When Neev got to work on Aerex, Juliana stayed right by her employer's side. She never would have thought that Aerex was a Grusk. Though, this explained why he never wanted her around after closing time. Perhaps he was using some kind of spell to hide his features? Who knows? Juliana was just a young Kalla girl who got picked up from the street by Aerex. She stood there, not knowing what to do or what to say. Despite her best attempts Aerex never opened up about himself. He was a very private man, but he never became defensive. In fact, he was fair and gentle. Aerex always asked if she was short on anything and he went out of his way to make sure she lived well. Now she felt guilty. He had left his shop behind just to go and make sure she was okay. And now, she didn't even know if he was going to make it. Juliana, with tears in her eyes, tried to comfort Aerex as best she could. She held on to his hand, and gently caressed his head. It was all she could do. His hands had strange markings glowing blue streaks that ran from the forearm down the wrist to the top of the fingers. And, to make the situation worse, he looked like he could barely breathe and he also seemed to be catching a fever. Was he even going to make it? 

On his end, Aerex could barely hold himself together. He was sobbing and struggling against the pain. There was a piercing pain in the lower part of his chest that made it difficult to breathe. A similar pain was also coming from his shoulder, which was probably dislocated. He thought he would pass out any minute now. Despite it all, there wasn't a bit of regret. Even when he felt like he was going to die right there, Aerex would jump to help Juliana again. However, that wasn't the only thing in his mind. He could hear the female healer speak over him. The simple spell he used to conceal his race had been broken. What did they think? What would Juliana think? Kalla was known for its acceptance of other races, but the Grusk didn't exactly have a good reputation to begin with. All he could hope was that they thought the same of Grusk as they did Beastmen. Glancing to the side, he saw Juliana holding on to one of his shaky hands with tears in her face. She shouldn't need to see him like this. Aerex knew she always cared, but he always kept her out of his past. Now, he was beggining to regret it. He felt ashamed for making their friendship so one-sided. Now that there was the possibility that he could die, what would she think of him then?