Iris wobbled to her feet two hours later. Her head throbbed and her abdomen was still in terrifying pain from the night before, causing her to clutch the wound. The General used a hand to help steady her, much to her appreciation. He'd been in and out of her room since she'd woken up.
"How are you holding up?" Zayn asked, still keeping a hand on the top of Iris's back. Iris wasn't sure how to answer his question, as she was still in way more pain than she was ever accustomed to being in. She only held tight to her wound and grimaced as the sharp pain flared up.
"Ingred?" the general repeated, and Iris remembered that he had asked her a question.
"I'll live," she finally replied, "I just hurt like hell. My head is ringing too. Gods."
"You drank a lot last night. You were quite the show," he told her, trying his best to distract her from her discomfort. Humoring him, she tried to remember any of it, and yet even with thought, she found that her mind only drew blanks.
"I'm sure I was," she grumbled, voice even rougher than usual.
The General didn't get a chance to say anything else before the door opened. Iris watched as each of the men from her scouting group walked in. They all seemed to be surprised that she was standing.
"He's up and about?" Ra asked, surprised.
"Aye," Iris croaked, "I am. More or less."
"Are you sure you shouldn't be laying down, Ingred?" said Dregar. Iris drew her gaze to him, and found a genuine look of concern swimming about his face, "You really did take a hard hit last night from that archer. General had to pull the arrow from your rib." Iris nodded, and then slowly sat down on the bed's edge.
"It might not be a bad idea," she admitted, "but don't we have something to do today?"
"I do," Zayn answered. "I'm supposed to meet with that messenger about the Caverns," he told all of them, and then added, "This evening, we were going to head out. We can stay longer though, if you need it."
"No. I'll be fine. It wasn't lethal." Her face contorted, defying her words. "Don't let me hold us up."
"Are you sure about that? I think I speak the obvious when I say that you've seen better days, Ingred." Zayn met Iris's eyes to emphasize his point. "You are very injured... very injured."
"I'll heal on the road. Every day we take cutting the head from the snake is another that our soldiers spend fighting and dying at the Caverns," she said. "My comfort is not worth hundreds of lives. I'll be fine to leave on schedule. Just... I'll rest for today."
"You do that." He looked to the window. "I'm going back out to see if I can't find a medic for you."
"No! I will be fine," she said a little too quickly, and then reprimanded herself for looking suspicious. However, no one seemed to notice, not even the General. Ra then stepped forward, and placed a hand on Iris's shoulder and shook it a little.
"Don't being stubborn, lad. Tha's comin' from me. Ye need someone to look ye over and get you somethin' for pain."
"Healers aren't cheap," Iris went on. "I don't have the kind of coin for that."
"Then it's on me," the general said. When Iris opened her mouth to argue, he threw up a hand to cut her off. "You saved my life. Call it a gift. I won't hear anything more of it. You need healing."
Kayde's smooth voice cut through the conversation. "Taking something for your pain would be wise, if nothing else." Her eyes snapped over to him. That convinced her. Her injury twanged again to push her decision over the precipice. She'd just have to get something to alleviate the gut-rending agony... she didn't necessarily have to have a check up. With a sigh, she said. "Alright. I... thank you, general."
He nodded. "You're welcome." Zayn looked to the others. "Let's go. Let him rest." Now, he spoke to her one last time. "If there's a medic here, they'll be seeing you shortly."
Iris did not say anything to this, but just nodded. With that, all of them piled out of her room.
After they left, Iris sat alone for a long while. The silence was nice, so she laid back down in her bed. Even though she was trying not to make much movement in her stomach, it still stung quite badly. She cried out as she stretched her belly.
As soon as she laid down, she shut her eyes tightly, pushing the tears out of their corners. Gods, it hurt. The pain settled to bearable once she was able to lay completely still. All she had to entertain her now were her thoughts --thoughts that were moving through her mind like racing horse. Mainly, it was memories from the past couple of years. But every so often, she would think about what came next.
She'd nearly put herself to sleep with them. But right as she was drifting off, a loud knock jolted her back awake.
"Come in," Iris croaked after a second.
A second later, the door yielded to a middle-aged woman and a little girl. Iris noticed immediately that it wasn't just any little girl. It was the one who had approached her yesterday. Suddenly, her heart clenched hard in her chest. Panic immediately rose and a large lump in her throat.
"Hello!" the girl said with a smile, "This is my mom."
"Oh," Iris said in the deepest voice she could manage, "Well, hello." The older woman closed the door behind her and walked up a few steps.
"It's nice to meet you. My name is Evangeline" she ducked her head respectfully. "I'm here as your medic. Your general sent me to look over your wounds and give you something for pain. He said that you'd been hit last night by an arrow." She looked to her daughter. "And this is Emma, my daughter. She insisted that you were friends and wanted to come. I hope you don't mind."
