"Hey Nyko?" I called out as I stripped one of the cots in the healer's building. Our last patient had just left after we had treated a minor wound so it was just the two of us, a rare occurrence that I thought I should take advantage of. He grunted in acknowledgement but didn't turn to face me as he continued to organize vials of herbs on the other side of the room.
"What's a fisa?" I asked, turning to put the dirty blankets in a bag in the corner. My arms burned from the light lifting, shooting arrows all day certainly had taken its toll. It was an obvious reminder that I was in no way fit for this world - a thought that had kept me up for most of the night.
"You are," Nyko responded, still not breaking from his task. I moved over closer to him and watched as he sorted the vials.
"Is that supposed to be an insult?" I teased, knowing Nyko wouldn't be purposely cruel to me. Over the past week interacting with him had become easy and fluid, we had a good basic understanding of each other.
Nyko sort of chuckled in response as he shook his head.
"It means healer," he told me. Okay, so definitely not an insult.
"What about gona?" I asked. He paused for a moment and looked up at me.
"It is our word for warrior," he replied. "Why the sudden vocabulary lesson?"
I shrugged and turned so I could lean my back against the table.
"I ran into someone, or rather they ran into me and he kept calling me a 'little fisa,' and I couldn't tell if they were insulting me or not," I explained. "Which reminds me, how do I get something to trade to get Bott's to make me some more of his bread? It was delicious yesterday."
Nyko stepped back at the table and studied me for a moment.
"Botts was the one who ran into you?" he asked confused.
"No, some man named Delaney, or Dylan, or something did. Botts helped me up after and gave me a loaf of bread," I clarified. Nyko's expression darkened as he listened to me retell what had happened.
"Hm, it must have been Delano," he mused. I just shrugged, I could care less what the man's name was, he was just an ass as far as I was concerned.
"Stay away from him," he warned, his normally even baritone taking on a more serious edge.
"It's not like I wanted him to run into me," I replied, but Nyko seemed unimpressed with my logic.
"Is he the one who did this to you?" he asked as he reached out to grab my forearm gently. Looking down I saw the long red and angry looking welt on my wrist that had formed overnight. Sighing I pulled my arm back.
"No, that was my own fault. Artigas was teaching me how to shoot a bow yesterday and I had my hand to high and the cord snapped my wrist when it recoiled," I told him. He nodded his head in understanding.
"You should be more careful, and try to let your old injuries heal before you add new ones," he advised as he returned to sorting herbs, not before making a pointed look at my still healing scalp.
"I never realized you cared so much," I replied sarcastically, nudging him with my elbow. He grunted and shrugged me off.
"Don't let it go to your head."
I laughed at his response and moved away from the table. I would never tell him aloud, but I was happy that Nyko fretted over me in his own way. It made me feel less alone here on Earth, even if it was just for a moment. I smiled back at Nyko at the thought, happy that he still had his back turned to me.
"So what's the plan for today?" I asked, changing the subject. Most days passed slowly, minus some freak accident things stayed pretty quiet for me and Nyko, however, that never meant there was nothing to do. I swear Nyko had a chores list that was damn near a mile long. Sometimes I despised the busywork, but on days like these I looked forward for anything to keep my hands and mind busy.
"We need to replenish our stock," he told me. "I'll gather some from the forest, you can go down to our crop fields. I asked them weeks ago to store some herbs for me, they should be ready now."
Sounded easy enough. I was happy that Nyko had chosen to do the forest collecting himself, after my last adventure I was a little hesitant to return to the woods. Now, I just had to find where the crop fields were, I hadn't come across them the other day. I grabbed my pack and jacket from off the wall, and after quick directions from Nyko headed out.
It was like any other day so far. Cool with a slight breeze and green, still so green. I moved throughout the town in the direction Nyko had pointed me in and took in all the sights and sounds. After I passed by the empty training grounds from the day before I realized I was exploring all new territory and a brief shock of excitement ran through me. Every day is something new I thought to myself.
I was surprised when I easily came across the crop fields, even more so when I found Lucas in one of the buildings nearby.
"Look at you Cole, assimilating well I see," Lucas said as he pulled me into a hug. He smelled earthy and dirty and the odor made me scrunch my nose. He noticed and laughed.
"It's the horses, the smell tends to linger," he explained. I tilted my head and sent him a confused stare.
"What are horses?"
Lucas just stared at me before coming to some sort of realization.
"That's right! You haven't seen them yet! We saw pictures of them in school don't you remember?" he asked as he grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind him. I winched slightly as he unknowingly grabbed my injured arm.
He led me into a wooden building that had stalls cut out. I could hear sounds of heavy breathing and stomping but had yet to catch a glimpse of one of Lucas' horses. Dragging me behind still, he finally came to a stop in front of one of the stalls.
