NOVEL NEXT Chapter 215: The next step(s) (doki doki)
Pollux felt re-invigorated after watching Prince Rian and Ayden dominate the duelling field, moving and fighting with such fluidity.
When it came time to practice walking, Pollux started reducing the strength of the guiding spell and put in more effort in moving his legs himself. Off the treadmill, he could already swing his legs. He was slowly grasping the trick to walking: he had to think about it, but not too much. He had to just do it.
He could feel the muscles on his legs becoming a little firmer. And now that he was getting exercise standing up, he had less pains and aches around his waist and back.
Pollux had a plan to reduce the guiding spell by a fraction every few days, in such a gradual manner that each change was barely perceptible, yet added up to a huge change over time.
However, a few weeks later, Pollux didn’t want to wait any longer. He felt that he could already move his legs ahead of the guiding spell. He wanted to try.
In his next training session, Pollux started off with the guiding spell as usual. He moved his legs, in the series of steps that he was now very familiar with—foot lifting, leg raising, leg extending, foot descending…
Then, while trying not to look down at his legs, Pollux took a deep breath and cancelled the guiding spell.
Ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump.
The treadmill surface continued to move beneath him. He lifted his legs and extended out in front of him, placed it down, and lifted his other leg too—
He—he did it! He could walk without the guide spell!!!
He wanted to share his happiness—but Hadrian wasn’t there. There was only his manservant and the guard who was acting as his walking-reference.
Well, no longer acting as his walking-reference!
Pollux suppressed his joy and tried to be calmer. So what if he could walk without the guide spell? He was still holding onto the handrails. He was still supported by the harness. The treadmill surface was moving beneath him, moving his feet.
He could walk.
But he still had a long way to go. Could he stay upright without the harness? Did he dare let go of the handrails? Not yet.
Keep walking, keep walking, keep walking...
Pollux kept quiet for the next few days about this matter. He still started off the practice sessions with the guide spell, but he would cancel it part way through once he felt the rhythm of walking.
Aside from his manservant and guard who assisted him during his practice, no one else knew that he didn’t need the guide spell anymore.
The weekend arrived, and Pollux and Hadrian were playing with the cats.
Wolfgang wasn’t there, because his sister had dragged him off to work on a possible cat-lounge, where humans could visit and pay money to play with the cats. According to Wolfgang, his sister had given up on reducing the number of cats in the household, and wanted to make those cats pull their weight and go to work instead.
So, this weekend, it was just Pollux and Hadrian with Princess Sasha and Lady Artemis. Hadrian swung a cat wand with a feathered toy on the end for the cats to chase, while Pollux threw a small cat toy, which Princess Sasha would then fetch.
Poor little cutie Artemis was too slow, always a few seconds behind Princess Sasha.
“Meow meow…” Artemis gave up trying to follow Princess Sasha, and mewed pitifully at Hadrian, expressing her grievances.
Hadrian chuckled and picked up Artemis. “Oh, baby Arty…” His voice was full of indulgence,
It made Pollux feel odd.
“How is your research going?” Pollux asked.
Hadrian settled Artemis in his arms and said, “Good! The setup for my new lab is officially completed, and I can’t wait to start really using it. Remember when I gave a talk to the group and some other academics at the university? After that, I received a lot of interesting comments…”
Pollux suppressed an inexplicable sour feeling. Hadrian’s mind these days was occupied by his research, and he had names of many academics that he met and talked to in his mouth. But that made sense, and it was good that many people could help Hadrian with his research, not just Pollux and Ayden…
“How is your group?” Pollux asked.
“Quite nice.” Hadrian smiled sheepishly. “I have to admit that Sedaverians are friendly…” He petted Artemis. “And how is your walking practice going?”
Pollux casually threw the cat toy that Princess Sasha had just retrieved for him. “Oh, it’s going well. I don’t need the guide spell anymore.”
