Tame

Dawn dragged the rickety old coffee table over to the bedside so it was within Kalen’s reach. One of the legs had to be supported by a couple of disintegrating books, but it could still serve its purpose as an almost even elevated surface.

She loaded the little unstable table with everything she thought he might need. A jug of drinking water, a small hand cloth, the anti-nausea tea, some spare bandages and a little pot of antiseptic solution, the soup already acquainted with a bowl and spoon, and of course the sachet of pain-relieving remedy pulled from Dawn’s abundant apothecary stock.

Dawn handed Kalen the mug of lukewarm tea. Although it was only half full, he needed to grip it with both hands to stabilise it and it took a reasonable amount of energy to bring it to his lips to sip.

Kalen’s face wrinkled in disgust.

“It’s bitter!” he exclaimed, tasting the tart combination of ingredients.

“Sorry,” Dawn winced meekly.

She was surprised when he chugged the remainder down before passing the cup back, shaking and panting from the effort.

It would take a little while for his nausea to fade. So Dawn tried to make conversation with him to distract him in the meantime.

“I found your bag. I collected everything I could find. I’m not sure if I collected all your notes though.” She informed Kalen while stirring the painkiller mix through the hot stew. Lucky for Kalen this medicine had little taste.

“Much appreciated.” He replied softly while trying his best to keep the tea down. “You’re... going to a lot of effort to help me.”

Dawn grinned. “Of course. It’s payback for the drink you bought me.”

Kalen raised an eyebrow sluggishly. “That’s it?”

Dawn returned a cheeky smile. “I’m only kidding. You don’t need a reason to help someone.”

There was a long silence between them as Dawn stirred the vegetable-enriched stew again to release some of the heat.

“It’s not true... What they say about you.” Kalen had to regularly stop to take breaths around the pain. Long sentences seemed difficult for him. “The townspeople... I mean. They’re idiots to treat... you how they do.”

“And how would you know what they’re saying is not true? Have you secretly been watching me?” Dawn chuckled half-heartedly to keep the gloominess out of her voice.

“I observe everyone... Kind of. It’s... part of my job.”

Dawn froze. She was surprised by his response but was also intrigued. “What do you mean?”

Kalen tried to shuffle himself further up the wall to better brace himself into a less painful position.

“I inspect our land and that... Includes the villages on it... Also, patrol the border... And do reports. And-”

“Okay. Let’s get some pain relief into you.”

Dawn cut him off abruptly. She did want to hear more but he was clearly in pain and it was awful to watch him struggle.

She carefully picked up the bowl intending to pass it to him, but hesitated. Kalen was trembling and exhausted. He’d barely managed to keep half a mug full of liquid from spilling. She wasn’t sure he could also manoeuvre a spoon on top of that.

“I could feed it to you?” Dawn offered. “If that’s okay. If... You won’t bite my hand again.”

Kalen looked a bit alarmed by that. His eyes flicked from Dawn’s face to the stew in her grip.

“I mean- Or not.” She stammered shyly. “Maybe a weaker pain relief that you don’t need to eat with would be better? Um-”

“I bit you?” Kalen asked.

Dawn realised it wasn’t the food he was staring at, but her bandaged hand.

“Oh. No. Yes. But you didn’t mean to. You were in a bad way.”

“I don’t remember that. Did... I transform?”

“You started to. I think your body was reacting to the poison.”

Kalen’s mood seemed to suddenly change. His eyebrows furrowed and he took the meal from Dawn, his shift in mood giving him the enthusiasm to push through his weak and pained condition.

He discarded the spoon, pulled up his knees to brace the bowl, and sipped at the broth.

“It’s nothing too serious,” Dawn responded, softly touching her bandaged fingers.

Kalen wasn’t listening.

“I don’t know why I’m surprised...I had assumed.” He mumbled into his bowl of vegetables. “I felt... The burning... After the blade pierced me.”

“It’s a poison called Wolfblight. Have you heard of it?”

The way Kalen was looking at Dawn confirmed that answer. He nibbled sourly on a cube of potato.

“Your body did respond well to the treatment I gave you.” Dawn continued. “But I’m not sure of the extent of the damage the toxins have caused just yet. It may take a while for your body to recover.”

As if on cue the muscles in Kalen’s legs began to fatigue and Dawn had to lean over him to quickly grab the drooping meal from his failing grip.

Kalen jolted, sucking in a short, sharp hiss of pain as some of Dawn’s weight leaned atop of him. She had tried to avoid as minimal contact as possible, but while balancing the bowl of partially consumed food, had fallen awkwardly into his lap. Even the slightest of her weight leaning against him was painful.

Dawn shot up fast realising the position she was in and apologised profusely.

“I feel like I was run over by a train.” Kalen moaned and curled down into his blankets.

Dawn had never seen a train. It was an old-world thing. But she understood the allusion of him feeling like he’d had a tonne of solid metal slamming into him at high speed.

“I should leave you to rest,” Dawn said softly, ashamed she’d caused her patient more pain.

But as she placed the stew on the table and turned to leave, she felt Kalen tug on her dress.

“Wait!”

It was barely a second, but he shot her a desperate look, like a scared child.

“I mean...” He spoke hesitantly. “You could stay. If you want.”

Dawn was further surprised by the situation. Sure, he was ill. But she had never imagined her first interaction with a dangerous theron to go quite like this. It made her wonder if all the stories told about them were heavily fabricated, or if Kalen was just the black sheep in a herd of all white.

“Of course,” Dawn reassured him by settling down beside the bed again. She was unable to hide the nervous flush from her face. “I will have to keep a close eye on you anyway to ensure your condition does not deteriorate.”

Kalen still looked miserable, but offered her a small smile.“Thank you.”

“How was the stew?” Dawn asked, attempting to keep the mood neutral.

“Better than the tea.”