Tch.

  Ishtar clicked her tongue as another jolt of pain ran up her arm. She pulled ba instinct, releasing her focus. The small fragment of p behind by Visage of Titania tried to worm its way bato p her wrist. Her lips curled into a snarl before she paused, frowned, a out a soothing breath. Anger was a crutch, a false strength. It gives me nothing but a clouded mind. Calm. A rexed spirit is what Visage responds to best. Breathe. She sed herself with a few more breaths before turning her focus back to her wrist and slipped her awareness around the fragment once more.

  I ot use any of my abilities, but Visage still responds to my will. I wonder if that means it is still active or if there is something else I am missing. The instiny abilities are still present, just separate from the powers themselves. She allowed the thoughts to drift as the fragment began to move through her flesh. It hurt, but the pain was nothing but an obstacle. As long as she did not pull too sharply she could ma without breaking her focus. One millimeter at a time, slowly, slowly, slow- another sharp spike of pain, she jerked her entire body and cursed.

  “Are you okay?” Marta asked from nearby.

  “Another failure,” Ishtar said irritably.

  “You only just woke up a few ho, there’s o rush,” Marta said, “Why don’t I get you a coffee?”

  “As pleasant as that sounds, the coffee I wish to drink I would do so with my own hands,” Ishtar grumbled, “A water will be fine.”

  “Right away,” Marta said, sounding a little relieved. Perhaps she was worried I would rejey help. Ishtar thought as the door opened and closed, There’s o be so ed about that, I am aware of my limitations.

  The door opened and shut again, Ishtar raised an eyebrow, “That was quick.”

  “There’s someoo see you,” Marta said, sounding nervous. When Ishtar didn’t speak she crified, “It’s Bck Lotus.”

  Ishtar fell silent for a heartbeat. Her face still pointed up to the ceiling. How wretched, she grumbled before the words came, “Sit me up.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I will not greet the hero on my back like an invalid, sit me up, please, Marta,” Ishtar insisted, her fiightening around clumps of smooth sheets. Blind. I ot even look her in the eyes. To meet again like this, how pathetic. Turning her away though… ah, I could never. She felt Marta gently slide her hands beh her bad lift. It took a little effort with the pain that seemed to rise up any time she dared to move too dramatically but she eventually found herself sitting up against the headboard. Her hair fell around her fad Marta brushed it quickly. “Thank you.”

  “Of course, do you wao give you two some space?” Marta asked.

  Ishtar tilted her head towards her panion, “That would be best, I think.”

  “I will be outside if you need me,” Marta said and the doors opened again, Ishtar sat in her blindness as a new set of footfalls ehe room. Marta moved about quickly with a sense of assuredness but also an io get from oask to ahe movements of a caretaker. This new set was steady, each step inexorable even as they were quieter than Marta’s. The steps of a posed warrior. Those steps faltered once.

  “Sonya?”

  Ishtar’s lips pursed, “Hero,” she said by way of greeting.

  The word hung in the air betweehe heaviness in the air spiking and rising until finally the woma out a shuddering gasp. Ishtar rest her hands in her p and waited.

  “It’s strange,” Bck Lotus said, “I see your fad the memories e r back. It’s a sweet sort of agony, my own punishment, I guess. Marta would not tell me about your dition, only for me to see it for myself. Where is Sonya?”

  “Asleep,” Ishtar said.

  Bck Lotus seemed to wait for a moment for further expnation but when nothing further came from Ishtar she let out a sigh, “Why haven’t you healed yourself?” She said and Ishtar heard her take a slightly uneasy step to the left. It was difficult to pick up on but the fines allowed sound to carry much better.

  Ishtar’s lip twitched, “How are your injuries?” she asked.

  “Mild,” she said.

  “Do you o sit?” Ishtar offered, jerking her towards where Marta usually sat. She assumed there was a fortable chair there. I agine what ‘mild’ injuries are to someone like her, Ishtar thought. I am surprised she hasn’t gotten healing services yet either.

  Another pause and she heard the woman walk over to sit in Marta’s chair, letting out a small huff that could have been a groan of agony as far as Ishtar was ed. “That Liberty,” Bck Lotus said, “Her sword did something to my body. Healing abilities work but they’re slow.”

