Closed Hope, in Six-Armed Form (Sayana)

[Aren]

Syliras: 75th of Winter, 514 AV - Fifteenth Bell The caravan had been kind enough to give him a lift back to Syliras in one of the wagons, but the entire ride had borne an uncanny resemblance to an exercise in pain tolerance. The Akalak had felt every bump, rock and twig that the wheels had driven over in his very soul and he couldn't help but feel an incredible sense of relief as the journey came to an end. Little did he realize that the trip back to the city on that wagon had been an idyllic afternoon stroll compared to the agony he was soon to experience. "Wysar take every single one of those infernal mutts...!" Aren cried, although the effort to vent seemed to produce more pain than it was worth. "I'm feeling the same thing you are and you don't hear me complain about it every three seconds, do you?!" Seros groaned, his anger clearly directed less at his brother and more at the exquisite torment they were both currently partaking of. Bemoaning the absence of anything that could carry him now, Aren shuffled his way through the streets of Syliras much in the same way a man with a hangover might; he just wanted to get home and not move from his bed for the next three days, yet that was simply not to be. After one particularly gut-wrenching step, the Akalak felt like something was amiss. With some effort, he brought a hand up to feel the wound left by that damn wolf, soon realizing that there was a lot of red on his fingers and even more streaming down the side of his body. The injury hadn't actually been stitched, but the bleeding had been staunched back at the site of the battle. Unfortunately, it seemed that whatever medicine had been applied wasn't strong enough to endure the trip all the way back to Aren's abode, and the continually deepening crimson of his bandages were an excellent testament to this fact. "This isn't good." The Akalak thought, knowing that this loss of blood needed to be stopped immediately. He was a big guy, and he could afford to lose a lot more than a smaller person, but he also needed a lot more to properly function. He pressed his hand against what seemed to be the source of the leak in an effort to stem the tide, but the awkward angle and the incredible pain made that difficult. What little he could do was just a woefully ineffective stopgap, and worse, he didn't know where he could go for help, or who he could turn to. "Sayana's. It's around here." Seros offered, thinking the Eypharian might be their best chance, if not their only chance. "I don't think she knows anything about medicine." Aren replied in protest, but he could feel his strength waning with every step he took. "All she has to do is stop this bleeding." The darker Other retorted, absolutely certain that this was the right course of action, "You know where she lives, you know its nearby and you know she'd probably help, so what better options do we have!?" The wounded warrior wasn't sure if imposing on Sayana was the best thing to do, but he also wasn't sure if he actually had any other viable alternative. "I just hope she's there." Aren said, the gravity of his situation forcing him to agree with his brother. "She better be, or we're dead." Seros hoped that the dancer didn't having better to do today, "Unless you think one of these people seeing us bleed to death out here will give enough of a damn to do anything about it." He muttered, simply unable (and unwilling) to rely on the unlikeliness of the kindness of strangers. After making his way through the enclosed streets of Syliras, looking more and more like a walking corpse with every moment that passed, Aren finally reached his destination: Sayana's residence. It took every ounce of his strength merely to stand, and so the Akalak leaned against the thick wooden door as he used what little fortitude remained him to give the entryway a couple of taps. "Be here..." He mumbled, finally beginning to lose his grip on consciousness. His will to live had seen him this far, but there was a limit to what the body could stand, and right now Aren's body felt more like a huge lifeless lump than anything else.

[Sayana]

