It is a bright sunny evening, and a lot seems to have calmed down from yesterday.

 Birger had given Arjana permission to get up and move her feet a bit so long as she didn't overdo it. With slight excitement, Arjana fully explores her surroundings while Birger cooks dinner. It's the least bit that she can do to remain positive after what's happened. The first place she stumbles upon is the washroom in the back of the house. The next is the kitchen in the front of the house,near the door. Inside the kitchen, she catches Birger seemingly struggling to cut the potatoes. His hands are shaking as if he has to force himself to cut them. 

"Um...Mr...Birger. Are you okay?" ,she asks.

"Yes, I...I'm.... not very good at cooking...", he hesitantly admits.

"Can I help?"

With a bit of hesitation, he gives her the knife. 

"Do you know how to cook?"

"Yes! I used to cook all the time with my father!" she beams as she carefully cuts the vegetables.

"The king cooks? He didn't have servants to do that for him?" he asks as he steps away to grab more ingredients from the shelf.

"He did, but sometimes he prefers to cook. It's a way for him to spend time with us when he's finished with work."

"Your father, what's his name, do you remember?"

 "Yes, his name was Kokolo, and my brother was Monoko." she says as she starts to reminisce on her time with her family. It starts to dawn on her that the last she saw of them was a couple of months ago. She doesn't know where they are or if they're okay. What's more, is that she doesn't know if she even has a kingdom to return to. She stops cutting the potatoes for a moment.

"Mr. Bramblewood, where am I? Is it possible for you to take me home when I get better?" she asks.

"I don't know, youngin’, it depends on how far your kingdom is." he states before he walks down the hallway to the back before he returns with a scroll in his hand.

"Come here, little one." he says as he unfolds the scroll,revealing a map. "Point to where the Paria Kingdom is here.", Arjana takes a look at the map and recognizes the Brymshire Empire, but when she goes to look for the Paria Kingdom, it's not there. 

"....It's...not on here..." she whimpers.

"Where would it be if it was?" Birger asks intrigued.

"Right here." she points, "Where it says Galupa territory."

"Galupa? When did Galupa become Paria?"

She thinks really hard, holding her head as she tries to jog her memory.

"I think my father said he founded the kingdom when I was four."

"Maybe... this map hasn't been adjusted to include your kingdom." he grunts, a bit frustrated.

 Arjana doesn't know how to respond, and there is a silence between them. Could her kingdom really be too new to be placed on a map? It can't be..

"Sir, where am I?, she asks quietly

He shakes his head before pointing to the map at a location across the ocean. Arjana's eyes widen at the distance between her current location and her home.

"You are in newly occupied territory of the Prioria Empire."

"Prioria..? How did I wind up here!? I don't recall traveling this far!" ,she claims as she starts to panic.

Birger, sensing the young girl's distress, puts away the map.

"Youngin, stay calm, when you get better I promise I'll make it my responsibility to get you home.", he reassures her.

She steadies herself, trying to remain calm, but so many thoughts were racing through her head. How did she get overseas? Did the Emperor take her to Prioria? Was there a mistake?.....What happened, between June and Spring that led to her being in Prioria? Taking a deep breath, she tries to remain calm as tears start to trickle down her face.

"Promise...?" she whimpers

"I give you my word,little one."he answers firmly.

He stands up and pats her on the head to comfort her. "The ingredients are in the cabinets,so you can cook whatever you wish, I'll be drawing your bath when you are ready.", He states before he walks down the hallway. Arjana, still overwhelmed and puzzled by this turn of events, begins to tear up. She struggles to take a deep breath as she attempts to cook something for herself, to try and get her mind off of her situation. Arjana goes to the cabinets and pulls out some fruit and vegetables. 

She sniffles before grabbing a few things. "I can.... Make mashed potatoes and poached fruit for now.", she says to herself as she continues to look through the cabinets. Not satisfied with the lack of choices, she opens the bottom cabinets to see if there is more food. Upon checking, she finds a jar full of gray and white mushrooms.

"Oh! I can make roasted mushrooms!" she thinks to herself and she prepares to chop them up for her dinner.

****

As night falls, Arjana waits for the poached fruits and mashed potatoes to cool on the counter. The mushrooms are still roasting in a skillet over the fire, filling the room with a rather dry aroma. Concerned, Arjana walks over to check on the mushrooms, and something seems amiss. The mushrooms turned a strange purple color and had a blue substance secreting from it. 

