All the better; all the worse . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld quickly stepped back through the brush onto the track. He might not have believed in monsters, but that didn't mean being in a dark wood wasn't still a bit eerie. Though admittedly if he had to be stuck in the woods with anyone, he'd choose Sarah. Chivalry was one thing, but she was tougher than any girl or guy he knew.

"Yeah, though she'll probably be sleeping once my parents have finished patching her up." And possibly doped up. Though his parents were a bit skittish on giving younger kids painkillers, he imagined a couple of broken limbs probably warranted a small dose anyway.

He paused for a second to hold the brush aside for Sarah in return, and once she was out placed a hand her shoulder again. "Hey, Sarah...this wasn't your fault, you know. Stewart's normally so docile, I mean...even I thought there was no way she'd get hurt, and you know how I am."

Earlier, Sarah'd convinced him that she'd thought ahead adequately, and to his knowledge no one had ever been hurt on Stewart before. Another reason why he'd wanted to buy into someone lurking in the woods...it would mean Sarah wouldn't have to feel guilty.

[Nayt]

Sarah's demeanor changed drastically the very moment Eld put his hand upon her shoulder reassuringly. Though, it wasn't so much an internal change as an external change. It was almost like she'd completely ceased internalizing her guilt all at once, and let the flood-gates open.

"No," she sighed, "No, it was all my fault."

She hung her head and shoulders, before lifting them just enough that she could look to Eld. She wore a frown. She wasn't shaking anymore, but she was certainly downtrodden about this whole mess. It simply shouldn't have happened. Not Stewart throwing Akizets off--but the whole race.

"I shouldn't have even started this whole race bullshit. I mean, what did I have to prove? Nothin'. I had nothin' to prove. I just wanted to embarrass her a li'l. Show 'er up with a handicap so she didn't go gettin' a big head on 'er shoulders," Sarah sighed again, "It was all bullshit since the very beginnin'."

[Zach Kaiser]

It pained Eld to see Sarah taking this so hard, even if she did kind of deserve to. He drew her into a hug, which he hoped would reassure her a little. "Well...then apologize to her once she's feeling better. She doesn't seem like the type to hold a grudge." Toushikyo, on the other hand... Well, they'd have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

Letting go, he said, "She was genuinely excited, you know. I don't she saw it as being pushed into a race...I think she saw as an opportunity to learn how to ride." It was speculation, but it was the impression he got...and hopefully that would be some comfort to Sarah.

[Nayt]

When Eld drew Sarah into an embrace, she was actually a bit surprised. Of course, she'd long since gotten over that thing she had for him, and it was difficult, if not impossible, to view this sort of thing as romantic anymore. Sarah returned the embrace weakly. She squeezed Eld once, if only to show her appreciation for his want to comfort her, before letting him go, taking a step back, and looking away from him awkwardly.

Truth be told, Sarah wasn't quite used to getting much consoling. She'd never really had any need for it. All the problems she'd ever run into in her life were fixed either by themselves, by her quickly, or required little more than a few broken noses on a few select people. This was no such case. This was a problem that would take months to fix itself. Akizets was a fragile girl. She wasn't going to be running around for awhile.

"I'd . . . I'd like to see her," Sarah replied at long last.

She could be stubborn as a bull sometimes, and especially difficult when it came to admitting that she was wrong and apologizing about, well, anything--but here, she was fully admitting her fault in this issue, and she felt the sincere and genuine need to apologize to Akizetsumei.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld gave her a small smile. Even in remorse Sarah was incredibly stubborn. He turned and motioned for her to follow him. "Well...alright. Let's go to the clinic and ask my parents. But," he interjected, looking over his shoulder at her, "if they say you can't see her yet, you're just going to have to wait, okay?"

******

It was a few hours before they were allowed to see Akizetsumei. Immediately after they treated her she fell asleep--but while the painkillers would still be in her system, by now she'd at least be lucid. Her family had already come and gone, though convincing Toushikyo to leave so she could sleep had proved difficult. He eventually went home, though.

"Just...keep it down, and keep it short. She may be awake, but she's still exhausted," Urikuse instructed before leaving to attend to another patient.

Eld led Sarah (plus Maya and Em, who were also worried about her, even if the latter had trouble admitting it) into the room. "How are you feeling?" he asked gently to the bedridden girl.

[Nayt]

One of the most striking things to the girls--Emily in particular--was how different Akizetsumei looked in a hospital bed. She was pale and looked as frail as she really was. Her hair was out of her usual pigtails (or side ponytail, provided a formal event) and her bangs hung before her face somewhat. She'd pushed a lot of them away, but she was visibly tired, and long since gave up on trying to move much. Pain killers had her noticeably lethargic. Her eyes were half shut and her head was lazily leaned to one side. It was almost like she was sick, down with a fever or flu of some sort. Her hospital gown didn't really help much, either. It was a bit big on her. Her left leg, from foot to thigh, was was casted and raised. Her left arm was casted from elbow to wrist.