The graceful arch of the veil came down through the air only to be lifted up and spun in large sweeping circles. A few quick steps forwards with her arms raised high let the fabric billow behind her before she had to stop as she reached the wall of her small apartment. It was almost magical how it could flutter through the air due to its lightness. If she was back in Ahnatep, she’d surely make all her garments out of this fine silky material. Except for one it was hugely expensive. And secondly… it was rather transparent. However, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Sayana wrapped the piece of silk about her body giving it a semblance of being hidden, yet also showing plenty as she danced to the music in her head. The drums… she missed the drums the most. Here in Syliras they seemed to be a rare instrument and yet in Ahnatep who could go to a performance without hearing the pounding of drums within your heart? With a sigh she unwound the silken fabric from her body and folded it neatly. The Eypharian glanced at the two throwing daggers at her hip. She was still annoyed at the events of the previous day. Drawing one in each of her mid hands, she aimed a quick two shots at her wooden dresser. The dagger thrown by her right struck home and imbedded itself into the wood, but the one thrown by her left clatter uselessly to the floor. She really needed to get her mid left hand as good as her right mid, but she grimaced at the thought of regular practice. Besides, it was about time to head off to the Rearing Stallion anyways. Sayana was just about to retrieve the two throwing daggers when there were a couple light taps upon her door. Frowning, the dancer approached the door. As she turned the handle, the weight of the Akalak suddenly swung the door wide and she had to rush forwards to prevent the man from stumbling or worse toppling over. His sudden weight was her first surprise as she made an effort to keep him standing and relatively vertical. Her arms were a tangled mess holding him here and there in her rushed effort to catch him. Her second surprise, however, was far worse. As she gripped him firmly around his back she realized an odd wetness upon her hands and arms. When she lifted an arm to look, she gazed in horror at the amount of blood that covered her. “Oh no, no, no, no, no!!” The Eypharian cried out in panic. He can’t be… he can’t be… She had to believe that he wasn’t and be as quick as she could too. The first step was to get him sitting. She adjusted her arms to hold him by his underarms and also by the sides of his waist instead of his slippery back. “Come on, you can do it. Walk with me.” She said to him as she half lifted, half dragged him to the nearest couch. As she attempted to lower him down, he suddenly felt a lot heavier than before and she awkwardly dropped him on the cushioned surface. Fortunately it hadn’t been far, but she still winced at the impact. Blood blood blood. How do I make it stop? At first she was about to go to her washbasin in attempt to wipe the blood clean but then she realized that the Akalak might be in danger of losing too much blood at this stage. Don’t warriors try to bind their wounds? In fact, she noticed a few remains of bandages on the Akalak. She needed fabric, fresh stuff to bind it tight. She glanced at her skirt… wasn’t there another way? And suddenly she realized that her home was full of cloth. She immediately reached for a piece of fabric that adorned her wall and ripped it from its nails. She stretched the cloth taut with two hands and used a third to slice through it with her dagger. “I’m coming Aren,” she said with quiet determination. His back was probably the worst, but probably the trickiest to bind too. Instead she started with his upper arm that was not much better but at least easier to bind tightly with the cloth. She lifted his arm gently with one hand and used her others to wrap the long strip of cloth tightly around and around his arm. Since the last bandages had obviously not worked, she made sure to bind it as tight as she could. What if she cut off his circulation? Wasn’t that the point? She was momentarily unsure, but decided that tighter was probably better.

[Aren]

Aren's loss of consciousness had been short lived, but he was so weak that the state he currently found himself in wasn't much better. Though he had some type of peripheral awareness of his surroundings, the Akalak's mind was simply unable to make much sense of what his faculties were trying to tell him. For a while there, it actually felt like he was floating, being carried aloft by a great web, but the event was quickly followed by a sudden and precipitous fall into into what could only have been a soft, fluffy cloud. Afterwards, the stimuli his body was experiencing prompted his addled mind to imagine a great spider wrapping him up with it's many legs. To his surprise, he wasn't afraid, as the creature exuded an air of warmth and compassion that gave the impression that it seemed to care about him a great deal. In a rare moment of lucidity, however, Aren suddenly realized that he had actually made it to Sayana's place and it was she who was caring for him. Yet, he could still feel himself weakening; holding on to that moment where his mind could form even the most basic of coherent thoughts was getting more and more difficult. The warrior could feel the Eypharian tightening something on his arm, but he feared it might not be enough, "Fire... if you... -ave to." The Akalak managed to groan out, hoping that Sayana could make out what he was saying. He knew that a flame applied long enough could fuse tissue together, but in truth Aren wasn't entirely certain what the process entailed on such a large wound. And yet, although he'd rather never find out what it felt like for himself, it was a preferable alternative to death. "...ire." The blob of blue and red on the couch tried to repeat, but his grasp on reality had gone again. Now it was all up to Sayana to stabilize him, because his body was no longer in any shape to help itself. OOCSorry it's kind of short.

