The infirmary was very.. white. Peaceful and quiet and blindingly (almost) white.
It had high white walls, arched WHITE ceilings, with simple white orb lamps, soft thick and very fat white beds, with white blankets and on the white tables were white cloths, white bandages (spares), white basins filled with water and pitchers filled with more water...and some smaller white canisters for antiseptics. One could see the brilliant colors of spring through the large windows, open to let the cool air in. It was on ground floor of the tower to prevent anyone from dying from jumping out of the windows.
...and in this white hall with its many beds, white cabinets and supplies, lay a still form on the bed, swathed in bandages, with splinted wings. The black dragon's blood was the only color in her part of the room, as she lay on a bed facing a high window.
And beside her, cleaning up after the messy medical operations were concluded, was Envy, Greed's youngest brother.
For the moment Shala'ia remained unconscious, whether the pain of her multiple injuries or the sheer fact of being defeated kept her from waking was unsure. She somehow managed to seem peaceful, which was very odd for anyone who knew her well enough.
Suddenly the black dragon female bolted upright, a hand grabbing at her throat as she seemed to gag on air. The black pupils of her red eyes dialated to the size of pin points from the pain caused from moving, causing her to shudder convolsivly as she doubled over in the bed.
As the pain from the sudden movement dulled into a numb throbbing pain that she could stand she lifted her head slowly, looking around. The first thing she noticed was that pain was not a very nice thing to feel, though she already knew that much, and the second was that this place was white. Extremely so, so much her eyes hurt from just being open. Or maybe that was the pain. She only noticed Envy after she managed to turn her head slightly, blinking at the demon. The sudden blue in the sea of white was a blessing to her eyes as she blinked again. She would have said something but for the fact that she had no idea what to say; the memory of the fight that had brought her here not yet registering in her pain fogged brain.
"I see you're awake." Envy said dryly as he finished washing his hands clean of the blood. "Let me guess, your eyes, they burn? I always told Dji-sama that this place needed more color. ._." A momentary pause as he turned to face her. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Envy, Greed's youngest brother. I'd say it is a pleasure to meet you, but given the fact that we only met because my elder brother just beat the tar out of you in the arena and then dragged you here and told me to patch you up, I fear it is far too big a stetch of the truth. In any case, welcome to the infirmary. Don't worry, you'll get used to it sooner or later... you'll have to be in that bed until your injuries heal, after all." another pause. "Which may be some weeks. You broke all the bones in your wings, several ribs, possibly fractured your pelvis and you have a dislocated arm. ._."
For a moment Shala'ia simply stared at him, too focused on thinking to even manage to blink. Greed? Beaten? Infirmary? Nothing made sense to her. She wanted to shut her eyes and go back to sleep, but knew she wouldn't because something in her sleep had... something, she couldn't remember.
She had been about to open her mouth and calmly ask Envy politely to shut the hell up so she could thing when she remembered. She had been fighting Greed, she only now knew his name was Greed as they never shared named, and had lost. Horribly, as now she remembered every detail. This then also shined light on what had caused her to wake up and feel like she hadn't taken a breath in days. She had been dreaming about the fight or, well, getting beaten by Greed again.
She now wished she hadn't remembered, as along with the pain she now felt a overwhelming wave of negative emotions. Rage, agony, hatred, self pity and betrayal swelled up inside her, causing her to want to scream and cry all at the same time. Though it did not show in her body, or her voice when she spoke, it filled her blood red eyes. "I'm sorry if I was the cause of any inconvenience... and I thank you for caring for me..."
._. "You are not that big an inconvenience and I apologize for my rudeness. Am I correct in assuming you were not expecting to lose?" He asked, mildly as he dragged a seat to him and sat down beside her bed. "There are many strong anthros here in the tower. Be comforted you were beaten honorably. You were simply outmatched." he sighed and then thought things over.
"Were you not warned of this? I assume that someone must have at least told you of those who you should not challenge?" he could clearly see the emotions in her eyes and he sighed.
"Overconfidence will get you killed. This is a fair warning. Not many would be as merciful as my brother. ._. Perhaps you might wish to look into re-training first before you start assuming too much and get yourself killed by challenging the wrong person." He looked her in the eye.
