It had been almost half an hour since the two children had left the safety of their cabin to head to Honey loaf. When they first started out it was a bright and sunny day,but since they dabbled in the city it was almost dark, and Arjana started to get worried.
“Izzimar, it’s getting late, can you still see where we’re going?”, she asks worriedly.
“I can’t see anything, Arjana, I’m blind.”, he teases as he stops and sniffs the air again. After sniffing for a minute, he pulls them past the fallen log from earlier.
“How can you wander the forest without being able to see?”, she chides.
“I can smell and feel around Arjana, It’s not difficult for me. Besides, I’ve walked this path before a hundred times at least.”
“.......Even when it’s pitch black?”
“Even when it’s pitch black.” he repeats before stopping them in their tracks. He holds his finger to his mouth, signaling for her to be quiet. At first, Arjana looks at him confused before noticing a large moose pass by with two calves alongside her. She gasps at how close they are before Izzimar stops her by covering her mouth.
“I know this moose. This is her second pair of babies, her previous calves died last year from hunters.”, he whispers to her as he guides her away from the proximity of the moose. “She’s extra grumpy this year, so be very quiet.” he adds before they get back on the trail. This leaves Arjana stunned in amazement, as Izzimar had detected a threat that she didn’t notice. She always wondered how blind people fared in life, back home they were often being taken care of by someone else. Unlike them, Izzimar was entirely independent.
“Izzimar, you really are… amazing.”, she says as they continue along. Izzimar stops to quiver, before he pauses and looks away. “Are you okay?” she asks, trying to see his face while he pulls away.
Suddenly, as if she were hit by lightning, Arjana freezes ,before collapsing over in pain. She screams and cries as her body is hit with a searing burning sensation throughout her.
“Arjana!? Are you okay!?”, Izzimar cried out before kneeling over to feel for her head. As she screams, Izzimar quickly lifts her over his shoulder, and grabs their bag before quickly walking on the trail. “You’re going to be okay, we’re almost there!”, he says, hiding his panic as he picks up the pace. Arjana couldn’t take the pain anymore, it was spreading throughout her whole body, slowly, she began to lose consciousness.
******
Back at the cabin, Birger had just woken up to an oddly quiet home. Thinking that Izzimar had settled in, he decided to give him his daily chores for the evening. After a long stretch, Birger gets up and makes his way to Izzimar’s room before noticing the door open. Quickly, he darts in and to his horror, Arjana is missing. He goes to the window and curses as he realizes that it is night out.
“That foolish boy!”, he growls as he quickly goes to his room to grab his cloak and boots. “Why in all of the light would he bring her outside!?”, Birger yells to himself as he angrily gets dressed to quickly pursue them. His anger is replaced with shock when he hears a frantic knock at the door. Kicking his boots away, he goes to the door and almost rips it off its hinges when he is greeted by a heartbreaking sight. Izzimar is carrying Arjana, who is pale as death, over his shoulder. Blood is slowly trickling out of her eyes and nose as she lays limp over his shoulder.
“Dammit boy, give her here!”, Birger yells as he snatches her away and frantically goes to Izzimar’s bedroom.
“By the gods, why would you take her out!?”, he yells in a panic as he lays her down on the bed and goes to his room for components.
“I didn't think we would be gone that long!”, Izzimar whined as he accompanied Birger to grab materials. In his room, he grabs a yellow paste and another gauze before returning to Arjana’s bedside. Working fast, he removes the old bandages she had on to examine the damage and finds that her wounds have gotten worse. From her neck and thigh wound, a black substance can be seen pumping through her veins and spreading throughout her body. Using the paste, he applies it on top of the veins, stopping the spread.
“Damn it all…It’s gotten bad…very bad.”, Birger breathes out before darting over to the workbench and quickly moving aside bottles and jars of components.
“Leeches blood, Mandrake root, Sprite tears…” he lists off the components as he gathers them for the potion. “Izzimar, get me the wolfsbane bud!”, Birger yells as he readies his equipment.
“Eldur!”, he shouts, lighting the fire under the water basin before getting to work. First, he uses the pestle to grind up the mandrake root before mixing it with the sprite tears. After heating up the leeches blood, Izzimar hands him the wolfsbane bud so that he could add it to the water basin. The water in the basin turns a dark purple and fills the room with a noxious odor.
