Broken Doll {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 47

The next two weeks consisted of the much needed recovery of the entire first faction. All the wounded soldiers were given priority, and Ethan's soldiers seemed to double their security and work load in order to compensate and aid their war beaten military, even though they'd never met Kailas' men before now. The second faction was definitely much different when compared to the first, but they seemed generous and kind, happy to help any way they could, much like their leader, who seemed to throw himself head first into work the moment Kailas said okay.

I hadn't had much conversation with either he or Sean, but whenever we did bump into each other, the words we shared were pleasant. I liked them, and I liked Sean's military dog, Bear. She was sweet, it was almost hard to remember she was a war dog. Although when I vocalized that, Sean had just laughed.

"Bear has actually never been in real combat," he'd explained, "I was discharged from the army before I got her as a puppy."

That explained how sweet she was I suppose, as well as raised a few more questions. Sean was young, so why was he discharged so soon? Did he have a military dog before Bear? How did he know Ethan? How did he end up joining the second faction? Okay, most of those questions had been cycling in my head longer than I would admit, but of course I was too shy to ask. It wasn't my business after all, especially if discussing it made him feel uneasy. Sean seemed like a nice, good natured person, but I didn't want to see him angry or upset.

He was more talkative than Ethan was, I discovered. Ethan was definitely a decent person, even disregarded his work to hold conversations with the people who came up to him, smiled brightly and laughed, but whenever they left and he was alone, his expression would get heavy, and he'd throw himself into his work like he was hiding from something. More than once I'd seen a lit cigarette between his lips, seeming to not care about how rare a product they were. Sean more than once plucked it from his mouth and crushed it in his hand, burning embers and all, and Ethan would scold him for wasting material and possibly hurting himself.

Sean was tougher than he looked, though, dusting his hands and telling Ethan there were better ways to deal with stress. Something told me Ethan disagreed, as he would wait for Sean to disappear before pulling out another cigarette, muttering as he lit it, and looking back at the stack of papers he was leafing through. He probably wasn't used to this kind of work.

Or maybe something else was bothering him, and he was using the work to run from it. That was certainly something I would, and have, done.

I didn't see much of Kailas, so I assumed, and hoped, he was taking advantage of the two week reprieve and resting. I saw a bit more of Demi, normally out back training with Isagani, or spending time with the rest of his family. It was nice seeing him bond and grow closer with Mahalia and Isagani. Efren was absent, but he was probably still recovering from whatever injuries he'd sustained.

Severe lacerations to his back, that's what Arthur had said when I asked. I could sympathize with him, trying not to remember the pain from getting whipped and having to heal from it all, scars still marring my back like an ugly road map of my torture.

Everyone seemed pretty happy about the time off, and I was pleased that even Tobias was taking this time to recover, only arguing a little bit when Adalwolf insisted he wear a sling. I didn't even have to intervene and scold him before he agreed to use it. Good thing, too. His shoulder seemed to hurt less after a long day when he kept his arm cradled.

It took Ross Duncan even longer to even wake up and start showing improvement. I tried to stop by the room as much as I could, if only to check on he and Jasper and help how I could for Emyr's sake. These two were his friends, he'd want them safe and happy. Safe, fine, but Jasper was definitely not happy, and Duncan seemed to be drugged up every time I visited, so I didn't know if he was really happy or just high.