Helplessness

Aaron sits at Lysa's bedside, dealing with his helplessness at her condition.

2.

Helplessness

 

Aaron was very surprised that the Orc would consent to leave his sister’s side, but Bruce did, with a somewhat forced ‘thank you’ to the young Duke.   

“I’ll try to get a few hours of rest before the Watchers arrive.”   He told the Half Elf as he exited, “Wake me if… if anything… happens.”

“Yes, of course I will.”

Bruce just gave him a thinly veiled look of anguish and quickly left the room.

Aaron slid the chair close to Lysa’s bed and gently took her hand.   It was swollen to nearly three times its normal size, like the rest of her body.    Her breathing came in short pants that chilled him to hear.    He kept fighting away the voices in his head that told him that she was dying.

Squeezing her hand, Aaron bowed his head, “Lord Yesh, please hear my prayer.   Lord, I am responsible for what has happened to this poor girl.    If she had not been with me, she would not have had to go through any of this.   Please, Merciful Yesh, save her!   Let her live, Lord!    Please don’t let her die!     I love her, Lord!    I will do whatever I need to do to save her.   I don’t have any family here, Lord.    Her brother, Bruce, needs her too, Lord!   Please don’t let her die, Merciful Yesh.    Save her Lord!”

 

Weary from days without sleep, Aaron found himself weeping like a scared child, stroking the hand of the Orc girl.

 

Suddenly a flash of white light behind him brought him out of his grief.    Spinning around he found three Elves standing in the room.    One was a pretty red-headed lady with a wisp of silvery-white hair on the left side of her bangs.   The second was a tall Drow male with gentle red eyes.    The third visitor was a beautiful Drow woman, hugely pregnant.

“Hello, Aaron.” The Drow lady spoke to him, patting him on the shoulder as she looked past him to Lysa.

“Lady Sophia, I am very honored to meet you.”   He said with a bow.

“We’re here to help you and Lysa.   This is my husband Khord and my good friend, Deborah Ferebee; she is also a Watcher.    I asked her to join us as she is more knowledgeable on genetics than I am and she might be able to help.”

Aaron stood up and shook Khord’s hand, then Deborah’s, as they greeted him.

“Lady Sophia, Lysa is very sick.”

“Oh, we know, child, we’ve been closely monitoring you.    We saw what happened and we are very familiar with the situation.”

“Oh.”  He replied, stepping back so the two women could look closely at Lysa.

“We have some ideas about what might be happening.”  Khord told him as they watched the two women examine the Orc girl.

“I’m so glad you came.”

“We were scheduled to come here soon anyway, to discuss some religious issues with Mom… I mean Reverend Zeatt.”

“I hope there is something they can do to help her.   I feel so helpless.”   

Khord put his arm around the Half-Elf, “Don’t give up, Aaron.   You are not alone.    Your parents and sister are watching too, and praying.”

Aaron looked up in awe, “They are?”

The Drow man smiled, “Oh yes, they know what has happened and are as concerned as you are.    They are quite fond of Lysa.”

Aaron swallowed down a lump in his throat, “I sure wish that they could be here.”

“They do too, Aaron, but they are never far from you.    They know what is going on here and send you their love.”

Again the Half-Elf swallowed down a lump, “Thank you, sir, for telling me that.   You have no idea how that helps me.”

 

Sophia and Deborah now turned to him and beckoned for him to join them.

“Aaron, I am not a doctor, but I’m quite certain that I know what is happening to Lysa.”   Deborah told him.

“Is she dying?”   He asked, the blood draining from his face.

“I don’t know for certain, but I suspect that she won’t die.”

“Why?   How do you know?”   He wondered, desperate for hope.

“Well, let me try to explain it.    Please understand that I am limited to what I can tell you, by Yesh, but He has given us permission to explain, as best as we can, what is happening to her.”

“Alright, I’m listening, ma’am.”

Deborah took a deep breath, “There is a set of instructions that are inside the blood of all living beings.    These instructions are followed when a baby is growing in a womb.     Every baby gets half of his or her set of instructions from each of his or her parents.”

“Each race has its own set of instructions, and usually each race cannot mix these instructions with another race.     But when the Sidhe first created all the races, there were some exceptions.     At first they made humans, copying their form from the Creator God’s humans in the Prime world.     But then the Sidhe were not sure how to make the races different.    Elves were created second, and they were supposed to be an improvement on humans.    They were to be perfect, graceful, beautiful and healthy.”

“So they modified the instructions of the humans and ‘improved’ upon them.     But since they had used, at first, the human set of instructions, the two races remained compatible, yet they were just barely able to breed.     Many times a union between an Elf and a  human does not produce a child.      But aside from Nymphs and a few Fae creatures, humans are the only race that Elves can interbreed with.”

Aaron nodded, wondering what this all had to do with Lysa’s condition, but he did not interrupt as the Watcher continued.

“When Orcs were created, they were made purposely with a set of instructions to allow them to mate with a wide variety of creatures.     As a result, their instruction set is often fragmented and jumbled.    That is why most Orcs are so brutish and ugly.    Their blood mixes with Ogres, Goblins, Hobgoblins and humans, but because of the ease of this, they have many mutations.    A mutation is a defect in the instruction code.      So they do not live long lives, for the most part, though they produce a lot of offspring.”

“The other races, such as Halflings and Dwarves, have instruction codes in their blood that are completely different than human, Orc or Elf blood, and so they cannot breed with anything other than their own race.”

“Aaron, the problem is that though both Orcs and Elves can breed with humans, Orcs cannot breed with Elves as their instruction codes are too different.    When Lysa was thrown into the Pool of Purity, her instruction code was jumbled up and reassembled, mixed with the instruction code of the Hutcaiah princess.   The Hutcaiah are a race of Elf that prides themselves on their racial purity, so their blood’s instruction code is somewhat different.      Yet it is pure Elven and when her code mixed with Lysa’s code - which was a mixture of predominately Orc code, mixed with some human and Ogre- it was a mixture that could not occur.”

