Quills: the Rise of the Northern Matriarch-Chapter 60: Fear 3

"Wow, this is very nice. What is the special occasion?" Nora asked. She normally did not use the fancy stuff by herself. The petals, oils and milk were too much in her opinion. They used it on her. She was happy with the soap in the shower, it felt awkward how much they seemed to dote on her. She was still not used to it.

"No special occasions, I just wanted to treat you nicely, hug you. It occurred to me how special you are to me," Cerez said. Nora bit her lip and smiled.

"Damn, it is going to be a family bath. Liem and Kadir heard the bathtub. They said you were supposed to be taking a shower. They will be in soon." Nora said. Cerez felt momentarily disappointed. He thought he might have this time alone with her. It was hard sharing her sometimes.

"I was kind of hoping I could have you all to myself," Cerez mumbled.

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"Well, that is disappointing. Those two are very reluctant to touch me. I might be small, but I am healthier than those women, in your guidelines," Nora said, somewhat sarcastically, as she dropped her towel. She knew she had to be safe, and she would not take any unnecessary risks. At least not now.

"Use the rail." Cerez said. He raised the safety railing and Nora held on to it as she descended the stairs into the hot bath. Cerez followed behind her. Cerez rubbed her shoulders and lower back as she relaxed in the water. The abrupt exit earlier started to eat at her.

"Where did you go earlier?" Nora asked Cerez, as something seemed to be weighing on his mind. Kadir and Liem entered the room as he quietly thought about how to answer.

'The truth, no more lies.' Cerez thought to himself. The two of them nervously looked at him.

"There is a platter ready outside for when we are done." Liem looked at Nora with a smile and back to Cerez, nervous as to what he would say.

"There was someone spying outside. I had to deal with it quietly." Cerez admitted to Nora. It was better to be honest with her.

"That is strange. Was he not dangerous?" Nora said.

"So what did you do?" Kadir asked.

"We agreed that he was not here to hurt anyone in the house. That he needed to address his mental health and that he would be reassigned far away from here." Cerez said.

"I have already put the order through Clan Quill so we can make sure our friend is following through with the commitment that they made." Cerez explained. He felt better that they were not hiding this from her.

"It was fortunate that Allurai was upstairs. It could have really ended poorly for him," Liem said. Nora was puzzled. She picked up some soap and lathered her body. They had no problem looking or helping her, her hormones were going wild. Would it be all that terrible to try.

"Well, I am glad that nothing bad happened. It could have been his death being found outside a Matriarch Prime's home in that condition. He smelled horrible. He had been released from duty due to his absence," Cerez explained. Nora's stomach rumbled quite loudly, the conversation paused and Liem cackled.

"Go eat." Liem jokingly ordered. Nora splashed him.

"If you insist. Join me after you are done, there might be some left for you." Nora said, deciding that she was clean enough. She climbed outside of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself.

"Go ahead and eat my share, you are too thin." Kadir said, half seriously.

"I will!" Nora said as she left. She smiled, the bother in her mind building. Her mind was also rumbling about the man that was just outside. She made her way through the hallway, through the main room and to the kitchen. She lifted the platter. It was full of delicious cold foods, like a mini smorgasbord. A palm leaf whacked into the window causing her to startle. 

'Wait, someone unwell was outside, watching me?' Nora thought. Nora started to piece facts together. He had been out there a long time, watching her. The windows in their main room faced out there.

'Could he have watched our intimate moments?' Nora thought. She could not catch a break.

She was assaulted violently this year, almost r***d, and now was she being stalked? She recalled the appointment at Sacred Tree Hospital and the doctor that had chased her to the transport vaguely. After that, the Allari installed a security gate, and built a clinic upstairs. She realized that she had never been alone. Was she really a prisoner in a gilded cage? Was she in danger? Allurai and Leilanna, both had a freedom she did not have. Other than her origins, what was the difference between her and them now? She took deep breaths to try to calm herself down. She thought back to the attack and how the men had snapped when they had attacked her. She tried to stop a flashback to the scene. A curse of her Eidetic memory is that she remembered trauma so vividly. She remembered her ovulation alert on her Interface that day and rambling in english.

"No. no. It cannot be why. I will never be safe? Will they?" Nora mumbled, she felt like her head was frozen in a block of ice. She thought about the lives inside her. What if they had to live their lives under lock and key like her? Nora saw her vision blurring, she knew she was going to go down, she tried to move to the couch. She placed the platter back on the counter. She turned quickly and slipped on the oily bath water that had fallen off her own wet body. She fell backwards onto the counter helplessly grabbing for anything to grab on to. Finding nothing, Nora's arms and hands protected her stomach. Nora hit her head on the counter on the way down. Blood started running down her face as she felt the sharp pain. Next came the blackness of unconsciousness.

Inside the bathroom, an alert chimed in all of their ears loudly. Kadir opened his Interface to check, and his eyes widened as he read out what was on the screen. "It is Nora, shit!" Kadir exclaimed, swiftly climbing out of the tub, dripping wet. He ran quickly outside the room, into the kitchen, nearly slipping himself. His eyes widened in fear when he found her lying on the floor unconscious on the floor.

"No!" Kadir wailed as he held her. He gathered her up in his arms, checking her physically. He found blood running throughout her hair and felt like he was unable to breathe. He should not have picked her up; it was unlikely that she had a spinal cord issue as her Interface was still reporting data to them. It was still careless.

"Wake up Nora. Come on. Please. Love" Kadir said in a panicked, despondent tone. Liem stood panicked and Cerez left the room briskly. "Check the feed. Now!" Kadir ordered. "We should go upstairs." Kadir said. He looked at Nora scared out of his mind. He checked for other blood in a moment of panic.

"Oh no, She hit her head hard." Liem gasped as he reviewed the video.

"Put these on. Come on. We have to go now." Cerez said upon returning fully clothed. He handed Liem some clothes for Kadir and himself.

"Here, give her to me, and follow me once you have bottoms on." Cerez said. He was trying to be calm, his brave facade breaking when he noticed blood seeping.

"Nora, oh no." Cerez said in horror. Cerez scooped her up into his arms, stealing her from the bereft Kadir and ran out of their home to the bank of elevators. Liem had reviewed the feed and saw that she was not attacked. There was no one to kill. She had an emotional breakdown, because he was careless. He hated himself at that moment for not waiting until she was with them to react and that they just were not completely honest with her.

'It was secret after secret. There was so much she needed to know. What was the point of shielding someone; if that hurt them? How could you lie or mislead someone you love?' Cerez thought.

Liem and Kadir joined him half clothed and still very damp in the elevator. They quickly arrived at the fourth floor, and quickly ran out the door. The small team had been too busy to respond to her fall. Janel exited the main surgical room with a confused look on his face. The confusion turned into him being startled by the blood running down her cheek. Head injuries were very sensitive and required higher end tools. He would probably see an influx of new equipment after this.

"Help. Please help." Cerez called out in desperation as they walked into the clinic. The staff halted in the hallway as they saw the popular Matriarch limp in their arms.

"She won't wake up," Liem said. Janel had just finished Allurai's birth and had not had a chance to take a break yet.

"Quickly, bring her to the exam room. What happened?" Janel said as he began his work. Cerez took her into the room and laid her on the scanner bed. Janel quickly grabbed all the surgical tools he thought would help and placed them on a tray. Liem sadly watched him.

"She got dizzy while getting food, she slipped and fell and hit her head on the counter in our kitchen." Liem said.