Ezer is still lying in the same place seeming to have been frozen in time, his grandfather sleeping with his head bowed sitting in a position that does not seem to be very comfortable.

Lyaria sighs as realizes she wasn't the only one who's been struggling all this time. She gets up and checks his injuries, the bandages on his back that were also wrapped around his chest only needed to be tightened slightly after so much movement.

Fetches an ointment from the shelves clinging to the rocks and applies it to his hands and claw wounds. The pain is eliminated and the most damaged areas are bandaged, especially his left hand.

"They'll probably take three months to grow back…" Humans would take twice as long, that was their advantage, though she still gets discouraged at the sight of his raw fingers.

“You're back.” The old man wakes up from the noises and moves his sore neck.

"Yeah, I got it." Point to the flower or what is left of it

"That can wait, first I have to readjust those bandages of yours." While her back is turned, the old man returns to do the work that in his opinion was incorrect.

"That's enough for a simple scratch. We should focus on Ezer.” The bandages don't bother her now and she can move freely.

“If he resisted two days, he can do it for a few hours. Now I need time and patience.” With those words the old man immerses himself in his work.

Lyaria approaches Ezer and sees him resting in his deep sleep. His shoulder was in worse condition and black veins branched out from the sea of medicine and leaves placed on the shoulder. She caresses Ezer's cheek convincing herself that her effort was worth it.

"Did you fall in love with him?" He asks casually without stopping work.

Lyaria turns around and answers the old man with a calm face.

“Grandpa, you know me well enough to know the answer. He suffered a lot... for some reason I can't leave him alone... I have a feeling he has important things to do in the future. Also, we are five years apart, I think more of him as a little brother.”

“You are also a child in my eyes, five years is nothing. But I understand what you mean, I have a feeling that what he does will benefit us... or harm us.” He goes back to his work and doesn't speak again for a while.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Lyaria places skins on a rock platform at the end of the cave and gets her well-deserved rest, a few seconds pass before she falls asleep and loses track of time.

She wakes up not knowing how long was asleep, but she can tell that not long as the sun continues to shine brightly outside the cave.

“I need your help.” The old man says it when he notices that she had woken up.

“Okay.” She rubs his eyes and tries to shake off sleep for the task that was about to perform.

"I need you to hold the boy down while I do what I have to do. I want you to pay close attention and learn as much as you can.” The old man walks over as Lyaria nods and holds onto Ezer.

His old fingers hold a hilt shiny from so much polishing on whose tip a dark green rock with an extremely sharp edge was fixed, it was the most precise tool that the old man possessed and he handled it with a skill to match.

Surprisingly, he begins by making an incision in Ezer's thigh until he reaches the artery near the bone. It does not stop there either and even cuts the artery, tying it before to prevent the flow of blood.

“The boy doesn't react... his condition reached such a point that he doesn't respond to pain, anyway, continue to hold him no matter what.” Lyaria nods again and concentrates on memorizing the actions before her eyes.

She can't help but be surprised, but continues to do her job, fully trusting the old man's wisdom and skills. Quickly he reaches out his hand taking tiny shards of glass and introduce them with difficulty into the artery.

Lyaria then understands that the shards were actually the petals of the crystal flower.

The old man reseals the artery and allows blood to flow, then closes the cut on Ezer's leg. Beads of sweat trickle down his forehead demonstrating the effort and time that this had entailed.

Taking deep breaths into his lungs, the old man refocuses on his work. Now he turns his attention to the intoxicated black flesh that had accumulated on the boy's shoulder.

Having cleared the wound, the old man reopens it in selected places causing blood to spurt out. Lyaria watches and doesn't say a word at her grandfather's actions.

Slowly Ezer's flesh returns to its natural color having been stripped of all black matter. Only when his task is done does the old man sit back and relax his tense body, letting Lyaria take care of the final details.

“This young man has the worst and best luck. For better or worse, he now possesses crystal veins.” He speaks with his eyes closed and in a distant voice.

Lyaria doesn't know that term and she doesn't ask knowing her grandfather and knowing that he would continue his explanation.

“This flower is extremely rare, you have no idea of the low probability of finding it and less at the time you did it, I honestly had no hope that you would. Also, it takes an extremely skilled person to process and integrate it into someone else's body.” He stops momentarily. “Some of these pure crystals flowing through his veins will absorb poison or toxins and turn black. While the others will remain there as if they did not exist until a new poison appears. Now this boy is probably immune to any poison in existence.”

At that moment Lyaria truly understands the value of those petals and what they meant.

“His blood is now a treasure.”

“Exactly.” Reaffirms the old man. "No one must find out about this, for the boy’s sake."