Chapter 52
Fifty-Two
Meri
A yla had a dog. Tobias was a hunter now, and his mother was related to the giant red-and-black man who'd scared me so much when I'd gotten here. Callah was okay, dozens of Dragons had been hurt in the fight, and I no longer knew what to believe.
The Righteous were supposed to be working for a holy and just world. We'd all suffered in the compound to make that possible. The sins of our ancestors had doomed us to suffer, and only God's unconditional love would save us - if we proved ourselves worthy. That was what I'd been taught, and yet everything above ground said otherwise!
Even worse, in the days after the battle, Jeera and Brielle had been spending their time at their version of an infirmary. They called it a hospital. Both did their best to make sure someone was home with me, but I could tell there was a lot going on that they didn't want to talk about.
No one wanted to talk about it, not even Ayla. Everyone kept telling me it was okay, not to worry, and that I was safe. I believed them, but this was a lot, so when Omden, the green man who lived beside Lessa, came over to get some bandages, I asked if it would be okay to visit Lessa for a while.
I needed someone to talk to, but I didn't tell them that. Instead, I said I wanted to do more sewing. Jeera almost breathed a sigh of relief before loading me up with Omden's bandages and asking the green man to show me the way. The walk there was a little awkward, since I didn't really know this man, but when we turned into the yard, Lessa came out of the house beside hers.
"Hey, I'm over here!" she called, waving at us.
"What did he do?" Omden asked, sounding both annoyed and worried.
They were all speaking Vestrian and I was actually keeping up! Yes, their accents were thick, but I could finally make out what people were saying in their own language. A little smile began to take over my face, but the way Omden ran to her made it vanish. The man hurried like there was something wrong.
"He's fine!" Lessa hurried to say. "Just pulled a stitch."
"Who has a stitch?" I asked in Vestrian.
"Drozel," Lessa said, making her way over to wrap an arm around me and help me waddle up the stairs. "He got shot in the tail."
"When?!" I gasped.
Lessa waved that off. "In the battle. He's also a horrible patient, and he has a history with Moles messing up his tail." But then she stopped hard. "Meri?"
"Hm?"
"This is Vestrian."
I nodded. "I've been practicing with Jeera and Brielle." Because I'd finished the book Ayla had given me, so I had nothing else to do. "It's hard, and I'm sure I'm wrong, but I understand now."
"Understand what?" a man asked as I made it inside.
"Vestrian," I explained - and then paused.
Just inside the door, there was a large man lying sprawled across the sofa with his tail resting on the floor. He hadn't invited me in. Lessa had. I wasn't sure if this was rude, if I should be here, or what was expected.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be here," I mumbled, turning back for the door.
"He's fine," Lessa assured me as she followed me inside.
"I didn't mean to intrude," I explained. "I was going to your house, hoping we could sew again, and then you were here, and I didn't think. I'm sorry."
The man lying on the couch waved that away like it was foolish. "Come in. Intrude. Maybe you can convince them that a hole in my tail isn't going to kill me." Then he grinned at me. "Your accent is worse than Ayla's."
"Ayla speaks better Vestrian, sir."
"Ayla speaks more," he corrected. "And it's not 'sir,' but Drozel. Now sit down, little sparrow. You look like you're about ready to flit out of here, and much too pregnant to be standing while they do this."
"This?" I asked.
"We have to change the bandage on his tail," Lessa explained before making a disgusted face. "He's the one who got shot."
"Oh no," I gasped, moving closer to see the man's tail. "Did someone get the bullet out?"
"The shot went through and through," Drozel told me, flicking his tail out so it was accessible. "But it hurts, which makes balancing hard, so I'm currently a very large and uncoordinated idiot."
"I can help," I offered.
Lessa wrinkled up her nose again. "It's gross."
"I used to help heal, before I was married," I explained, bending to look at the wrapping.
"Here, sit," Omden said, pushing a footstool next to me.
I was grateful for that. This baby had grown large enough that my back constantly hurt now, but my hands continued to unwind the fabric. A few layers down, the first spotting of blood was visible on the cloth, but there was no pus or stench.
"Good, it doesn't look infected," I assured him. "While it's unwrapped, we should wash the wound."
"I have salve," Omden said.
"Wash first," I told him. "Cleanliness prevents sickness."
"Grab some washcloths," Lessa ordered. "I'll get a bowl of water."
Those two headed in opposite ways, going deeper into the house. That left me there with Drozel. The man was as large as the Wyvern, but his coloration was softer, more natural-looking. He was also smirking at me in a way that wasn't intimidating.
"So you're a healer too, huh?" he asked.
I nodded. "All girls are. Well, to a point. If we sew well enough, we're allowed to work in the infirmary. If we don't, we're expected to stand in the hall and pray when the hunters return." Then I paused, my eyes jumping up to his face.
"And I happen to know you ladies never knew they were attacking us," he said gently. "It's okay, Meri. Ayla's explained all of it to me - and we've heard about you."
"What about me?" I asked.
He murmured a little noise that sounded almost teasing. "Oh, just that you were her friend, you got married, and she's been worried about you. She mentioned how brave you must've been, and you know, things like that."
"I wasn't brave," I mumbled just as Lessa returned with the water. Omden was only a moment later with the cloths.
That let me start cleaning the mess on the man's tail. Whoever had wrapped it the last time had used far too much of the ointment. As carefully as I could, I wiped it away from the open wound, then turned his tail to do the same on the other side.
