Awake

I never expected to wake up. So it was a surprise to me when my right eye opened.

I was bandaged all down my left side. I felt it. The bed I laid on was not made of springs or foam, as I might've expected.

I was laying flat, looking up at a simply decorated ceiling. The light seemed natural, like sunlight. This looked like a hospital room from a fantasy story.

I must have stirred, because I heard a squeal of surprise from my left.

I moved to sit up and get a better look around me, but moving seemed to trigger pain all down my left side.

"Ow." I groaned, collapsing back on the bed.

I sensed motion around my left, and got a brief look at the girl who walked past. She seemed to be about 13, with shoulder-length silver hair. And I literally mean silver.

I waited a few minutes -- four minutes and twenty-seven seconds -- before she returned, chattering in a language I had never heard before to two older women. One had purple hair done under a medical cap, while the other had her brown flowing down her back. They both seemed relieved as they replied to the silver-haired girl.

"Where am I? Who are you?" I asked, hoping they understood me.

They stopped in their tracks and gave each other a look. Then one of them said something to the girl, and she ran off again.

"Do you speak English?" I tried.

The brown-haired woman turned to her companion expectantly, and gave her a comment and a pat on the back.

"I speak little old language. Another come." she replied very slowly and choppy, as though trying to remember something she didn't know very well.

"Well, then, pain," I said, using my right arm to gesture to the bandaged side of me.

The woman I could understand went around to my blind side. Apparently I had something covering my left eye, so I couldn't open it.

Then in perfect English, she said, "Goddess of Water, hear my call, and heal the pain of this man."

"I thought you didn't speak English." I said.

But then the sensation came. It felt like someone poured cold water over my burning injuries. After a brief sting, the pain was gone.

I tried sitting up again, noting an almost impossible difference from the last time I tried that.

Brown smiled and said something in a language I didn't understand.

I barely had time to look confused before two more people came into the room. The silver-haired girl was following an old woman in nuns clothing.

The newcomer exchanged some foreign words with the nurses. Then she turned to me and said, as though praying, "Goddess of Air, heed my call, and translate our conversation."

"Where am I?" I asked.

"A small village called Farsfield."

"And you just performed magic? How is that possible?"

The old lady smirked. "I did not do it. I asked a blessing of Celestia, the Goddess of Air, and she provided. Though you might call it magic."

"And you speak my language to talk to this 'goddess'?"

"It's an old language in our world. It had been nearly forgotten when Brock, the first, appeared. Now we use it to call upon his and the others' power and little more."

"I think I could teach you more, if you wanted." I offered.

She humphed. "Don't be so presumptuous, young man. It's clear from the clothing I found you in that you're not from here. You will be a good immigrant and learn our language. Or else they will get you."

"They?"

The purple-haired nurse answered me, "The King's Guard. The stuck-up prince's--"

"That's enough of that, Aubrielle." the nun cut her off, "You're already walking the dangerous side of a fine line."

The nurse, Aubrielle apparently, gave a look that said she didn't care.

"The royalty around here tend to get whatever they want, and while there may be those who don't like it," she looks pointedly at Aubrielle, "there's not much that they can do."

"They need someone to teach them a lesson." Aubrielle retorted.

"That kind of talk will get you beheaded." then she turned to me. "You should rest. But before we leave you, do you have a name, boy?"

"It's Alex." I replied.

"Just Alex?"

"Yes, ma'am, though it's short for Alexander."

"We may have to change it. It's too unique around here, and will draw more attention than your arm or eye."

"What if we called him Argolex?" the silver haired girl asked, looking between me and the nun for approval. Her voice indicated that she might be a bit older than she appeared, and I just noticed because she finally spoke.

"I like Argolex." I replied.

"That name would work," the nun said, "I am known as Priestess Kalamay"

The others introduced themselves in turn. Aubrielle, the purple-haired nurse. Gertalia the other nurse, and Stephasha, the apprentice.

Kalamay, Aubrielle, and Gertalia all excused themselves. Stephasha returned to a wooden chair that had been in my blind spot when I was laying down.

As she left though, Priestess Kalamay paused in the doorway and turned. "Do you perhaps know how you ended up in the forest outside of town?"

I had expected a question like this sooner. "I walked. I walked a very long distance."

"Hmmm. Well, language classes and physical rehabilitation start tomorrow. Rest well tonight."