Life was a wild ride, that’s what Lady Angela said. “EXCUSE ME!” Raine opened Xeik’s workroom door. “XEEIIKKK, are you here?” She peeked around. Once she found him she bounded over. “I need a detox salve and potion please.” Once she got it she romped away.

An hour or two later she romped back in and up to his work station, “Can I have something that can get rid of wolfsbane in the blood? We got that right?” Of course, since Toya’s children were lycanthrope. Once she had it she once more romped off just the same as she had come.

About thirty minutes later she peeked her head in and came back over, “Hey, do we have a tonic for sleep? Can I have it?” Romping back off she left this time for an undisclosed amount of time. Ordering food, stealing some dresses from the closets of some of the clergy, and finally stealing everyday items from the women as well like a hairbrush.

All of the clergy women she stole from came to Xeik, “She’s doing it again. She stole a dress this time!”

“She stole my hairbrush!”

“She stole my comb!”

They squawked at him and Raine was coming around the corner. They didn’t see her but she stopped short and started to back herself up. She kept checking behind her as she made her way to the west wing of the temple. It was barely used and no one was there. Making it to the first door on the left she once more checked for people behind her before slipping in.

Once she thought the clergy members were gone she slipped back out and went back to the clinic to try and thieve another potion or two. She was going to need it.

Xeik barely thought anything of it as Raine asked him for things. It was a busy time of the year, and with Angela out and about dealing with the season, it came down to Xeik to do almost everything that she normally did around the temple. Even Raine was pushed to her limits dealing with the comings and goings of patients and others alike, but the way that Raine was acting was…off. It was subtle, and at first Xeik barely noticed. But each time she came in, she was asking for things that didn’t seem to quite make sense for the season nor the patients that they had at the time.

It was about when the other clergy women came, complaining to him about her behavior, that he started to wonder just what the phoenix was up to, and he assured the women that he would try to get their stuff back. It usually wasn’t too hard, but Raine was always complaining when he took the items back.

“Just…give me some time, please,” Xeik said as he walked past them. “I promise I’ll get you’re items back. Just be patient. It’s a busy time.” He sighed with relief once he was out of earshot from them. At least this time they weren’t out to bed him. Five years of avoiding their advances had taken its toll on him, and he was more than tired of hearing about it. Most of them had gotten the idea that he was more interested in learning and helping people than he was in sex, but every so often they attempted to court him, to which he politely declined.

“Now where is she…” Xeik muttered to himself. He wandered the halls like he usually did, looking about. There were subtle trails of where she had been, which in all fairness, was everywhere in the temple. But there was a certain trail that didn’t quite make sense. “West side? We’ve closed that off for the time being since Ang isn’t here…” He followed the trail, which lead to one of the unused examination rooms. He slid inside after easily picking the lock, and shut the door softly behind him.

“And who do we have here?” he asked softly, immediately detecting a presence. The room had been moved around a bit, and instead of an exam table was a bed. How Raine managed to do that without anyone knowing was anyone’s guess. In the middle of the bed, though, was a woman curled up, dressed in rags. Hanging on the other side of the room was a dress; presumably the stolen one. On the table was the comb, to which Xeik noted that the woman’s hair was a mess.

“Jeez…what happened here?” he thought back to the logs, and realized the woman didn’t match anyone on their regular list. The fact that she was asleep, and had yet to wake up meant that she was under the influence of something. Xeik crossed his arms, and thought back to Raine’s requests. Detox salve. She mentioned wolfsbane. And sleep tonic. There were a few possibilities, and the way that the woman looked was oddly familiar. Deathly pale, shivering, and she had been put to sleep with a tonic. Overdose? But of what. And why is Raine hiding this?

Raine was on the move once more and she opened the door and backed into it with a tray full of food, water, and in her mouth was a vial. No one would miss that it was missing. As long as it did some good no one would get mad at her. She had been treating people long enough to know when to administer medication and when to avoid doing so.

Once she turned around and saw Xeik she tried to talk but her mouth was full. It came out as mumbled yelling and she had a look of fear on her face. The face that she was in fact in trouble. Xeik removed it and Raine looked stubborn. “Don’t scare her.”

Raine took the food over to and set it down. “Too many people might scare her.” Which would explain why Raine was using the west wing. No one was going here right now but… The why she was keeping it a secret part was still… a mystery.

