What would have taken Asim five minutes of walking took him only two as he ran to his shack. He climbed the small porch and didn't even try to open the damn door as he knew it would probably get stuck again. Asim simply kicked hard on the door with his foot and unhinged it. He would fix that later. Anyway, it was already broken.

He then quickly strode towards his bed and laid the still unconscious Elf on it, making sure not to move him too abruptly as he didn't know the gravity of his wounds. He glanced at the bloodstain on his left flank. Some poorly-made ragged bandages were placed on it, and he wondered who was the dull-witted person who did such a horrible healing job. 

As he proceeded to take off the bandages, he glimpsed at the Elf's face. By his long white-silver hair, the shape of his pointy ears, and the paleness of his skin, he guessed he was a Soveryn Elf. What did a High Elf was doing here, in the middle of nowhere? He was very far from his kingdom. Where did he come from? 

Asim had learned back then that High Elves were Arcane magic users, and some could create portals. Did he use one? Or maybe he was an adventurer? But he couldn't be; he had no equipment nor traveling clothes on him. In fact, he was wearing refined clothing of silk with beautiful twirls of embroideries on it. Maybe he was some kind of noble.

Asim had started to take off the Elf's clothes. He unbuttoned the dark blue jacket he had on and put the soaked garment on the floor. He then started undressing him from his undershirt soaked with water and blood. The fabric was quite thick, and even if it was wet, it wasn't see-through at all. 

As he started unbuttoning the first fastener of the silk shirt, the Elf made a faint groan. Then, he slowly opened his eyes, revealing its bright orange color. The Elf's eyes suddenly went wide as he realized what Asim was doing. He quickly punched Asim, hitting his nose as he didn't expect the blow. He put a hand on his nose as he grumbled a little. It didn't hurt; he was simply startled by the Elf's reaction.

"W-what are you doing?! W-Who are you?!" a panicked Elf exclaimed. He looked exhausted and scared. Asim noticed that he was fighting against fainting again.

"I'm just trying to undress you!" Asim poorly explained, and he immediately regretted his choice of words as the Elf looked even more frightened than he already was.

Asim tried to reach him to continue what he was initially doing. He still had to get him out of his soaked clothes and heal his injuries! The Elf tried to hit him again. He struggled, stoping Asim from getting any closer to him. But he was too weak, and the punch probably used the last strength he had left.

"Don't touch me, you pervert!" the Elf yelled, trying to fight back.

"Pervert…?" Asim repeated, baffled. "W-wait! No! That's not- I'm trying to help you!" Asim attempted to explain as he was now holding the Elf still on the bed. "You are soak-" he tried to say, but the Elf used his foot to hit him right between his legs.

Even though Asim was used to pain, this was quite another level of it. He fell on his knees, holding his crotch as he retained himself to let out cursing words.

"Damn it!" Asim hissed. 

Why was he reacting like this? He was just trying to save his life! Then, he glimpsed back at the Elf. His orange eyes looked at him with terror and incomprehension as he tried to look strong. 

Asim took a deep breath. "Listen, I don't want to hurt you, okay?" he started. "You have a very bad-looking wound on your flank that needs to healing right now. And you are completely soaked. So, I need to get you out of your clothes if you don't want to get sick." he explained, doing his best to sound reassuring.

The Elf glared at him for a moment. He really looked like he didn't trust him at all. Asim didn't know how the Elf got his wounds, and he most certainly didn't know what happened to him before he ended up here. So he had to be careful not to frighten him if he wanted to heal him. But the Elf was weak, and he seemed like he struggled to stay awake. He was panting heavily, and dark circles were under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't eaten in a while, and he had lost quite some blood already. If he didn't tend to his wound soon, the Elf might not survive the following days. Asim then thought of something.

"Can you… Do you have the strength to take your clothes off yourself?" Asim asked with a calm voice. "If you don't want me to do it, can you at least take them off? You really need to do it now so I can heal that wound." Asim asked, pointing at the Elf's left flank. He kept a reassuring distance between him and the Elf.

"I won't do that! I don't want you to see them! I don't want you to touch me!" The Elf said, agitated.

