Empty.
Numb.
These were far from the only things Paks Liard felt. Her throat was raw from screaming the day before, or was it two days ago? Three? Time meant nothing to the Ji’Val. . .not any more. The private room she’d been given in the Infirmary was as good as a cell since she wasn’t allowed to leave. She tried. . .oh how she tried.
Perhaps the Ji’Val wasn’t meant to hear the Dedicated and Accepted talking about how Ninya had escaped her captors. The four who escorted her didn’t have a clue as to what happened. Paks wasn’t convinced, and was bound and determined to find the woman who took Jesi from her.
Maybe those in the infirmary didn’t think she’d wake from whatever it was that put her under. Why they hadn’t initially barred her door was lost on her (that it was actually a room in the infirmary and not a cell didn’t really cross her mind), but she saw an opening and went for it. Paks made it not even three full strides before she was caught and pulled back into the room. When the door closed, she threw herself at it, kicked at it, punched at it, screamed at it, but it didn’t budge.
After throwing herself at it one more time, she slumped to the floor, exhausted. Her eyes scanned the room. It wasn’t very big. There was a bed, a small bedside table, a chair and a window. She could pace the room in three strides, and looking at the floor, there seemed to be a well-worn path between the window and the other side of the room where other people paced as they waited.
Paks felt broken. . .more than that, she was broken, and she knew this to be fact. Eventually, she pulled herself off the floor and curled up on the bed, back to the door. Tears flowed freely as she stared out the window. Every now and then, she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She couldn’t escape the memory of seeing Jesi as she crumpled to the ground, or the seemingly pleased look on Ninya’s face with what she’d done.
The Ji’Val set the former Amyrlin’s features to memory. One way or another, Paks was going to get out of the infirmary and track Ninya down. One way or another, the Ji’Val would bring an end to the Darkfriend who stole Jesi from her.
How long would they keep her in the infirmary? They’d have to let her go eventually, right?