The Sight Beyond The Haze

Chapter 45: Waiting for Consciousness

Just as what Zachriel predicted yesterday when he finished rearranging Anasthasia's Veil, she woke up the next day.

She was already out of Cocytus' secret room when she did and we were both waiting for her to wake up so. Although both Cocytus and I could keep straight faces and sit properly on our respective chairs, I could still feel the anticipation and tension as we wait for Anasthasia to open her eyes.

When I stared at her face, I realized that I have not looked at her propely before. She used to be one of the passing blurred faces that I would often walked past by. Nothing of relevance and there was nothing that would capture my interest about her. As I have repeatedly said before, she was just Bianca's friend. Certainly not mine, but just Bianca's.

Her face was round and heart shaped with rosy cheeks that made her complexion glow though there was still that paleness of an illness on the shade of her lips. Her lashes swept off the barest of the skin of her cheeks and her black hair was lustrous and curled at the tips.

Cocytus and I both opted not to attend classes for today. We even sent word to Zachriel to dismiss tye notion of going to his own class justbso we could have his presence upon Anasthasia's wake. He was the only person in the whole academy that has the ability to look into Anasthasia's condition and, frankly, he was also the only expert Weaver we knew of. So there was no choice but to summon him back.

I could see Cocytus disapproving glance about calling Zachriel back, but he did not say even a word about it and still sent the summon to him with the content of also silencing him against his companions and friends.

It was already afternoon when Zachriel went to the house, huffing with his jacket dusted with white snow from the outside. The tips of his ears and even his nose were all red and flushed with cold as he tried ro warm himself up.

Cocytus moved Anasthasia on another room of his endless mansion. I have a vague doubt that this house could actually be a temporal illusory fragment, its reach was remote and far and there would always be mysterious hallways suddenly appearing. The room was comfortable and I guessed acceptable for someome who has done nothing but to close her eyes, sleeping the day and night away.

I nodded at Zachriel as he entered the room, a maid was close behind him and offering some towels to dry his wet black hair.

"My Lady Alaric Elliot," he greeted me then the next thing he did was to also greet Cocytus. Propriety based on our standing that it was supposed to be Cocytus who should greet him since Zachriel was from the Thirteen Noble Family, but Zachriel, polite as usual, was the one who greeted Cocytus first with a gentle smile. It would be hard for Cocytus to bow down to Zachriel, I guess.

He was a naturally prideful person, I would not go as far as to call him egotistical but he was powerful on his own right.

And he was the heir of a Deity.

Cocytus nodded in return to Zachriel after being greeted by him as though it was the most natural thing on the world.

"She has not woken up yet," I said while still staring at the sleeping girl on the bed.

I did not addressed how awkward it made me feel being called in such a formal way by Zachriel after our encounter and talk yesterday night. Trusting him and forgiving him, those notions were all still new to myself and I was still familiarizing how to deal with it. But when I stole a glimpse from him, I saw him giving me a small smile.

I clenched my fists into balls and give an awkward and stiff slight nod of my head, to acknowledge his efforts of making me more comfortable with our circumstances.

"When she wakes up," Zachriel started. He sat on a chair opposite the window, the snowy haze of the sky reflected on his pale pallor and there was that same gentleness that I frequently saw in his eyes. "She would be extremely disoriented. She might go a little hysterical over the force of information she is pressured to cope with. I hope my lady and Mr. Amitiel would find it within themselves to be more understanding."

"Of course," I said immediately. "We would not force her if she does not want to. She would be given the amount of time she needs to recuperate."

Cocytus sent a fierce glare towards me. I knew what he was going to say. His family, the Amitiel, was getting impatient with the time we spent on this case. Families of the students were starting to wonder if the academy has something to do with the students' disappearance which, of course, was not far off from the truth.

I returned his glare with my own, widening my eyes to him in a threatening way.

After some time, Anasthasia's eyes fluttered and very slowly, she opened her eyes. There was a look of disorientation on her face, just like what Zachriel told us there would be. There wasn't any shine on her eyes that would indicate any recognition or intelligence.

Cocytus and I both looked at Zachriel with an askance expression, mirroring each other.

"We should give her more time," Zachriel said. "There isn't any shortcut for this, even Lady Alaric Elliot has a hard time coping after her Veil has been tampered with." Zachriel evaded my eyes and there was an apologetic glint on those obsidian pair taht I also had to look away.

"We should go then," I suggested. I pulled hard, at Cocytus who would not budge on his seat.

He glared at me yet again and I also glared fiercely at him.

"So that's it?" he demanded to us. "We waited just to watch her in a daze?" he said in a violent tone. "As of today, there are about thirteen, aside from that girl, who are all missing. We need answers, Seraphin!"

I saw Anasthasia flinched with how Cocytus shouted. My usually neutral expression crumpled a little and my forehead knotted slightly with indignation.

"Cocytus!" I scolded at him, but the arm of his that I was holding suddenly went out of my reach and the next thing I knew was that he was already walking out of the door.

Beside me, I heard Zachriel heaved a deep breath.

