[IC] Fairies Shouldn't Fly Alone [Ebonfort]

[RomanAria]

Starting Date and Time: 8th Jadeyan 301 DM. 19th stretch.

Starting Location: In the forest just east of Silent Rise

CS URLs: Ahmal Ervallen and Lyriia Elenye

---

All was quiet in the forest. Nothing moved, not even the crickets chirping as dusk fell. It was too quiet.

The world held its breath.

There! A disturbance!

A holly bush rustled slightly. Then more, and more, until it seemed as if the whole bush was convulsing. Then, with a snapping sound, and a squeak from some small creature within the bush, the shaking abruptly halted, and a small blue-and-red object bounced out of the bottom branches of the tree.

As the rolling object slowed and spread itself out, it became clear that it was not one, but two objects. The first was rather plain to look at, a bright red holly berry. But the second… it would have taken an observer a moment to sort out the tumble of tiny limbs and iridescent membranes. It was a small fairy, her blue wings limp with exhaustion, light blue tunic streaked with sap and bits of mulch.

Lyriia groaned to herself as she tried to find her feet after going sprawling for the thousandth time. Fairies were not made for herb gathering. And when it was a tired fairy who was even smaller than the vast majority of her race… it was a wonder she hadn’t passed out yet.

For the hundredth time, Lyriia looked at the square of paper that her master had given her. She had to squint to make out the letters—when had it gotten this dark?

She hadn’t been able to find all the plants that Master Longarm had wanted. It had taken all day, too; she’d turned out of bed just as the watch had called the fourth stretch, and she was only about halfway done with the list now. But it was getting dark, and she was too tired to keep her eyes open. Heading home would be the best thing for her.

The girl stuffed the troublesome holly berries into the already-overfilled satchel she carried, wincing as the straps dug further into her shoulders. Joys of being so little: even fairy-sized clothing and equipment didn’t quite fit right.

She tried to flutter up into the sky, to get her directional bearings, but the backpack was too heavy. Grumbling to herself, she took it off and launched into the air without a problem. But then, as she got up above the trees (which was a feat in itself; the trees here were enormous), there was another problem: the moon and sun and stars were totally obscured by clouds, leaving her utterly without a sense of direction. And with no line of sight to the village… she had no idea where she was.

She set down on the ground, trying to figure out where her trail was. Ah, there. She could always follow her trail back, though then she’d be out all night.

A sound behind her made her whirl, her hand going to the dagger on her hip. In the darkness she tripped over the bag of herbs and went sprawling. Dimly she saw a pair of glowing yellow-orange eyes, just for a second. Then she was on her feet and launched into the air, hovering a few feet above the ground. Maybe less of a target that way.

A low growl seemed to echo in the woods around her as she turned, fear making her forget her fatigue. She couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.

There. Eyes. Gleaming up at her. From right underneath—

She shot upwards into the air a split second before pointed fangs snapped shut right where she had been. In terror she shouted, then realized that was probably the worst thing she could have done.

In her panic she flew off between the trees, trying to do anything to put distance between herself and that… thing. A glance over her shoulder revealed those bright, unsettling eyes jumping between the trees following her.

She darted upwards, thinking to go up where the branches were thin, maybe not able to support the weight of her attacker. Diving into a hollow in the tree trunk, barely big enough to hold her, she said a prayer that the cat…whatever it was… wouldn’t find her.

For several moments, which seemed like an eternity to the small fairy, all was entirely quiet. She’d relaxed enough that she had nearly gathered the courage to climb out of the hollow.

And then there was a scratching sound.

[Rekaigan]

It was dark, cold and rather quiet in the forest. Just the way Ahmal preferred it when he was out collecting poisonous plants for his arrow poisons. As of recently he had been running low. As usual, he donned his camouflage gear which mainly consisted of a green, gray and brown mottled cloak, which allowed him to blend in with the plants of the Chartric forests. Unfortunately his wings couldn't be covered by the cloak, and thus he had to make wing slits to stop them from being pushed down by the cloak. He often cursed his misfortune for having a vivid pair of wings, but their translucent nature was it's only saving grace.

He often operated at night, so his eyes were quite attuned to the darkness of the forests, however it was especially dark tonight as the clouds blotted out most of the moon's light, so he could only make out silhouettes unless he was close-by.

