Rose had a window by her her right, a clock to her left, and the door for what felt like miles from there. She stared at the clock as she coughed for the third time that minute; she'd been keeping track.
Alisha had given the group a room to stay in while she went to the castle on business, and her friends tried to keep her entertained, though she had since been left alone to rest, and now one question alone nagged her: How does one rest while they're coughing their heart out every thirty-five to twenty seconds?
She took a deep breath before letting out yet another cough.
Presently the door opened to reveal a beautiful young woman in a--from order of most prominent colors--red, white, and black dress. She was special for any number of reasons, she was only visible to certain people, she had a sense of humor that didn't quit, she could make more puns and pun fails than anyone cared to count.
"How do you feel?" she inquired, watching the shivering Shepherd.
After a few coughs, from sitting up and trying to draw breath to speak with, Rose finally managed to say, "Like a carriage ran through my throat." her mind immediately recalled the feeling of the Fethmus Mioma armatus, "Or like you and me trying to purify my throat with Ancient Nova."
"If only the cold was so easily beaten." Lailah mused, pulling a chair to the side of the bed with her foot and setting the bowl of soup on it, "This will be here when you want it, if you want anymore blankets-"
"I'll be fine." Rose smiled. Lailah stood next to the chair, removed the cloth from Rose's forehead, and pressed her arm to Rose's forehead, "What's the word, Doctor Lailah?"
"You've still got a bit of a fever, we're going to need to refresh your cloth." Lailah took the cloth and set it in the bowl of water on the nightstand before replacing it. She started for the door but turned, chuckling, to smile at Rose as she shook her head, "Ha, doctor."
Lailah returned later to find Edna reading a book aloud while Rose snored, which broke the earth seraph from her reading, "Huh?!" Edna stood up and shook her head, unaware of Lailah's presence.
"Aw, how sweet!" Lailah whispered from her place in the doorway.
Edna sat upright suddenly and turned around, "I was trying to read, but she was coughing, so I had to read aloud...ugh, now she's snoring." Edna slowly closed the book and sighed.
"Something tells me that that was the goal." Lailah giggled, hiding behind her fan.
Edna frowned at the fire seraph, "I already told you...dense...I'm out of here, I don't want to get sick, too."
"I'll take over for you now, then." Lailah smiled as she accepted the book that Edna had no plans for, and sat next to the sick merchant/assassin/Shepherd, and opened the book to where Edna folded a page on itself to keep her place, and read a few lines before her eyes shifted back to Rose. Ill humans always brought unfavorable memories back to mind, thoughts wandered to the dozens of Shepherds she lost to time, disease, war.
Lailah lost count of time on Rose's face, when her patient's violet eyelids pulled open like curtains, a small smirk finding it's way to her lips as she found the fire seraph staring at her.
"What's up, Doc?" Rose wheezed, sitting upright and wiping her nose harshly against her sleeve, "I think we were just at the part where the seraph finds the lost child before I nodded off."
"Ah...oh! Oh, right, alright, so...that's a bit further on," Lailah leafed through the book for a few moments before finding the page, 'The child looked up at the seraph, and-" Lailah startled when Rose began coughing, and leaped up to grab the half empty glass on Rose's nightstand, "You want some water?"
"I'm fine...just a...just a coughing fit!" Rose managed to say. She jumped slightly at the touch of the fire seraph's wrist on her forehead.
"You're still warm." Lailah observed, to which Rose gave her a grin.
"Well, I must be, if your wrist is that cool." Rose chuckled until she coughed, and fell back onto the pillows behind her, "Well, how bad is it?"
Lailah shook her head slowly, "Not...bad, just present."
"Ha, so...I'm in for no danger?" Rose inquired gravelly.
Lailah smiled warmly and wedged her left hand between Rose's and the mattress, resulting in a surprised, wheezing gasp from the Shepherd, "Lailah?"
"Oh, uh...that book...yes." Lailah averted her gaze as she found her cautiously retreating hand in a weak, but somehow powerful grasp, "O-or, if you want to rest, or if you want seconds--thirds, however many-" she felt like was staring into violet storm clouds, her attention fully arrested, she couldn't really hear the last what she had just said.
