There wasn’t so much the sensation of pain as there was the acute awareness that pain was being suppressed. The darkness swirled and ebbed in his head, and he wanted to move, to shake off the numbness, but with each shift, he felt that strange dulling of awareness. Moving was not a good idea. He should enjoy the numb while he could.

He heard a soft giggle somewhere outside that intense dim and tried to turn his head towards it. The motion felt clunky and off, and he heard a low, tired groan of frustration rise from his chest. This simply elicited another bright giggle that confused him further.

“Cara,” Maya chided softly, carefully rolling up the remainder of the bandages. “Be professional and let him wake up.”

The girl was sitting near his recovery bed at a closeness that was almost inappropriate for a young healer. “But he’s so….” She caught herself, looking carefully at her mentor. Maya rolled her eyes. Of course Cara was infatuated with him. He was handsome, with cream-smooth skin and while his features were sharp and well defined, they lacked the blockiness of his Eagle relatives. Even limp and smelling faintly of sea water, his hair was a thick, beautiful gold, and though currently scraggly and still water-logged under the harness, the blue of his wings was entrancing. All of this was superimposed against his current dilemma. Sleep tonics were wonderfully useful and incredibly powerful, though the twilight between the deep slumber and wakefulness could be a bit confusing to navigate. The end result was the stumbling awkwardness of a newborn puppy. A handsome, drugged puppy who could only struggle to open his eyes and attempt to sit up.

Cara giggled as he tried to pull himself onto his good arm, wobbled, and flopped down harmlessly. His eyelids pulled heavily open, but the orbs behind swirled uselessly and they fell closed again. “Don’t fight it,” she said with a gentleness in her voice that Maya suspected was not solely part of her normal bedside manner. The boy gave a tired, grumbling noise in response and fell back asleep.

“He should sleep as long as he can. He is in for a few painful days ahead.”

“And a few flightless weeks,” Cara said with a sigh, drawing away from the recovery table. While all of the floating city of Avenholme was accessible on foot, to be grounded for any length of time was a frustration that most Aven avoided at all costs. They were creatures of air, and a pair of useless wings weighed as heavily on the soul as they did on the back. "And you're sure he'll be able to fly again?"

"Of course," the Air Caller said shortly. "It was broken, not pinioned. He'll be fine. You weren't too worried about the old man who flew into the south tower last week."

Cara wrinkled her nose, pushing her light brown hair over her shoulder. "Well he was drunk. And he shouldn't have been flying so erratically."

"We didn't know he was drunk at the time. He could have been enchanted, or poisoned. It's important that we never judge, it only takes one hasty judgement to make a terrible mistake. That goes for your life as well as your profession."

Cara sighed and went to begin preparing the pain relieving herbs that were prescribed, glancing over her shoulder as he moaned softly again. There was the tinkle of a bell as Rune leapt up onto the table, returning from whatever important business a cat would have in Avenholme. She wriggled herself under his bandaged arm and began purring loudly. Cara couldn't help but smile. Cats, while exotic, were not completely unheard of in the city, but a flightless animal would be at the same disadvantage as a flightless person. One misstep could lead to a very bad day.

 "Well... hello beautiful..." came the tired voice, husky with the haze of sleep. Cara blinked in surprise, before realizing he was talking to his animal. The calico purred louder, kneading her front paws against his forearm. He tried to move to pet her, but grimaced in pain instead. To compensate, Rune flopped onto his hand, letting him wiggle his fingers against her soft coat.

Maya moved to sit before him, he had difficulty tracking her silent movements. She frowned. The bruise was beginning to darken and the eye itself was badly bloodshot.

"Madam Whisperwind," he said, attempting a charming smile but only succeeding in a woozy, lopsided grin. His voice was slurred and groggy. "You look as ravishing as usual. Silver is a fantastic color on you."

"A ten thousand foot drop and an unplanned swim, and your first instinct is to flirt with an old woman," she chuckled.

"Old?" He said, voice thick but still appropriately scandalized. "You, my dear, aren't a day over ninety."

She let out a barking laugh, "Such a charmer you are. You needn't work so hard, Roy, I already have you in my bed." The boy blushed a deep crimson, glancing down at the recovery table. "Oh? No witty retort to that one? Pity."

Roy was grinning awkwardly, but said nothing. Behind Maya's wing, Cara barely stifled a fit of giggles. Smiling gently, the old healer moved closer. "Why don't you tell me what happened that led to your impromptu dive. Version one."

"I was out for my morning fly, enjoying the sea breeze, like you do, when a massive soarwhale appeared out of nowhere! Blinked right on top of me!"

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"Oh no!" Maya said with an exaggerated gasp.

