[ By the time they'd made it through the portals, Claude had returned to being in terrible shape despite those healings in the Horizon he'd been more grateful for than he'd bargained for with how all other healing magic made his wounds even worse. His fever returned thanks to the last days of travel and so had the deep cough, both fueled days in the cold and snow and by the last bit of strength needed to make it, finally, to safety in the wake of the avalanche wreaking havoc.
How things progressed from there were mostly a blur with exhaustion and delirium clouding things but there was a terrible tasting cure slipped between his lips with the promise it'd help. Someone's voice, a familiar one, coaxed him into not protesting it, there'd been the mention of removing something, he'd drank something else, and then there was nothing after.
When he wakes it feels like surfacing from the bottom of the seas all over again, his mouth dry and lips cracked from however long he'd been out cold. The last thing he remembers is what must have been the sleeping draught promised. A tentative flex of his hands and arms while he lays in place reveals the feeling of fresh bandages which almost certainly extend to all over him. Claude opens his eyes and the dim light doesn't sear across his vision like all light did before. He casts a careful glance around, trying to get his bearings before he remembers Nocwich, the healers, the process of removing the awful growths from even worse lesions. He doesn't feel particularly great, still clearly healing and then some, but it's an immense relief compared to everything from before.
When he finally turns his head against his pillow, there's someone sitting in the chair next to his bed. A face he'd missed dearly with the sentiment threatening to choke him momentarily though he swallows it back even if it's replaced by the relief that she's here and real rushes in next and leaves him just as unsteady beneath the surface. ]
Hilda. [ His voice is hoarse and still groggy as he struggles to shake off the last of the sedation which also makes his reach for her a little stilted as he finds he has to actually concentrate on both that and smiling as he does so. ] Have you been waiting all this time to chide me for interrupting your beauty sleep?
[ Alertness slowly returns and with it comes the ability to tease. That feels easier than addressing the breadth of everything even if it's only putting it off for a few seconds longer. ]
— hilda
How things progressed from there were mostly a blur with exhaustion and delirium clouding things but there was a terrible tasting cure slipped between his lips with the promise it'd help. Someone's voice, a familiar one, coaxed him into not protesting it, there'd been the mention of removing something, he'd drank something else, and then there was nothing after.
When he wakes it feels like surfacing from the bottom of the seas all over again, his mouth dry and lips cracked from however long he'd been out cold. The last thing he remembers is what must have been the sleeping draught promised. A tentative flex of his hands and arms while he lays in place reveals the feeling of fresh bandages which almost certainly extend to all over him. Claude opens his eyes and the dim light doesn't sear across his vision like all light did before. He casts a careful glance around, trying to get his bearings before he remembers Nocwich, the healers, the process of removing the awful growths from even worse lesions. He doesn't feel particularly great, still clearly healing and then some, but it's an immense relief compared to everything from before.
When he finally turns his head against his pillow, there's someone sitting in the chair next to his bed. A face he'd missed dearly with the sentiment threatening to choke him momentarily though he swallows it back even if it's replaced by the relief that she's here and real rushes in next and leaves him just as unsteady beneath the surface. ]
Hilda. [ His voice is hoarse and still groggy as he struggles to shake off the last of the sedation which also makes his reach for her a little stilted as he finds he has to actually concentrate on both that and smiling as he does so. ] Have you been waiting all this time to chide me for interrupting your beauty sleep?
[ Alertness slowly returns and with it comes the ability to tease. That feels easier than addressing the breadth of everything even if it's only putting it off for a few seconds longer. ]