CHAPTER FOUR

"Kish? C'mon, Kish, it's time to get up. Wake up, Kish."

Kish sat up and blinked. Looking down as she got up, she noticed the large black bruise on her leg.

Damn. I was hoping it was just a dream. She touched it ever so gently. It hurt a lot. She stretched and went to the sink to wash her face.

Mirie placed her hand on her shoulder, making her flinch.

"Kish, we just got news from one of the guards. The doctor's coming for our check-ups today."

the doctor was one of the only people the prisoners could trust. He was always giving them any medicine they needed. He was very handsome, with pitch black hair and blue eyes. She didn't know why, but Mirie always acted very strange around him.

"When is he coming?" Kish asked, gulping down some water.

Mirie smiled for no apparent reason. "He'll be here in an hour and a half. You'd better get ready." She rushed off to brush her hair.

Kish sighed and rubbed her eyes. She looked around. Mirie was franticly searching for her hairbrush, and Gylfie was reading a book while something that looked like a brownie (kin of fairy) was sprinkling bits of dust in her hair.

Kish pointed at the brownie. "Gylfie, when did he get here?" She said with a puzzled look on her face.

Gylfie closed her book. "Oh, Nimn? He's been here this whole time, sleeping in my pocket. Nimn, go say hello to Kish." She nugded him off her shoulder and he scurried toward Kish.

He waved at her with hand outstretched. "Hello, Kish!" He yelled. "It's an honer to finally meet you!" For a brownie, he was very small. He only reached just passed her ankle.

She crouched down so that she could hear him without him having to yell. "Nimn, how old are you?"

He held up six fingers. "This many!"

"Hmmmm..." She was sitting on the floor now. "Where is your family?"

"They left me in the woods when I was real little," He said, still smiling. "I remember them saying I was too small."

"Nimn," Kish began after a pause. "Do you think that you can do my hair, to?" She ran her fingers through her hair. It was so greasy. It hadn't been washed in months.

Nimn beamed. "I'd love to! Sure!" He climbed up to her shoulder and started picking at her hair.

Five minutes later, she looked in the mirror. She stared at her hair, shocked at how wavy it was. It had always been weighed down by grease and dirt. The shine was almost overwhelming.

She turned around to thank him, however, he was already busy chanting the cleaning spell while picking at the hair of a smiling Mirie.

I wonder why she acts so strange around him when he comes, she thought.

There was a knock on the door. The doctor was early. Gylfie put Nimn out of site before he saw him.

"Good morning Kish. Good morning, Mirie." Mirie giggled. He saw Gylfie and said, "And who is this?"

"My name is Gylfie."

"Hmm. I see. Your age?"

"Twenty-one."

"Where are you from?"

Kish thought that if he kept asking questions like that, Gylfie would deck him in the face.

However, she was very calm. "I'm from the forest."

"Ah. I see. And your friend?" He said, pointing to Nimn, who was climbing out of Gylfie's pocket.

She blushed. "His name's Nimn. He's six years old. Abandoned when I took him in."

He didn't bother to ask any more questions. "Kish, come over here, I want to see that bruise on your leg.

The next hour was spent doing monthly checkups, bandaging injuries (most of it was spent putting a bandage around Kish's leg), and getting medicine.

"Okay, Kish, rub this salve on your leg every day and your bruise should be gone in a week. Remember to change the bandages."

Mirie was giggleing like a school girl, which Kish could tell was freaking him out.

"Well, I've got to go." He walked out the door. "I'll see you again soon." And with that, the door shut and locked.

Long after they couldn't hear his footsteps, Kish burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Mirie asked, annoyed by Kish's sudden outburst.

"I'm sorry, it's just that you act so wierd around him!" Kish Said between laughs. Mirie started laughing, too.