As he collected his materials, he heard a shout from nearby. Instinctively he turned toward the source of the sound. He saw two shadows, one was small and had a human-like silhouette, while the other was larger and was obviously a quadruped of some sort. The way it leaped to try catch the flying being, he identified as feline. The other silhouette, he identified as a Fairy, due to it's small stature and outlined wings. They were oddly small for fairy-folk though.

He watched as the silhouettes moved further into the forest. He shoved the plants that he had collected into his satchel before dumping it next to a tree root. He'll come back for it later. He'll remember exactly where it is.

He took flight, travelling among the high branches, keeping an eye on the area around him. It wasn't long until he spotted, what he suspected to be the feline, again. He could see it's dimly glowing eyes as it scratched at a tree. Or rather, climbed the tree. He scanned up the tree, coming across a hollow. He suspected that the Fairy had hidden itself in the hollow.

He drew his bow, nocking an arrow into the string. It was his last poison arrow. He couldn't afford to miss. He narrowed his eyes in concentration before firing, taking a chance on his instinct. With a quiet strum, the arrow flew. He lost sight of the arrow as soon as he shot it, but he could tell that it hit. The feline silhouette stopped mid-stride, falling to the ground. It landed on the ground on all fours as felines tended to, but the poison acted quickly as it's heart pounded, the blood circulating. The poison spreading. It soon made a harsh choking noise before laying on the ground motionless.

Ahmal waited for a few moments before flying down to inspect his prey, seeing a slight glint of his iron arrow protruding from it's side. It was nothing special, it was just a whiskered cat. They were keen hunters, but they were somewhat predictable when chasing prey as they were very unaware of their surroundings when they were focused on a target.

With a few beats of his wings he flew upward, hovering outside of the tree hollow. "Are you alright?" He inquired in a calm, low voice.

[RomanAria]

Lyriia cowered in the tree as the scratching grew closer and closer. Then, just as she figured the creature was going to claw its way into the hollow with her, there was a THWACK and a yowl of pain. And then a distant thump as the cat’s body hit the snow.

The girl peeked out of the hollow, her wings twitching nervously. She jumped back into the shadows as another fairy came up right in front of her, a bow in its hand. Reaching for the dagger at her waist, she peeked out of the hollow again.

"Are you alright?" the other fairy asked her. Judging by the pitch of its voice, likely a male. For a moment Lii just gawked. She couldn’t see the fairy’s face, between the dark and the shadows, but she could see his wings, illuminated by the faint moonlight from a break in the clouds. His wings were large and shimmery and brilliant blue… Lii felt her own wings, small and rather plain by comparison, going limp with envy.

“I-I’m fine…” she whispered. “Bit shaken up, and I don’t know where I am, but I’m fine. I think you saved my life… That cat was going to get me if you hadn’t shot it.” Then she realized that if the other fairy was going to kill her, he likely would have done so by now. She sheathed her dagger and stepped out of the hollow. “Um, I, I don’t, I don't know where I am… I should be getting home…” she said again, slightly confused. Tilting her head back to look at the sky, then looking down to the ground, trying to figure out where she was. How far had she come in the blind chase? “I don’t know…” she whispered again.

[Rekaigan]

The small shaft of moonlight that shone through the break in the clouds, reflected slightly on the other Fairy's eyes, they were quite a beautiful blue as far as he could tell. He slowly took his hood off during the brief silence, his blue hair also shown in the moonlight. Primarily, he wanted to take his hood off to get a better peripheral view as well as take away the added darkness that it created.

He heard a slight shk noise as the other fairy, whom he identified as a female, sheathed something. Possibly a blade. It wouldn't surprise him if she did have a blade out and ready, after an ordeal such as this, being cautious was natural. However the way she went about the encounter, wasn't totally normal. It was unusual to see others out here in the night who were not hunters. She was definitely not a hunter. He quietly listened to her as she repeated herself. "I don't know.".. "I don't know."

"Do not worry. I will escort you home." He responded, his tone remaining as calm as before. He realized that she wouldn't follow some person who just appeared out of nowhere. Pleasantries were needed. "My apologies. I am Ahmal Ervallen. I am an Ebonknight. I assure you that I will lead you to safety." He said formally, as he stretch a hand out toward her. He did it slowly, so that she wouldn't be frightened by an sudden movements.

[RomanAria]

Lyriia once again was left staring as the other fairy took his hood off. He had… blue hair, if the light wasn’t playing a trick on her. How… unusual. She knew there were plenty of fairies who had unnaturally-colored hair, but she’d never met one. From what little detail she could see, he was quite handsome… and she promptly felt guilty for even considering that thought.