Putting her hand to the girl’s forehead Raine looked worried. “She’s having an allergic reaction to silver, wolfsbane, and I think she’s been drugged heavily on something. She has injection marks on her skin.” Raine was delicate enough to move the girl’s ripped skirt so Xeik could see the multiple bruises from forced injections.

“She had a panic attack so I gave her sleep tonic… She can’t scream though but she was trying. I don’t think she can talk.” The girl was small, but a little taller than Raine. She had long damaged pale blonde hair and her skin was really dirty.

Despite being angry with Raine, Xeik let her talk. For the most part, the healer was done with his duties for the day, and that left him free to do whatever he wanted. Normally that would be study or clean, but today it seemed as though he were taking care of an impromptu patient. Raine seemed to roll with the fact that Xeik was there, and started to talk as though he was supposed to be there.

“How much did you give her?” Xeik asked. Depending on the dosage, he could probably do a quick examination and she wouldn’t wake. But something about her was…different than most of his usual patients. He placed his hand on her wrist, and checked for a pulse. “Normal.” Her skin was bruised about, and like Raine said, she had injection marks in vital areas. “Silver and wolfsbane…she’s a werewolf then?” He double checked her pulse. Normal for a human, but slow for a werebeast. She’s also colder than she should be. He popped open the vial that Raine had, and took a sniff.

“To flush the silver, then?” he asked. It wasn’t something he worked with on a regular, but he knew the ingredients. “Who mixed it? She’s tiny. If the proportions are off, it might not do anything.” Normally he wouldn't question Raine, but the fact that she had been doing this all in secret made him question if she was thinking clearly.

“How long has she been here?”

“I took a peek at the notes for some of Toya’s children and gave her dosages based on the one her size.” Raine was at least playing it safe. “Tempest is about as big as she is and while she is only a half-werewolf I just adjusted the portion to make up for it. As for the sleep tonic I gave about a half dose. Enough that we can wake her up if need be.”

Raine nodded and looked worried, “I wasn’t sure at first but she has the telltale signs of silver and wolfsbane poisoning. You can see the veins from it on her arms. It’s faint but that means they were doing it as a sedative. She is definitely a werewolf and not half.”

Once more Raine nodded once he sniffed the vial. “Yeah, we can’t treat the drug usage with all the other crud in her system. It’s weakening her body’s response so she can’t fight the drugs.” Not wanting to answer him she looked away for a moment but finally, she caved, “I took it from Toya’s stash. I figured if it worked for Aurora or Tempest that it would work for her. Plus, there were mixtures for Blaine, who is a full-blooded werewolf. I could double the dose if it doesn’t work since Aurora and Tempest are only half.”

Rubbing her neck in a way that she obviously picked up from Angela Raine got sheepish, “Yesterday morning. I was detoxing her naturally when she convulsed this morning. I had no idea they had laced her with silver and wolfsbane.”

She got quiet and looked at Xeik, “Aren’t you going to ask me where I found her?”

“Where she came from can wait until after she’s in the clear,” Xeik replied. “But, I think we can treat her with what we have here. So start talking,” he said as he rolled up his sleeves and got to work. Normally he would have left this to Raine, but he felt he should handle the physical work while Raine explained herself. Better to let her focus on her tale while he worked.

For the most part, what Raine had said made sense. Based on her weight and size, and what he knew of Toya’s children, the dosage was as close to right as it was going to be without the proper tools. With the way she was right now, there was no way of getting good measurements off of her, so using what they had on hand was the best they could do. She seemed to accept the doses without much of a fuss as the sleeping tonic did its job, and once he was done with the vial, he did a once over of her vitals again.

“Not much of a change, but it hasn’t gotten worse. We’ll check up on her after awhile…” He looked to Raine. “You shouldn’t have hid her. You know I would have helped.”

Raine was quiet as she formulated just how to tell Xeik exactly what had happened. “I was afraid people would send her back. I was in a cage once too…” She knew how people could be even in Angela’s temple. Angela wasn’t here to protect her so Raine did it all by herself. Not that she didn’t think Xeik would help. “I trust you. I don’t trust everyone else. The fewer people who know about her the better.”

