The Last Library Ch. 03

Once he was able, he went to the bathroom and washed himself clean. Returning to the bedroom with a warm cloth, he once again cleaned the comatose woman. He thought about carrying her into the other bedroom, but decided he no longer had the strength to do it.

Exhausted though he was, he wasn't ready to sleep yet. He knew that once he closed his eyes, the next time they opened would be on the last day of his stay here, something he was not prepared to face. Gathering up his clothing, he walked to the dresser and started to empty the pockets.

Most of what they held were small bits of this and that which were easily put into a pile for Mera to dispose of however she saw fit. Next to the pile, he stacked the three Library maps. The one he used the most now had a tendency to unfold on its own and kept trying to tip over the edge. To weigh it down, Ashur reached behind a stack of clean shirts and pulled out the wooden rod that had fallen from the statue.

Keeping one hand on the papers to hold them still, he turned it once more this way and that, trying to decipher the writing on it. He heard Mera starting to move and put it down on the maps. Crawling into the bed, he tucked her in under his chin and she burrowed deep into his chest.

"I think that will keep me tingling for the next hundred years or so," she murmured drowsily. He snickered at her joke and pulled her closer. Kissing the top of her head, he caressed her back until she fell asleep again. He sighed and realized he could no longer fight the fatigue. He took one last look at her sleeping body and joined her in slumber.

***

The next morning, he was awake and running his fingers gently through her cerulean hair when she opened her eyes.

"Good morning," she said. His reply was a soft kiss.

As he pulled away, he tried to hide the sadness he was feeling but a little slipped through. She nodded back at him and reached up to hold his face.

Unable to hide from what would happen today, he decided to face it head on. "So how will this work?" he asked.

Blinking back tears, he saw her breath catch just a little. After a moment,she answered.

"I want to have one more breakfast, then we'll go back to where I stored your clothing and armor. You'll need to get dressed before anything else happens because you're too heavy for me to try it while you're unconscious. After that, we'll travel to the tether point. Once we're there, you'll go to sleep. When you wake up, you'll be in the forest somewhere near the hole you fell into. You'll probably be groggy for a few hours, but after that..." She attempted to shrug but could only manage it with one shoulder while she was lying on her side. "I'll come back here and go on as I was before."

The blue woman tried to smile and touched his face again. "After a few months, of course."

He took her hand and touched it to his lips.

"Thank you again for this," he told her sincerely. "Even if I don't remember it, thank you." He brought his face forward to kiss her forehead. With the day's plan laid out, he didn't trust himself with more. It might break him.

"I should be thanking you," she said. "You've given me a bit of hope, a bit of joy, and I think that will be enough to sustain me until I can return to the world again. Thank you for being my friend."

For a long time, they simply lay there, treasuring the moment. Eventually, he turned to lay on his back. Following him, she draped her body across his and rested her head on his chest. Putting an arm behind his head, he gave a rumbling chuckle.

"You'll probably spend a lot of time watching me from the viewer, won't you?"

She laughed.

"How'd you guess? I think I'll probably be glued there for... What is that?" Her voice was curious, but soon changed to disbelief and then rage.

"What is THAT? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!?"