[Rybinsk] дыхание (Nastya)

8th September 2003

It had been a week ago that Aglaya Tikhomirova had been poisoned at the artistic flying school during the open day celebrations. She had been unconscious for a little more than 72 hours and even after she woke up the young woman had not been quite responsive yet. Her temperature was still quite high, leaving her in a state of feverish delirium for most of the time, dreaming of dragons, breathing fire at her, her falling off her broom into the icy water, drowning in an ocean of melted chocolate with her sister watching and telling her that the chocolate was poisoned and more nightmares like that.

Whenever the temperature went down enough to spare her nightmares and hallucinations, Aglaya found herself laying in a hospital room, alone. Even after five days of treatment she was not close to having recovered but at least she was not in mortal danger anymore. She was awake for slightly longer periods of time now which gave her the chance to think about what had happened.

It had been at the office that her sister had given her the pralines. It did not seem like Anastasiya to poison her on purpose and yet… Aglaya wasn't sure what to think. Nastya had been upset with her but the older Tikhomirova struggled to remember why. Still fighting against a stinging headache she found it hard to actually think properly and even harder to be reasonable.

Nobody, not a single family member, had visited her as far as she was aware. She assumed that it was one of these things her family did to prevent the school from negative publicity but it still hurt to be left alone at the hospital in Moscow, not knowing if anybody was even thinking of her.

At the weekend all that the athlete really wanted was to be home, in her flat and her own bed. When she was not sleeping or in a feverish delirium she was crying, feeling so utterly helpless, weak, and lonely. While she knew that she wouldn't immediately feel better if she was at home in her flat, she still wanted to get away from the hospital, its smell, blank walls, and all the strange people who worked there. She felt tense, even paranoid, whenever another person she hadn't seen before came to look after her.

It was Monday morning when Aglaya attempted to talk to the healer checking on her. She explained that she wanted to go home and that she could as well rest at home. The healer told her that he didn't consider this advisable and that she needed someone to properly look after her. Aglaya tried to sit up in bed for the first time in a week, hoping to demonstrate that she was doing much better already. However, her vision faded out for a moment as she did so. She tried not to let that show though and said that her family would be there to help her and that her mother was a healer herself. The man responded that he hadn't seen her family around and indicated that he didn't believe her. Of course, he had a point but Aglaya forced herself not to give up just yet even though the conversation already felt straining. She explained that her family could not risk negative publicity but that, surely, she'd have plenty of caring family members to look after her if she was allowed home. The healer tried to reason with her for a while and would probably have succeeded to convince her to stay if he had tried only for one more minute. Talking still was so tiring. Yet, in the end, the healer gave in, letting her sign a form that she was released at her own risk and left the room, wishing her well.

Scared that she wouldn't be able to make it home without help, Aglaya hesitated for a bit before trying to get out of bed and down to the lobby to take the floo network to Rybinsk. She was relieved that a young mediwitch who had been quite friendly during the last few days met her just outside her room and asked if she needed help with anything. The young woman seemed surprised that Aglaya wanted to go home but was too awestruck that she could be assisting Aglaya Tikhomirova to question her motives. With her help the athlete somehow made it to the lobby. She felt shaky and feverish as she entered the fireplace and announced her destination – the flying school.

For safety reasons Aglaya had no connection to the floo network at home and the school was only a five minutes walk away from her home; five minutes for a healthy individual, that is. When she arrived at the office in Rybinsk, she stumbled out of the fireplace, feeling dizzy and sick. She hadn't looked into a mirror for a week and was blissfully unaware of how awful she looked. She dusted off some ash from her jogging pants and her sweater as she staggered towards the nearest chair. Glad to see that she was alone, Aglaya sank down, hoping that she could rest for a bit before sneaking out of the flying school and home unnoticed.

@Nastya Tikhomirova

A week had gone by since her sister had been poisoned at the open day. The following days had been honestly the worst week of her life. Nastya started out well, able to hold everything together for the remainder of the artistic flying school open day, taking over Aglaya’s second demonstration without fail, even remembering to take the registration form to the lady who may have inadvertently saved Aglaya’s life. Nastya pretended to everyone that everything was fine. But after the first night, Nastya was struggling to cope a little more each day that passed.

She had practically worn a hole in her bedroom floor from pacing all night long, only stopping to write a letter and send an owl to her mother to ask for news when she visited Aglaya in the hospital in Moscow or write to Zhenya who had been looking for answers. Nastya had even been working on a long letter to Aglaya but it wasn’t ready yet, even after seven days had passed. It was better than sleeping, where Nastya went through nightmare after nightmare; from re-living Aglaya squirming on the floor, to being thrown into prison, or Aglaya hexing her and hating her, or Aglaya dying, or herself dying after a praline.

Within two days of the initial rumour being printed, the media had begun asking her about her sister’s poisoning constantly, seemingly not caring about her own feelings at all. Anastasiya resorted to apparating to the school from her bedroom to avoid talking to them. However, when they tried to block her from entering the artistic flying school without answering their questions, however, Nastya decided that she would just never leave the school. She was too paranoid and guilty about the role she had played in Aglaya’s poisoning and thought it safer to stay in the schools’ walls. For the past two days, Nastya had set up camp in the office when she wanted to try and sleep. Her reasoning behind this was that the office was connected to the floo network, so her mother would come through there when she returned from visiting Aglaya, and then Nastya could get news as soon as it came. What she hadn’t planned for, was that the office was just going to trigger the memory of Aglaya lying on the ground, constantly.

It was starting to become difficult to concentrate on anything. The younger Tikhomirova sister was obsessed with figuring why it had happened, and who had done it, and why, just why, they forced her to be involved. Nastya couldn’t stop beating herself up over giving Aglaya the box of pralines. The one time she had contained her temper and it had backfired. All the what-if scenarios flew through her head. What if she had stolen a praline and eaten it? Nastya didn’t even like pralines, but that was not the point. What if she hadn’t got there in time? What if mother never came? These constant flurries of questions made Nastya space out constantly when she wasn’t training.

Despite all this, Nastya had been surprisingly flying well, all things considered. The former champion found that training hard quieted her mind, allowed her to focus and not worry. At least, in the beginning.

However, in the one week that had passed, Nastya had only slept for a total of thirteen hours and it was really beginning to show. She tried to hide this through makeup, maintaining good hygiene, and keeping her hair immaculate but dark circles and reddened eyes were giving it away that she was not okay. After an hour of fitful sleep, Nastya was training with Andrey early in the morning and even Andrey realised that Nastya was losing after she fell off her broom three times on simple exercises. Her grandfather and coach told her to stop and sleep.

Nastya didn’t listen and practised away from the main practice arena, out of sight of other athletes and coaches. She forced herself to run through her technical exercise but wasn’t concentrating anymore and her ankle rolled on the landing of her split jump. Anastasiya felt lucky that no one saw, as she quite enjoyed the pain she felt when she dismounted her broom and tried to place weight on it. The shooting pain wasn’t guilt and it wasn’t fear, it was nice.

