Ocean's Breath Plateau deadbeat

When the girl went away for a moment, Lucani had no way of knowing if she was abandoned. The loose and invisible threads that linked them as healers told her that the stranger would not abandon her, though: it was not in the blood of a healer to do so. But something like hope told her that she was being abandoned, left to die in relative peace, and not go through the indignity of what she subconsciously already knew was coming.

So she remained, dying and woefully unabandoned, lying now on her side, her tongue lolling on the ground and picking up dust, though she was too weak to reel it back in. Her sense of smell had weakened the least out of all her senses, and Lucani blinked up now to see that the girl had returned with some medicinal roots. If these roots don't work, they'll kill me, she gave her medical opinion, and thought she'd said it outloud but had not.

Death or inevitable pain and humiliation... followed by an eventual return to health. Both options would be a release. She had to do this. Mustering what little strength remained to her, Lucani obeyed her healer and began to eat. Very slowly, very wretchedly.