Wings and Hammers

5. A Brief History - Part 2

"Did he puke on the way here?"
"Yes, but very little."
"Doesn't matter. Did you not give him water afterwards?"

"He wasted the entire pouch on washing his hands and face."
"Perfect! Sarah, set up an electrolyte IV while I stitch the moron's forehead. It's like his brain oozed out."

"He has a name, woman," the other man snapped at her from his berth.
"Yeah, and I asked for it 10 minutes ago," she snapped back.
"It's Levi," he said, looking straight into her with raging eyes.

Aura stayed in the ward with two nurses for the rest of the night. She could not leave a sedated Erwin alone with the Thug Trio from the Underground. As the nurses dozed off in a corner, she kept strolling to and from his bed. His blonde locks fell over his eyes as he wheezed in his sleep. He was like a small vulnerable child who needed her. She smoothed his hair out as he laid unconscious.

She knew she was a little hard on him in the evening. It was not like she did not trust his decision, she knew that he was self-aware. She knew he had plans. And she knew she could not know all his plans all the time. But, staying in the dark had never worked for her, and that was the reason she became miserable when she saw him all wounded.

"That's really creepy," a voice she never heard before startled her. Her hands swiftly moved from Erwin's face to her own, as she turned to look at the speaker. The previously unconscious captor was sitting straight up on the bed, his legs still held in the awkward elevated position.

"The name's Levi," he said as she continued to look at him awkwardly, without moving.
"I know," she replied, walking towards him, "lie back down." He complied. He was too weak not to. She checked his pulse, his mouth and eyelids, before getting her instruments to check his breathing and blood pressure too. "You're better now," she said, "you'll have to stay in here tomorrow anyway. I wanna keep an eye on you."

"Tell me, missy," he continued conversing, "is it ethical for the Section Commander to sleep with the doctor?" Aura was already disappointed with the Thug Trio, and now this question completely threw her overboard.

"First of all," she tried hard to stay calm, "Levi, none of your business. Second of all, when you're offered water after you puked, drink it. Third of all, I don't want to be lectured by a thief about ethics. Do you know how to write?"

"Yes," he said, sounding like an errant child.
"Fill up your details in this form," she dropped a board with a paper and a pen clipped to it on his lap and prepared to get his legs down from their elevated position. As soon as she was done, she left for her cup of tea.

"When can they start training?" Keith Sadies had come into the ward early in the morning. He took a look at his sleeping soldiers and politely greeted Aura. "Erwin, Mike and Nash can go today, Commander," she informed him, "two of the new recruits can go too. They have stitches at places that won't interfere with training. But, I'd like to keep an eye on this Levi dude for today. He was extremely dehydrated."

"As you say, Aura," he nodded and was about to leave. He turned at the door to look at the thugs. They all seemed to be sleeping too. He looked at Aura once again and asked, "do you think they would be worth it?"

Aura's eyebrows shot up at the question. Although she had a good rapport with the Commander, she never expected him to ask her the tough questions. "Umm.. sir.." she stammered, "I.. I'm not sure I'm the right person to answer this."

"What do you think?" he asked again.
"I think we should trust Erwin. He definitely has some motive," she said, suddenly sweating at the beginning of winter.

"Hmm.. when he wakes up, could you tell him I need him for a meeting? Tell him the other leaders would be there." he nodded at her and walked away.