I put the carrots aside for now, wanting to try them after everything else. That only left the slices of apples-
"Are those peaches?", I asked Law in exicetment. I interrupted his conversation with Bepo, but I didn't really care right now. I had seen the peaches already, but for some reason, only now did I truly realize what was lying on my plate.
"Yeah. Don't like them?", he asked, a grin ready to strike.
"No I love them!" My beaming face was full of anticipation. I hadn't had a fresh peach for soo long! I wondered how long ago it was, but it must have been years, because I couldn't remember. Since I started being allergic to them, the only peaches I ate were out of cans. Those were already processed and thus edible. I was hesitant at first, because I had no idea how intense my allergic reaction would be. But I just couldn't let this chance pass me by.
With high expectations, I put one piece in my mouth. "OMG! I knew peaches out of cans tasted somewhat different, but this taste... It's so good! I just found heaven." I could have jumped around the room in joy. Law's and Bepo's stunned faces were skillfully ignored. I tried enjoying the peaches as long as possible, but as it couldn't have come any other way, there was only one piece left. Sighing, I saved it for last.
The apples and carrots brightened my mood again, as I didn't seem to be allergic to any of the fruits in this world. What a dream! Being able to eat fresh fruits without worry, that idea made me unbelievably happy.
"Alright, last piece of heaven.", I was just about to pierce the last piece of peaches with my fork, as a familiar feeling came up. I did react to something. It just took a lot longer than I was used to. Though it was only itching a little bit, so I directed my attention back to the peach.
After eating the last peach, I asked Law to thank the cook for me for those peaches. At the same time, I felt the itching in my mouth getting stronger. Spreading to the esophagus, I started cleaning my throat and scratching a little. I began to worry, as this kind of developement was unusal. The reaction was delayed. Getting more intense this quickly was unusual too. It used to be a creeping process.
Since I ate all those fruits after another, I couldn't determine which of them was the cause of that reaction now. The itching was typical for all of them. The scratchy throat typical for the carrots. The worst was the itching esophagus, sometimes even spreading to the lungs, since you just couldn't do anything about it. Luckily, my ears didn't start itching as well, like they did for my mom.
Of course, Law realized something was off rather quickly and asked what the matter was.
"I'm fine, don't worry.", is what I wanted to tell him. But no words came out. Instead, panic rose up in me. I couldn't speak. That was the second time my vocal cords swelled up due to an allergic reaction. I knew, that itself wasn't that bad. I could still breathe normally, just not talk. But this time, the allergic reaction intesified so quickly, I was afraid my windpipe would swell up as well.
What was I supposed to do now? Law waited impatiently for an answer and my behaviour didn't quite wear an "everything's-fine"-sign. Then I remembered the little medical box I had in my backpack. There should be some pills alleviating the allergic reaction inside.
I wasn't comfortable getting up and walking outside before anyone else, but there was no helping it. There was no way for me to know whether the symptoms would worsen and I didn't wanna risk anything. Obviously, Law ordered me to stop. Not knowing if I just imagined things or my throat really did feel a bit tighter, I did not stop.
While walking out the door, I looked back into the mess, just to see an angered Law back at the table we were sitting on. A few steps ahead, I tried saying something again. Still no sound. A bad feeling drove me to start jogging down the corridors, driving up my pulse. At the same time, I realized jogging to not have been a good idea. I didn't imagine things earlier. Out of instinct, my hand went to my throat and I tried clearing my throat by coughing. But it wouldn't help so I forced myself to move on.
Becoming anxious to having taken the wrong way, I was relieved my sense of orientation did not let me down. Feeling my pounding heart, I gasped for air as I opened the door to my room frantically. I remembered the few times an acquaintance gasped for air due to their asthma. I alwasy thought it must be scary. Now I knew, it was terrifying.
"Where is that damn medicine?! Don't tell me I really did unpack it back home. Oh please not!", I rummaged through my memory, afraid of having unpacked it. I froze after searching through the whole bag. But I clearly remembered leaving it inside the backpack. Then it struck me. "Law.", I thought and ran outside my room, quickly changing to a slower pace. I was relieved to feel my throat not swelling up any further, but the swelling still didn't seem to fade.
