Dragon Lance - Chapter 10

“Celty, I’m here,” Kirito called out to her. “But Cloud won’t let me close to you,” he informed her as he tried to step around the white stallion once more. The horse only stepped in his way blocking his path once more.

“Cloud…” Celty called out his name as the horse turned to her long enough for Kirito to get around him.

Quickly Kirito made his way next to her as he dropped to his knees beside her. “Celty,” he spoke calmly as he touched her leg to let her know he was right behind her. He looked down at her, his eyes focusing on her shoulder and arm. “Your shoulder looks deformed. I don’t know if it's dislocated or broken, and I don’t want to go pulling on it if it's broken.” He moved slowly around to the front of her.

“You’re going to have to bear with me in this. Because I have to get you to a doctor.”

“No!” Celty cried out shaking her head. “Please. I don’t want to move anymore.”

“You have to Celty. If it is broken, we need to be in his office, so he can set it. Here in the stable, he can’t do that. Now come on. Roll to your back so your good shoulder is against me.” He started sliding his hands under her so to pick her up.

Slowly, Celty rolled to her back once more. As Kirito picked her up she let out a loud cry of pain from his hand resting on her shoulder blade.

“I’m sorry,” Kirito announced hurriedly resting her back to the hay and letting his hand slide further down on her back. He lifted her again. This time only a small whimper escaped the girl. “Alright, now where is the doctor in this village?”

“He lives to the East of… Slycrest. Go…” Celty cringed, gritting her teeth. Taking a deep breath she spoke again, “Go and I will tell you how to get there. It’s not a far walk from here.”

Kirito nodded and started his way out of the stable, Cloud following behind him. “Your horse is following us.”

“Of course he is. He wants to make sure I am going to be alright,” Celty informed him with a very muted chuckle.

“Which way?” Kirito asked stopping at the road and looking both ways.

“To your left, cross the bridge, and make another left. Follow the road to the first house on your right. You will find Doctor Edor.”

“That has to be an NPC name,” Kirito pondered as he pushed on to the doctor’s place.

Celty nodded her head slowly. “And it is going to cost me a small fortune for him to treat me. There goes all the gold I made for delivering you to the Guild.”

“Sorry,” Kirito told her. “But I don’t think the potions I have are going to help this injury, and I don’t want to put you in more pain than you already are.”

“It’s fine,” Celty reassured him. “I can make it back from the information I still have to send to Tanya.

“Even after she already announced it to the others?” Kirito questioned.

“Mhmm, for the game to recognize this information as malice it has to be logged and my message to her will do that. From there Tanya can pay me, and the Guild can act on the information with good cause and the game will not see it as ill intentions.”

“Ah, I think I get it now.” Kirito nodded his head as they crossed the bridge. Hearing her whimper, he let his eyes cast down at her. “Are you alright?”

“Mhmm.” She hummed softly as her head hung then rested against his shoulder. “I am hanging in there the best I can.” She fell silent for a moment, taking a deep breath. “God, I am going to feel this in the morning.”

“Well, if you don’t come on to game tomorrow, would you at least sign-in to send me a message to let me know how you’re doing?” Kirito requested as he looked at her.

“I have to come on. No if’s, and’s, or but's. We have that meeting tomorrow with the other Knights and I still have to message Tanya with the information. If any of the Knights act on what Tanya tells them without confirmation, they could end up marked.”

Kirito nodded. “Makes sense. Well, I will be there. I mean…” he looked down at her as she lifted her head. “If you want me there.”

Celty nodded her head. “I need you there for at least the findings we have on the Sensitivity settings.”

“True,” Kirito agreed. “I will be there at the time of the meeting then.”

“Thank you,” Celty replied resting her head to his shoulder once more. “Are we almost there?” she asked in a defeated tone.

Kirito chuckled lightly seeing the house not far off. “Yeah, I would say another five minutes. Maybe less.”

“Good,” Celty said as her eyes closed slowly, a tear rolling down her cheek. “It hurts so bad, Kirito.”

He sighed letting his head tip to the side, his cheek resting against the top of her head. “I know but hang on we are nearly there, and you can get the help you need to stop the pain and get your shoulder fixed,” she said nothing only letting her head nod slightly as it rested against him, Cloud’s big white head popping up over his shoulder on the other side as he snorted in Kirito’s ear scaring the life out of him.

