Another Word I Never Learned to Pronounce

Aragorn was lain down in a cold bed, barely conscious and whimpering like a hurt puppy. He'd been practicing flying around, trying to get used to it, and had ended up falling off of his broom and breaking quite a few bones and giving himself a large cut across his forehead. He'd been unable to tell who'd brought him in or what had been going on after that. So he lay there, passing out with pain pounding dimly against his skull.

The sun had went from noon to midnight in the time that Gorn had lain in the bed. His breathing was broken but steady, his heart beating at it's normal rate. He seemed to be undisturbed in his sleep.

Karma shifted from where she was, curling further into the chair beside the bed. Her worry hadn't calmed even in sleep, and the speed in which she'd moved had taken all her energy. Without realizing it, she had deepened her and gorn's connection, monitoring him carefully through their bond. She'd dozed off in the chair next to him a few hours after night had fallen, and she hadn't moved since. She had been the one to carry him here, and she'd paced the small space, attempted reading, drawing, studying, and had skipped all the afternoon classes she'd had.

She made a small noise in her sleep, barely recognizing the familiar nightmare and fear that mixed with worry. She curled further into the chair, trying to escape her dream.

Aragorn twitched as he was forced to awaken, eyes jerking open and traveling across the ceiling. He had no idea what was going on, that wasn't the top to his bed up there. It was way too damn high. He blinked his eyes rapidly as his head pounded, his eyes flicking to either side of the bed and finding Karma there. Was she the reason he'd woken up?

"Gorn..?" Karma murmured, knowing he was awake even before she was fully concious. She sat up in her chair, her eyes fluttering open as she tilted her head to the side. The second she saw him, she was at his side, looking down at him over his bed. "You're awake!" The relief she felt was almost tangible around her, and she ran a hand through his hair.

"Do you feel alright?"

Aragorn flinched at her touch, hissing and glancing up at her with a pained smile. It would be fine, as long as he didn't focus so much on the pounding of his head and seering anguish that came everytime something touched his forehead. He took a shaky breath and nodded very slowly, "I feel totally fine." He was a dirty damn liar, and he figured she would know it too after that little bout.

He blinked hard, "What happened, Karm?"

Karma's hands fluttered anxiously over him, not touching him for fear of hurting him. Her eyes softed as she looked down at him, sitting on the side of his bed. "You fell off your broom." She said, reaching over him to grasp the potion on his bedside paper. "Here, take this. For your pain." Her worry had only slightly been damped by his awakening. She uncorked the potion and held it out to her.

"What in the bloody hell was I doing on a broom?" Apparently Aragorn didn't remember a thing about it, which probably could have been good, had it not meant there was something wrong with his head. He took the potion slowly, forcing himself to sit up and grunting with the effort.

Without hesitation, he tilted his head back and took a swig, holding back a cough at the bitter taste. He set it down beside him a moment and looked up, "What about you, are you okay?" Her concern for him was flattering, and amusing.

"I dunno." She said, wincing slightly as she felt the numbness wash over him through the bond. Soon enough he'd start acting under the influence of the potion. "I only felt you fall." She played with her fingers, looking down at her hands. She pouted slightly. "It hurt. A lot."

She rubbed the back of her neck, glancing in his direction. "I'm fine." She murmured with a one shouldered shrug. "I'm not the one on bed rest in the Hospital Wing."

Aragorn smiled apologetically, "Sorry. I guess I was being a bit reckless. I'll ask Alex or Casey when I get the hell out of here." He relaxed back onto his pillow and closed his eyes a bit, swallowing down the last bit of that bitter taste in his mouth. His headache was slowly fading and he didn't feel the need to vomit every time he moved a limb.

"I didn't cause any trouble or worry for anyone, did I?" He asked quietly, almost too quiet to hear to a mortal's ear.

"You weren't a bother at all." Karma cooed. "I mean, some people were a bit worried, but half the castle doesn't know you're here yet." The rest stayed unsaid. Dani wasn't here. No one was here. No one but her. As always.

She rested her hands gently on his chest, her mind going slightly hazy as the potion started to take effect. "Gorn...?" She murmured, blinking down at him. "You feelin' alright?"

"Thank God," Aragorn mumbled, a small content smile for an expression. What kind of potion had she given him anyways? He could feel his body numbing from head to toe and it was almost funny. He giggled. Okay, maybe it was funny.

He giggled up at her again, wrinkling his nose at the foreign sound, "Of course I'm alright Karmzy!"

Karma didn't know why, but the way he said her Nickname; the one Tyty had given her, made her feel all bubbly inside. She covered her mouth and giggled, grinning at him. "That means I can go, then." She said with a nod. "Since you're okay now."

"Nooooo pleeeease? Don't leave me hear all alooooone," Aragorn giggled even more and rolled over towards her, reaching out for her like a child would a mother. He pouted but it soon disappeared as giggles rolled through him. Everything was so funny! It was almost as if the potion had turned him into a thirteen year old girl. A really hyper, peppy thirteen year old girl.

