, and while she was timid and fearful, she’d been helpful enough. The girl had been vital in those first weeks when Shiba’s every waking moment had been spent cleaning wounds, scraping out infected tissue, and trying to gather all the herbs she needed. The work had been tedious, but well worth it. If nothing else, it built her confidence. To take a man on the brink of death, someone who was so clearly ready to let go and give in, and breathe life back into him…. She wasn’t even sure if he was grateful for the effort spent on him, but he had agreed to go to Boreas with her, as he had a debt to pay. What exactly she planned to ask of him was as much a mystery to her as it was to him, but as long as she kept him close, she had plenty of time to figure it out.

"We can rest here for the night. If my memory serves me correctly, my family shouldn’t be too much farther." She glanced to her traveling partner, doubting he’d have any objections. His sister had remained close during their travels but tended to spend most of their down time tucked away out of sight, which Shiba didn’t bother the healer any. She was far more intrigued by Mikko anyways. The fact that he was so guarded made things interesting, and in all the time they’d spent together thus far, she’d only managed to catch a few details about him and his life before they met. Acciona had helped to fill in some of the information, but the man seemed to give as little detail as he could get away with. "How are you feeling?" She questioned lightly, sitting a short distance away from him.

"Speech."