Morthal

Aila knocked twice on the door in front of her while simultaneously supporting Kathryn by letting her lean on her.

A few moments later the door opened slightly to reveal a redguard in blue robes, who Aila presumed was Falion. "Yes? Can I help you?" he asked rather suspiciously.

"I hope so," Aila replied. "I asked around and people said you were the only mage in Morthal. Are you any good a restoration?"

"I know a fair bit." He then took notice of Kathryn's pained expression that she was trying to conceal. The door opened wider and he gestured for them to enter. "Come on in. Forgive my initial suspicion. The people of Morthal distrust mages with a passion. Not all of my visitors are good-intentioned. Now, what exactly is the problem?"

"Well, pretty much my entire body hurts," Kathryn said, grimacing at the words. "Mostly my chest, though. Pretty sure a few of my ribs are broken."

The mage furrowed his eyebrows, no doubt puzzled as to what could make someone's entire body hurt. "I see. Well, take off your armour and lay on that bed over there. I'll take a look at it."

Aila and Kathryn exchanged a look.

Falion noticed. "Well, you don't expect me to work through your armour, do you?"

Kathryn sighed, knowing he was right. Aila helped her out of the top half of her armour and she let out a small whine when she saw her skin. Almost all her chest was covered in a black and brown bruise. She tentatively placed a hand on her skin and recoiled immediately when Kathryn winced.

"Oh my…" Falion started.

Kathryn slowly made her way to the bed and grunted as she lay down. Aila kneeled down on the opposite side of her as Falion. He positioned his hands just above her skin as they began to glow with healing magic. His eyes widened as he realized the full extent of the damage. "How exactly did this happen?"

Kathryn laughed, and then winced. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"A dragon picked me up then slammed me into the ground."

Falion just gaped at her.

"Told you."

"How bad is it?" Aila asked, not really sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Almost every one of her ribs is broken. Some in more than one place. None of them have punctured her lungs, luckily, but several are pressing into them."

"So that's why it hurts so much to breathe."

Her nonchalant response astonished Falion. "You must have an incredible tolerance for pain."

Kathryn scoffed. "Try having every one of bones bend and break at the same time."

"Kat..." Aila said softly.

"I know, I know. Look, how much do you think you can help?"

"Well… I should be able to at least set all the bones in their proper place. It'll take a while, though. About an hour. Maybe two."

"Oh, wonderful." Kathryn said, letting the sarcasm drip. "There's nothing I love more than staying in one place for long periods of time."

"Would you rather do it yourself?" Aila asked her. "With that extremely basic healing spell you know?"

"Aila, stop being so sensible."

Aila chuckled softly and took her hand. "We've got time."

Time that was spent trying to keep Kathryn calm. It was very rare, Aila knew, for Kathryn to ever be able to stay still for long periods of time. The only times Aila could think of when she could was when they were alone, cuddling together. But naturally, of course, she wasn't going just cuddle up next to her with Falion tending to her wounds, and Aila was at a loss for what to do. She was having the same problem as when they were travelling to Whiterun. She was just glad it would only be an hour or so, and not a few days.

Eventually, the healing session came to an end. Falion dropped his hands, looking rather pale. "I'm… afraid that's all I can do."

Kathryn sat up and breathed deeply. "Oh, that feels so much better. Thank you."

Falion waved his hand dismissively. "It's nothing, really. But you still aren't fully healed. You're going to need plenty of time off to rest and recover."

Aila sighed sadly. "As much as I have to agree with you, I'm afraid that's not going to happen."

Falion blinked. "... And why not?"

Aila glared at Kathryn and gave her a dramatic poke. "Because this one is too stubborn to realize would a little sleep would do for her. You saw how she was, do you think she could lay in bed long enough to fall asleep?"

"She must sleep sometime," Falion insisted.

"Sometimes, yes."

"Okay, okay," Kathryn said as Aila helped her put her armour back on. "I get it. I'll… rest. Come on, Aila, let's go to the inn. We need a room."

"Coming," Aila said. But first, she took out a large coinpurse from somewhere and gave it to Falion for his services.

He thanked her as she walked out of his house with Kathryn.

