Embris opened her eyes and yawned. While she had felt almost dead tired, she now felt much better. She could feel a straw mattress under her and… something else. Something she wasn't familiar with but it was directly under her head. She couldn't say anything specific about it, just that it was lumpy and felt rather uncomfortable.
As she sat up, she was happy to say that she didn't feel anywhere near as bad as she had before she'd fallen asleep. She doubted that Tchisa would get upset at her for falling asleep while on duty, since it was clear she was hardly in the best shape to be set to watch Amelia in the first place. Not that she expected to get off the hook so easily, assuming Roesadra or Oleania said something about it to her or if she had come in while Embris was asleep. Which if that was the case, then she knew she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
"Glad to see you're awake," Amelia remarked dryly, with a subtle note of irritation. "Now maybe I can get my bag back?"
"Huh?" the sound escaped Embris before she even realized it. She looked around and saw that what she'd been using as a pillow had been Amelia's bag. "Oh, sorry."
Amelia shook her head in exasperation. "Anyway, how are you feeling? It seemed like you had been taking a turn for the worse with your fatigue when you first came here. Are you still feeling as tired?"
Embris paused to take a moment to examine how she felt. She hadn't thought about it when she woke up but she had to say that she felt much better than she had felt when she had had to come here. "I feel much better. I had a feeling it was because I needed to wake up on my own instead of getting woken up."
"Actually, no. You were taking a turn for the worse," Amelia replied without any doubt in her voice as she started pulling things out of her bag. "Whatever it was that had you fatigued had you in a downward spiral. Roesadra moved you to that mattress when we noticed you'd fallen asleep, but when you turned and started using my head as a pillow, it was like we couldn't move you. Like you suddenly became much heavier than you had been or something. I think whatever got you feeling better has to be something in my bag."
Embirs blinked. She felt like she was having trouble processing what Amelia had just said. She couldn't see how anything Amelia would have in her bag would have made her any better. The most it seemed like it should have done was make her sleep less restful with how lumpy that bag was. Yet, at the same time, she couldn't say that she cared to contradict Amelia. Not when it came to something like this. Something that she barely had any knowledge about in the first place.
"So, will Oleania be better after you find this treatment?" Roesadra asked as she held a sleeping Oleania's hand.
Amelia nodded absently. "I'm sure she will, but I can't say if the topical I used on her to cure the spotted plague will have any effect on her unborn child. It might be harmless to her child, but I just can't say for sure since I don't know what to look for in regards to that. It at least isn't doing anything to the child that I could tell with my magic but there are other things that it could affect that I wouldn't be able to tell until the child is born. Maybe not even for a few years after that. I guess I'll just need to see if I'll be here that long or if we'll have found what we'd been looking for."
"You mean Charlie?" Embris asked, her question seeming to make Amelia jump. Embris wasn't sure if Amelia had merely forgotten that she wasn't alone or if there was another reason why she jumped like that. All she could say was that her question certainly had caught Amelia off guard.
"Uh, yeah. Charlie. Right. Though, there's something else that we were looking for. Which is what had brought us to your world in the first place."
Amelia's words tickled something in Embris' memory. She could recall hearing something about that but nothing was coming to mind right then. She wasn't sure if it was important or not, just that she couldn't quite put her finger on exactly what it was.
"Whatever it is, after this is over, let us know what it is and we can offer whoever is available to help you look for it," Roesadra said, looking at Oleania.
Embris wasn't sure if she could make that decision on her own, but she wouldn't be surprised if she would be given a little latitude by the Blue Rose. As from what she'd seen so far was that the Blue Rose hadn't contradicted anything that Roesadra, Oleania, or Saelea had made a decision on. While she couldn't be sure that the Blue Rose was actually aware of the decisions they'd made, she wouldn't be surprised if the Blue Rose had complete trust in them. Otherwise she couldn't imagine why they'd been given the position they held in the first place.
"How long was I out for?" Embris asked, still not convinced that she felt as good as she did because of something that was inside Amelia's bag.
"Not long. The sun's going down now, so about the whole day?" Amelia replied absently, making Embris wonder if she really was listening to the words she was speaking right then as she continued slowly taking things out of her bag and setting them to the side.
Embris glanced at Roesadra not sure if she'd agree with Amelia's statement, but Roesadra merely shrugged. Which Embirs could only scowl at, with how little help that shrug was.