“How is she, Izzimar?”, Birger asks as begins adding the mixtures to the basin. Izzimar quickly heads over to Arjana’s side and feels for a pulse. “She’s not breathing!”, he yells in a panic before returning to Birger. Birger grunts in frustration, the mixture isn't ready yet, and things aren’t looking good. Thinking quickly, he looks into a way to stall for time, “Izzimar, go to my room, grab the amulet of the sun and say,”Kynda”. Okay?”, he asks as calmly as he can. “It’s hanging up by my room door.”, he adds as Izzimar leaves out the door to grab it. While Izzimar grabs the amulet,Birger steps away from the bench to examine her closely, and confirms that Arjana isn’t breathing.
“Lumineon, if you can hear me, please do not let this child fall to the dark. May your light heal her, and purge the darkness within her veins.”, he mumbles a prayer as Izzimar enters the room with the amulet. 
“I’m here, how is she?”, he asks.
“Just do like I asked of you!” Birger commanded before returning to the potion. Izzimar, worried and unsure, shakily holds the amulet up to her chest.
“Kynda…Kynda…”, he whimpers.
Birger barks, “Say it with conviction or it won't work!”, as he pours the potion into a bottle.
“Kynda!”, Izzimar yells, causing the amulet to glow faintly but it was just enough to get a breath to escape Arjana’s lips.
Shocked and relieved, Izzimar was beside himself,” She gasped! She gasped!” ,he shouted as Birger approached her with the potion.
Carefully, he lifts her head to make her ingest the potion. With the potion in her system, Birger sighs in relief before returning to the bench to grab some herbs and roots. Izzimar stays by Arjana’s side while Birger grounds up the items to make a topical ointment. He moves the young boy out of the way as he gently rubs the ointment over her body.
The room is silent as Birger proceeds to work on Arjana while Izzimar sits on in guilt. Over the next few hours, Birger would go back and forth between the workbench and Arjana’s bedside with different remedies he would use. Whether or not they are working is unknown unless Arjana wakes up. 
*******
***A few days later***
The sun shines brightly on a calm summer evening. The birds are out chirping, and the animals are scurrying about. Squirrels leave their homes to forage, while birds are fluttering about enjoying the warm summer breeze. Despite the tranquil serenity of the forest, there is a solemn feeling in the air.
Today is the first day of June, and Arjana is still unconscious since the day she collapsed.
Throughout the coming days since the incident, Arjana had not shown any promising signs in her recovery. Ever since Birger got her stable, she had been unconscious. At first, he thought that she would awake after he gave her the medicine, but that was not the case. Days would turn into a week, and Arjana had not woken up from her slumber. Birger would try everything in his pantry to try and rouse her, but nothing would work. Izzimar felt immensely horrible for his responsibility in causing this, and tried his best to rectify his actions by gathering components he thought would help. Sadly, this proves to be futile as Birger hasn't uttered a single word to him ever since the incident.
Thankfully, Arjana's condition hasn't deteriorated, but she has lost a considerable amount of weight. Her skin has lost its color from lack of nutrition and sunlight, while bits of her hair started to fall out. It was unknown as to whether it was her illness causing this or the state of being in a coma. If she could wake up, a quick meal and water could nurse her back to health, but he doesn't have the means to nourish her until then. Birger is at his wits end trying to save her, and right now... he doesn't know what to do. He wishes that he could just flick his wrist, and she would awake, but unfortunately, it's not that simple. This sickness is nothing he has ever seen before, misusing magic for the symptoms could only speed up her demise.
Going back to his roots, Birger would spend the next hours with his nose in a book, rarely getting up to eat or sleep. Countless grimoires tossed aside in favor of even older tomes of old. Yet still no answer on what could be done to save Arjana. At this point in time, Birger's mind started to wonder. How did we get here? Why did this happen?
"Of course...", he mumbles to himself as he tosses another tome aside in frustration.
In that moment, Birger had picked up on Izzimar, hiding outside his room door. He senses the boy tense up before slowly getting up and returning to his room. Birger growled.
"That boy..."
It was his fault. He should never have taken Arjana out. Birger told him days before that Arjana was to never be out during the night. Yet here we are, a young girl dying, and the one responsible not taking accountability for his actions. Birger let out a deep sigh mixed with frustration and anger. Yes, in this moment he is absolutely livid with Izzimar...but at the same time, understood an undeniable truth.