"Your anger has no point. You have no reason to hate him... he merely responded to a challenge. Your self pity will weaken you if you do not get rid of it. And you have no cause to feel betrayed. ._. He defeated you without weapons or spell-work. He even chose to bring you here to receive medical aid when he had effectively beaten you. He spared your life."
Her chuckle was short lived as it hurt too much to do so. She let her eyes drift to the window, almost embarassed at letting her emotions be read so easily. She nodded weakly, not returning her gaze back to Envy. "I was indeed warned..." She hated admitting that she had gone into the fight knowing that Greed was indeed a extremely powerful demon, but she hated not being honest even more.
At any time before this moment Shala'ia would have been insulted by the idea that she would need re-training. However now it just depressed her further, because she knew Envy was right. "I... would not know where to start..." She admitted sheepishly, "But.. I will look into it..."
She sighed weakly, finally looking back over at Envy. "It's not him that I hate... it's just... I hate myself for letting myself believe that I was invincible... That I was stupid enough into believing that no one could beat me..." She let her gaze drop. "It's a betrayal of myself... If your brother wanted to he could gave killed me... I would have died and I would only have myself to blame for that..."
Envy shrugged. "Well, at least that experience is over and when you get better you can start re-training again? As for your previous beliefs...Possibly they were there because no one defeated you before and you grew overconfident. As far as Greed and I have found... No one born into this world is ever invincible. There is always somone better. And even as there is always someone out there better, the chance is also there for you to get even stronger now that your previous beliefs which limited you are out of the way and you can seriously concentrate on learning the art of war." he suggested mildly.
"Except of course, you will have to take it easy for the next few weeks while your body heals. However, when you get better, we have several strong fighters here who are willing to spar, and several training areas for fighters who wish to raise their skill level. There will always be opportunities for your skills to increase." He stood up and went over to a cabinet to pull out a few vials of blue fluid.
"These are healing potions. They should help ease your discomfort." he stated as he put them on the bedside table within easy reach of her un-injured arm. "I will have to go and get your meal, but I will be back with it. and possibly with something to distract you from the eye-burning walls."
She listened to Envy, looking up at him with a blank expression on her face. It wasn't because she wasn't listening, or because she didn't agree with what Envy was saying, she was just one of those people who didn't like to show that they were hurting and, if she did let her guard down then she would show it.
She blinked at Envy, she had never been one to just take it easy even when badly injured. Then again, she had never been this badly injured before. Though the idea of training areas made her feel better, at least there would be somewhere for her to go to become stronger.
She looked at the healing potions as Envy sat them down, tilting her head slightly. She then looked back up and nodded at Envy before looking back at the healing potions. She frowned at them; ease her discomfort? She would rather feel the discomfort as punishment for her actions. It helped her work to get better, to get stronger, and to take it away would only leave her with her thoughts.
Envy had discreetly left earlier, while she'd been looking at the potions. He returned around 30 minutes later with a balanced meal on a tray held in one hand. Some sort of roast meat, possibly steak or lamb, a salad with crisp greens and fresh bread. There was also some wine with the food.
In the other hand, he held a blanket with a fascinating and colorful pattern.
"I hope this helps relieve your discomfort." he said mildly as he left the food on the table by her bedside and put the blanket on her lap.
"If necessary, feel free to call me if you need anything." he said formally enough, before moving to seat himself by the window and pulled up a book to read. His own meal was to be light, bread and cheese and a soda... Envy wasn't much for gourmet eating.
Shala'ia had looked up at Envy when he re-entered the room, nodding and murmuring a soft 'Thank you' when the food and blanket where set down. As Envy moved off she looked over at the food, blinking as he eyes needed to get used to seeing color again. She eyed the wine warily, wondering if there was anything in it. She usually are light herself, usually drinking water, but she remained quiet.
She ate the steak and took a few sips of the wine, not touching the salad as she ran her eyes over the blanket. It was oddly soothing, with it's many colored squares each with it's own different patterns. She enjoyed looking at it, occasionally forgetting that she was eating and just following the patterns with her eyes.
It was slightly difficult to eat with one good arm, but she managed, using her injured on as little as possible. Occassionally eyeing the healing potions. Maybe she'd use one later, though she'd rather not.
