Not long after that Jaiuro nervously and silently help me get ready for my physical therapy. Wheeling me down the hall she finally said something “Sorry I’m being distant, holy military officers intimidate me.”

  I smirked “Henna’s nice. You just have to get her out of her shell first.”

  “Out of her shell?”

  “Dang it, is that seriously another one?” I sighed heavily “Sorry, I keep getting these phrases in my head that no one knows. I figured Pitrak and Uvtrayl wouldn’t be so different sidering how close they are to each other but I guess either they really are, or I art of some quirky sub-culture.” I grumbled.

  She ughed “Out of her shell? I dunno, I kinda like it. Get the hard bits out of the oke at the soft insides? Makes sense. But I have no idea how you got her out of hers, she es off very… all shell no soft. To tihe metaphor.”

  “Nah, there’s a soft inside.” I said, fighting the urge to make a lewd joke.

  My physical therapist was thrilled to see me, bringing over a wooden crate and showihe new leg that was ‘finally pleted’ for me. Pretty simple design, but actually det quality. Metal with some kind of heavy gray coating to keep it from rusting, all with nice soft rubber on both the foot and the part to go against my leg.

  I didn’t hate it, ly, but I think I still ime to mentally accept that my leg really was gone. But it was a great deal easier to wear and some kind of pivoting joint in the ankle made it easier to walk with than the shitty wooden one. Not that I was surprised, this new one all but firmed it was meant to frustrate me.

  I still fell. Not as often, but enough to get to me. The therapist atient, but still worked me as hard as he could get away with. I didn’t know if I was making progress, the new leg clearly helped but I didn’t want that to be the only reason I was doing aer. I mean, I k was on the first day but, dammit. Emotions are hard and make me stupid. I just wao know that my effort was actually making a difference.

  As I was dropping into my wheelchair to head off I stopped Jaina and turo the man helping me learn. “Hey. I know you introduced yourself first day but I was not in a great pce. What’s your name?” Jaina kindly transting as needed. His dashin was fairly broken and my oteva was worse but he could say ‘bigger step’ and ‘one more time’ just fine.

  He just grinned “Emmit Grazza. Emmit good. No need of doctor or mister.”

  “Okay, sorry I s you yesterday Emmit. Thanks for helpi and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  The rest of the day retty standard but at least I’d gotten some answers. Not to mention the fact that actually pushing things to ge with Henna had been a massive source of relief. Still, the frustration and feeling of helplessness didn’t really lessen as much as I would have hoped. One day at a time I guess.

  A week passed and I heard nothing from Henna. Doc Francova had ests for me every day, Emmit pushed me harder with each session, and Vikkel and I taught each other swear words in our native nguages. In the evenings Jaina would climb into my bed and kiss me, but she seemed to pick up that I wasn’t up for more. It retty f to see the disappoi on her face over it. A nice ho sign that she wasn’t only with me for her sister’s treatment, just as Carmil told me.

  Carmil and I however were starting to grow a bit strained. I tried to hold her one night while drifting off and cried when my arms found nothing there. I wao touch her so bad that it hurt, she could tell how badly it affected me and touched me less to help. I don’t know if it did, I had fewer urges to hold her but I also missed her touch sorely.

  One big ge was I listeo people talking a lot more and I started to notice patterns, started to figure out at least bits and pieces of what was being said. Polyglot was absolutely incredible, how amazing would it be at rank S?

  Jaina didn’t seem to know anything about what had happened, if she was told anything at all it robably just ‘keep up the good work’ or something like that. But nine days after that Visit from the General, my ormed into my room one m without bringing breakfast and spped me.

  “You knew.” she practically spat the accusation out, shaking a folded letter in one hand at me.

  “Ow. Good m. Sleep well?” I said as I rubbed my stinging face.

  “Don’t you be cute with me, you knew about the deal I made with General Devatius.” she fought tears off, gring at me with anger and fusion in her eyes.

  “Suspected. Henna firmed it after I called her out on a few things.”

  “But we-, you-, I did... things with you! What, was that just to keep up appearances? Is that why you stopped after she showed up?”

