These Broken Hands

Chapter 3

His father had the stranger on a mat on the floor, pulling a needle through his arm. The stranger's face was swollen and covered in blood.

Ruek glanced up when he heard him come back inside. "Can you get something to clean him up with? I need him to look decent before your mother gets home. Maybe she will not yell at me as much."

Yuin went to the storage room and brought out a small bowl and a piece of cloth. He cleaned away the blood from the man's face and put a cold compress on it while he cleaned his arms. When he got to his hands he paused. His nails were black and hooked like tiger's claws. His knuckles were scrapped up and one of his fingers looked out of place. "What happened to him?" he ventured to ask after a long silence.

"He came to the shop looking to have something repaired, a sword," Ruek explained as he put a thin piece of herb soaked fabric over a scratch on his cheek. Yuin looked up at him and he nodded. "Some of the other customers waiting gave him a hard time about it and things got a little out of hand. I tried to keep things civil but when one of them hit him and he did nothing to defend himself the others jumped in. Suddenly he was throwing men all over the place and I had to knock him out to end it all."

Yuin stared at the stranger's mistreated face in disbelief. "Wait, what if the guards come to look for him?"

Ruek shrugged as he finished patching up his face and started to wrap his head. "Then they come. I saw what happened. It was not his fault. Some of the other shop keepers might feel differently. He is a Shiera after all."

Silence fell on the room once again until they had cleaned him up and patched up his injuries. The swelling had gone down a little in his face so he was not as bad to look at. Yuin sat at the dining table and looked at the man from across the room. He had heard many terrible stories about the Shiera and what they were capable of. How one became a Shiera was not known but they were a rare sight to see in populated areas and this one had come right into the town. What had driven him there?

As lost in his thoughts as he was, Yuin jumped up from his seat when the door opened and his mother came rushing inside. She looked frazzled and panicked as she came through the door. She ran to Yuin and snatched him into a tight hug, kissing his head and almost crying. Then she looked in the living area and her crying ceased. She slowly approached the unconscious person on her floor probably wrapped in some of her sheets. "Ruek, who is this?" she asked, her voice breathy as she stared.

"A customer," he answered simply. "There was a bit of trouble today. This is not the first time and I do not expect it to be the last."

Yaum took a deep breath and walked back to the door. "I found a doctor today that was willing to look after Aela's health. She would come to visit everyday, give her medicine, make sure she got proper exercise and help her build up her strength again. We cannot afford to fix the shop and have the doctor come here."

Ruek shook his head and took her hands in his. "I can fix my own shop. What do you think I do all day? Just worry about Aela and I will have the shop back up in a week. I can still take orders, only the front of the shop was damaged. We will be alright."

Yuin slipped back to Aela's room and knocked on the door. She called for him to come in. "Oh, Yuin. Did father tell you what happened?"

"There was a fight at the shop today. I do not see how we could not have heard it," he said. "That man wanted a sword mended and it caused a bad fight. I think the shop was damaged." Aela listened with wide eyes. "Also, that is not a man," Yuin went on to say, "he is a Shiera."

Aela closed her eyes and sighed. "What will happen to him? Will the guards come for him?"

Yuin sat on the edge of her bed. "If they do come, father plans to defend him. It was not his fault, the other customers attacked him."