She felt so agonizing when her eyes opened in the small room, a soft bed beneath her as blankets were draped over her body. At first Cisel’s mind was scattered all about as she turned to her side, a blurred face looking into her. She could not make many of the features out at first, just a general grin plastered on the man’s face. As she blinked a few times, allowing her vision to clear back up as the features of the man faded into clarity. His nose, his mouth, his eyes, they all became clear to Cisel’s mind, even down to the freckles scattered across his cheeks.
“Wh-Where am I?” She stammered out, a panic state filling her insides.
“Don’ worry lil sis,” he said calmly, stroking his hand through her matted hair as he always use to do when she was little.
Cisel relaxed a bit as he did, his tone soothing to her as she smiled, “I though’ ya were dead.”
He laughed softly as he watched her, “I ain’t never dead, lil sis. Ya jus’ think I am.”
A childish grin crossed Cisel’s face as he spoke, “Wha’ abou’ Cisses? Is she alive?”
“Do you remember her?”
Cisel nodded eagerly, “O’ course I do."
The sweetest, gentlest smile crossed his face as she spoke, and then he said as he continued to smooth her hair, “Then she is alive as well, lil sis.”
A calmness began to disperse from within Cisel as he spoke, soothing her pains as she moved to sit up, wrapping her arms around her older brother, “I miss ya two so much.”
His hand gently rubbed her back as he hugged her back, murmuring softly into her ear, “I know ya do. Ye'll be with us someday, lil sis. But yer time ain’t up yet.”
Cisel blinked a few times as she went to ask, “What do ya mean, I’m with ye now.” But before she could speak, the door opened and her brother disappeared. The softness of the room dimmed down into a darker, dirtier feel as the bed became hard underneath her.
An older woman smiled to Cisel, leaning the broom she held against the wall as she shuffled across the room, “Are you alright miss?” Confusion washed over Cisel as she watched the woman, her face old and wrinkled as her hands were. Her dress was just as old if not older than her, covered in a thin layer of dust as the woman moved to dab a washcloth into a bowl beside the bed and press it against Cisel’s forward, easing her back down. “Relax, young one. You’re safe; just close your eyes and rest.”
The calmness that had flooded threw Cisel began to drain away as the damns were open, the water streaming down Cisel’s cheeks as the woman sat there, “Wh-Where am I?”
The woman just hushed her softly; murmuring out, “Sleep.”
Although every natural instinct within Cisel pleaded to fight the woman who told her to sleep, Cisel could not muster the energy. Her body going limp as she faded back out into darkness
Cisel spent the next couple of days fading in and out of sleep, only waking for the older woman to give her a bit of warmed milk with bread soaked in or water. Her leg had been wrapped and bound, her wounds covered with some sort of cream. Slowly as the days passed, she gained the strength to move around a bit. Although, her brother never returned to visit Cisel, which made Cisel confused. When Cisel asked the old lady about her brother’s visit, the lady merely responded with;
“It was probably your mind playing tricks on ye. What happened to you lass?"
Cisel's mind flashed to the memory of the fight just a few days back, but she decided she prefered not to talk about it. Instead Cisel rolled onto her side and responded with silence to the woman's question. Eventually, the woman gave up asking and left. Later as night fell, Cisel slipped into slumber until a sound of a rock shattering glass caused her to jerk upward. Following the rock, Cisel heard her name being screamed out as the two leapt from the bed. When Cisel flew into the kitchen of the small cottage, the older woman's husband glared at her accusatorily.
“Kid, you got to go," he reached out and shoved her towards the window on the backside of the cottage.
“But…” Cisel started, but the man ignored her. Flopping out of the window, she landed heavily on the earth below. A few sloppy steps caused her to fall into the mud. Lifting her head up, she saw her black steed stand over her with a wide eyed expression on his face. She reached up and pulled herself to her feet before climbing onto its back. As the hooves of the steed pounded into the earth, Cisel turned away from the rising smoke from the cottage behind her into the dry desert night.
She could not force herself to look back in fear of what she might see.
