Pain...Pain was Tallulah's constant companion now.
It had been two days since the wolves had attacked. The others had been able to care for their wounds. She had to pretend she was fine with only small nicks. She had bound her stomach with the fabric from an extra tunic, but if she didn't find echinacea soon, her wounds would fester.
Tonight once everyone had settled down for the evening, she'd leave to find some.
They had left the woods, but now they suffered through tall grasses and cornfields which made her sneeze uncontrollably. She wasn't the only one in that situation though, Atlas sounded sick from sneezing and a runny nose and Mykel had hives everywhere the grasses had touched. Ander was the only one who was fine.
"I grew up surrounded by corn and grass like this, so it never bothered me," everyone had cursed his luck.
Sneezing made everything that much worse. But amongst all of this grass Tallulah was certain she'd find echinacea.
They walked all day and only stopped once it was too dark to see in between the blades of grass. They flattened an area for camp.
There was no sparring tonight, and quite frankly, she wouldn't have been able to lift a sword without crying from pain. She waited until she heard even breathing from everyone before doing her best to sneak away to find the flower.
She waited until even breathing came from the three men before quietly rising, grabbing the pot from Ander's saddlebags and sneaking away. the flowers were easy to find, but the next step could prove difficult. She needed flowers that had good roots.
Within the patch of flowers she was able to find six good stalks and roots for the tincture. next step was finding a water source to boil and soften them. It was a bit out of the way from the camp but she did find a small stream to collect water from.
She got to work, making a small fire to begin with and bringing the water to a rolling boil, before dropping the rinsed off stems and roots into the pot. It took a while for them to become soft and the water to become an amber color. once this happened, she removed the stems and roots and poured the tincture into her water skin. taking a smaller rock, she ground the stems and such into a paste. while she wasn't sure if this would do anything, as it was an nontraditional method of preparing the plant, anything was better than nothing at this point.
Once the paste was created, Tallulah put it in a small jar she also borrowed from Ander. what he needed it for she didn't know, and she felt bad for stealing it, but she needed it for the time being, and would return it once she had need of it no more.
She removed her tunic and the makeshift bandage, biting back a cry of pain as cloth pulled away from flesh. Her scales were in rough condition around the infected area, a few had fallen away with the cloth and others were soon to follow.
She rinsed bother her tunic and the strips thoroughly of blood and dirt before setting them aside. She removed the cloth binding her chest, also washing away the sweat and dirt from that before completely stripping and sitting in the stream. The water nipped at her bare skin, and she hissed as it came in contact with her wound.
"Fuck...Fuck...fuck me," she whispered aloud as she adjusted to the cold and pain.
"Okay, I can do this," she reassured herself as she began rinsing away dirt and grime from her travels. She was quick but thorough to remove dried blood and dirt from her wound, swearing each time she touched it.
It was necessary though.
Once she had cleaned herself off, she had to almost crawl from the water, because sudden movements only made it hurt worse. She quickly bound her chest again and tugged on the damp trousers before getting to work on her wound. She didn't have anything to sew it closed, so she just had to suck it up and apply the paste to the open wound. Once that torture was complete, she tightly wrapped her torso in the strips of cloth before donning her tunic.
She made her way back to camp, nearly getting lost before eventually finding it. She laid down and fell immediately to sleep.
*****
Morning came all too soon.
She still ached and moving was still a bitch, but the pain wasn't as sharp today. She took a large swig of the tincture, gagging again at its flavor.
"I saw you last night, girlie," she blanched. It was Ander.
"Take a walk with me and well discuss why I shouldn't tell our other companions of your true identity," he whispered in her ear.
She was as good as dead now. without another word, she followed him through the tall stalks of corn.
"So, tell me, what's your real name?"
"Tallulah," she replied.
"Ah, you kept a similarity about your name. Or did you borrow someone's?"
"Talon was my brother's name, my half brother that is. But we got along fairly well, until I-" she stopped there. the rest wasn't meant for other's ears. She doubt he saw her fully, just enough to know she was a woman and not a man.
"Until when?"
"That's none of your business," she retorted quickly.
"it is if you don't want me to tell Atlas of your true nature," frustration gnawed at her and she wanted nothing more than to run away from this situation.
"Fuck you, okay, fuck you. I was basically sold to my husband, I had no say in the matter, and for the next year, that man hated hated me because I could not give him children, and he destroyed me for it, claiming that no other man could have me so he made me ugly and deformed," she ground out.
Ander had wide eyes after her outburst. and they were both quiet for awhile afterwards.
"I've bore the shame of being a bastard," she was on a roll now, and began unlacing her tunic. "No man wants to know that their wife had laid with another, especially a nobleman. No man wants to raise the child of another," she bore her arms for him. And then her neck, where a fine line scar ran through her scales. She didn't show him her back or chest though.
"So tell me, Ander, what else have I got to lose? My family has rejected me, my husband won't even care that I've left, I'm doing the one thing that will ensure I have some meaning in my life,"
"You have a mate, he would protect and care for you," he said, gesturing to her two tones scales. Tallulah scoffed. "Despite all that we've been through, Mykel still loves me and I him," he continued. She had to do a double take.
"Y-you, you're like me?" She eventually spat out. She rubbed at her arms nervously.
"Aye, but my scales are green and tinged with blue," he bore his own arm to show her. His scales were a beautiful emerald color, and blue leeched out from the center, like the black did in hers. "Nature decided I was the more feminine one, only the female's scales change color," she had to laugh. Big, brooding Ander was the more feminine of him and Mykel. She had to admit, two male lovers was an odd thing for her to digest, but she couldn't judge, she would be viewed the same way in everyone's eyes.
"Let us go, I'm sure the other two will be wondering where we are by now," he said. Tallulah should've been angry at him for making her reveal things that were personal, but she couldn't be mad. She finally had other people like her to converse with. And she had a mate.