Emma waved at Iris.
"Oh, I..." Iris wasn't sure how to say no. "It's been clean and bandaged already. Something for pain would be... welcome, however."
Evangeline flashed Iris a knowing smile. "Do you fear that I'll find you're female?" When Iris's face visibly paled to white, the medic laughed softly. "I'm not going to say anything to any of your other soldiers, don't worry." She gestured. "Come now, let me look at your injury. You'll be a lot worse off if it gets infected."
Iris choked, and looked to the small girl, who looked as dumbfounded as she felt.
"I didn't tell her. I promise!" Emma whispered.
This made the mother laugh a little bit, and say, "No, Emma didn't tell me that you are not a man. I wasn't aware that she even knew."
Iris was quiet for a long moment, absolutely stunned to silence. Finally, all she could whisper was, "How?"
"How do I know? I would go as far as to ask how no one else does. From the moment I saw you, I suspected it." She tapped her temples. "Ever heard of woman's intuition? You're far too pretty to be a man. You must be smart too, if you've played those soldiers for fools this long. Nice trick with the voice. I can't imagine what you've done to get it to sound like that." Evangeline then knelt at her bedside, and began undoing the clasps of her armor.
"Oh," Iris said dumbly. What else could she say?
"What should I call you, then?"
"Just... Ingred, will be fine." Iris shook her head, finding no need in giving her real name up. "I guess."
"Well, Ingred, I'm going to need your help taking off your armor if I'm going to look over you," she said. "Can you help me? " Iris just nodded without a word. It took a minute to get the armor off, especially because the rogue moved more slowly than usual. Despite her better efforts, the movement jarred her in a way that nearly made her vomit.
Eventually, she was down to her bandages and bound chest. Slowly, the medic undid both, exposing her wound along with the rest of her naked torso. With a sort of hiss through her teeth, she started fumbling around in her satchel. "That looks very painful, girl. I don't envy you in the slightest." She pulled a canteen of water from her pack and poured some into a bowl along with what Iris assumed was soap.
The healer's hands were gentle, but the soap burned. It was all Iris could do to keep her scream in her chest. Evangeline eventually doused the soap away with water. When she was done, she commended. "You're probably the toughest girl I've ever treated. I've seen some men cringe harder at that."
Iris took a breath. "I try."
Evangeline only chuckled. Meanwhile, the little girl placed a small hand on Iris's knee. It was meant to comfort her.
After applying many salves, and stitching the broken skin, Evangeline gave Iris a small bottle of liquid. "Take a mouthful of that every morning for the next seven days. It should help with the pain." She handed Iris another vial. "Clean your wound twice a day and rub this ointment on it so it doesn't get infected. I will leave fresh bandages with you."
Immediately, Iris took her first swig of the medicine. To say that she didn't relish the taste of it was an understatement. It was the worst tasting thing she had ever put in her mouth, including the fruit that she ate daily. However, she didn't complain. She must've made a face though, because the healer laughed at her.
"It's definitely not fruit juice, but it should help with the pain."
"I'd drink worse if it helped." Iris cleared her throat. "Thanks for all your help."
"It was nothing, especially considering what you did for out town. I'm grateful that your group was with us last night. Many more would have met their ends."
"I hope it's the last attempt on Morthrior," Iris said honestly. "And everywhere else, if I'm being honest."
"Maybe it will be." Evangeline began putting her things away. "Remember all the things I told you to do, now. You should start feeling better soon now that you've taken the medicine."
"Here's to hoping." That was nothing but the truth.
With one final goodbye, Evangeline left Iris alone. The rogue immediately bound her chest and pulled her chest-piece right back. She ignored the pain this time, knowing that the general might not be so far behind the medic. He'd been checking on her religiously, and she couldn't know whether or not he was at his meeting yet.
After she was done clasping the final, Iris dared to take a minute and look at herself in the mirror. It was something she hadn't done in a quite a while. Despite the tiredness of her eyes, Iris hardly recognized herself. She found that the girl in the mirror looked fearsome and strong. Her posture had even changed since she'd left her home, and there was something about her eyes that made her look far more dangerous than she once had.
Iris redid her topknot with quick hands, making sure to pull up the strands that had fallen in her face. Then, she simply stood there for a minute. Despite the pain that she still felt, and the fear of discovery looming over every day... Iris couldn't help but wonder if this was indeed what the gods had intended for her. As she stared into her face, there was something inside her that was actually proud of who she'd become. If it weren't for her, the general would have taken an arrow right to the head.
Iris chuckled and looked away.
She couldn't help but think to herself that the gods must have a sense of humor, indeed.