[Sayana]

As the Eypharian tied a tight knot in the make-shift bandage she had made around his arm, the Akalak groaned out a couple of words. Fire? Was it not warm enough in here? Sayana looked over to her hearth momentarily and was absolutely certain she wouldn’t be able to drag him closer to the fire. But did he mean fire like burning, or melting, or joining together? She shuddered at the image of half-burnt and half-melted flesh fusing together. Quickly she ripped another long strip of cloth from the piece that had hung from her wall. “No, no. Fire won’t do you good. And if you’re cold, tough it out. I can’t bring you to the hearth.” She said as she began wrapping his upper back in the cloth. She could only get as high as his armpits as she wound the fabric about his torso and pulled it tight. This time, however, she was careful not to make it too tight to make it difficult to breath. The last thing she wanted was to suffocate him by mistake. There were still gashes in his upper shoulder blades and she attempted to supply sufficient pressure and binding by wrapping the cloth from one shoulder to the opposite armpit. It wasn’t as well done, but at least it covered the wound. He was now a blue Akalak with his upper torso gift-wrapped in green. Now what? He still needed proper medical care and it probably wasn’t the best that she had just wrapped the green cloth over top of the existing bandages. Didn’t doctors always worry about making things clean? She hoped she had stopped the bleeding, though she couldn’t really tell since the cloth was tinged brownish red from all the existing blood. She was about to start pacing but then quickly realized it would accomplish nothing. Sayana returned to Aren and carefully helped him to lie down upon the couch on his side with the good arm. The couch was hardly long enough for the tall Akalak and his feet stuck out in the air. Regardless, she bent down and gave him a kiss. “I need to find someone to help you,” she said quietly. “I will be back as soon as I can.” The Eypharian swiftly put on her coat and boots and hurried out the door. Healers, healers, healers… She knew of Devi but she had no idea where Devi lived. Where else could she find a healer or doctor? Time was running out, so the moment she was out on the streets she rushed up to ask the first person she saw. “My friend is bleeding and needs help, where can I find a doctor?” The squire she had asked was startled by the direct question, but had often visited the Soothing Waters when injuries inevitably happened. “The Soothing Waters has good healers. It’s not far, in the Nettle District. Shall I take you there?” The relief was evident on Sayana’s face. “Yes please, thank you,” was her full hearted reply. It was only about fifteen chimes later when they arrived at the bathhouse. Sayana quickly dashed in and pleaded her case to the receptionist. “He’s lost a lot of blood. And I’ll pay. Please can someone help?” “Calyna is busy with something serious right now, but Choa’s patient can wait,” Ivis replied calmly. In moments Nilichoa had joined Sayana and they both headed off quickly to her apartment. As the door swung open to her home, Sayana dreaded what she might find. The Eypharian quickly rushed over to her friend, her lover, to make sure he was still alive and breathing. Choa meanwhile entered the apartment calmly and set her supplies on a table before going to the Akalak. She looked at him critically and gave a frown at the bandages. “They stop the bleeding but if they aren’t changed and the wound properly cleaned, it’s going to get infected,” the doctor explained. “And by the sounds of it he’ll probably need stitches too.” Sayana was simply glad that the doctor had come, and also that the doctor hadn’t pronounced him dead. OOCI hope that's enough to reply to. It was starting to get long and I don't know how unconscious/out of it he is.

[Aren]