If it had not been for Izzimar, he would never have found Arjana...she would have died in the woods alone... But by a miracle, Izzimar found her and brought her into his care. Birger hoped this would be a simple fix, return the human to her people and be done with it. But unfortunately, he had stepped into something far complex than he had hoped.
Arjana wasn't just a missing child; she was a missing princess at that. Leaving her to die would cause problems that would earn more ire towards elven kind. But most importantly, he couldn't let a child die, not a human, not an elf. No...no more children dying because of his incompetence. He had to see this through to the end. But even Birger began to wonder.
"Is there an ending that guarantees her survival...?"
The stress of trying to save a young patient from this condition is too much for him, and finally his frustration boils over. Quietly, Birger gets up from his seat on the floor and leaves his room.
****
It is midnight, the sounds of the frogs and bugs take over the darkness. In their shared room, Izzimar has attempted to sleep at Arjana's bedside. Although his eyes are closed, he isn't getting any real slumber. Being a blind elf, he has navigated this hurdle with his hindrance before. This is usually fixed with a blanket over his head. But tonight, is different than any other.
Izzimar has never forgiven himself since the day Arjana collapsed. Since her coma, he tried to speak to her, tell her how sorry he was. Unfortunately, even if she could hear him, she can't give him an answer. Izzimar winces in frustration, but mostly sadness... The first friend he possibly made, is now on death's door because of him. Izzimar's very light slumber is interrupted when Birger gently shakes him awake.
"Get. Up. Izzimar.", he says calmly.
Despite Birger's attempts to hide his anger, Izzimar knew what was coming, and sighs as he quietly gets to his feet. Birger lets him out of the room, and they go outside to the back of the cabin. Once there, Birger grabs a thin birch branch and strikes Izzimar with twenty lashes on his backside. This isnt the first time he had taking a lashing, but it had been ages since he had crossed the line with Birger. Birger tolerated Izzimar's insults and his profanity, but right now he's made it quite clear where he draws the line. Izzimar had disobeyed him and nearly caused the death of an innocent human child. To Birger, after everything he taught Izzimar, that was unforgivable.
When Birger stays his hand off the birch, he calms his nerves, grabs Izzimar's shoulders, and looks him in the eyes.
"Izzimar...why don't you listen to me...?! I taught you how to manage your blindness! I gave you a warm bed, shared my food with you, and even gave you the clothes off my back!", he yells, "Before you met me, you didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of!", Birger added through gritted teeth.
He calmed himself before making the Izzimar meet his gaze. "After what you've been through, with your clan, and your condition... I try not to ask for much... I thought you understood that by now... ", he says. Izzimar remained quiet before turning his head away, upset.
"Izzimar, I know I'm...not your father... I'm not trying to be. But you know better! I taught you, to know better, to do better, to BE better!", Birger reminds him.
"Yet after all I taught you, you still choose to disappoint me. .....Why!?", he asks, his voice trembling. His last question, broke Izzimar, as the boy faces Birger with tears in his eyes.
"I...I'm sorry,...", Izzimar whimpers before walking away, using his cane with trembling hands to feel around, before sitting on the cutting stump. He whimpers and hides his face in his hands to stifle his cries. After having a moment to collect himself, he admits.
"...I...It's just...I wanted...to...surprise you...with the food... And I wanted to make Arjana smile since...she's my new friend..." Izzimar says between sniffles. Birger looks on, surprised at Izzimar's confession.
"I ...I thought if I took her outside and we...brought food back from Honeyloaf, you'd both be happy..", he admits
"Izzimar, you don't have to put her life in danger for all of that.", Birger explains with a sigh
"I didn't mean to! I thought we had enough time to come back!", Izzimar whined as he resumed crying. "...I'm sorry I ...I never wanted to disappoint you... I never wanted her to get worse...", he admits before sniffling.
Birger wants to reassure Izzimar ,say something to ease his sadness, but he is struck by an abrupt dread that chills his heart. This doesn't go unnoticed by Izzimar who, after sensing him tense up, lifts his head up at him in confusion. If Izzimar wasn't blind, he would see Birger, still as stone, and pale as the moon. Looking into the forest, Birger see two sets of piercing red eyes, and a tall shadowy figure staring back at them.
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