The dragon didn't speak a word and just looked at her with her broken arm. Even when she touched his scales, he kept his eyes on her. A soft green light swallowed her injured arm then vanished, revealing a less broken arm. It still was injured but now it resembled an arm. Seeing her seem less injured, he turned his orange eyes to the rest of the room. Some curious small lizards were drawing closer. In an instant, Rhydian's powerful jaws parted and a stream of fire hit all the lizards, burning the entire group to a crisp. They never got close but Rhydian stayed circled around Jazrael. When she spoke again, his attention returned to her, though he was carefully listening for any other threat that might try to attack them. She thanked him for protecting her and he lowered his head to her. Very gently, he gave her head a little nudge, as if to say your welcome. 

After a few moments, he stood up and carefully unwrapped himself. Taking a few steps back from her, the dragon was engulfed in his flames and shrank back down into his human form. The flames flew away, revealing Rhydian in his human form. He quickly ran up to her began securing the sling on Jazrael. His fingers worked fast and he adjusted it to however Jazrael wanted it. Once they were done fixing up the sling, he helped her to her feet and looked her in the eyes. 

"I'm sorry." He said before looking away, "A powerful dragon like me should have protected you from that thing. You should have never been hurt…" 

A look of guilt lingered in his eyes as he gazed at her sling. A small sigh escaped his lips before he looked at the rest of the temple. With somebody injured, they wouldn't be able to gather the mana necessary. This would have to be left up to other mages and warriors. Rhydian carefully scooped Jazrael into his arms, carrying her like she was some sort of princess. His eyes scanned the temple for any other sign of threats before he even moved. If anything came near her, he would know in instance. Besides… she could slip on the icy floor and damage her arm even more! 

"Lets get going." He said, "There's a nomadic village on the island with a healer who could help." 

His first priority was to get her patched up. The idea of her becoming sick from her injuries or worse made his mind fly into a small panic. The rest of the temple and their mission was forgotten in his mind. 

She had seen it happen before, but Rhydian’s transformation back into his human form was still quite the spectacle to her. She was fixated on him until he was back to his normal self, and then tore her gaze away rather quickly. She didn’t want to be rude, after all.

”Thanks,” she said, wincing a bit as the sling was tightened around her to hold her broken arm in place. She accepted his help, catching his gaze when she was back on her feet. She looked at him for a moment as he apologized and tilted her head to one side. With her good arm, she reached up and placed her hand on the side of his arm, squeezing gently. ”Don’t be sorry, Rhydian – you did protect me. I’m still alive, aren’t I? If you hadn’t stopped it, that golem would have killed me,” she said softly.

She could tell he felt guilty, but she didn’t know how to make him not feel that way. She frowned, her eyes still fixed on his face even as he looked away from her, looking around the temple. She felt bad, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to go on. ”Leave it to me to get injured and mess up our mission,” she said under her breath, though if he had been listening closely, Rhydian would have been able to make out what she was saying.

A moment later, however, Rhydian had scooped her up in his arms, and she made a little sound as he did so, taken slightly by surprise. She hadn’t been expecting that – and it was astonishing to her how easily he seemed to be able to pick her up. She didn’t weigh all that much, but the way he had lifted her so effortlessly made it seem as though she weighed nothing at all. Her cheeks turned a little red, and she wasn’t sure if she could chalk it up to embarrassment or what had caused it. ”Guess I’m going wherever you do,” she said with a crooked smile, trying to make a joke as Rhydian mentioned the village with the healer. ”And a not broken arm sounds great,” she added.

As they traveled along, at some point on the way out of the temple Jazrael had realized just how drained and exhausted she was from her injury and attempting to heal it. She had drifted off, and at some point before they had reached the other village, she had nuzzled her face into the crook of Rhydian’s neck and shoulder. When they arrived to the nomadic village, she woke up as she felt Rhydian shifting her around to set her down. Her face reddened again as she got to her feet, and she pushed her hair back out of her face, revealing just how red her pale cheeks were – hoping to the gods that Rhydian would think it was from the cold.

”Sorry, I think I drifted off,” she said, realizing how painfully obvious that was. ”I’m not well versed in healing magic, and that really drained me,” she added. ”And, I was just really warm and comfortable…” she added, absent mindedly. After a second she cleared her throat, her cheeks reddening even more. She looked down, causing some of her hair to fall into her face again. ”Thank you for getting me here safely, though,” she added, glancing up at him briefly. ”Now where do we find this healer?” she asked, looking around, hoping it would be near them so there wouldn’t be the opportunity for her to embarrass herself even further.

