"Oh, which one was this?" Amira mused, with all the nonchalance of someone talking about dinner. "The police in Gyrna? No-oh! It was that serpent, the one in the forest surrounding the Ykonne province." A venomous serpent, in fact, that had used blade like end of it's tail while attacking her. It was slightly incredible she'd made it this long without any too serious side effects.
“Good gods, Amira.” He groaned softly, scooping her up right then into his arms. “We’re going to the medical tents. If it was a serpent you need immediate treatment.”
At this point, his arrogance seemed to have disappeared. He looked more stubborn than anything, and determined.
She let out a soft noise of surprise as she was suddenly lifted, her arms wrapping around Zar's neck instantly out of habit. "I do not need healers, I told you that. It will heal itself eventually. They always do." If he was stubborn, she seemed even more so, pouting slightly up at him. The expression itself was almost adorable enough to make someone forget why they were making her pout in the first place, but not quite.
Nordali blinked at her cute pout, his grip on her tightening. “N-No! Amira this is obviously not healing the right way. It should have scabbed over by now.” He argued, ducking out of the tent.
It was Shah he ran into first, who cast him a sideways glance. “What are you doing?” She asked, following him with a slight shuffle. It was getting harder to walk in her age.
“Taking Amira to the medical tent. She’s…” he cursed under his breath in some strange language.
"Absolutely fine, maritzai." Amira finished for him, casting a smile over his shoulder to Shah. "He's just being worrisome." She released his neck, crossing her arms over her chest and tilting her head all the way back to look at Malakai, who had joined them and was keeping pace. The tiger rumbled almost disapprovingly, and Amira stuck her tongue out, responding in her home tongue quickly.
“No. Not fine.” He huffed, baring his teeth disapprovingly. “You are hurt and should have told me.” Shah chuckled quietly, holding the opening to the med tent open for them.
Nordali had to duck, his tall frame a little too tall for this specific tent. Amira was set down on a table, Nordali gently checking the wound again. “You should have told me sooner…”
"It's just a little cut, hallaski. It's not like I'm missing half my skin, is it?" At the rate the infection was growing though, she might eventually. Amira kept her arms crossed, but let him look, still speaking to Malakai, who was outside the tent and watching. She didn't have the ability to speak to animals. Just to the tiger, who she'd raised and grown up with. The two were inseparable, and could communicate entirely through looks, should they wish. "You are worrying over nothing. Both of you."
Shah grimaced at the cut and immediately moved to the back to rouse one of the medics. A large, tall male slowly made his way through the tent, his golden eyes landing on Nordali and lighting up. The male had a pair of shiny, white horns growing from the sides of his head. Red painted carvings were dug into the smooth horns, and tattoos of various tribal signs had been placed around his face and body. Other than the horns, the male seemed normal.
“Nor! You are well, yes?” He rumbled in a deep voice that matched his heavy build and scarred face. Nordali smiled weakly at him.
“I am doing well, Ifer. It is good to see you again.” Nordali replied. Only Ifer, the horned man, knew who Nordali really was. He couldn’t hide it from the medic, who often helped him deal with his emotional issues.
At the approach of the strange man, Amira tensed. Her face closed up almost instantly, back to the expression it had carried when she'd first met Zar, and she even went so far as to tug down the shirt a bit. Weakness in front of strangers, especially strange men, was a no-go. She looked between the two, silently watching the interaction with a calculatingly intelligent gaze, looking for any sign of danger without even really realizing it.
Ifer beamed and brought his friend into a tight hug. Ifer, too, was partially Valdorian, and this recognized his prince well. He treated Nordali as an old friend. “Ifer has been practicing well,” the horned man rumbled.
Despite being rather tough and large in stature, Ifer was a big sweetheart. He was a bit dull when it came to languages, and found it hard to communicate, but he did well with medical remedies. Ifer spoke usually about himself in third person.
“Ifer, could you help this lovely lady here? Her name is Amira and she is quite hurt…” Nordali turned to the pretty woman he was slowly starting to adore and paused. “Amira, would it be alright if Ifer touched you? He is very gentle, and would do nothing to hurt you.”
