Chapter 2: Long way

Evander: 

The Kojimikian Theocracy was never known for tolerance. If you were not from the Yamoto culture, then you are not welcomed in the capital. All my life, I passed for a Yamoto human.

The truth is, I am an Uruk from the grasslands of The Dorumian Theocracy. Well, not a full-blooded one, seeing as my father was a Yamoto. But in a world where your mother's race is your own, that doesn't seem to count. 

It is almost as if everyone I pass by knows my secret. The guards at the gates looked at me as if I am contagious. I leave the city of Ogi, which is the Kojimikian's biggest port city and serves as its capital. Surely, the people in the countryside won't care what I prefer?

So, few healers tend to them, that they will be grateful for just about anyone. I walk for two hours, when I see a shape on the road. It is not a human, and definitely no elf. From the fur coated body, and the face which looks like that of an ape's, I can tell this is an Ettin. 

I really shouldn't refer to someone who can talk as an it. The man is laying on his back, as a trickle of blood pools around him. I walk to him, and then pull on some gloves on my hands.

In my bottomless bag, I have the medical supplies, issued by Pope Benedict to me, as a young healer. Maybe, if I have come back to the graduates, these supplies would have been taken away. Yes, gays are no longer stoned to death in this country, but they basically have no rights. 

The wound is dirty, and there is puss around it. I take out a shaving razor, and then soap the fur of the Ettin. I work quickly, and with steady hands, to get all the fur away from the cut. When I am done, I clean the wound, and then go about stitching it closed. Just as I am done with that, the Ettin grabs my hand. 

"Who are you?" The being asks. I smile down at him, trying to convey, that I am harmless. 

"Evander Shade, a healer," he snorts at that, and tries to sit up. I hear him hiss from the pain. 

"You shaved me," his tone sounds accusing. I wonder why? 

"Well, your fur was probably the reason, why your wound got infected," I tell him. He narrows his eyes at me. 

"What do you want for the healing?" He asks me. I blink at that. When I was stitching him back together, payment didn't so much as enter my mind. 

"I don't really want anything. Were you headed somewhere, before you got attacked? Perhaps, if you remember who attacked you, we can tell the guards? Ogi is not far from here," I tie the final stitch, and then cut the thread. The Ettin stands up, much to my protests. 

"The necromancer will get you," the Ettin says, as he walks away from me. I hastily put my belongings back in my bag. The gloves, I place in a different compartment, so I can throw them away, once I see a trash bin. 

"Wait, what is this about a necromancer?" I call out to the Ettin, but he doesn't seem to stop for anything. "Hey, wait up!" 

It doesn't take me much time, to run after him. His walk is slow. I can see that he is doing his best, to not open his wound. A wound that I will need to bandage.

"Go back. This is not your fight," the Ettin says. I take a hold of his arm, and make him stop walking. 

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"You need a bandage, and to be looked after," I protest. The Ettin looks me dead in the eyes. There is anger in his black orbs. Yet, I doubt that it is directed at me. 

"You are weak. The weak die, when they face Nachzehrer," for the Ettin, this must be the end. Yet, for me, it is only a roadblock. 

"And you must be strong, considering you are an Ettin. Yet, you still got hurt. Do you intend to face the necromancer again, while you can barely walk?" I ask him. Then, I tilt my head to the side. "The least you can do, is given me your name." 

"Names hold power, little Shadow," he wrenches his arm from my hold. That makes him wince. My eyes travel to his wound. 

"At least let me bandage you," I insist. The Ettin sighs then. 

"For someone who is as weak as you, you certainly don't know when to quit, do you?" He asks. I chuckle. 

"You are my first patient, outside the academy. If you die, my healing record will be worth a pile of dung," I say, trying to make the situation lighter with a bit of humor. The Ettin chuckles at that. 

"I suppose, a little bit of a delay won't make much of a difference," he sits down on the dirt road, and looks at me expectantly. I take out a new pair of gloves, and the bandages. Soon, the Ettin has a cover for his wound, as well as a scrub, to place over his chest. I smile at my handiwork. It is good, that I can't see any red on the bandages. 

"My name is Raiko," the Ettin finally tells me. "You deserve at least this much." 

I smile at that. The feeling of being able to put a name to the Ettin is like nothing else. 

"Well, Raiko, I have some guidelines for you. You have to get checked up every day, and the bandage has to be changed every morning," I say with a bright smile. "So, I guess, there is no other choice before you, but to take me along for the ride." 

Raiko eyes me from head to toe. 

"Why come with me, when you can go and join a clinic," he asks. I pounder on whatever I should tell Raiko of what happened. Then, I decide that I should. People know what I look like; they know my name. Chances are, I will see a lot of closed doors. 

"I am gay. If you want to stone me now, do keep in mind, that your wound might open from the exercise," Raiko gives a full belly laugh at that. 

"You are in deep shit, healer. You should have been born in a better country," the Ettin tells me, as he claps my shoulder. I smile, and nod. 

"Yes, well, life is not meant to be perfect," I tell him. The trees carry his laughter in their leaves, as I help him stand up. The being leans on me, and we walk down the road. Neither of us thinking about a destination. 

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