Once that was done, I changed to a new, clean cloth. This time, I pressed the warmth against the wound, holding it there for a moment before carefully cleaning off the scab. Once, the tail in my hand twitched, tensing like it wanted to jerk away.
I sucked in a little breath, but Drozel just reached up to rub my forearm. "It stings," he admitted. "Sorry. I'm trying not to flinch."
"Thank you," I breathed.
He shrugged. "I think I'm the one who should be thanking you. Omden has the hands of a metalworker, and Lessa can't even look at the wound without puking."
"Puke?" I asked, trying to translate that word into English in my head.
"Vomit?" Lessa offered. "Throwing up? Like you were doing when I met you."
That made my face warm up. "Oh. Okay. The smell of an infection can be disturbing, but his injury looks like it's healing well."
Omden chuckled. "Lessa doesn't like any blood, or gore, or raw flesh."
"Nope, I do not do body fluids of any type," Lessa agreed.
"Except one," Omden teased .
Drozel chuckled, Lessa groaned, and I tried hard not to blush, pretty sure I knew which fluid they were talking about. Lessa wasn't exactly shy about sharing her views on sex. I also hadn't quite figured out the way these three fit together. Ayla had told me about men kissing, I'd seen women kissing, and I'd been married, so I knew about that part too. But was it rude to ask? I decided I'd wait until we were alone and busied my hands with the washcloth and this man's tail.
"You're good at that," Drozel told me when I finally reached for the bandage. "Didn't hurt much at all."
"You whine when I do it," Omden grumbled.
Drozel shrugged. "Because you're rough. That's a fucking hole through my tail, babe."
"You've suffered enough, sir," I assured him. "Now how often are you rewrapping this?"
"Every third day," Omden answered for him. "The doctor said doing it more often will cause it to heal slower."
I nodded. "If you'd like, I can come clean and wrap it. I'm not as good as Ayla, but I do know how."
"I'd rather have you do it than her," he assured me. "Ayla's mean."
"No, she is not!" I shot back, then sucked in a breath.
But Drozel roared out a laugh. "Oh, she can be," he promised. "Ayla yelled at me."
"And was right," Omden added.
Drozel scoffed at that. "True, but she still yelled. I bet she'd also yank on my tail. Meri doesn't."
"I don't really understand tails," I admitted, "so I'm trying to be very careful. I would think they're similar to an arm?"
"Close enough," Drozel said, leaning a bit to see what I was doing. "Is that tight enough?"
"I'll make the last wrap a bit tighter," I explained even as I did that. "This will keep it from sliding down, but we don't want to cut off the circulation either. If the wrap comes loose, let me know and I can fix that for you." I tucked in the end of the bandage, then gently eased his tail to the floor. "If it begins to itch, do not scratch it. That will slow the healing and could introduce an infection."
Then I began to gather up the used bandage and washcloths, but Omden stepped in to take them from me.
"I got those," he promised. "And you are good at this. Thank you. I make a mess of it and can never get the bandage flat like that."
I glanced down, feeling my face heating up. "Thank you, sir."
"Omden," Drozel reminded me. "When you say 'sir,' it makes us feel like you're putting yourself down."
"Oh."
Then Drozel sat up and swung his legs over the side, putting himself nearly face-to-face with me. My eyes dropped to his bare chest, tracing the line where his scales shifted from a pale tan to the darker tan-and-striped pattern of his back. Green slashes ran across it, looking oddly familiar.
"Omden, grab me a shirt?" Drozel asked, making me aware he was looking at me.
"Sorry!" I whimpered, turning my eyes away.
Lessa chuckled before throwing herself into one of the open chairs. "He likes it."
"I also know these Mole girls are shy as fuck," Drozel said. "The last thing I'm going to do is intimidate the one who just wrapped my tail up so nicely."
"It's just..." I dared to look at him again. "Your pattern seems very familiar."
"Because my tail is hanging up in your dining hall," he said much too calmly.
"What?" I gasped, looking at the tail I'd just bandaged.
"He regrew it," Lessa explained. "He also whined the whole time."
"Because we need our tails to balance," Drozel said. "Even just this little injury makes me unsteady. I can't lift or stretch my tail without wincing, which makes me tip forward or back, and yeah. It's awkward."
"Oh."
But Lessa was smiling at me. "What convinced you to come over, Meri?"
"I thought that maybe I could help you sew again," I admitted. "You said you have orders, and I..."
I glanced at Drozel, then back to Lessa. "Jeera and Brielle are always busy. Ayla has the dog and won't come around without it. I don't like books as much as she does, so I don't know what else to do and I'm tired of being in the way. I'm sorry. I don't know how to ask except to come over and actually ask."
Lessa hummed thoughtfully, then looked at Drozel. "Make your boyfriend pamper you. I think I just got an assistant, so I'm going to knock out a few of my orders."
"I'm cooking lunch in a bit," Omden called from the back room. "I'll make enough for four!"
"Thanks, sweetie!" Lessa yelled back before pushing to her feet. Then she offered me a hand. "I guess this means I should finally clean up the sewing room, huh?"
"I wasn't trying to make more work for you," I insisted.
But she thrust her hand at me again. "You're finally giving me the break I needed so I can get to it. C'mon, Meri. Let's go make ourselves useful."