As expected, Elias was not on Mellie. He had been yelling her name and other phrases, but between the adrenaline and the pain, she couldn't focus on his words. She could barely focus on breathing and standing upright.
She looked down and saw that blood had already soaked through her ripped tunic, both at her side and on her arm. She tried to get her sword back in its scabbard, but couldn't quite seem to manage it. She felt light-headed. She thought she got the tip of the sword into its case and tried to shove it in, but it just jabbed into the side and twisted itself out of her hands.
She reached forward to grab it, but a cramp ran through her entire body, driving her to her knees. She let out a choked whimper and pressed her fist against her side, taking a shuddering breath.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Elias quickly approached her side, kneeling down and looking down at her with his big hazel eyes, but not with pity -- it was of worry and concern. He glanced back presumably to see how far away the horses were, but then shook his head and took off his shirt, roping it along her arm and then tying it.
"The first thing we'll have to do is stop the bleeding," he said gently as he worked on spiraling the shirt on her arm. "Keep pressure on your side. I'm going to get all the supplies from the saddlebag. Stay here."
She didn't bother answer. Where the fuck else am I going to go? She swallowed hard, focusing on keeping her breathing as steady as she could. It hurt, and she didn't know how she was going to manage to stitch up her own side. And it was going to be annoying to try to stitch up her forearm using her left hand. And of course they couldn't be anywhere close to a town just now because that would be helpful. And the universe was against that.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
After tying the ends of the shirt, he quickly got up on his feet and fished through the saddlebag for some time. He then returned with an array of items: more clothes, bandages, salve, gauze, basically all other medical equipment.
"How are you feeling?" he asked her as he took a washcloth and poured some of the water from the canteen on it. "I'm going to clean up the side wound, by the way. Can you move your hands?"
"Oh, feeling just peachy," she snarled between clenched teeth. She reached to pull her tunic up so it wouldn't be in the way, but inhaled sharply when pain stabbed through her side. She lowered herself to the ground clumsily. "Fuck it. Just cut it off."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Elias nodding, taking the sword and carefully using the top of the edge to methodically cut up the affected portion of the tunic. For once, he seemed confident in a tense situation. Maybe he had done this before many times.
"It's off," he announced when finished, setting the sword and the bloodied rags of the tunic aside. He focused on the gash on her side, and then dabbed it a few times with the wet washcloth.
She hissed as pain shot through her side. It needed to be done. She knew it did. But she still didn't trust him. "Do you fucking know what you're doing?"
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"I think I have mentioned this to you before," he said calmly as he took out a long piece of gauze from the bundle. "But I thought I was going to be a normal healer." He placed the gauze over the gash. "I'm not, but I found out too late. But I already learned these things, and it kind of stuck."
He looked up to meet her eyes, only looking concerned and empathetic.
"Placed your hands here. We have to stop the bleeding first. I can work on your arm in the meantime."
She was breathing progressively heavier, teeth clenched. Her face felt so hot. Her breaths felt so shallowed and labored. And her vision was a bit blurred with the pain. At this point, she didn't have much choice but to let him do whatever it was that he claimed he could do. "Fine."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
She didn't know what he was rambling about. Or feel like telling him that she healed quick because of the injections. "Just stitch it up before I lose more blood."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
She let her head fall back, panting. Her entire body was coated in sweat from both the exertion of fighting the beast, and now from tolerating the pain. She hated cauterizing wounds, maybe more than anything else in life. But, he was probably right. She felt like she was losing a lot of blood, and they both needed her to recover quickly.
"Fuck," she repeated again, swallowing hard. Her right hand fumbled for the second dagger in her belt, slipping slightly with all the blood. She turned it so that she was holding the blade between her fingers.
She closed her eyes, focusing on the blade. She still breathed heavily, channeling every last bit of energy she could to focus on the R'hyk. She quickly realized how stupid it was, trying to hold onto it. She dropped it on the ground next to her side, still focusing on channeling the R'hyk to heat it.
She stopped when she felt heat emanating back up towards her, pulling her hand away. "Fine, fucking do it, but kneel on my arm. I will hurt you if you don't, and I won't be able to stop it."
She twisted so that her right arm was under her back, and she grasped the back of her trousers as hard as she possibly could, bracing herself for hell. She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Elias seemed confused since there was a long pause, but thank the gods that he seemed to piece the pieces together without asking a single question. He picked up the hilt of the dagger and then wordlessly did as he was told, kneeling on her free arm. With his free hand, he cleaned around the wound one last time then lifted up the gauze.
"I'm going to do it now," he announced as a warning.
