The campfire was crackling peacefully, casting a warm orange light around the small camp. Chan was sitting by his bedroll, his leather armor off and wearing only his undershirt as Felix returned to the camp with water in the small bowl to the mess kit. Chan looked up from his hands as Felix placed the metal bowl over the fire.
"How are you feeling?" he asked as he sat down on his knees beside Chan.
"I'd be lying if I said it was fine," he began and Felix hummed, nodding along a little. "But... all things considered... pretty good actually."
"Good... I think we need to change the bandages and maybe clean the wound," he continued and Chan hummed, grabbing a hold of his shirt to pull it over his head but Felix stopped him. "Let me help you. You're going to rip something," he said quietly, giving Chan a small, tight lipped smile.
Chan took a deep breath but he didn't say anything. Felix carefully helped him out of the undershirt, one arm at the time. He placed the shirt to the side and focused his eyes on the bandages and instantly his heart sank. There were patches of blood soaking through the white bandages. This wasn't good.
He quickly got to work with unwrapping the bandages. He bit the inside of his cheek, tossing the bloody fabric to the side as he observed the wound. It was swollen, the skin red and the edges of the wound still not taking together and what made Felix's heart drop like a stone was the yellowish fluid that oozed out of the wound. It was infected.
"This doesn't look good," Chan said, wincing as he shifted a little.
"How are you even able to walk around with this?" Felix asked, frowning as he took his eyes off the wound. Chan shrugged, looking between Felix and the wound.
"I think dragons tend to have a high pain tolerance... maybe that's why?" he said, giving Felix another little shrug. Felix ran a hand through his hair, thinking of what to do. He looked over to the little bowl of the mess kit and he stood up. The water was boiling at this point; exactly what he needed.
He placed the bowl beside Chan, bringing his bag with him and he sat down beside Chan again. He really didn't want to treat Chan's wounds here, hidden away by a few trees and bushes by a dirty and dusty road in the middle of the night.
"Here," he said, giving Chan his waterskin before holding out his hands. "Pour some water over my hands," he instructed and Chan did as told. Felix pulled out a clean rag, dipping it in the hot water of the bowl. "This will probably hurt," he said and carefully began to clean the wound of the yellow fluids.
As he worked on it, he kept glancing up at Chan every now and then. Chan had his brows furrowed, jaw clenched and he winced in pain every now and then.
"I'm so sorry," Felix said as he tossed the now dirty rag on top of the bloody bandages. They wouldn't be reused anyway. He inspected the wound, noting that it looked better now but it was still infected. "It sure would be useful to actually be a healer right now," he murmured, turning back to his bag.
"I appreciate everything you're doing for me," Chan said softly as Felix pulled the dried rosemary out of his bag. Chan raised an eyebrow, looking down at the herb.
"I might be able to get the infection out of your body," Felix said, breaking the rosemary in two pieces. "But I make no promises," he continued, taking a deep breath before pressing his hands against Chan's abdomen, a piece of rosemary under each palm.
As he held the rosemary pressed against Chan's skin, he closed his eyes and muttered an incantation under his breath. He felt his palms growing warm against Chan's skin and the slight tingling of magic running through his veins, towards his hands.
"Felix," Chan said, placing a hand on Felix's face and Felix snapped his eyes open. He inhaled sharply, as he had not realized he had been holding his breath, and he realized that he had started sweating a little. Chan was looking concerned as he moved his hand to brush his finger over Felix's upper lip. "You're bleeding," he whispered and Felix's hand immediately went up to his nose.
"Oh," he said as he pulled back his hand, his fingers red with blood. "I didn't-"
"Are you okay?" Chan asked, brows furrowed. Felix reached out for a piece of fabric, quickly drying his nose and he just nodded. He felt fine, his limbs a bit heavy and breathing slightly labored.
"It's fine," he said but Chan didn't look convinced. "I just... used a bit too much magic," he continued, waving his hand in the air before going back to look at Chan's wound. There was still a bit of fluid coming from it, but the swelling and redness had gone down noticeably and the fluid was clear. The stitches looked okay; they were messy but they served their purpose of holding the skin together and he couldn't see any torn stitches.
"You sure you're okay?" Chan asked and Felix just nodded, not looking up as he took a fresh bandage to start wrapping Chan's wound again. There was a pause and Chan looked down as Felix worked on the bandage. "What happened to your hands?" he asked, breaking the silence and Felix snapped his head up, hands freezing.
His hands.
His gut twisted at the mere thought of his hands and he took a deep breath, looking down at his hands. His hands were covered in scarred, mangled and terribly burned skin. The skin over his fingers were not as affected as the skin on the back of his hand but they were far from the delicate and beautiful hands that elves and half elves should have.
"It's..." he trailed off, unsure of what to actually say. "I don't want to talk about it," he whispered, resuming his work on wrapping Chan's wound.
"I won't ask more," Chan said quietly. "I'm sorry."
Felix didn't reply, he just remained quiet as he fastened the bandages around Chan's torso and stood up. He could feel Chan's eyes on him as he moved back over to his own bedroll, but he didn't spare Chan a second glance before muttering a low 'goodnight'. His heart felt heavy as he laid down, a million thoughts running through his mind and he sighed, closing his eyes as he let sleep claim him, despite knowing the nightmares that would follow.