He was… introducing himself. Okay. She mentally filed away the information. A fairy Ebonknight. That meant that Lyellan, if he didn’t get himself killed for stupidity and hotheadedness, might actually have a chance. A weight that she hadn’t even realized she’d been carrying lifted off of her shoulders and she found she could breathe easier.

The girl clasped hands with Ahmal briefly, quite reassured by the warmth and sureness of his grip. He wasn’t lying to her, at least, as far as she could tell. “My name is Lyriia Elenye. I am the apprentice of Gherick Longarm, the physician of Silent Rise. I was out here to gather herbs and it got dark faster than I expected.” She blushed slightly, embarrassed at herself. “I um… when the cat attacked me I dropped my backpack. I need to go get it…”

[Rekaigan]

He gently pulled her out of the hallow when she grasped his hand, his wings beating a little harder to support the other fairy. Fortunately for him, she was lighter than most fairies that he knew of. "It's an honor to meet such a well known fairy. Your medical work is appreciated by the hunters and knights alike." He responded in a kind tone. During his younger days, he had also visited Longarm for some treatment. The man's knowledge and skills were worthy of praise, as was his apprentice's.

He chuckled slightly, something which he doesn't do very often. "Seems Longarm has started to push duties onto his apprentices again." He commented in a off-handed manner. "I too, dropped a satchel of.. herbs when I followed you two. I will help you find your belongings. He responded in his calm, formal tone once more. He gently kept hold of her hand and guided her toward the snowy floor of the forest. He remembered the exact route he had taken, however he did not know where Lyriia's satchel was. Surely they'd find it along the way back.

They slowly back tracked along Ahmal's path. He kept his pace slow so that she wasn't left behind in the darkness.

[RomanAria]

Lyriia blushed deeper at the praise, wishing she was somewhat more used to dealing with flattery. “I’ve learned everything I know from Master Longarm. If anyone is to be commended, it’s him.”

She let herself be pulled along by the hand, though it was rather odd to her, physical contact with a fairy who wasn’t one of her brothers. “He’s got better things to do than run around a forest picking herbs in the middle of winter. He does seem to forget that I always get cold, but… I suppose it’s for the best.”

Distantly, she heard Ahmal say something about his own satchel of herbs. She didn’t miss the hesitation in his voice but didn’t press; she had a good idea of what those herbs were for. She knew many hunters used poison darts and arrows, especially fairy hunters. She knew her brothers, Gaeven and Kintaer, used poisons almost exclusively. They had to; they simply didn’t have enough strength to inflict a killing wound on any prey.

What rather surprised her was that Ahmal made his own poison. Usually her brothers would ask her to make it, or they’d have to buy it at one of the shops in Silent Rise. It struck her as rather odd that a hunter would know enough about herbs to make an effective poison, as Ahmal’s had proven to be. Too often hunters who tried that would botch it and leave their prey ill and weak, but not dead.

She forced herself out of her thoughts, having seen a cloth sack on the ground, with various roots and berries scattered around it. “Oh, that’s mine.” She mumbled, releasing Ahmal’s hand—wait, she’d been holding his hand this whole time?—and touching down on the ground to throw the herbs back into the bag. Within a few seconds she had her satchel over her shoulder and was up in the air again, looking around worriedly. A snap of a twig in the woods made her flinch, but it proved to be nothing more than an extremely curious deer, staring at the two fairies with wide brown eyes.

“I’d imagine your own backpack can’t be too much farther along.” She said, flying back to Ahmal’s side. Arguably closer than politeness deemed necessary, but the woods were so dark, even with the intermittent moonlight, and he seemed so sure of where he was going.

She totally wasn’t staying so close just so that he’d hold her hand again.

[Rekaigan]

He watched as Lyriia went to retrieve her herbs, keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings. His gaze flicked toward the source of the sudden snapping noise, only to see a curious deer. After a brief moment, he realized that he had instinctively drawn his bow, ready to fire an arrow at whatever approached. He relaxed, putting the arrow back into his quiver and lowering his bow.

He heard the other fairy mention his backpack. To which he responded with a nod, "Yes. It is very close by." He had noticed their proximity, but he just assumed that she was still afraid of being left behind. Once again, he took her hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Gently leading her through the forest. They had only flown for a few moments before he let go of her hand, landing on one of the many tree roots that protruded through the ground. Without much effort, he slung his pack over his shoulder before flying back to Lyriia.

