the sun with all its brightness
Morning sunlight filtered in through the gauzy curtains. Blinking at the seeming suddenness of morning, 'Dancer yawned and rolled off the couch she'd fallen asleep on the night before. The front room looked marginally better where 'Dancer had taken anything dated 4 months or older and had added them to the recycling bin in the kitchen. Stretching, 'Dancer glanced between the curtains out on the street below.
The snow was blinding.
Squinting 'Dancer could make out about that the snow came up above the curb. Snow, this late in the spring? she mused, then flipped on the TV to local news.
"...And in the local forecast a warm front is moving up from the south, so those of you in the Portland area had better enjoy the snow while it lasts, meanwhile in the Gorge..."
'Dancer humphed and set about the task of making breakfast. The ten o'clock new turned into the late morning soaps as 'Dancer broke her fast, read The Oregonian and tidied up a little bit. Looks like my room. She thought as she surveyed Katy's bedroom, and wisely decided to leave it alone.
The soaps were ending as she returned from taking out the trash and recycling and she paused long enough to listen to the weather report about the previous night's snow fall.
" ...Eight inches of snow was reported in the downtown area at midnight, and the fall soon ended shortly there after..."
Finally, having gotten the bathroom back to WHO standards she sat down in the bean bag opposite of the guest room door, a soda in one hand and her sketch pad in the other. After a long pull on the soda, she settled down and began to draw the figure that had occupied her mind most recently.
Zelgadis's slumped form came into being under the careful ministrations of 'Dancer's charcoal pencil, and despite herself, 'Dancer found herself drawing a fierce, unbending gleam in his eyes. The expression was so real that she smudged the eyes a little to cloud the expression. Shivering she glanced back at the door. It was now three o'clock and she tried to remember how long ago it was when she had first seen him. She'd caught the 7: 53pm Max, so, glancing again at the clock, she decided he'd been asleep for say, 15 or so hours. He's probably hungry by now. She decided, standing. Placing her sketch pad on the coffee table, she hurried into the kitchen to make a healthy late breakfast for him.
After returning from the green grocer's, she whipped together a bacon, tomato, cheese, and green pepper omelet, placed that along with a peeled orange and a tall glass of milk onto a tray and boldly headed for the door to the guest room.
After a timid knock she eased open the door and put the tray on the table stand next to the bed.
"Oye, Zelgadis, wake up." She shook him gently. "Hey, Zel, chico, wake up." This time she shook him harder, hard enough for the bed sheet to fall away and reveal a growing stain of mauve. Fearful she touched the liquid. It was warm. Trembling she brought it to her lips and tasted it. Although it smelled like burning paraffin, it tasted undoubtedly like blood.
"Oye, Zel, wake up!!!" Frantically she grabbed him and shook him, letting him go he collapsed back onto the bed. "Zelgadis, para el amor de vida, por favor, DESPIERTATE!!!!!!!!!!!"
Slowly, as if in a dream, he opened his eyes and stared at her stupidly.
"Lina?"
Unceremoniously 'Dancer threw back the covers and pulled off his torn shirt. Zelgadis hadn't allowed her to remove it the night before but now she completely ignored his feeble half coherent arguments.
"If you're gonna live," she snarled between clenched teeth "wake the Hel up and help me." Pause. "You're bleeding to death." She wailed despairingly.
That got a response. Forcing himself up he placed a hand against the deceptively small gouge in his side.
"Hurry." He growled between clenched teeth.
"And do what?" 'Dancer asked, hovering on the edge of hysteria. "You won't let me take you to the hospital." Zelgadis fixed her with a stare that had the same iron quality that his grasp had earlier. 'Dancer's fears were lost in that gaze.
"Cauterize the wound."
and fire with all the strength it hath
Where 'Dancer found the Bunsen Burner, she would never remember, but the next few minutes while it was heating up, she would remember always as terrifying and agonizing eons.
Once the burner and the wooden handled butcher knife heated up to a cheery, cherry red she looked up at him.
"Okay, it's ready." She whispered. Zelgadis twisted around a little and grabbed a hold of the headboard.
"Do it."
'Dancer looked at him in shock. "You want me to do what?" She asked a note of hysteria creeping in. Zelgadis looked determinedly straight ahead, the sweat rolling off his face.
"I can't do it, not properly, in my condition." His voice was steady and soft despite the obvious pain. "You'll have to-" He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. "You must do the cauterizing."
"Zel-, I-, ..." He looked at her again but this time it was with big, pleading, puppy dog eyes.
"Please, help me."
Damn me for being a sucker. 'Dancer thought grimly as she grasped the knife. "I'm sorry." She said. Zelgadis stared back into infinity. "I know."
Smell of the cherry metal against his skin was not at all what 'Dancer had expected. Burnt flesh, hamburgers, bar-b-ques, any and all of these she was expecting but instead she only scented warm freshly broken earth and a tiny hint of sulfur. Zelgadis didn't so much as flinch. Feeling sick, 'Dancer tossed the knife into a corner. Zelgadis was still staring straight ahead.
"It's over now, you can let go of the head bo---" His fingers relaxed suddenly and he nearly fell over. 'Dancer caught him before he hit the deck. Looking at the splintered head board that now bore groove marks from where he held it, she marveled at his discipline.
"That...hurt..." He gasped before he lapsed back into unconousness.
'Dancer shook her head. Things never change.
and the earth with it's starkness
While he was still unconscious, 'Dancer checked over Zelgadis, discovering two additional, but not life threatening, gouges in his back.
"Idiota." she scolded him as she patched him up. After lugging him into the front room she proceeded to strip the bed and set the sheets to soak. Zelgadis was awake by the time she'd remade the bed and she offered him breakfast. He would only drink the milk.
Helping him back to bed 'Dancer noticed that he was almost the same height as her, and for so obscure reason this pleased her.
Zelgadis immanently dropped off into sleep, but not before he said, "Thank you."