"Ma? I'm sorry to wake you up. Open your eyes for me?"
Arissa Sweetwater's dark eyes opened slowly to the dim light of the room, provided by a single rush light. The aging woman looked pale and exhausted, as if sleep had been no real comfort for her. Sera's scarred face came into view as she sat on the edge of the straw bed that they shared and it appeared that she was holding something.
"I've been to a healer and I've brought you something to try," whispered Sera as she held out a twice-cracked-and-repaired cup of steaming tea made with some of the chamomile she had been given and some rainwater she'd boiled at Albra's estate.
"Who?" asked Arissa somewhat hoarsely as she sat up, wincing at the pain each movement brought her. "How did you get such things, Sera?"
"Never mind that. The man, a Master Dimheim, said it'd be a favor to the one who tipped me off to him anyway. Just try drinking this and see if it'll help any." A the face the older woman pulled, Sera frowned and pushed the cup towards her a little more insistently. "Please. I know you don't want to drink anything, but it might do you some good. Isn't that better than nothing at all? You haven't had anything for a day and a half. Please drink some, for me."
Arissa nodded grimly and raised her hands to accept the cup. She sipped at the drink slowly, grateful for the mild taste.
"Also this, if you can chew on it," Sera replied again, holding up a piece of the willow bark she'd been given. "We'll try all this for awhile and see if anything helps. See? I told you I'd take care of you--"
"Sera--"
"-- and that our luck has turned around a bit--"
"Sera--"
"-- I won't let you continue on like this--"
"Sera."
"What is it, mother?"
The older woman smiled sadly and took another sip of her tea. This wasn't how Arissa had wanted her daughter's life to be. She should have been able to take better care of her but the constant pain had robbed her of the ability to be the mother Sera deserved all her life. By now Sera should have been at least decently educated, maybe even married and with a family of her own. She should have had a normal and calm life. Isn't that what her father would have wanted as well?
It's not as if she didn't have a clue what her daughter got up to, though she spoke only vaguely about it, if she spoke of it at all. The amount of danger that such a life entailed along with the added dangers of Sera's recent excursions in the North only served to worry her, not that she'd raise too much of a fuss about it. After all, Sera had never failed to take care of her needs and Arissa didn't fail to notice how much more at ease her daughter looked when she'd returned, as if something about the North felt more like home to some secret part of her.
There was no dissuading the young woman from achieving her ends. Arissa could only hope that her stubborn and rash nature wouldn't get her in trouble that there was no escaping from. So, for now, the older woman nodded and continued to sip her tea. "Thank you. I'll try this for you. I do my best to recover my strength soon so I can get back to work."
"Just focus on being as well as you can for yourself. I promise, I'll take care of the rest."
And Sera would take care of the rest, how ever she had to. All previous conversations of her leaving to continue her search up North were the furthest thing from her mind at that moment. At the end of the day, despite all her yearning for answers and preconceived justice, nothing in the world was more important than the wellbeing of her mother.