“Cloud, damn it! I could have done without that!” Kirito voiced as his heart pounded in his chest. Cloud nickered as he reared his head bobbing it quickly, his long white mane wafting through the air. It was like he was laughing at him. Kirito could not help a soft laugh at the horse as he shook his head and moved on toward the home of the doctor.

Once they were at the door, Kirito set Celty down to her feet, so he could reach out and knock on the door. “Doctor Edor!”

It only took a couple minutes before the NPC doctor opened the door. He was an older man with grey hair that reminded Kirito of Einstein. A pair of small glasses sat on his nose. He wore a white lab coat over a blue dress shirt and black slacks.

“Yes? Can I help—Oh my!” the doctor exclaimed when he saw the young woman’s shoulder. He opened the door wide, gesturing for them to come in. “Please, come in quickly! I have to get her shoulder examined right away!”

“Wow. That’s some great AI they’ve outfitted this NPC with,” Kirito noted as he led Celty to an examining table in the back of the room. “Usually you have to tell a doctor NPC what’s wrong with you or let them examine you first.”

The doctor’s house was two stories. The first floor had the main room and a secondary room. The main room looked as if it were designed as an intake room of sorts. There were a couple of nurse NPCs examining two other players, one with a nasty broken arm, and the other with a gash in his stomach. Both were moaning and wailing as if they were experiencing the worst pain of their life. In addition, there were three other players besides the two on the other examining tables, all with equally as bad injuries.

“The developers use us doctor NPCs as safeguards against this sort of thing, as you can see,” the doctor helped Kirito move Celty up onto the table then pulled up a rolling chair. He pushed his glasses further up his nose and grabbed a pair of latex gloves, which Kirito found to be an amusing touch from the developers. “After the Sword Art Online and ALfheim Online fiascos, developers of VRMMOs are doing all they can to avoid lawsuits, which means turning certain NPCs like me into monitors.”

“Monitors of what?” Kirito stepped back to let the doctor do his virtual job.

“Look around you,” Doctor Edor said as he took a potion from a table. “Many players have come into my office for serious injuries. Which in itself is not uncommon, but the problem is that they all can feel the full effect of these injuries. Upon analyzing their game settings, I’ve found a common problem with all of them.”

“Their sensitivity settings are all maxed out and unable to be lowered,” Kirito nodded.

“Precisely. This potion is a painkiller, dear. You won’t feel any pain for about an hour. Drink it so I can help you with your shoulder unrestricted. You have a dislocated shoulder and your humerus is fractured.” The doctor placed the potion in the hand of her good arm.

Celty took the potion looking at the doctor. “Just from getting clotheslined by a tree limb?”

“If you were riding that stallion I saw out there...”—he turned in his chair rolling back toward her—“... at full speed, yes. You do realize a horse can run up to 55 miles per hour, yes?” He watched as the young girl nodded her head. “Then be glad the impact was to your chest and arm. If it were your head, you could have gotten your neck broke.”

The doctor looked to Kirito, peeking over the top of his glasses. “As for you, young man, I don’t know what you got struck with, but it would be in your body’s best interest if you saw a real doctor. I can’t determine damage to a player’s body, but I can advise you that the human brain is a very sensitive organ. Even a small bump can cause dangerous problems.”

Kirito nodded to the doctor, touching the tender spot on his temple. “I logged out earlier and checked myself out. There was no major damage. Just a nasty bruise and a headache.”

“You mean no damaged that you can see with the naked, untrained eye.”

The doctor stood up and prodded at Celty’s shoulder. When she made no display of discomfort, he nodded to himself. He lifted her arm so it was straight out and wrapped his around hers, placing his other hand on top of her shoulder.

“As a monitoring NPC, my programming demands I advise you of the symptoms of a concussion. Such are listed as lapses in memory, confusion, drowsiness and fatigue, changes in vision, headache, nausea and vomiting, sensitivities to light and sound, vertigo, and slowed reaction times. In addition, the human body may not always display these symptoms immediately. In some cases, symptoms can develop hours or even up to months following injury.”

He looked down at Celty. “What is your stallion’s name?”

“Huh?” She looked at the doctor in confusion. “It’s Cloud—AH!”

