“Sorry about the mess,” the old lady said through a self conscious smile, fussing with the piles for a few moments longer. She stepped back, hands out either side as she waited for something to fall. When it didn’t, she gave a satisfied nod and turned back to him. Once more she approached, surveying him with a practised eye. She took his face in her hands again, gently probing the wound with light touches that made Eldred wince with sudden pain. Her lips pursed as she continued the examination, eyes narrowing as she pieced together the extent of the wound. “Are you going to explain how the poor boy got hurt?” she asked with a pointed look to Ness. Eldred, restrained by the old woman’s firm grip, could only look at the figure from the corner of his eye. Ness stood in the doorway, one hand braced against the ceiling as she leaned into the room, unable to stand at full height.

“I was not present for the strike, but I believe it was an iron,” she said after a moment. There was a hint of annoyance in her voice, or perhaps anger, although Eldred was not sure why.

Leola raised an eyebrow, releasing him again to go rooting around in one of the cupboards supporting the clutter. The brief glimpse Eldred caught of its contents suggested that, much like every open surface in this room, it was full of various objects and items that had no discernible purpose to his eyes. “So it wasn’t your doing?” she said incredulously, pulling out a selection of bandages ranging from cream to snow white. They were rolled neatly and tucked into a case, much in contrast to the organisation of the rest of the room.

Ness bristled at the comment, crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame. “A group of humans,” she corrected. “They took offence to the boy two nights ago.”

The room fell silent as Leola stared at him, and then looked back to Ness, puzzlement clear in her expression. Her eyes narrowed as though she were attempting to piece something together. Eldred got the sense that Ness was watching him, although nothing had changed in her posture or even the direction her head was facing. He fidgeted nervously under the scrutiny, dropping his own gaze down to the carpet beneath his feet.

“Mm,” the old woman mused, putting the bandages down on the table and stepping back toward him. She reached toward him, brushing the hair from the sides of his hair, sweeping it behind his ears. Her face split into a grin, and she chuckled to herself. Eldred, disturbed, pulled away from her, lifting his hands to loosen the hair to cover his pointed ears once more, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Leola did not seem to notice, instead looking at Ness, nodding knowingly. “I understand, dear Ness, I understand. I’ll tend to him, don’t you worry. I cannot wait to see what is in store for him.”

Ness waved a hand toward him, not responding to the old woman.

Leola raised a placating hand, smile fading into one more kindly as she turned back to Eldred, kneeling before him to speak to him from eye level. “I think,” she said, gesturing to his cheek, “that your cheekbone has been fractured. This is… not a good injury to have, if there ever was one, but it will heal with time, and I do not think it will have any lasting consequences. You really should have received medical attention sooner- you’re lucky that iron missed your eye, and that you haven’t done further damage by leaving it exposed to all of the rough and tumble of the open road.” This, she accented with an admonishing glance at Ness. “I’ll wash the wound, and then apply a salve to help it heal. There’s not much that needs to be done about your scratches- I’ll clean them, but none of them are serious.”

The boy nodded, taken aback by the address. Leola, satisfied, straightened.

“I just need a few things from my workroom,” she said with a smile, any hint of her earlier mood replaced by the mask of a kindly healer. “You two just stay put here- and Ness, if you’re going to lean on my walls you’d better take off that damned metal.” She pointed at the figure, waving at her to move out of the way. “You’re damaging my door frame with all of those-” she gestured more vaguely at her, looking Ness up and down- “edges.”

Ness stepped backwards, straightening up from the door frame as Leola squeezed past. Eldred noted that the old woman gave the armoured figure a much wider berth than was strictly necessary, pressing against the wall opposite Ness and skirting carefully around her, before shuffling off down the hallway. There was the creak of an opening door, and then the soft click of the latch catching as it shut again.

Ness reappeared at the doorway, and then stepped into the room herself. She did not remove the armour, instead gently lifting the clutter from a seat on the opposite side to Eldred, the chair’s back sharing a wall with the room’s fireplace, and sitting down in it. He watched her as she moved, and then dropped his gaze to the floor as he realised he was staring, instead studying the patterns woven into the rug.

“You are safe with me,” she said quietly, “Nothing like that will happen again if I can help it.”

He didn’t say anything, keeping his gaze fixed on the ground. His shoes were dirty, he noticed, and he felt a pang of guilt at tracking mud into Leola’s home, deciding that he would endeavour to clean at least some of the mud off before he went inside anyone else’s home.

A few minutes passed in silence before the door down the hallway opened again. Leola’s shuffling footsteps brought her back into the sitting room. She looked at Ness and rolled her eyes, clicking her tongue. “Honestly, I don’t think she ever takes it off,” she said to Eldred, giving him a rueful smile. She set down the odds and ends she had been carrying- a few jars, pots and bottles. Her fingers were stained blue, and a little of the powder clung to the glass side as she straightened. She checked over the items scattered on the table one last time, before she disappeared back out into the hallway.