Em was taken aback the most. She'd known Akizets the longest. She'd never seen her like this before. It was the most shocking to her. She averted her eyes from the girl shortly after entering behind Sarah and Eld. Maya behind her frowned somewhat, a bit bothered by the sight, but did her absolute best not to show it after the fact. Sarah, on the other hand, was the most visibly moved. She shut her eyes and suppressed a wince.

As lethargic as she was, she brightened up a bit once it seemed she had company. Her eyes opened just a little wider and she was able to smile some. She seemed most gladdened by the first person to enter the room. She even felt her heart skip a beat, and warmth returned to her cheeks.

"I-- I'm okay," she replied. Despite everything, the previous pain, trauma, and her current state of pain-killer induced fatigue, she was still able to smile. She looked rather quickly (as quickly as she could, at least) from Eld to Sarah, however. "O-oh. Hey. Umm, i-is your horse okay . . .?"

Sarah was instantly surprised. "My . . .?"

"I . . . can'trememberhisnameI'mreallysorry," Akizets apologized; she was doped up, but she could still talk quickly when she wasn't paying attention.

"S-Stewart's okay. Um, it wasn't your fault, okay?" Sarah replied, fearing now that Akizets actually blamed herself for the accident, "S-so don't worry about that . . ."

Akizets smiled some, clearly glad to know that Stewart was all right. She relaxed in bed and sighed in relief.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld's reaction was far different than everyone else's, in that he didn't seem particularly bothered by the sight. But of course, he grew up here--while he wasn't particularly fond of being in the clinic as a patient, he didn't see being here as really terrible thing. His parents were good doctors, and Akizetsumei could only get better here.

He did have to smile at her reaction though; here Sarah was worried about being to blame for her injury, and Akizetsumei's biggest concern was for the horse she was riding.

"Did my parents say how long you'd have to stay here in the clinic?" he asked. Normally it'd be a depressing subject, but he knew she'd probably only need to stay a day or two before she could go home on crutches.

[Nayt]

"Ummmm . . ." she trailed off as she sunk into deep thought, "A few days, I think."

"A few?" Sarah asked with a quirked brow.

"That's weird," Emily observed, she motioned to the wall--or, rather, in the direction of House of Terra. "Don't you live right over there?"

"Well, umm . . ." Akizets trailed off again.

This time, it was in momentary embarrassment. She wasn't one to really care much about others knowing her shortcomings, but there was at least one person in this room that she didn't want to advertise them to. There was no helping it right now, though. Akizets wasn't a liar, nor was she someone to hide the truth when questioned--about most things, at least.

"Y-you see, um, I've always, um, I've always had reeeeally brittle bones," Akizets admitted bashfully, "I used to break things all the time back in school. The doctors said they wanted me to stay a little longer. 'Cause, um . . . 'cause of that." Without a second thought, she looked to Eld apologetically, "I--I reallyhopethat'snotaproblem."

While it shouldn't have even been a worry, the fact was Eld kind of lived in the clinic. The Tsukimono residence and the Tsukimono clinic were connected, and Eld volunteered here a great deal. If she'd detected some sort of problem with her being here, she'd have asked the doctors to let her go home early.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld chuckled a bit; Akizetsumei was sure a strange girl. "Of course it's not a problem; that what the clinic's for, right?" At least she didn't seem to be depressed out her injury; he just hoped she'd be careful when she was on crutches. It wouldn't do for her to break something else while she was still recovering from this accident.

"I help out here quite a bit, so feel free to ask me if you need anything," he continued. "Especially if it's late; my parents go to bed at a normal time but I'm up almost all night studying."

[Nayt]

Akizetsumei reacted with both surprise and slightly energetic embarrassment. Her cheeks flushed a slight red, she averted her eyes from Eld, and she suppressed both sudden urges that beset her: to giggle and to shudder like some sort of scared animal. Truth be told, she had no idea what to think. All she knew was that she stayed up late a lot of the time, too; she never got to sleep early (unless, of course, she was on pain medication). This meant she was probably going to be depending on Eld for a lot of things late at night . . .

The very thought made her feel something. What, she didn't know. It was more like a mixture of somethings, most notably bashfulness, anxiousness, and fear.

"Uh-- uh-- ummm," the girl hiccuped, with her uninjured hand, she scratched the back of her neck in a show of nervousness. "Th-thank you . . . um, uh, h-heh . . ."