  “You’re rather open about your circumstances,” Ishtar ented.

  “Are you going to use that information against me?” Bck Lotus asked.

  “No.”

  “Then there’s no issue, when are you getting out of this bed?” Bck Lotus asked.

  “When I have made some progress,” Ishtar said, “Until then I will remain. This body’s life is important to me and I will not enda.”

  “You’re talking about Sonya,” Bck Lotus ented, “Not about yourself.”

  Ishtar snorted, “And you’re taking the opportunity to read into every word I say since Sonya isn’t here to cut off our versation. We are enemies, Bck Lotus. That is our role, you have no reason to py fair or nice.”

  “Car is ing to visit you soon. I spoke with her yesterday over the phone,” Bck Lotus said, ign Ishtar’s ent. “Don’t be cruel to her.”

  Ishtar’s frown flickered into a small smile, “Only if she asks nicely.”

  “What happeo you two? What you did, those vilins. I ’t help but admit that it saved the day in its own way, but, it didn’t feel like your kind of scheme,” she said, “Like all you could think of was to throw a wren and see what damage you could do to Liberty’s pn. A massive wrench, I might add.”

  Ishtar shrugged her shoulders, it hurt a little to do so, “From what I uand, Liberty’s pn was an act walking on a knife's edge. That fellow who block teleportation has only so much range. Eventually heroes would have arrived, perhaps not in time, though she was rushing to get the job done. A pn like that is fragile. Fss, a wrench works nicely.”

  Bck Lotus went quiet, the sileretg out between them. I know I didn’t answer your question. You may have Sonya’s affe but I hold no such love for you, hero. A useful pie your own way but also a tinuous source of trouble. You seem hell bent on knowing what drove Sonya to make the call. You are more useful to her in yht mind, strong and motivated. Telling you the truth would do more harm than good.

  “I need you to tell me,” Bck Lotus said finally.

  “So you walk around feeling sorry for yourself? What good would that do?” Ishtar scoffed.

  “You just-”

  “I admitted to nothing, I just pointed out how much of a fool you’re being. I just got doelling one of my beloved subordihat I do not suffer fools,” Ishtar ground out, “You are wasting my time I could be spending rec. Time you could be spending mending yourself as well. Every extra day here is a day you are not doing your duty as a hero,” Ishtar lectured her, “I just don’t see what she sees in you. You’re pathetic.”

  “Aren’t you the same person?” Bck Lotus asked after a tense pause, her tourning flinty.

  Ishtar pressed her lips together, resisting the pulsion to answer a direct question this time. It welled up in her chest like a bubble for a moment, a new source of pain that rankled her. Damn. Sonya may be asleep but it would seem some things don’t ge. “I think it is safe to say that I possess something of my owy now,” she ceded, “We do not share the same likes and dislikes, for example.”

  “You don’t like me?” Bck Lotus chuckled.

  “If it weren’t for you,” Ishtar said, “I believe Liberty would be dead by now. The events of the camp would have been a foother than a saga. You are a shackle on her heart.”

  Bck Lotus went quiet, “...that was cruel.”

  “I am a vilin, girl,” Ishtar hissed, “What do you expect? I won’t do anything to interfere with your retionship with her. I care only for Sonya and for some reason her heart needs you. So I stay my hand, but I will not avoid pointing out your faults.”

  Bck Lotus got to her feet and approached the bed. Ishtar felt her invalid state in that mome again. First Kera and now Bck Lotus. She hated the feeling of being so defenseless. She turned her head to look in the dire where the woman was standing just within arms reach. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Why are you really trying to push me out?” Bck Lotus asked.

  Ishtar turned her head away but couldn’t bring herself to respond to that question with the absolute truth. Just… leave. Get better, I ’t have her ing back to you in a weakeate. Recover and do your job, stupid hero. Warm fingers brushed her arm and she set her jaw tight.

  “I’ve been reading the flow of your internal energy since I arrived, watg to see if you would sh out,” Bck Lotus said, “Normally it’s hard to see, yood at keeping your powers urict trht now… your body is a mess. Your meridians are damaged and ied with something that will not allow power to move through them easily. Your core is blocked pletely. What did this?”

