Ralph sighed. He hadn't expected Lily to catch the plague. True, he didn't know if she had been immune or not, but at the same time, it felt like it shouldn't have been something that happened in the first place.
While he was happy that Amelia was quick to treat Lily, and before she had developed spots, he couldn't help but feel like he should be doing more than just keeping her company at her bedside while she rested.
Before this, he'd never have thought that he'd have been as worried over Lily as he was now. Nor had he imagined that she'd become so important to him than he realized right now.
Leaning back, he took a deep breath while he listened to Lily's even breaths. He hadn't imagined that he'd be able to keep from being bored while listening to someone else sleep before. It hardly seemed to matter that it'd been hours since he'd started his vigil and couldn't be sure how long it'd last.
He looked around Embris' home, lit only by a small oil lamp that provided meager light at best, but still seemed to illuminate the whole inside of the building easily, and couldn't help but wonder how she'd been able to stand it being so small. While he understood that the people in this settlement were used to living in smaller buildings than he was, he still felt this small building hardly deserved to be called a home. If anything, it was a shed, even compared to the house that he'd first discovered Embris' family in, this small building was nothing more than a shed.
How it could be thought of differently was beyond him.
The door opening made Ralph jump. He hadn't heard anyone approaching, so he hadn't expected anyone to be entering. Besides, he knew it was late at night and Feon, Nymis, Rephis, and Embris had been asleep around him for some time. Though, he hardly noticed them with how much Lily had held his attention.
Cinder had entered, looking like he might need to be forced to take some bed rest himself, with how worn out he looked. Which made Ralph wonder if the same might need to be done for Amelia. After all, she was the type who would keep moving on until she couldn't move anymore just because there was someone who she could help, even in the slightest.
"You look like you could use some sleep," Ralph remarked quietly, not wanting to wake Lily. The others in the 'shed' he couldn't care less about right then, but he certainly didn't want Lily's rest to be disturbed.
Cinder merely shrugged. "I just came to check on Lily. Embirs surprised Amelia earlier with how far she was able to go without wearing herself out," Cinder replied, sounding as tired as he looked. He checked Lily's vitals, like Ralph was sure Amelia had instructed him before leaning against the wall, looking like he might be considering taking a breather, even though Ralph thought he probably was in danger of falling asleep right then. Not that he'd have complained, given how crowded this 'shed' was in the first place.
Ralph estimated it was about fifteen minutes before Cinder snapped upright again, looking like he might have thought he'd only closed his eyes for a moment. Which he wouldn't be surprised if Cinder often did that lately. "Lily's vitals look good. You should take care of yourself as well."
Ralph looked at Cinder out of the corner of his eye. He supposed that someone should take care of Cinder as well, but he wasn't going to say anything right then. Not when he was in a crowded 'shed' and knew that if he tried something, he'd likely disturb the rest of everyone in this 'shed' which in turn would likely disturb Lily's rest. Something that he wouldn't be happy about if that turned out to actually happen.
"You should consider getting some rest yourself," Ralph said, as Cinder opened the door. "You won't do anyone any good if you're in danger of falling asleep on the job yourself. Amelia too."
Cinder looked at Ralph in the dim lamplight. "I plan on it once I finish my rounds."
Then Cinder was gone and Ralph shook his head. While he would have accepted that statement under normal circumstances, he couldn't say how much more of Cinder's 'rounds' he still had to go. Besides, he could see that Cinder was at his limit already. Even if Cinder wasn't aware of it, or just not willing to admit it, that didn't change the fact that he wasn't going to be as effective at doing his duties if he didn't get some rest soon.
Ralph sighed as he returned his gaze to Lily, who hadn't woken up since she'd first collapsed yesterday during the whole gathering of getting Amelia some people to help her.
While most had been determined to still be too weak to do anything of any real use, at least among those that were still recovering from being sick in the first place, the ones who were selected hardly seemed like they were enough to combat the amount of work that Amelia had been facing. Something that made Ralph wonder if he might get drafted himself to do something. Even though he'd much rather remain by Lily's side.
Again, he couldn't help but marvel about how close he'd let Lily get to him since they'd first met. Even though he still felt like he wouldn't think twice when it came time to leave her here, especially since he could see that she'd taken a liking to Embirs and he could likely leave her with Embris at that time, he wondered just how much he might actually miss her when that time came.
