Nich seemed understandably apprehensive, but nodded nonetheless. He just seemed very uneasy knowing how much it was going to hurt. "Yeah… let's get this over with." He smiled and laughed weakly to try and reassure Rowan, but he definitely looked nervous. He figured he'd have to be more careful to not get cut up like this in the future.
Rowan gave him an encouraging smile as she began to peel away the bandages once again. She silently wondered what would have happened if she wasn't there. Or if she had tried to take the job herself and Nich hadn't come along. Those thoughts couldn't get the better of her while she was changing the bandages. Given how bad these wounds were she really couldn't afford to be careless.
Nich groaned and bit down on his hand to keep himself distracted and quiet. He went pale again, and the pain came back full force. She's almost done, she's almost done… it won't hurt for much longer, just push through. Don't be a wuss. You've been through worse. He turned his ears back, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch. As much as he tried not to think about the pain, it was overwhelming, and he could barely think about anything at all anyways.
Rowan was moving as quickly as she could without hurting Nich by going too fast. She spent another few minutes unwrapping, cleaning, putting a poultice on, and then rewrapping with fresh bandages the last few wounds. When she was finally done she placed the bandages and poultice on the ground before tapping Nich on the shoulder, All done.
Nich looked up weakly when Rowan tapped him and sighed softly in relief. The pain hadn't really gone away yet, but he was hoping that it would soon. "Great… thanks…" He grimaced as he sat up, still feeling woozy and uncomfortably warm from the fever that hadn't quite faded. It was better than before, but he still didn't look like he was feeling great. "Hopefully I get over whatever this is so we can get out of this place, yeah?"
Yeah, but we're not leaving until there are no infections and you don't have a fever, Rowan replied happy to see he was feeling a little better than before. She knew the next step after all of this was to get something in him so his body could really begin recovering. Rowan moved away from Nich and towards her bag, You up to eating something right now?
"Mm…" Nich yawned and scratched at his ears, looking up to see what Rowan was saying. "I don't want to keep us here for too long, though." He sighed, tapping one foot on the ground. He didn't like being cooped up here. "Eat something? Ah… I guess so." To be honest, he wasn't particularly hungry, but he figured that eating might do him some good anyway. "What do you have?"
I think I can make a simple soup, Rowan wrote back to him. She had some fairly basic edible herbs in her bag that could make hot water flavorful and give it some sustenance. That and she didn't want to give him anything too heavy with his current illness. She could use a bowl and some magic to warm the water up and then let it stew for a few minutes. So that's exactly what she began to do.
"That's fine… thanks." Nich lay back down to try and relax and get more comfortable for a bit. The pain was still present, but more of a dull throb than sharp, stabbing pains like before. His head felt heavy and his vision was a bit blurry, and he still felt warm, but he decided that overall, he was fine. Not great, but stable, and much better than he'd been when he woke up.
Rowan placed the bowl full of water and herbs on top of her bottle holder for when she made potions. She muttered a spell under her breath and fire bloomed to life on her palm. Rowan coughed a few times as she rested her hand beneath the bowl and waited for the water to heat up. She wasn't ignoring Nich, she was just focusing on the food. Once the water was boiling and had started to turn into a warm array of colors appropriate to what she had been using, she closed her hand to put the fire out. Rowan carefully grabbed the edges of the bowl and placed it down on the end table next to Nich, Careful it's hot.
Nich had dozed off into a light sleep by this point, but stirred and looked up when Rowan approached the bed. He groaned softly and sat up, shaking his head to clear the drowsiness. "Mmnh… thanks." He mumbled softly, testing the temperature of the bowl with one hand before he pulled it into his lap and stuck a spoonful of the soup into his mouth. It wasn't really like any soup he'd had before. Not bad; pretty good, even, it just had a very unique flavor that he wasn't really expecting. "Mm… what did you say you were making this out of?" He asked curiously as he took another bite.
If I'm honest, whatever herbs I had in my bag that were edible on their own would add some flavor and sustenance. So I think I put in some rosemary, oregano, sage, basil, and thyme, Rowan wrote out. She had only made that one bowl of soup for Nich, and she hadn't even tasted it. So if it tasted bad, at least he wasn't saying anything about it. Rowan instead reached into her bag and grabbed one of her ration packs that had a bit of granola, dried fruit, and nuts.