“Maybe…I didn’t cook it right..?” she says to herself as she takes the skillet off the heat and sniffs it. Her face winces at the light oily smell as she sits the skillet on the counter. “Something isn’t right…”, she thinks before Birger walks in.

“Youngin’ , your bath-” he stops and freezes when he sees the mushrooms on the counter.

“Mister Birger, can you help me with the mushrooms?” 

He quickly rushes over and grabs the skillet, throwing the mushrooms into the fireplace. “Arjana, you didn’t eat any of those mushrooms did you!?” he asked, his voice racked with worry. “N-no. I didn’t. Why, am I in trouble?”

“Those mushrooms are not meant to be heated on an open fire. You’re supposed to eat them raw, heating them up makes them poisonous.” he explains after sighing in relief. He puts out the fire and carefully fans the smoke out the window. As he does this, Arjana makes a bowl of poached fruit and mashed potatoes. Feeling guilty, she offers the bowl to Birger.

“Arjana, please, just go eat.”, he says dismissively as he fans the smoke away.

“....Please, I want to share.”

Birger hesitates for a brief minute, before he accepts the bowl and sits it next to him. “I’ll eat it when I get done, go on and eat at the table, Arjana.”, he says before patting her on the head. Satisfied, Arjana smiles before sitting at the table to eat the remaining bit of food she had leftover.

—-----

After  Arjana finishes up her small meal, she prepares to head to the bath that Birger had set for her in the washroom. She grabs a washcloth and heads to the wooden bath that seems inviting with its clear water. After testing the temperature, she decided that it was warm enough to get in. She almost fully immerses herself in the water, when a sharp searing pain courses through her body. She screams and falls onto the floor trembling, clutching her thigh as she struggles to catch her breath. Hurried footsteps rush to her cries as Birger barges into the bath, but he quickly averts his eyes upon seeing her predicament.

"Little one, are you okay?!" he asked worriedly.

"It....hurts...It hurts so bad..." she barely manages to whimper.

He leaves to get his pouch of supplies before returning to her. "Where does it hurt?" he asks as he grabs a cloth and dips it in a jar of ointment.

"My upper thigh..." she says weakly as the color suddenly starts to drain from her face.

Thinking quickly, Birger examines the area before he freezes in place. The silence is almost agonizing as he stares at a wound that he had not seen when he first took her in. Suddenly he gets up and dashes out of the room, frantic rummaging and moving objects can be heard before he returns. As if in a panic, he starts throwing objects into the bath: herbs, oils, and tiny pink flowers.

"I'm going to move you now. You must soak in the water,okay?" he says urgently.

"But..it'll hurt..." she whimpers as tears run down her face

Without consulting her further, he picks her up carefully before gently placing her in the bath. At first, Arjana yelps and cries when immersed in the bath but then slowly the pain subsides. Her breathing becomes steady as she calms down and the pain fades.

"Are you.... okay?" he asks with a shaky voice.

She barely gets out, "Yes sir.... What...happened..? What… was it?" as she sinks into the bath, too weak to examine the wound herself. "A very,very nasty cut." he says as he rustles through his bag and grabs this strange grainy white block. "Hold still, I have to wash you with this." he says urgently. Too weak to interject, she allows him to assist her as she bathes.

****

Night comes, and Birger is giving Arjana more medicine than when she first woke up. She gets nauseous at some of the herbs he gives her, but he is very insistent that she takes them. He helps her get to her bed and gives her one last examination.

"Does anywhere else hurt?", he asks

She gestures to the back of her neck, "Sometimes it hurts back here.". He examines the back of her neck before putting a strange purple ointment on it. After he seems satisfied with the examination, he proceeds to leave the room before coming back with large stalks of purple plants.

"What are those?"

"It's....to make your room smell nice. The pollen it releases also gives off healing properties as well." he says, arranging the flowers around the room. "Don't touch them, and let me know when they wilt." he adds before he ties some of them to her bed.Once done, he is ready to leave before a question pops into her mind. "Sir....where is your friend?"

He stills as she continues her question, "I would like to thank him for saving me.". He sighs before he hesitantly admits, "He's...not here....but all you need to know is that his name is Izzimar. Now, get some rest.". He leaves the room and closes the door. Arjana decides that it would be best to sleep, so she lies down for the night.  

"Izzimar...", She whispers as closed her eyes, and this time, she was able to have a restful sleep.