"Okaaaysss." Karma giggled, moving back into his arms reach and sitting on the edge of his bed. She giggled again, entranced with the sound as it slipped through her lips. "I stay I stay I stay I staaaay." She grinned at him. "I no gooooo."

Aragorn wrapped his arms around her waist, laughing, "Will you stay with Gorny forever?" It was a childish suggestion, something said not in his right mind, but it was still a rather serious suggestion made. "And, and, and we can move in together if Karamel will stay with Gorny forever!" He laughed again, almost hitting a soprano tone when he did, different from his normal low tenor one.

Karma, rather than tensing or pulling away from his hold, relaxed, leaning back against him. " 'Course I will, Silly silly silly, I no go anywhere." She hummed, letting her eyes slide closed. "Sure sure sure sure! I have..." she yawned. "Lotsa houses... Tons of... Lotsa..." She nodded, wavering slightly and pressing back into his hold. "Housies...." She poked him tiredly. "Your voicey box is broooken. You talk like... Like... Girlyyyyy."

"Can... can Gorny live Karamel's housie??" Aragorn asked, eyes all big and hopeful. He hoped she said yes, it would be so awesome! He wiggled, as if he were wagging a tail like a dog. It was bizarre and yet sort of cute, even for a thirteen year old boy.

Gorn pouted and shook his head, "My boxxie isn't broken!!" And as he said it, his voice cracked and it made him giggle again.

Karma blinked down at the boy, before a tired sort of grin flit across her face and she nodded. "Course Gorny can come live wit Karamelly. Got tonsa tonsa houses..." She yawned, swinging her feet up and onto the bed before laying backwards, resting her head on the pillow next to his. "I'm sweepy..." She murmured. " 'ts your fault, ain't it? I... I can feel..." She frowned, before shrugging and snuggling into him. She closed her eyes slowly, almost falling into total sleep.

"Boxie... Broken. Fix fix fix. I miss your regular ooooold voicey, Gornieeee."

"I bet if Karamel and Gorny went to sleep it would... it would fix!" Aragorn said thoughtfully, frowning and hugging her as his eyelids started closing. He'd been tired a moment ago anyways, but now, in addition to her sleepiness, he was extremely tired. His vision started going black, sucking him into the luscious land of dreams.

Karma curled into the boy, humming as she rested her ear over his heart, wrapping an arm over his stomach. "Sleepy sleepy sleepybye time." She yawned, snuggling closer and msiling a tired smile. "Night night...." And then she was drawn into the potion-inducedd slumber that Gorny had made her subject to via bond. For once in a long time, she fell asleep next to someone who wasn't Tyty.

She had no nightmares.

Aragorn dozed off, nuzzling Karma's hair as he did. Warm and content as he slept next her and dreamed of nothing but happy ever afters where his mother was alive and everyone he knew was happy and content, just like him. Nothing bad could happen there in that happy place, not even death. And so he dreamed.


His eyelids fluttered open, his arm wrapped lazily around a warm mound next to him. Whatever had happened the night before, he didn't remember, but he felt fantastic. Maybe he'd gotten drunk and been laid, and preferably not by a guy. He was curious but not that curious.

He stretched out his arm, breathing in and yawning, blinking hard as he looked back down at the mound in front of him. He lifted up the blanket, taking in the familiar smell as he did and freezing up, laying the cover back down slowly as he forced himself to move.

Karma, of course. How in the hell would he get away with that? He looked around the room and realized slowly where he was. The hospital wing, too? Okay, so maybe he hadn't gotten laid or drunk. Obviously he was screwed up somehow otherwise he wouldn't be in the wing.

Karma shifted slightly, nuzzling further into the boy and tightening her grip on him. Her emotional reaction to his awakening was tired, submissive companionship. She curled further into him, making a low sound in the back of her throat as complaint as he moved, and her hold on him tightened further. "...Gorn..." she mumbled, still very much asleep. She snuggled into him and lie still, still asleep.

Aragorn's face flushed, glancing down at the moving blanket, settling into a sighing hug. Closing his eyes again, he drifted into thought. It was a while before he moved again, maybe twenty, thirty minutes. He reached up to touch his forehead as he noticed the feeling of being constricted around the head. He flinched when he did, glaring at his forehead as he remembered what had happened.

Oh, He spat at himself irritably. [/i]That makes so much sense now.[/i]

Karma glanced up at him through her lashes, sucking in the scent of ownership through her nose. She shivered slightly and curled closer to him, yawning. "Morning." She mumbled, still half asleep. She shrugged off the blanket, feeling hot and sweaty underneath it, and kicked it away from her. She looked up at him, again, yawning. She furrowed her eyesbrows slightly, and blinked at him.

"Why am I in your bed?"She asked curiously, too sleepy to sound as angry and put upon as she wanted.

Aragorn smiled a little as she woke up, "Good morning." Boy was she cute when she woke up, all sleepy and childish. And then shrugged, his smile fading as he said, "I don't know." He pointed to his head injury as if to answer the question a second time, "I only know I'm in a hospital wing, you're in my temporary bed, and I'm hurt. I expected you to know."

But of course she wouldn't, she probably remembered less than he did.