She quickly changed into baggy shorts and a flowy camisole with a cardigan and socks (by far her least fancy outfit ever) in the changing room, feeling like she was falling asleep as she did so. Somehow, Anastasiya remembered to put her broom away before walking back to the office, ready to crash for an hour, inevitably have a nightmare that would wake her up and then drink tea and coffee or anything that could give her a caffeine spike to allow her to keep going.

Nastya flung the office door open, ready to throw herself on the floor and curl up into a ball and try to get at least an hour of sleep. However, as she looked at the chair, her blurry eyes saw bright red hair and a snow white face. It was a ghost. It had to be, it looked terrible. She swallowed hard, feeling thoroughly unprepared to deal with the undead right that second. Nastya was clearly not thinking straight, from the really healthy combination of a severe lack of sleep, paranoia and fear, and no one around, she didn’t have to put on a brave face. The red hair made her realise this was another nightmare. She’d had this one before, but this time it felt so real. Her face whitened to match her not real sister’s ghost face. Nastya backed away until she thudded against the door.

“No.” She muttered to herself, shaking her head. “No.” Nastya repeated a little louder now. “This isn’t happening again. I know you’re not real. Please go away!” She cried, sinking down to the floor as she closed her eyes and rubbed them. When she opened them, the ghostly, dream-Aglaya was still there. “Please don’t haunt me.” She pleaded, her voice sounding like a tiny child’s. Aglaya still didn’t go away. “Okay…” Nastya slowly got up, wondering if maybe it would go away if she poked it. The dream-Aglaya looked awful but distinctly real as she moved closer, wincing as she put pressure on her twisted ankle. “Are you real?”

After she sat down, Aglaya had immediately dozed off for a couple of minutes, almost slipping off her chair as her head fell to the side and her weight shifted. She woke with a start when, once again a nightmare haunted her sleep. Feeling disoriented at first, the young witch panicked. Her heart beat quickened and she was breathing harder. She felt how coldness crept up in inside of her again. She was shaking, her teeth were chattering and she felt goosebumps on her skin. It would not be long before her temperature would rise to new heights again and make it impossible for her to get to her feet and home.

This realisation came about at the same time as the door of the office opened. Aglaya was scared who the intruder might be. Suddenly she realised just how terrified she was of almost everyone right now. She did not look at her sister but naturally recognised her voice as soon as she spoke. Although she had claimed otherwise when she had spoken to the healer, the athlete was not at all relieved to have a family member around. On the contrary, she felt anxious.

Nastya had given her the pralines and she did not know why. While part of her told her that it could not be that her own sister had given her the poison on purpose, another part of her was at least in doubt. Why not? Why shouldn't Nastya or another family member try to get rid of her this way? They had been planning for her sister to take over the reign as a champion in the sport already a few years ago. Maybe they had decided that she was not a good representative anymore and that Nastya made a far better champion and spokesperson for the sport and the family.

Even though she could not rule this out entirely, Aglaya only saw a minimal chance that a member of her own family would actually go this far and get her out of the way like that. She was aware that this fit much better to the profile of her stalker. However, why would anyone whom she didn't really know want to poison her? She had been scared that he might be at the open day but she had not, not for an instant, believed that he would actually hurt her in such a way.

Aside from the fact that Aglaya wasn't in a fit state to work out the details of how she got poisoned, she also felt terrified that Nastya, her mother or any family member who might see her would send her back to the hospital where she felt discarded and hopeless. She wanted some sort of normality but given her current state and her inability to get up from her chair, she felt that she would not get it anywhere for the time being.

Her sister's odd reaction to her presence made Aglaya wonder if she had maybe drifted off into some feverish delirium again. This had to be a hallucination. Why would Nastya ask her not to haunt her otherwise?

'Are you real?'

These words did not seem to fit to the feverish nightmares she had had all week. She looked at her sister for the first time now and was shocked by the sight. While Aglaya wasn't the most observant person when it came to seeing if other people were doing well or not, she immediately realised that something was not okay with Nastya. It did not occur to her that her sister had suffered, having witnessed her seizing and then being unconscious. She had not visited her in the hospital, after all. Nobody had. While she had not really thought about this a lot, she had still assumed that her family members had just continued with their lives. She did not know that her mother had been talking to the healer almost every day and had never seen her around.

“Nastya,” she said weakly and wanted to turn to face her properly. However, as she did so her vision faded out again and she lost her balance.

Aglaya’s eyes followed her as she grew closer. That was definitely a brand new development to the nightmare. Nastya was still convinced that it absolutely was a nightmare and that she had accidentally fallen asleep in the changing room earlier. And, she was so very ready to wake up now. However, the not-real Aglaya said her name. Very faintly, but just enough for it to reach her ears. That was new too, nightmare-Aglaya never spoke to her, it just stared at her with complete and utter hatred.

By the time that Nastya figured out that nightmare-Aglaya was not a figment of her imagination and was in fact real, Aglaya was losing her balance and slumping over and clearly not okay. Nastya saw her opportunity to look helpful and have some rare physical contact at the same time. She rushed over to her sister as quickly as she could. “Woah, hey, I got you.” She said, as she caught Aglaya’s shoulders and held her gently upright. Anastasiya paused, blinking a few times as she remembered how she said those very words as her sister lay there on the ground just a week ago.

The tidal wave of relief, sadness, happiness and anger all mixed up in one sleep-deprived bag as Nastya realised that Aglaya was alive and okay-ish was too much, especially with no one to witness the event or stop her or yank her back or push her away. Her chin wobbled as she looked at her sister properly for the first time, and she gave Aglaya a watery laugh. “Aglayka!” She cried joyously, as the floodgates opened, and Nastya sobbed loudly as she knelt on the ground and pulled her sister into a much-needed (for Nastya, at least) hug.

Nastya clung to her for several moments, not wanting to ever let go again, feeling like if she did, Aglaya would somehow disappear. “Don’t scare me like that ever again!” She cried, not daring to look at her sister as she burrowed her head into Aglaya’s shoulder. She was scared how Aglaya would react to her, if her sister would pull away and if she would blame Nastya for everything that had happened and hate her for it. But with the knowledge that her sister was okay, Nastya could handle anything.

Calming down a little, Nastya began to realise that she was clinging onto a human fireplace. Aglaya was awfully hot to the touch and she looked awful. Plus, as she released Aglaya from the hug, she kept her hands on her sister’s shoulders, as she realised her sister couldn’t even sit up in a chair properly. There was no way that Aglaya had been properly discharged. That meant that Aglaya had decided to leave herself, most likely. Nastya clenched her teeth, annoyed that Aglaya never listened or looked after herself.

