A/N: Still not Tamora Pierce so any recognizable names of characters or places belong to her and not me, sadly.
Dom cursed himself once again as he stalked back to the tents the Own had set up outside of the village they had been called to. He had injured Kel. The man that had assessed her leg had been clear she had been cut by a sword, and worse, she had verified it. It wasn't until things had calmed down and he had had a chance to clean his sword that he had noticed there wasn't only dried immortal blood coloring the blade. The moment he had to have cut her became clear in his mind.
He had been sweeping the blade up and Kel had knocked into him. At first he had thought she had been thrown into him but momentary worry for her had stopped the moment he realized why she had nearly tackled him.
And now that he thought about it, he knew he had felt his blade scrape against armor and hit something soft. He could remember the feeling of it in his hands. Or perhaps he was remembering it from some other battle and he was transposing it to this battle. He wasn't sure. All he knew for certain was he felt terrible.
The cut alone was bad enough that standard healing time with a slow heal laid by a competent healer was several weeks of limping while the muscle reknit properly. But it wasn't the only the cut she was facing. The spidren blood that had been on his blade had invaded the wound, burning skin and muscle, adding damage that extend the healing time by nearly a month.
"She's sleeping," Raoul stepped out of Kel's tent when Dom approached it. "Somewhere between battle exhaustion and the healing, it's only natural."
Dom felt his head hang. They were all exhausted from the ride, the tracking, the battle, and the cleanup after that had taken until well after dawn. None of them had had a chance to sleep yet except those that had been injured. It wasn't unusual with the Own to go so long without sleep but it had him feeling guilty.
"Don't feel bad. She's had worse injuries," Raoul clapped him on the shoulder.
"But I'm responsible for this one," he admitted. It wasn't just that it was his blade that had cut her. It was also that he had been in charge of this entire fight. He had laid out the strategy. He had placed Kel next to him.
"If you hadn't placed her next to you, you'd likely have been badly injured by that spidren from above, if not killed. As Captain you will face many times where a man, or woman in this case, is injured or killed following a tactic you laid out. Let's look at what you did accomplish last night. Twenty-nine spidren dead. Twenty-six people restored to their homes."
"Two people we didn't save, seven of our own injured," Dom added.
"The two victims we didn't save died likely before we even arrived at the village," Raoul reminded him. "And seven injured, not dead. None of them injured in a way that will keep them from fighting in the future. All of them will heal." Raoul clapped him on the shoulder again and then sighed. "You're still my first choice for Captain. If it makes you feel better, go sit with Kel."
Dom nodded and stepped into Kel's tent. She was indeed asleep, tucked into a bedroll, on the pallet someone had set up for her. Her armor had all been removed and her clothing changed likely by Raoul. Her bloodied breeches that had been under her cuisses showed the slice his sword had made and the spots of immortal blood that had splattered. He turned back to Kel and fumbled with the ties on her bedroll to open it up.
The nightshirt that Raoul had put Kel in only covered down to her knees. It didn't take much maneuvering to edge the hem up to where the bandage on her thigh started. She'd walk normally again within a couple of months but he still hated himself.
A noise close by the entrance of the tent had Dom hastily pulling the hem of her nightshirt back down and closing the bedroll. He knew his intentions hadn't been indecent but it didn't look well for him to be putting his hands on Kel's almost bare thigh while she slept if anyone else were to see. He moved his fingers up to her hair, someplace safe.
"Kel, I am so sorry," Dom stroked her hair.
"Captain, you need to sleep," the tent flap opened and Dom turned back as he recognized the voice. Captain Flyn was standing watching him and after a long moment he realized that Flyn had called him Captain.
"But you're still deciding. You haven't given anyone else a chance yet," Dom felt the words spill from his lips.
"I've made my decision," Flyn shrugged. "You need to sleep. Someone will wake you if she wakes up."
Dom would have preferred to take his bedroll and lay it out on the ground next to Kel's pallet but it would be improper even if it was known he only slept on the ground near her. He forced himself to his feet and turned to leave the tent. Flyn clapped him on the shoulder much like Raoul had.
