The Princess and the Blade

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi hovered a few feet away, focusing on his analysis of the wound. He'd seen and had his share of first aid, and had been injured more than most could claim, but treating a female child was another matter.

When the gauze came off, pulling and sticking to the dirty skin beneath, Havi's expression became a flat mask. How could she even pretend this didn't hurt? The only thing that had worked remotely in her benefit was the fact that the surgeon seemed skilled with his knife - probably a prerequisite if one intended to sell eyes like spare wagon wheels for a living. The extraction had been clean, but the same care had not been afforded in the mending of the wound afterward. It looked excruciating.

The Ivis muttered curses in his own tongue, looking tempted to shove Laurius aside and do it himself. But he could clearly tell that the child was afraid of him.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius set the bowl of water on the floor next to Lee and sat on one of the sofas. He took her shoulders and turned her to look at him, trying not to wince at the sight of her eye. They would have to get her a better eyepatch... He took a cloth and dipped it into the water and cleaned around the eye as gently as possible. Lee's hands curled in her flour-sack dress, knuckles whitening, but she didn't scream. The only sign there was any discomfort was the watering of her good eye, and the dead-stillness of her held breath.

Oberin must have trained her to not cry while teaching her to be silent. He pulled the rag away, giving her a break. "How old are you, Lee?" Lee exhaled and unclenched her hands from her dress, showing him seven fingers. Oberin said he had owned her for two years... He sighed heavily and turned his attention to Havitharon. "You said you had something that would help her eye?"

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi twitched, not quite meeting his eyes. "My venom," he muttered. "It would be most effective if applied directly from my mouth, but the child seems frightened of me."

[Emora Deen]

Laurius stared blankly at Havitharon, looking as if he were trying to decipher words spoken by foreign tongue. “I’m sorry, your what?” He racked his brain for whether Ren had ever mentioned anything about venom, but if he had it has been while Laurius was or nearly unconscious. He set the rag in the bowl and eyed the child, who was staring up at Havitharon with a mixture of wonder and terror. If he tried to apply this venom with his mouth, she would surely think he was going to eat her. “Can we extract it into a vial?” He imagined squeezing Havitharon’s teeth and head over a glass bowl, rather like a venomous snake, to collect it. He’d done it before…

“I don’t taste good,” Lee’s small voice filtered into the air, cracked and dampened from disuse. She lifted her scrawny arm. “Skinny. Bad for eating.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi looked at the girl then, watching her gaze flinch when his alien yellow eyes met hers. "I did not bring you here to eat you. And if I asked, you should not let me."

[Emora Deen]

Lee’s brow furrowed, seemingly not understanding this concept of refusal.

Laurius sighed and urged her to sit on the sofa across from them while he looked the room over for a glass. He found one next to an empty brandy decanter in a cabinet. He passed it to Havitharon. “Spit,” he said. He knew that if he ordered Lee to be still while Havitharon applied his venom—however it was that one did that—she would obey. But, it also felt like a traumatic thing for a child, and she had already experienced one awful event that day. Then, he went to one of the bags they had brought with them, digging through it for something to use as a bandage. He found a roll of clean bandages that the Queen of Hajara had been kind enough to pack for them.

“We are not going to hurt you,” Laurius said. “We are…” What were they going to do? Who were they to her? Surely not masters. But, they couldn’t set her free or someone else would scoop her up, frail and protected as she was...

Lee sat on the couch, her feet not quite touching the floor. It made her look even smaller than she had when standing. She had gone quiet again, watching them, studying them, likely trying to find the reasoning for their purchase. Laurius was as baffled as she was because, though he was horror-stricken at her appearance, it had never crossed his mind to intercede.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi studied the vial and turned his back to them. This was their best option. He placed the vial in his mouth, just behind his front teeth, and pressed his tongue firmly to roof of his mouth. A small bead of clear liquid squeezed loose into the vial. He immediately turned to Laurius and thrust it toward him. "The sooner it is applied, the more effective it will be," he told him. It seemed wrong to thrust the task onto the other man, but Laurius seemed to have some idea of what he was doing, and the girl seemed less afraid of him.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius took the vial, admiring it curiously before kneeling in front of Lee. “I am going to help,” he told her. “Be still.”

He rinsed his hands quickly on the bowl of water, then dipped his finger into the glass of Havitharon’s venom. He reached out toward her eye, and Lee didn’t move. She didn’t flinch. She barely breathed. He touched the wound gingerly, spreading the substance over the ruin. When he was done, he took the bandaging and wrapped it around her eye and head.

She needed a bath. Real clothes. Food…

By the time Laurius finished tying the bandage, there was a subtle shift in Lee’s posture—a loosening of the tension in her shoulders, a bewildered twinkle to her eye. But still, she didn’t move.

“How do you feel? Better?” He asked.

Lee slowly nodded, her gaze fixating on Havitharon curiously. “Will it grow back?” she finally asked.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's heart lurched into his stomach. "No," he said, hoping he was hiding his anger. "It won't."

How could they? How dared they? He breathed, forcing his fury back down. "However, you will never go through something like this again. Do you understand?"

[Emora Deen]

Laurius scowled. They could hardly guarantee that. He stood and took the bowl of bloodied water into the bathroom, dumping it down the drain.

Lee seemed just as disbelieving as Laurius. For her, she had likely spent her entire life in service, at the whims of violent people. She likely believed she would always be at the whim of violent people. She was just trying to predict what sort of awful Havitharon and Laurius would bring to her life.

“I’ll return to the market, get her some clothes and a sheath for your sword. Run her a bath,” he said, heading for the door.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi looked back at him sharply. "Alone?" He drifted off meaningfully. Take the sword, and Havi would be pulled to it when it grew too far. Leave it, and they would have no way of communicating if something happened.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius paused. He looked back at the sword. “I would say come, but that would leave Lee here alone. Plus, we would likely come back with a few more children and financial obligations. I’ll only be half an hour at the most. Alright?”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi seemed oblivious to the accusation in Laurius's words. He didn't like the idea of splitting up, but he also didn't know enough about raising children on this world to question the man's insistence on getting supplies. "Alright. I will remain with the child."

[Emora Deen]

Laurius gave a nod and closed the door behind him. His pace was quick, but calm as he skipped down the stairs, through the dorm doors, across the courtyard, and back down into the dungeon market.

Lee sat quietly on the sofa, watching Havitharon stare after Laurius. She then looked around the room, writhing her hands together as she absorbed details for their usefulness later. After a minute, she looked back at Havitharon, admiring him again.

“Did you sell your horn?” she asked of his broken one, touching her head.

[Soran Nightblade]

He reached up and grazed his hand past his chipped horn. "I gave this piece to my Yurivis," he told her matter-of-factly. Havi tilted his head, pondering the tiny creature he was now alone with. He had never spent time with children. On his world, males had no role in childrearing. He wasn't sure how to behave with her.

Then he remembered Laurius's instructions. "Would you like to take a bath?"