He had no time to react. He saw a flash of light, tumbled onto the ground, barely had but a moment to regain his bearings, before he was struck in the back of the head. Hard. Something warm and wet dripped down the back of his neck, his face hitting the dirt roughly, his forehead and skull burning with pain. He heard cries of laughter, quickly cut short by yells of surprise. Another voice, female, yelled at the top of her lungs, quickly followed by cries of pain from the formerly laughing voices. He tried to push himself off the ground, attempted to ignore the searing pain in his head, but collapsed on the ground, and saw black.

Feeling first returned to him in his finger tips. Then his toes, then his legs and arms, flowing up until he could feel his head… and the enormous amount of pain that joined it. His head burned, as if someone had stabbed a white-hot iron poker straight into it. He tried to open his eyes, but quickly failed and fell back into blackness.

Meru sat in the wooden chair, a rather unhappy expression on her face. Life had gone from simple to very complicated in a very short span of time. She'd been walking down the road, as was usual, making her way to Furni, nothing out of the ordinary, when she stumbles upon some poor fellow who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Bandits had smacked him upside the head with a club before he even had time to react.

Obviously, she couldn't let that slide and, naturally, kicked the crap out of all of them. She helped him, since it was clear he was hurt… but certain things were just plain weird. First of all, he was wet, like it'd been pouring, but it hadn't rained in months. Plus his clothes were odd. She'd never seen the style before. And who wears a rain cloak in the middle of winter? That didn't make any sense at all. Still… She wasn't exactly one to question someone's choice of clothing. After all, she had a no trouble wearing just her dancer's outfit in the winter… though she had good reason.

Her thoughts were quickly tugged away from her when he stirred in his sleep, his eyes opening for the briefest of moments, but before she could utter a syllable, he was out again. She growled as she sunk back into the chair. This was annoying. Why couldn't he just…

"Wake up!" She yelled standing and stomping her foot on the ground. The door opened suddenly, the doctor poking his head in.

"Is everything alright?" He asked, glancing in the dancers' direction and then to his patient. Meru scratched the back of her head in slight embarrassment for her sudden outburst, before shaking her head.

"Everything is fine, doctor, honest!" She said, still rather loud.

"Keep it down! You'll wake him. He needs his rest!" The doctor said in a harsh whisper, Meru standing upright and scratching her head in further embarrassment.

"Sorry, sorry!" She said Feeling both guilty for yelling and annoyed for being scolded. Unbeknownst to either, there hushed conversation had done exactly what they were trying to avoid. The young boy who lay on the bed eyes cracked open, straining to grasp at the images before him. His head hurt something fierce, and his eyes were not used to the light. How long had he been out?

The doctor gave the young girl a brief glare before ushering her out of the room. "Leave me to my patient! Go in the waiting room and do just that! Wait!" he said in a harsh whisper, Meru quickly running out of the room with mumbled not-so-guilty apologies.

The doctor moved back to the bed, where the boy had already managed to push himself off the pillows. He quickly moved to aid him, supporting his patient.

"How do you feel?" He asked, his arm preventing the still-recovering youth from falling back. The boy glanced at him, his eyes tired and confused.

"Tired and dizzy…" He mumbled, holding his head, the throbbing crack on his skull protesting loudly. Glancing at the doctor, he frowned, giving him a questioning look.

"Where am I?"

Meru sat on the small wooden chair that lay in the waiting room, hands rusting on the bottom of the seat, fingers tapping against its wooden frame and legs kicking back and fro as she waited impatiently. She wondered how he was… He'd taken quite the blow to the head, and it'd taken her awhile to actually carry him to town. She recalled panicking, fearing she'd be too late. Thankfully, this looked like it was not the case and that he was OK.

"Thank goodness!" She said with a big smile, placing a hand on her chest and giving a great sigh.