Night and Day

 By the time people were clearing out of the tavern, it was well past nightfall. Despite not having had any more to drink, Mary was much looser and was giggling happily. Hunter, not sure if Mary was drunk or just exhausted, hoisted her up and carried her up the stairs and back to their room. By the time he got there with her, the rest of the group had already assembled there.

“Sorry,” Hunter said, laying Mary on her bed. “We mighta gotten a little carried away, but I’m still ready fer th’ discussion!”

“Will she be able to remember anything?” Lena asked, looking at Mary as she curled up on the bed.

“I-I can still hear everything,” Mary said, trying to sit up. The bed was very comfortable, but she fought the yearning she felt to lie down and sleep soundly.

“Not quite the question,” Abel replied, “but you can ask questions tomorrow if you forget things again.”

“Right,” Rosetta interjected, “I just want to sleep as soon as I can, so let’s get this going.”

Mary saw everybody sit up and get ready to talk, so she tried to do the same. It was hard to keep herself sitting up, and her eyes felt very heavy, but she was determined.

Rosetta started the discussion. “I’ve already been hearing plenty of information. When people heard that Mary had turned off a portal, they all flocked to me. We’ve got a lot to look into. Firstly, in the northern regions…”

Mary started to zone out as she saw Rosetta pulling out a map. She heard their voices, but she didn’t recognize anything there. She looked at it, trying to find the compass rose. She found it in the top left corner, and then started to look. There were a lot of areas colored in green like where Rosetta was pointing, probably pretty forests or grassy plains. There was also a big, pale, yellow area. She was very glad that that was not where Rosetta was pointing. What really confused her were the grey patches. They were all over the place, not really matching anything around them. She couldn’t see a pattern, but she wasn’t sure if that was because she was so tired….

“Mary?”

She snapped to attention when she heard her name. “What? D-Did somebody say something?”

“Yes,” Rosetta said sharply, “I asked if you remember how you destroyed the portal.”

“U-Uhh…” Mary’s face flushed as she was caught off-guard by the question. “N-Not… Not really.”

Rosetta sighed, shaking her head. “Alright, questions for later. Now, in this area….”

Mary looked around at everybody, seeing that Rosetta’s finger was pointing to one of the bigger gray areas. She saw Rosetta’s face. She looked a little mad, and she felt like she was responsible. She probably should have answered the question better…. She looked at Hunter’s face, seeing that he was still smiling a little bit. That was a good thing, so maybe she was alright. Abel and Lena looked so serious, especially Lena. She felt a little worried when she looked at Lena. Something about her was making her feel bad. It was probably because she had attacked her, right? She should really apologize for that soon….

“Alright,” Rosetta said, rolling up the map. “Then we’ll start our journey there tomorrow. Everybody, rest well.”

“Ah,” Lena said quietly, “will we be able to visit the church first?”

“Right,” Rosetta said, nodding, “Church first. We’ll prepare after.”

Abel nodded, but his expression was a little more sour after hearing that. Silently, he disengaged from the conversation, moving to his bed and sitting at the edge of it. Lena nodded gratefully to Rosetta as she too returned to her bed. Mary immediately got the message and laid back happily in her bed, her yearning for the comfortable pillow finally satisfied.

“Hey, come here,” Hunter said, prompting Mary to look up. As she did, she saw Hunter hug Rosetta tight, and then kiss her cheek. Rosetta sighed and hugged back, the two of them staying in each others’ embraces for a few long seconds.

Mary giggled a bit, prompting them to look at her.

“Huh? What?” Rosetta said, blushing a bit, hurriedly breaking the hug.

“You’re a cute couple,” Mary said, laying back down.

She didn’t see their reactions as she laid down, but she could hear Hunter snickering as the two separated to go to their beds. For herself, Mary got under the blankets and found herself sleeping almost immediately.

Mary woke up maybe a few hours later. It was still dark. Mary was damp with sweat. As she sat up, she could feel her sheets were almost greasy, and her dress was messy. She looked down, seeing several splotches that looked like she had been drooling while eating. Her hair was a tangled mess, as well.

Most prominently, Mary’s stomach was on fire. She got up and hurried in the direction of the washroom. Quickly finding a basin, she pulled her hair back and let out what was trying to get out of her stomach. She coughed a bit, spitting as she felt the upsurge burning her mouth and throat, then started to wash it all away. Luckily, that had mostly gotten rid of the burning in her stomach.

Mary felt hideous. She could only imagine what she looked like in full. Her hair was a total mess, her dress looked like a used tablecloth, and she could only imagine what her face looked like. All of that combined made the voice she heard possibly the worst outcome imaginable.

“You’re up late,” Abel said as he stepped forward from the shadows.

“Don’t… Don’t look at me,” Mary said quietly.

“You’re not a particularly flattering sight,” Abel said, “But here. Rinse your mouth with this. It’ll taste… Okay, but not good.”

Mary looked and grabbed a small cup the young man handed her. She opened her mouth and poured some of the liquid into her mouth, and sure enough, it tasted like vaguely sweet water that hurt her mouth a little. She swished it around her mouth, then spat in the basin. The smell of it as she spat it out was strangely refreshing. Then, she slowly extended her hand to hand the cup back.

“Just put it beside the basin,” Abel said. “You’ll probably need it again in a bit.”

Mary nodded and put it beside the washbasin. She had no idea what else to do, how to respond, what to ask. She didn’t want to turn around, but she also didn’t want to walk away. She was feeling like every different thing she could do was somehow wrong.

Abel sighed. “You’re frozen to the spot. What, are you embarrassed?”

“W-Well… Yeah?” Mary was almost bewildered that that was a question he could ask.

“I’ve seen worse. Rosetta doesn’t drink anymore because of how bad she got her first night, and I’d say you’re a good few steps better than her.”

“R-Really? Rosetta?”

“Mhm. Somehow ended up tying her hair around her shoulder, and had cut her sleeves into ribbons for a dance she couldn’t do.”

Mary giggled a bit at the thought- then quickly regretted it, as her stomach lurched again.

“Don’t hold it down, that’ll make it worse later,” Abel advised.

Mary bent over the washbasin again.

After clearing her mouth again, Mary felt like she had cleared whatever was in her. Not being sure, she didn’t return to bed, instead staying with Abel a while longer.

“So… why aren’t you asleep?” Mary asked.

“Never been able to sleep longer than four hours,” he replied. “Well, unless I know somebody’s keeping watch.”

“Doesn’t that… Cause problems?”

“It would for normal people, but…” Abel sighed. “I’ve been doing it most of my life by now.”

“Most of your life? But, you’re a few years younger than me.”

Abel nodded. “Yeah. I’m barely 20, but I’ve been adventuring longer than anybody else in the party.”

“W-Wait, really?...” Mary asked.

Abel sighed. “I’m not here to talk about me. I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t going to get hungover and make it our problem. Especially at the church.”

Mary nodded. She could definitely understand that. She sat quietly now, not wanting to annoy Abel any further. As they sat in silence, she saw Abel shuffle a bit, then look around. He didn’t say anything, but she didn’t either. They simply stayed together in a comforting silence for a few minutes.

Once she was sure that nothing else was going to attack her stomach, Mary quietly got up and returned to her bed. She had no idea how to process what Abel had said, but that liquid that she had washed her mouth with had been very helpful. Even though her head hurt, Mary’s exhaustion pulled her into sleep before she could finish processing how she felt, leaving her sleeping mind to do the rest.