Harvestmere, 9:31 Dragon
Kirkwall
I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Are you ready? I hope you're ready. Here goes.
…dramatic pause…
I'm a virgin.
I know, I know. Shocker, right? I only tell you this so you can better understand the intense confusion I felt the moment I opened my eyes and saw the healer hovering over me. My first thought was not "Oh look at this handsome man at my bed" or even "Why is he watching me sleep?"
No. My first thought was "Why am I naked?"
Because I was. Under the sheet. I was naked. It was very… distracting.
I think I even said that aloud. "Why am I naked?" And I swear he almost smiled. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in all my nineteen years. I am not exaggerating. I was that out of it that his half-smile was about to melt my bones.
I was not self-conscious. Everything in his manner screamed Healer, and I was not ashamed to be bare beneath my little sheet. Chances are he'd already seen everything I had on display, and in… larger proportions… regardless.
But what I was self-conscious about was when Carver and Garrett burst in when they heard my voice and I shrieked. Loud. In fact, all three of them winced and I think the glass in Antiva may have shattered.
"What's wrong with her?" Garrett was shouting over me as I screeched like a banshee.
"I am naked!" I screamed at them. "Get out!"
And they beat a hasty retreat, blushing scarlet, as my healer laughed. It was like music and I almost swooned. Apparently I am a hormonal mess after being stabbed.
I was sitting bolt upright, clutching the sheet to preserve my dignity, eyes fixed on the far wall as I tried not to be mortified that the two men I considered brothers had almost caught me in my all-together.
"You know," the healer was saying as he began checking the sight where the Coterie's dagger had sunk into my side. His fingers were warm, and I wasn't sure if it was him or his magic that made them that way. "That scream puts Sharlocks to shame."
Sharlocks. Shrieks. He is such a comedian.
"They should have knocked," I insisted, indignant. "What if I hadn't had this sheet? I could never look them in the eye again! That would make family dinners incredibly awkward."
I am very chatty when I'm nervous.
And this handsome man made me very nervous.
The healer paused and looked up at my face. "They're your brothers, then? Forgive me, but I don't see the resemblance."
"Not my real brothers, no," I admitted, hugging the sheet to my chest as I tried not to shiver at the feel of his fingers on my bare side. I have never been touched by a man before. At all. This was a novel experience, and I would remember it fondly for years to come. "I met them during the Blight, and they sort of adopted me."
"I see."
I'm not really sure if he was actually interested in my story or not. He might have just been trying to distract me from what he was doing, but it wasn't working. It tickled. I am very ticklish, and I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle the giggles as I clutched the sheet with my other hand for dear life.
"Sorry," I gasped out, "I'm ticklish."
He smirked a little. "Good to know."
Was he flirting with me? I have no previous experience with things like that, so I really had no clue if he was or not. Not that I'd know how to respond if he were… which he probably wasn't, considering how he was being a perfect gentleman. I do not know why this irritated me.
"So…" I began nervously. "…am I all right? I'm not going to die?" Again?
He stepped back so he could look me in the eye and it was like being reprimanded by my father. I did not like comparing a man I thought as ridiculously attractive to my father. It was wrong on so many levels.
"Yes, but it'll probably scar. You should be more careful on the streets at night." I could almost hear the young lady that went unsaid at the end of that sentence.
I bristled defensively, eyes hard. "I didn't mean to stumble into that fight! You can thank Garrett and Carver for attracting trouble like magnets. I was perfectly content to not get stabbed, thank you very much."
I think my indignant tone of voice amused him.
I clutched the sheet tighter and looked around like a skittish deer. "But… thank you. For healing me. Garrett's idea of healing is to slap some elfroot on it and call it a day."
The healer's eyes softened and he stopped reminding me of my father. Which was great. "No thanks necessary. It's what I do, after all."
I clenched my fingers around the sheet and nervously met his eye. "Erm… my dress… do you know where it went?"
The amused look was back and he nodded towards a chair where my dress had been tossed. My heart sank at the sight of it. If I ignored the bloodstain that dominated the entire right side and the grime crusted into it where I fell, it might still resemble that dress Bethany loaned me. A little.
"Damn it," I sighed. "Now I'm going to have to walk around Lowtown in my underwear."
"I wouldn't recommend that," the healer mused as he headed for the screen. "I'll see if your brothers have anything to wear."
Oh yay. Carver's grimy tunic or Garrett's outer coat. Choices!
While he was gone, I took the opportunity to wrap the sheet more firmly around me like a toga and held it up with one hand. The healer came back with Garrett's coat, which barely reached my knees but I could button it closed, so that was a plus.
He turned his back while I struggled into my bloodied undies and shrugged the coat on. When I was decent, I cleared my throat and he turned with a gentle smile at my bedraggled state. Hardly a great first impression.
"Maybe I should start wearing armor," I muttered to myself as he led me out into a large room where more cots were set up. I was suddenly thankful he'd taken the foresight to move me to a back room before undressing me.
I was barefoot, which was not always an intelligent thing to do in Kirkwall, but my shoes were missing and I really didn't want to put them back on anyway. They reminded me of that night in Ostagar.
While Garrett fussed over me and Carver stood uneasily nearby, I offered my hand to the healer, and he shook it with an amused smile.
So glad I'm so amusing for you, Mr. Handsome Healer Hands.
"Thank you again, ser," I insisted. Whether he wanted my thanks or not, he was getting them anyway.
"Anders," he smiled.
That smile. My brain stuttered to a halt and all conscious thought fled from my mind, leaving me focused on the feel of his hand in mine. Garrett elbowed me and my head restarted.
"Liz," I managed.
He smiled again and the boys ushered me out in a flurry of hands and questions and apologies, leaving me in a daze and thinking about gentle hands and warm, amber eyes.