____

The next morning, she wakes up to Birger knocking on the door. “Arjana, may I come in? I have your medicine.”, he calls out. “Yes, you may.”, she groggily answers. He enters the room with a tray of ointments and medicine. She sits up and stretches as he brings a small stool to sit across from her. Birger gently places his hand on her forehead,

“How are you feeling? Are you still hurting?”

“Not right now. Why did the cut hurt so bad?”

When asked, he seemed a bit lost in his head, seemingly unsure of how to answer. He grabs a gauze and smears some of the ointment onto it.Finally, he answers,

“It appears that the cut had gotten infected. That happens when you don’t clean a wound.”, he explains. “May I?”, She becomes apprehensive, before relenting and nodding her head. He moves her gown up a bit to check on the wound, and Arjana panics upon seeing it for the first time. It was a very deep slash, as if someone had taken a knife and attempted to cut her carotid artery. She gets nauseous seeing the open tissue exposed by the wound before Birger applies the gauze. Immediately after applying the gauze, Arjana feels a searing pain creep up her thigh. She begins to cry and attempts to remove it, but Birger restrains her with one arm. Quickly,yet calmly, he grabs the red medication from the tray. “Here, take this-.”, he barely gets the words out before she quickly grabs the vial and downs the bitter liquid. As quickly as it came, the pain subsided, and she calmed down.

“Mister Birger….how did I get hurt?” she asks weakly.

“....I don’t know. All I remember is that Izzimar found you.”

“What were my injuries?”

He reaches into the small pouch on his waist and pulls out a small notebook. He reads it for a brief moment before answering.

“You had a head injury, a small concussion and a few cuts here and there. Some of them got infected, but others were minor.You also have a bit of venom, maybe from a snake bite.”. He briefly stares into the book before quickly closing it and shoving it into the pouch. 

“Right now, I think it's best that I monitor that wound until you get better.”

“Just that one?”

“Yes. And the one on your neck.”, he adds as he gets up to go to the workbench.

Curious, she follows him to the workbench again, wobbling slightly to not disturb the gauze too much. He looks down at her in slight annoyance, but sighs as he looks through the jars. He grabs a small root from the jar and sets it aside to grab a purple thorny stick from another. Birger moves over to his water basin and soaks the two items.

“What are you making?”

“Medicine. Some items require soaking in water to bring out their healing properties.”

“May I help?”

“Another time, youngin’, we can’t have you making poison now can we?” he teases as she pouts.

He takes them out of the water and grinds them up in the mortar and pestle. Arjana watches in awe as he works to heat the basin and stir in the two items. She finds the science of it all so fascinating, she can’t help but to get a bit too close to the boiling water. Birger sees this and gently pulls her away from the boiling mixture. A slow lilac smoke comes from the basin, filling the room with a spicy aroma. She starts coughing lightly as he scoops up a bit of the lilac mixture and places it in a vial.

“Do I drink that yet?” she asks, nervous at the thought of drinking a spicy medicine. As she observes the liquid, it turns lumpy.

“No, I will mix this with a base and use it as ointment for the wound on your neck.”, he sets the vial in one of his leather pockets. “Once it cools, that is.” he adds before sitting back down on the stool  in exhaustion. Arjana sits across from him on the bed, wanting to wait with him.

“Mr. Birger, am I your only patient?”

“No, Izzimar is another patient of mine.”

“How old is he?

“He is around your age.” he says as he quickly looks her up and down. “Just about…maybe fifteen?”

“You don’t know his age?”

“No, he’s a runaway. He comes and goes as he pleases. He never mentioned his age or birthday to me, but I’m guessing he is fifteen.”. After that explanation, there is a long silence between them. Still, Arjana can’t help but wonder about the possibility of seeing other people outside of the cabin.

“Will anyone else come this way seeking your help?”

“Maybe, I haven’t had too many people come this way.”

She looks down in thought, and that creeping feeling of isolation hits her again. Desperate to have some semblance of normalcy, she asks, “Will I ever meet Izzimar?”

“Why would you want to see him?”

“I… I just haven't seen anyone else since I’ve been here…” she whimpers.

Birger gets up and reassures her, “You’ll be able to see him, he’s just on a trip for a minute. When… he gets back, you can see him in person. Right now, just focus on getting better.”. He goes to the workbench and mixes the vial’s contents for her ointment. He returns to her and gently applies the medicine to the wound on her neck.

As she waits, Arjana’s restlessness starts to stir within her. She wants to go home, she wants to go outside, she wants to see people. All these thoughts fill her mind as she gets ready to face another day of recovery.