In the middle of Celty’s response, the doctor gave a hard pull at her shoulder and it snapped back into place with a loud, POP! He looked back up at Kirito. “Distraction is also helpful in medicine. As I was saying, although there can be no bruise on your brain from being struck in the head in-game, your brain can still think you were hit in the head and display symptoms of concussion, even though no concussion is present. Please consider seeing a medical provider to be sure of your body’s health.”

Kirito chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. “Boy, they sure spent a lot of time on your programming, didn’t they?”

Celty gave a small smile and a soft chuckle as her head nodded and she worked her shoulder slowly.

“What are you doing?!” the doctor scolded her. “I did tell you your humerus was fractured, didn’t I?”

“Ye…ye…yes sir, you did,” Celty stammered her eyes widened. “But it’s only a fracture.”

The doctor looked to Kirito. “And he only has a bump on the head. However, both of these conditions can turn very serious very quickly if not looked after.”

Celty let her arm hang back at her side. “So what are you going to do?”

“I am going to put your arm in a sling and that shoulder of yours in a brace,” he told her as he stood from his chair and stepped up to her opening a game panel. “You are to leave them on until these issues at hand are nullified.”

“But it will heal, and much quicker than if it happened IRL,” Celty retorted as the objects the doctor said he was going to use on her appeared on her person. She sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Where this is true, it does not solve the issue of you, the player, being in pain until it does. Until the Administrator and the programmers fix the issue at hand with the sensitivity being maxed, any player that is injured will be treated as if this were real life,” Doctor Edor informed her as he proceeded to tap on a few more things in his panel. “I have sent you both a few potions for any pain that may arise. You only need to take a small sip, about 5 mLs is all.”

Celty sighed once more as Kirito looked from her to the doctor. “So, I guess with the sensitivity being maxed, our healing is slowed as well and none of the potions are working.”

“Right now, as things stand, the healing potions are only restoring a player's HP. It will not heal any injuries they withstand,” Doctor Edor told him. “Which means, the player in real life will suffer the same pain as their avatar until the avatar is fully healed.”

Kirito’s heart skipped as a realization dawned on him. He looked to the NPC. “Doctor… Would it be farfetched to say that if you experience an injury, fatal or otherwise, painful enough, it could kill the player’s body IRL?”

The NPC doctor pulled his glasses off of his nose, looking sternly at Kirito. “Can you imagine what it feels like getting stabbed in the heart, or the head? Can you summon an image or a ghostly sensation of what that kind of pain feels like? VR systems connect to the nervous system of the human body. If you can’t imagine what it feels like to be stabbed in the heart or the head, do you think your brain can handle that kind of pain? If physical therapists can heal amputees who have phantom pains with illusions and mirrors, it is not beyond comprehension to think that the brain cannot be tricked into believing the body is dead. And even if the injury is not fatal, the mind and body can only take so much pain before it goes into shock.”

Doctor Edor turned and peeled his gloves off, tossing them in the wastebasket. “For your sake, Kirito and Celty, I hope that neither of you meet your virtual demise at the hand of a dragon. Being ripped and torn in half and eaten alive is yet another thing no one can fathom.”

Kirito’s mind flashed first to his fight against Oberon in ALO, then to his time in Gun Gale Online. He had experienced the pain of in-game injuries on high sensitivity settings and the fear of dying IRL. Twice. Both terrified him. He never wanted to live through either ever again, though he supposed his unwillingness to quit VRMMOs for good made that next to impossible. VRMMOs attracted trouble of all kinds. But the question was, was this just a glitch… or someone like Oberon or Sterben and his brother? Was this an honest mistake during development, or someone’s sick idea of a game?

Kirito backed up until the back of his knees hit a rolling chair. He sunk down onto it, the chair rolling back a bit at the force of him sitting down. “So… I’m stuck in another death game… Only this time, logging out doesn’t save you.”

He sighed heavily, leaning over and letting his face fall in his hands. “Why does this keep happening?”

Celty looked over at Kirito shaking her head. “It’s a glitch, Kirito. Calm down. I am sure they will have it fixed by the end of the day, and if they don’t I am sure they are smart enough to shut down the NPCs that can cause real damage, or just close the game down altogether.”

“That don’t stop the players from attacking and trust me some of the players are just as dangerous as some of the NPCs,” Kirito explained.