"Come on, this one won't bite you," he said. I looked at him warily, what did he mean by this one? Are horses normally vicious?
I moved closer to him and took a sharp breath as I found what he called a horse. It was gigantic! It was standing with it's side to us and I marveled on how long and tall the creature was. I had remembered seeing pictures of an animal like this back on the Arc, but pictures had done it no justice. It's body was lined with muscle and it's tail whipped back and forth lazily. I stumbled back when it turned to face us though.
"Do they… Do they all look like this?" I asked hesitantly. The creature had four eyes staring at me as a second, smaller head protruded from the side of it's long face.
"No, not all. A few of them have mutations like this one, but other then the extra set of eyes and nose, it doesn't seem to affect them in any way," Lucas answered as if the beast next to him wasn't terrifying.
"Here, come give this to him. It's his favorite," Lucas told me as he held a carrot out for me to take. The horse must have also seen it because it snorted and moved closer.
"Uhm, no it's okay," I answered. As the horse moved closer I realized how big it actually was and was suddenly feeling not so confident about it not attacking me.
"Come on Cole, he won't bite you I promise," Lucas said as he tossed me the carrot. I caught it on instinct and just started at it in my hands. The horse impatient with the exchange whined.
"You're not scared of a horse are you Cole?" A voice from the doorway called out. Turning my head I saw Artigas, Jaxon and another warrior standing and staring at me. Must someone always be present for my most embarrassing moments?!
"I'm not scared, I've just never seen a horse before … and he's awfully big," I told Artigas, realizing after that it sounded exactly like I was scared.
"He won't hurt you Cole, unless you keep taunting him with that carrot," Lucas said, turning my attention back to him. He was trying to joke around and defuse the situation but it didn't help my nerves.
"Come on you'll be fine," Artigas added, moving closer to the stall. Jaxon followed while the other warrior they were with moved off towards a different horse.
Can't look like a coward now Cole. How bad can it be? Worst he can do is eat my entire hand …. Okay, so maybe I wasn't so great at pep talking myself. Taking a deep breath I decided that I should just get it over with and moved closer to the stall. Listening to Lucas' directions I held the carrot out in the palm of my hand and extended it towards the horse. I nearly flinched when I felt its lips graze over my hand, but before I could even react the horse had grabbed the carrot and was happily munching on it.
Well that wasn't so bad. I smiled slightly as Lucas placed a hand on my back and moved me closer to the stall.
"Put your hand out again," he instructed. I looked at him questioningly.
"But I don't have any more food…"
"I know, just trust me okay?" Lucas asked. I nodded and put my hand out again, Lucas adjusted my wrist so my palm was verticle this time. The horse still chomping away moved forward only slightly to nudge its second nose agaisnt my hand. I pulled back slightly at the cold touch but realizing that it wasn't going to eat me started petting it again. I turned back to the group of men still watching me and smiled.
"Not so scary now huh?" Artigas asked with a lopsided grin on his face. "Maybe next time you can come riding with us."
I pailed at the thought. Petting the horse was one thing, riding it was something else entirely. I looked back up at the horse, yup, definitely not getting on that any time soon.
"Maybe after our next archery lesson?" Artigas asked.
"Archery?" Lucas asked from next to me, his hand still resting on my back. I looked up at him and shrugged before turning my attention to Artigas and Jaxon. I was debating on how to tell him I wasn't going to be taking archery lessons again, not after the scolding I had received from Jaxon the other evening. He had been right to call me out on my attitude and I was no longer feeling as adventurous as I had the day before.
Jaxon seemingly knowing where the conversation was headed moved past Artigas toward the stall. I was confused on what he was doing until he grabbed a rope from the wall and unlatched the lock on the stall's gate. He barely looked at me before settling on glaring at Lucas instead. His eyes dropped to my waist before he roughly pushed past Lucas to get into the stall of the horse I had just been feeding. Lucas said nothing as he regained his footing, his hand no longer on my back, and glared in Jaxon's direction. It was decided, I would never understand men.
I sighed before focusing on Artigas who just looked on with mild amusement.
"I think it will be a while before the next archery lesson," I admitted quietly.
"That's probably for the best, we don't want you getting hurt Cole," Lucas said from beside me. I absentmindedly rubbed my sore wrist - if only he knew.
"Why's that?" Artigas asked, fully ignoring Lucas. "You seemed pretty anxious to learn the other day."
"I guess I just changed my mind," I told him lamely, looking away to avoid his gaze. "My place here isn't as a fighter anyways…"
"Well okay I guess," Artigas responded, not entirely convinced. I thought that I heard Jaxon stop moving in the stall, but as he reappeared leading the horse out I thought that I must have been imagining it.