"It's time we headed back to Silent Rise." He stated as he took her hand again. The journey back was quite pleasant. Ahmal made no attempts to create conversation, as he wasn't really one to start conversations. The clouds slowly parted, allowing more moonlight to trickle through the canopy. He stole a few glances at her. She was quite young, perhaps just achieving adulthood and quite.. pretty? Now that was word that Ahmal hadn't used in a long time, especially in such a dreary place like Silent Rise. She seemed more modest than most of the Fairies that he had encountered over the years, and that was seemingly attractive to him. He quickly dismissed the thoughts. She was a civilian in trouble, it was his duty to protect her until he brought her home. Nothing more.

He suddenly heard something hiss. It was quiet, but discernible in the silence. He knew exactly what it was before it even struck out at him. "Get back." He warned, quickly pushing Lyriia away, drawing his bow and arrow. He released it moments before a spider pounced out of the darkness, tackling Ahmal out of the air despite having an arrow lodged in one of it's eyes. The spider and Ahmal thudded into the snow below. The spider attempted to bite down on Ahmal with it's fangs, but luckily he blocked it with his bow, jamming it length-wise across the spider's mouth, stopping the fangs. They dripped with venom, melting parts Ahmal's cloak as it hit the fabric.

[RomanAria]

Lyriia was entirely content to fly in silence, her tiredness and nervousness making her, for once, not ask questions as her usual self would. She much appreciated that Ahmal was guiding her by the hand, as she was still having difficulty seeing in the dark.

As they flew she glanced over at Ahmal multiple times, and more often than not wound up blushing and looking away as the male fairy’s bright gold eyes flicked over towards her. He seemed oddly… serious for a young fairy, and he couldn’t have been much older than her, maybe three years at the most. But it was quite refreshing, to meet another young one who wasn’t just interested in drinking firefly blood (or whatever that glowing alcoholic drink was… Lii really couldn’t remember) and setting bushes to trembling. Again, not anything that had ever interested Lii in the slightest; she had her job and her family to watch out for. And too often she’d had to heal some young fairy who’d gotten hopelessly drunk and confused and flown into a tree or something.

She was startled out of her nostalgia by a quiet rustle in the bushes and Ahmal’s hissed warning to get back. She hovered nervously as Ahmal drew his bow and fired; in the dark she couldn’t see the spider until it was on top of the fairy warrior.

For a split second, the girl didn’t know what to do. Then she drew her dagger and dropped onto the back of the enormous bug, hacking and stabbing at it. There was no grace to her actions; she was just trying to get the bug off of Ahmal. The creature hissed as she hacked at its legs, severing one, then two. Blueish black blood sprayed everywhere from the stumps, soaking through Lyriia’s clothes. Her dagger wasn’t long enough to give a killing stroke, it seemed, though she kept trying, stabbing it’s back and sides. She didn’t want to go for its head because she knew that if she nicked one of the venom sacs it would spill all over Ahmal...Not something she wanted to do.

The spider finally decided to quit trying to eat Ahmal and avenge the loss of its legs, it seemed, as it reared up on its back legs, flailing the remaining front limbs, as though trying to shake Lyriia off. She wound up clutching at the thick hair on its back to stay on, gagging as blood sprayed into her face from one of the stabs. But then the spider kept tipping over, past the vertical, and Lyriia had to jump into the air to avoid being squished. The spider’s legs twitched once, and then the creature went still.

Lyriia hovered over it for a second, quite wary, then dove down and cut a long gouge down the spider’s abdomen, to make sure that it was dead. She shot back up into the air, still clearly scared of the spider’s corpse, and hovered for a moment, confused, then remembered Ahmal.

She rushed back to the other fairy. “Are you alright?” she asked. She tried to figure out if Ahmal was bleeding anywhere but there was so much spider blood all over everything that she couldn’t tell one way or another.

[Rekaigan]

As Ahmal struggled with the pushing force of the Spider, he noticed Lyriia draw her dagger. Before he could tell her to get back, she started to stab it relentlessly, without any hint of finesse. As the spider endured the attack, it squirmed in pain, one of it's sharp legs stomped down, stabbing into Ahmal's right calf. He grit his teeth in agony as he tried to hold firm against the spider's fangs. It wasn't long before the spider succumb to the multiple stab wounds, rolling over on it's side and curling up into a ball, laying still. Blood was everywhere, around and on Ahmal, however the spider's blood had a distinctly different hue from his own, as the moonlight poured down from the canopy.