"There you go," Flyn grinned at him. "It gets easier."
Dom only nodded and found his way to his own tent. His own bedroll was raised on a pallet and he realized it was cushioned as he sat down on it. Somewhere in his mind he realized it was one of the small luxuries given to the Captain. He would sleep in more comfort than anyone else.
When Dom woke it was to someone moving in his tent. He opened his eyes and found Kel sitting down on the edge of his pallet dressed in her standard Mindelan tunic over a cream colored shirt and black breeches. She didn't openly wince as she sat but he saw something pull in her eyes.
"Kel, I," Dom sat up to reach for her hand.
"I knocked into you," Kel told him calmly. "In reality, I did this to myself." She gave him a tight smile. "I'll be fine. I can walk. I can still ride. I can even still train. The healers say I'll be perfectly fine."
Dom dropped her hand and pulled her into a tight embrace. Neal would never let him hear the end of harming her even if Kel didn't blame him. Gods, what would she say to Kas about all of it? He was bound to notice her limping when they returned home. She'd have to tell him something and Dom had no doubts Kas would be protective of Kel.
"What will I tell Kas?" He breathed out.
"I will tell him it's minor and a normal hazard of my work if he hasn't already figured that out," she shifted out of his hold. "Now, I hear some congratulations are in order, Captain."
"I don't know why they are so sure of me," Dom admitted.
"Because you are an excellent commander with a cool head, most of the time, and did a great job on this call," Kel informed him as she stood. "I know I trust your judgement on a battlefield. Now, let's go get some food. I'm starved." She held her hand down to him.
"Did Lord Raoul offer you his job yet?" Dom asked as he stood. If Flyn was already offering his job to someone, then it was likely Raoul was looking to offer his position up already as well.
"No, thankfully," she gave him a grin. "Change clothes, clean up, and let's get back to work."
Dom grinned back at her and shooed her from his tent. Kel was far too much like Raoul for her own good in a way. She wasn't going to let him wallow in self-pity for hurting her. He knew her better than that. She would focus on what the positives were and those positives were that she would heal. And once she finished pointing out the obvious positives, she would give him orders to keep going forward.
In a way, he was grateful she had taken to Lord Raoul's style of commanding. It was a comfort to have something familiar even if those same words and orders seemed to be coming from a beautiful young woman instead of a giant of a man.
When Dom stepped out of his tent, freshly dressed and his hair combed, Kel was waiting. She gave him a true smile and turned to walk with him towards the campfire where a pot of something steamed over the top. Her limp was noticeable as was the slow way she settled into a place to sit while trying to balance the bowl of soup she was handed.
"Did My Lord tell you we will be planning on moving out within the next two hours?" Wolset asked as he plopped down next to Dom when both he and Kel were almost done eating.
"That's a little soon," Dom glanced at Kel wondering how she would mount or dismount. He wondered how much it would hurt her to ride even though he knew she would be able to.
"The healers cleared all of the injured and My Lord said he wants to check other villages in the area and see if there are any signs of more spidren attacking like that," Wolset shrugged. "Kel, he ordered me to take down your tent when you are ready."
"I can take down my tent myself," she informed Wolset with a scowl.
"I don't argue with my Knight Commander," Wolset grinned. "I'm also to stick to you like a burr so you don't try and do it yourself."
"Excuse me," Kel shifted to maneuver herself into a standing position. It took far too long for Dom's liking for her to rise from the ground but he knew she'd never appreciate help when she was capable of doing it on her own. Once she was standing she handed the bowl to the men assigned to cleaning and then limped off towards the direction Raoul could be heard calling orders from.
"He doesn't even want to give her one more day?" Dom asked Wolset with a nod after Kel.
"She's the most injured and since she is up and about, he wanted to get things going again," his former corporal gave a shrug. "Not that he's not trying to take care of her still. I doubt she'll be allowed to do much more than sit back and let others work while he gives the orders. Me an' Riley are assigned to making sure her tent gets set up and taken down until we get back to the palace." Wolset named the other corporal that had taken Fulcher's place after the trip into Scanra had ended in his death.
"Did Raoul say which of you will be taking the sergeant position?" Dom asked.
