Tara has been studying with Mother Healer for well over a year, and the Mother was slowly trusting her with more and more work on her own. That usually meant seeing sore tummies, children with cuts and grazes and steady stream of Leafmen with various superficial injuries.
After a long day in the sanitorium, Tara stretched and quipped to Mother, "I really hate the Leafmen training days, it's never ending stream if cuts and bruises and broken bones from the bird training!"
The Mother turned, her soft brown eyes full of laughter, "My dear, I think they might be doing it on purpose just to come and see you!" Tara blushed, then grinned.
Mother Healer added quietly, "As long as it's just that. When the Boggans attack, it gets a lot worse and I hate to see all that suffering."
Mother Healer was a beloved and revered character with Jinn. She was old, wise and very warm and friendly. She had delivered a lot of the Jinn children herself, and loved to see them grow up into young men and women. Yet, she felt she was growing old and tired, and decided it was time to train more young girls to become Healers. Tara was in the last group she took in, and the girls have all been great, working and studying hard. For some reason, Mother took special liking to Tara, the dark skinned and dark eye girl with infectious and easy smile, even when if got a bit rough.
The day was leaning into the late afternoon and the storm in the distance made it dark and gloomy. Suddenly there was commotion at the door and the two Leafmen barged in.
A tall, stocky Leafman was supporting his friend who was doubled over.
"Please help him", he gasped.
Tara ran to them, pointing at the flat leaf-bed in the corner of the room while asking what happened. The tall one gently took his friend to the leaf-bed, laid him down, then turned to Tara, looking at her straight in the eyes said quietly, "He needs Mother Healer. Can you please call her."
Tara was taken aback, first because the clear blue eyes and the determined look in them and secondly by the brusque and direct manner of the Leafman. "I'm sorry, she is checking on someone else. She should be back soon", she said, " but I am Healer as well. Please tell me what happened and I'll help him in the meantime".
The injured Leafman groaned quietly and Tara turned to him. She had a quick glance and realized his leg was twisted in an awkward direction and bleeding quite badly. The tall Leafman looked at her, still not saying anything. She gave him a defiant look and said, "He is injured quite badly. Whether you tell me what happened or not, it won't matter. But it might help to determine whether it's just the leg we need to worry about or any other potential internal injuries."
The tall Leafman still didn't say a thing, and Tara was getting annoyed. "So much for helping your friend", she thought to herself and turned her attention to the injured Leafman. She soon stood up and went to gather supplies and with corner of the eye watched the tall blue-eyed Leafman who was now leaning against the wall, watching over his friend.
At that moment Mother Healer came in and Tara turned to her, telling all she knew and what she had observed. "Good work," said the Mother, leaning over the injured Leafman. "Bring the supplies here and mix me the sedative herb mix please, " she instructed Tara after a quick inspection.
Tara walked towards the herbarium to start preparing what Mother had asked her to and passed by the standing Leafman. He was still leaning against the wall, but his eyes were closed. He was breathing unevenly, with his breaths shallow and fast. Tara stopped in front of him and quietly said, "You're injured too. Let me have a look."
His eyed shot open with his gaze unwavering and cold. "I'm fine," he quietly, but abruptly said, "just please make sure my friend is all right. We had a nasty encounter with a wild cat and he took the brunt of it. I'll stay here until I know how he is. " She looked at him again, this time seeing pleading in his eyes. And pain.
The storm was getting closer. The cool wind started to blow through the windows and it got even darker. Tara brought the herbs and extra light to Mother tending the Leafman and as she passed the quiet standing one she noticed something dark glistening across his right shoulder and chest. She reached her arm towards him and was surprised when he roughly snatched it and held it tight in mid-air. "Ouch," she said, "that hurts! There is no need to be this rough!"
The Leafman didn't answer; he just closed his eyes and cringed. She put her free arm on his shoulder and wasn't surprised then the hand came back bloody.
"I'll be fine," he said again, through his teeth.
