It was dry out here, but he could take it. The man rode tall on his pure black stallion, his eyes half narrowed and his cape draped a bit over the rear of the horse. The beast, who was his personal mount, was named Morning Star. He had the horse ever since he had been next in line for the throne. His blue eyes focused on the horizon. He could see the line of a camp, casting long, almost sad silhouettes on the ground. The sun was coming up, and the shadows would soon grow shorter and shorter. Darrian sighed, nudging the horse along. Morning Star whinnied a bit and continue on his way. Behind him were two dozen men, mostly bannermen. They carried the flag of Ylisse on long poles and others flanked his horse. Darrian sighed. He didn’t really want to be in Plegia, but he wanted to make sure that Xanxus and Lantus were doing their jobs. That, and he decided that he really should get fresh air… the castle was getting pretty dull back at Ylisse. The young man rode into the camp, head high and chest out. Of course he felt as if he were in power. Xanxus and Lantus were commanders of these men, but he was their ruler. He expected everyone to bow to him, to swear that they would lay their lives on the line for him. Another sigh escaped his lips as some of the men did just that. Others had been watching from tents or doing something else. As he rode to where the horses were hitched, he got off on his own and walked around, searching for Xanxus and Lantus. [b]”Ah, Xanxus, Lantus. Just the men I wanted to see.”[/b] Darrian greeted, his hand on the pommel of Falchion. [b]”I see you’ve made camp. Got cozy already?”[/b] --- The inn that she had rented out a room from wasn’t that shabby, but it wasn’t that nice either. Spider webs were neatly weaved in dusty corners, and blood stains from fights were splattered on the wooden wall. The blood wasn’t that visible, but it still bothered her. Ambra asked for a simple room, and the innkeep gave her one; it was one with a single bed, a window, and a bath. The bed smelled like sweat and… other odors, to keep it simple. It creaked when Zaino was laid in it, and loudly at that. The window made a horrible screeching noise when she opened it, and was cracked here and there. When she went to the bath, she found a small tub with a bucket of water placed to the side. Yet, no one would be bathing today. She took the bucket and decided that was to be her water supply. She also found a towel. Pulling off her satchel, she pulled out a few herbs and bandages. Ambra was hoping that, one day, she would have enough things in her bag to not make her shoulder hurt. Next came the undressing. After witnessing what anger Zaino contained, she was nervous at first. But she took off whatever he had on his torso and put it to the side. The blood was stuck to his clothes and to his body, which made Ambra sigh. [i]What a mess…[/i] The sounds of water and cloth rubbing roughly against skin filled the quiet room. The caked blood was removed, but took quite a while. Many of the wounds began to bleed again, yet Ambra made sure to stop the bleeding as quickly as she could. Most of the gashes were horribly red and puffed at the edges. It was a painful sight to see. The red haired woman pulled out some herbs; calendula flowers to clean the wounds and make sure they didn’t get infected, and lavender for soothing the pain and itching. She grinded that into a pulp much like she did to the snakeweed and dabbed them into every wound. Checking the once-poisoned injury, she saw that it was well and moved on. Ambra undid the binding of a roll of bandages and wound it around one of Zaino’s wounds. She made sure that it was tight enough so it wouldn’t fall off, but not too tight that it stopped blood flow. Humming a soft song she heard when she was little, she continued doing her work. She might be weak in combat and be a very bad fighter, but she was useful for something. She loved to heal and tend to people. It wasn’t often that one could find a healer that didn’t use magic. Speaking of which, she would have to restock soon, and the herbs she paid for were very expensive…