Kathryn was doing better. She able to walk without Aila's help, but she was still obviously pained, even if she was trying to hide it. "How do you feel?" Aila asked.

"Like I was stepped on by a mammoth," she answered. "But better. It hard to realize how much you take breathing for granted until every breath you take feels like someone punching you in the gut."

"So you don't hurt as much?"

"Well, no, not really. I mean, it's so much easier to breathe, but I don't really hurt any less."

Aila thought about the condition she was in. Her ribs were broken. Almost all of them. There was also bruising on her arms and back from where the dragon grabbed her. Aila couldn't help but admire her. She was almost definitely in much more pain than she was letting on, yet she was acting like she had done little more than stub her toe. Kathryn was strong, in more ways than one, and Aila found her strength so endearing.

"And I'm conflicted. Really, I want nothing more than to rent a room, fall into the bed, and stay as still as possible, but then I would be really bored. It's gotten so much harder for me to stay still ever since I started to turn."

"Yeah, I noticed. But you heard what Falion said, you need rest. You're not going to heal by running around."

"Fine. But you have to have to keep me company."

Aila smiled. "Of course."

They had almost reached the inn when its doors flung open and a woman came walking out. She was dressed in some less-than-modest clothing, and when she emerged, Kathryn's hand went up to her nose. "Oh Gods," she said. "What is that smell?"

Aila sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything."

The woman passed them by, and as she did, Aila noticed that her eyes never left Kathryn. And then she noticed that Kathryn's never left the woman. "Hey! What are you looking at?"

Kathryn didn't seem to hear her. That's when Aila heard a low growl coming from her.

"Hey!" Aila yelled again, hitting her lightly in the chest.

"Ow!" Kathryn exclaimed, returning her attention to Aila. "What was that for?"

"Don't growl at people."

"I… was I?

Aila nodded.

"Sorry, it's just… I don't know, that woman was making me angry for some reason."

"Why? You don't even know her."

Kathyrn just shrugged.

"Well, come on. We need a room."

Kathryn agreed and entered the inn after Aila. They rented a room together and went to check it out. Kathryn lowered herself onto the bed with a groan. "I think I'm just going to lay down for a while. I'll admit, motion has its disadvantages, right now."

Aila chuckled and sat next to her on the bed. "Just what I wanted to hear. You hungry?"

"Always."

Aila laughed again. She cupped Kathryn's cheek and leaned in for a kiss. "Okay. I'll go get you some food. Don't move." Aila went back to the bar and ordered some food for the two of them. When it was ready, she brought it back to Kathryn. "Here you are, love. Some nice juicy horker meat, grilled and seasoned leeks and two delicious slices of goat cheese."

Kathryn ate with her food in her lap, trying to move her torso as little as possible. It hurt to swallow, she said, but it didn't stop her from eating. As they ate, they talked about what they were going to do when they arrived at Solitude. They needed to find Gulum-Ei, somehow. Their best bet would be to just ask some official at the East Empire Trading Company, but that might call some unwanted attention. They decided to just stick to innkeepers and shop owners, and avoid any high-ranking members of society. But there was one problem that neither of them had an easy solution to. After they found Gulum-Ei, and what if he didn't give them the answered they wanted? Kathryn could be threatening if she wanted to be, but neither of them wanted to be hostile if they could avoid it. By now, though, Aila knew that things rarely went as planned.

They decided to deal with things as they came, and to focus on getting Kathryn better for now. After they finished supper, Aila laid in bed with Kathryn and eventually fell asleep, cuddling up right next to her. Kathryn ran her hand through her sleeping lover's hair to try to calm herself and keep herself from having a fit, but as it grew later into the night, she began to think she wasn't going to make it. She wanted to move, but doing so hurt too much.

At some point, Kathryn noticed an odd smell in the air. A strange, smoky smell, like a fire was burning nearby. Then she began to hear shouts muffled through the walls of her room. She would have gone outside to see what it was, but that would have caused her more pain than she cared to have at the moment. She was hurting enough already. Frustrated, she concentrated a healing spell to her chest, hoping it would speed up her healing at least a little, as well as to give her something to focus on until dawn.