Wading into the stream to escape the sun, Azela glanced at the bracelet Five had given to her. It was poorly crafted and would fall apart within a few days in this wilderness, but it was sweet of him nonetheless. He checked in on her irregularly on behalf of MegaGlitch. Each visit was a welcome distraction from her loneliness and boredom.
He never stayed long, though, and his visits were shortest when he left to the west instead of going east to Jastria. When she asked about this, he confessed that he had a lover in the eastern village, but it had to be kept secret for political reasons. The village was a blue-elven settlement. She had seen pictures of elves in Jastria's books, but couldn't recall ever seeing a blue one.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the smell of blood flowing from upstream. That she could still detect it in the running water meant that the source had to be nearby. The Mietha was in many ways a paradise, but not without predators. Dire wolves, droms, cave lions and many other deadly things sometimes crossed Azela's path. Usually they avoided her and she avoided them, but often she had encountered smaller animals that weren't so lucky. If it wasn't too late, these poor creatures were nursed back to health under Azela's care.
But there was something strange about this blood's smell. Something familiar.
The girl!
Jumping from the water, Azela ran along the shore, her thoughts racing. The image of the two dead sapiens haunted her mind, fueling her fears. Did Jastria’s forces find her? Did a predator? The uncertainty gnawed at Azela's heart, her pulse quickening with each step. Please, please let her be safe.
It was not long before her mind was silenced. She stopped, blinking to make sure that what she saw was real. Before her lay the strange girl, her form sprawled awkwardly along the edge of the stream. The girl's left side was submerged in the water, where the scent of blood was strongest. The ominous black sword lay close to the girl's lifeless hand, as if it had just been released from her grasp.
Azela rushed to her side, her heart sinking as she took in the severity of the wound. The girl's arm had been cut open. Where the current had washed away the blood, Azela could see where fat and muscle tissue had been sliced through. Cautiously, she reached out and touched the girl's cold face. There was no reaction. She shook the girl's shoulder, but her body remained still, and signs of breathing were nonexistent.
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Azela pulled the girl's limp arm from the water. Staring at the large gash, she cried, "How am I supposed to fix this? Wake up! Wake up!"
Frantically she tried to remember all that she could for treating wounds, but her thoughts were like the scattered shards of a mirror that had been broken by her panic. She searched her mind continuously, but became more and more terrified at the thought that she was only wasting time.
Then, from the dark, empty places in her mind, a memory emerged through sheer sense of need. She lifted the girl's neck and tilted her head back, then pinched her nostrils. Placing her mouth on the sapien's, she exhaled. The girl's chest rose, and Azela could hear the air escape her lungs. Again and again Azela gave the girl her breath, and gasped a smile once she finally felt her take in a lungful of air on her own.
To control the bleeding, she lifted the girl's arm out of the water and set it on her lap to keep it elevated. Then she grabbed a handful of nearby moss to use as makeshift gauze as she applied pressure under the ugly gash. Despite her efforts, the bleeding persisted.
Frantically scanning the area for anything that could be used as a tourniquet, Azela's eyes fell upon a torn piece of red fabric near the edge of the stream, but she could tell that it wouldn’t be long enough. Carefully but quickly, she ripped a long strip from the side of her own outfit, then she tied it around the wounded arm as tightly as she could without tearing the already damaged material.
A wooden box suddenly flew toward her. She dodged it, and it narrowly missed her head. The box burst open as it hit a tree, and various medical supplies spilled out. Azela turned to see who had thrown it, but no one was there. She ran to the supplies, noticing a familiar green lizard painted on the box's shattered top, and began to gather what suturing equipment she could find.
"It's just like helping that bat with the bite and broken wing," she said. "I just have to patch her up and she'll heal on her own. No need to worry." She worked the needle and thread without bothering to wipe away the occasional spurt of blood, holding her breath, tensing her fingers to stop shaking.
After a time that felt endless and only half-real, Azela finished closing the wound. It was probably unsafe to move her, but Azela wasn't the only thing in the forest that had sensed the girl's blood. From the sound and smell, a curious drom was moving closer, and its pack was likely nearby. Azela lifted the girl's lifeless body and positioned it behind her, leaning forward and holding the girl's legs as if she were riding piggyback. She carried her downstream, the weight heavier than expected, but not enough to be a burden.
Upon reaching her garden, Azela laid the girl gently on the grass bed. After a few heavy breaths, she looked down at her hands. They were still shaking. Not since Jastria had her nerves been this shot.
A dark shadow moved in the corner of her eye. It was too silent and odorless to be an animal of the Mietha Forest. Thank you, she thought, but didn't say. It was relieving to see that Shi-Yon, for now at least, was not determined to end her life.