"Not yet. Perhaps he wants to see which of us Kel leaves alive," Wolset stood. "Congratulations, Captain. We all knew you'd get it and we will have to take you out to celebrate when we get back to Corus."
"Assuming you live," Dom teased.
He didn't doubt Kel would be breaking her Yamani blank mask to express her displeasure of Raoul coddled her. Likely she would take some of that displeasure out on Riley and Wolset but both of them were usually good natured about that sort of thing. Neither would take it personally. Likely both men would treat it like a prank and grin at every glare Kel gave them. But Dom would try and help lessen the blows they were likely to feel. He'd try and distract her while they worked.
Looking up from the fire, Dom saw Kel and Raoul at the edge of their camp. It was rare to see Raoul giving Kel the look he was giving now, stern and fatherly. It was rarer still to see Kel openly glaring at him. Likely pain had rendered her temper very short. Dom stood. He forced himself up. Part of being a Captain meant he would have to deal with this too, more so because it was his fault. If anyone was going to bear the brunt of her anger, he'd make sure it was him.
"If I'm cleared enough to ride out today, then I am cleared enough to take down my own tent," Kel shot at Raoul when Dom came close enough to hear.
"But you won't. I'm not allowing you to waste energy that you need to heal. If you can't accept that, then I will have a squad escort you back to Corus," Raoul retorted.
"Kel, you'll need that energy in case we need to fight again," Dom took up Raoul's side. Part of him wanted to tie her to her horse and send her to Corus anyway. It would keep her out of harm's way if there was another fight. She'd have to be mounted or risk hurting herself again if she had to move too quickly. "What would you say to a man you commanded in the same position?"
The fight went from Kel as she looked at Dom. He knew he had found the right point and for a brief moment he could see the unmasked pain she was feeling from her injury.
"Kel, I want you to go back to Corus," Dom sighed. "For your own sake. If we had to fight again you'd be at a disadvantage. And," he glanced up to see Raoul had made his escape during their conversation. It was better that Raoul didn't hear this part of the admission he was about to make. "I would never forgive myself if this injury led to worse ones or your death. You are far too important to me."
He saw her eyes widen ever so slightly before she turned away from him.
"Tell whoever is escorting me that I'll be ready before the hour is up," her voice was oddly distant and he knew she was unhappy with him.
He would be unhappy being sent away from his duties too. But he had been honest with her and she had at least understood some part of what he had said.
She limped all of two steps before she turned back to look at him, the pain already tucked back behind her mask. "This is not your fault," she informed him once more. "I'd rather have a limp and this pain for the rest of my life to know I didn't just stand there and watch you get hurt or die. But I'm lucky it's only for a couple of months." Then she turned back and started towards her tent.
Dom saw Wolset rush ahead of her to assist her in tearing it down. She'd be gone in less than an hour and back in Corus before midnight. While fussing over her would have made him feel like he was doing something for her, he knew it would make him feel better that she was safe at the palace once more.
"You want us ready to ride with her?" Riley was at his side waiting.
"I'd prefer it. I know you won't let her push you around too much," Dom turned to him. "Don't let her push herself too much. Spend the night in Corus and catch up with us tomorrow. I'll check with Raoul about which direction he'd like to start in." Dom waited for Riley to nod and go to get everyone together. Though Wolset had been a corporal longer, he'd bet anything Riley would be the one promoted. He had a cooler head and an easier manner with his comrades.
"That had to be hard to send her away," Raoul commented from nearby. "Not even I was going to start that argument with her."
"I'm sorry if I just ruined any plans you had to test her out for Knight Commander," Dom turned to him.
"It will be several years before I think I want to retire and there are some politics that need to be worked around. And Kel needs to think about her future a little more than I or any male will. If she wants children, and I'm sure she will, she'll have to be content commanding from a desk in Corus during pregnancies and through her children's early years. I doubt she'll be happy with that." Raoul tucked his hands into the pockets of his breeches. "If she decides she is willing to do that, she will need captains she believes in the capabilities of. Which was part of what I was checking on this call. That she's willing to listen to you tells me that she respects you."