I was in a panic the whole way to the infirmary. This was the first time my windpipe swelled up. I didn't know when it would start do go down. That time my vocal cords swelled up, the swelling went down rather quickly, but I had taken some medicine right away. Some for emergency cases on top of that.
"Finally the infirmary."
I was feeling better already. The swelling in my throat finally started to go down. Before opening the doors, I tried saying something again. Not quite yet. My vocal cords weren't swollen as badly anymore, but my voice was extremely hoarse. I expected Law to be quite surprised upon hearing me talk. I just hoped he wasn't here and I would find what I was looking for quickly.
But of course, he was inside.
"Catherine-ya. Where did you run off to all of a sudden?" I still had mixed feelings, hearing that name. Still, I tried finding my medicine as fast as possible, ignoring his question. I had no intention of saying anything anyways. And I had to concentrate on breathing evenly. He was a doctor, yes, but I did not want to make a scene in front of him nevertheless. So I tried my best appearing as normal as possible. Well, at least as fine as possible.
Law stood up. "It's not very smart to ignore me. Especially not if you rummage through my medical supplies.", angrily, he closed the distance, while I looked through the closets.
Grabbing my upper arm, he swung me around. His grip hurt. I gave off a very strange sound in surprise, mixed with a followed cough. That sound hit him off guard. No one could have seen that coming. Now that Law wasn't sitting at his desk anymore, I spotted my medical box on it. So he was working on it right now, no wonder I couldn't find it.
I tried getting out of his grip, but he held me tightly. "You were supposed to start training today after dinner, remember? What was so important to not attend that?", he was very angry. His voice send a shiver down my spine.
"...", I stayed silent and stared at my medical box all the while. So close and yet so far away.
"You still have the guts to remain silent, huh? Look at me.", he forced my look on him and continued in a low, furious tone: "You know I could just as well throw you into the sea. I don't necessarily need you."
"If you don't want to end up as my entertainment, I think you know what I'm talking about,", he raised a scalpel to my cheek, "tell me what you are looking for and why you left the mess so suddenly."
I still hesitated despite my fear for him. His threat reminded me of some things I'd rather not remember. The only problem was that I couldn't tell how far the swelling went down.188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5VZnSb51f
"Allergy.", I gave him briefly to test my voice. Though I noticed an improvement, it was still considerably hoarse. Law didn't expect that.
"You took my medicine out of my backpack.", his eyes narrowed as I continued.
"Is this hoarseness also due to an allergic reaction?", I nodded. He let go of me, made a step backwards and let me know I could get my medicine with a quick move of his head. He was a doctor after all.
The swelling in my throat went down before, but the fear sitting inside me wouldn't fade before I took the pill.
"How long do they take to show an effect?", I thought about that for a moment, but couldn't remember a specific time. One could say a pill to swallow took about an hour to take an effect. Pills to suck on usually didn't take as long.
"A while."
"Can't you be any more specific?", he frowned again. My vague answer wasn't fit for any calculations he might have to make in the future.
"Maybe about... 30 minutes? I'm really not sure.", speaking was still uncomfortable. I could breathe without a problem again, but the itching still remained. My throat felt dry and scratchy. Every time I had to cough, it felt sore.
He sighed. "Okay rest your voice for now. So you ran out the mess to get your medicine?", I nodded. "Do you know what caused your allergic reaction?" I pondered for a moment how to answer. I knew it was the salad, but I didn't know if it were the fruits alltogether or just a single one of them. I wobbled my head around to indicate a: "Not really.".
"Alright tell me about your allergies after your voice is better. I guess training will have to wait.", he didn't hide his unamused mood. I wasn't surprised to see that he didn't like this changing his plans.
"Sorry.", I said with my still hoarse voice.
"I told you to rest your voice.", he warned. "Right."
Law sat down at his desk again, pulling out a file. It looked rather empty. Was this mine? I curiously stood up from the chair I was sitting on and looked over his shoulder.
"Nah. Local language. Can't even read whether my name is written on it."
"You could work on the documents while resting your voice.", he said in annoyance.
