Chapter 4: Rest

Raiko: 

I pick a place which looks soft enough, and place the blanket the owner of the house left me. Evander is in the house, trying to get the old sick man to drink tea, and eat an oatmeal. I look at the plate with food the lady of the house left me. 

It is nothing fancy. Just some soup. I can see carrots and potatoes swimming in the broth. It is still warm; I better eat it now. As I begin to slurp the soup, I can't help but think about Evander. 

Anyone else would have stayed in their closet. Our country is not accepting of gay people. Then again, it is also not accepting of the beast races and the shifters. I wonder if he outed himself deliberately, or if he was discovered. I hum, as I pat the place which he bandaged. 

One can say many things about Evander Shade, but no one can call him a charlatan. He worked quickly, as he was stitching my wound. The bandage is just the right among of tight. 

I hear footsteps, and look up. Soon, I see a tired Evander drag his feet inside. 

"Hey, Raiko," he nods at me, and then collapses on a patch of hay. Without even bothering to place a blanket under himself. 

"Is it so tiring, to take care of an old man?" I ask him. He hums. 

"Well, if it were just Jerald, maybe I wouldn't be so tired. But Dorthe spread the word that I knew my stuff, and I was marched to the village center to check people over for this and that. That said, they still think I am a sinner," he snorts at that, showing just what he thinks about it all. 

"Well, what do you expect in a Theocracy?" I ask him, as I finish the last of the soup. He rises his head, just enough to look at me. Then, he rolls to the side, and stands up. 

"I really should change your bandages," he says, as he shambles to me. "The last thing I want, is for your wound to get infected. If only the inn would accept us..." 

"I think I am fine. Don't worry about me," I try to get him to rest again, but he just pulls out a bottle with a clear liquid, and another roll of bandages. I place the bowl to the side, so he has room to work. 

Soon, my wound is exposed. He checks it up, and touches it with a gloved hand. 

"There doesn't seem to be swelling, or puss leaking out," he says, more to himself, than to me. "But, just to be certain, I will change the bandages." 

With a small piece of cotton, he cleans my wound, and then busies himself with wrapping my chest in new bandages. When he is done, he ties the ends in a knot, and then shambles back to his patch of hay. 

"At least place a blanket under yourself," I tell him. 

"I don't have one. When I left the academy, I never thought that I will be roughing it up in the countryside. My grades were good enough for a position in the Ogi clinic," he sighs then, and shifts, so he is laying on his back, instead of his stomach. "I jumped the crossbow, Raiko. I outed myself, when I knew that I shouldn't have done it." 

"I think you did the right thing," I tell him. He looks at me then. "Yes, the path ahead of you will be harder, but just think: if you can make it in a world which thinks that you should just hide, then other people like you will also make it big." 

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"Or some priest might burn me at the stake," he suggests. I narrow my eyes at him. 

"Only if they can step on my dead body," I say. He blinks at me. 

"Why do you care? I mean, we don't know each other at all?" He sounds hopeful. I wonder if he even realizes it. 

"You saved my life. Now, before you say that someone else would have helped, I have to tell you, that three caravans passed by me, and pushed me out of their way. In this world of ours, us outcasts have to stick together," I look at him. His eyes are half-lidden. His face is relaxed. Evander is one blink away, from going to the Dream Realms. 

"I like that," he says, as he closes his eyes. 

I look down on my blanket, and then at the healer. Slowly, I get up, and take the blanket. It is a bit chilly tonight. Summer is finally at an end. Soon, the first autumn rains will begin. I have fur to keep me warm, but the healer is still wearing clothes fit for the warmer months. 

I place the blanket around him, and lay by his side. The hay is uncomfortable to me, but if he can put up with it, then so can I. The next morning, I am awoken by Evander getting out from underneath the blanket. He stares at me for a long while, and then smiles. 

"Friends?" He asks, offering his hand. 

"Friends," I agree, and shake his hand. We end the handshake with a fist bump. Now, more than ever, I see how young Evander is. I tilt my head to the side, and ask. 

"How old are you?" He seems to take a couple of minutes to tell me. 

"Twenty. I got admitted to Ogi Health Academy when I was twelve," he says. My eyes widen at that. 

"Did you really?" Most healers begin their schooling when they are eighteen. He must have been the youngest healer in his group. 

"I took the exams early. Unlike most people my age, I could afford to be homeschooled by the best. There was a time, when my father gave everything for me," he sighs then. "Sometimes, I wish I was normal, so that my father wouldn't be as disgusted of me, as he is now. Or, at the very least, I wish I hadn't told him what I am." 

"What you are, is a healer," I insist, as he looks down at his hands. "Don't let anyone tell you that you are not meant to hold your head high."

He seems to mull over my words for a moment, and then smiles at me.

"I lucked out, finding someone who doesn't care what I prefer," he says, and then stands up. "Now, I really should go feed Jerald, and give him his tea. He is finally coherent enough to speak. You should really hear some of the words he has to say about gays. I don't think I have ever heard such original insults." 

I narrow my eyes at that. Suddenly, I very much want to go, and see the sick man. At the very least, I can loom in the doorway, as he keeps his mouth shut around Evander.  

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