As the fangs released their pressure, he dropped the bow from his hands, clutching his injured leg. He let out a quiet groan of pain, breathing heavily. Luckily, the leg hadn't stabbed all the way through, but the bleeding was still quite serious since the wound was wide. He heard someone ask if he was okay, but it sounded very distant, his pain dulling his senses. His vision was a little blurred now, but he could still see the silhouette of Lyriia, near him. "...No" He groaned in response. There was no point in trying to act tough in a situation that would inevitably kill him. Even if Lyriia was a skilled doctor, he felt that it would take a miracle to even help him.

[RomanAria]

”…No.”

That word should have put her in more of a panic, but all it did was calm her, slowing her heart rate and clearing her vision. This was a medical emergency. She could deal with it. Finally a situation she had expertise in.

The girl dropped to her knees next to Ahmal and gently pulled his hands away from the wound. Internally she cringed away as she saw how terribly deep and wide the wound was, how bad it was bleeding, but she forced herself to at the least appear calm.

She didn’t have anything to stop bleeding in her backpack… there were precious few of those herbs that grew in the winter. She really didn’t have anything useful in this situation… except for her magic. Lady of Mercy, give me strength… Don’t let me fail this time.

“Lie back and don’t struggle. Let your mind go blank; don’t think about what I’m doing. Don’t be nervous. This might hurt, but you have to trust me.” She prayed that at least some of the message would get through Ahmal’s pain-induced fog; otherwise he’d panic when he felt the magic on him and then he’d die for sure.

Lyriia scrubbed her hands off on her tunic as best as she could to get the blood off of her. Hardly ideal but the best she could do at this point. She wished she had water or some way to rinse out the wound, but there wasn’t any close by and she didn’t want to leave Ahmal. Besides, she told herself, he’s bleeding so much that the blood would have washed the wound clean.

She gently put her hands on either side of the wound, leaning down so that her eyes were right over the wound, so that she could better see what she was doing. A tugging feeling right behind her heart, almost painful, and then a tingling down her arms and hands, and a faint blue glow spread over the wound. She squinted, and her vision shifted, so that it was almost like she was inside the wound, watching the muscle fibers knit themselves back together, from the bottom of the wound up so that the repair would be the strongest. She despaired as she realized that the main artery in Ahmal’s leg was severed… she could fix the muscles but the blood vessel…

She knew she was crazy for trying to fix it. She wasn’t nearly good enough with her magic to mend a blood vessel; it was too much of a delicate process… if the repair wasn’t perfect the vessel could tear again, or it could collapse, or the scar tissue could block it—

No. She forced the thoughts out of her mind. Ahmal would die if she didn’t try… He might still die if she messed up, but there was a chance he could live.

She focused on the severed vessel, just willing it to heal. Slowly, so slowly, the delicate tissue started weaving itself back together. She frowned, directing all her energy into it, and was rewarded by a burst of white-hot pain all through her body.

No, gods curse it, she was NOT going to burn out yet. She had to help Ahmal. He’d saved her life, after all… time to repay the favor.

Gritting her teeth she fought back against her own body’s warning, forcing herself to work through the pain. The edges of her vision went fuzzy but she kept working, forcing the membranes to knit back together.

All of a sudden she pushed through the fog, her mind suddenly clear again, and studied her progress. The artery had knit itself back together (though she couldn’t be so sure of how well the repair would hold), and the muscle was mostly reconnected, and the skin was in the process of resealing itself.

The fairy girl blinked sleepily, her eyes heavy. She tried to stay focused, see the healing all the way through to the end… but… the crisis was averted, it seemed, and all she wanted to do was sleep… Besides, there was just a few layers of skin to knit together now… that would heal on its own in a few days… and she was so sleepy.

Lyriia broke contact with Ahmal’s skin, then tried to say something to him, something like “When we get back to Silent Rise I’ll rinse that and get you an herb salve and a bandage, and a tea to drink to keep off any infection.” But it probably came out as more of a mumble. And then the girl’s eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out, falling limp on the ground close to Ahmal's side. Subconsciously, as her vision went dark, her wing curled forwards, covering herself and Ahmal like a light blanket.