"What? See what?" Asim asked, perplexed.

"… My… My markings…" the Elf quietly replied as his eyes were starting to shut, but he kept fighting back against it.

Then Asim's eyes widened as he now understood why the Elf was reacting like that. His markings! How could he have forgotten that High Elves had markings on their chest! They were like tattoos that appeared in their adolescence, and they were sacred to them.

Back in the Harsh, they taught Asim all the weaknesses of every race, and he had to learn them by heart. He was mad at himself to have forgotten this rather important detail. It would have avoided him to scare the Elf if he had remembered sooner.

"… I'm sorry. I didn't think about that… I was just trying to help you…" Asim honestly explained, lowered his head.

The Elf's expression went from frightened to confused. He looked like he hesitated for a moment, studying him with mistrust. His hands were cradling on the top fastener of his silken white shirt. Asim didn't dare to move as he didn't want to startle him even more. 

As he looked away from him, Asim's gaze spotted a long piece of white cloth folded on the kitchen counter. He used that to make his bandages around his left forearm. He then stood up and went straight to it as the Elf didn't keep his eyes away from him. Asim then went back to the bed and held the cloth in his hand.

"I can blindfold myself with it. I won't be able to look." Asim swiftly explained. "And I won't look, I promise," Asim added as he hoped it would soothe the Elf. "But, please, let me heal you. You're going to die if I leave you like this." He pleaded.

The Elf stared at him for a moment. He really looked confused, tired, and frightened. Asim worried for an instant that he wouldn't let him heal him at all. But he was determined to do so. He couldn't let the Elf die. If he could help him in any way, he'll do it. He could let someone perish with him doing nothing again. Asim didn't know him, but he just couldn't simply stay still and watch him die. Then, after what seemed like long minutes, the Elf finally opened his mouth to speak as he clearly saw the resolve in Asim's teal gaze.

"… I... I can take off my clothes myself." the Elf finally agreed as Asim let out a relieved sigh. "But… Don't you dare look!" he quickly added, glaring menacingly at him with his tired expression.

"I won't! I promise!" Asim repeated, his gaze locked on the Elf's. 

"… Alright… Blindfold yourself." The Elf faintly ordered.

"Wait! Let me grab my things so I can heal your wounds first." Asim said as he climbed the small ladder that led to the upper floor.

He fetched in a small crate clean bandages, a needle, a thin thread rolled up on a small piece of wood, and a bottle that had a pale greenish translucent color to it. He went back down and took water with a small bucket from a sealed clean barrel. He then pulled the table close to the bed along with a chair and laid all his instruments on it in a meticulous order as he memorized where everything was.

Lastly, he went back to the barrel, grabbed some more water with a cup, and washed his hands before going back near the bed. The Elf was sitting on the bed with difficulty, looking at his every movement, and Asim was careful not to make any sudden moves. He then tossed some wood in the fireplace and lit it. He turned back to the Elf that still glared at him and wrapped the white cloth around his eyes. He could not see anything as the fabric was quite thick, and he made sure that he couldn't peep under it. He only relied on his other senses as his ears focused on the sharp breath of the Elf.

"You can undress now." Asim calmly said as he sat on the chair.

He sensed the Elf making faint, quick motions in front of his face as probably to make sure Asim couldn't see anything. Even though he knew what he was doing, Asim didn't react, and it seemed to have appeased the Elf as he heard him slowly taking off his clothes. It must be difficult for him to do so; his wound was surely hurting him a lot.

"…Where do I put… my clothes?" The Elf shyly and faintly asked.

"Oh! Ermh… Just toss them on the floor. I'll take care of that later." Asim simply said as the Elf weakly did so. "Now, I'm going to need you to lay down on your right side so I can heal you. I'm sorry, but even though you don't want me to touch you and since I can only see with my hands, I'll have to do it. "he calmly explained as he put the needle and a piece of thread in a small iron bowl filled with water that he placed on a metal grid over the fire. 