Amira eyed Ifer for a few moments, taking a deep breath before silently lifting her shirt again. If 'Nor' trusted him…he couldn't be too horrible, right? And he seemed nice enough… "I am not hurt that bad. How many times must I repeat that-oh, keep your maw shut, you furry lug." She switched mid sentence to look back at Malakai, her wariness momentarily forgotten as she made faces at the big cat.
Turning back to the people around her as she ignored Malakai's disgruntled noises, she arched a brow, looking slightly antsy.
Nordali couldn’t help but to laugh softly at her comment to the big cat. “Do not worry, Amira… Ifer is the best at this. He is the best healer we have here.” He turned to look at the cat and tilted his head when it continued to make disgruntled noises. “Malakai was it? Don’t worry, Amira will be alright. If not I will let you rip my face off.” He said to the cat, smiling softly. He knew others saw it silly to speak to animal in such a way but that was how he always communicated with animals. And they responded nicely most of the time. “We’ll get you something to eat after this Malakai, for the trouble.”
Ifer chuckled lightly and gently pulled the bandages away. “Do you clean?” He asked, pointing at the wound. “Clean wound often? Or not at all? What cause?”
"You are not allowed to rip his face off." Amira warned the big cat, who huffed what almost sounded like a sigh, meeting Nor's eyes with an intense intelligence. Holding him to that promise.
"I clean it as often as I can." Amira answered Ifer's questions, her face twitching slightly in pain as the skin was irritated by the bandages moving. She felt slightly light headed, earlier's dancing likely not helping her body heal the infection. "It was a serpent. I was hired to get rid of the thing. Tried to reason, but…sometimes they don't want to talk. Just hurt. And so, I ended up with this little scratch, and a bit of coin."
“Amira, you cant tell your tiger what to do.” He said with a soft chuckle. “I’m very confident in Ifer’s abilities. But your cat needs something to calm him, to reassure him that you won’t be harmed.”
Ifer let out a sound that was a mix of a grunt and a scoff. “Not scratch. Infection setting in, Lady Amira. My prince, he was correct.” The male removed the bandages as well as he could, suddenly standing to his full height. He was much larger than Nordali, and thus had a harder time walking through the tent, his horns catching the fabric every now and then as he crouched over to a supply crate.
Ifer pulled a few herbs and strange substances in bottles from the crate, moving them to a table, where they were mixed into a large, black bowl. “This help with clean, and with infection. Hurt like snake bite,” he explained, dipping a rag into the liquid of the black bowl and moving to press it to her side. Just as he had promised, it stung like a bugger. “I give medicine for bite, Low risk of infection after taking it. Less pain too.”
"I can to tell him what to do. If he gets to do the same to me, then it is only fair." She sung something in her home tongue, her voice leagues better than her dancing, that only earned what was definitely an eyeroll as Malakai lay down. She added on a promise that she would be fine, looking up as Ifer stood, eyes on him now.
As he pressed the rag to Amira's side, she found herself reaching for Nor's hand, gritting her teeth as the cut stung angrily, not a fun mix with the feeling of a snake bite, as Ifer had warned. Closing her eyes, she pressed the fingernails of her other hand into her palm. So hard, in fact, that she drew a slight bit of blood, in her attempt at disguising as much of the pain she was in as she could. It hurt, a million times worse than she had let on, or even let herself realize it did.
Nordali smiled at her, shaking his head. He closed his eyes as she sang and gently sunk into a chair sat next to the table. “Alrighty… I trust you. You know Malakai much better than I do. I just met the beautiful creature.” He hummed.
Nordali’s eyes had opened when Ifer spoke of the pain it might cause her. The second she reached for him he took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Breath, Amira.” He murmured gently, watching her expression and body language. He could tell she was in pain and he didn’t like that. But it was necessary for her to heal.
Ifer made a face after he had cleaned the wound, grumbling something under his breath as he wiped more blood away from the wound. Nordali could tell that it obviously was much worse than even she had let herself know.
It didn’t take long for Ifer to do his magic, bandaging up the wound after he had applied some strange substance that seemed to dull the pain even just a tad bit.
“Nor, Lavender. Lady Amira, medicine.” Ifer offered a small bottle to Amira, Shah had mixed it up while Ifer had done his work. Ifer gave Nordali a similar bottle, but filled with a different liquid.
