Cael is running from the title of "Prince" that cages him like court bird.
Rahnya is running from her betrothed, a Fera who's character is questionable.
When these two youngsters from racially tense nations stumble across each other everything they...
A crisp morning breeze lightened Prince Cael's heart as he returned to camp with a bundle of wood in his arms. Glancing over, he noticed his patient was still sleeping. Little wonder. She had fought it all night.
Laying the wood down quietly, he walked over and knelt beside her. Her scales glittered in the midday sun, her hair falling into her face. She was... beautiful.
The young prince took her bandaged arm gently laid it on his lap. Unwrapping it carefully, he peered at the wound.
'The swelling's going down at least,' he thought. 'But I'm not a doctor. What if I can't help her after all?'
He pushed the doubt from his mind. It wasn't the time to ask "what if." Her condition would only worsen if he hesitated. And as for options... well, he had none. He couldn't bring her to a human town. She was far too unpredictable, like a coil viper. And with the soldiers running renegade, it was unwise to cross a Fera.
As he began to remove the rest of the bandages to wash them, the girl's eyes flashed open. Her fist flew. It made contact with his stomach and he gasped in pain. Her pointed teeth were barred and for a moment, he felt truly fearful of her. But the next moment her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with a hand.
"Oh my! I'm so sorry!" She recovered and quickly resumed her anger. "I mean...serves you right!"
Cael scowled and gulped for air. "How many times do I have to tell you I'm just trying to help!?"
He stood; yanked the bandages into his arms, and stomped off.
"Wh-where are you going?" Rahnya called, the waver in her voice betraying her true feelings.
"There's a stream not far. I'm fetching some water to clean the bandages," Cael said with frustration.
He snatched up the pot on his way out. So consumed was he with being angry at Rahnya, and making arguments in his head on how rude it was to punch your doctor, that he was shocked when he reached the stream. He wondered how he'd gotten there.
Cael's anger cooled and he sighed. 'She's alone and scared,' he thought. 'I can't blame her. I would be too.'
He filled the pot and walked with much more composer back to camp. When he returned the Fera was sitting against a tree trunk and staring despondently at her lap. She didn't look at him when he approached.
Cael set the pot over the fire and added more wood. They were both silent as the water slowly came to a boil. When it did, Cael placed the bandages in it and stirred the mixture with a stick.
"What are you doing?" Rahnya ventured.
"Cleaning the bandages," he said. "I learned it from a book. I don't have any extra cloth to spare, and these will only contain the infection if they're not cleaned."
"Shouldn't you use a poultice?"
"Yes, but I don't know how to make one," the prince admitted. "I don't know much at all about what it takes to live out here except how to hunt and cook."
"I know how to make one," Rahnya said. "I've seen it work wonders."
Cael stood and lifted the bandages out, then hung them on a limb to dry. "Alright. What are the ingredients? I can go fetch them and then you can show me how to make it."
Rahnya blushed. "No. It's fine. You've already been through enough trouble I suppose."
"Trouble?" He scoffed. "I wouldn't know it if it was to slap me in the face! Now what do I go fetch?"
Rahnya sighed. "Clay, finath flowers, drajo root and juniper tree bark. Do you know how to find those?"
Cael nodded. "Sure do. Wait here. I'll be back soon."
"I can't really go anywhere anyway," Rahnya mumbled.
The search took more time than he had anticipated, but Cael returned before sundown with the ingredients, and a little something else. As he deposited the ingredients next to Rahnya, he held out a handfull of wildflowers to her feeling his face flush.
"I just...stumbled on these," he stuttered. "Thought maybe you'd...well, they're pretty. And you're pretty. I-I mean... not... Here!" He thrust them into her hands and quickly retreated to the fire. When he finally plucked up the courage to glance her direction, he saw Rahnya was blushing too.
They both forewent dinner that night and instead put their energy into make the poultice. It wasn't half as easy as Cael had thought it was going to be; but Rahnya was a patient teacher, and despite his lack of tools, he eventually produced a substance she would agree to putting on her wound.
Once all was finished, they both lay on their backs and stared through the leaves and tree branches at the starry sky above them. The night was chilly, but somehow they had all the warmth they needed. Cael couldn't help but smile. He was more happy and content than he had every been; laying beside his "enemy" with an empty stomach, and knowing that he couldn't know for certain what would come next.
"Cael, " Rahnya whispered. "I should... I guess I... I don't know what planet you think you're living on. And I still think you're a scumbag, but I don't think I'd be alive right now if not for you. S–so... thank you."
"I don't know what planet I think I'm living on either, " he chuckled. "But...I like it more than this one."
"Maybe I do too, " she said under her breath.
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