"I understand his impatience with this situation," Zachriel said in a gentle voice. He walked over to where Anasthasia was still lying with her eyes opened, just blankly staring at the ceiling. With a very careful touch, he tucked a loose strand of her hair that was covering her face behind her ear. "But this is not something we could rush over. The mental pressure it has on Anasthasia is great. My Lady Alaric Elliot is lucky to have your magical power to aid you to recover, but Miss Anasthasia is only just a mortal person. Without any prior meeting with our world and no magical energy to help her."

My eyes shifted to Anasthasia.

I never called her Tansy again when I heard of her real name. I thought that I do not have any right to call her what her actual friends call her and so, I never did. Her eyes were glazed over with a daze I often see myself back then when I look at myself in a mirror.

It was the same kind of look.

After just a few seconds of watching the girl, I nodded at Zachriel and gestured at the door for us to go through. With one last look, I closed the door behind me, sealing off Anasthasia to recover her memories and let her rest without having tha tension of the three of us.

"I now know why you have such a soothing voice," I told Zachriel while we were both walking on the corridor. After encountering a maid just milling about, I told her to have someone accompany Anasthasia on her room and look after her.

On my periphery, I saw Zachriel slightly smile.

"So my lady have guessed," he said. "Having a conventionally handsome feature help me to attach to me the Veils of the people I look into with my weaving skills. When I was doing your Veil, you were so violent and I would talk to you. But having a naturally expressionless tone, you wouldn't listen and I was the only one who was able and allowed to work on your Veil so I had to modulate my voice to your liking. It has been quite useful."

I hesitated, looking away from him.

I did not want to pressure him to accept any kind of thing I throw at him, but it would forever make me uncomfortable how formally he adresses me.

"Call me Seraphin," I finally blurted out with the most dignity I could muster. "Like how you would address me when we were younger."

"That was then, my lady," he responded with a slight inclination of his head. "Certain circumstances have changed and passed."

"And those years that have passed," I cut him off which took him off his guard, "I cannot take them back again. We used to be close as per the memories I have gain. Caspian also has parts on my childhood. And I remember having to meet Haziel and Hermes every time the Thirteen Noble Families would have gathering. I can never take back the time that have been wasted hiding me from the Haefen, and neither can you. I hope you understand that well."

"Of course, Seraphin," he said and nodded. "I can never take those back."

And we can only move forward.

Anasthasia continued being in a daze for almost a few weeks. With her being in the house, that meant that Cocytus and I have one more thing to be busy about. Zachriel would often be around, visiting Anasthasia to check how her Veil was doing.

He said that she was progressing well and that was proven true when I can finally see some shine of Anasthasia's otherwise dulled eyes.

Each day, we would go to Anathasia's room. I can still see the cold impatience on Cocytus' eyes but he restrained himself and just stubbornly sat on a corner of Anasthasia's room. We would both talk to her often. Just about trivial things, like the snow that was getitng colder or how the sun have finally peeked through the thick clouds.

As simple as that, the winter holiday vacation finally started. A lot of the students have went home to their families and the complaints from the parents of the missing students became noisier and caused the atmosphere around the supposedly festive ambiance of the academy to be heavier and full of tension. Everything was taut like a bowstring that was being pulled tight and it ruined the oncoming occasion.

Unlike the regular students, most of the Haziel Imbert's company decided to stay on the dormitories of the academy. The outside of the academy's premises were not safe, they all knew that and I was again reminded by Leigh and Eris when Eris saw me sneaking out within her Sight using her clairvoyance.

That was just a wishful thinking and I would never be as silly as to actually materialize that wishful thinking into actual actions, but I saw on both of their expressions the panic that I would one day be gone, out of their protection and reach.

"How are you, Anasthasia?" I asked the girl, sitting on the bed with the usual vacant look on her face. The snow was full-on outside of the window and it made the atmosphere cold and harsh. The heaters kept all of us warm and cozy, and I snuggled closer to the blanket that a maid has brought for me here in Anasthasia's room.

When I asked her the question, the vacant look on Anasthasia's face vanished and she blinked rapidly, probably banishing any of the lingering glint of the blankness within her mind.

"Uh... I can remember you," she said, but there was a quality of being uncertain wihin her tone. Anasthasia then frowned and looked at me and at her hands that were both on her lap. "I think..." she paused, grapling for the words that kept on evading her grasp. "I think," she repeated considerably slower than the first one, "I know you."

At times that Zachriel visited Anasthasia to check on her condition, he has already explained a lot about what should we expect. For someone like Anasthasia whose Veil, the foundation and the very being of her mind, has not been greatly damaged unlike mine, she still has a great possibility to regain her full memory in a short amount of time.

So I smiled at Anasthasia and nodded.

Zachriel also heavily and repeatedly emphasized to Cocytus and me to tell everyone that implicating anything to Anasthasia should also be avoided as much as possible.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her yet again, arranging the blanket on her shoulders so it would better protect her from the cold.

Similar to how often our conversations would play, Anasthasia would politely answer me and we would talk about mundane things until I would bid my farewell to her. Just like that, the snow has truly covered the ground and not a hint of green could be seen anywhere.

Christmas came with that kind of routine.