He reached out and softly stoked her cheek, smiling a little as she moaned in her sleep and leaned toward the contact. He wondered if maybe this was what being a father was supposed to feel like, despite the fact that she was essentially the one who had adopted him and he would have been more than happy to just let her be left somewhere on their way because of how he had been confident that she would slow them down and get in the way of getting done what they had originally planned on at that time.
Ralph wasn't sure if he fell asleep himself for a time or if he'd just looked away and then Lily was awake, looking at him, but he felt a weight that he hadn't known been on his shoulders lift up seeing her awake. He smiled at her and she smiled back, even though she still looked rather tired.
"Did you sleep well?" Ralph asked, unable to think of anything else to say.
Lily nodded slowly, not looking like she planned on trying to get up anytime soon. While Ralph would have normally understood that mentality, he figured it was more likely that she was still worn out from battling the illness that she had. The same one that kept Embris and the others in bed past when they should have been able to get up and actively move around.
"If you need to go to sleep, feel free to do just that," Ralph added, surprised at how choked up he was getting. The only comfort about that thought was the fact that his friends weren't there to hear him and the only witnesses to that fact were all asleep themselves, making him confident that no one would be able to spread word about that embarrassing fact. "I'll be right here while you sleep. When you wake up, I'll be waiting for you to wake up."
As the words left Ralph's lips, he couldn't help but feel like he just jinxed himself in some way. While he meant those words, he wondered if maybe Murphy's Law would come and force him to break the promise he'd just made to Lily. A promise that had brought a genuine smile to her lips as she fell asleep again.
While he wondered if maybe he should take her with him if he had to go somewhere, for any reason, he was more determined that he'd stay with her until she woke up again, no matter what he had to delay just to make sure that she was able to see him when she woke up.
He supposed that he could create an illusion of himself if he absolutely had to, much like with the velociraptors, but he quickly pushed that thought out of his mind. While he could do that, he knew that it still wouldn't be him and would make his promise a complete lie if he did that. After all, he intended to keep that promise and if something happened that made him unable to keep it that was out of his control, then that wouldn't be a lie then. It'd just be unfortunate circumstances. However, if he did something that would allow him to avoid keeping the promise in the first place, then that would make it a complete lie.
However, regardless of what happened as a result of his promise, he wanted to stay by Lily's side. Even if he had to give up the search for Charlie, he wanted to wait until Lily was feeling better. No matter how long that took.
Which also made him wonder if Amelia would be up to figuring out exactly what the cause of this was. At least with her so stretched thin and all. Even with what little help she'd been willing to accept, Ralph had a feeling she would do herself in before they found a cure or treatment or whatever to the condition that was now plaguing Lily.
One thing that Ralph suspected was that he himself might need to leave Lily's side at some point to try and search for something that would help. Or at least something that they might need. Assuming Amelia came up with an idea to try that would potentially help with that condition.
Ralph wasn't sure if he fell asleep again or not, just that suddenly there was a knocking on the door. If it was Amelia or Cinder, he would have expected them to just enter without knocking, but the fact that someone was knocking on Embris' door made him a little curious as to who it was. After all, it was Embris' home here and there was no reason for anyone to be looking for him there, except the few who knew Lily was there and Ralph suspected that they'd just quietly enter without knocking.
Part of him said that he should let someone else answer, that they'd eventually wake up and answer it or the person would give up and leave. He really wanted to go with that part of him, but he didn't want to risk Lily's rest getting disturbed. Even though he thought the chances of that happening were small, he still worried that she'd wake up because of the knocking.
Ralph slowly stood up, surprised at how he nearly fell over and wondered if he needed to get some actual rest himself.
As he stumbled towards the door, he decided that he'd need to get some sleep, regardless of how cramped it might be in this building with so many people already laying down in it.
As he opened the door, he saw a young girl outside, one that he recalled seeing around before. He thought her name was Cithis. The girl who seemed to be a messenger around here for the people in charge or something.
"Where's Embris?" the girl asked, looking a little confused.
"She's in bed. I was-"
"Doesn't matter, wake her up," Cithis commanded, surprising Ralph a little. "She's needed right now."
"Uh, shouldn't she still be getting rest? I mean, that's what I remember Amelia saying that-"
"This is urgent," Cithis retorted, looking like she might try to push past Ralph to wake up Embirs herself. Something that Ralph had a feeling was going to be problematic for him since he didn't feel like being very cooperative with this girl right then.