“I know that,” Celty retorted. “But I am sure they will figure something out.” A wide yawn then escaped her as she covered her mouth with her good hand.

“You need to get some sleep young lady. The first step to a speedy recovery is rest. Second is eating well,” Doctor Edor told her.

“Is there a third?” Kirito asked standing from the stool he was seated on.

“Yes, listen to your doctor,” Doctor Edor told them both.

They both chuckled lightly as Celty slid off the examining table. “Thank you, Dr. Edor. What do I owe you?”

“Fifteen hundred Scala, young lady.” Doctor Edor told her.

Celty’s stomach turned over as she sighed heavily. “Like I said, this is going to cost me a small fortune.”

Just then, a small panel opened in front of her and she pressed her hand to it. From there the fifteen hundred Scala was removed from her account. She sighed again looking to Kirito. “You ready to go?”

Kirito nodded his head slowly looking to the doctor next. “What about my charge, Dr. Edor?”

The doctor shook his head. “The young lady took care of it.”

Kirito looked to Celty with a sigh of his own looking back at the doctor. “Well, thank you then,” he commented as the two walked toward the exit.

“Yes, thank you Dr. Edor,” Celty replied as they walked from the room hearing the doctor call behind them.

“The two of you be careful out there.” He watched the two nod their heads as they exited the clinic.

Once outside Cloud walked up to Celty as he rested his head over her shoulder and she stroked his neck with her good hand, resting her head against his. “Thank you for watching over me, Cloud.”

Cloud neighed, bobbing his head as he stepped back and turned so she could mount him. With a pat to his hindquarters, Celty shook her head. “It’s a short waaalk…” She looked behind her, seeing Kirito hoisting her up to get on Cloud. “Kirito…”

“You’re exhausted. Get on,” he told her as her leg slid over Cloud’s back and he climbed on behind her, taking ahold of the reins.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t walk from here to the Village. We are lucky if it’s a quarter of a mile,” Celty retorted.

Kirito’s head shook as he nudged Cloud gently in the sides to get him walking. “You heard Dr. Edor. You need to rest if you’re going to recover properly. Walking is not resting.”

“A short walk is not going to hurt me,” Celty informed him.

“It’s not going to help you either in the state you’re in,” Kirito fired back, hearing Celty sigh in defeat. “Good. Now, do you want to stable Cloud when we get to the village or place him in your inventory?”

“Stable him. I still have a little cash, so I’m staying at the Inn until this is over with,” Celty informed him.

“Until this mess is over?” Kirito questioned as he leaned into her looking over her shoulder at her. “Do you mean the mess with the Sensitivity being maxed or your injuries healing?”

“Aren’t they both synonymous?” Celty questioned.

“Celty…” Kirito shook his head. “No… Ashley, listen to me. That’s not safe, you have to sign out. You have to eat, get up, and move around, get something to drink, and use the restroom. Who knows how long this could take? Not to mention you remaining in one place for too long of a time IRL—it’s not good for your body or health. Believe me, I know that first hand, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

“I understand what you’re saying, Kirito, but right now with the pain Celty is suffering I can control that in game, but IRL I can’t control the pain I am feeling there. I know what I felt like when this happened.” Her head shook. “I don’t want to feel that pain again.”

“One night then, and I am staying with you to make sure you sign out when we get up. If you’re hurting when you wake up, you can drink some of the potion Dr. Edor gave you.” He leaned into her again, looking at her over her shoulder. “But you’re signing out directly after and relaxing in the comfort of your family home before you have to sign back in as Tanya for the meeting.”

Celty sighed heavily. “Yes, daddy. As you say, daddy.”

Kirito’s eyes widened as he sat up erect behind her. “Excuse you? Did you just call me daddy?”

“Yes, I did. If you’re going to act like one I might as well call you that,” Celty replied as they crossed over the bridge back into the village.

“I am only looking out for a friend. I know what it is like to lay on your back for long periods of time with lack of food, drink or movement. Trust me. Just the few hours you will have spent in here will make you stiff,” Kirito explained to her.

With another defeated sigh Celty yielded in her conversation with Kirito. “You’re as bullheaded as the two males I already deal with on a daily basis in this game.”

Kirito smiled triumphantly. “Your brother and Aaron and if that is the case you had better add Klein to the list as well. Now you have four of us to deal with.”

