The cabin felt like a grave, gnawing at her, now that Finn had fled. she stared at the door, the echo of his words We cannot! still vibrating in her ears. It was the "heavy news," a weight so massive it felt as though she would be sinking under it. It was funny how life played with them…all this while keeping them in illusion of a new and safe while.
But Alas!
They weren't running toward a new life; they were being sucked into the cycle of the very destruction they tried so hard to get away from. The very place they had bled to escape was now their inevitable destination.
Rissa's legs felt like jelly as she forced herself to stand. She had to tell the Queen. She had to warn Aeryn about what had happened because of her. She felt angry with herself. All her meticulous planning to run away only to get mocked by the destiny forcing them closer.
After a while she mustered up her courage; she couldn't imagine what aeryn would say but afterall she had to tell her before its too late so she finally made her way to the her cabin, the wood of the ship creaking beneath her like a mocking laugh and her heart sinking with every step.
When she pushed the door open, the air was thick and stagnant like always. Aeryn was a small, fragile shape beneath the heavy furs. She had been desperately seasick since the moment the anchor was raised, barely speaking or doing anything, her days a blurred cycle of sipping water and nibbling on scraps of dried meat and fruit that she could never quite keep down.
Rissa sat on the edge of the bed, looking away at her shadow that was stretching long and jagged across the floor instead of looking at the sick queen. Anxiety eating her up. She looked at Aeryn and felt a cold stone settle in her chest. Aeryn's face was a horrifying shade of pale and sickly green. Her lips, once the color of rose, were now white, parched and devoid of any blood. She looked less like a living woman and more like a statue carved from salt.
The room was a mess of the last few days' struggle. Rissa got up immediately and began to move with a sudden, nervous energy, trying to distract herself from the words she had to say. She started arranging the scattered items, stacking the empty wooden bowls, folding the damp cloths she had been using to wipe her up, and tucking away the heavy robes that had been tossed aside in the Queen's bouts of nausea.
In her haste, her fingers slipped and a heavy ceramic bowl struck the floorboards with a crash so violent that it sounded as if the sky had teared open.
Rissa winced, instantly clamping her hands over her ears, her heart hammering against her ribs. She froze, eyes wide with the terror of a child who had broken something sacred. She was already so brittle from Finn's shouting and revelation of a horrible reality that the noise felt like a physical blow. She waited for Aeryn to bolt upright, for her to gasp or complain or even just groan.
But when Rissa finally lowered her hands and looked at the bed, Aeryn hadn't moved. She hadn't even blinked.
"Your Majesty?" Rissa whispered, her voice trembling. But nothing happened.
She leaned forward and shook Aeryn's shoulder. Nothing. She tried again, harder this time, her breath coming in shallow hitches. Finally she cried, "Aeryn! Wake up. We... we have a problem. Finn says we're heading for the Hegemony. Aeryn, please! I am sorrryy."
But aeryn was not waking up; her hands went cold, she immediately reached for her wrist. She pressed her fingers into the skin, searching desperately. For a long, agonizing second, there was nothing but the heartbeat of the ship. "No," Rissa breathed. "No, no, no."
Then she felt a pulse so faint, thready, and very slow. She lunged forward, grabbing Aeryn by the shoulders and hauling her into a sitting position. She shook her, her own tears blurring her vision, her voice a frantic cascade of prayers. But as Aeryn's head lolled forward against Rissa's shoulder, a new horror emerged.
It was a thick, cloying, rotten scent. At first, Rissa tried to ignore it because she had been sniffing that smell for last few days since aeryn got sick, her mind had been offering excuses all this while it's just the vomit, it's just the sickness, it's the stagnant water. But as she made Aeryn sit up, the smell grew stronger, more aggressive, smelling of old blood and decaying meat.
Rissa's eyes darted to the bed. She shoved the Queen's silk pillow aside, throwing it across the room. As the pillow hit the floor, Rissa realized the source. The smell followed the pillow.
The realization hit Rissa like a physical wave. The sickness wasn't just the sea. There was something else inside the pillow. This new realization made her even more panic.
"HELP!" she shrieked, the sound tearing from her throat with a raw, jagged edge. "FINN! CAPTAIN! ANYONE! HELP HER! SHE'S DYING!"
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