Young Writers Society

Sera gestured to his feet in the water. "Those toes are black, Al. Black means they're dead, frozen straight through. They'll rot and spread infection if I leave them on."

(Oops, forgot to ask if amputating your character's toes would be okay! Is this all alright?)

(All good! I’m fine with that!)

Aleth groaned again and rubbed his face, then grimaced at how it hurt his hands. He looked down at them. “I suppose I should be grateful that none of my fingers are black, then.”

"I suppose so." Sera eyes his fingers critically. "You'll be losing a bit of skin off them, I expect, but nothing much. Certainly not enough to require surgery." She started bandaging his ribs first, creating a tight support around the damaged bones.

Aleth inhaled sharply and held it as pain stabbed through his torso again. He slowly let it out, closing his eyes. “How long have you been doing this?”

"Since I was thirteen." Sera tied off the bandage.

“Wow,” Aleth answered, opening his eyes to try to guess her age. “That’s dedication.”

Sera looked to be a couple years shy of forty, with a pointed face and strong, nimble hands. "I came here as an apprentice and found I had no wish to leave," she replied. "And the Ashes had no wish to see me go."

“Sounds like a pleasant arrangement,” Aleth commented.

Sera made no reply to that, finishing up the bandaging. "You may remove your feet from the water," she told him, heading over to the cauldron to get more water for his hands. "Try to move them."

Aleth took his feet out of the water and watched as water dripped off his toes back into the basin. He wiggled them, cringing at the pain that still stabbed through them, but was pleased that all but the two of them obeyed. “They still hurt.”

"They'll hurt for awhile. For now, keep exercising them." Sera brought the other basin over to him and set it on the bed.

Aleth kept wiggling his toes, eyeing the water. He wasn’t excited to go through the same process with his fingers. “You’re sure this isn’t warming them too quickly? It feels scalding.”

"The water's only warm," Sera promised. "It feels worse on frozen skin, that's all."

“Oh.” Aleth reluctantly held his hands out to her.

She dipped them into the water gently. "Keep them there."