Celty’s head shook as they stopped in front of the stable and Kirito dismounted Cloud, then helped her off. “No, Creed and Aaron.” She took hold of Cloud’s reins and led him into the stable to his stall as Kirito followed in behind them.

Quickly stepping around Celty and Cloud, Kirito opened the gate to the stall as Celty removed Cloud’s bridle. “We just don’t want to see a friend get hurt is all.” Cloud entered the stall on his own as Kirito closed the gate behind him making sure it was latched tightly. He then turned to Celty gesturing toward the front for them to exit.

“I know what you are doing, but I also know how to take care of myself,” Celty replied as she turned and walked toward the entrance of the stable.

“We all do, but at times we can get so caught up in things we forget what is important for our own needs. That’s why we have friends, so they can remind us of these things,” Kirito enlightened her.

“Oh really,” Celty replied with a shocked tone as she looked to him. “I always thought it was to be a royal pain in the backside.”

Kirito chuckled lightly as his fingers combed through his dark hair. “Well, we can be that too.”

The two shared a chuckle as they exited the stable and headed off to the Inn. Once at the Inn and checking in they discovered there was only one room left, but thankfully it had a full bed. Agreeing that that would be fine they purchased the room for the night and the Innkeeper gave them the room key. Preceding up to the room Kirito seemed a little nervous.

“What’s wrong, Kirito?” Celty asked him. “Don’t tell me you’re worried about this now after we paid for the room?”

“No… I mean… Well, yeah a little,” Kirito replied.

Celty sighed. “You know, two people of the opposite sex can share a bed without something happening.”

“I know that,” Kirito responded.

“Then what is the problem?” Celty asked him as they topped the stairs and started down the hall to their room.

“It’s just, people can talk, and I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want any of this getting back to Asuna.”

Celty chuckled lightly. “She doesn’t even play Dragon Lance,” Celty reminded him as they stopped, and Kirito unlocked the door. He let her enter first. “I think you would be more worried about Creed than her.”

Kirito closed the door behind him with a heavy sigh and locked it. “At least with Creed I can defend myself. When it comes to Asuna…” He shuddered. “Regardless of the fact that she’s a girl, she’s still strong as hell.”

Celty chuckled lightly. “I am sure everything will be fine.” She patted his shoulder then turned to go to the restroom to change. “I am going to change into my bedclothes, and don’t worry, they cover more than what I have on right now. You might as well get changed as well while I am in there.”

Kirito nodded. He changed into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Once he moved to the bed to pull back the covers, Celty came out in sleep pants and a t-shirt.

With a brush in hand, she walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, her long blue hair pulled over her shoulder as she brushed through it carefully. “Do you know how to braid?” she asked Kirito turning slightly as she looked back over her shoulder at him.

“I do actually,” Kirito nodded, climbing up into the bed. “I used to help my sister with it when she had long hair, and then while in SAO I helped Asuna braid hers every morning.” He looked up and down at her extremely long hair. “With hair that long, I’m guessing you’d like some help.”

“I normally do it on my own, but with a lame arm I can’t right this moment.” She looked back at him smiling. “So, you would not mind helping, would you? If you would rather not I understand. It is a lot of hair.”

“It’s no bother. Besides, braiding hair would only aggravate your injury,” Kirito shook his head. He moved behind her, lifting her hair out of the way so he didn’t sit on it. “Any particular way you want it braided? Or just one long braid?”

“Just one long braid for sleeping,” She replied sitting with her back to him. “I tried sleeping with it unbraided one time.” She chuckled lightly. “Biggest mistake of my life. I woke up tied up in my own hair.”

Kirito laughed and shook his head. “Or you could just cut it. I hated my long hair in GGO. Worst avatar ever.” He blinked, thinking back to the game as he separated Celty’s hair into three parts. “Well, maybe not the worst.” He grinned to himself. “It was definitely useful in its own way. Especially for coercing the other male players into doing what I wanted.”

His thoughts landed on Sinon, remembering how pissed she was that he had tricked her. “Well, not everyone. It did come back to bite me in the ass sometimes,” he chuckled sheepishly. “Otherwise it was useful. Most players underestimated me cause they thought I was a girl.”