"Wha..." Aren's eyes creaked opened after an amount of time that he couldn't readily quantify. It could have been two bells or two days, but either way he felt better. He was still weak, "...Ow," and very clearly still in pain, but he was alive and conscious; the latter status condition might be short lived, but the former seemed like it would endure for at least some time. The Akalak wasn't entirely certain how long he'd remain awake under the current circumstances, but the fact that he was awake at all spoke volumes about the choice he had made of where to go. Sayana's place had clearly been the right option, which was in no way diminished by the fact that it had really been his only option. As his blurry, somewhat unresponsive eyes attempted to place his surroundings, Aren found himself trying to prop his body up on his shoulders in order to better reconnoiter his environment. He soon realized this had been a succinctly bad idea, however, and splattered back down to the couch with a pathetic whimper. "Sa... Sayana." He tried to say, although Aren could feel every muscle used in the action rebelling against the idea, and he wasn't even sure if she was anywhere nearby. Yet, he wanted her to be. He wanted to see her beautiful face before his mind gave away again and he lost the ability to actually remain conscious, which he expected to happen forthwith. "A-are you...?" The Akalak barely managed to get out, his eyes shutting in order to conserve his much needed strength. He worried that in so doing he might slip away into the land of dreams again, but the alternative had simply looked unfeasible as his lids had been practically closing on their own, anyway. "Thank her for me, will ya?" Aren requested, fearing he wouldn't be able to withstand his condition long enough to actually express his gratitude, yet his brother sometimes felt stronger, having a bit of a stubborn streak to him. He might be able to manage it, if anyone could. "What? You don't even know if she's here. And if she is... I'll mess it up. You know me." Seros protested, uncharacteristically concerned about the freedom he was being offered. He could feel his Other's inner smile telling him something it never had before, though: that Aren had faith that he could do this.

[Sayana]

It was perhaps five chimes after Aren’s momentary stirring that Sayana and the doctor entered the apartment. “Aren! Aren!” Sayana spoke anxiously as she rushed to his side. She cradled his head as she kneeled in front of the couch. She kissed his lips tenderly and they seemed warm, not like death. Though she had only been gone for maybe half a bell. He seemed to sift slightly on the couch but she wasn’t sure if he had actually moved or if she just wanted it so badly. “It’s going to be alright, Aren. I brought a doctor.” She said trying to sooth his sleeping form. Meanwhile, the healer had unpacked her bag of supplies onto the nearby table. There were a couple pieces of cloth, some fine silk thread and a needle, various pouches of dried herbs, a small jar of paste, bandages, tweezers and a few other items. The rest of her supplies she kept in the bag as they were unlikely to be needed. “First his wound needs to be cleaned. Do you have some clean water?” Choa asked and immediately Sayana got up to retrieve a basin of water. Granted it had been sitting in her apartment for a while, but she hadn’t used it that day. The healer eyed it critically but determined it was acceptable. “I’ll use some Vyfox as well to reduce possible infection,” Choa said with a nod. “Now, you said his back was the worst? First help me take off the bandages. His wounds need to be cleaned, sewn up, and rebandaged.” As the healer put two pieces of cloth into the water, Sayana went over to her friend and slowly pulled him into a sitting position. He was heavy, and it was hard to also be gentle at the same time. She then began unraveling the cloth that had bound him, mostly using her high and low hands while holding him securely by the shoulders with her mids. The doctor couldn’t help but stare for a moment at the display of arms before she too joined Sayana with the bandages. The top layer came off fairly easily and same with his vest, but when it came to the old bandages that had been applied at the scene of the attack the fabric stuck to the clotted blood. “Let me help,” the healer said quietly and she brought one of the damp pieces of cloth over to the patient. Sayana watched as Choa began to clean the Akalak’s blue skin and slowly remove the bits of the bandage that were still left. Sayana followed suit and grabbed the other piece of cloth to carefully wipe away the dried blood and free the stuck on bandage. The Eypharian hesitated as a couple of the gashes opened up with fresh blood beginning to flow. “Better to do it right so that it heals properly instead of not healing at all,” the healer spoke encouragingly. Even still it churned Sayana’s stomach to look at the terrible slashes in his back. Once the bandages were gone they carefully positioned him to mostly lie on his stomach. It was a somewhat awkward position since his legs were still positioned as if he were seated, but the couch would definitely not accommodate his size if he was fully stretched out lying flat. “Could you go boil some water? I’ll need it for the herbs.” Sayana gave a nod to the healer’s request and added another log to the fire before setting the kettle over the flames. Choa seized the opportunity of Sayana’s absence to remove an unsettling but small piece of bark or wood from one of the gashes. Nothing should be left inside a healing wound and tweezers were highly useful for removing such things. Sayana returned quickly, not wanting to leave Aren’s side and the healer explained that she’d be sewing him up. “I want you to hold the skin close together and also keep him still if he tries to move,” Choa added as she put the thread into the needle. Sayana’s eyes widened for a moment and then she forced herself to remain calm and collected. She was doing this for Aren… and she wasn’t going to retch. The Eypharian placed her hands carefully upon Aren’s back and squeezed the skin closed on either side of one gash. With a low hand she gently cradled his head in a make-shift pillow, though whether it mostly was for his comfort or her own, it was hard to tell. The healer began the careful task of stitching the skin back together. Mostly the needle only pierced the top layer of skin, which was sometimes almost painless, but for the skin that had torn in a more jagged fashion, it wasn’t so easy. Occasionally Sayana had to wipe away the blood that started to flow so that the doctor could see what she was doing. OOCSince I wasn't sure when he'd become conscious again (and I wanted to keep the plot moving), feel free to interrupt with him waking up.

