👐 healing hands

Maker, this was bad-why couldn’t she just have a relapse now and deal with the memory of it later; her whole side screaming with pain.

She’d taken a blow from a monster, a creature made completely of red lyrium-the man inside all of it gone.

Miris turned to see two men carrying a stretcher into her tent, her hands still working to wrap the head wound of the soldier she was attending to.  The elf faltered at the sight of the injured woman; she was losing a lot of blood and a few of her limbs were oddly skewed.

“Put her there, quickly!”  She pointed to a sturdy wooden table towards the back.  Its top was stained a deep red... blood never came out easy.

She immediately rushed to her side.  The other would have to wait - this was far more pressing.  “Can you hear me?  Can you speak?”  The healer asked, reaching to take her pulse.  While faint, it was present.

He couldn’t help but laugh as she showed him the stains on her palms.  

“As for your tea party,” she started, intent on changing the subject, “all will be well as long as you return in one piece.  Of course, if you find yourself in more pieces than usual, there is the possibility that I can remedy that.  But let’s try not to rely on it.”

“No, really, it’s fine,” Rhiall insists with a negligent wave of a hand as she brushes past Miris. She’s losing blood like a faucet through a broken nose and she may have cracked a couple of ribs, but no, It’s fine. Totally fine. “Demons. Rifts. You know how it goes.”

(Druffalo. It was a Druffalo. An angry one caught in the crossfire of a fight with a couple of wayward bandits, in the foothills outside Crestwood. Don’t electrocute a Druffalo. It only ends in pain and embarrassing explanations to the healers.)

She brushes at her nose with the back of a hand and comes away with more blood than anticipated. She blinks. Squints at it. Then turns back around.

A knowing smile spreads across her face when Rhiall turns back her way. The steady stream of blood coming from the woman’s nose only dampens it slightly.

“I seem to have forgotten all of my handkerchiefs back at Skyhold. Lucky for you, I brought these...” Miris holds up her hands, fingers wiggling. “May I assess the damage, Inquisitor?

“Magic in the kitchen eh?  Maybe that should be pursued further.  Launch a fireball at the roast and get it instantly cooked, mash berries with it instead of with…  Whatever people use to mash berries, freeze things to keep them from going bad, the possibilities are endless!”

He grinned and went back to working on his dagger while talking.

“How in the world did I manage it?  Oh, not very well, that’s for sure.  I used a bit too much force on my first attempt.  Berries... everywhere.  Figured I was better off going about it the old fashioned way.”  She then turned her small hands over, palms up.  There was purple there too, but it wouldn’t be coming off as easily as the smudge across her face.

“Not sure how long it’ll take for this to fade...”

“We need to figure out where to go, and fast.  We won’t survive long on our own with so little food.  I can’t imagine that we managed to grab much in the way of supplies.  There should at least be game around those willing and able can hunt for the time being. There’s also elfroot, we can grab whatever we stumble upon, it’s not much, but that’s all we have.”

She was talking more to herself.  With the advisors arguing, someone had to make a plan to survive, and everyone else seemed to be in shock over the events.  Not that she could blame them, she wasn’t sure how she was even still alive.

Turning to watch the advisors bicker, the elf gave a small shake of her head.  “Honestly, I’m not quite sure.  I can easily speculate, but it might be best if you go and speak with them.”  Miris preferred to avoid conflict, so she’d kept her distance from the four of them, intent on tending to the wounded.

The longer Ashe had remained unconscious, the louder the arguing had gotten.  Everyone was still suffering from the shock of it all - being attacked, losing Haven.  It was no wonder many were on edge.

                     &&

                    who i am NOW

He licked his thumb and gently used it and the end of his sleeve to get the flour and blueberry smudges off of Miris’s face.

“I’ll admit, I’ve made plenty that hasn’t turned out all that great.  But these taste just fine to me.  As for how I managed that... I may have tried to use a little magic to squish the berries.  But it didn’t work out all that great.  I hope that doesn’t turn you against the cake.”

“I…  I just hope I gave us enough time…  I think it flew off before I got thrown down an old mining shaft I think, and into the cave.”

She looked at Miris, her eyes tearing up.