Veeyel was beaming as his best friend entered the room. He seemed way too proud of himself, considering how he’d managed to escape his room and see his brother half-way across the hospital. Normally that wouldn’t have been too much of a problem if Veeyel had taken his medication.
“You look happy,” Kayel smiled weakly as he sat down on the end of Veeyel’s bed.
“I’m happy to have visitors. The rest of the Class coming to visit me. It’s been really nice. Saw Ksiel as well!”
“He was happy to see you. Won’t ever say it to your face but…”
“Oh I know!” Veeyel was still beaming. Kayel noticed he was on a saline drip. “It was worth it, even if I missed two medication doses. The saline drip is because I get dehydrated easily. Like, super easily. Seriously, I have to drink so much damn water. I’d love to have something other than water.”
Kayel blinked. “No fizzy drinks? No tea? No milk? I get no alcohol, not that we can drink it anyway, but you can only drink water?”
“I don’t like tea. The rest makes my stomach funny. It’s funny how the brain damage I gave myself seems to affect everything but my damn brain.” Veeyel’s smile disappeared. Mentioning water had clearly set him off. “I WANT to know what’s wrong with me. I want to get better! I see people come and go with far worse problems yet all I’ve done is get worse. But the medics insist I’m not dying!”
Veeyel struggled to sit upright, and slowly shuffled over to Kayel.
“I think they are keeping me here forever.”
Kayel blinked. “I don’t follow. Are you suggesting that the medics here don’t want you to leave?”
“I’m suggesting that Ksa aren’t allowed to leave hospitals. How many Ksa do you know that enter hospitals with bad conditions then don’t ever come out again?”
“I don’t know…” Kayel shrugged. He couldn’t have known. He’d been out of the loop for a long time. “Do you… have ant evidence apart from yourself?”
“No, of course not…” Veeyel grumbled. “It’s just me being silly. Stupid thoughts and stuff. But really, why haven’t I gotten any better?”
“You have though!” Kayel put his arm around Veeyel. “You’re much more mobile now, you can eat more things and you’re not permanently on a drip or something.”
Kayel decided to try and change the subject. He didn’t like seeing Veeyel upset.
“So… Ksiel has been thinking. He wants us all to move away.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… he wants the L-Class to live the way I do. Out on our own, free from the constraints of Rethan society.”
Veeyel blinked, not sure how to answer. “That’s… Uh… I don’t think I’d be able to do it. I’m kinda stuck in here. And I’ve never asked you if you could use your magic on me because my problems are a bit more… complicated than a stab wound.”
“I could try…” Kayel muttered.
“You could also accidentally kill me. And I wouldn’t want you to have have forever on your conscience.”
Kayel sighed.
“I mean, if you wanted to, Kayel. If you really think you could help me a little, it’s worth a shot, yes? Plus, I could always get transferred to a different hospital. I’m sure a hospital in Hertany on Portalia would work. They’ve got a nice Stratos hospital there that might be able to help me. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always a Cassid hospital. We haven’t tried any of that stuff yet.”
“So you… want to…”
“If the rest of the L-Class is going, so am I!” Veeyel grinned. “All this shit isn’t going to hold ME back!”