"Hmm, here's everything I had in my bag," Amelia said as she finished unloading her bag.
Embris looked at what she'd taken out and saw a number of what she supposed were books that she remembered hearing Amelia and her friends talking about occasionally in the past, some colorful-looking rocks, changes of clothing, a blanket, some strange implements that Embris assumed was supposed to help Amelia with her healing skills, some dried plants that were in a strange material that was completely clear and flexible and a few cooking utensils.
As she looked at what was there, nothing came to Embri's mind as anything that would have helped her feel any better or even have chased away any fatigue. Everything just seemed like it was something that would only matter to Amelia rather than anything that would have had any effect on her.
"Well, I guess I can rule out the books, my clothing, blanket, and cooking stuff," Amelia muttered to herself, pushing the items away as if that would make any difference. "Though, I guess all that really would have had any effect on Embris would have been these." Amelia picked up one of the colorful rocks.
Embris wasn't sure what that was or why Amelia thought that it would have had any effect on her, but she wasn't going to argue. After all, if it had made her feel better, she figured it would at least help the others feel better as well. Nor did she feel like she was in a position to say anything about any of that.
Amelia started putting her things back in her bag, almost in the exact reverse order that she'd taken them out, but she left the rocks out. Embris wasn't sure what those rocks were exactly or why Amelia had thought that they would have been what was responsible for making her feel better, but she hoped that Amelia would explain. She couldn't say that she would have wanted to know anything more than this right now. Though, at the same time, she didn't think that it was her place to so much as ask about it.
After all, she was merely a 'patient' to Amelia at that moment and not a friend. She was pretty sure of this with how often Amelia had told her that when she was under orders of bed rest for the first day that she'd been down after her treatment to remove the spots from the spotted plague.
"Hold this close to Oleania and we'll see if it reacts in any way to her," Amelia said, handing one of the rocks to Roesadra. "I'm sure this will keep her from feeling as fatigued as everyone else who had come down with the spotted plague felt afterwards."
Roesadra nodded slowly, looking like she wasn't sure if she should believe what Amelia claimed or not. Just that she didn't really have any alternative at that moment. Which Embris had a feeling had been like that ever since Oleania had come down with the plague in the first place, since it wasn't like any of them knew how to treat the plague themselves.
Embris watched as Amelia handed the colorful rock to Roesadra, wondering why Amelia didn't just put the rock against Oleania herself. After all, she was supposed to be the one treating Oleania rather than Roesadra. Although, with how Roesadra was married to Oleania, Embris supposed that it was fair for Roesadra to have a hand in caring for her wife.
"If this works, how long before we get the rest of the settlement treated?" Embris asked, wondering if this problem was going to go away quickly or if it was just beginning for them.
"Not sure. I doubt I have enough of these stones to really treat everyone efficiently, so we might need to treat some people and send them out to get more of these stones," Amelia answered thoughtfully. "After all, this world is where my friends and I found these stones anyway."
Embris wasn't sure what to do with that information. She doubted that she'd be one of those selected to search for those rocks, but she didn't feel like deciding things like that with how her track record had been since catching the spotted plague had been.
"How long will it be before we'll see if it works?" Roesadra asked as she put the stone under the blanket covering Oleania.
"Hard to say. I don't know how much energy those stones hold in the first place, nor can I say how much they give off and if the size of the stone really affects that as well," Amelia answered, sounding as if she was ticking items off of a list rather than giving a straight answer. At least that's how Embris heard it.
"As long as it works, I'll be happy," Roesadra said, laying next to Oleania with her head resting on Oleania's shoulder.
"Maybe we should give them some time alone?" Embris whispered to Amelia as she got up from the mattress. She was shocked at how much better she felt as she moved just that much, as even when she'd been desperate to be given permission by Amelia to get out of bed, she couldn't say that she'd felt this good then.
Amelia merely shrugged in response, as if it was all the same to her. Embris wasn't sure what the shrug was supposed to mean but didn't ask because Amelia was at least standing up and starting to walk towards the door. "I'll check on her again in the morning. If she doesn't show signs of improvement, we'll have to see if we need larger stones to get the effect we needed or if just one wasn't enough to have the same effect that Embris had with it."
Embris couldn't say that she understood all of what Amelia had said, but she wasn't going to argue. Not when she felt this good and could tell that they were nearly through with this pestilence.
