One straight drop into the bureau was all it took for me to collapse grasping my thigh in pain. No matter the pain, I refused to scream out. And the assassin with Malik slung over his shoulder, slipped in without any sort of pain. He looked at me with consern before laying Malik down on the pillows.

"Child, do you know where the medical supplies are?" When I nodded, he seemed somewhat relieved. "Good, go in and get them for me. I'll take care of Malik, okay?"

So I rushed inside, grasping at my leg, and gathered up the bandages, the medicine, thread, needles, and all. I didn't know what he needed. Only that he had to stop the bleeding. So when I came out with my arms full, he laughed a little.

"My goodness, you took the entire supply, didn't you?" He noted as I placed everything down beside him. "I'll only need the needle, thread, and bandages out of this." Another once over seemed to confirm his statement. "What I need at the moment is water and some salt."

"I'm on it," I answered, getting back up. The was a bucket near the side of the door, it was there for drinking purposes, but I wasn't sure if there was any others. If so then Malik never asked me to refill them when they ran out. So I grabbed it by the metal handle and carried the heavy bucket out, trying hard not to spill any of it. As for the salt, I had to run back in and look a little bit for it, and I found it on a shelf back in the doctor's room. Well... I knew I missed something... I guess that was it. So I brought it out to him before cleaning up what he didn't need and putting it all away.

I came back out to see him pressing the salt down to the wounds on Malik's back. He had pulled the large cloak off and stripped him down to his trousers and boots to better examine the wounds, and once again I found myself staring at the stump where his arm once was. It wasn't wrapped up in bandages like I thought it would be, but a long curved scar to the side of it, in towards the torso. Like the was a flap of skin on the outside and whoever stitched it all closed used the flap to cover the end.

This assassin glanced up a moment at me before turning his attention back to the wounds. Then he patted the ground at his other side. "Sit down, child. Let me look at that leg of yours."

So I pick a pillow off the pill that Malik wasn't on top of and seated myself with my sore leg out stretched in front of me. "But what about Malik's wounds?"

"It's fine," he said with a soft smile. "That's why I have salt. It absorbs the blood and allows the wound to scab over much faster. I also found that less people get infections using it to clean the wounds. It's only painful is all."

He then slowly touched around the spot where I had been grasping at my thigh. It didn't seem like he was doing anything but poking me, and it sometimes hurt when he hit a sensitive spot. He would apologize when he did. Soon he pulled back and sighed heavily.

"What did you do to mess up your leg so bad?"

"I.. cut my leg with a sword a while back." I answered. "But I didn't rest and made it worse."

When I thought I would be lectured, he hummed calmly and brushed back some of my hair that had fallen in front of my eyes. "Well that was foolish of you. I hate to say this, but the muscle damage might not repair. It's best you not be an assassin so you don't make this leg any worse. It will only get more painful the more you try and force this strain upon it." He look another glance at the thigh and blinked slowly before continuing. "I think I know some ways to help the pain, but it can't change this fact: you can't do parkour. Understand?"

I nodded. "Okay. I understand."

"Good." He said, the seriousness seemed to leave fairly easily with him as he smiled and tussled my hair like I was a small child. "I heard about you, you were sent out here so Malik could teach you, right?"

Again, I nodded. "Yeah."

"And I've also heard that you also have plenty other options open for you." He added. "I think I know exactly what you can do if you want to."

"What?" I leaned in to hear it.

"I could teach you what I know on healing," He said. "It's completely your choice, but I could request to stay here and help around the bureau so I can mentor you."

So this was my opprotunity? I thought I would also be branded a traitor and never trusted again. But this? He had to be joking right? But then again, I couldn't help feeling that this was my only other option. "I would be honored, ...?"

"Nasuh, my name is Nasuh." He finished. "And you're name's Red, am I right?"

"Yes, that's me." I chuckled. "The all around talentless, clumsy novice who can't do anything right."

Nasuh looked back at Malik before waving me to scoot in closer. "Alright, I'm going to begin your first lesson now. These wounds are not too severe, he just is weakened from the shock of pain. Some rest and a little time will do him some good." I watched him get some water on his hand and rub the needle with his fingers, cleaning off the metal object before stringing the black thread and carefully starting to close the closest wound, one right on his shoulder blade; when I saw it now, it wasn't as deep as it seemed before. I observed the quick movements and ease in which he pulled the two edges of the gash together and tied the thread on itself. He then got some more thread and got to the next one.

I noticed how when he threaded the needle, instead of threading it by tying the thread to the hole, he simply pulled it through until the needle hung in the middle of the strand and worked with it like that. There was no sort of knots involved. "Why do you do it like that?"

He strugged. "For one thing, it's much faster, so if someone is bleeding out and every moment if essential, you don't have to waste time. Tying it lets a knot catch the flesh and tears it, or snaps the thread. But this also doubles up on the amount used, so the stitches are stronger. They won't snap as easily."

Okay, that made sense. It was like when my mom was sewing once, she did the same thing. "Alright, I got it."

He tied the second one and passed the thread and needle to me. "Alright, your turn. Remember, don't dig in too deep with the needle, keep it about half the size of your pinkie nail deep. Okay?"

I slowly took the needle and threaded it like he had shown me. Then I went in for the first stitch. I went slowly, my hand shaking because I was afraid to mess up. But I managed to get it through and tie the end and continue on. It was the same thing. Cut the thread, make a straight stitch across, tie it off, cut the thread, and start again.

"I think you're getting the idea." Hasuh smiled as I finished the last stitch. "Now we'll just rinse this off and wrap it up. I should also tell you this in case I can't stay around to teach you everything; change the bandages twice a day for the next week or until the stitches aren't as red, and keep washing them regularly. After the redness fades, he should be able to go without them sometimes, but overnight, keep them on. Give them a few days and then remove the stitches, they should be just fine at that point."

And for the first time in weeks, I smiled back. "Thanks, I really owe you."