”Are you sleeping Thendryt?”
”No.”
Are you sleeping Thendryt?”
”I said no.”
“Are you sure?”
“I…”
“HOW DARE YOU SLEEP, THENDRYT?!”
Thendryt bolted up. He felt pain in his abdomen and groaned. He reached down to the wound, to stop the bleeding. To his surprise it he felt bandages.
“Lay back before you undo all my work!” A voice behind him snapped. Thendryt closed his eyes as he recognized the voice. Lilleduil. “I’ll find something to prop you up a bit.” She said, more softly.
He must have fainted from bloodloss. He guessed she had taken care of him after they had transported him back to camp. Saved by the Warband…
“Damn it…” He muttered to himself. He laid back down. “How long was I out?”
“Several hours now. The others are resting.” Thendryt began to look over his bandages. They were done neatly and tight across his chest. His chest… He looked at her with a dark glare.
“Your work?”
“Yes.” She answered.
“How much did you remove?”
“I am sure when Elisbeth returns, she’ll want to look at you.”
“No one needs to look at me!” He growled. Memories crawled in the back of his mind. Wounds, scars, pain. Faorie knew of them, but no one had to see them. He tried to sit back up.
“Don’t move the arm. It has some of my more decorative needlework in it.” Lilleduil said, quickly. He looked at his left arm. Tensed the muscles. Painful, but functional. Not a problem. Lilleduil poured him a cup of tea and he accepted it.
“Here, drink this.”
“You’re ignoring my question.” He said. “How much did you remove?”
She looked at him as if she didn’t know what he was talking about.
“The only thing I removed was an arrowhead.” She replied. “Your arrogance remains untouched.”
Who cares about a damn arrowhead? Elves…
“We both know I’m talking about my clothes. He snarled. “How much did you see, Elf?”
“I only removed your shirt.” She said. “And believe it or not, it’s not the first time I’ve been on a battlefield, nor the first time I’ve tended warriors afterward. Scars don’t impress me any more than any of your other… Attributes. Drink your tea!”
He glared at her. But he drank the tea. She didn’t judge him by them, at least. That was a start.
“If you don’t like the taste, blame Postoneth.” She said, gesturing towards the cup. “He claims it’s good for blood loss. And if you drink all that, you can have the nice tea.”
“Well.” He started. “If you’ve seen the artwork on my chest, I’m sure you’ll realize that I’m beyond caring about fine needlework.”
“Indeed.” She reached over and placed a cool hand on his forehead. “You do not seem to be taking a fever. That is good.”
Thendryt tried to sit up again. Lilleduil pressed him down by his right shoulder.
“Down!” She said, firmly. “There is nothing going on that requires you at present. And Elisbeth may decide that you’ve earned a cart ride back to Imladris when she sees you.”
“I’m perfectly capable of riding myself.” He said. Taken away on a cart, he’d rather walk all the way back, injured.
“Riiiiiggggghhhhhhtttt…” She drawled. “Just like you were fully capable of doing field surgery on yourself. We’ve seen how well that worked out.”
“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” He said, memories flashing before his eyes for a moment. My field surgery can’t be that bad.”
“Here you are.” Lilleduil filled up his empty cup with a different tea. “And what do you mean, your field surgery? You didn’t do any field surgery.”
“Nevermind.”
“In future, when I am acting healer for the mission, do not lie to me about your condition, because I have decided to treat this incident as an aberration. Surely one Leutha Maethor would not withhold such critical information from another for no good reason. So the next time you tell me you are well, I will believe you. And I may be out bird watching while you‘re bleeding out. I birdwatch quite a bit.” She said and took another sip of her tea. “Certainly, I will dive into a river for you.”
River... Water. The memory bolted into his mind like lightning. The bucket, to chains, the burning metal held slightly over his back. He needed to breathe. He didn’t want to breathe. He held out as long as he could but had to rise his head from the water. The glowing metal made contact with his skin instantly. Screaming, he inhaled and put his head underwater again. As soon as his head was submerged the pain in the back eased. He didn’t want to breathe…
As fast as it came, it went. He sat up. He could feel the lower wound open, he could feel the pain. He didn’t care.
“Would you stop that?” She said.
“Let’s get one thing out in the open.” Thendryt growled.
“I had to dig that one out of you.” She continued, ignoring his words.
“I’ve dug out worse.” He replied.
“A little difficult to dig this one out of you when you were drowning!” Lilleduil snapped. Their gaze met.
“I told you I was fine.” Thendryt said in his low tone. “I did not ask you to do this. Don't complain to me about having to save me when I did not ask for it. We both know that I am not going to be around forever. And we both know that in your life, I will be part in but a tiny fraction. So don't try to act like it's a big deal that a Man in Eregion almost lost his life.”
Lilleduil did not seem amused.
“Are you quite done with the pity party?”
Feeling a bit weaker, Thendryt laid down again.
“I’m sure the day will come soon enough.”
“Do tell me when you’re finished.”
Damn Elves… He mumbled. He waved his hand at her, gesturing that he was finished.
“Good. If you want to commit suicide, then go do it. But don‘t drag us down with you. We had to break our cover to get to you, and we had to carry you back here, when if you had only admitted you were hurt, I could have tended you and you could have walked back under your own power. I assumed, perhaps mistakenly, that if you were here, you wished to be a functioning member of the mission.”
“The only reason we’re having this discussion is because of that river.” Thendryt said.
“Meaning?”
“If I had fainted on the ground, I would’ve woken up soon enough, burnt these wounds and gotten back here soon enough as well.”
“Right.” She said, with an impatient sigh. “Burnt the wounds with what? We had no campfire. And because, of course, we would have just let you lie there and bleed. Stop being an idiot.”
“You might not have found me.” Thendryt smiled slightly. One could only dream.
“Ah yes, your famous wanderings.”
“Wanderings? I don’t usually wand..”
“Tur.” Lilleduil suddenly said, rising and bowing. Thendryt looked up only to see Elisbeth standing over him.
“Oh great…”
