They walked briskly through the lower city in search of a healer, but she noticed it didn't take long to start drawing the attention's of those that saw them. She tuned out the whispering that began to accumulate around them, it was all useless chatter to her. "I'll bet it t'was a love quarell." A dwarf refugee chuckled to another while walking by. She shook her head inwardly at this. Such a suggestion was laughable, Evencar was by no means a potential mate, some may have viewed his naivety as sweet or endearing, but to her it was only a hinderance.
She didn't have time for such thoughts, not when most of them consisted of where their next meal was coming from. Eilya glanced over at a group of heavily scarred orcs talking to each other, they were obviously unconcerned with something as simple as a broken nose, not even bothering to look at them. Battle scars and wounds were anything but uncommon amongst soliders and adventurer's, each one always had a story to tell about them, and she found she'd quickly tired of them.
Evencar didn't have many himself, except counting the few she'd given him during his training sessions with her. But never once did she hear him complain. Whether she sliced open his arm, or ripped a tear in his long ears, he remained silent, focused only on what she had to teach him in that moment. These qualities mildly impressed her. He showed a promise that interested her enough to put up with him and his antics, at least for now.
Evencar walked in a guilty silence beside her, careful not to make the mistake of walking behind her again. His head was turned away from hers, avoiding her eyes. It was most likely from eitheir the embarassment of what he'd done, or fear of further scorn.
The Orphan Matron's eyes burned with a maternal fierceness, watching them carefully as they walked passed the childern playing outside the Orphanage who had stopped to watch them, whispering amongst each other. A small bloodelf boy broke apart from the group, coming up to walk alongside Evencar, and asked the first question the others did not have the courage or care to ask. "Hey mister, what happened to your nose?" She raised an eyebrow in amusement as he rubbed the back of his neck, looking for a way to explain his mishap.
"Well," He started. "...you see tha' nigh'elf der?" The boy nodded his head. Evencar smiled down at him. "I 'aved er from a bun' a Naga." She bit her tongue as he tried to save his pride by wounding hers. "Really!? How many were there!?" Chattering excitedly, his bright green eyes widened in amazement. Evencar's smile stretched into a grin as he countinued his story. "L'as of dem. Mo' den all af you.' He pointed to the childern gatherering around him, curiousity finally getting the best of them. "Dey a'd er orned, s'e wa lucky I 'erd 'er call fer elp." Somehow, they all understood this spew of broken words, each gasping in terror.
"D-did they hurt you, miss?" A human girl squeaked out in concern. Eilya went to open her mouth to protest these accusations, but the words wouldn't come out. As she looked at the growing concern of the childern, and the pleading eyes of Evencar, her heart softened. She swallowed her pride as she uttered the words: "No, he got there just in time." Their worry vanished, and smiles returned to their faces.
She saw Evencar silently thank her, casting her an apologetic smile as he looked down again at the kids. " 'up, jus a' dey were abou' ta bring der 'ords dow on er, I 'hot a arrow a' dem ta ge der atte'shion." He pointed to the bow in the quiver strapped to his back, the childern full of excitement, begged to see it. Evencar obliged happily, flashily taking it from it's storage while striking a pose, pulling on the string to mimick his heroic act.
She noticed the Worlds End Tavern as they walked by, and gazed longingly at it. After this, she would definetly need a drink...
A large flash of white suddenly knocked Evencar to the ground, the childern managing to move out of harms way at the last moment. The Orphanage Matron, who had been quietly tailing them clutched a hand to her chest, shrieking in a thick troll accent: "Wha' in de' Outlands is dat ting!?" Said 'thing' barked with happiness and began licking Evencar's face...with both it's heads. The hunter only laughed. "Dun urry, dis ish fre'ger and ya'eck, e's my pet." Eilya quickly backed away from it, wary of it's affections.
He pushed Fregear and Yareck off of him, and sat up, petting the creature as drool ran from it's fanged mouth. She stared. The Kurken had once been a fierce monster, a snarling mass of white fur and sharp teeth to all who approached it. They had been sent to slay it and return with it's hide, but instead, Evencar ended up taming the beast. For him, it started as revenge for certain actions against him, but after a time she saw him grow attached to it and vice versa. While still dangerous, The Kurken was now only so to those it's master fought.