“Gosh, you’re burning up.” She murmured in concern, as she sniffed and blinked away the last of her tears. “There’s no way that you should be out of hospital.” Nastya narrowed her eyes at her sister. “Does mother know? You better hope she doesn’t.” There was no way their mother would have let Aglaya out where people could see her and report things and spread even more rumours, especially looking so awful. And her mother would send her right back to hospital again. Luckily, Anastasiya was not their mother, and figured out what Aglaya was probably thinking. “I’m guessing you’d be more comfortable at home, right? Hospitals are scary.” She hesitated, hoping that her sister wouldn’t push her away. “Do you want help getting home?”

Feeling how her sister gently but firmly caught her by her shoulders, Aglaya closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping that her vision would fade in again and she'd be able to get to her feet and leave the office soon. She heard her sister's words through the noise that was in her head and then was caught by surprise when she heard her sister sobbing.

She was pulled into a hug and let it happen, feeling too weak to do anything about it and, quite unexpectedly, also rather enjoying that for once someone was actually there. Briefly she wondered if this was all just a dream. However, as Nastya's tears dropped onto her skin, Aglaya decided that this was, most likely, not a dream at all. She did not hug her sister back but she did not try to free herself either.

Aglaya was almost dozing off as Nastya held on to her. It felt good not to try and keep herself upright but being in her sister's arms. Naturally she would never admit such a thing or even actually have any such thoughts if she was in a fit state though.

Nastya's words interrupted Aglaya's drowsiness and she weakly lifted her hand that had limply rested on her thighs to awkwardly pat her sister's back. She wanted to say something but could not come up a single word to say. Her headache was also getting worse, making it even harder to think.

Unfortunately Nastya seemed to pick up on the fact that her place wasn't really anywhere that was not a hospital bed. Aglaya tried to sit up straight to prove her sister wrong. She would not go back to the hospital. She would force her body to co-operate if she had to. She opened her eyes to look at her sister through a veil of pixels.

“I was discharged from hospital,” she muttered faintly. No need to mention that it was on her own risk and that the healer in charge had not considered that a good idea at all. “Mother?” right, she had forgotten about that. Aglaya squinted and lifted her hand from Nastya's back to her forehead to rub it, hoping to ease some of the pain and allow herself to actually think clearly.

“She doesn't know,” she managed to say even though she found it increasingly hard to manage even a simple sentence like that. She wanted to lay down right here and right now but she couldn't do that. It would only end with her being sent back to where she felt like she was out of the way, out of the picture, discarded as though she wasn't needed by anyone any longer.

Surprised to hear her sister's next words, Aglaya looked at her, a weak smile spreading across her face. “Yes,” she murmured, “yes, I want to go home,” she said and felt how tears were watering her eyes. She felt exhausted but extremely comforted by the fact that her sister was not going to betray her to her mother right away and even offered help getting her home.

“I'd like that very much,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

Aglaya didn’t fight the hug, she didn’t snap at her or push her away. Nastya smiled to herself through her tears. It meant so much to her, more than Aglaya would probably ever know. It didn’t occur to Anastasiya that perhaps Aglaya just didn’t have the energy to resist her. As her older sister raised her hand and weakly patted her on the back, Nastya gave a watery laugh, as she sniffed against the stream of tears. She was extremely delighted to be able to give her sister some affection and receive some in return without her family trying to keep her apart, pull her away or scold her for being a caring sibling. Just one simple pat on the back from Aglaya felt like twenty hugs all at once. It meant that Aglaya didn’t hate her and Nastya couldn’t have been more relieved.

Nastya scoffed as her sister said that she was discharged from hospital. “Yeah, right.” Nastya rolled her eyes, gazing at Aglaya knowingly. “More like you discharged yourself.” Nastya smirked.

If Aglaya had to ask about their mother, then it meant Alyona didn’t know. Okay, this is good, Nastya thought. This gave her more time with her sister, especially as she figured that her mother wouldn’t be too happy with Aglaya when she found out. Plus, if she realised that Nastya had helped her, her mother would probably be angry with her too. That wasn’t anything new though, Nastya was used to that. Her coach, Andrey, had told her to go sleep, and he didn’t specify for how long. As long as her mother or father didn’t interrupt her, that meant that Nastya could easily take her home, and look after Aglaya for a while before anyone noticed her absence.

Aglaya confirmed what Nastya already had figured out rather belatedly. “Good.” Nastya said, with a kind smile. Aglaya really looked awful, Nastya thought to herself as she watched her sister struggle. The younger of the two sisters even had half a mind to send her back to the hospital, but she figured that would be cruel. Aglaya clearly left because she didn’t want to be there. And since it was her fault that Aglaya was in this situation in the first place, the least she could do to even try and start making it up to her was ensure that she got home safely and was comfy.

Her older sister looked like she was going to cry and Nastya wanted to hug her again and kiss her forehead and tell her that everything would be okay. She thought she was lucky to get away with the first hug however, and so she didn’t push it. The words of thanks were foreign to Nastya’s ears when hearing them from Aglaya, but they were very appreciated. It made all the suffering she had been through for the week almost worth it. “Okay.” Nastya soothed her, “Okay. I’ll get you home.” She gently rubbed Aglaya’s shoulders hoping that it would keep her sister calm.

Nastya, however, had no clue how she was going to get Aglaya to her home though, as her brain was inconveniently foggy and the adrenaline rush of realising that Aglaya wasn’t a ghost was quickly wearing off.

”Andrey Viktorovich sent me out of the arena to sleep, so I won’t be missed for a while. I’d suggest apparating.” Nastya explained, before she remembered Zhenya’s warning about splinching in her letter. Nastya’s eyes grew wide and she shook her head. She  definitely didn’t want to make things worse by splinching Aglaya on accident. If she got splinched herself, she didn’t care. In her eyes, she deserved it. “Actually, maybe not.” She back-tracked with a horrified look.

Having been sat on her heels for a while, Nastya’s legs (much like the rest of her) were falling asleep, and she slid to the side to sit down on her right side. Apparating definitely wasn’t a good idea, she decided. They’d have to go outside the office and to either the entrance or the back of the school, which would risk them being seen by their coaches, their parents, and other students. Plus outside the school, the media still remained (as Nastya believed, having not seen the outside World beyond the school for two days). Nastya sighed. It suddenly felt like it was herself and Aglaya against the World. “We can’t go outside the school, or the office. They’re everywhere.” Nastya muttered with wide eyes, as she spaced out for a second.

“Uhhhh… Floo.” Nastya said after a few moments of silence. “There’s a place connected like a minute from yours, I think. It’ll be safer.” The artistic flyer realised that she’d have to get up now, and part of her wondered if Aglaya would forgive her if she just lay on the comfy floor for a few seconds. One hand remained on Aglaya’s shoulder, propping her up, while the other held onto the chair as Nastya reluctantly pushed herself up to stand with difficulty. “Ow.” She whined, as a sharp, shooting pain went up her twisted ankle. Nastya hadn’t realised before how bad it was. She figured it was still probably fine.