"Yeah, well explain it to me and I'll see if I agree or not," Ralph said, bracing himself for an attempt by Cithis to rush the door.
"I can't share all the details to an outsider like you," Cithis answered defiantly, making Ralph feel even more tired than he already was. "It's just important. I was told to get Embris personally by Tchisa."
"Well, unless you want to have me doing what I can to stop you, you'll need to tell me what this is about," Ralph replied, wondering when Cithis was going to try and make her move.
"It doesn't concern you!" Cithis snapped, surprising Ralph by trying to dive between his legs.
He supposed given the girl's height, that would be a good move, except for the fact that his legs weren't wide open in the stance that he'd been standing in. If anything, he thought that she'd have had a better shot at getting by him if she'd tried going between his leg and the door.
"Let me through!" the girl roared as Ralph pinned her to the floor, her legs kicking wildly outside the door.
"Not unless you tell me what this is about. I don't care what you were told to do. I have things that I need to know and this is one of them if you want to get by me," Ralph replied, holding Cithis down with ease, which surprised him given how much stronger girls were supposed to be among these people than the boys were. Whether that was supposed to occur later in her life or not, all Ralph could think was that she hardly seemed any stronger than he probably was at that age, which made handling her much more easy for him.
"What's going on?" Feon asked, sounding like she'd just gotten woken up by the noise caused by Cithis.
"I need to get Embirs up!" Cithis yelled, sounding like she might start screaming at Ralph if he didn't let her do what she was saying she needed to do.
"And I'll let you do that once you tell me why!" Ralph replied, a little surprised at finding his voice rising in volume with Cithis'. While he wasn't too worried about yelling at the girl, he did worry that he could become responsible for waking Lily up before she was ready.
"Should I get Embris?" Feon asked, sounding like she might just do that because she sounded like she was still half-asleep.
"Yes!" Cithis cried, her voice starting to enter the 'scream' volume, which Ralph couldn't help but find funny for some reason. He wasn't sure why, though he doubted that it would help calm the girl down and get her to actually listen to reason if he did.
"Ralph? Why did you tackle her?" Feon asked, making Ralph wonder if she thought that was the most important thing to be asking right then, which made him want to scream in frustration.
Not only was there nothing that he could do for Lily, but now he was in the middle of a struggle to keep this girl out of Embris' 'house' and he suspected that if he let her up the smallest amount, that she'd use that to try and get past him.
"She's wanting to wake Embris up despite Amelia's orders that she gets plenty of rest before she begins helping Amelia with her tasks," Ralph replied, not caring to get into the specifics. He just wanted something to change so that he could get this girl to stop trying to force her way in.
"Shouldn't we ask Embris then?" Feon asked, sounding a little more alert than she had been a moment ago.
Which Ralph felt a little reassuring in his sleep deprived mind, given he thought that Feon was going to ask if they shouldn't ask Embris what she thought about it all. Which meant that they'd have to wake Embris up in order to ask her if she wanted to be woken up. Something that Ralph was pretty sure would be rather pointless, given how she'd then be awake regardless of anything else at that point.
Although, as he gave it a little more thought, he realized that that's essentially what she'd asked, making Ralph want to scream himself. Something he was sure wouldn't help his efforts out at all. Not when he knew that if too much noise was created, that it would certainly wake Embris up, something he'd rather have happen because she got enough rest rather than so much noise being created around her.
"What shouldn't you be asking me?" a groggy voice asked, making Ralph groan softly in frustration.
It would seem his efforts proved pointless, but it wasn't like he hadn't done his best. So, he let Cithis up, fully aware of the glare she gave him before entering the shed, leaving Ralph to close the door.
"Tchisa sent me to get you. Something happened," Cithis said, though with the side look she gave Ralph, he couldn't help but wonder if she was going to refuse to say what that 'something' was while he was present.
"What happened?" Embris asked, looking more alert than Ralph had thought would happen, but he supposed that this was the kind of thing Embris likely did with her being a 'guard' or whatever for the Blue Rose or whoever it was on the second floor of the building that building that seemed to be the center of this community.
Cithis opened her mouth to say something but then closed it for a moment before asking instead, "Are you sure we should be talking about this around him?"
Ralph watched as Embris slowly looked at him, the person Cithis was pointing. Which said to Ralph that she really did still need to rest longer. Even if it was only to look more coherent than she did right then.