"No, you won't," she said and pushed him off the wall and towards free leaf-bed. He finally released her hand from his grip and walked to the bed, his gait unsteady and sat down heavily.
"How is my friend doing?" he asked no one in particular and shot Tara a questioning look. "I want to know if will be alright" he said sharply, tried to turn and immediately cringed.
The Mother lifted her head and gently said, " He will be fine, in time. His leg is badly mangled, but it will heal. But why weren't you two in armour?" she asked.
The tall one sighed, "We were training our young birds and went too far away. We landed on a branch where the wild cat must have been sleeping and we didn't see it until it attacked. Zane got the brunt of the attack, and I barely got the thing off of him. We usually don't use armour for basic bird training," he added and took a pained breath at unexpected movement.
Tara helped him lay him down and unfastened his soaked shirt and gasped at the sight. Across his right shoulder and chest were three deep gauges, no doubt from the cat. Tara grabbed the clean water brought by one of the Jinn nurses and started to gently clean the wounds. The Leafman flinched, but didn't utter the sound. He was still bleeding fairly heavily, and has been for a little while by the look of streaks of dried blood all over his abdomen. It took her awhile to clean it up and when she was done, she pressed the clean gauze against the wounds to stem the blood flow. As she was holding the gauze, she had a good look at the Leafman for the first time. His face was rugged, but handsome with clear blue eyes and steel gray hair, despite his age. He was older than her, but not by very much. He was tall and solidly built, and excluded confidence and calmness, but what a shame he is so rude, thought Tara.
She looked again at the gauze and was relieved to see the blood flow slowing down significantly. She was impressed by his stamina and strength. Most of the guys would have been unconscious a long time ago, either from pain or blood loss.
"I need to stitch some of these up, "she said. "I'll bring you some sedative so you won't be in so much pain, " she added as the storm started raging just above them.
"No sedatives," he said in brusque manner Tara was getting used to, "I need to go check on our birds after this. They were terrified and we barely got them back! "
"It's going to hurt," she said, "but it's up to you. You probably shouldn't be going anywhere for few days anyways. You have lost a bit of blood and you should rest."
She went and grabbed her stitching kit, and slowly started to work on the gauges. Every now and then she heard a pained gasp or a hiss, but he never uttered a word. With the corner of her eye she noticed he was watching her intently, but pretended she didn't notice. The storm was now in full raging swing above them. The flashes of lighting were interspersed with deep rumble. Thick raindrops were falling outside while in the cozy, warm room two women were silently working.
Tara didn't know how long she took to finish all the sutures, but finally she took the scissors and snapped the last line and stretched. She went to the herbs storage to mix a poultice and brought it back.
"This might hurt a bit, but it will help you with healing." Tara gently spread it over his chest and shoulders. The Leafman looked at her and hissed when the poultice made contact with his wound.
"A bit?!" he quietly cursed under his breath.
"Don't be such a baby!" she shot back while trying to hide a smile and took the gauze and a thick bandage started bandaging his chest. When she was done the Leafman looked at her and to her surprise gently said, "Thank you. But I really need to go and check on our birds and see if they are all right."
"He can't be that bad after all," thought Tara, "someone who really cares about others can't be that bad of a person..but can be rude nonetheless!" she added in her mind.
She helped the tall Leafman sit up and put his soaked shirt back on. He looked at his friend who was now in deep sleep with Mother next to him. "Please take care of him", he said, "I'll be back to check on him."
Tara turned to him, looking straight into his eyes. The Leafman looked surprised at the intensity of her dark eyes as she quietly, almost menacingly said, "You need to be back every other day this week. One of us needs to check your would to make sure you are healing. And don't you dare so something stupid that would pull out the stiches!"
He smiled warmly at her, and it was so unexpected Tara almost dropped the medical kit she was holding. "Of course," he said, "I'll come to see you,..?"
"Tara", she said. "My name is Tara."
"And you are Leafman…?" asked Tara.
"Ronin," he answered, as he walked into dying thunderstorm.