“Can you stand if I support you?” Anastasiya asked, leaning on the desk. This was a good plan. They’d take the floo to the place outside that she definitely remembered and walk… somehow... to Aglaya’s home. Then, she’d put Aglaya to bed and she could finally sleep, somewhere. She’d figure it out.

Nastya didn't believe her when she said that she hadn't been discharged from hospital. It was unsurprising, even Aglaya knew that it was obvious that she was in no fit state. She didn't want to admit that though, not to her sister and certainly not to the rest of the family.

She looked at her Nastya, feeling rather confused. Why did she say it was good that their mother didn't know she was out of the hospital? Still struggling to think clearly, Aglaya soon gave up, trying to interpret her sister's reaction, accepting that it made no sense to her.

It felt strange that Nastya was trying to soothe her, that she was so gentle with her and did not want to call their mother. Had Aglaya been told before the open day that they'd end up in this situation she wouldn't have believed it, would have said that she'd never be in such a pitiful state, that she wasn't so close to her sister, and that Nastya was not the most loving sibling one could imagine. However, here they were and, despite the fact that she had a hard time staying awake and following the entire situation, Aglaya still felt strangely moved by her sister's kindness.

Then, as though an evil voice had mentioned them to her, the pralines came to her mind again, the pralines that Nastya had given her. Aglaya felt dizzy again all of a sudden. She tried with all her might to stay conscious and to remember what exactly had happened at the office at the open day. There was a sharp pain in her head though that prevented her thoughts from moving to the crucial part.

“Sleep,” Aglaya repeated faintly. She had noticed that Nastya didn't look her best either but had no idea how horrible the last week had been for her sister. However, sleep was like a magical word. She wanted nothing more than sleep now.

She could not follow her sister's train of thought as she first spoke about apparating and immediately after that seemed to already have talked herself out of it again. All that the older sibling wanted was to go to bed. In fact, she was almost prepared to go back to the hospital if only she could lay down and sleep.

Nastya slid to the side, sitting more comfortably now, and seemed to be busy working out a plan. Aglaya tried to focus, even vaguely attempted making a plan herself but before she could get anywhere with that, her sister spoke about them being everywhere. “Who?” she asked, sounding confused. What was her sister even talking about? Then it dawned on her and she looked horrified.

“The press?” she asked weakly, her white face even whiter than before. “What did they write about all this?” She had not received any newspapers, had not got to read any letters. It felt like she had to catch up on an entire week.

“Floo...” she echoed, trying to focus and figure out what her sister was planning. Then Nastya got to her feet again and winced. “What's wrong?” Aglaya asked with a little delay. It did not seem like Nastya would be able to support her but rather needed help herself.

“I…” the athlete took a deep breath and tried to focus on her body, tried to work out how to gather enough energy to get to her feet and move back to the fireplace. “I can stand,” she said, her voice weak but determined.

She pushed herself to her feet, swaying slightly as she did so. “The fireplace?” she asked as she made a tentative step forward. She tried not to rely too much on her sister supporting her, ignored the pixels that were obscuring her vision. As she stepped into the fireplace with Nastya at her side she just hoped that her sister knew what she was doing for she most certainly had no idea.

Her sister repeated what seemed to be their magic word at that moment; sleep. Nastya chuckled to herself. It appeared that was possibly the only thing on either witches’ minds. Nastya hadn’t felt this tired for the whole time that the week-long ordeal had been taking place, and she knew that the relief and comfort of being with Aglaya once more was making her less alert by the minute. As soon as it was safe to do so, Nastya felt that she could truly sleep without interruptions for the first time in days, as long as she was with Aglayka, then she wasn’t afraid of having nightmares anymore as she knew her real sister was there with her now.

Aglaya asked who on Earth she was talking about, and her younger sister looked up at Aglaya with red-rimmed eyes, with an equally horrified look mirroring her sister’s as the elder realised exactly who Nastya was talking about. “Mm-hmm.” Anastasiya confirmed with a slow nod, as Aglaya began asking what they had said about the poisoning. She was quite glad that Aglaya hadn’t seen anything.

Of course, Nastya had checked all the papers and magazines she could think of everyday as soon as anyone came into the office with them for her. Naturally, she had been rather paranoid they’d find something out and accuse her. Blame her. Suggest her involvement. Zhenya was her source if she had missed something, and of course, the rumours going around the school which had disturbed her greatly. “Not much.” Nastya said truthfully, “that’s been the problem.” She added, shaking her sadly and lowering her gaze to avoid eye contact with Aglaya. “They hounded me. I’ve been living in the office to hide from them.” Nastya admitted, feeling that it was a rather cowardly and pitiful existence. She was sure if their roles had been reversed, that Aglaya would have dealt with the press much better than she had.

The older of the sisters had apparently noticed Nastya was in pain. Anastasiya’s first instincts were to milk it for all it was worth, make it a plea for attention... but in this case that wouldn’t help anymore, especially not herself. So, Nastya forced herself to smile through the pain as she stood up straighter, belatedly realising this probably wasn’t a mere twist, but a full-on sprain. “Nothing. I’m fine.” She stated sharply, “You’re more important right now.” Nastya added, her voice softening.

Aglaya said she could stand but Nastya didn’t really believe her, so she stood by the chair and her hands hovered around Aglaya just in case. As her sister stood and swayed, Nastya immediately swooped in to assist, her hand gently grasping the current champion’s elbow, and her other hand gently placed on Aglayka’s back. She allowed the other witch to set the pace, which was thankfully slow as Nastya tried not to limp in any way. “Yes, fireplace.” Nastya confirmed as her sister asked, grabbing a bunch of floo powder as they passed the little bowl.

They stepped into the fireplace together, but Nastya made no movement for a few seconds. She wondered if there would be anyone on the other side of the fireplace. The younger of the Tikhormirova sisters knew that they probably shouldn’t be seen by anyone, and if they wanted to pass by unseen that she’d need to cast a disillusionment charm, since Aglaya certainly wasn’t in a state to do so for her. The floo powder still in one hand, Nastya let go of Aglaya to withdraw her wand, ready to cast immediately if needed to.

Quietly calling out the address, Nastya threw down the floo powder as she did so. As she stepped out into a little rundown cafe, Nastya immediately raised her wand and reattached her grip onto Aglaya’s elbow. Since the cafe was very small and terrible, there was luckily no one there. Anastasiya let out a sigh of relief. The new stream of adrenaline had made her very alert. Nastya turned towards Aglaya as she raised her wand towards her with a kind smile. “Disillusionment charm,” Nastya softly told her, making sure she knew her intent was not malicious. Nastya understood that even if Aglaya didn’t hate her, that perhaps her sister’s trust in her had faltered a little. “Just in case. If they know where we are, they won’t stop.”

She tilted her head, silently asking permission before tapping her wand against Aglaya, muttering the incantation for the disillusionment charm under her breath. After a few seconds, the only reason she knew that Aglaya was still there was the firm grip she still had on her elbow. Nastya allowed herself a satisfied smile at her handiwork, since she wasn’t always the best at that charm and appreciated that it had worked when she really needed it to. Nastya then rotated her wrist onto herself and twirled the wand as she repeated the incantation. After a few seconds, she looked down to see herself equally as chameleon-like against their surroundings. “Alright, let’s go.”