[Rekaigan]

He hesitated for a moment as Lyriia tried to pull his hands away from his wound, but he soon accepted her help, allowing his hands to be moved away. Through his blurring pain, he vaguely heard the fairy's instructions. He grit his teeth as he complied, laying back. However, he was thinking about what she was going to do. But he accepted whatever it was, if she could help him get through this.

He cringed as he felt her hands on his wound, a searing pain coursed through him as her hands came in contact with his leg. He felt a warm sensation fill his wound, it was a different kind of pain, a prickling kind. He could feel something being.. reattached? It felt as it something was reconnecting. He could feel his muscles, or what was left of them, become full again. The pain was slowly being pushed away by warmth. Warmth he hadn't felt before. He couldn't see it very clearly, but there was a soft light coming from where Lyriia was.

The moments felt like forever, but by the end of the procedure, Ahmal felt that his leg was.. healed? Somehow. He could still feel a slight chill on his leg as the cold air bit at his exposed wound. He felt the other fairy break contact with his leg. He could hear her mumble something to him. About.. Herb salve and bandage, and tea. Most likely things that would help his wound heal.

Before he could get up, he saw Lyriia pass out next to him, her wings attempting to curl around the both of them. "Lyriia?" He whispered to her. He lay there for a moment, trying to see signs of movement in the Fairy girl. He felt a slight panic, but he suppressed it. He reached his hand out, putting a finger horizontally beneath her nose. She was breathing, lightly. He gently touched her neck to check for a pulse. It was slow. Strangely so.

He moved to sit up to look at his leg. The hole was gone. Now it was just a rather large, flat wound. The skin was starting to heal as well. However, he couldn't really move his leg properly. Not that he would want to right now.

He slowly got up putting all his weight onto his uninjured leg. He looked down at the passed out Fairy, thinking of how to go about this. He crouched down slowly, putting as little pressure as he could on his wounded leg, the light snow and grass blades, stinging it as they touched the open wound. He shrugged off his bag of poisons he gently scooped up Lyriia in a kind of princess carry. He shifted his arms under her to get an even weight distribution. Thank the gods she was lighter than other fairies.

It would be a stretch to try get her back to Silent Rise, but it wasn't that far away. He beat his wings strongly, fighting the exhaustion he felt from enduring the pain. After lifting off the ground, he wobbled slightly as he shifted her weight in his arms again. Soon he was fluttering toward Silent Rise, his wings beating harder than he usually would.

It felt like forever before they reached Silent Rise. Ahmal flew in the direction of Longarm's house. He hovered slightly above the ground in front of Longarm's door, his wings beating hard to keep himself there. He gave the door a few swift, loud kicks before landing on his uninjured leg. He was on the brink of collapsing, but he fought back at the exhaustion, thinking that he'd only give in after he knew Lyriia was in safe hands.

[RomanAria]

On the whole flight back to Silent Rise, Lyriia didn't stir. She was still definitely alive, but so exhausted that her body was doing only the bare minimum to survive, which meant keeping her unconscious and barely breathing.

Master Longarm had been sitting at the kitchen table all evening, trying (and failing) to focus on his work. His thoughts were consumed by his apprentice having gone missing. A part of him wanted to go out and look for her, though realistically he knew that it would do no good. The woods were so thick they were like a maze. Lyriia would either find her way back or she wouldn’t. There was nothing Longarm, with his skillset, could do.

He was distracted by a tapping at the door. Bolting to his feet, the old man all but ran to the door.

To say he did not expect what he was going to find was an understatement. Seeing the two fairies, his apprentice passed out in the arms of a fairy who looked like he might himself pass out, the both of them slicked with spider blood and what looked like their own blood, the physician was more than a little shocked.

Rather than say anything at first, he crouched down and scooped the weight of his apprentice out of the male fairy’s arms, cradling the girl in his palm, then motioned for the other fairy to follow him inside. Then the rational part of him realized that as tired as the fairy looked, it would be cruel to ask him to fly any more.

The physician knelt again and scooped the male fairy up in his other hand. “Forgive me, but it’s easier this way.”

He quickly walked inside and set both fairies down on the examining table. He checked Lyriia’s vitals first, and frowned at how weak the girl’s heartbeat was…. What had she been trying to do?!

Then he noticed the wound on the male fairy’s leg. From the grainy texture of the half-healed skin, it looked like it had been an artificial healing. With another murmured apology he gently pressed on the area around the wound, trying to determine if there was anything that was too weakly fused together, that could present a danger to the fairy’s life.