[Aren]

Roused from his pseudo-slumber, Aren's ears immediately picked up the sound of the door opening, prompting an internal smile from the Akalak. He liked to imagine he could tell who had come in from the cadence of the footsteps, but of course he simply assumed that the person entering Sayana's apartment would most likely be Sayana, herself. Aren's mental smile promptly faded when his ears identified a second, distinct set of footsteps, in addition to the first. Who was this other person, he wondered? The Eypharian soon answered his own unspoken question, however; she had brought a healer for him, it seemed. The two appeared busy conversing about the Akalak's condition, which Aren struggled to focus on, and they promptly began the process of treating his wounds. He could feel his unresponsive body being moved about so that the two could work, and though every movement brought a fresh jolt of pain, he barely had the energy to even bother groaning. When the pair got around to the stitching portion of his treatment, even out of it as he was, Aren knew that what they were about to do was going to hurt. The tenderness of his skin around the most egregiously damaged portions of his body seemed to cry out in pain despite what he could only assume was Sayana's gentle touch, so he was quite capable of imagining how it would respond to an attempt to mend him using more invasive means. "Aghhh!" A wail of unimaginable agony escaped the Akalak's lips as his eyes shot open like the maw of a hungry glassbeak. Every muscle in his tortured body rebelled against the idea of the treatment his maimed flesh was receiving, and the task of controlling his instinctual reaction seemed to consume an amount of willpower which he wasn't completely certain he possessed. Although he'd have rather been unconscious for this part, at least his sudden awareness afforded the opportunity to speak to Sayana. "Sayana. He's... he's glad to see you. So to speak." Seros managed to groan out, his voice a peculiar variation of his brother's usual pitch and timbre. The deeper modulation seemed incongruous with Aren's typical speech, but it could have easily been assumed that this was a product of his injuries, and of the difficulty inherent in trying to speak with a maimed body. "W-w... we both are." The darker Other added, his pained words produced with no small amount of effort. The Akalak managed to slowly twist his neck in Sayana's direction so that he could offer her a reassuring smile, "Don't stop, no matter how much I cry out." The movement had belonged to Aren, yet the words were Seros', producing a strange feeling of inherent synchronization that the two had never before experienced. Though he was looking at the Eypharian, the warrior's words were intended for the healer that Sayana had brought. He knew just how essential proper treatment of even the most unassuming injuries could be, and he had no desire to die because he couldn't take a little pain. If it hurt, he'd scream, if it hurt a lot, he'd scream quite a lot more; the thought of embarrassment or manly stoicism never entered Aren or Seros' mind. Dying from being scratched by a mangy dog would have been much more embarrassing, anyway.

[Sayana]