It was good news that there hadn't been much in the press, or so Aglaya felt at least. Then again, the way Nastya said so, seemed to indicate that her sister had a different take on this. She felt sorry that her younger sister had been targeted by journalists, thinking that Nastya wasn't the most experienced with these things. She didn't quite understand why her sibling had decided to hide at the office instead of giving a press conference during which she could have just played everything down so that the press would lose interest.

It was what Aglaya would have done anyway. She'd have bottled up all feelings as she usually did and would have confidently answered questions without giving any real information. Sometimes that was a struggle but usually she could do that perfectly fine even if she always felt uncomfortable in such situations.

Since it was hard to focus and to talk, the older Tikhomirova did not comment on her sister's choice of refuge. She just couldn't bring herself to think of a suitable response to that now.

Aglaya sort of agreed that she was more important, she was the star in the family, the journalists were there because of her. However, something about her sister's previous kindness towards her made her wonder what was really going on and if she was okay. However, again, she was in no fit state to enquire further or even think about it properly.

They slowly made their way to the fireplace and Aglaya felt this was not going to go well. She was so weak and could tell that her body would not co-operate as much as it did now for much longer. She gritted her teeth though, tried to stay strong and thought she was doing rather well as they reached the fireplace and she was still on her feet.

Travelling by floo powder again for the second time that day did not really feel good. As they reached the destination Nastya had chosen for them, Aglaya felt even more dizzy than before, her vision was fading out and in again, always leaving some wildly dancing pixels that prevented her from seeing anything clear.

As they stepped out of the fireplace at a café that Aglaya had never visited before although it was apparently close to her flat, Nastya suddenly raised her wand at her. For a moment it felt as though time was standing still. The older sibling's heart skipped a beat and it did not help that her sister explained that she was going to cast a Disillusionment charm. She was terrified but couldn't even make a sound.

The sensation of the spell cast on her was odd, cold, and somewhat unpleasant. While she first thought the coolness was nice, she was now freezing again, her teeth were clattering as she watched how Nastya now also performed the charm on herself.

Nastya announced that they should go and Aglaya really wanted to make a quick exit, the prospect of her bed not too far away form this place was very intriguing. As they had almost reached the exit though, Aglaya walked into a chair which toppled over with some noise. The athlete tried to hurry, stumbling more on her way out and would probably have fallen had it not been for Nastya who still held her arm.

The fresh September air felt strange to Aglaya who hadn't been anywhere outside for over a week. Her legs felt like jelly as the walked around the corner towards her place. She felt how tears of sheer exhaustion were running down her face and was glad that her sister couldn't see them now. Aglaya was a champion, she did not want to allow herself to show weakness in front of others even if it was her own sister. Admittedly she was weak now and obviously so. However, she still wanted to be poised and as strong as the circumstances allowed.

The front door of the house in which she lived was coming into view, but Aglaya was barely aware of how close it was now. She was merely focused on staying upright and not collapsing right on the street. She didn't know how long it had taken them to get there, didn't know how she had made it at all. She was shaking as they reached the front door. They were almost there. They'd only have to open two doors and climb one set of stairs.

Nastya could feel that Aglayka didn’t enjoy having her wand being pointed in her face, and although she understood, it also broke her heart to see her so terrified when she was trying to help her. The coldness of the disillusionment charm when it first spread over her probably didn’t help, Nastya assumed as she felt it herself, and she could feel Aglaya shaking. The younger sister was determined more than ever to get Aglaya safely into her own bed.

As they headed to the exit, almost reaching the threshold to the outside World, a crash sounded and Nastya jumped with a small squeak, her heart thumping like crazy as she saw the chair that her sister knocked over. Nastya lowered the wand that she had automatically raised, and dragged her sister out of the cafe as quickly as she could as she heard more movement from behind another door in the cafe.

Stepping outside, Nastya took a moment to take a deep breath of fresh air as she returned her wand to her pocket. “Okay…” she breathed. “Okay…” She gently lifted her sister’s arm and draped it over her shoulder, Nastya’s own arm wrapping around Aglaya’s waist as Anastasiya realised she’d have to heavily support the champion artistic flyer. “We’ll go as slow as we need to, I promise.” Nastya muttered gently, not really caring for a reply.

They inched their way forward round the corner towards Aglayka’s house, and Nastya gritted her teeth as Aglaya leaned on her and her ankle began pulsing a constant stream of pain. It felt as if Nastya had done another two or three hours of training, and she was ready to just drop on the ground outside the front door. She really hoped that Aglaya would be kind enough to let her stay, or just be so out of it that she wouldn’t care. Nastya would fight and say that she shouldn’t be left alone and needed someone to take care of her if her sister argued, but judging by the heavy lean of her mainly invisible sister, Nastya didn’t think much arguing would happen.

The front door was right before them, and Nastya could feel Aglaya shaking beside her which gave Nastya the push she needed to get the door open with some urgency rather than just collapse on the doorstep. “Thank Merlin,” Nastya muttered to herself as she opened the door and stepped inside.

Nastya had been inside Aglaya’s home but rarely, but the only thing in the house that Anastasiya could see with any clarity was the staircase that led to Aglayka’s bedroom. Nastya fumbled to get her wand out and removed the disillusionment charm from them both, smiling to be able to see her sister properly again. She slid the wand in her pocket again and her head turned back to the staircase as she sighed. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…” Nastya wanted to sit down on the first step so badly and just crawl her way up but she had Aglaya to think of. Nastya wondered if there was any way Aglayka would actually make it up the stairs properly.

“Okay,” Nastya groaned, trying to raise both their spirits so that they could finish their home-stretch. “We can do this,” she grunted, as she shifted her entire weight onto her sprained ankle to step up the first stair with her good ankle. She kept a watchful gaze on Aglaya as she half lifted her elder sister onto the stair with her. Nastya decided she was going to hex whoever made bedrooms being upstairs a thing, feeling like this was some form of torture.

Nastya had no idea how long it took them to go up the stairs but it felt like a century. Her legs were burning as they reached the top, tears had formed in her eyes from the constant throb in her right ankle and her breathing was as laboured as it was at the end of a double run-through of her free program. “Okay.” Nastya breathed, as she clocked the door of Aglaya’s bedroom. “Almost there…”

Nastya opened the door and immediately wanted to kiss the bed and marry it in relief. “Yessssss…” Nastya slurred, as she half-carried the shaking form of her elder sister towards the bed. She pulled back the covers for Aglaya, and assisted her in sitting down on the bed. Now that she had achieved her goal, Nastya’s legs gave up and she sat rather unceremoniously on the floor with a quiet thud.