"Anyways, I came down here to collect some herbs for Nyko, do you know where I could find them?" I asked turning back to Lucas. He nodded and motioned for me to follow him.
"Is everything alright Cole?" he asked as we walked along a worn dirt path now away from the others.
"Yeah, what do you mean?" I questioned.
"You just seem different," he supplied. "I mean you even look different, and archery lessons? That's not you."
I glanced over at him before focusing on the path again. What does he know about me?
"I'm fine Lucas, just adapting I guess," I answered as a woman rose to meet us halfway with a large basket in her hands.
"Fisa?" she questioned, her accent much heavier than any other I heard yet. Remembering what Nyko had told me this morning I nodded my head. She handed me the basket and turned to walk away without another word.
"What's a fisa?" Lucas asked staring at me strangely.
I shrugged, " I am apparently."
I said my goodbyes to Lucas, who hugged me and asked me to visit more often or that he'd be forced to fake an injury to come and see me. Sighing I made my way back to the healer's building thinking over the day's events. It wasn't long until I found myself back in the comfort of the healer's walls that I snapped back to the present. Nyko had already returned and was cutting and bottling plants.
"Any troubles?" he asked, not looking up as he squeezed some nectar from a white flower that I had forgotten the name of.
"No," I told him, not sure if what had happened earlier constituted as trouble or not. "I brought these back."
He looked over the basket I set down next to him and nodded approvingly. Putting down the plant he was working on he shifted the plants in the basket around until he found a small bundle tightly wrapped and handed it to me.
"What is this?" I asked as I studied the plant. It didn't look like any medicinal herb he had shown me yet.
"It's Thyme," he responded returning to his work.
"What's it used for?" I asked, taking in the strong aroma of the leaves.
"For baking, I thought you might like to trade if for something," Nyko said. "Now go, you're distracting me."
For baking? Oh! I smiled as I figured out why he had given the plant to me.
"Thank you," I told him as I made my way out of the building and towards Bott's stand. Maybe today could turn out to be a good day after all.
It didn't take long for me to work out an exchange with Botts, apparently the herb was a key ingredient in his baking. I made a mental note to thank Nyko again later. I gave the bundle of herbs to the baker and arranged to pick up a loaf of bread every morning for the next week. My mouth was salivating just at the thought of it.
"One for the way home?" he asked, his belly jiggling slightly at the sight of me practically drooling over all his goods. Grabbing one from the far end of the table that had a white powder dusted on top he handed it to me and told me to try it. I didn't have to be told twice.
"Oh God Botts what would I do without you? This is heavenly!" I told him as I savored the sweet bread.
"Starve I would assume," he said still laughing. My grumbling stomach agreed with him. I wished him a good night and made my way home, finishing off my bread on the way. I was humming happily to myself when I noticed a figure standing by my doorway. Warily moving closer, I kept my hand close to the pocket knife I kept in my jacket pocket.
"Can I help you?" I asked, causing the figure to turn towards me. It was Jaxon, holding some sort of fur. I pulled my hand out of my pocket, it would do me no good against him anyways.
"Here," he said thrusting the beige fur into my hands before placing a nicely carved wooden bow on top of it.
"Uhm, what's the occasion?" I joked lamely as I glanced back and forth between the objects now in my hands and Jaxon.
"The blanket is made from the fur of the cougar that chased you," he said, as if that explained everything. "I have no need for another one and thought you could make use of it."
Noticing how soft it felt in my hands I knew I definitely could, but why was he giving it to me now?
Satisfied with his delivery Jaxon started to walk away.
"Not to sound ungrateful but I don't think I'll be needing the bow, I uh, decided that maybe that was a stupid idea like you said," I told him shyly. He turned back towards me and furrowed his eyebrows.
"I never said it was stupid," he replied.
"Not in those exact words I know, but.."
"It is a good skill to have," Jaxon said, cutting me off. "If it gives you a little courage to be more outspoken then so be it. It would do you some good."
I didn't respond immediately as I thought over his words. Maybe I had misunderstood him yesterday?
"I will not always be there to save you," he added, though quieter than before. My eyes met his, still the stormy grey I remembered from the first days here when he couldn't even move out of his cot. I was going to protest, but the look in his eyes told me that I would get nowhere with that.
I settled for a quiet thank you instead. I bowed my head to try and hide the embarrassed blush rising to my cheeks.
"Hm," he grunted. "...You're welcome."
With that he turned and left. I shook my head as I walked into my little home.
"I don't think I'm ever going to understand him," I said to myself as I placed the bow in the corner and unfolded my new blanket. It was more than large enough to cover me entirely and had been sewn to have the soft plush fur on both sides. If I was sure of one thing, it was that I was going to sleep great tonight.