Celty chuckled covering her mouth. “You had a feminine Avi? I bet you were just adorable. As for cutting my hair… No way. You think Creed will be mad if he finds out we camped out together. Pft… Let me cut my hair.”

“Well, to be honest, I didn’t think most girls gave a crap about what guys want from them. Especially Asuna. If I told her to cut her hair or grow it out as long as yours, she’d probably slap me.” He braided about a quarter of her hair before he had to pause to stretch out his hands and crack his knuckles. Her hair was thick, and he was sure his hands would be cramping in real life too after this. “Your Avi does have pretty hair, though. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone here or even in ALO with hair this long. Doesn’t it get in the way when you fight?”

“At times it can, but it was not this long when I got this Avi. Her hair barely sat at my waist. Celty was my first Avi in Dragon Lance, so I have had her for a little over three and a half years,” she informed him.

“So, Tanya was not your first?” Kirito asked her.

She refrained from shaking her head as she spoke. “Nope.”

“So does that mean…” Kirito hesitated knowing the answer as he went back to braiding her hair.

“Yep, that is what it means. Celty is the strongest of my two avatars, and she is pretty OP if I do say so myself. Why do you think I use her for the things I do? She has advanced as far as I can take her in everything she needs for her profession. All I am doing is waiting for updates, so I can take her further.”

“So… Creed is not the strongest of The Unseen,” Kirito pondered.

“To his knowledge. Yes, he is,” Celty told him as he finished her hair and she pulled it over her good shoulder. She turned to look at him smiling brightly. “Thank you.”

He nodded slowly as he looked on at her. “So how strong is Tanya?”

“She sits at level 70, about to roll over to 71. All her skills as a Knight and Leader are maxed at the moment. Once she rolls over to Level 71 it will add more needed XP points to my skills. I believe it’s like 71,000 more that I will need to gain to max them out once more.”

“What is the highest level one can achieve here?” Kirito asked her as the two adjusted themselves to lay down in the bed.

“So far only 75, but the on the World Bulletin Board the Admin was talking about their next update, and they were going to add like another 25 levels,” Celty informed him as she laid down on her back.

“Sounds about right,” Kirito stated turning off the small light at his bedside table, then laid on his side facing her as he reached down pulling up the sheet covering them both. “Mind if I asked how strong Aaron is?”

Celty shook her head as she turned looking at him. “Aaron has been maxed for some time now. He has even maxed unneeded skills just for something to do.”

“How long has he been playing?” Kirito asked her.

“Since the game was released I believe. So about a year or two longer than me I think,” Celty explained.

“So why did you create Tanya if Celty was working out so well for you?” Kirito asked her, resting his head on a bent arm.

Celty blushed a soft shade of red. “Aaron…” She looked up at the ceiling. “I guess you could say I have had a crush on him since day one. He did not seem to be interested in Celty and since he was human and Celty a Moon Elf, I made a human girl. Tanya.”

“Did it help?” Kirito asked her as he folded his arm under his head resting his head back down on the pillow.

Celty nodded. “Tanya sees him more than Celty ever has.”

“Do you think he returns your feelings?”

She shrugged. “I would like to say yes with some of the things he does, but that could be written off as he is just a good, close friend that cares.” Her head turned to the side once more looking at Kirito. “Like someone else I know.”

“Creed seems to like you. A lot,” Kirito expressed. “Do you like him at all? I mean… Like you like Aaron.”

Celty shrugged. “He seems a little too possessive for my taste. I do care for him; he and I have been friends for a long time. But there is nothing there other than friendship.” She fell silent looking back at the ceiling, shrugging once more.

“I don’t know. I am sure under the right circumstances and if he dropped the possessive attitude… I'm sure something could happen between us.” She looked over at Kirito once more. “But not until I'm sure Aaron only sees me as a friend. I would not two time either of them. They're too good of people to hurt that way.”

Kirito nodded his head slowly. “Well, I guess we need to get some rest. The sun will be up soon. We don’t want to sleep the day away and miss the meeting with the Knights.”

Celty nodded her head slowly as a wide yawn escaped her. Slowly her eyes closed. “Good night, Kirito and thank you for everything you have done for me tonight.”

Kirito smiled warmly as he watched her eyes close. “Sweet dreams and you’re welcome, Celty,” he spoke softly in the dim light of the room as he watched her fall fast asleep.