“That’s amazing, that’s great!” Hadrian said, earnestly happy. “What are you looking forward to doing the most, now that you can walk?”
“Walking. Not sitting in the front row of the lecture theatre,” Pollux said.
Hadrian chuckled. “I can imagine. Have you told Ayden?”
“No, not yet…you’re the first,” Pollux said. Technically, Hadrian was the first person he verbally told.
“You should tell him.”
“Next time.”
Since Ayden was no longer healing Pollux, they didn’t meet so frequently anymore. Ayden primarily came to the Rosewood house on Wednesdays to meet with the Rosewood staff, talk with Hadrian about his glass research, and to have dinner with them, Prince Rian, and Lady Florence. Outside of these days, Ayden met with Pollux and Prince Alexius every other week regarding the floating chairs and single-person vehicles they were developing.
“Me-orrwww!” Princess Sasha made a warning mew-growl. She had the toy she had fetched in her mouth, waiting impatiently for Pollux to attend to her.
Pollux petted Princess Sasha on the head and accepted the toy. “Again?”
Princess Sasha started backing up, ready.
Pollux threw the toy once more, and Princess Sasha leapt eagerly for it.
At that moment, Artemis also jumped out of Hadrian’s arms and waddled over to chase Princess Sasha.
Pollux watched them play, a little bit envious. Look at them, without any worries aside from food, sleep, and play. They weren’t even sad when Pollux and Hadrian were at the university.
Next week, when Ayden came to the Rosewood house, Pollux told Ayden that he didn’t need the guide spell any longer.
“Oh, that’s fast, good,” Ayden said.
Pollux felt proud of himself.
“Continue practising on the treadmill for now, and I’ll make a walker for you so that you can walk around more generally.”
Pollux’s interest was piqued. “I assume you don’t mean crutches.”
“No, it’s a walking frame.” Ayden opened his notebook to his calendar. “Or…do you think you can make the walker? It’s primarily a metal frame with two wheels.”
“I can make anything out of metal,” Pollux said.
“I have a bit of time before dinner, let’s have a quick meeting and I’ll draw the schematic for you,” Ayden said.
Pollux nodded.
Ayden went off to have his meetings with Solicitor Carmine and others. Before dinner, Ayden drew up the walker: it had four legs, the front narrower than the back, with two wheels. The height of the walker should be at a comfortable height for Pollux to hold onto. To use it, one would push it forward, and then take a step or two before repeating the action. Ayden left any magical enhancements to Pollux.
Although Pollux wasn’t as busy as Hadrian or Ayden, he also had study work over the weekdays, so he didn’t properly start construction until the weekend.
His servants sourced a bunch of different materials, primarily metal, and Hadrian joined him to help make it.
Pollux did the construction, using magic to shape the metal into hollow tubes, bent into the shapes that Ayden had drawn up. Instead of wheels, Pollux attached the same floating spell that his floating wheelchair had and built in a way for the walker to slide (move) and to lock position (stabilise). He also made the floating height adjustable.
Hadrian was there as support, agreeing with Pollux’s out-loud reasoning.
“That’s so smart,” Hadrian said, looking at the completed walker. “The last thing is to try it. Your Highness, may I assist you?”
Pollux’s heart missed a beat. “Yes.”
Hadrian came over, closer than he had been in a while.
Technically, Pollux could push himself off his chair into a standing position. But having help would make it easier…
Hadrian bent down to assist Pollux out of his floating chair and up to a standing position.
The feeling of Hadrian, big and strong, lowering his body, so close—
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump.
Hadrian touched him, supporting him upright. Pollux reached out and grabbed onto the handlebars of the walker.
“Shall I let go, Your Highness?” Hadrian asked.
Pollux checked that the walker was on a locked position. “Yes.”
Hadrian let go, but he didn’t step back, his gaze full of concern.
Pollux remained standing. He took a little step forward, the walker still locked. Then, he unlocked it, and slowly slid it forward. Then he took proper step.
