THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[125]RELIEF

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"And what about the boy?"

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I followed after Gravis's broad back, my breathing low and shaky as we entwined through the barely familiar corridors and hallways of the Prime Tower.

There had been a thousand things running through my mind from all that happened earlier, but all that seemed to have withered away into the dust.

The thought of finally seeing my mother had taken center stage.

I was barely taking note of my surroundings, as all my thoughts seemed to be engulfed in images of what she could look like now.

The first time I saw her was the hardest, barely moving, bandaged up to her head, face swollen.

The next time had been easier as she was most definitely better, but as she slipped away into the darkness after a few seconds she laid eyes on me, and I found it difficult to leave.

And now, I was going to see her for the third time, and images were forming in my head of how she would look like.

Would she be only awake for a second or would I get to talk to her this time?

There were so many questions I had for her and yet as Gravis approached the half-open cream-white doors I found myself freezing a few steps away from him.

My breath hitched at the thought of me not liking what I was going to see.

She must have been strong enough if she had asked for me, but then again, Mom had always been a strong woman.

The question was, was I strong enough to see her like that?

"Princess," Gravis' voice came through, causing my eyes to snap back to him, taking me right out of my thoughts.

We held eye contact and I could see he was reading me. It was different from the way Harvest did it, not like he was staring into a soul but rather like he had known me for all my life and was quite familiar with the kind of feelings that could be running through my mind.

For this reason, he didn't say a word.

I thanked the silence for sometimes words aren't needed, at times, silence is preferred.

Just Silence and a warm encouraging smile.

Well, I wouldn't call that a smile- it wasn't exactly rainbow material but it was the closest thing to a smile I knew Gravis could offer and it warmed my heart more than anything else, as well as the cold feet I was having.

I nodded at him with a small smile of my own, finally allowing myself to walk forward.

The first thing I felt was the cool temperature in the white room, but the first thing I saw was my mother, seated up warmly in bed, in her hands a book, as she flipped the pages over calmly.

I stopped in my tracks unable to say a word, not knowing how to react at all.

I had expected something better than before but not her looking exactly like her old self.

I should be relieved, and in some funny way that emotion was present, but so was another emotion, one I couldn't quite describe, but brought a shade of salt water beneath the covers of my eyes, the drop escaping when she turned as if having had sensed my presence.

She looked at me with those big gentle knowing eyes, sighing softly with a gentle grin, as she placed her book in front of her, opening her arms wide for me.