Nich nodded and looked down into the bowl curiously. "It's good, it's just… really not like anything I've had before." He laughed softly. "Although I suppose I haven't had herb soup before. I've had more typical soups with vegetables and meat and stuff. Do you want to try some?" He asked, holding the bowl up a bit in case Rowan wanted to taste the soup she'd made.
Rowan hesitated before she grabbed an extra spoon and dipped it into the bowl. She sipped it gingerly and was pleasantly surprised at the taste. Given it was really her just throwing things into, the soup turned out fairly well. She gave Nich a smile as she pushed the bowl back to him, I'm, honestly surprised. It's not the best soup I've made, but it's not bad either.
Nich shrugged and kept eating. He finished most of the soup, but he still wasn't feeling great, so he didn't have the whole bowl. "Hopefully all of this sorts itself out soon… I don't want to be stuck here for too long." He sighed softly, resting the bowl on the side table before he lay back down on the bed. "Sorry for keeping you stuck here as well."
Rowan ate her rations in silence enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. She looked up as Nich spoke to her and looked at him sympathetically. She shook her head before going to pick his bowl up and take it away from him. She looked back at him to write out, Nich, don't worry about it. If you keep worrying about how long we're stuck here, the longer it'll take for you to heal and the longer it'll take for us to get back. So relax. I'm not bothered that we have to stay a little longer than we planned.
Nich looked down at the bed, still feeling guilty. "I know, I know… I just can't help but feel bad. You could be making money and stuff… I could— I could send a message with you so that they don't suspect foul play or whatever. Getting hurt is pretty on par for me, you know?" He sighed softly, running his fingers through his hair. "Sorry… I'm sure I'm being stupid, or— or unreasonable, I-I dunno…"
Don't. Rowan wrote partially glaring down at him. She could handle someone being sick, someone being hurt, but not someone having emotional issues. Besides Nich didn't need to worry about her, Please just don't feel bad. You're ill right now and I would feel terrible if I left you here in such a state. Got it? I'm not going anywhere until you're better.
"R-Right… sorry…" Nich stopped his whining, although he didn't feel much better. He didn't want to bother Rowan anymore anyways. She shouldn't have to stay here with me just because I got sick… I'll get better, right? He ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment. "What do you want to do, then? We probably shouldn't just sit around wasting time."
Well, what do you feel up to doing? Rowan asked him as she tapped her other hand on her leg. She knew if Nich did something than he would be less likely to insist Rowan leave him here. Which was not something that was going to happen, but at the same time she knew Nich was sick and shouldn't be doing anything too strenuous.
"Mmh… we could go out to the market or something? I could probably walk." Nich shrugged and winced, since just that was painful. He probably shouldn't be walking around, but that didn't seem to be something he considered. "What is there to do around here?" He asked.
You just winced when you shrugged, Rowan quickly pointed out. She wasn't going to let him out until he could at the very least shrug or sit up without wincing. She shook her head as she began to rifle through their bags. She paused a second to write out to Nich, Do you have any cards? Maybe we could play a game or something like that.
Nich sighed softly and leaned his head forward a bit to see what Rowan was doing. "Ah… yeah, I think I've got cards in my bag somewhere. I don't sort through it too much, so I don't think I'd have taken them out." He yawned and scratched at his ears again, still uncomfortable and in pain, but not wanting to just lie in bed doing nothing.
Rowan nodded and then she went over to his bag. After a few minutes of digging through the bag, she found the deck of cards and pulled it out. She walked over to his bed and thought about what they could play on before deciding the bed was good enough. She wrote out to him, What games do you know?
"Uhhh… I know Blackjack, War… Go Fish." Nich laughed softly and turned his attention to the cards. "Solitaire, Slapjack, stuff like that. What about you?" He asked. He shifted how he was sitting so he'd be a bit more comfortable, but it didn't help very much. "I'm willing to try new stuff if you're willing to teach me."