She'd once slammed a door in Eld's face because she was too shy--and impulsive--to converse with him in any sort of conventional way. He was cute. He was interesting. He was nice to her, and not in a passive way, either; he was actually accepting of her--or, at least, she got the vibes that he could be. It was just that simple.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld looked her quizzically for a second, before deciding she might have been the type that was embarrassed to need help with anything. He knew a few people that were like that, including himself. "It's no big deal," he replied, hoping to set her mind at ease.

Not having much to add, he looked at Sarah, who'd been pretty quiet until now. He knew she had something to say, but seemed to be waiting for an opportunity--or perhaps she was just nervous.

In any case, he was giving her the chance to say what she wanted now.

[Nayt]

Sarah's silence was uncomfortable, but mostly to her and her alone. Emily didn't mind it when Sarah didn't talk and often just didn't think much of it, and Maya could so easily drift off into her own little world that it was simple enough for her not just not notice. The silence persisted for some time even after Eld stopped talking, and it seemed Sarah was the only person that found it remotely uncomfortable. Akizets actually found it kind of relieving. It let her calm down a bit, enough that she felt the warmth fade from her cheeks.

The problem Sarah was rather suddenly encountering was that it was difficult, if not impossible, to feel any less bad about what happened to Akizetsumei. The worst thing about it was how concerned the girl was with Sarah's horse.

"H-hey, uh," Sarah began. It was the first time she'd actually stuttered and stumbled over her words in a long time. "Akizets?"

The girl looked up to Sarah. She tilted her head to the side somewhat. "Hmm?" she hummed.

"I'm sorry," Sarah blurted out as quickly as she could.

Akizets was clearly confused. "H-huh?"

This was the hard part. Sarah straightened herself up, took in a deep breath, and calmed herself to the best of her ability. "About all this . . ."

"About all . . ." Akizets then got the point--or a one point, at least. She gasped once she did. "Th-this? N-no! No, please don't be sorry about this."

"I, er, I mean the whole race, and everything that's happened 'cause of it," Sarah continued despite the sudden aching in her stomach.

The girl shook her head. "No, don't be sorry. It's okay! I had alotta fun."

Sarah furrowed her brow. "You . . . did? Even though you got all hurt . . .?"

"Yeah!" Akizets replied cheerfully, "I loved it. I wanna try again when I'm better."

This actually made Sarah feel a bit better--noticeably so. She seemed to lighten up instantly, enough to actually smile some. "Yeah. Yeah, okay," she sighed in relief, "I'll give you some lessons, okay? You just let me know when you're up for it."

Akizets smiled back at Sarah, genuinely so. "Okay."

[Zach Kaiser]

Even Eld was a bit surprised by Akizetsumei's enthusiasm. I knew she'd forgive her, but even I didn't think she was this unflappable. He patted Sarah on the shoulder, as though to say "see, nothing to worry about."

What he actually said was, "Well, we should probably let her get some rest." Having a lot of people crammed in the room with her might have made her feel better socially, but she wasn't going to get any sleep that way, and even if she got a little she still had to be tired after everything.

"Anything I can get you before I go?" he asked, turning back to the patient.

[Nayt]

"Yeah," Sarah nodded to Eld, before focusing her attention upon Akizetsumei, "You just rest easy, 'kay?"

Maya bowed her head to Akizets slightly. "I'll pray for your proper healing."

Emily checked Maya, then Sarah, then Eld. "I might stop by to visit again. We'll catch up or something. Eh . . . in the meantime, don't let the walls drive you crazy. They're a lot nicer than they look."

"Th-thank you," Akizets replied to the three of them, a bashful smile upon her face.

Truth be told, she hadn't actually received this much positive attention from any group of people before. Sarah was concerned about her safety, Maya was willing to pray for her (though Akizets hadn't actually given religion much thought--ever--it was still a kind gesture), and Emily was talking like she was going to come back for a chat sometime. The injury got her down a bit, but this certainly brought her back up.

Once Eld's attention was on her--and her attention solely on him--Akizets was a bit more awkward. "U-um, n-no, not right now, um, th-thank you."

She might have sounded rude if she weren't quite so meek about it.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Alright. My parents or I'll check back in a little bit." Eld didn't notice that her reply was a little awkward; in fact, he seemed completely blind to the fact that she was nervous around him. Though of course, that was always the way she'd been around him, the few times he'd talked to her recently--he wasn't aware of any difference in her behavior.

Their visit finished and Sarah's apology a success, he led everyone out of the room so that Akizetsumei could get some rest...

******

The rest of the day was mercifully uneventful, and the next morning Eld arose without the aid of a swift kick to his side. Today he was helping out at the clinic; he wasn't sure he was really needed, but the experience was good and his parents had no objections.

Taking over the rounds for them while they ate lunch, he went from room to room checking on the patients. When he reached Akizetsumei's, he opened the door as quietly as he could and slipped inside--she was the only one in her room, and if she was sleeping he didn't want to wake her.