  I took her hand and held it against my chest “No, not at all. Oher at.” She gred but didn’t pull her hand away. “I actually do like you quite a lot, Jaina.”

  [We both do. I’ve been fond of you since before my love awoke here.]

  He eyes darted between my fad Carmil’s words. “I don’t uand.”

  “Carmil feel certain… aspects of a person. She told me you were a good person and that you and I would be good together. Not in those exact words, but we uand one another enough to read novels from a sentence. She was right, wasn’t she?” I lifted her hand and kissed it.

  She bit her lip, though more in flicted thought than arousal. “Then why?”

  “Why what?”

  “I got this letter this m from the General and it says the deal is off. I his for Aylin!” she shook softly, tears falling while her voice strained.

  “What!? Give that to me!” she did so and I quickly looked it over. The first thing of o me was that it was written in Dashin, whie Henna k was likely I would end up reading it.

  Sure enough, it started with saying that I had bee aware of things and that she would no longer o keep up any act. It mentiohe deal no longer being necessary and I realized immediately what the problem was.

  “Jaina. You didn’t finish the letter. It says the deal is off because they are sending someoo treat her. Actually based oe it looks like she got her treatmeerday.” I smiled at her.

  Her eyes went wide and she snatched the letter bad poured over it. Her face turned red and she tried to apologize but her words stumbled over each other. After a few tries she stopped and took a breath. “I’m so sorry, I was just, I was scared that it was all for nothing and the hope my family had was just pulled out from uhem.” she was still g, but the anger was go least.

  “Have you not heard from them yet? I feel like they would have tried to tact you about this.”

  She gasped “Oh shit! They don’t have a o call me here! I have to-, no I wait till-”

  “Go call your folks, I be te to stuff for one day.” She leaned down and hugged me tight before rushing out of the room.

  Sure enough I was te, so te I missed therapy entirely and ended up fifteen minutes behind oing the doore tests. Jaina was absolutely glowing all day and had to stop to let a fey tears out several times. My heart leapt at it every time.

  That night she was a jittery mess, but still smiling, happy to just let it all out after we had dinner. “Gods, now the waiting is over and the waiting begins but its so much different this time.”

  “Waiting?” I asked, softly stroking her hair as she y o me.

  “To see how well the treatment took, or… if it took.” she defted a bit, she must have been holding that thought back all day. “I know it might not, we all do. The lo takes to get the treatment the lower the ces. She waited almost five years, but I know of people that waited decades and still got better. So she has a good ce.”

  I pulled her close and just held her. “How long till they know?”

  “A few days, a bit over a week at most. Either she starts showing signs of her mana pool clearing and geing again or… she doesn’t.” I kissed her forehead and she gave me a small smile. “I sometimes think that, either way, at least we know and it’ll be over. She said ohat if the treatment doesn’t work she’ll stop taking the medie, just go out to the ke near where we grew up and spe days in peace. I don’t wao die, but I think I uand. I think I would go spend that time with her, just be there for her until she-” a sob cut off her words

  I squeezed her as she cried, holding me so hard it hurt. But it was nothing, I would suffer far worse to fort her. Carmil really figured me out well, Jaina grew to mean a lot to me iime we spent together.

  “Dammit, I’m trying to be positive.” She sniffled.

  “Sometimes you just have to let yourself be scared. Fighting it only makes it worse. But you still be happy and frighte the same time. Still, I think your sister will make it. Then, once she’s feelier maybe I meet her? Maybe the rest of your family?”

  She punched my side softly. “If you behave I’ll sider it.” she said while hiding her face against my neck.

  I grunted in faux annoyance. “Mm, gonna have to pass then. Behaving is b.” and she ughed.

  To be ho, the words made me think. Behaving, cooperating, being a good little soldier had gotten me very little in my admittedly limited experience. But biting bad telling Henna ‘fuck your pns, do what I say’ had holy worked out phenomenally. Not that I was going to just go full chaos and start burning bridges, but I think maybe it was time to start being more pro-active.

  As the feassed, I learned more and more oteva at an increasingly fast pace, the more I put together the more the rest made sense. I was uanding the gist of most versations by the time Aylin’s results came in five days ter.

