Rainy Days and an Exasperated Healer.

Chapter One

The sun dipped its head below the horizon, liquid fire lighting the trees and sea-slick pebbles of the narrow cove. Erryne knelt by a new growth of an eldervine, carefully plucking a few purple-tinged leaves and tucking them into one of her herb-scented leather pouches.

It all felt too mundane for the strange occurrence, the calm after the raging, roiling storm that had washed up the winged girl onto her shore. She stood carefully, her skirt falling back around her ankles, before slipping the pouch back into one of her many pockets and turning back towards camp. 

Walking back through the thin forest was oddly serene, as close to the nearby village as she was. Normally, there might be fishermen also taking this path, hauling their catch home, or children rushing home before supper, still dripping with saltwater. Instead, the forest was quiet with the tranquility Erryne rarely got to experience. Even the forest animals were tucked into their burrows and dens after the storm.

She unslung her satchel, setting it beside her as she knelt by the girl's side. Her delicate, birdlike features were softened by sleep, honey-blonde hair tangled with seawater falling limply around her shoulders and her lips just slightly parted while her nose sloped straight down her face. The most striking part about her were the bedraggled wings that shone with an iridescent gleam, almost like a raven's. They were folded protectively into her back, half-concealed by the furs Erryne had tucked carefully over her. Thankfully, the girl's condition didn't seem to have changed- for better or for worse.

As if on cue, when Erryne went to change the dressing on her forearm, the girl's green-gray eyes blinked open. 

With a lightning-fast movement the girl pushed herself awkwardly off of the cot she'd been laid on, those blue-black wings propelling her forwards albeit clumsily right into Erryne. The taller, broader, girl let out a yell as she was tackled onto the patchy grass inside the tent.

"What- hey! I am trying to help you here, fool-"

She managed, narrowing her mismatched eyes at seeing the now-bloody bandages on the girl's arms and legs from where they'd probably been scraped by the jagged rocks bordering the pebbly cove. The girl seemed to realize this too, keeping a surprisingly strong hand on Erryne's shoulder in order to keep the healer down before sitting back on her heels with an indistinguishable look on her face.

"Where.. am I..?"

She finally said, her voice soft and confused, a newborn mouse just out of the burrow. Looking closer, Erryne saw she had a rather curious look about her, like she didn't quite know what was going on, though a spark of sharp intelligence shone from those green eyes.

"Mirra. A farming district to the south, called Ettera, and also my camp, so will you get off?"

Erryne sounded rather exasperated, sitting up halfway and grabbing her satchel from where it had been knocked away and reaching inside to check nothing was broken. The girl watched her with cool, unblinking eyes, the confusion of earlier gone like it had never even existed. 

"Wha... Mirra, huh. I-I can't say I recognize that name."

The strange, winged girl had a decidedly nervous tint to her voice now, and Erryne narrowed her eyes, about to comment on it when her own mismatched gaze dropped to the opened gashes on the other girl's forearms and legs. Crimson blood had soaked through the carefully applied bandages with the sudden movement, and Erryne tutted under her breath, standing fully and pulling the girl to her feet.

"Sit back down. I'll redress them. Miracle you're even still alive, with all the seadiving and doctortackling you seem to be doing..."

Erryne muttered the last part spitefully under her breath, but the meaning was clear, and she herded (forced) the other girl back over to the disturbed cot, righting it and pushing her down.

"And no more moving around suddenly, you hear? You are my patient right now, and if I have to make a dozen more bandages, you are helping me do it."

She knelt, unwrapping one of the bandages on the winged girl's leg, which had a pretty fair gash, and pulling out one of the clotting samples of elderroot she'd gathered a couple minutes ago.

The winged girl simply stared, green eyes bemused. 

---

After her wounds were dressed, the winged girl introduced herself as 'Just Maia', sitting on the cot that also happened to be Erryne's bed. The clothes Erryne had put her in were slightly too large, a woven tunic and long skirt of Erryne's, hanging just past her ankles and waist. The girl pulled a brush through her honey-blonde hair, wincing as yet another tangle caught on the bristles.

"So... you live in the woods? Alone? Then, uh, who do you heal?"

Erryne, building a fire with careful, practiced hands, answered almost absentmindedly.

"I'm not the only one who lives in these woods, girl. And there is a farming village, called Reae, to the north- I do house calls there during the warm seasons, and live there during the winter when it gets too cold to plant my herbs."

She spoke plainly, straightforwardly, as she often did.

The girl- Maia- looked around inquisitively at the camp.

"I'm guessing you don't get paid in money- well, if I helped people like that, I'd definitely invest in a more... secure infirmary."

Erryne stiffened for a moment, then looked over her shoulder, raising one manicured eyebrow.

"I don't get paid. All the goods I haven't made myself are from the benevolence of the townsfolk and the woodsfolk, nothing more. Why would I charge for a necessary service?"

She shook her head, almost in disbelief, and returned to tending the new fire, jerking back as it suddenly flamed to life. A surprise, given how hard it had been to find dry wood after the rain, and most of what she had on hand was the driftwood that had washed up that morning before the storm, which had been warmed by the sun and taken quickly to her camp. 

"Right. Come sit."

She patted the still-damp pebbles by the campfire, and Maia, with some hesitance, obeyed, taking a cross-legged seat by the flames and sighing with relief as the heat reached her skin. Nothing could compare after a cold dip in the ocean than a nice campfire.

"So. Where are you from?" Erryne asked after a moment, poking the flames with a metal rod for a moment before grabbing a rough cooking pot. "I can probably arrange for a ride there, you know, on the back of a farmer's cart or something, or even a boat if you live across water. Well, given you washed up here." She went silent after a moment, looking to the blonde.

An impossibly long beat of silence.

Then, slowly, Maia spoke.

"I... Everything seems fuzzy. I-I know I lived somewhere, sure, but... well... I just can't..."

Her voice broke, losing its nervous tone, and she would have continued but for Erryne holding up a hand to stop her.

"It's... it's fine. Save your breath on definite statements. Did you... hit your head on a rock, or something? When I checked you over, there were no bumps or even abrasions on the skull, but I could have been wrong, and it just went down after a while."

Maia swallowed, visibly anxious now as she looked into the flames.

"I... don't remember."

Her voice came out as a soft whisper, and Erryne sighed heavily from her knelt position.

"Fine, then. Help me get cooking water, right? You're staying here tonight."

AN: :)