Ranvir staggered into their cavernous hideout, his appearance preceded by the water dripping off him. Shivering, he blinked weary eyes as he realized Amalia was missing again. Resting one hand on the wall, he forced himself to slow his breath.

His side burned fiercely. His shirt, the last one he’d packed, was torn to shreds again and blood had crusted the lower half into an inseparable mess. “You don’t perhaps have some mushroom tea ready?” he asked.

Alexis appeared to be snoozing lightly, her head rested against the wall, her feet nearly touching the pot of water. Apparently, she wasn’t as out of it as she seemed, because she stirred immediately at the sound of his voice. “Wha- Yes, but it’s co-“ she was rudely interrupted by the scream that tore out of her own throat.

Growling, Ranvir staggered over and clasped one big hand over her mouth. Her head looked almost child-sized compared to the flat-slab of his hand. How he’d ever mistaken her for a man he’d never know.

“Quiet,” Ranvir didn’t intend to flare his eyes, casting the entire _grotto_ in purple, but something about the arrow peaking out of his back brought it out of him. Tapping strongly into Persistence invariably called up the connection to his mana, both spatial and sand. “Amalia’s not here, so I will need your help. Do you understand?”

Alexis swallowed once, going even paler than normal. “Yes, sir,” she licked her lips before glancing around. “I’m not an expert on medical aid, though. I have some basic knowledge, but-”

“That’ll do.”

She nodded, reaching down to touch the stone under the pot. A tiny flex of her will, reigniting it. Soon, the water would boil and the tea would be ready. Hopefully, its potency would be greater for having thólos soaking in it for so long.

“Latresekt,” Ranvir said, ripping the remains of the shirt completely off. “What’s the procedures we need to go through? You’ve experienced enough combat to know.”

“Astute,” Latresekt replied, sounding calm. “The arrow tore all the way through, despite redirection line and reinforcement…” Ranvir listened intently as the creature started detailing the proceedings.

Ranvir turned his back on Alexis. “I need you to check the arrowhead.”

“For?” she asked, stepping close. She hissed in a breath, and he felt the graze of her finger around the injury.

“Did the metal blunt? Is it jagged?”

She poked around for a bit, the sensation nauseating to Ranvir as stuff moved where things really shouldn’t. She gasped and pulled back slightly. “It uh… I think it was jagged, but it’s definitely blunted now. Looks like someone took it to a grindstone, but,” she stopped to swallow hard. “I think there’s a different issue,” she poked at the arrow again.

Ranvir grit his teeth and did his best to remain patient with her.

“I think the shaft broke inside you.”

“Lovely,” Ranvir grunted. The arrow had never been intended for use against someone as tough as him, by someone as powerful as that girl. Second, it was as safe as it could be to remove the arrow. The wound could sicken and he would be feverish for a few days.

“We’ll need bandages,” Ranvir said, turning back to look at Alexis.

She glanced around, finding his discarded shirt. “I don’t think that’s going to work.”

Ranvir shook his head. Breathing slowly, he gingerly fished open his pocket-space.

“You have more stuff in there?” Alexis asked. “You keep pulling items out. Perhaps you should simply leave them here so we can grab them as need be.”

“Perhaps,” Ranvir replied, reaching in. He wouldn’t find any bandages in there. At least not enough to properly wrap around his stomach. Instead, he pulled out another torn shirt and handed it to Alexis. He grabbed a few other things they might need and closed the space again, thankful for his years of practice.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“What’s that?” Alexis asked, bending down to pick up some papers that had dropped out. “Oh, ward-breaking puzzles? That’s cool. How far have you gotten?”

He’d apparently accidentally pulled out the puzzles he’d gotten from Kasos when grabbing his other stuff. “Could we focus on the arrow for now?”

“For sure. Rip into bandages and boil them?”

“If you please.”

Ranvir set to help her, but after a little while, he had to sit down. The pain and effort making him woozy. He didn’t even realize when she took the cloth from him and finished tearing off strips.

“Do you want it in the tea?”

Ranvir shook his head.

“So drink tea now?”

Ranvir did. Straight from the pot, while Alexis went to grab more water. Amalia had prepared some ahead of time, removing the water from the salt. The tea tasted just as bad as always, especially since it hadn’t had time to reach proper heat.