As Nastya opened the door to her house and lifted the Disillusionment charm, Aglaya felt nothing but relief, that is until they reached the stairs. She was close to bursting into tears of utter exhaustion when they started climbing upstairs. It felt more like a high mountain than just a set of stairs to her. Although barely conscious any more, Aglaya was aware that her sister was struggling as well and she felt bad to have her go through this all with her.

However, she didn't feel capable of voicing this thought and so they continued their way slowly. Nastya was almost carrying her completely when they finally reached the top step. Aglaya tried to force her body to move but by now she was shaking quite obviously, the noise in her head was rather loud, she was bathed in cold sweat and her sight faded out again. She had no idea how they had made it but soon enough she found herself sitting on her bed. She collapsed onto the comfortable mattress, her legs still hanging out of the bed.

In her abysmal state she did not see that her sister was sitting on the floor next to her bed. She was not even able to whisper a thank you. The artistic flying champion fainted and didn't move for a while. After a couple of minutes, she opened her eyes but as the world seemed to be spinning fast, she closed them again, falling fast asleep.

Just like during her hospital stay sleep almost instantly brought nightmares. She relived once again her poisoning, making abrupt movements and then she was falling, falling from her broom into a burning house. Then the fire was soon extinguished and instead of ash there were pralines everywhere. Her heart beat quickened and she muttered “no, no,” in her sleep, turning her head from one side to the other. A man was telling her that she deserved to suffer and that this wouldn't be the end unless she ate all the pralines.

Then there was nightmare-Nastya who asked the man if she should try to feed her the pralines. The man laughed and nightmare-Nastya pushed a box full of pralines towards her, telling her to eat them or else she'd get their mother and she wouldn't be pleased with her for sure.

A moment later there was indeed their mother's voice and she was, quite clearly, not happy. Alyona's voice was loud, causing Aglaya's headache to get even worse than it already was.

Alyona had received an urgent owl from the hospital and could not believe what she read in the letter. The last information she had had on her eldest daughter's condition had been that she was mostly sleeping and barely conscious, clearly in no state to leave her bed any time soon. Since she had received the information that Aglaya had left via floo network she had checked the office where Nastya was currently residing first. Since neither of the girls had been there, she had decided to check Aglaya's place next. She found both her daughters sleeping and not looking very well to say the least. She hurried into the bedroom and first checked Aglaya's pulse, almost worried that she was coming too late. At least Nastya woke up as she stepped into the room. 'What have you been thinking?' she angrily asked the younger daughter. 'When you found her you should have immediately fetched me and we would have brought her right back to the hospital.'

Alyona's voice said that Aglaya should not be here and that she was irresponsible and somehow the longer her mother's voice was speaking the less it seemed to fit into the dream. It certainly was a different kind of nightmare but not exactly the usual kind that Aglaya had since her poisoning.

Her sister said something but Aglaya could not hear it properly as the younger sibling did not shout as their mother did. 'You need to focus on your training. What are you even doing here? You can't help your sister. She should not be out of the hospital at all. How did she get here anyway?'

Slowly Aglaya realised that this really wasn't a kind of dream but that it was real. She opened her eyes and spotted her mother, her cheeks reddened from agitation. She wondered briefly if her mother had visited her in her hospital room or if she had just talked to the healer in charge. She assumed the latter, not having seen Alyona but since she had been unconscious or asleep most of the time she knew she might even wrong her. The thought disappeared as soon as it had occurred, leaving her brain in a foggy state with only vague thoughts that she could not really grasp.

She wanted to sit up in bed and tell her mother to calm down but as she tried to move the stinging pain in her head got even worse again and it became hard to focus on anything. “Just let me sleep,” she whined faintly.

Her sister had already shut her eyes and didn’t move. This didn’t really concern Nastya, however, as she sat there on the floor for a few more seconds to catch her breath. If she was exhausted, then she wasn’t surprised at Aglaya’s state at all. Now that they were safe, Nastya’s eyelids were already drooping as she began crawling on all fours around to the other side of Aglayka’s bed. Before getting onto the bed though, Nastya went to remove her shoes… but she wasn’t wearing any to begin with. It didn’t surprise her that she’d noticed this lack of appropriate attire, after all, her sister’s arrival had been rather unexpected to say the least. Nastya made a disgusted face as she saw how dirty the socks had become, and being far too tired to even remember a cleaning spell, let alone perform one, Nastya just ripped the socks off and deposited them, for her future self to deal with later, on the floor.

With a great deal of effort, Anastasiya pulled herself up onto the bed, slipping her legs underneath the covers and letting her head crash onto the pillow. As her eyes shut, Nastya’s hand tapped around the bed looking for Aglaya’s hand. Once she’d found it, Nastya gently gripped onto it and curled up fairly close to her sister as she quickly fell asleep properly for the first time in a week.

Although she was generally a light-sleeper, Nastya was so exhausted that when her sister began making movements and muttering, she had no clue at all, sleeping right through it, the grip she once had on Aglayka’s hand now completely slackened. No nightmares haunted Nastya like they had since the poisoning. Every paranoid thought she’d had about being implicated had vanished, for the time being. She was, for once, quite peaceful.

Peaceful, until she heard the door being opened. Forgetting where she was for a few moments, Nastya’s fight or flight response activated perfectly, as she suddenly bolted upright as her heart pounded, her hand ripping her wand out of her cardigan and aiming for the door in the space of a couple of seconds. Seeing her mother at the end of her wand, Nastya breathed a sigh of relief, and let her arm flop down and return the wand to its pocket. Her heart still raced, though, she already knew that her mother was bound to have a negative reaction. Their mother said nothing as she checked her sister’s pulse before turning on her angrily. She began shouting at the younger sister and Nastya slowly let herself lie back down, her core muscles shaking slightly as she did so. “Mother, please, don’t shout. I don’t want to wake Aglayechka.” Nastya muttered quietly, frowning as her mother seemed to completely ignore her.

“I know but… She wanted to go home. I was just trying to help. It was the least I could do.” She addressed her mother weakly, knowing that there was little point in putting up a fight. Their mother had never listened to her, Anastasiya knew that wasn’t going to change. ‘She should not be here.’ “I know, but…” Nastya was cut off immediately as Alyona downward spiralled into her rants that she was so often the victim of. “She’s so irresponsible!” Nastya smirked there, she couldn’t argue that her sister’s recklessness got her into trouble far too many times. “You both are!” Alyona added as if she’d seen her hidden smirk and Nastya tried to defend herself. “No, I’m not. I was just trying to help.” She whimpered, wishing her mother would go away so that she could go back to cuddling up to her sister. Alyona moved around to the other side of the bed, towards the younger of the two sisters, continuing to raise her voice and Nastya flinched as her mother drew closer.