“Wow, Your Highness!”
Pollux’s heart thumped in his chest. He took a few more steps, and gingerly turned the walker so that he would work in a curve instead of a straight line. He put the walker back in fully locked position and gave a sigh a relief. Then, he lifted his head and saw Hadrian’s smile and gaze.
“I did it,” Pollux said, suddenly feeling a little shy.
Hadrian nodded. “You did!”
Pollux’s chest felt so full of warmth and happiness. “Let me walk some more.”
“Please, Your Highness.”
Pollux looked around the room they were in, which was his study in the Rosewood house. He decided he wanted to walk over to the big window.
So, he did. He pushed the walker and placed one foot in front of the other.
At every step, his heart seemed to thump loudly. His gripped the bars tightly. The walker wasn’t as stable as the treadmill. He didn’t have a harness on in case he fell, only a Hadrian hovering nearby, ready to catch him if anything went wrong.
His view of the room changed as he walked.
He wasn’t just standing up in that treatment room. He was now standing up in his study, a familiar place that felt a little unfamiliar from his new vantage point.
Although his floating wheelchair allowed him to raise his field of vision compared to a traditional wheelchair, he didn’t set his floating wheelchair such that he achieved his natural eye level, because the gap between the chair and the ground was too large.
The view through the window was the same but different. The gardens outside seemed just a bit brighter and full of life.
Pollux carefully turned around again to face Hadrian.
“How do you feel?” Hadrian asked.
Pollux’s lips curved up. “Good.”
Hadrian seemed to freeze for a moment. “That’s good. Will you walk some more, or rest?”
“Walk some more,” Pollux said. “At least I can walk back to my chair.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
After a short walk, Pollux sat down again. He didn’t want to risk a fall, and the walk had tired his legs and arms more than expected.
But this meant that Pollux didn’t need the treadmill any longer. He wanted to practice using this walker instead (including practising getting up by himself and down by himself). He could practice in any room. He could even practice outside if he wanted. Then, step by step, Pollux would be able to start taking steps without support. He would be free.
Unbeknown to him, Pollux’s entire countenance became more sunny and optimistic.
But Hadrian noticed. He was pleased to see Prince Pollux cheerful. Which was why he couldn’t understand the weird feeling he had in his chest when he saw His Highness smile.
Cassiopeia healed Lady Luna Alizarin in record time.
In part, this was due to Lady Luna’s request and agreement. Lady Luna preferred to have fewer sessions, if possible, because she would rather adapt to big changes fewer times, than smaller changes many times. Lady Luna also knew exactly what she wanted. All of this meant that Cassiopeia went as fast as she was comfortable in going, which was twice as fast as originally estimated.
Cassiopeia then handed Lady Luna off to a more senior healer to confirm that, yes, Lady Luna could have children.
And with that, Cassiopeia saw Lady Luna and her older sister off.
During this time, Cassiopeia had also picked up a second patient with nerve-related problems and healed that person in record time too. She spent the rest of her allocated time at the clinic researching, wondering when she’ll actually get a transgender patient.
Due to confidentiality, the healing of Lady Luna wasn’t publicised, and Lady Luna didn’t talk about it either. This made it harder to advertise the gender transition services, unlike the other healing services at the clinic.
As it turned out, the first transgender patient came from the Rosewood fief.
Since Earl Ayden Rosewood was one of the founders of the clinic, the clinic had an administrative arm in the Rosewood fief, bundled up with the other administrative services offered by the Rosewood Group. The prospective patient got in contact with the Rosewood staff member in the fief, who provided details and helped schedule an appointment. When the patient was ready, she, and a close friend, travelled with Earl Rosewood to the Capital to go to the clinic.
Rian: Why aren’t Prince Pollux and Hadrian together yet?
Author: Do you remember how long you pined for?
Rian: ….
First entry to the 2-year anniversary event!
“The Boys” by Nitsuga
They’re so soft and fluffy!!!!!