"He could have just said he wants some peace.", I thought, smiling.
Back in my room, the first thing I did was putting my medical box back in my backpack.
"Can't... I'm- I'm finished.", while I was lying on the ground, breathing heavily, Law looked at me with disappointment and took away the wooden sword he gave me earlier. He sighed. A single look made feel a little humiliated, since Law still breathed evenly. There was no sign of fatigue on him. Of course, he was a lot better trained than I was, but a different this big? That was simply not fair.
"At least it won't take that long for me to notice improvement in my condition.", I thought, trying to feel a bit better. Though, I'd still have sore muscles tomorrow.
It was actually fun to train fighting with a sword. I secretly looked forward to be able to properly handle one. Though I would have rather chosen a long ranged weapon. Law understood. With me not having any experience in fighting, I would be an easy target, but he was most familiar in fighting with a sword. Since I couldn't converse with anyone but him, there wasn't anyone else to teach me. I was just starting to learn the local language. To be precise, I'd start tomorrow.
Law actually made something like a timetable for me. On monday I'd work on the documents. The whole day. Tuesdays, he'd teach me the local language after breakfast and after lunch, I'd work on the documents again. Wednesday was planned the same. On thursday I'd train after breakfast and learn the language after lunch. Friday documents again. Saturday was planned as a resting day. No training as well, which was after dinner every other day. I was surprised to see they hadn't had a sunday. Their week only consisted of six days. It would take me a while to get used to that. That also meant I could only use my calendar to see how much time had passed back at home.
The training started somewhat interesting today.
Flashback
"I will teach you how to fight with a sword, so you can at least stand your own in a fight. You won't need to be protected all the time."
"Don't you think a long ranged weapon would be better for me? I mean, I don't have any fighting experience, so I must be pretty easy to hit.", I argued. Law first nodded in agreement.
"A long ranged weapon won't do you any good with the enemy standing right in front of you. Besides, even if I let one of my men teach you, you wouldn't be able to understand each other.", he said, his actions contradicting themselves.
"Stimmt.", a sigh escaped my lips. "Warum sprechen die auch so eine seltsame Sprache? Auch das Alphabet ist ein ganz anderes als das lateinische.", I thought.
I had to admit, Law was a good teacher. He taught me the basics bit by bit. Dodging maneuvers being one of the first things, as those were the most important for me right now. After getting the technique down right passably, he trained my speed of reaction. Law got himself a wooden sword and swung it here and there. I tried dodging accordingly.
As I was only starting the training, I was hit several times, but I was actually able to improvise one time successfully. Law surprised me with a combo one time and I was surprised by myself to dodge the first follow-up strike.
"And dead.", I heard from him, since I sat on my behind after somehow dodging the second hit.
Flashback end
It was exhausting, but made somewhat fun. The captain was strict, but patient. Only my overall condition was not to his liking. "You have to get fitter.", was all he said, though.
"Say, can I learn with another weapon after I learned your language a bit later?", I asked once more after getting up.
Law looked at me for a moment. "Still want to fight long ranged?"
"Yeah. It's just safer for me. I don't really intend to die here." Law did not like what I said. But he didn't give a hint as to whether he was bothered by the moral or if he just thought it to be naive. He agreed, that I was too easy a target on the battlefield, "That's why you won't fight if not necessary.", he finished.
"What?", I thought a bit stunned, "Did he just say I was supposed to always hide in the submarine?" I didn't exactly understand why that thought bothered me this much, as it was safest in the submarine.
# I am actually a little afraid I put too much drama right at the beginning of the story. But I really wanted the allergy problem to be a part of it. I mean, it's a completely different world with different food. Who know's how a human body from another world would react to it? And that just couldn't be put later into the story. So I apologize if I put too much drama at the beginning of the story. It will be more balanced from this point onward. I think.
# Tell me what you think. I can only improve through criticism.
Translations:
(1) "Stimmt." - "True."
(2) "Warum sprechen die auch so eine seltsame Sprache? Auch das Alphabet ist ein ganz anderes als das lateinische." - "Why are they speaking such a strange language anyway? The alphabet is completely different than the latin one too."188Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2HtAwkCZj
