The cut was pretty bad, and was more like a gash. On top of that, she seemed to have a twisted ankle, and there were scuffs on her hands and knees where she’d tried to catch herself. Garin crossed his arms, watching the healer intently as the young woman pulled out a hooked needle as well as some thread.
“Yeah… it’s a pretty bad gash.” She said, taking a moment to tie back her long auburn hair. “How in the world did ya’ manage this?”
“I tripped on the pavement.” Nadia’s reply was soft and a bit muffled, so Garin assumed it must still hurt pretty bad to speak.
“Is that so?” The healer’s brows raised, but she didn’t comment any further on the matter, and instead turned around to nod at Garin. “Come hold her hand, this’ll be painful and I don’t want her slappin’ me or cryin’ out or nothin’.”
“What?” Garin frowned. “She’s an adult, she can handle it.”
“She’s your woman, ain’t she?! Get over here and hold her hand! It ain’t like that’s a terribly hard thing to do, and the quicker you do, the quicker all this can be over!”
Garin grumbled and rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue his point any further. Already, he could tell it would be useless. He pulled a chair over beside where Nadia sat and held his hand out to her with a grumble and huff. He felt her smaller hand press into his palm and shivered when it sent chills up his spine. “Cold.”
“Sorry.” Nadia said in a muffled voice, her hands were really clammy and she hadn’t warned him about that.
Garin said nothing, but felt when Nadia’s hand squeezed his tightly as the healer began to stitch up the wound. He glanced over and saw her expression, cringing but unmoving. Her eyes were shut tight and her teeth clenched, clearly she was suppressing what would have been a tearful shout.
“Almost done.” The healer said, making another careful stitch.
A couple more stitches later and Nadia was finished and being bandaged. “I’ll return in a couple weeks to remove the stitches... I’m afraid it may scar.”
“Oh... well, thank you for your time and help.” She said with a slight smile.
“That’s my job... take care and keep it clean and bandaged. Next week, give it some air.” The healer began to put her supplies away. She tucked a hair behind her ear and sighed heavily as she heaved the heavy bag up off the table.
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” Nadia and Garin said together.
Once the healer was gone, Garin looked at Nadia. She looked rather exhausted and her expression was pained.
“You still need to eat, just eat carefully.” Garin instructed as he opened the bag of food they had brought home. It instantly made the house smell good, and Nadia looked like she might drool.