Up until now, the Akalak had mostly been unconscious or in a daze. However, once the doctor began the stitching, his cry of agony caused Sayana to jump in surprise and horror. “Keep him still, and calm yourself down,” the healer spoke patiently yet firmly. “And don’t disrupt the needlework.” Sayana forced herself to keep steady breaths even as the Akalak contorted in pain. She applied a little more pressure to keep him still and used another pair of hands to keep the skin closed, however most of her attention was directed towards his face now that he was conscious. She brushed a tender hand against his cheek in attempt to comfort him and he spoke in a deep agonized voice. "Sayana. He's... he's glad to see you. So to speak." She bent down to give a soft kiss up on the Akalak’s cheek. “Hush… it’s going to be alright,” Sayana murmured softly into his ear. She had somewhat caught the change in pronoun but she figured he was in too much pain to be that coherent. Although she did notice the use of the word ‘both’ when he spoke again. We both are? We both are what? Glad to be here? She was mildly confused by it, and it showed on her face, yet she instinctively reached for a conclusion. “Yes, I’m glad to see you too. We’re both here and we’ll both get through this together.” As the Akalak turned to look at her, a smile came unbidden to her face. Aren, her Aren. So strong despite everything he was going through. Even as he spoke again with his lovely deep voice he showed that strength. "Don't stop, no matter how much I cry out." Sayana took his hand in hers. “Hold it as tight as you want or need to,” she said reassuringly. And then with a light hearted glint in her eye, she took it upon herself to be a much needed distraction. “And I won’t stop, no matter how much you cry out.” She began her series of kisses with light pecks to his cheeks and face. They later grew to firmer ones upon his lips and also upon his neck. She hoped she wasn’t being too distracting to the healer and hoped Aren might be at least distracted for a moment or two from the awful pain of the stitches. The healer paused to tie the thread as the longest gash was completely stitched. However, there were at least another two to do on his back. The Eypharian looked over at the doctor’s work and was impressed by its neatness. “Alright, there are still more to do. Just focus on me Aren. My lips, my taste, my hands…” She squeezed his hand again and moved in for another kiss. Perhaps it was just addicting for her to kiss him, but she hoped it eased his suffering. As the doctor carried on with the stitches Sayana wondered if anyone else knew of his condition. Had he gone to anyone before her? What about family, should she let them know he was alright? What about the brother he said lived in Syliras? Quietly and tentatively she asked, “Does your brother know? Or at least know that you’ll be okay? Or is that not something…” Some things aren’t meant to be discussed between family members. She knew that Akalaks were warriors but whether they fought side by side and helped each other in times of need, or whether they were fierce individual warriors, she wasn’t sure.

[Aren]

Aren's faced instinctively pressed itself against Sayana's comforting hand, but while the gesture helped, it was simply not enough to dull the pain he was currently experiencing. At least his mind responded to the agonizing assault his body was under with a greater degree of clarity, and now he was perfectly capable of feeling and identifying every breeze that blew by the tender flesh near his wound. The rush of adrenaline inside of him making him more lucid, the Akalak took Sayana's hand, as per her suggestion, but did not dare squeeze; her hand looked so small and so delicate in his that he feared hurting her in a moment of intense pain. The sensation of her touch was enough to endure, he told himself, thought he knew it to be nothing more than a chivalrous lie. Her taste on his lips, on the other had, certainly did help a great deal, though they also did nothing to dull the piercing sensation of a needle skewering something that had already been skewered. They aptly did their job and distracted him from focusing too much on what was going on back there, but at one point even their considerable powers were overwhelmed by a particularly acute tingle somewhat reminiscent of what Aren imagined having his lungs ripped out by an angry Yukman might feel like. Suddenly producing a scream that seemed to empty his lungs and burn his throat, it took every iota of Aren's strength not to move and disturb the careful sewing the healer was doing. "Where's a hammer when you need one?" The Akalak said, at first stifling a laughter, then letting out a prolonged burst as if what he had just said was hilarious. He didn't really understand it himself, but he'd heard of men seemingly going insane with amusement under the most agonizing of circumstances. It was probably some kind of reaction to the pain he was in or some kind of coping mechanism. It was the strangest sensation, but the tortured warrior had to admit that it helped, despite the fact that the slight movements produced by the reaction were causing him even more pain. He couldn't really explain it, but neither was he interested in questioning it too much. "...He knows." Aren said, visibly hesitating for a moment. It was an odd question to answer, and while he suspected this wasn't really the time to get into that discussion, he also wasn't willing to lie to Sayana about it. "And he'll be here for me, when I need him." The Akalak stated in a low, heartfelt tone. Something had changed between them, recently, and they both knew it. Neither of them was entirely sure where this new-found stage of their relationship would lead, but for the first time in his life Aren had found himself glad of his brother. This feeling transmitted into the Other as the acceptance he had always longed for, even if Seros himself hadn't known it. A few chimes later, Aren brought Sayana's hand up to his mouth, giving it a gentle, mock bite, smiling at the gesture. A sudden aura of exhaustion had befallen him, likely due to the upheaval of laughter, screaming and pain his body had endured, and he began to suspect that his canteen was running dry. This was evident by his slower breathing, continually deteriorating posture, and inability to even properly react to pain with anything more than a groan. At this point, he was barely able to focus, and the rapidity of the decline he was experiencing surprised even him. A moment ago he was laughing his ass off at seemingly nothing, and now it was all he had just to keep his eyes open. Knowing his time was quickly running out, Aren brought his hand up to one of the Eypharian's soft cheeks, caressing it in much the same manner she had similarly done, "Be here, when I wake up." The Akalak managed to get out, weakly, as he began to feel heavier than he ever had before. He wanted to say something else, to try and make sure she'd heard him, but it was too late; he was coming down from his own body's attempt to keep him alive and he was coming down hard. This time, he wouldn't wake up for hours, or even days, he knew.

