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“Mhm. Yeah, see you.”

Sand ended the call just as the infirmary door opened again, revealing Robert again. She slipped the scroll back to her pocket as the boy caught sight of her and approached, apologizing for the delay.

“Not a problem. You were just in time.”

She took stock of his appearance at his prompting, noting how most of the damage he had sustained seemed all but gone. [i]An awakened aura is an amazing thing[/i], she reflected. She suspected that recovering from his condition would have taken longer than a weekend if he had not been trained to be a Huntsman. In fact, she had to restrain the sudden urge to poke at his side to see if he was not exaggerating the pain in his ribs.

“They didn’t give you a mirror?” she asked, keeping a hint of mischief away from her voice. 

[i]You look awful. Definitely,[/i] was the first response that came to mind. But she swallowed the words. It wasn’t true, but he made it too easy for her. She quickly curbed the part of her that instinctively tried to agree with his assessment on his appearance if only to see where that line of dialog would lead. It would be plain hurtful, and there was such a thing as overindulgence. 

“You look fine,” she answered honestly after a moment of consideration. “Bit of bed hair. Wouldn’t have guessed you were hospitalized if I hadn’t seen it.” 

The fact that she could even say those words felt like lifting a weight off her shoulders. She could not have known how things would have gone back at the Fort if she had chosen to prioritize her mission and left the group of Huntsmen to fend for themselves, or if she had agreed to leaving Robert once they realized he was drawing the Grimm towards them, but it seemed to her that if Grane and Trad were safe, and Robert only had slight aches to complain about as she walked him to his room, she had made the right choices where it mattered. It made her proud.

As for Delta… Her actions were irrelevant in that case. The group’s last member had been lost before she had had a chance to intervene. [i]It was lucky enough that I was close enough to help at all[/i], she reminded herself. There was nothing to regret. She would have to be satisfied with the results.

Sand shrugged, jostling the bag on her shoulder. “Anyway, let’s get going. I still need to drop this off.”

[@Guess Who]