Talbot waited for the thief to answer his questions when someone else came in. Her voice sounded very familiar... was this the woman that had saved him? If he were in a better situation, he would have laughed and joked about it, but he was under extreme pain at the moment. He ground his teeth and muttered a prayer under his breath, begging Naga to help make the pain go away. Perhaps he would have been better dead, instead of wrapped up like a corpse in bed. His brown eyes darted over to the healer woman as she told him what had happened. His heart plummeted to his stomach when she said his back had snapped. Did... that mean... no, it couldn't mean that he couldn't walk again. He had just moved. He was pretty sure that, if he had lost the ability to walk, he wouldn't have moved in the first place.

[B]"I was... defending the rest from the army... and I led them to a cliff edge... the one I fell from..."[/b] he coughed. [B]"It's obvious what happened next...[/b]

He looked away, toward the wall. There was nothing else to say. What could he say? He had blacked out soon after falling into the water. He didn't even remember getting here. But if the thief was there, then the rest of the Shepherds were there, and that meant he was safe. At least... he'd like to think of it that way... [b]"My lute [I]has[/I] to be here. It was on me when I fell. It's very important to me."[/b] he forced himself to speak louder now. The little guitar like instrument was one that he had for what seemed like ages. It was just as precious as his tomes. [B]"Please tell me you fished it out."[/B]