“Thank you Ifer… I was in need of more lavender oil.”
"Weak. Stupid. Showing weakness in front of others, people you barely know at all? Pathetic. What are you doing, Amira, pretending you can open up. That is not how these things work. An heir does not feel."
Amira's grip on Nor's hand was, once again, just a bit too tight to be comfortable, but it was surprising that he was willing to keep letting her hold on to him. Somehow, his touch and presence brought a comfort she didn't get from anyone but Malakai. Soothing, and peaceful. And even while in pain, that comfort was there, lending her strength to not move from the table at all.
When it was over, Amira breathed a sigh of relief, still not letting go of Nor's hand even as she accepted the bottle from Ifer. "Thank you, very much." She said, shooting the tall man a small, if slightly weary, smile. "I apply this to the wound, as opposed to ingesting it?"
Nordali held tightly back, gritting his teeth to get through the slight pain. She had a firm grip. He admired that.
“Yes. Do not ingest. Bad for stomach.” Ifer turned his attention back to Nor and smiled that large, dorky grin of his. “Come visit soon, Nor!” He leaned in a little closer to his prince, huffing. “No alcohol. Bad for thoughts and liver.”
Nordali looked a little sheepish at having been scolded, laughing softly. His hand tightened around Amira’s. “I know I know!” He gently picked Amira back up and smiled gently. “You can go sleep now, Ifer. You have a lot going on at the moment.” Ifer only nodded sadly and gave Amira a gentle pat on the head.
“Strong woman, most pretty.” Ifer nodded and turned to head back to where the many cots had been lined up, a few of the most seriously injured laid upon them. Ifer seemed to go about and care for them before he shuffled off into his corner, resting his weary body. Shah was busy repairing a tear she had just discovered to really notice as Nordali slipped out of the tent, Amira still in his arms.
“May I give your tiger some meat? I think he deserves it for being such a trusting companion.”
Amira’s cheeks flushed slightly at the compliment from Ifer, though the reaction wasn’t as great as when Nor called her pretty. Still flustered, but not as much.
“You do not have to, but I am sure he would greatly appreciate that.” Amira said, snuggling into Nor’s chest just a little bit. “You know I can walk on my own, yes?” She asked, despite her obvious willingness to let him carry her. “The wound is not so bad that I cannot walk.”
“I’d like to give him something. Maybe I’ll spoil him so much he’ll wanna come back and he’ll bring you with him.” Nordali glanced down at her and smiled. The sun was starting to set and the stars were beginning to show themselves. His eyes seemed to match the silver stars falling, a soft sigh leaving his throat. “I know Amira. But we can’t be too careful.” He laughed, that lilting sound filling the air. “Besides, you don’t seem to mind it.”
“Oh, he’s already insufferable as is.” She complained, arm holding a bit tighter around his shoulders. “Of course I mind it. I can walk. I would love to walk.” Don’t put me down. She liked this. She didn’t like the worry about her, for sure, but she liked being carried. Always had, though it never happened.
“I happen to like Malakai very much. He’s a handsome tiger.” He said with a laugh. “But I’m afraid I’ve bonded more with Rolif and can’t understand Malakai like I can with my companion”
Something almost like disappointment flickered in his eyes when she spoke. He sighed gently and paused. “Do you really want to be put down?” He asked, turning his face away from her.
She blinked. He was offering to put her down. She’d given him a lot of shit, but she was honestly alright with this. It felt safe, being in his arms. Her face turned red as she opened and closed her mouth a few times, before hiding her face in his neck. “No.” The response was muffled but definitely there.
Nordali seemed to tense as she grew close to his neck, but didn’t complain. Instead he forced himself to relax and cracked a small smile. “Alright. Then I won’t put you down until we get back.”
His promise was held true as he ducked into his tent and past the curtain, letting out a loud sigh as he placed her down onto the cot. “How does your side feel?” He asked gently, dropping to his knees in front of her.
Amira was still red when he set her down, hand pressed over the lower half of her face to try and hide the color. She hadn't missed the way he'd tensed, and filed away the information. Avoid his neck. "It feels fine, hallaski. Feels like a side." Feels like she'd been attacked by a serpent. But he didn't need to know that.