"Oh yes! Right on top of me, and it opened its massive maw and gobbled me right up!"

"Right up?"

"Right up. But my feathers must have tickled it's throat, because it shot me out straight through its blowhole. My wings were too covered in ambergris to fly and I crashed into the sea. Say, where is my ambergris anyhow?"

"We had to wash it off to patch you up."

"Pity, I was going to make you a perfume."

"So thoughtful. Version two."

"Gnolls."

"Gnolls?"

"Gnolls. Flying gnolls, with great shaggy wings. They were jealous of my eye-feathers -- they're starting to come in now you see-- ow..--" he grumbled realizing he couldn't move his wings with the restraint, let alone spread them.

"Ah yes, I did see. Soon you'll look like Lelucas Hightalon."

"If I do, throw me back off the ledge."

"I'll make a note. Version three."

"Bandits. No! Pirates. Sky pirates with a sleek, swift skiff."

"Pirates?! Here?"

"Oh yes. They stole the staff of the Grand Air Caller, right out from under her nose!"

"Bah! And no one even bothered to tell me my staff was missing."

"It's all that buxom youth. It's causing senility."

Maya chuckled. "Apparently. Version four."

Instead he shut his eyes tight for a long while. "...My head really hurts."

"You were banged up pretty badly... Do you want to tell me what actually happened?"

"Not particularly..."

Her voice was gentle and coaxing, no longer playful. "Why don't you try?"

He avoided her gaze, instead focusing intently on the cat sprawled across his hand. "...I got in a fight."

"That's what it looked like. Who did you fight with?"

"No one important," he snorted evasively.

"Roy..."

"What? I'm telling the truth, he's not important at all. To anyone. Especially not here. He should be exiled, really."

"Oh I agree. That was attempted murder. Just tell me his name and we'll make sure he faces justice."

The Peacock paled, stammering slightly, "I mean -- it wasn't -- it was just an accident."

"Was it a fight or was it an accident?"

"I-I don't know. I don't know!" Panic was creeping into his voice. "Why are my wings tied??"

"Calm down. You broke a wing and hurt your shoulder. We have it set but you can't --"

"I'm grounded!?"

"Only temporarily, you need to calm down."

"He tried to kick Rune, it's not my fault!"

"No one is blaming you, who tried to kick Rune?"

"Jacob!" He spat, the name exploding out like a cork from a bottle. "It was Jacob. My father will kill me if he knew I fought with him, but he was angry and he threatened Rune and I punched him and -- oh he's going to murder me! He will literally murder me. Just right in front of everyone, he'll just call a Council of House Redquill -- NO!" He paused, eyes widening in horror. "No the whole city, oh by Imodai, he's going to murder me publicly --"

"Roy, calm down."

"--or would that be considered an execution? What's the difference between a public murder and an execution?"

"I think the legality of it."

"Cara, you're not helping. Roy, you need to breathe, no one is going to execute you for throwing a punch."

He was trying to sit up, but the pain and limited number of functioning limbs was hindering. "No, he is! You don't get it, it was Jacob! His precious, do-no-wrong Jacob. The great flaming winged ass, Jacob, who could get away with anything he wanted!"

"Even murder?" Maya asked, reaching to try and keep his flailing to a minimum.

Something seemed to short-circuit in the boy's mind and his eyes went wild. "You don't get it, somehow he is going to turn this around to be my fault. That I antagonized him!"

"Did you?"

"Cara, quiet."

"No! Well. Maybe-- but that's not the point! I need to go, get this thing off me!"

"That's a break harness, it won't come off until your wing is healed. And you need to lay down and recuperate, you've had a very traumatic--"

"Let me GO!"

"-- a very traumatic day and you need to rest-- Roy stop, you need to sit down it's only going to make things worse" But he had somehow managed onto his knees and was negotiating the positioning of his legs to try and relieve himself of the table. One hand was fumbling at the straps to the harness that held his wings firmly in place. Maya gave a sigh of defeat.

"Cara?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Do you remember the charm you wanted more practice on?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"This is a wonderful opportunity."

"Oh!" The girl moved past, avoided the cat who dove off of the table, and caught the boy's face in her hands. Murmuring the sacred words, she closed her eyes and held him still. In an instant, his feral grimace relaxed and he stopped struggling, allowing her to guide him back down onto the table in a fog.

"Very good, Cara. Just a little hysteria, nothing we can't handle. He should be calmer soon."

The apprentice looked up worriedly, her brow furrowed. "Is he okay, Maven Whisperwind?"

"He'll be fine, it's not entirely unusual." Maya's arms crossed over her chest, not entirely believing her own words. "Hopefully Master Engelbrecht will be back soon with more answers than we have questions..."