PART V - PATIENT STATUS
“Oh, thank the stars,” Reynard mumbled to himself as he heard the triple blast from the sentry’s horn. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he had arrived in camp, but it was well past the two hours he had expected. He had been slipping in and out of partial unconsciousness for a while now, moved to a recovery tent after Tazrok and Thucax assisted him in getting cleaned up in the showers, following an examination and another treatment for parasites by Tasi. He needed to rest before his regrowth was started, and they would likely need to cut the wound cleaner, too. At least he’d be asleep for that.
Reynard was exhausted, the trauma of the massive injury finally really catching up to him, despite all the pain blockers, stamina and healing. He didn’t want to sleep, but he couldn’t help it. He kept falling into a fleeting doze, waking constantly to listen for the telltale horns indicating the rest of his students were back. Now, his worries were eased and he slipped into a welcome unconsciousness.
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Reynard opened his eyes to soft knocking on the door, and he instinctively checked the window. The sun was still out, but there were very long shadows, making it feel like later evening, not long before dusk. He shook his head, trying to clear the fuzzy feeling in it. Then he remembered why one of his legs felt numb. He scowled on general principle, resisting the urge to throw back the blanket and glare at what was the stump of his leg. It wouldn’t help anything if he did that, except put him into an even more-sour mood.
Again, there was another knock, and this time Reynard fully registered it. “Come!” he called with a grunt.
The door opened, and Callie entered, a careful smile on her face. She was cleaned, and in fresh clothes, so Reynard realized he must have been asleep for at least an hour, maybe even two after the team returned.
“Hey,” Callie said, a careful concern in her voice.
“Why are you here?”
Callie cocked her head, and then smirked slightly. “Sir, all my Ranger trainers are important to me.”
It took a moment for Reynard to register the echo of the words he had used a week previous, when it had been Callie lying in bed injured, and him watching over her. He couldn’t help but to smile.
“Mostly, I needed to see how you were doing,” Callie added in a mumble, her foot fidgeting on the wood floor. “So … how are you doing?”
“I’m … getting by,” Reynard replied hesitantly. Then he added, trying to appear stronger, “I will recover in time.”
“That’s good. I was worried.”
“I assume everyone is back?,” Reynard asked, trying to change the subject. “I heard the horns a while ago. No problems? It took you longer to get back than I thought it would.”
“We … uh … had a couple detours on the way, but we’re all here. Everyone has had their parasites cleaned, and have changed into fresh clothes after we showered. I also filled the Commandant in on everything that happened, or at least the basics.”
Reynard narrowed his eyes. “Detour? What did you do?”
“Ugh!” Callie groaned, rolling her eyes. “Stop being so dramatic. Not everything I do is bad. In fact, it usually turns out pretty good.”
Taking a calming, centering breath, Reynard asked again, false politeness evident. “Please, tell me about your sightseeing adventure on your return to camp.”
Callie glared at the sarcasm, but powered ahead. “Well, after you and the other guys left, we decided to get the unicorn body to bring it back. Lhawni said it was pretty valuable, and we were able to use the horn to heal the Major and Pixyl.”
The Foxkin put a paw to his face. “Of course you brought the corpse back with you.” Then he asked with concern in his voice, “Pixyl? What happened?”
“Remember that Drakeling attacking her you shot down? When it smashed into her, it apparently broke a couple of her ribs. She didn’t tell anyone until Ambria finally noticed her wincing in pain after you left. Her whole side was one gigantic bruise. Lhawni fixed her ribs easily enough, but because it had been too long, couldn’t clear up the bruising and soreness. As an experiment, we made her touch the unicorn horn and the bruises and pain disappeared almost instantly. The same happened with the swelling in the Major’s hand. I guess other parts of the unicorn's body will also be really useful, too, not just the horn. I’d like to think some good can come out of what I had to do.”
“Fascinating! I supposed with all that was happening, it didn’t even occur to me to bring the body back. I’d heard the stories about unicorn horns, but that’s all, just stories. I don’t know how long the horn continues to work, but if it continues for a while, that’s almost priceless.” Reynard said, his face deep in consideration.
“Yeah, that was my thinking, too. Unfortunately, it apparently doesn’t work on scars, so my leg has a faint pink spot where that Beaver-thing spiked me. Trainer Cheena thinks it’s because a scar is actually already healed, or something.”
The Foxkin shot Callie a comforting smile, before he realized something. “You said ‘detours’. Plural. What other trouble did you get into?”
Callie winced. “Okay, I’m going to tell you, but only if you promise not to get mad.”
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“I absolutely won’t make that promise,” Reynard replied dryly.
“Well, will you at least promise to count to five before you yell at me, then?”
“I’ll try.”
Callie delayed the news by walking over to a chair and climbing up into it. She dangled her feet over the edge for a few moments, before taking a deep breath. “On the way back, we were being followed.”
“By what?”
“A baby unicorn. The one I killed was its mom.”
Reynard had nothing to say for a long moment. Then he suddenly lept to the logical conclusion. He tried to count to five, and made it only to three. “You brought home a pet, didn’t you?” he growled out with a glare.