Dom nodded his understanding. It made a lot of sense that Kel would face different issues if she chose to become the Knight Commander of the King's Own when the time came. It wasn't a disadvantage of her gender but it did have something to do with her gender. To protect herself and the babe she would carry if she were to become pregnant, she would need to refrain from combat. Then there was a recovery period after the birth and likely a year in which she wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the babe.
Even more so, if she decided to have a future and a family with Kas, there would be other hard decisions. She wouldn't be able to just up and leave her child or children. Kas would still need to work meaning she would need to find someone to watch her family for some indefinite amount of time with every call.
"I suppose you intend to keep us out for quite some time," Dom turned the conversation away from Kel. If he kept focusing in on it, he'd want to find some way to fix it. And while he believed Kas would hang on with Kel for a long time, he wasn't going to try and plan their future if he could help it.
"I'd like to at least give the new lads a chance to get their feet wet. Maybe a couple of weeks. I promised Buri that unless something big came up, I wouldn't keep us out more than a month." Raoul's face lit with a soft smile. "I'd rather not disappoint my wife."
"Of course," Dom grinned and then set about pulling the rest of the plans from Raoul for the immediate few days for his former squad to be able to catch back up. When he had those plans he turned to check on how the dismantling of camp was going.
He saw Kel off, oversaw the rest of packing up, and took his place behind Raoul as they mounted up to head off to the next village.
His men joined him late the next afternoon with reports that Kel had been returned to the palace safely and had promised to check in with the infirmary, specifically Duke Baird or Neal, after getting a full night's sleep. They hadn't stuck around long enough in the morning to make sure but one of the men had slipped a note under Neal's door explaining Kel needed to visit the infirmary if she didn't do so on her own.
He was grateful to his men not only for returning Kel to some place that she'd be safe but also for their prankster side that made it possible for them to think of such things like slipping Neal notes. If Neal hadn't gone straight to Kel's rooms to drag her out the moment he woke up, Dom would be surprised.
The first village the stopped at had had no problems with spidren recently. The second had pointed out a small herd of hurroks nearby. Dom led that assault and then they turned to the next village.
Before a month was up, they had toured a good number of villages in the Royal Forest and had dealt with two nests of spidren, three herds of hurroks, one herd of killer unicorns, and two groups of bandits.
By the time they were heading back to Corus, Dom felt solid in his position as Captain in the field. He'd be officially taking the position from Flyn when they arrived back at the palace. As Dom had predicted, Raoul and Flyn had decided to promote Riley into his place. He knew Riley had settled into the role well and that Wolset, after seeing the paperwork that came with being a sergeant, had no hard feelings. The newer members of the Own had settled in to the point where Dom didn't have to give orders as camps were set up or taken down anymore. No one appeared to be wandering around aimlessly.
Despite the call lasting a month, Dom couldn't help but feel that Raoul had achieved exactly what he had intended to: they were back in fighting shape with a new Captain and the new men were full acclimated to life in the Own.
But even with everything accomplished, Dom was happy to be heading back to the palace. He had had multiple letters from Neal and one from Kel. Neal spoke about Kel's injury in detail, outlining the damage to her skin and muscle from the spidren blood that had gotten inside of her body and the depth to which the muscle had been cut. He doubted Neal knew he had been the one to cause that damage with the descriptions that were given but he almost appreciated that Neal didn't know.
Perhaps it was something that he needed to remind himself that Kel's hurting was his fault this time. He needed to be shown more than just the bandages on her leg to be reminded that he needed to be more aware on the battlefield. He was responsible for everyone now, not just himself and his men.
Kel's letter had expressed exasperation with his former squad for tipping Neal off at all to her injury and promises of revenge. Dom was at least assured by the fact she was promising revenge that she was feeling a little better. She had made no mention of Kas in her letter or how he had taken the news of her injury.
Dom knew from his last letter from Neal that they had underestimated the damage the spidren blood had done to Kel. She'd still be injured when he arrived back in Corus. And she liked would still be injured a month or two from that time as well. He knew he'd have to find some way to make it up to her even if she didn't believe him responsible.
