Darin wrinkled her nose as Ridahne smeared the ointment on her check, “Itchy.”

She spoke lightly; not in complaint but as if she was stating a fact. She also did not take the whiskey. She never cared much for alcohol. She knew it didn’t take much to get her drunk. Unless she planned to fall straight asleep, she tried to avoid it. She did lean backwards in her chair and squeeze her eyes shut. She also slipped the ball of her thumb or her other hand between her teeth. When the pain started, she exhaled sharply though her nose and bit down her hand. She didn’t think she would break skin since she was wearing the leather work gloves. She did have a matching set of scars on both hands from where she had done this before. Her mother hated it. Her mother could never stop it. It was Darin’s preferred way of dealing with pain. She only removed her hand when the stitching was over.

Darin smiled as she heard Ridahne’s dry joke, “Haha. Very funny.” She leaned forward to look at the neat stitches, “Though I might just lose this arm by the end of this trip. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.”

This was now the second injury to the limb in question; her shoulder and now her arm. Darin knew that losing a limb would not be the worst fate in question. Even losing two would not be a problem. Losing three or four might be difficult. Still, as long as long as she was alive, she had a fighting chance to fight till the end. She already knew that she was going to have to fight for a long time to come. Some of those fights might be physical. She could only imagine what going to Azurei would be like; a whole country of people like Ridahne. It was mind boggling.

Darin ran a finger along the edges of the salve, “I was thinking,” Her entire attention was on her arm, “Taja.” She quickly looked at Ridahne though her eyelashes before hastily looking back down, “I’m not sure I said that right.” She said it a couple more times each with a slightly different inflection, “Taja. Taja. I’m not sure. I like the way you sound when you speak Azurein. I would ask you to teach me, but I know I would butcher it. I can’t even speak my only tongue right; at least according to the elders. And I like the thought of Talbot and my new friend matching; Talbot and Taja. I won’t. I can think of something else. If you rather I pick something else.”

Darin’s attention was fully on her arm. It seemed stupid now that she said it out loud. It had seemed like such a good idea when it was just her, the hawk, and Talbot. Darin absently put her finger in her mouth. That wasn’t the same as the stuff Ridahne had used on her shoulder the first time. She absently wondered what the difference was. Darin gave her had a light shake that wasn’t important now. She really should have come up with a better name for the bird. She felt like such an idiot.

She suddenly stood, “I should go check on him and make sure he eats. “She grabbed the small packet of rabbit, “Thank you for this.” She seemed unsure again, “Would you like to come meet him? He should be calmer now that he’s had some rest. I’m not sure though. I’ve only done crows and sparrows before. Oh! And that blue jay once. I’m not sure if birds of prey are any different.”