Yuze woke up to sunlight streaming in the window, warming his face, and Eirian, who looked the worst he'd ever seen her.
He'd actually jerked back and screamed before his brain registered who it was and that it was probably not a good idea.
Judging by the outraged expression that comes over her face, the sulk that follows this will be epic.
And Yuze's probably going to get his ass kicked once he and Eirian are both physically recovered.
He can't move much; the jump scare Eirian's appearance gave him sent waves of pain through him and left him shaking in the bed for however long it took her to summon the healers. He must have been feeling better than he was before he fell unconscious, but he can't remember anything but the haze of pain and the crippling sadness.
It took the healers forcing two more potions down his throat for the haze and pain to clear enough for him to realize where he was. The private healing rooms all looked the same; he recognized it from the few times he'd visited Chenzhou before Eirian had cured him.
Eirian was in a bed next to him, sitting up and wrapped in her own bandages and looking horribly concerned despite her own injuries. Chenzhou and Mingzhe were there by the time he came around, hovering on the other side of Eirian's bed and out of the way of the healers surrounding Yuze's.
They poked and prodded Yuze for several agonizing minutes before they were finally satisfied.
"We'll let your chief healer know, Lord Rong."
Yuze wasn't sure who that was, but he also didn't care at the moment. Everything came crashing back without the pain to muddle his thoughts. Beng Shai and the torture, Snake and Kai Low and the whip, their flight through the wheat.
Fox.
Fox was gone.
Yuze's chest constricted so tight he couldn't breathe.
Fox was dead. Had died in Yuze's arms because he'd decided he was worth protecting.
Hot tears slid down his cheeks. It had been years since Yuze had openly cried, or even cried at all. Not since he was a child, but now he couldn't stop.
Arms closed around him, and Yuze sank into Chenzhou's embrace. He was too tired to be embarrassed, though he was sure he'd feel it later.
He cried in Chenzhou's arms for what felt like hours, taking comfort from the only family he had.
So much was gone and so much had changed. It was that realization that eventually brought him out of it. The last he knew, the tribes were working with Song and Snow, but now Chenzhou, Eirian, and Mingzhe were back in the Camelia?
And Fox was dead.
"What happened?" He croaked.
Chenzhou shook his head. "It can wait."
"No, tell me," Yuze demanded, rubbing his face against Chenzhou's shoulder to remove the traces of tears before he pulled away.
Mingzhe shoved Eirian's bed a foot closer, enough that Eirian could reach over and squeeze Yuze's hand. She was terribly awkward when people were any kind of emotional except angry.
Chenzhou sighed, and it took several hours for him to explain everything that had happened since Yuze had disappeared.
It was overwhelming. So overwhelming that Yuze couldn't think of a response for several minutes after Chenzhou was finished. "A wildfire." He repeated, because that was the most unbelievable thing out of all of it.
"Most of the borderlands are burned," Mingzhe added, and all three men glanced worriedly at Eirian, who ignored them as she fussed with her pillows. "The population among the tribes has been devastated."
"That's terrible." Yuze breathed. Even spending his entire life working to protect the Camelia and Sorrow, he wouldn't have wished that kind of devastation on the tribes. His eyes found Eirian again. "You stopped the fire."
Eirian smirked. "Yes, I did." She twisted around and let her robe slip down, showing off the healing mark across the back of her shoulders. "It's complete now."
Yuze frowned. He couldn't see the details of the mark under the still-healing scabs, but what little he'd heard about magical marks over the years was...
Well, not much at all. They were rare and generally concealed, not coming out until their bearer's death. He'd have to ask Eirian for more details once she was feeling better.
"And Song and Snow are gone?"
Chenzhou nodded, tired. "Yes, they haven't crossed the border again. I doubt they will anytime soon after such a defeat." There was pride in his voice and his eyes when he looked at Eirian. That in and of itself wasn't new, but the intensity was.
"So the war is over." Yuze tried to wrap his head around it. "We're allied with the tribes."
Mingzhe and Chenzhou nodded.
"And they're sending an ambassador to stay at the Camelia?" It was almost as unbelievable as Eirian stopping the wildfire. "Who's the ambassador?"
Eirian, Chenzhou, and Mingzhe shared a lost look.
"We don't know yet," Chenzhou admitted, squeezing Yuze's shoulder. "The tribes wanted to vote in private. They should be here any day now."
Yuze frowned. Something about that didn't sit well. A pit of warning in his stomach telling him he wasn't going to like what was coming.
~ tbc