Chega de Saudade

Joy has just finished getting some cordage ready and stretching.

Singing " [...] é sóo … tristeza. E a melancolia que não sai de mim, não sai de mim, não sai". 

Quietly, even though the boys are so far away. The whole forest seemed specially silent today.

She couldn't help but think how neglectful she was of his struggles. Screaming like that without any regard to how hard it had been to survive …

"I should apologize, but it is so awkward. I'll at least try to not annoy them — Although I cannot help but feel an oppressive, constraining feeling."

She couldn't help but remember and miss her parents. The warm feeling of home and the days spent reading and talking about whatever came to her mind.

She hears a scream far away.

Shivers down her spine. There was some despair in it. The direction the boys went.

Before she could even notice, she was already running. As fast as her legs could.

"Biel!" She screams. 

"JOY!" She hears. 

Not too far from the river she finds both of them. Biel's leg is bleeding profusely, and they only thought to place some stuff covering it. 

Yes, that is how useless the boy is.

"Make fire!" 

Joy says. He lays Biel on the forest floor. She sits on her legs. Biel's leg on top of hers. 

He starts cutting a nearby bamboo.

She gets cordage and firmly tightens it just above his knee. The bleeding flows a little less. 

She tries to rinse. Stumbles and loses a cup. Second one is enough. Has to be.

She can see it a lot clearer now. There are some more superficial bites with tissue damage and three spots with larger chunks of flesh missing, but nothing too deep. 

She sighs. A slight relief. 

She looks around. She wants a medium tree. With gray bark. There. 

"There! Get a knife! Cut the bark of THAT tree!" She points between two others.

The boy goes with fire still in his hand and without any free containers. 

"NO! Gimme the fire. And give me your water. And take these cups." 

She puts some nearby leaves to boil. 

She gets one moment to breathe, wait the boiling of the water and the resin to close and dress the wound. Her heart has been racing. Her hands shaking, but she wouldn't even notice.

The boy hands the resin. He now holds the boiling solution.

She tenderly applies it. To the borders the wounds. Of all of them. 

Next is placing the boiled leaves. Some cordage to fix it in place.

She looks up to Biel's face. His arms are crossed on top of his forehead. He was clearly crying, still is tearing.

"Can you move? We should be able to get to the camp as is." Joy says, soothingly.

While moving Biel uphill to their shelters, she cannot help but feel a bit proud of herself. Not only the reaction time, but her skill choices too. The diagnosis that she had gotten previously, and leaving 4 points open, which led to her clutch and choose the wound dressing skill at the moment of need. 

They let Biel rest and sit a bit. A huge weight lifts from their body. 

The boys close his eyes and some tears come down.

"Thank you, Joy. Thank you." He says, "I didn't know what to do. I don't know what I would do if I lost him."

"He is precious to me too." 

"I was quite popular before he moved to our town, but I never felt people really got me. In my class, we used to play chess at the back of the lecture hall between classes." 

The boy continues, "My friends at the time had fun with it, but I never really liked it and couldn't pinpoint the reason. None of my two years long friendships ever noticed, but somehow he, someone new in town, understood me."

He stops talking and seems to be contemplating, before finishing.

"He knew I wanted something more, and showed me how to get actually good at it, and that unlocked a torrent of motivation within me. He knew me before even I knew myself."

Joy smiles

"He somehow reminds me of my younger brother, so I cannot help but have a special place for him in my heart. I don't know why, though."

Well. I don't see it. Biel is much quieter than José. But who am I to say anything, apparently I'm not even the main narrator.

"I met your brother … He loves you."

It takes her by surprise, but Joy cannot help but smile and look down. Then it hits her … It is as if something is gripping her heart, she feels a weight with every beat.

"I miss him. I miss my mother. I miss home."

She is hanging to dear life to all of her tears, as if they are the last thing she has.

There is a palpably dark mood in the air, and things are not made better by the awkwardness between those two. 

As she finally lifts her gaze and is met by his gaze. 

It starts raining, and he blushes and quickly gets up to fill the bamboo cups. "Why did I tell her that?"

Joy mind also starts "Why did I tell him that? Can't I shut up? He obviously doesn't care or want to know about my life or how I'm feeling. But I cannot live like this, I need to express my feelings. I just need it. I want to go on and on about Card Commander Sasuke. If only we had notebooks here. Wait. Notebooks? Paper! I could go for it, how many points would I need? Let's see. The Create paper skill. Okay, got it. Now I know that to create paper I need to be able to do Bark Cloth. Okay! Perfect, Bark Harvesting is the last one I need."

However faint it is, there is finally a smile back with Joy. She spent all of her skill points, but it is well worth it: She has a purpose for the short term.