His apprentice had done a good job. The muscles weren’t quite as firm in that one spot, so there would probably be some weakness, but judging by the amount of blood that covered both fairies, Lyriia had been working to save the other fairy’s life. And judging by the spider blood that was all over everything, both of them had likely already been exhausted, which would have effected the quality of healing.

But still, no wonder that the girl was unconscious. Muscle and artery repair was far beyond what she knew. Nonetheless, she would ultimately wake up, though it might take a few days. All that could be done was to keep her warm and have food and water for her when she woke up.

“Lyriia will be fine, and so will you, though if you have any sense you’ll stay here for the night. Was it a bite or a stab of some sort?” Longarm asked gently. He carefully studied the wound again, assuring himself it wasn’t life-threatening anymore, and then turned his focus back to the fairy’s face.

[Rekaigan]

He felt a wave of relief wash over him as Longarm opened the door, scooping his apprentice out of the fairy's arms. Just as Ahmal went to follow the man, he was also picked up. He felt that he should be thanking the doctor rather than forgiving him. His entire body ached from fatigue, his mind still quite blurred by the journey and his injury.

Ahmal lay quite still on the table, he turned his head in worry, looking at Lyriia who was still passed out. He felt a stinging pain as Longarm touched his wound, he grit his teeth to try endure it, but he ended up letting out a rather constricted groan.

He felt a small, relieved smile on his face when Longarm told him that the girl was going to be okay. He felt as though he had fulfilled what he had promised, but he still worried about her condition despite the doctor's reassurance. He had no intention of leaving yet. He was far too exhausted to even move from his laying position, and he was being cared for by a medical professional. There was no reason to leave.

"..Stab.." He managed to say in his drained state. It could be said that he looked quite pale, despite his tanned skin, after all, he had lost a lot of blood from the injury. He was struggling to stay awake, his vision blurring and his head feeling like it was spinning. He fought the urge to just fall unconscious, waiting for any other questions the doctor might have.

[RomanAria]

Longarm studied the young male fairy closely. It was clear he was in pain and exhausted... No other questions were so desperate that they couldn't wait for the fairy to regain some of his strength. Since it wasn't a bite there was no worry about poison, just infection.

The fairy's complexion was awfully ashen, despite his heavy tan, but Longarm wasn't confident in what he could do except let the fairy rest, not trusting himself to try a blood transfusion (which was risky enough from human to human, but from human to fairy? And he couldn't have Lyriia donate the blood, not in her state...) The fairy didn't seem to be in distress, after all. And was (mostly) conscious, and not losing any more blood.

Longarm directed his attention back to the fairy. "You are a brave young man. Rest now; I'll bring you a tea to drink and a salve and bandage for your wound."
He hurried back into the kitchen/workroom, carefully mixing herbs. He used the ones from Lyriia's supply, as those were already broken into fairy-sized dosages. He poured a few drops of boiling water into an acorn and stirred the leaf paste in, and added honey for flavor. Then he took a small bowl and cloth and put hot water into that, and made, on a tiny dish, another paste of rather yellow hue.

The elderly physician brought all the supplies back to the examining table, setting the tray down at the foot of the table. He picked up the acorn cup gently between two fingers and held it for the fairy, using his other hand to gently prop the young man up so that he wouldn't choke on the liquid. "Herbs to numb the pain, and help you sleep. You need rest, child."

[Twhirtley]

Reward Review

Lyriia Elenye

Skills
Aerobatics: 5
Herbalism: 1
Bodybuilding: 2
Land Navigation: 1
Observation: 5
Stealth: 1
Socialization: 2
Flirting: 1
Weapon (Dagger): 3
Leadership: 1
Persuasion: 1
Medicine: 1
Healing: 4

Knowledge:
Contact: Ahmal Ervallen

Other
Migraines, bodily pain, exhaustion for 10 days, full recovery naturally.

Ahmal Ervallen

Skills
Poison: 2
Camouflage: 1
Observation: 6
Aerobatics: 1
Ranged (Composite Bow): 4
Tactics: 1
Leadership: 3
Socialization: 3
Bodybuilding: 5
Subterfuge: 1
Land Navigation: 1
Endurance: 4
Investigation: 1
Medicine: 1
Unarmed Combat: 1

Knowledge:
Contact: Lyriia Elenye
Lyriia, The Pretty Fairy Physician
The Feel of Healing Magic

Other
Weakened leg, 20 days natural healing for full recovery