  Ishtar huffed out a ugh, “It’s strange being the one easily read rather thaher way around,” she ented before flexing her fingers, “Visage. She used it to punch through Halloway’s ability.”

  “That power seemed strange, unstable, when I first saw it in the camp dungeon,” Bck Lotus said, ‘But I couldn't expin to her why I felt it was so dangerous,” her voice was soft, thoughtful. She put her hand on Ishtar’s shoulder and ran her fingers over her skin. Ishtar shivered and pressed her lips together even more tightly. Damn. Sonya may not be here, but her body responds well enough to this woman.

  Bck Lotus went quiet again and Ishtar felt something wash through her very being, like a sonar pulse. It bouhrough her entire body before returning to the spot where the woman was toug her. To her surprise, it didn’t hurt.

  “I see, I get you to y on your chest?” Bck Lotus asked.

  “I ove, nor do I wish to,” Ishtar said resolutely, pride rising up to snap back at the hand of a hero deigning to aid a vilin.

  “I’m going to help you,” Bck Lotus insisted.

  “I don’t want your help,” Ishtar snarled.

  “I don’t very much care!” Bck Lotus nearly shouted, “Would you rather me call Marta in here and we treat you like a child that does not want her shot? Have her hold you down so I treat you? Or are you going to act like an adult, Ishtar?”

  “What are you pnning?” Ishtar asked after an unfortable pause.

  “I’m going to help set your meridians, I ’t do much for the damage to your muscles but I do that much. I should be able to loosen those strange fragments a little in doing so. It will take several treatments and it will be painful,” Bck Lotus said, “Or you could sit here and feel sorry for yourself instead of taking the fastest route back to standing on your own two feet and doing your job.”

  Ishtar te having her own words thrown back at her. Her lips trembled for a moment before she burst into painful ughter. She shook her head and leaned fripping weakly at her now ag ribs. When the amusement subsided she turned her head towards Bck Lotus’ voice again, “You might have the spirit of a hero in you after all,” Ishtar admitted, “I don’t hate this side of you.”

  “I’m only ied in Sonya,” Bck Lotus clipped.

  “I already have an unwanted suitor,” Ishtar said with a casual shrug, “I don’t care for another anyway,” she paused, Why did I say that?

  “You?” Bck Lotus asked, suddenly ied, “Who is it?”

  “I am not having girl talk with someoh your credentials,” Ishtar grumbled.

  “Credentials?!”

  “You’re my other-half’s lover, a hero, and should be my nemesis,” Ishtar pointed out.

  “Fair enough,” Bck Lotus chuckled, “I’m not going tet that though.”

  “I am painfully aware,” Ishtar sighed, “Now help me onto my chest. I ’t move.”

  –

  Ishtar y on her side in bed. Marta had been forced to bathe her after Bck Lotus’ first treatment. The power moving through her body had struearly every single one of the fragments of Visage lodged in her flesh and pushed against them in a way that she couldn’t have possibly done willingly to herself. The pain had been excruciating, but she had to begrudgingly admit that she could feel the fai, infinitesimal sense of her energy moving through her body afterwards. Even so, she had bee shaking and weak, weaker than before and covered i and bits of blood.

  I have to keep iing with that woman. It is going to make fighting her difficult.

  She tried to rex iernal dark of her blindness. She needed rest. Hopefully if she felt better the day she could try again to get one of the fragments out. They did feel a bit looser inside her body, enough to the point that she was more aware of where they were. Feeling them all move simultaneously had certainly helped that sense of awareness, not that she’d e.

  Ishtar let her mind drift, sleep, she needed sleep. Unsciousness came a, sleep drifting inte lucid dreams that she tried to push through for the simple void of rest. Dreaming was a new and quite novel experience, uling. She would rather be at the back of Sonya’s mind while she dealt with this sort of thing.

  Something urged her back to the waking world, her body reag to a new sensation. She surfaced a a pair of soft lips pressed against her forehead. A delicate haing on hers. She caught a st in the air, Iris? Marjoram? I know that smell. Who?

  She frowned.

  “...you’re doing it again. Pandora.”