“But it did occur, ma’am!”   Aaron interjected, “She lived through it.”

The Elven Watcher smiled sympathetically, “Yes, but it was the magic of the pool that mixed their codes into one.    The magic was like that which bound the Talminor people.     Yet this was at a deeper level, what we call a genetic level.     Let’s just say that Lysa’s code and the Princess’ code were bound together in a very unstable union.   The magic let it work for a while, but after it began to fade, the two types of code began to react violently with each other.”

“So she’ll come apart like the Talminor did when their magic faded?”   Aaron asked in horror.

“No, no, that is what is different in her case.    Her body is filled with two types of code that cannot mix, and you can just think of it as a sort of chemical reaction.    The two types of code are fighting each other for supremacy.     Right now she is going through a very unusual metamorphosis.    One of the two types of code will win, or else she will die.”

“What is her chances, ma’am?”   Aaron asked, looking at the floor.

“Well, if it were any sort of code other than Elven, I’d say she had very little chance of surviving.   But the Sidhe formed the Elven code in their blood to be very strong and resilient.   It is seeking out and destroying the competing Orc/human/Ogre blood in her while at the same time, duplicating itself in her blood.”

“So what does this mean?”   Aaron asked Deborah.  

“She is being genetically reformed into an Elf, Aaron.     Her body is reacting to the Elf code changing her.   Her organs and every cell in her body will be altered.    The Orc blood is reacting violently to these changes.    If she can hold on, she will come out of this with all of her Orc code destroyed and in its place will be the Hutcaiah Elven code.”

“She’s turning into one of those Oriental Elves?”  

“Yes, I believe so, Aaron.     The danger lies in how her body is reacting right now.    It is putting a lot of stress on her vital organs and this could kill her before it is complete.”

“Do you know how long it would take to be complete?”

“No, for we’ve never seen anything like this before.     But I think that the process is probably at least halfway done already.   I would guess - and this is ONLY a guess- that within a week it will be over.”

“If she lives.”    Aaron added.

“That is why you must keep praying.”  Sophia spoke up.

“Lady Sophia, can’t the three of you do something to insure she won’t die?   You are Yesh’s representatives.”

Sophia and Deborah looked at each other, “No, Aaron, we can not do anything other than what has already been done.     We were permitted to come here to explain this to you.      What Deborah told you is all we know, and much of that is speculation.”

“So what can we do to help her then?    Surely there is something!”    Aaron glanced from Watcher to Watcher, his eyes pleading.

“Aaron, listen to me.”   Deborah took both of the Half-Elf Duke’s hands, “What Zeatt has done has been exactly what Lysa needs.     She needs to be monitored by someone who can quickly cast healing spells upon her.   If some of her organs - especially her heart and lungs- were to fail, a healing spell cast quickly upon her could restore them.     So a Cleric needs to sit with her around the clock, ready to cast the spells.”

“Do you think that this would be enough to help her make it through?”    Aaron asked the Watcher.

“I can’t guarantee it, Aaron, but it would greatly help her odds.    We have asked Yesh to allow her to live and I am certain that he has heard your prayers - and the prayers of her brother- so you need to keep praying and to have faith.”

“It’s difficult, Lady Deborah.   I’m… I’m… well, I’m scared, ma’am.”

“I know you are, Aaron.     Listen to me - we’ll be here for several days while Sophia and Khord meet with Zeatt about some religious matters.     I will stay here and watch her during this time, and we’ll find a Cleric to take over when I need rest.”

“Thank you, ma’am.    I’ll stay here with you.”

“Well, actually, you’re going to be in a meeting with Khord and me.”   Sophia told him, with a rather troubled look in her eyes that unnerved the young man.

“Me?”

“Yes, in fact, you, King Eleazar, Queen Aurei, King Aedric and Queen Snoe are going to join us.    I have some extremely serious news that neither Deborah nor Khord even know about.   It concerns you too.”

“Really?   In what way, Lady Sophia?”

“Wait until we are all assembled, and then I’ll explain.”   She turned to Khord, “Would you teleport to Tarmard and fetch Aedric and Snoe… they may not be in the palace though.   We’ll meet this evening in the Ducal Keep.”

Khord nodded, seeming to be very curious about this mysterious news.   He walked over and whispered something to her.    She shook her head and so he gave his wife a goodbye kiss, and then disappeared in a flash of white light.

Sophia turned to Aaron, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go chat with my mother for a while before all the formal business begins.    I’ll come and get you when it’s time for the meeting to begin.   Deborah, thank you for explaining that to him so well.”

“No problem, Sophia.    It is rather nice to see this part of the world.   If you need anything, let me know - I’ll sit in here and watch this poor girl.”   She turned to Aaron, “She’ll be fine, trust me, Aaron.    I want you to go get some sleep - you’ll need to be refreshed for the meeting tonight.”

“I don’t think I can sleep, ma’am.”

“Lysa is in good hands, Aaron.     I’ll fetch you if anything happens.”

“But-“  He began to protest.

“No, ‘buts’, young man - do as I say and go rest.”   Though she smiled, her tone reminded Aaron so much of his mother that he couldn’t say anything in reply but simply nodded.   With a long look at Lysa he sighed and slowly left the room, trying his best to trust the words of the Watchers.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...to nearly three times its size..." Perhaps "...three times its normal size" for clarification.
"...her tone was motherly and reminded Aaron so much of his mother..." This sounds a little repetitive with both "motherly" and "mother" so close in the same sentence. Maybe reword it a bit?