Wrong place at the wrong time?

His comment made her stop from turning on the last lamp. Was the light hurting him? She stood still for a moment, letting him undress from the cloak. She went into another room and fetched an old first aid kit. She placed it next to him and shrugged at his words. “No you wont. I chose to help all on my own. That’s not on you,” she said, opening the kit to look it through. She’d guess he just had to scavenge for the supplies he needed, as not everything was to be found. She went and found a few other kits, deciding that she’d be better off with a whole kit and a few messy ones. She let him have the kit she had pulled out first while she placed the things that had to go in it within his reach. “Tell me if you need help,” she said before she went to grab a soda for herself. She had a few cans left, and keeping them here underground kept them cool.

She eyed the kit as he didnt seem too certain of it, drawing in a deep breath. “Right,” she mumbled to herself as she went back to him, grabbing a package. She ripped it and pulled out the alcohol soaked cloth, offering it to him. “It cleans the wound. Keeps you from getting an infection. But it stings a lot,” she warned him, to then frown a little at his question. “I did a lot of sewing as a kid. But that was only in the cloth I wanted to transform into clothes,” she remarked, but she would have to try. She heated up a needle to sterilize it before she looked at him. “I dont have anything to soothe the pain,” she said in a defeated tone. Not even painkillers were kept around in case some junkie found their way down here.

She looked at the exposed wound, frowning a little to herself. Had they cut him or had the beating just been severe enough to tear his skin apart? She readied the needle and thread and cleaned her hands in a thorough manner, taking in a deep breath as she prepared herself mentally before she carefully reached out. She pinched the skin together, not too much, but just enough to remind her how it was supposed to look. She started sewing, unsure if he wanted her to take it slow or just get it over with. She went with a middleground between the two as she frowned deep from concentration. His praise felt odd because she didnt feel like she deserved it. She was just delivering some lowgrade stitchery, that would probably make a professional pull at their own hair in frustration. “Almost done,” she announced, glancing shortly up at him before she got to the other end of the wound. She bound a knot on the thread and grabbed a couple of scissors to cut it short. She grabbed some gauze and placed a woolen pad over the finished work, wrapping the gauze around him loosely but tight enough to keep the woolen patch in place. “You need to switch that for however long it takes you to heal,” she said, looking at her hands that had some of his blood on them. She grabbed a new sanitary cloth and wiped her hands.

She didnt seem to mind that he needed rest. It made sense with the wounds that he had. “I’ll leave you to it then,” she said, thinking her parents had probably blown up her phone at this point and contemplated calling the authorities. The thought made her frown a little. She was pulled from her thoughts at his question, nodding as she looked around. “I’ll have to figure out how to get you food. Depending on what you eat,” she pondered, scratching her chin a little. She went to the ladder, looking back at Salil before she tilted her head. “What herbs can I get you?” She asked. Hopefully it wasnt something too difficult, but she knew it probably wasnt just something she could find in the forest. “Sleep well Salil,” she said as she climbed up the ladder. Hopefully he could figure out on his own how to turn off the lights.

A couple of days went by, she had spent most days searching for the herbs that Salil needed. All the botany stores that she had to search thoroughly. And yet she found herself thinking of the pretty girl and Nithmeia. She hoped the purple daemon wasnt doing too bad. That the pretty girl had had some sort of mercy on her. But it was probably just a waste of her hope. She ran her hand down some flowers as she suddenly realized that the plant she was touching was exactly what she needed. She made a little victory hop and picked up the plant to take it to the counter. She bought it to her parents’ dismay and went on her way to the secret hideout.

She would have thought that his impatience would get to him at some point. She could recognize love when she saw it and he was definitely a man in love. She barely made it down the ladder with the plant in her arms, grunting as she placed the pot on the floor and sat down next to it. She finally answered after a short while, looking up at him. “I’ve only just got you your herb. I know you want to save her, but it’s stupid to go out there without your full strength,” she said in a serious tone, picking off a leaf and placing it in her mouth. She remembered how her mom loved using this kind of herb to add some freshness. “Do you want to be sucessful or dead?” She then asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

His confession made her frown, raising an eyebrow at him. “Have I made an impact?” She scoffed, but she wouldnt let it get any lighter than that. This wasnt a joking matter. She corrected some leaves on the plant, “Things like that can change so fast. At one point you’ll have her all over you, the next she could be ripping out your hair,” she thought with a shrug. She lifted her knees to her chest and hugged her legs close. Somehow it made her think of her own experience with relationships. “As long as there has been something, it’s not completely hopeless,” she mumbled as she felt a bitter taste in her mouth. He was blaming himself for what Dahria guessed was their current situation. “Getting caught?” She asked with her head tilted to the side - Better safe than sorry.

She frowned at his words but she understood what he meant. She couldnt really give him any useful advice to that, as it was a complicated matter. Instead she just nodded and looked down into the ground for a bit.
His story made her sigh deeply as she ran a hand through her long hair. Normally she was hiding it in a bun or something else, but today she had let it loose down one side. “I see,” she mumbled against her knees and closed her eyes for a second as she thought it through. “Torch is that former daemon place, isnt it?” She asked, looking at him. She didnt know that much about other species, mostly because she hadnt ever been able to sit still in school which had taken a toll on her knowledge of things.
“Eat your greens already, I searched far and wide for it,” she suddenly mumbled, pushing the plant towards him.

His question should have felt intrusive, but she didnt really think of it as that. However she simply shrugged and sighed before she firmly shook her head. “Not my heart,” she admitted, looking down at the ground with sad eyes. “A friend once fell in love with me too. But I couldnt really return his feelings... which I couldnt understand then, but do now,” she said feeling her eyes sting a little. She just blinked it away and looked up at Salil. “I’m sure the last thing Nithmeia wants is to hurt you,” she said with a sad smile, before looking down at the ground again, her thoughts bubbling up from their hidey hole.
“What’s it supposed to do?” She asked, looking at the plant between them, hugging her own legs a little closer.