'You need to focus on your training.’ Alyona said, and Nastya flung up an arm up to rest on her forehead as she averted her eyes away from the angry witch in front of her. “I will be but,” Nastya was cut off again. ‘What are you even doing here?’ “Well, I found her in the office and…” Nastya’s voice grew smaller and smaller, as Alyona talked over her again. ‘You can't help your sister.’ Well, that wasn’t true! Nastya reluctantly pushed herself back up into a sitting position, turning to face her mother properly with a frown, feeling like Alyona had just insinuated that she was stupid. “Yes, I can!” Nastya argued back, her voice remaining quiet but gaining some edge to it again (briefly). ‘She should not be out of the hospital at all.’ That was true, unfortunately, but Anastasiya didn’t want to have to admit that. “Well, that’s hardly-” Nastya found herself being talked over yet again, and she wondered why on Earth she even attempted to converse with her mother since she could never get a word in edge-ways.

‘How did she get here anyway?' Nastya breathed in deeply, and tried to talk as quickly as possible to get her point across for half a second. “Well, we took the floo to a cafe from the office and then we walked.” The artistic flyer rattled off, eyes wide with surprise that she had actually managed to get the whole sentence out and breathing out heavily from the exertion of getting the sentence out so quickly.

A quiet whine from beside her made Nastya glare at Alyona as she planted her face into her palm. Waking Aglayka was the one thing she didn’t want to happen. She would have thought that their mother would have had the same concern and courtesy but apparently not. Nastya certainly didn’t want her sister to have to listen to what was bound to be an unpleasant conversation. As much as she didn’t want to have to move, she felt well enough after a few hours of sleep to get up and talk to Alyona outside Aglaya’s room, to give her ailing sister some privacy.

“It’s okay, Aglayka.” Nastya crooned softly, gently stroking her sister’s hair. “Go back to sleep.” Nastya turned to face her mother with an unreadable expression as her head gestured to the door. “Let’s talk about this outside,” she muttered quietly, as she quietly removed the covers and went to stand up. “No need for Aglay-UGH!” Nastya yelped, as a sharp shooting pain went straight up her ankle and all the way up the leg. She gripped onto the bed just in time and sat haphazardly on the bed again. She looked down to see exactly what her sleep-deprivation and stupidity had done; her ankle was swollen and all black and blue around the ankle bone.

“I-I’m sorry…” Nastya mumbled, though she wasn’t really sure what she was sorry for or who she was apologising to. She looked up at Alyona trying to make tears appear, realising that her plea for sympathy could actually help her stop Alyona yelling as their mother would have to concentrate on healing her ankle, and Nastya would be able to remain in bed with Aglayka. Everybody would win (sort of). She panted a little, in genuine pain, as she realised she wasn’t sorry at all.

'Are you both out of your mind?' Alyona asked incredulously when she heard that her daughters had taken the floo network to a cafe and walked to Aglaya's place from there. 'Did it occur to either of you that you could have been seen? That someone could have taken photos to sell them to the press? Anastasiya, did you take a proper look at your sister? How could you do such a silly thing? Until a few days ago we didn't even...' the woman's voice had been trembling a little towards the end and finally broke off. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to compose herself. She had not always forwarded all information she had received from the healer in charge at the hospital and thought that now wasn't the time to tell Nastya the things she had held back before.

She looked at her older daughter as she spoke and shook her head slightly. Of course she knew that Aglaya needed rest but she was still so shaken from the poisoning, not knowing if her daughter would make it until just a few days ago. She had just relaxed a little but then she had received the letter informing her that Aglaya had decided to leave the hospital at her own risk. She was torn between wanting to yell at her girls and just letting them both sleep.

'If you wanted to sleep you should have stayed at the hospital.' she snapped. 'You are in no state to stay on your own. What have you been thinking? That you get your private nurse to take care of you? Why can't you for once be reasonable?'

Nastya told her to go back to sleep and wanted to talk to Alyona outside but their mother did not seem to accept that. Aglaya tried to sit up at exactly the moment when Nastya tried to get out of the bed. Only now she really realised that her younger sister had been laying next to her. She felt dizzy as she forced herself up into a sitting position but didn't get to say anything because her sister yelped and sank back down onto the bed.

Since her brain still felt foggy it took Aglaya a moment to process that her sister was in pain. She wasn't quite sure if she appreciated that the attention shifted from her to her sister now; at least it meant that she didn't get a chance to react to her mother's rant. She wished though that she was capable of responding to her mother's comments but for now she knew that she stood no chance in a verbal fight with Alyona. She rubbed her aching head as she looked from her sister to their mother.

'What's the matter with you now?' Alyona impatiently addressed her younger daughter as she stepped closer and examined Nastya's ankle. 'How did that happen?' she asked, 'I assume it's a result of the irresponsible trip you two made?' She pulled out her wand, pointing it at the ankle and muttering incantations. 'It's just a bad sprain, no torn ligament or fracture at least. I'll get you a salve that you'll need to apply', she then said in a softer tone. 'I'd say if you use the salve and rest the ankle you should be good to get back to training in a day or two.' Alyona sighed and shook her head. She wasn't used to Nastya being reckless and getting injured. That was usually more her elder daughter's thing.

Aglaya was rather surprised to hear that her sister had indeed an injury that needed treatment. Why had she even bothered to help her then? The older sibling wasn't quite sure that she would have done the same. Again vague thoughts on how the poisoning had happened came to her mind. Was Nastya feeling guilty because she had given her the pralines?

'As for you,' Alyona addressed Aglaya again, interrupting her train of thought, 'I'll take you back to the hospital where healers who are specialised in poisonings can keep an eye on you.'

Aglaya shook her head, “no, please... just let me stay here,” she said weakly. She was shivering again now and pulled the cover up to her chin while her teeth were chattering. She felt that she was welling up again but tried to fight the tears. She did not want to cry in front of her family even if it was of utter exhaustion. She just hoped that she'd be left alone soon but instead of anyone leaving, the bedroom door opened once again and their father stepped into the room, a pained expression on his face. 'Here you are,' he said, sighing in relief.

It hadn’t occurred to Nastya, still in her slightly dazed state from being so rudely awakened, that her mother didn’t know that she’d taken precautions to make sure they weren’t seen until she started shouting about it at them both. She waited patiently for their mother to stop questioning them, grimacing slightly as Alyona turned her wrath solely on her again. Her mother suddenly stopped her sentence, and Nastya’s brow furrowed as Alyona took a deep breath. It was uncharacteristic of her mother to behave in such a way. “No, it’s okay,” Nastya tried to soothe her mother’s concerns gently. “I cast a disillusionment charm, we weren’t seen.” Anastasiya wondered though, from the way Alyona had broken off her sentence, whether that was what was actually bothering her though.

Nastya tried not to react as her mother began attacking Aglayka, hoping that her sister would be able to fight her own battle with their mother there, but as she looked to Aglaya, Nastya realised she was definitely on her own in the conversation. “Hey!” Nastya raised her voice for the first time, seeing as Aglaya was now awake, she didn’t see the point in being silent anymore. “Leave her alone,” Nastya said, protectively laying a hand on her sister’s arm. “This isn’t her fault, she hasn’t done anything wrong.” Unlike you, Nastya wanted to add, but held her tongue.

