For the first time in weeks, perhaps months, Addie awakens from a deep, peaceful sleep. As she looks around the Soothery to the others, her smile is bright and cheerful, but behind her eyes there is a dark determination, a new resolve. The questions that plagued her only a few nights ago plague her no longer. She looks down to the bitten apple that still rests on the bed and recalls last night’s interaction with “The Banshee”:
“Nay, you do not need Miss Kithri’s permission to kill Woodbridge or Strongboar; you need mine. They are my prey!” After hearing those words, Xandilif eyes the fruit bowl and moves to take an apple from it- bright, red, and shiny- and tosses it to Addie, saying, "By your will...sweetheart.” Addie catches the apple, knowing that this gesture would signal that she now intends to walk the path of murderous vengeance; however, she does not hesitate, and, staring into the elf’s eyes, she definitively takes a bite out of it. Xandilif grins back at her, words not needing to be exchanged in this moment, and nods.
The questions may be answered in her mind now, and her path determined, but Addie is far from able to walk it. She looks down to her many bandaged injuries and feels the pain from each broken bone, laceration, and burn. Her gaze stops on her left side to the place where that dog had left his mark on her, and she feels herself burn with rage. She looks to the others to make sure that they are still sleeping soundly before reaching for her bag and bringing it up into her lap. She quietly moves her hand along the inside lining until it finds the opening to the hidden compartment; reaching within, she brings out a sheathed, five-inch dagger with a pommel that had been carved into a rough depiction of a horse’s head- a gift from a fellow Eorlingas- and slowly unsheathes it, looking once again to her side. She slips the upper part of her robe off and unwraps the bandages around her ribcage, revealing the carved initials. Taking in a deep breath, she readies herself for this new pain, but as the point of the blade touches her skin, she hears Neth begin to wake and quickly scrambles to put the dagger away.
For now she will bide her time and occupy her mind with the books that Miss Finchley was so kind to lend them. Six weeks! It will be six weeks before she can hope to walk again; Doc had told her this, but it had now been confirmed by the doctor over the Soothery, Elias- not that she hadn’t trusted Doc, but he had offered her some hope in saying that one of her own race might be able to better speak on the recovery times of men. Addie sighs and opens an old, tattered book of songs and poetry, turning it to a page titled “'There Is An Inn” which had been bookmarked by Finchley herself. She has already read over this song several times since the book had been left there, and as she mindlessly scans over the text on the well-worn page, one line in particular stands out to her now:
“And the Sun'll be rising soon!"
Addie closes the book and nods, understanding the message that her spirit was sending her. She turns her head to look out the window and sees the last tinges of charcoal fading as the darkness surrenders to the day. Miss Finchley’s words plays through her mind, “Grams used to say I stepped out the door each mornin' like the whole world was at my fingertips … But I know I'm nowhere near bein' a sort of... finished piece.” Addie might be broken now, but she will recover, she will learn to fight, and she will have her revenge.
