Demi spent the next several days caring for Aelfric. The worst danger had passed, but she was careful and circumspect, and kept making him drink potions and take medicines. She also cooked several meals for him: rice porridge, alchemic chicken noodle soup, egg on rice, plain toast, oatmeal—
These foods all ended up with a bonus effect called “Food Made with Hope for a Speedy Recovery,” which increased the body’s natural ability to heal in some way or another.
After the first four days, he was well enough to move around the house on his own, although she still insisted that he rest and recover. He had also tried to give up her bed early on and make do with a cot or a pallet on the floor, but she had categorically refused.
The very first night they had had something of a standoff regarding her bed.
When Aelfric had first woken up after having slept for a few hours, he had immediately sussed out that he was in her bed and had tried to give it up. When she told him it was the only bed in the house, he only became more adamant.
She didn’t have enough materials on hand to try crafting another bed, or even a cot, and she did not want to go on a gathering adventure, at least not so late into the evening after such a harrowing day. She was tired. Even after his sleep, he was still tired, and confined to bed on her orders. No one else was on hand apart from Glimmer and Dollop, and there was no way an ornamental chicken could gather materials for and then construct a bed, and neither could a small slime, no matter how determined to help they were.
Beyond that, she was tired. She didn’t want to bother with something as complicated as building a bed. She just wanted to go to sleep.
But everything was all right. She didn’t need to stumble around trying to craft a bed. The bed that had come along with the house was massive, and Demi was a very small person. Even with Aelfric, Lacey-tan, Dollop, and Demi, the bed had plenty of space to sleep comfortably.
(And of course, Glimmer continued to roost on the footboard, where he could “keep an eye on things.” He was surprisingly careful when it came to dealing with Aelfric. He refrained from speaking in front of him because Demi had not yet decided how much she wanted to reveal to him.)
Aelfric had apparently not expected that she simply intended to sleep on one side of the bed while he slept on the other, and had blushed and silently looked away.
That’s surprisingly adorable, Demi thought to herself.
Realizing that he was also shy and embarrassed gave her more courage.
“This way I can be close in case you need me for something during the night,” she said practically.
He continued to be pink. Even the tips of his ears had turned rosy. He made a nonverbal sound which was apparently an agreement.
Or at least Demi decided to take it as one.
So she put Lacey-tan in the bed between them, like the sword that divided Tristan and Isolde, and settled down to sleep. After reading for a while, she did miraculously fall asleep, despite the unfamiliarity of the situation.
It had ended up feeling so ordinary that Demi put off constructing an additional bed the following day. There were plenty of other things to do, after all, and she would rather read books, collect herbs, work in her garden, read books, practice alchemy, spend time with her chickens, or read books.
And there was a lot of work to do in the garden.
She had killed everything she had planted, after all.
When Demi had reached out for the missing green she had needed to make Aelfric whole, she had found what she needed in her little garden, and had pulled the green out of every plant, every insect, every fungus, arachnid, and even some small mice and lizards and other little crawling things.
She had not done it because she misapprehended the value of those small lives. They were also precious. But she had been desperate and so had made a value judgment. That was the sort of thing that such a responsibility demanded: to look squarely at a difficult choice and make a deliberate decision oneself. If she was willing to take the green from those things for her own purposes, then she needed to take responsibility for her own actions.
So she carefully cleared out the dead things and put them to compost. Although they were no longer alive, they were still filled with valuable minerals and nutrients, and something on her farm or in the forest would make use of them in the future.
Once Aelfric was well enough, he came out to watch her wherever she chose to work, sitting on the veranda when she was working in her garden, or nearby the run or chicken coop when she was inside of it and engaged in chicken husbandry. He also sat in the workshop when she was practicing alchemy, or in the kitchen when she was cooking.
He didn’t say much at all, but simply watched her, apparently deep in thought.
I don’t think he’s lovestruck, Demi thought to herself wryly. Although truly who wouldn’t be struck by a girl as adorable and charming as I am?
Demi was nothing if not good at admiring herself, and she had the Council of Demi to reinforce these already strong opinions.