“Sort of?” Callie said, a questioning inflection in her voice.
“Just tell me,” Reynard said with a growling sigh, resigning himself to whatever happened.
“So, we tried to catch it, but it didn’t like me, at least not at first.” Callie laughed, “Apparently I’m not virginal enough for her delicate sensitivities to trust. It is a girl, by the way.”
“How did you get it?”
“It actually seemed to like Jesca. I guess she’s a … well ...”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Callie laughed. “We were surprised, too.”
“So, Jesca has a pet unicorn now?”
“I don’t know about that. We brought it back and put it in the stables. For the most part, once Jesca shows her that someone is trustworthy, the unicorn doesn’t panic, so Jesca was able to get her to trust the Herdmaster even though he has kids. At least trust him enough to not go crazy, that is. He’s set up a pen for her with fresh hay and food and stuff. Hopefully she’ll be comfortable and not hungry. Jesca said the Herdmaster actually has experience with raising and taming abandoned Curvax foals, and magic aside, they are pretty similar to unicorns.”
“What are you going to do with a pet unicorn?” Reynard asked, his voice still slightly icey, and the ‘you’ implying not just Callie, but also all the other cohorts she’d apparently recruited into her web of mischief.
“Nothing. We just needed … I just needed her to be safe. I killed her mother, Sir. I know the mom was sick and I didn’t have a choice, but that also gave me a responsibility to the baby. She wouldn’t have lived long in the wild, probably, and I couldn’t allow that. Maybe after she grows she can be released back. That would be my hope, at least.”
Reynard put his head back against the wall with a thump, and then started to chuckle.
The laughing caught Callie off guard, and she brightened. “What's so funny?”
“I can’t believe the Major went along with this.”
“Well, in her defense, she was against the idea. We had to talk her into giving us at least one chance.”
“Of course you did,” Reynard huffed, shaking his head.
After a bit of an awkward silence, Callie spoke up. “Sir, I let the others know I was coming to check on you. They’re worried, too. Do you need anything?”
Reynard shook his head, appreciating the concerns. “Not tonight. I’m just going to rest, but thank you.”
“Are you going to have to go away like Kaisess to get your leg regrown?”
“Rowani will be able to do it,” Reynard said with an assured nod. “It probably will take a couple of months, though. I won’t be very mobile, at least until I can start using crutches and get used to them.”
“That was another question I was asked to find out. What are we going to do about training? I don’t want to assume you won’t be able to continue, but …” Callie let the sentence trail off.
With another nod and a sigh, Reynard thumped his head against the wall again. “I don’t know. I can do some of it even if I’m an invalid, but for things like field work, I’m not much use unless Shul’an carries me everywhere.”
“What about Vonn? Could she sub in for you?” Callie asked. “She just reached Platinum when she made our bows for us.”
“I had the same thought, and she’s the only other person remotely qualified. But she has other duties making weapons, so I don’t want to presume she can set that aside. I saw Thorn briefly while Tasi was examining me, and mentioned it to him as an idea. We’ll see. If we need to get someone in from Imor, it would take at least a week if they rode reasonably hard.
“Well, if there’s something specific we should work on in the meantime, let us know.”
“For tomorrow, take the day off,” Reynard said with a sigh. “You all lost Homeday, today, and could use it. Maybe all of you get together and reflect back on the fight; think about what you might have done differently.”
“Okay, we can do that. I’m sure the others will appreciate that,” Callie said, then added, “The Commandant said they do want to get everyone together first thing in the morning, to get a full report on everything that happened. We’re supposed to meet right after breakfast. If you’d like, we can come get you.”
Reynard tilted his head back and forth as he considered the offer. “If I’m up for it, I’d like to be there. Check in with me, if you would.”
“Sure. And again, if you need anything, just let one of us know.”
Callie slipped off the chair, offering Reynard a wave of her hand. “I’ll go update everyone.”
“Callie?” Reynard called out as the Gnome walked for the door.
“Sir?”
The Foxkin seemed to make a slightly sour look, as if not looking forward to something he was about to say. “I just want to thank you for visiting. It means a great deal to me.”
“Of course,” Callie replied, smiling.
“Also, you did a really good job today. As Sergeant that is. And everyone else performed admirably as well. Tell them that, if you would?”
“I’d be happy to.” Callie replied, before slipping through the doorway.
Reynard leaned back, rolling the whole conversation over in his head a few times, along with the events of the day. It had been one hell of a day, at that. It seemed almost like a lifetime ago that he and Callie were squaring off across the Bunkerball field, and somehow that had turned into lying in bed with half his leg missing. The whole thing simply felt … surreal.
He shifted to lay down, being reminded of what he was missing as he tried to use his leg to help get comfortable. He pushed it out of his head. It could be grown back. It was just a temporary problem that would be resolved before the next term started. Logically, that all made perfect sense. Still, there was a depression lurking in the back of his mind, as memories of a similar injury years ago, with Jorin, crept unbidden into his head. And no memory of Jorin could come without longing memories of Talania.
Then, the memories seemed to disappear, and he chuckled to himself. “Who brings a unicorn home with them?”
The obvious answer echoed back to him. “Callie, of course.”