The Lord of the Plains by Sarah Chapman Page A

without losing his way.
    Then there was another painful conversation,
this time with the landlord. At least he saw how tired they were
and quickly let them go. He asked if he needed directions to a
clinic. Aerlid responded, ‘No’.
    The apartment was sparsely furnished. He
barely noticed. He found a small room with a bed in it and
carefully laid Riley down. There was a chair in the next room which
he brought in and put next to the bed. Sitting in it, he laid his
hands over her shoulder and closed his eyes.
    He stayed that way all night.

    The next day when Aerlid awoke it was past
dawn. The sun shone brightly through the open shutter doors to the
balcony. The living room was bright, the bedroom somewhat darker.
It was the first time in he didn’t know how long that he hadn’t
sung because he’d fallen asleep . Hardly a fitting way to
treat the Lady, but if the Lady had something to be upset about,
this was the least of it. He looked down at Riley. His hands were
still on her shoulder. Dangerous. He carefully removed them. The
hole was gone, her shoulder unmarked. He felt a weight lift from
his shoulders. He’d have to wait til she woke to see how her
mobility was. Aerlid tried to stand. Dizziness hit him so hard he
stumbled, caught himself on the wall.
    Riley still slept. She would likely sleep
the rest of the day and then some.
    Carefully, he stumbled out of the room and
shut the bedroom door softly. He slid down the door and hit the
floor with a soft thump. He cradled his head in his hands. Healing
Riley and fooling the testers had taken a lot out of him. His head
was thick and foggy, the sunlight felt like spikes thrust into his
skull. His stomach didn’t seem like it wanted to behave. He sighed
and stretched out his legs, lifting his head up. Slowly he opened
his eyes and waited for them to adjust. The spikes of sunlight
faded. He needed to eat. And wash. There must be somewhere to wash
but at the moment he couldn’t remember where. Slowly, with a groan
he stood, shaking.
    He took some food from their packs and had a
little nibble, just enough to settle his stomach. Gathering his
courage, he left the apartment, taking the key with him.
    Their apartment was on the second floor. The
bathrooms, he found, were on the ground floor. Despite his
discomfort he still managed to be pleasantly surprised to see the
humans here had proper plumbing. He took great pleasure in his
shower. It wasn’t warm, but that was ok. It wasn’t as if he’d had
hot showers out in the wild. It woke him up and stilled the
pounding in his head.
    He needed to find somewhere he could wash
his clothes. He had one pair of what he thought of as ‘real’
clothes (this set included his white coat), the rest were animal
skins. His real clothes needed a wash- he had worn them coming into
Astar, and he doubted the clinic staff would be too impressed if he
turned up in animal skins. Right now though, he wasn’t up to
finding the landlord and asking.
    He returned to the apartment and sat down in
the chair gratefully. He ate some more food, slowly. As he ate he
looked over their new home.
    There was a small kitchen opening off the
living room he was sitting in and one bedroom. The living room wall
opposite the entrance consisted of wooden shutters. Outside was a
small balcony that overlooked the entrance to the apartment block.
The shutters were open at the moment and through them he could see
grey stone and… more grey stone. The apartment floor was tiled, the
walls bare stone. There was a table and one chair in the living
room and a single bed, and the other chair, in the bedroom. There
was no bathroom in their apartment; it was communal. Why was there
only one bed? he wondered vaguely. They had slept on the ground out
in the wild, so it wouldn’t matter if they did that here. Could you
buy beds from somewhere?
    His thoughts drifted on and he went back to
surveying the apartment. It was small, and sparse, but at least it
was clean. The kitchen