Angela hadn’t told Xeik much of anything about Raine. Just that she had been born in the temple and that the temple was all she had known for decades. Once she got the words she was looking for she looked up at Xeik cheerfully. “I was flying in Vilpamolan delivering papers to Freya who is in charge of the church there. She is the cardinal… Anyway, I saw this caravan of people. It was massive. Just outside the city. I’ve only ever heard about the slaves and the slave trade. It was like a store for them.”

She got sad a bit, “So I wanted a closer look. One of the guys tried to nab me so I just lit his coat on fire. Enough to get away but not hurt him. She looked so excited to see a bird Xeik. I’ve seen that look before. Being in a cage and seeing the other birds flying. I know that look. She wanted to be free too. So… I took her.”

“From the slave traders.”

“By force.”

“I lit them on fire okay.”

"They came at me with pitchforks and screaming, 'THAT'S MY PROPERTY!'"

“AND THEN, I put her in here and here we are. I don’t know anything about her.”

Xeik wasn’t exactly sure if Raine expected him to be mad, but he stopped what he was doing, and turned to Raine. There was a strange look in his eyes as he looked at the phoenix in a different way. “You know, before I lost my guild, one of the things that we used to do was liberate children from slave traders. A lot of times we got the adults too, but we never intentionally went after them. I couldn’t stand those people abusing kids like that. Even though I was just a starry eyed brat, I still fought for their freedom. Sometimes I wish I could go back to it, but…well, I’m here now, and I know I’m helping. But Raine…I’m proud of you.” With that, he bonked her on the head with a closed fist. “However…that was extremely dangerous…”

He sighed, and looked back to the patient. “Now we just have to wait, and see what happens. It’s likely that it’ll take some time.” He pulled up a chair, and sat down, taking a book and some notes from his coat pocket. More material for Lewis and Simone to help them. “You can leave if you want Raine. I’ll stay here, and if anything happens I’ll come and get you.” He smiled. “I promise. Get some rest. You’ve been trying to do this alone for awhile, so you deserve a break.”

There was an excited look on her face when Xeik said she was proud of her. But then he bonked her on the head and she rubbed it. “Owie,” she winced and groaned a bit. “I know… but I couldn’t just leave her there. She was all by herself in a tiny little cage. I don’t think she even fit in it.”

Raine was a little tired and she nodded, “Okay, I got some oil and stuff for her hair. It’s all knotted up. I wanted to save it… It looks like silver strands and I didn’t want to cut it.” That was just eye candy for a bird. “I’m going to go to the Bastion to see Maalik. I’m sure he misses me! If you need me just send someone.” She was probably going to go sleep in his lap while he worked. That was pretty typical of Raine at this point.

It took a few hours but the girl began to stir and once she was awake she looked groggy. Her head felt like a muddled mess and to make matters worse she still didn’t know where she was. The pink-haired one had carried her off and stuck her in a room. There had been no words exchanged only that her name was Raine.

Only free people had names, or so she had been told. She grabbed at the blankets and felt how soft they were. Immediately she was on her hands and knees on the bed feeling it. Her face had a look of wonder on it as she felt everything about the bed.

And…. Then….

She noticed Xeik.

She was off the bed and stumbled almost immediately into a table. She sliced open her leg by hitting something just sharp enough that Raine had forgotten to move. She was curled up against the wall looking at him. The pain from the wound was making her wince but her heart and breathing were out of control.

Her eyes were like gold and they were full of fear.

Xeik noticed when she started to stir, and kept his calm aura up. Despite this, the moment she noticed Xeik, she started to freak out. This was something that he had seen over and over in the victims that he had rescued from captivity. He mentally cursed Raine and himself for forgetting to make the area safe, but he raised up his hands in response to her fear.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m with Raine.” Slowly, he let his hands fall. “I promise I won’t hurt you…” He slowly moved his hands towards her, just close enough to use magic. He let a bit of mana flow, and closed the wound she had just created. He wished he could do more, but with drugs and poisons, it was no use. The best he could do was heal physical injuries with magic at the moment. Anything more was likely to fail.

The moment he was done with the magic, he pulled his hands back, and calmly sat back in the chair. “My name is Xeik.” Raine had told him she couldn’t speak, but not that she couldn’t understand him. “How are you feeling? Hungry? Thirsty?” He paused, letting her think. “How about pain? Do you hurt anywhere?”