Darin was glad that there seemed to be some people that were willing to help her and Ridahne. It didn’t seem like that came without reasons. Darin wasn’t sure what Konie’s reasons were, but the man, she thought his name was Talyn, had reason’s that were simple enough. He wanted to return to save Ridahne’s life as the Azurei had once saved his. Darin didn’t really care what the reasons were. She was just glad that someone was helping. The human did her best to stay out of the way. She didn’t know much about patching up people and knew better than to pretend that she knew more than she did.

So instead Darin watched nervously. Right now, the odds were not in Ridahne’s favor. She had lost a lot of blood. She may have lost too much of it. Darin wasn’t sure. She felt so useless and unable to do anything. Maybe if she hadn’t waited with the archer for so long, she could have gotten to Ridahne sooner. She might have even been able to help the Elf out. Darin gave her head a minuscule shake. There was no point in thinking about any of this. Nothing could change what had happened. The only thing Darin could hope to do now was learn and grow from the experience.

They finished working on Ridahne and the man came to offer Darin a drink. She reached out to take it with half a smile. He didn’t seem distressed. The human hoped that meant that Ridahne would be fine. That left Darin with only one worry. What should she tell this man? She needed to tell him something otherwise he would grow suspicious. The people of this town already knew that she had lied once so odds were that they weren’t going to believe her no matter what she told them. Darin just wasn’t sure she wanted to tell them about the Red Hand. They were technically bandits. Maybe The Seed-Bearer could get a way with only telling half of the truth. That might be safer.

Darin placed her untouched drink on the table, “Bandits attacked us on the road. They were looking for trouble. I don’t think any of them survived.”

For a brief moment Darin considered telling this man about the archer still tied to the tree. He might be able to send someone out to check on him. However, Darin wasn’t sure she wanted to do that. Odds were that he was already dead. Darin clasped her hands together tight enough that her fingernails were leaving crescents in her skin. She didn’t know that she wanted to be responsible for someone’s death. She knew that was a foolish childish hope. People died all the time and there were people that wanted her dead. She wouldn’t get very far if she wasn’t willing to do what it took to defend The Seed. Darin swallowed as she considered her options. None of them seemed ideal.

Finally, she gestured tin the vague direction of the archer, “One of them got injured pretty badly. We tied him to a tree to keep him from running off to get more of his friends. I don’t think he could have survived, but he might have.” With that off her chest she looked to where Ridhane was resting, “Will she be okay? I desperately need her to be okay.”