AmaLiA
the shield of safrin
The shield is working. The magic inside it - Loren's magic - is strong and true, and as Amalia watches the in rapt terror and hope and prayer and tears the wounds on Remi's body begin to knit together, the skin closing where it's torn and the sinew coming together and the blood (so much blood) beginning to staunch and slow, and Aoife---
Amalia swallows and chokes on a sob. She cannot look at the little girl whose starlit eyes now stare blankly at the sky, entirely devoid of light.
Black eyes turn away from Aoife, back to the man who lies at her side. Remi. Remi is healing. Remi is whole. Remi is...
Remi is not waking up.
No. No. She shakes her head, terror gripping icy fingers into the fragile strings of her heart. Remi! Shifting back to human form, the girl pushes the shield off of him, inspecting the healing wounds with growing levels of frantic alarm. Kneeling in the mud beside the Alchemist, she runs her finger over his neck, searching desperately for
the pulse that flutters weaker than a butterfly's wing. But it's there, and so he must be, too, beneath the trauma and the pain.
Her hands rise up to caress his cheeks; she shifts, now thoroughly doused in mud, and pulls her head into his lap. "Remi." She calls to him physically and mentally; her tears leave tracks on his bloodstained face. "Remi, please, you have to wake up- Please. You have to fight. I can't do this alone."
And then there is the child. Swallowing, sobbing, Amalia leans over to grab the tiny, broken figure and pull her onto the empty shield, a makeshift hearse for shattered bones. She has seen enough death to know when there is nothing she can do for the little girl, who she loves as dearly as a niece. All the Shield can do for the child is pray- pray that Safrin will intervene, pray that Aoife will be spared, prayer that Remi will not wake to more loss than he can bear.
She needs to get him out of here, but she does not dare move him. For the first time in her life Amalia bemoans the fact that she was not born abandoned: without the ability to heal or help, the strength to save him on her own.
Silently, loudly, with all the strength she has, Amalia cries out into the crowd. "I need a medic over here! Please! It's Remi and Aoife, they... please, they need help!"
Amalia swallows and chokes on a sob. She cannot look at the little girl whose starlit eyes now stare blankly at the sky, entirely devoid of light.
Black eyes turn away from Aoife, back to the man who lies at her side. Remi. Remi is healing. Remi is whole. Remi is...
Remi is not waking up.
No. No. She shakes her head, terror gripping icy fingers into the fragile strings of her heart. Remi! Shifting back to human form, the girl pushes the shield off of him, inspecting the healing wounds with growing levels of frantic alarm. Kneeling in the mud beside the Alchemist, she runs her finger over his neck, searching desperately for
the pulse that flutters weaker than a butterfly's wing. But it's there, and so he must be, too, beneath the trauma and the pain.
Her hands rise up to caress his cheeks; she shifts, now thoroughly doused in mud, and pulls her head into his lap. "Remi." She calls to him physically and mentally; her tears leave tracks on his bloodstained face. "Remi, please, you have to wake up- Please. You have to fight. I can't do this alone."
And then there is the child. Swallowing, sobbing, Amalia leans over to grab the tiny, broken figure and pull her onto the empty shield, a makeshift hearse for shattered bones. She has seen enough death to know when there is nothing she can do for the little girl, who she loves as dearly as a niece. All the Shield can do for the child is pray- pray that Safrin will intervene, pray that Aoife will be spared, prayer that Remi will not wake to more loss than he can bear.
She needs to get him out of here, but she does not dare move him. For the first time in her life Amalia bemoans the fact that she was not born abandoned: without the ability to heal or help, the strength to save him on her own.
Silently, loudly, with all the strength she has, Amalia cries out into the crowd. "I need a medic over here! Please! It's Remi and Aoife, they... please, they need help!"
you're breaking your own heart