  Jaina got a call from her mother while we were having dinner and had to step out. Thankfully she’d remembered to give them a o reach her at this time. Ten mier she came into my room and hugged me tight, a smile on her fad tears streaking down her cheeks. “Her mana is geing properly! It worked!”

  I swear I almost passed out from the sudden and intense wave of relief. It hit me so hard that I started to fall over and Jaina had to catch me. It took me a moment to realize it was because it wasn’t just me, Carmil had been worried more tha on as well.

  [Oh thank the gods! I am so happy, Jaina. I was fretting terribly about this all week.]

  Jaina ughed and pulled my arm up, kissing Carmil’s runes softly. “Thank you so much for being there for me in all this, both of you.”

  [We were more than happy to do so, dear. You are important to my love, she wouldn’t have made her demands for just aer all.]

  Jaina blinked. “Demands?”

  “It was nothing, don’t worry about it.”

  [She told Henna to either treat your sister or she would cease cooperating.]

  I blushed as Jaina looked into my eyes. The raw attra I felt there was impossible to miss. She looked like she was a moment away from kissing me so hard I fot what air felt like. I tried t it off, act like it wasn’t a big deal, whie it kinda wasn’t. Holy, it was just the right thing to do as far as I was ed. “I didn’t want them holding her over your head like that. Especially not with how you and I were starting to, you know, get closer. I wanted anything that happeo be because of us, not that.”

  “I-, you-… and she listened?” She sounded like she didn’t quite believe it, or like she just to be firmed somehow for the sake of her own feelings. Like she just he st little excuse to dive in. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on my part. I really wao be right though.

  “I did tell you she’s a lot nicer out of her shell.”

  [Or out of her clothes for that matter.]

  Jain’s face turned crimson. “Oh… oh I suppose that makes some sense.” she said with a slight hit her voice, taking a step back from me and looking at the floor. I trusted Carmil, but that doesn’t mean I wish she could be a bit less blunt sometimes. Or at least give me warning before she was going to pull something like this. I could feel her amorous encement and knew where she wahis to go, so I went along with it and banked once again on her enhanced sense of people.

  I reached out and pulled Jaina back towards me, she didn’t fight it but I could see the fli her eyes. “Jaina, I love Carmil. I am in love with her, deeply.” I felt Carmil surge inside me with the words, the celebratory rag around of my elemental love was strong enough that I let out a small ugh. “And she loves me back, just as deeply.”

  [I do! With every thing I am and ever will be.]

  “Yet she enced you and I to be together.”

  fusion knit her brows together “But, why? Is it just to get you some physical affe or something?”

  [Because love is an infinite river with infinite cups to drink from. I am ued in selfishly coveting my love’s heart. I wao be able to experience loving others because I know it will make her happy. I felt that you and Esme would be good together, that you and she would find more than simple friendship. That your affes for my love would grow into more than a fasation with her body. Was I wrong?]

  Jaina looked up into my eyes. “So… this isn’t just some fling, and you and the General are more than just… humping?”

  “I don’t get involved unless I want more than just sex, and if Carmil approves of course.”

  [Which I do. Both of you and Henna. You trust her dear, the intimidation is a mask and not who she is. You also trust my Esme to love you if you let her. Not exclusively, but no less loved than if you were the only one in her heart.]

  “Love?” Jaina blushed more, eyes widening slightly.

  I cleared my throat “I mean, it might be a little early for that particur level of… it takes time to get to know people and… Look, you’re the , warmest, most g person I know. I like being with you, a lot. Carmil might be jumping the gun on what to call my feelings but I say that at least they are… in the direg of love and moving closer.”

  [She has a hard time fronting and uanding her emotions, she’ll get to the word eventually.]

  Jaina swallowed and looked into my eyes. “So you threateo screw up the pns of a general w for Uvtrayl intelligence, because you wanted anything that developed between us to not have any coer behind it?”

  I felt myself blush at that “I mean, it’s more plicated than just that but at least in part, yes.” She just stared at me for a few long moments, I felt a bit unfortable and started to say something but then she pushed me down onto my bad climbed onto me, pressing her lips to mine in a hungry, needy kiss as she pulled her clothes off.