Figurehead

four

I'm inscribing another thin clay slab for Ersu- for one of his customers, really- when one of the locals approaches at a hurried pace. "You must be the trusted messenger, right?"

I frown, getting out of the stall. "That's me. What's going on?"

She winces, tucking a strand of her cropped, chin-length dark hair behind her ear. Her pale blue eyes are, thankfully, nothing like Dein's. "One of the others was attacked. Yef, I think his name is?"

"How? What happened? Are the others alright?"

We start heading to the healers' hut and she splays her fingers at the base of her neck. "Kued."

I make a similar gesture, only more awkwardly because it is an Avu one and I'm not accustomed to it yet. "Janf."

She nods. "He should heal well enough," she says hesitantly.

"What happened?"

She sighs and shakes her head. "One of the locals- must have been drunk- stabbed the trusted messenger when he and his bound tried to talk to her and some others, who weren't quick enough to pull her away before injuring him and breaking decree."

"Is Tri alright?" Kued furrows her eyebrows. "Yef's bound."

She nods, "It was only Yef who was injured." I don't know him or his bound well, but still. This is serious. Something in my face prompts her to give me a reassuring smile. "He'll live."

"But how is he?" I ask quietly, as we stop in the doorway.

"See for yourself," she gestures. "He's in there."

I pass through the healers and those on pallets to stand in the doorway to the intensive care room. Tui and two other healers tend to the wound while Tri kneels at his bedside, her right hand holding his and her left hand stroking his forehead. It's pretty bad.

There's quite a lot of blood soaking through the white cloths wrapped around his torso. Based on that, it's not difficult to assume he was stabbed near the stomach. And there's a lot of blood, so it's probably quite a serious wound. It will take a long, long time before he fully heals. That much, even I can tell.

Tui catches a glimpse of me as she rises from the bedside with bloodstained cloths dying her hands in red. I follow her out as she goes into the washroom to soak the cloths in a basin of cold water, its interior already coated by dried blood. "He'll live," she says flatly, glancing at me.

"It looked pretty bad," I sigh.

She nods once, lips set in a grim line. "He could have died from the blood loss, or if the dagger had punctured any of his organs."

"It didn't?" She shakes her head. I exhale. "Thank the Lord," I murmur. Maybe I don't know her well, but I know Tri would be devastated if her bound died. "Is there anything I can do here?" I ask, knowing full well the answer is no.

She shakes her head. "Thanks anyway. Thanks for coming."

I nod once before leaving the healers' hut, managing a brief smile of acknowledgement at Kued as she nods at me.

What help can I offer to these healers, to the locals?

"What happened?" Par asks, once the customers have come and gone with meat and skins and pottery in their hands.

I sigh. "Yef was stabbed near the stomach."

Par mutters something akin to what I assume is a curse or two, while Krit sighs heavily. Werv furrows his eyebrows. "Isn't that against decree?"

I nod. "I don't know who the local was, but she was drunk and she's probably getting punished very soon." I hesitate, not sure if I want to know. "How do the Avu deal with these situations?"