"I'm not hungry...can't even remember if I've had firsts," Rose remarked, "I can't sleep, and I've heard all of the stories from Mayvin dozens of times growing up...and...and you...held my hand...now you're trying to get away?"
Rose waited for Lailah to give some sort of explanation, the fire seraph didn't leave her hanging for to long, before giving an honest--if not hastily put together--excuse, "W-well...I like you, Rose."
Rose gave her a perplexed frown, before flashing her trademark grin, "I like you, too, Lailah."
"N-no, I mean...well, that, but also," Lailah stared into Rose's eyes, aware of their closeness and Rose's hand still holding hers, while her forearm awkwardly retreated from Rose's forehead, "well, more than just as friends...I was hoping to tell you later, but...I...I kind of fell in love with you." she broke from Rose's gaze and took a deep breath, "W-well, not 'kind of', very! I...um...sorry."
The Shepherd stared at Lailah until she was able to reply, "You're apologizing...I'm...well, we humans don't tend to stick around for very long...I feel pretty bad for you."
"I...I'm afraid this will make it difficult to work together for-" Lailah froze as Rose leaned up, pulling her right arm back to her side, bringing Lailah's hand with it. Lailah swallowed as Rose's face neared her own, the brunette careful to breath through her nose.
"I'd push you away to keep you from hurting yourself, but-"
"You know what you'd do in my place, what you'd say, what I'll say." Lailah concluded.
"Yeah...I decided a while back, that if we ever got through...everything, that I'd someday tell you how I feel...a-and that's that...I kind of very fell in love with you, too." Rose whispered.
Lailah smiled and nodded at the last words of Rose's reply. In a way Rose was teasing Lailah for her wording, but she also lacked an original way to voice her reciprocation, "Ha, ha, 'very kind of?'"
"Hm, you started it, Doctor Lailah." Rose leaned up, about to kiss Lailah on the cheek, but the surprised and overjoyed Prime Lord turned to press her lips into Rose's, right arm supporting the merchant as she sunk down to her knees for better balance as she slid her forearm between Rose's head and the pillow. Rose pulled away and gave Lailah a sympathetic smile, "Lailah, I wasn't...going for the lips," she informed, scratching her own cheek, "b-besides, I'm still sick-"
"Sorry, I was just...so caught up in the moment." Lailah smiled sheepishly, and Rose darted up to peck Lailah on the cheek.
"So, I guess Alisha had better find more business in Ladylake, since we'll be here for a while more, huh?" Edna remarked monotonously from the doorway, startling the other two.
"Well, I probably won't get sick...maybe." Lailah said hopefully.
Rose knelt by Lailah's bedside, smiling at the resting seraph, surprised when Lailah opened her eyes halfway, "I...regret nothing."
"Oh, Lailah," Rose sighed, "you...picked a role and you stuck to it, can't really chide you for being hardheaded, can I?"655Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lahjNNBvg
Lailah smiled at the remark and closed her eyes, "I love you, Rose."655Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKHWDbExze2
"I love you, too, Lailah." Rose smirked, "Kind of...very...a lot, if we're being completely honest."655Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBeM6c8RDp
"That's it," Edna charged into the room and pulled Rose back, "I am breaking this circle!"
"Hey, what circle?!" Rose cried.
"Ha, ha, she means us, I think." Lailah remarked.
"Come on, I'm not going to get myself sick!" Rose promised.
"I'm not taking chances, now go have your vitamins while I talk to crazy Lailah...Crailah." Edna grunted, crossing her arms, "Well, Lailah...I have a feeling that comment was directed at Rose, and she's too dense to realize it."655Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxJX6DRL5A
"She...mentioned making a decision, kissing her was a spur of the moment thing...I know she understood."655Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNncFwYti3N
Edna nodded in agreement and stood up, "Lailah...get some rest okay?"655Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkJEE8jYBe
Lailah nodded and closed her eyes, while Edna stepped out of the room and sighed, she was almost looking forward to fighting and traveling again, after all this was done.655Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZaK74vAhb
Author's Notes: I was almost uncertain how to end this, but I think that works.655Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUuvEv1DPN