[Sayana]

Even with her consistent distracting, there was one moment that he let out a terrible scream. She instinctively clenched and also made sure to hold him down. But when the Akalak spoke it was in a considerably higher tone than before. "Where's a hammer when you need one?" What followed was some maniacal laughter and she held him tight, not wanting him to suddenly disrupt the needlework. Was it the pain? Was it just getting too much? He didn’t seem himself anymore. Worry crossed her face and she looked to the healer for guidance, but it seemed like Choa was either too focused on the task at hand or unconcerned by the Akalak’s odd behaviour. But in not too much time Aren seemed to calm down, or at least enough to answer her questions. So Seros knew, and would be there if Aren needed him. But then, whey wasn’t he here? A flicker of annoyance crossed her face but she simply dispelled it with a sigh. There were probably reasons. After all, if he was a brother that was rarely, or never mentioned. She recalled her own family. Yes, there had been times when she may have been in trouble but definitely did not want them coming after her. Did they even know she was alright? A playful bite on her hand brought her attention back to him. With a smile she gave a little nibble to his ear in return. But when her eyes flitted over him, he appeared to be fading and fading fast. He brought a hand up to stroke her cheek and she gazed lovingly into his bright yellow eyes. "Be here, when I wake up." “I will.” Was her simple reply. As Aren’s eyes fell shut and body grew still, Sayana looked over to see the healer’s progress. Her stomach churned at the sight of the stitches but a slow deep breath calmed her enough to look over the work. His back was nearly done and there was just one small cut left to stitch up. When Choa noticed that the Akalak had fallen asleep she quietly asked, “You know that water I asked you to boil? Could you pour a little bit into a cup and put some Vyfox into it? The herb that has the clumps of flowers. It’ll help his wounds stay clean.” Sayana gave a nod and quietly did as the healer asked. She had to look inside a few of the pouches to find the right one, but when she did she put it into the boiling water. “We’ll let that steep for a little bit, but there are some more herbs you should probably get. Let me write a list.” The healer got up and quickly took out a quill, ink and some paper. She scribbled down the ingredients as she spoke. “Krolar Poultrice. I have some here to apply to his wounds but you’ll probably need more. Vyfox. I’m using some now but if any of the wounds open up or start bleeding, make sure you wash it with clean water and apply more Vyfox. And finally Lidgefar. If something major happens and he’s bleeding all over the place then Lidgefar will help his blood clot to stop the bleeding. The Stormhold Salves should have all this. Do you know where it is?” Sayana paused and then nodded as she recalled passing by the store several times when going to and from the Bazaar. “Could I at least see you…?” Sayana began. The healer nodded and dipped a clean piece of cloth into the cup to soak it with the liquid before rubbing it over the Akalak’s wounds. Some of the infused water dripped down his sides but the healer seemed unconcerned. “Break off some of the little flowers for me and grab that jar to apply some of that paste over top,” the healer requested. As Choa placed small clumps of the Vyfox flowers over the wounds, Sayana spread the paste delicately over top. Sayana was about to offer to help with the bandages when Choa stopped her. “You should be off. Get those herbs. I’m quite capable even with just two hands.” “But I promised I’d be here if…” “He’ll be fine and I’ll be here if he does wake up. Better you go now while I’m here then later when I’m gone.” The healer did have a point, and as much as Sayana wanted to stay by his side, she also wanted to have the supplies she needed for when he woke up. With a quick thanks, the Eypharian gathered her winter things and got ready to leave. The healer meanwhile would be bandaging the warrior’s back and also repeating the process with his upper arm where the wolf had bitten him. With