Does It Matter?

Chapter 22

As soon as Dara was settled on the bed in Maric's room, Mathers began to get together medical supplies for Garrod to take to Brayan to treat the slave.

"Get him some clean clothes, too," Maric told Garrod. "And a hot meal. This won't be resolved tonight, so we'll have to make sure he's taken care of in the meantime."

"Are you sure Brayan's the right choice for that?" Garrod asked. "I like Brayan. He's a good captain. Good at keeping people in line and on task. Not sure he really knows how to interact with people when he's not giving or taking orders, though."

"I think that's the first time I've seen Brayan try to turn down a job you assigned him just because he lacked confidence in his own ability to perform it," Mathers added as he packed the medical supplies into a small bag. "It's certainly outside of his comfort zone."

"You didn't see the way the slave looked at Brayan when you startled him?" Maric asked Mathers. "Brayan just saved his life. The slave trusts him. Maybe ideally that trust would be transferred to someone with better interpersonal skills, but that's not possible. Of course if Brayan fails I will hand the task to someone else, but I don't think he will. I have faith in him."

"He'll be safe with him, if nothing else," Garrod commented. "Poor little thing. Don't know what inspired him to get himself in the middle of all this when his life is already as rough as it is."

Maric sat down on the edge of the bed and forced himself to look at Dara again. In better lighting he only looked worse. The blood and Dara's hair concealed a lot, but Maric was fairly sure his skull was not the shape it ought to have been. "Compassion, perhaps."

"Amazing that someone can be that kind when nobody's been kind to them." Garrod took the bag of supplies Mathers handed him. "Thanks. I'll go get some clothes together and check in on Brayan."

Maric nodded. Now that he was looking at Dara again, he couldn't take his eyes away from him. "The slave's to stay with him, but I want you to make sure anything else Brayan needs is taken care of."

"Yes, sir," Garrod said.

Once Garrod had left the room, shutting the door behind himself, only Maric, Mathers, and Dara remained.

Maric watched as one of Dara's fingers, which had been bent backwards at an unnatural angle, clicked back into the correct position. "He will be okay, won't he?"

Mathers leant against the head of the bed and looked down at Dara. "I believe so. If it were anyone else I'd say no, but judging by what he survived last time and what he's told me since about his abilities, I would be surprised if he didn't recover."

Maric nodded. That was what he'd thought, too, but he needed the reassurance.

"What I don't know is if there's anything we should be doing to help him," Mathers said. "Should we try to get food or water into him? Should we try to set his broken bones? Are we better off just monitoring him while his body takes care of itself? I just don't know."

"I'm scared to touch him," Maric admitted. "I don't want to hurt him even more."

"Okay," Mathers said as he sat down on the edge of the bed a respectful distance away from Maric. "We won't touch him."

"He keeps getting hurt when he's around me."

"He got hurt before he was around you, too."

"He should be safe with me. He deserves to be safe."

Mathers was watching Maric carefully. "You care about him."

"That hasn't changed."

"I know. I had some idea, but..." Mathers waved a hand as he searched for the words to express his thoughts. "He's a healer. The most logical concern is that this incident will further set back any chances he had of regaining control of his ability. But that doesn't seem to be where your mind is going at all."