“What happened?” Alexis asked once she returned. “You didn’t look this bad after fighting the entire camp.”

Ranvir grimaced. “I didn’t fight the entire camp. I largely confused it and played distraction so Amalia could kill you.”

“But she didn’t.”

“She’s a better judge of character than I am.”

“So you would’ve killed me?”

Ranvir gazed at her for a long moment, blinking deliberately once. “Probably not.”

“I don’t know if your conclusion is comforting, or that I should be worried it took you that long.”

Ranvir continued looking vaguely in her direction for a few moments longer until the water audibly reached a boil. Blinking, he realized she’d returned to the pot and was putting in the bandages.

“Either I picked a poor group, or they’ve done something to their people. They were tougher and stronger than I expected,” he finally explained.

“What?” Alexis looked up from the pot, a puzzled look on her face. “Oh, the injury?”

Ranvir grunted and nodded. She’d already forgotten their conversation? Either that or he’d zoned out for longer than he’d realized.

“That’s worrisome. Do you have any idea which it is?”

Ranvir hissed out a breath as he sat up straighter. “There was a girl. She had a powerful attack. I think I felt something twist in her mana. Like with the old man.”

“Stelios? Might be a synergy, then. Girl, you said?” Alexis cocked her head to the side. Ranvir felt tiny reverberations of mana come off her. His shoulders tensed, Amanaris- and tether-space flaring reflexively as his focus gathered. Pain faded, turning a pale, almost gray, yellow. “Whoa,” Alexis staggered back, falling onto her rear. Her face twisted into an expression of fear and worry. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think to check with you. I’ve done this with Amalia a few times. She said it was okay. The mercenaries wouldn’t notice.”

Ranvir threw his tether-sense outward, scouring the area and the lines before returning. Whatever mana she’d wielded, it had been internal and had left minimal traces. He’d only found them so quickly because he was looking for them.

“Go on,” he hissed, lowering back against the wall.

“Right…” Alexis took a deep breath. “Girl, young? What hair color did she have?”

Frowning in thought, Ranvir turned his mind back to the moment. Licking his lips, he slowly turned over every detail he knew about her.

“She used a bow and metal mana.”

Alexis blinked once, lingering with her eyes shut. “Most archers use either wind, metal, or occasionally wood mana. In Mercy’s Redoubt, the ratio is nearly eighty percent metal. Out of one-hundred mercenaries, there are a dozen female archers, a little more if we count the ones who can use a bow, but it isn’t their primary weapon. From that dozen archers, a eleven use metal mana and the last uses wind. What can you remember about her appearance?”

“Her Concept, Ideation, might’ve been truth.”

“So… that’s not a description…”

Ranvir chose not to reply.

“Please tell me you remember anything about your opponents.”

“They were all women. Front-line combatant also used metal, heavily favoring iron. They had two ranged attackers besides the archer. One with used spears, the other ineptly throwing light.”

“What did they look like?”

“Women.”

Alexis ran a hand through her hair and jumped to her feet. “Are you being serious right now? How can you not remember any details about them?”

Ranvir shrugged. “I remember some details.”

“Close your eyes.”

Ranvir did.

“Describe me.”

Sighing, he raised a hand slightly. “You should pull out the bandages.”

“You can describe me while I work.”

Ranvir nodded. “You have thin arms and wider-hips than a man,” she fumbled with the pot, nearly spilling water on her feet. “And the face of a thirteen-year-old boy.”

“Okay, enough! You got to be messing with me.”

Ranvir couldn’t hold back the smile. In point of fact, he was feeling quite cozy. His body was pleasantly tingling, his head swam lightly, and the ground swayed back and forth comfortingly. “A little, maybe.”

“So, you remember the ones you fought?”

Ranvir shook his head. “You don’t really look like a boy,” he ran his fingers across his stomach. The arrow shifted oddly as his digits ran over it. The wooden shaft fell onto his thigh just as his hand passed. “Oh, that’s probably not good.”

“What?” Alexis whipped around, eyes wide. “Why did you remove it? Oh, by the Gods, that’s a lot of blood. I think?”

Ranvir reached around behind himself. “That one’s out too. Looks like it really broke inside me. Oh, shit.”

“What do you mean ‘oh shit’? You’re dying!”

Ranvir waved her away with a dismissive gesture and accidentally banged his head into the floor.