a wave, Sayana left to find the salves shop. It only just occurred to her that she was missing her dance shift at the Rearing Stallion. They’d have to live without her. This was more important. As she headed in the direction of the Bazaar, she had to stop herself before automatically going all the way. It was close by, but not quite all the way… Her memory was jogged as she spotted the window with the brightly coloured bottles inside. “S-torm Sall-ves,” she attempted out loud as she looked at the writing on the sign. As she stepped in there was a little chime and the shop keeper turned around to see the visitor. For a moment Sayana was at a loss for words as she saw the Eypharian beautifully unfurl her arms. “How may I help you?” Sahfri asked politely. “You… you’re a…” As Sayana grasped for words she opened her coat and took it off to reveal her own multiple limbs. Realization swept across Sahfri’s face as she understood why Sayana was so baffled. “You needn’t be so surprised mistress, there are a few of us even this far north,” the shop keeper replied calmly but in a friendly tone. “Did you have something you wanted to buy?” Sayana was still rather surprised by her finding but still managed to produce the slip of paper that the healer had prepared. “I need these,” Sayana said as she held out the paper and didn’t attempt to read out the words. “A good friend of mine… my lover, got seriously hurt. There’s a healer with him now, but this is to make sure it gets better.” Sahfri looked over the list. “Vyfox…” she murmured. “Do you want the flowers or the leaves? Might as well have both. The flowers help infection and the leaves can be made into a tea that helps with the overall healing.” As the shop keeper left to find and prepare the herbs Sayana couldn’t help but be amazed she had found another Eypharian in the city. And an Eypharian who wasn’t some piece of shyke pretending he wasn’t one. But as much as she wanted to stay and catch up with someone of her race, she also knew that she had to get back to Aren. Sahfri produced the three pouches of herbs and a small jar of paste and Sayana accordingly produced the coins to pay for it. She said her hearty thanks with hopes of returning and left quickly to get back to her apartment. When she arrived, the healer was just finishing off bandaging the second set of stitches. “I can’t thank you enough Choa,” Sayana said as she put down the herbs she had bought. “For your time and coming here, here’s 20 GM and another 5 for everything you’ve done. I don’t know if you were here for a full three hours, but it was as though you were. Thank you.” The healer graciously accepted the payment and tip and in return pulled out a few sets of bandages. “You should change the bandage at least once a day, and this should get you through.” As Choa packed up her things and made her way out the door, Sayana pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the couch Aren rested upon. He had been adjusted to lie upon his side with his legs curled up so he would fit on the couch. The white bandages contrasted sharply against his blue skin and he looked so beautiful and innocent. She reviewed the herbs once more. The flowers were for cleanliness, the leaves for helping him heal. And they were both Vyfox. And the powder was Lidge… something. That was for emergency bleeding. Then the paste was Krolar paste. And that was to put on his wounds to get better. It was going to be a long night and she wasn’t used to staying at home in the evenings. But she had promised to stay with him. In between reviewing or preparing the medicines she would dig out some bread to nibble on and maybe even try cooking some of the dried food she had about the house. But as it grew late into the evening she tiredly resigned herself to the chair before him and simply watched over his sleeping blue form, lost in thought. OOCWow that was hefty. Receipt : Herbs from Stormhold Salves: - Krolar Poultice: 5sm (3 doses) - Vyfox flowers: 25cm (5 combs of flowers) - Vyfox leaves: 25cm (5 dry leaves (1oz each)) - Lidgefar: 14sm (1/4 oz seed powder) Healer fees: - 3 hour healing: 20gm - Tip: 5gm Bandages for the next few days (included with healer fees) Total: 27.4gm