Asim heard the Elf execute his demand as the bedsheets rustled softly, followed by pained murmurs coming from him. Asim then soaked a piece of cloth in the bucket of water he had prepared earlier and proceeded to slowly approach the Elf's body with the wet fabric in his hand as the other one was feeling where the wound was. He first touched the Elf's back that caused him to shiver slightly. Then he moved it up to the flank as he followed from where the texture of the blood came from. Asim finally found the wound. It appeared as it went through his flesh from front to back.

"Sorry, it might hurt a little." Asim quietly said as he pressed his hand on the wound, making the Elf groan in discomfort. "Sorry! I'm trying to see… Well, feel the degree of your injury… The good news is that it didn't pierce through any vital organs. You'd be already dead by now if it had. It's infected, though…" Asim noticed.

The Elf didn't say anything and just let him do what he had to do. Asim started to clean the blood around the wound and then opened the flask he had brought. He poured some of its greenish liquid on another clean cloth and was about to press it against the injury when he felt the Elf stiffening.

"W-what… is that?" The Elf faintly asked, a hint of fright in his soft voice.

"It's a mixture of water and plants. Basically, it will help stop the infection." Asim calmly explained as he felt that the Elf would probably faint soon. 

And the Elf indeed fainted as Asim was pressing the fabric with the green liquid on his wound. He was relieved that he did, as the next part would have been too painful for him to endure. Even if the Elf was unconscious, Asim never took off his blindfold as he promised him he wouldn't. He then grabbed the small metal bowl over the fire with a thick cloth as he heard it boiling. He took the needle and the thread and started stitching his injury. The Elf must have been exhausted, not even flinch as the small and thin pointy object went through his skin.

After he was done stitching both sides of the wound, he then grabbed the bandages and wrapped them around his belly and back, making sure to be gentle in his movements when he lifted him to roll the bandages around. 

Once Asim ensured everything was done perfectly, he was about to take off the fabric around his eyes, but he suddenly stopped. The Elf was still completely naked on his bed. Even if he put the blanket on him, there was no guarantee of him not moving while sleeping and moving it simultaneously, revealing his markings. 

Asim sat there, wondering what he could do in this situation. He couldn't stay blindfolded, and he couldn't put back the Elf's soaked shirt on either. Asim then thought that he could give him one of his shirts, but it will clearly not fit him as the Elf was thinner than he was. At this point, it was better than nothing, and he went upstairs to grab a long-sleeved beige cotton shirt. He jumped back down and proceeded to put the clothing on the Elf.

"Please don't wake up now," Asim whispered to himself, slightly worried as it would surely look suspicious again.

When Asim was sure that the Elf was adequately dressed -even if he didn't have pants on- he tightly tucked him under the blanket. He finally took the blindfold off. He then started to clean the place as he put back the table and what he had used at their proper places. He kept the chair near the bed to watch over him for the night. He had to make sure the infection was controlled and see if he would start having a fever.

While he was tending to his wound as he touched his skin, Asim was surprised that he didn't feel any cuts on his skin, only bruises. He had some on his face and hands, but he had no other bad ones anywhere except the injury on his left flank. So he decided to clean the cuts on his face and hands with another wet cloth to make sure none of them would get infected.

But as Asim glanced at the Elf while he carefully cleaned the small injuries on his face now that he was sound asleep, he noticed his soft features. He had seen many Soveryn Elves before, but this one looked… different. His eyes were what had surprised him the most. Typically, High Elves had gold, purple or silver eye colors, but he had orange eyes. Was he a half-Sun Elf? No. Even Sun Eves didn't have that particular shade in their eyes.

As he watched him sleep, Asim started to get curious about where he came from and who he was. He would probably ask him all his questions once he would wake up and feel better, but for now, Asim focused on making sure he was alright. 

The night arrived soon after he had finished tending to the Elf's injuries. He didn't want to simply sit there and watch him sleep as it will clearly look weird, so Asim decided to grab the tome one of the book that Clara lent him earlier that day. He tossed another log in the fireplace to make sure the Elf will stay warm and sat back on the chair. 

At some point, he tried to sleep, but it took only a moment before Asim suddenly woke up, startled, his heart pounding fast and sweating heavily as he had yet another nightmare. He again gave up on sleep and opened back the book as he glanced from time to time at the Elf to make sure he was still alright.