Amelia casually walked out of the door, looking as if she might be ready to go to bed herself. Yet, Embris had a feeling that Amelia was going to be working late into the night and might not even let herself get any sleep while she did whatever it was that she did.
As Embris followed Amliea out, she could see two different people guarding the room, which she couldn't say that she was surprised about given how late she was told that she'd slept for. Yet at the same time, it felt almost surreal. She'd hardly paid any attention to those who were guarding the room before, largely because she was barely coherent at that time and now she was fully rested, ready to take a full shift herself if Tchisa would allow it.
Though, she couldn't say what Tchisa would allow since she had been so worn out before and she suspected that Tchisa would want her to be ready to respond to any requests to see Oleania as a patient that Amelia might make from this point on.
Which meant that she should probably report to Tchisa, if only to make sure that she could see that she was feeling much better than she had earlier that morning and wasn't going to be a liability from this point on again. At least not when it came to whatever this mysterious illness was.
As Embris descended the stairs, she wondered if maybe she should offer to get a head start on finding more of those rocks. After all, the sooner they found more, the sooner they'd be able to start treating everyone and get this whole episode behind them.
_
Jenn moaned as she felt her shirt lifted up, exposing her breasts to the straw mattress. She wanted whoever was doing this to stop, but for some reason she couldn't move. Even when warm hands began caressing her breasts and massaging them gently.
Why she couldn't move wasn't something she could explain, but the sensation was igniting a fire in her that she wasn't sure she'd be able to resist if it went on for much longer. Not that she was confident in her ability to do that at this moment as the pair of hands felt like they were everywhere over her front, not just on her breasts but now even sliding over her stomach.
Jenn could feel her breathing getting rougher as her body responded to the touching and she could feel her body start to move involuntarily with whoever was touching her. She suspected it was Saelea, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to turn her head to look. Even as she felt lips start kissing her neck, enhancing the sensations she was feeling right then, causing her to cry out softly as the pleasure continued to build.
Then she felt one of the hands slide under her leggings to the sensitive place between her legs. The place that was aching to be touched, even as Jenn knew she needed to put a stop to this. She didn't want this and didn't want to betray Alex like this.
Jenn couldn't say why whoever was doing this to her wasn't saying anything, but she could feel their body pressing against her back, their bare breasts rubbing against her, fueling the fire that was already raging inside.
Then as her pleasure peaked, Jenn opened her eyes, a moan of relief escaping her lips.
No one was touching her.
She was laying on the straw mattress in the inn with her clothing still in place, still a tunic and not a shirt, and could hear Saelea's even breathing next to her as the young woman slept peacefully without a care in the world right then.
Jenn could feel her heart pounding as her body calmed down from what she could only guess was a dream she just had. A rather intense dream that told her how much her body hungered to be touched by anyone right then. Jenn wasn't sure if it was merely something her imagination cooked up on its own or if it was something she really wanted on her own, but she wasn't sure if she could trust herself going back to sleep right then. Not when she could feel that she likely needed to change her leggings before Saelea woke up in the morning, though she wasn't sure if she'd be able to hide the evidence of what had happened to her from that dream or if the feeling of needing to change her leggings was merely a byproduct of that weird dream that still had her rather flustered.
As Jenn sat up, she could tell that it was still rather dark out and she didn't know how late, or early, it actually was. All she knew was that the closest she'd felt to how she felt right then was when she kept getting sucked into her sister's dream of both of them sleeping together. Something Jenn could feel that she was starting to regret avoiding. If only because she couldn't help but feel a little confused at how she was feeling with how she could tell her body was feeling right then.
She'd been pushing off doing a dream conference with Alex, mostly because she hadn't been wanting to make herself feel more homesick than she was already. How homesick she could feel herself feeling right then wasn't pleasant and she suspected seeing Alex would only intensify those feelings. Yet, she had a feeling things like this would only intensify if she didn't find a release in some manner.
As Jenn changed clothing, she didn't stop at just the leggings but changed everything she was wearing. Somehow doing that made her feel a little better and relaxed enough that she was willing to lay back down next to Saelea, hoping that she wouldn't experience another dream like that. Even if it turn out to be Alex touching her. As she didn't think that she'd be able to handle the kind of dream that might be if she did have one like it.