Aglaya sat up in the bed just as Nastya fell back onto it, and the younger sister didn’t register the movement in her peripheral vision until she glanced at her sister rubbing her head as Alyona snapped at her, again. Nastya didn’t respond. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting from Aglayka exactly, it wasn’t as if she was going to save her from their mother’s anger. Still, Nastya mouthed an apology to her so that Alyona could not see. She was not sorry for getting the injury, or for getting attention but she was apologetic that it was delaying Aglaya from getting the rest she needed.

The younger Tikhormirova sister briefly wondered if she was always so skittish as she initially flinched away from her mother again as she drew closer to examine her swollen ankle. Nastya had to admit she was rather impressed that she’d done such a bad injury, since she rarely got more than a few bumps or bruises. She rolled her eyes as Alyona assumed that she’d injured herself on the trip, the trip that was definitely not irresponsible at all! “No, Mama.” Nastya replied meekly, “I did it in training. I just didn’t get around to seeking help for it.” Her mother had muttered some incantations and a cool feeling spread across her ankle. Nastya hesitantly wiggled her toes to test it out, hissing a little as it still hurt but nowhere near as bad. She looked up at Alyona as she told her that she’d get a salve for it, and that she could return to training in a day or two. Nastya knew that a day would be vastly preferable, so even if she was not completely healed, she would return to training and just do easier stuff. She only needed the rest of the day off to be with her sister, after all. “Thank you.” Nastya smiled up at her mother before apologising again. “I’m really sorry, mother. I should have listened to Andrey Viktorovich when he told me to stop. It won’t happen again.” And that was very true, Nastya didn’t anticipate such a unique and horrifying event occurring again any time soon.

Their mother addressed Aglayka again, and Nastya immediately glared at her mother again. “What? No!” She cried in protest. She wasn’t going to have busted her ankle for nothing! She thought her mother was more than qualified to deal with Aglaya and anything she needed and besides, Anastasiya thought, she was going to be around to help out too. She was glad that Aglayka seemed to be in agreement here, though that wasn’t surprising. Anastasiya hated to see her sister in so much distress, and seeming as she wasn’t going to be moving from the bed anytime soon, she lifted herself to shift further onto the bed so that she could be closer to her older sibling. Lifting a hand, Nastya awkwardly half-hugged Aglayka’s arm trying to be a source of comfort (for which sister though was rather ambiguous). “Yes, let her stay here. With me, pleaseeeee.” Nastya pleaded in a quite whiny tone.

The door opened again and Nastya was about to reach for her wand again, when she heard her father’s voice, and Nastya mirrored him as she also sighed in relief. “Papa…” She breathed with a ghost of a smile on her face as she decided to play everything up to her father in an attempt to guilt-trip her mother into letting Aglayka stay home. “Papa, mother won’t let Aglayka stay home where she can be comfy and with family so she isn’t lonely and wants to send her back to the scary hospital again…” Nastya whined, flopping back down into a lying position onto the bed, looking directly at Alyona as she said this. 

“Really? Is this true?” He said in a level tone, turning to face Alyona and trying to avoid looking at either of his clearly unwell daughters. “Why not let her stay, my dear, I’m sure with your excellent skills, that you can look after her well enough.” He placed his hand on Alyona’s lower back, and gently stroked up and down in a small area trying to calm her, as he glanced at Aglaya and Anastasiya and tried to not frown or show any outward reaction to the state that they were in. They clearly needed to rest, and it seemed neither of them were in any hurry to leave the eldest daughter’s bed. He had failed his daughters in so many ways, he was determined to let them have this little victory. “I’m sure they’ll give us far less trouble if you let Aglayka stay… Right, Nastenka? Aglayechka?”

Alyona was honestly surprised to learn that her youngest daughter had thought of casting a Disillusionment charm on the two of them when they had made their way to Aglaya's place. She was relieved to hear it but did not want to give Nastya the impression that she approved of the action itself and thus didn't comment.

Aglaya wanted to react to her mother as she yelled at her but didn't know how. Alyona was right, of course. She knew that now. Clearly the athlete had overestimated her own strength and she was vaguely aware that she'd need someone to look after her for at least the next few days depending on how her recovery would go now. However, she could not bring herself to admitting it, did not want to accept that the hospital was the best place for her now.

Fortunately Nastya was there to fight the battle for her. Although Aglaya would never accept it if her sister did any such thing when she was in a slightly better state, she now appreciated that she didn't have to waste the last bit of energy on an argument with their mother.

'It isn't her fault?' Alyona's voice was dangerously shrill now. 'She has left the hospital. Do you think she was properly discharged?' She gestured at her elder daughter shaking her head in frustration.

Aglaya wasn't quite sure why her sister apologised and she didn't feel up to trying to figure it out either. The exhaustion from her trip home combined with the stress that her mother's appearance had caused made her feel worse again. She couldn't believe that only hours ago she had deemed it possible to go home. She was now back to how she felt after she had woken up for the first time after her poisoning and that felt discouraging to say the least.

It was impossible to follow the conversation her sister and mother had properly. Only when Nastya half hugged her arm, Aglaya tried to focus again. Smiling ever so weakly as her younger sibling begged that she could stay at home.

As their father stepped into the room, the prior chill was gone and Aglaya felt hot again,. She shook the cover off and laid back down as her bedroom seemed to be spinning fast now. Closing her eyes, she whimpered quietly. Why couldn't they all just leave her alone now? This was too exhausting. Despite the fact that she heard her blood loudly rush through her veins, she realised that Nastya was now trying to get their father on their side.

Alyona felt like her family was ganging up on her. She shook her head, thinking that, as a healer, she was the only one able to evaluate the situation properly. However, as she looked at Aglaya, she felt that there was at least some sense in letting her stay put. She stepped away from her husband not without glaring at him. She'd give him a piece of her mind later. Yet, right now, it was more important to do the right thing for the girls than to have a fight with her husband. She walked over to Aglaya's side of the bed again and carefully placed her hand on her forehead. Sighing she gently brushed some damp strands of red hair out of her daughters face and then turned to face Anton and Nastya.

'I still think she should not have left the hospital in the first place but, as it is, travelling back is probably too exhausting for her now. I do not want to move her in this state if I don't have to.' She glared at Anton again. 'I don't have time to babysit her all day, though. I'll go and fetch a salve for Nastya's ankle and I'll see if I can find a potion that makes Aglayka's temperature go down. Nastenka, you'll stay here until I'm back. If she gets any worse than this you'll immediately inform me. Antosha, we'll have to check on her in turns. I hope that after two or three days she'll be well enough to be left alone for longer periods of time.'

Aglaya did not hear any more that her mother had conceded. She had fallen asleep whilst her family members had been deciding her fate for the next few days. Again she was facing neatly piled up pralines in her sleep. Someone wanted to feed her and she abruptly moved her head to the side. “No, no...” she pleaded with an invisible enemy.

[out]