The Sleeping City

Chapter Four: Painter's Heart

"You look happy to see me, shouldn't you be training?" Eresse said jokingly, and she let out a slight smirk. Cora could make his chest flutter with just a look. They hadn't talked for months, but Eresse could already feel the heat in his face and the sweat on his palms. He was surprised to see her tied back with a red ribbon he gave her years ago. She hadn't worn it like that before.

"All that practice, and you're still coming home bruised up." She pointed out.

Eresse chuckled. "Father was eager today, so I ended up a little more cut up than usual. You- what happened?" He said, pulling her as tenderly as he could towards him. She tried to tear away for a moment, but he didn't loosen his grip. There was a poorly bandaged cut across her arm; it was still bleeding badly. He opened the front door of his house and pulled her in. She sat on one of the chairs in the dining area.

"Who did this?" Eresse said, grabbing a box full of fresh bandages. The villages' healer would give him some bandages and stitching equipment as long he would come help with patients when needed. He made sure to stock up for those days his father decided to go all out. "It's fine Ere, just bandage it," she implored.

"Few in the village could do this to you, and the fact it's poorly bandaged makes it more personal. So that leaves two people. This is going to hurt." Eresse warned as he took out the abomination someone mistook for stitching.

"Your father would never go this far, so that leaves Probu," He said while grabbing a rag and pouring water on it. He started cleaning her wound as best he could, but she had obviously waited a while before telling him. He had once read about a bird whose heartbeat was so fast it sounded like a downpour, he understood what that meant now. Between his seething anger and the fact, he was touching her now while trying to keep his hand steady made him feel like the air had wholly left his lungs.

"I can handle myself. It was just a training accident; it happens all the time, people have lost fingers, and you've never been this agitated." She said wincing, as he started working on closing the slash on her arm.

"Those people weren't you." He said through his teeth. She stared into his eyes for a moment until she saw straight through them until she found what he was trying not to show her."Still? I thought if I stopped talking to you, it would go away." She whispered.

"It's not that easy, I wish it were, but it isn't. The Gods are cruel." Eresse tried to focus, but the look on Cora's eyes wasn't helping. He had confessed to her about a year before, and she accepted his feelings, but when she realized he loved painting and reading more than fighting, she broke it off. He understood why it happened, but it didn't make it hurt any less. If he had known before that being himself would have made her, and the rest of the village treat him like a pariah, he would have been someone else. He would've been more like Probu.

"Ere, you're going to have to stop eventually. It's just easier that way. For both of use. Anyway, I can defend myself; I just thought you would be the only who could help me without making a big deal about it."

"Oh, I'm making a big deal about it, I'm just focusing on bandaging you first," He said, wrapping bandaged around her arm. He knew if he made a fuss about it, it would only drive her away but he couldn't help it.