Her words partially made him feel better, but there was a part of him that still felt the lingering guilt. The mood was lifted a little when Jazrael cracked a joke and it brought a little smile to his face. Eventually they made it at the nomadic village. The village consisted of several igloos and people covered in thick wool coats. The villagers spotted them and instantly ran to get the healer, since most visitors were only interested in the healer. Rhydian shifted his arms and carefully set her down on her feet so she could walk around. She mentioned how he was so warm and comfortable, his face grew slightly red at that. He resisted the urge to move the hair out of her face and focused instead on the healer, who was steadily approaching them.

The healer was an old woman with dark skin and black braids decorating her hair. She motioned for the two to follow her to the healer's igloo. The inside was massive, more than enough for them to fit into. The ground was covered in a thick warm carpet that prevented the cold of the ground from entering. The ceiling had a small hole for the fire's heat to escape. The fire was in the center and built lower in the ground to help avoid the heat reaching the walls and instead directing it towards the hole. A simple bed was attached to one of the walls while herbs were tied to the ceiling. Jars of medicines and baskets of medical equipment lined the circular edge of the room. The entire place smelled strongly of lavender and sage. The healer beckoned for Jazrael to have a seat on one of the large sitting pillows provided for guests.

"Are you injured too?" The healer asked Rhydian.

"Oh um, no mam." He responded.

"Then you can wait outside." The healer woman responded, "Go help one of our hunters with the cooking."

Rhydian gave the woman a simple nod, not daring to disrespect a woman of such an elderly age. The healer carefully removed the arm from the sling and began applying a unique salve to the scratches and scrapes. The salve would feel cool to the touch but have a relaxing scent of pine forest trees. The old woman moved on to the rest of the arm, using a special healing touch to fully mend the bones. The room lit up with a radiant blue glow as the bones cracked and shifted back into place. Her arm would feel as good as new but Jaz’s body would feel a bit drained.

“You should be careful to keep him. There aren’t many out there who would carry their lovers to safety.” The old woman commented. 

As they entered the healer’s igloo, Jazrael felt the warmth from the fire wash over her. She wasn’t one to get cold, but with how drained she felt after trying to heal herself, the cold was affecting her a bit. The various medicines and herbs scattered around the igloo certainly made her feel as though they had made the right decision in coming here.

Jazrael did as the woman silently instructed and sat on one of the large pillows. She frowned as the healer told Rhydian to leave since he was not injured. ”Can’t he stay?” she asked, but the woman looked at her sharply and she retreated, not pleading any further. She watched him as he exited and turned her attention back towards the healer, who immediately got to work on her arm.

The salve the healer applied felt and smelled good, and soon the actual healing was under way. It was an odd sensation, the feeling of her bones putting themselves back together, her fingers straightening themselves out… but in the end, looking at her arm, you would have never known she had been so injured. ”That’s amazing,” she said, twisting her arm back and forth.

She turned her attention back toward the healer when she made a comment about being careful to keep Rhydian, as most lovers would not treat one another in such a manner. She was frozen for a moment, taken a bit aback by what the old woman had said. Had they appeared as lovers when they arrived? ”Um. He’s not my lover,” she said, almost defensively. ”We were in the temple not far from here, looking for mana,” she said, trying to explain. ”I got injured, and he just helped me get h-“ The old woman held up a hand and cut her off.

“You don’t look at one another the way you do unless you are lovers,” the healer said, lowering her hand slightly. “You didn’t want him to leave you, and from the look on his face, he didn’t want to leave you,” she added.

”That’s because we’re friends, and we’ve gone through quite a bit together in the time we’ve known one another,” she said, thinking back to the different situations they had managed to get one another into, and how they had helped each other out.

“You’ll see, soon enough,” the old woman said, with a knowing smile on her face. “You never know, until you know, and then, you know,” she said. Jazrael just looked at her with a bit of confusion on her face. The woman was a healer, not an oracle! Or maybe, she was both. Either way, it was time to go.

”Right, well, thank you for fixing my arm, what do we need to pay you?” she asked her, getting up from the pillow, a bit wobbly from the draining feeling of being healed. The old woman waved her arm again.

“You can pay me back by holding tight to that young man, there, and not denying your truths,” she said with a wink as she walked Jazrael out of the igloo and over to where Rhydian had made his way to help the hunters. “She is healed and ready to go, but she will be a bit tired for the next day or so. Do not leave her alone,” she said to Rhydian rather sternly. She turned to Jazrael and gave her a wink before turning back to go back into her igloo.

”Let’s get back to the mainland,” she said, grabbing onto Rhydian’s hand and starting to drag him in the direction they had come from. The old woman turned around and shouted something at the pair of them.

“Remember what I said!” she called, before turning back around and entering her igloo.

When Rhydian gave her a look as to ask her what the old woman had told her, she shook her head and tugged on his hand a bit more tightly. ”Just some aftercare instructions, let’s go,” she said, and the pair was off in search of their destination once again.