When Petre woke up, it took them a moment to remember why their whole body was sore. They opened their eyes, staring at the inside of their tent for a second before it all came rushing back to them.

With wide eyes, Petre sat up too quickly, hissing. They wondered how long they’d been sleeping. They’d missed the whole trip back to the outpost, apparently, because they couldn’t remember a single moment of it. They wondered what had happened to the surviving Orinovan spy.

Gritting their teeth, Petre pulled their blanket off themself, noticing that there was one of his healing tonics right next to their bedroll. Petre grabbed it, downing the little vial immediately, eager to get rid of the deep ache in all their bones and muscles. It would take a moment to take effect, but Petre didn’t mind the wait. As long as they didn’t have to move.

“You’re awake!” Ainreth’s voice cried just as they thought that, rushing in and pulling Petre into a hug that made them grit their teeth. They knew Ainreth meant well, but they were too bruised for this not to be painful.

Thankfully, Ainreth seemed to realize that himself as he quickly let go, keeping his hands on Petre’s shoulders, still grinning ear to ear. He seemed so happy, so relieved that Petre was awake, his smile genuine, actually reaching his eyes.

And was Ainreth…glowing a little bit? There seemed to be an aura of dim but warm light surrounding his body, lighting up the tent just a little.

“I’m so happy you’re okay. I was so worried about my little guy.”

Ainreth patted Petre’s head, and Petre couldn’t even feel irritated about it. They were just confused at all of this attention and affection coming from Ainreth of all people.

“Uh, yes, I am okay.”

“Great!” Ainreth still wasn’t putting his hands away. A moment of somewhat uncomfortable silence stretched between them, but Ainreth was still not moving. His eyes did leave Petre’s after a moment, however. “Don’t do that again, all right?”

“I’ll attempt not to,” Petre replied. They would certainly prefer not to be kidnapped and tormented again if they could help it. “How did you find me?”

“Oh, that Enlin friend of yours raised a fuss. Then we started tracking.” Ainreth finally got up, beginning to pace. “I can’t believe there were spies in our regiment. Even worse that they captured you and tried to drag you to blighted Orinovo.” Ainreth paused, looking right at Petre with an apologetic grimace. “No offense.”

“It’s fine,” Petre said automatically, not wanting to even make a big deal out of it, but Ainreth held up his finger.

“No, it isn’t. But you know what I meant.”

Petre nodded. They certainly did. They had had no interest in being literally dragged to Orinovo as it was right now, especially not as a prisoner of war. All that would await them there would have been torture and death.

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“What happened to the other spy?” Petre decided not to add a comment about Ainreth burning the woman to death.

“Oh, he’s already being transported to Kyr-Toryl. For questioning.”

That no doubt meant horrific torture, but Petre couldn’t manage to feel too much pity toward the spy. He had certainly not shown any mercy to them. Petre hoped that they would at least find out something from him.

“I already did some of my own questioning also, don’t you worry.”

Ainreth’s gaze turned surprisingly dark then, his glow gone now. Petre wondered what that could mean. Ainreth had already blinded the spy. They would have thought that would be punishment enough if Ainreth had taken it to heart so much that his second had been taken.

Whatever Ainreth or Petre might have said next was interrupted when Enlin burst into the tent as well with a cheerful cry. Petre barely had the time to steel themself before she was hugging them as well, though much more gently than Ainreth had done it, clearly aware Petre’s body was a mess of bruises.

She began to babble, her words so fast that Petre could barely understand them, but they were fairly certain she’d said something about being worried at least ten times.

Finally, Enlin pulled away, taking a deep breath, blinking away tears. She sniffled, her eyes suddenly widening as she looked up at Ainreth behind her with an embarrassed grimace.

“Um.”

Ainreth just chuckled. “Keep an eye on them for me. I unfortunately now have some idiots to deal with that I’ve been ignoring.”

Enlin ducked her head until Ainreth was leaving, giving Petre a small wave as he did. That was…strange. This whole encounter had been. Maybe that was just how Ainreth was, though.

“He was so worried about you,” Enlin said, scooting a little bit away to give Petre some space. “He sat here for hours, waiting for you to wake up.”

Petre frowned. That seemed even stranger. It wasn’t as though Petre had been in danger of dying, surely. And Ainreth had barely known Petre just a few days ago.

“He did?”

“Oh yeah. I wanted to be here, too, but I’m not a general, so I couldn’t get away from my duties.” Enlin sighed sadly, her shoulders sinking for a moment before her cheerful smile reappeared. “But I came by as often as I could.”

Petre smiled, which only made Enlin’s grin grow wider. It was very touching that she cared about them so much. And that Ainreth apparently cared as well, which was still odd, but they would just accept it and not question it.

“Did I miss something?”

Enlin shook her head, laughing. “Nothing’s happened here for a whole week.”

That was a good point, Petre had to admit. Though apparently, they’d had spies here the entire time, so that wasn’t exactly nothing.

“Everyone is really impressed by you, by the way,” she gleefully told them.

Petre scowled. “For getting captured?”

Enlin shook her head, snorting. “No! For not telling them anything. For being so brave. I saw what they did to you.”

Now Enlin was looking at them with the kind of expression one would look at an injured puppy with. Petre waved their hand. Yes, the two Orinovans had hurt them, and they’d felt like falling asleep standing by the end of it, but the spies could have done so much worse.

At least the tonic was finally beginning to take effect, Petre’s ribs hurting a lot less than just a few moments ago.

“I’ll be okay.”

“Of course!” Enlin fidgeted with her hands, looking away, making Petre sigh. They knew this reaction very well.

“You can hug me.”

Enlin squealed, pulling Petre into another embrace. And Petre smiled, hugging her back, letting the tension that had been keeping their whole body tense unwind itself. It was over, and Petre could relax. Hopefully, Ainreth wouldn’t give Petre too difficult tasks until they recovered, and soon they would all return to the capital city, replaced by a different regiment here.

Petre let their eyes close as Enlin only hugged them closer. Perhaps they could sleep for a while longer. Perhaps for the rest of their stay here. They were sure Ainreth could be convinced.