"We need to find you a healer, we don't have time for games!" The annoyance rang clear in her voice as she crossed her arms over her chest. The same human girl from before cautiously approached her. "You need a healer miss? I know exactly where one is." A sheepish look came over her. "I fall down alot." She explained. Eilya nodded, finally, a break.
"My name is Sarah. Come on, i'll show you where one is." She reached out her hand, but Eilya quickly declined it wanting to get this whole ordeal over with. Evencar shot her a sour look as he stood up, clearly not understanding why she wouldn't take the girl's hand. Meanwhile, Eilya felt the poisin burning into hers, having shattered a small vial of it unexpectedly in her left hand earlier that morning while Evencar had been sleeping. Though washing it off in the stream had gotten most of it, the damage was done. She'd bought the vials off a shady dealer outside of Honor Hold, something seemed off, but the price had been too good to didn't last forever when you carried poisin around in them.
She'd at least been lucky that this particular poisin was only meant to burn, and not seep into the bloodstream and destroy her from the inside out. Eilya hid her pain behind a mask of indifference, following behind Evencar who was being dragged along by the human girl, Sarah. She heard the Matron shoo all the other childern back to the orphanage. "You bes' be gettin' back to de O'phanage, unles' you don' be wantin' your suppah dis evenin'." The troll let out a gruff laugh. "You children be mo' trouble den ya worth."
As they came up to the building she led them to, it took Eilya a moment to realize that what she was staring at used to be the old infirmary in Shattrah. She barely recognized it. The walls had been rebuilt, it was no longer a giant gap which allowed you to see the rest of the city from your sick bed. Beautiful purple banners decorated the outside, and a curtain of the same color framed it's doorway. A boy spotted them, turning back to yell into the building. "Hey ma, Sarah's hurt again!" Sarah let go of Evencar, putting her hands on her hips in defiance. "Am not, Seth!" An older women came hurrying down the slope leading up to the infirmary, her face wrinkled in worry. "Sarah's been hurt again? What did I tell you kids about playing those rough games!?"
Sarah's face puckered. "We're only having fun! Besides, it's not me that's hurt, it's him!" She pointed her finger at Evencar, whose nose had swelled considerably, and was beggining to turn a shade darker than his violet skin. Looking him up and down, she put a hand over her mouth. "Oh my." The women quickly rushed over, and began trying to reach up to see if the blood caked to his face made the injury as horrific as it looked. Her arms barely reached his shoulders. "Evencar." He looked toward her in confusion. "W'at?" Eilya rubbed her temple with her right hand. "Bend down so she can reach your nose."
He shook his head slightly. "Right, sorry." He leaned down toward the women, wincing as she prodded at his nose gently. Sarah giggled. "Is he going to be ok Miss Zahlia? He says he got hurt saving that lady from a bunch of Naga!" The boy looked at Evencar skeptically, and began shaking his head back and forth so fast that made Eilya dizzy. "No way! He looks like a big wuss to me." His mother whipped her head back to scold him. "Shush Seth, don't be so rude!" She smiled up at Evencar. "Well, it's not broken, but it could be fractured. I'll take you up to the infirmary to see the physician." Moving toward the clinic, she called back to Eilya. "You might want to help steady him dear, he's probably disoriented from the blood loss."
On cue, Evencar began to sway on his feet. Fregear and Yareck came up from behind him, each giving his hand a seperate lick before turning it's heads toward her. Eilya walked over to him, keeping an eye on his pet as she put her right arm around him, allowing him to lean his weight on her. As he did so, she was surprised at how light he was. Although they didn't eat much on their journey, it never occured to her it would affect him this much. A meal missed here or there was of no consequence to her, she'd gotten used to her rather gaunt figure. It was not something she was proud of, but with no money for food and a hunter that had rather poor aim at times, it was unavoidable. She made a mental note to make sure he ate extra the next time they got something to eat.
"Don't pass out on me, I won't carry you." She felt him nod in reply as they took slow, careful steps up to the Infirmary.