This time, she continued to the end of the hallway, stepping into the room that shared a wall with this one. Eldred heard the clatter of crockery, and then the hiss of running water. When she returned to the sitting room again, she carried with her a bowl of fresh water, with a bleached white cloth soaking within. The water swayed in its container as she moved, a few stray drops slipping free to slide down the side.

She settled back down beside Eldred, kneeling down on the rug and picking up the cloth from her bowl, which rested on the table beside them. “Right. This might sting a little, but try to stay still for me.” She lifted it to his cheek, giving him a moment to brace himself before she started dabbing gently at the dried blood that clung to the wound.

He winced, the water freezing against his skin. Despite the gentle touch, each time the cloth made contact with the wound, pressing even just a little against his cheek, it stung and brought with it the dull ache of deeper pain. She refreshed the cloth, soaking it again in the water, and Eldred watched as blood dissolved in smoky tendrils, clenching his jaw in anticipation for the next round of stinging pain.

“Now,” Leola started, as she carefully wiped the blood from his cheek. “You’ll need to stay here for a few days so that I can keep an eye on you. I don’t know the full extent of your injury here, and I want to make sure it’s well on its way to healing fully by the time you leave here, alright?” She smiled warmly, eyes crinkling, and Eldred felt a pang of sorrow. The old woman’s gentle touch reminded him sharply of his mother, and her delicate hand as she would check a scrape on his knee or arm, cleaning dirt or blood from the wound and applying gentle pressure against further bleeding. “You’ll be all fixed up in no time, don’t you worry. Until then, you can sleep in the patient room I have upstairs.”

She finished her task, dropping the cloth back into the water and giving him a look of appraisal as she evaluated her work. Seemingly satisfied, she reached for a second cloth that rested beside the bowl, drying his cheek.

“Alright. This will be cold, and it might sting at first, but that should stop after just a few moments, okay? It might tingle after that, but there shouldn’t be any pain.”

He nodded his understanding as she picked up one of the pots, removing the lid to apply the pale green paste. As predicted, it started to sting, before the feeling faded into nothing as she finished. She wiped her fingers on the second cloth, reaching finally for the bandages. He tried to keep still as the woman worked, staring at the figures on the mantelpiece behind her as she wrapped the wound.

“Don’t remove these bandages until I tell you to, alright?” she instructed as she pinned the end to the rest of the bandaging, Eldred’s head now swaddled in white. She had covered his right eye in order to effectively dress his wound. He blinked a few times, disliking the sensation of his eyelashes against the bandages. “I should be able to cut down on a lot of them in the morning, but you’ll have to sleep with them like that while the salve does its work, okay?” She patted the sides of his face, picking some fluff from one of the bandages. She nodded to herself as she retreated, hands clasped in front of her. “Alright, that’ll do you for now.”

Ness rose, taking two steps across the room to stand beside the old woman, looking at the bandages for herself. “Thank you for your help,” she said after a moment.

A shadow of the earlier grin crossed Leola’s face. Something about the expression felt off to Eldred, although he couldn’t quite put his finger on exactly what it was. “I never turn down intriguing patients, Ness. You know this all too well,” the old woman said. She started to shuffle back into the hallway, talking as she went. “Now, I’m near certain that Ness hasn’t been feeding you properly-” she paused at the doorway, beckoning for Eldred to follow her- “You’re practically skin and bones!” As she disappeared around the corner, the boy hesitated. He looked up at Ness, and then back to the door. He was hungry- the growl of his stomach came almost on cue. The armoured figure shrugged slightly, stepping to one side for the boy to move past her. He took the invitation, sliding from the bench and back onto his feet, wincing at the aches that reawoke with the movement. He’d been sitting still for so long he had forgotten how his thighs had ached after so much time in the saddle.

He led the way to the sitting room door, poking his head out into the hallway to see the far door open, and Leola moving around inside. He continued, glancing up at the firmly shut door of the final room that adjoined the corridor, until he reached the kitchen door, turning back as he realised Ness’s footsteps hadn’t followed him this far.

She stood at the far end of the hall, and waved a hand toward the kitchen. “I must tend to Ardghal,” she called, and Leola appeared beside Eldred in the door at the sound. “Is there somewhere I can leave the saddle?”

The old woman contemplated the question for a moment, before she pointed toward the sitting room. “There’s a woodshed on that side of the house. The horse won’t fit, but it’ll keep your saddle out of the weather.”

“I won’t be long,” Ness said, as much to Leola as to Eldred, and opened the front door. The boy shuddered at the sudden rush of cold air that blew through the house.

Leola, kindly smile returning, waved a nonchalant hand. “Take your time, take your time. I’ll look after the boy, don’t you worry.” With that, she looked down at Eldred and took his hand, leading him into the kitchen properly. Eldred watched as the door shut behind Ness, and then returned his attention to the room before them.