Look at the Stars

4 Steps

Prompt: Comfort/caring moments exchanged
Trigger warning: if you become uneasy with mentions of blood or panic attacks, then skip this chapter!

"So, how am I supposed to do this?" Elsa asks. She was trying to understand how she could make a block of wood look like anything with just some knives and a chisel. Honeymaren, or Maren, seemed to know what she was doing. It seemed that she was just able to picture anything she wanted in her mind and carve it out perfectly. She claimed that there was always some flaw in her carvings, but Elsa never saw a single one. So Elsa sat in front of her block of wood and was just trying to carve it into a simple sphere. But that was proving difficult. Maren laughed.
    "I've shown you about ten times now. I thought a sphere would be pretty simple to start with." Elsa gives a small pout.
    "I just don't understand how you're able to do this so well." Elsa says, looking over at Maren's already gorgeous carving of a tree. It was so intricately carved and realistic looking that Elsa couldn't help but deepen the pout. Maren chuckles even more and walks over to her girlfriend's side, placing a loving hand on her cheek.
    "You're so cute when you pout." She says as she brushes her thumb over Elsa's lips. Elsa can't help but smile. "Now, I'm gonna go back to my station and finish up my carving. Just try to shave off some of the edges of the block. But be careful, ok? I'll be back to check on your work in a little bit." Elsa smiles.
    "All right. I'll give it a try." Maren gives her an encouraging smile and sits back down to work on her tree. Elsa grabs the knife she was given to work with and starts to work on shaving the edges of the block down. It was going well so far and Elsa was beginning to think that it was a very calming activity to do. At least, she thought that until the knife slipped in her grasp and she cut a large gash in her palm. For a moment, all she could do was stare at her palm in shock. But then she saw the blood running down her wrist. She didn't like that. There was so much spilling out. She didn't notice that her breathing was picking up, eventually so much that she was gasping.
    "Maren?" She called in a shaky voice.
    "What is it Love?" Maren calls back, still focused on her carving. Elsa was panicking more. It was like she was watching a red waterfall.
    "Maren!" She said a little more urgently. Maren turned her head and saw the state her girlfriend was in. At first all she noticed was Elsa's labored breathing, but then she noticed the blood dripping down her arm and staining her pure white sleeve. Elsa was staring at the flow of blood with wide eyes. Maren's protective instincts kicked in and she ran over to Elsa, kneeling in front of her and gripping her wrists.
    "What happened?" She asks, trying to sound calm but failing. Elsa couldn't tear her gaze away from her palm.
    "T-t-the knife s-slipped." She stutters out. She was panicking and Maren could see that. She moves her hands to cup her cheeks and brushes her thumbs over the skin gently.
    "Hey Snowflake it's ok. Look at me, you're ok." Elsa wouldn't move her gaze up. "Elsa, look at me." Maren says gently. Elsa bites her lip and meets Maren's eyes. "It's ok. I've got you." She says softly and Elsa nods. "I think it's time to show you the 4 steps we have in place to take care of a cut. You ready?" Elsa focuses on Maren's voice and starts to calm down a little. She nods. "Ok. Come with me." Maren takes Elsa's non-cut hand and leads her to the nearby river. The Northuldra had always kept their carving stations next to the river due to the possibility of getting cuts. After all, working with knives often had its dangers with the possibility of cuts and they needed to be treated quickly. Once they reached the edge of the river, Maren started explaining each step as she helped clean Elsa's cut. "All right. Step 1, you wash the cut off in the river." Maren guided Elsa's cut hand into the water and gently brushed some dirt off the cut. Elsa leaned into Maren's side and watched her movements, listening intently so she wont panic too much. Once Maren was satisfied, she brought Elsa's hand out of the water and proceeded to step 2. "Next step, we apply some cleansing cream to the cut. Almost every Northuldran keeps some with them just in case." Maren shifted so she was kneeling in front of Elsa and grabbed her cream from her medicine pouch that hangs from her belt. She squirts a small amount onto her middle finger and takes Elsa's hand, gently applying some cream. She tries to pretend she doesn't notice Elsa flinching from the pain. "Step 3, we bandage it up." Maren grabs a strip of gauze from her medicine pouch and gently wraps Elsa's hand. Elsa had now fully calmed down and was watching Maren intently. She furrows her brows and seems confused.
    "It seems like everything is done. What's the 4th step?" Elsa asks, looking up at Maren questioningly. Maren smiles.
    "The 4th step is to give a kiss to make it better." Elsa tilts her head to the side and giggles a little.
    "You're being serious?" Maren smirks and leans towards her a little.
    "Deathly serious." Elsa laughs and brings her free hand up to cover her mouth.
    "You're adorable when you try to be serious." Elsa states as Maren chuckles. Once they both settle down, Maren lifts Elsa's hand, palm up, up to her lips and gently brushes her lips over the bandages she had just wrapped. She lowers Elsa's hand, still keeping it in her grasp, and looks up at Elsa.
    "All better?" Maren asks softly. Elsa smiles and lets out a content sigh while resting her head against her girlfriend's forehead, eyes closed.
    "All better." She responds. Maren smiles and kisses her girlfriend, only breaking apart when Elsa mumbles to herself. "Much better." Maren chuckles and kisses her again, content with how the day was going. She just hopes that Elsa doesn't bring up the '4th step' to anyone else, for she had completely made it up.