The Lord of the Plains (10 page)

Aerlid nodded. Then he looked down at the
pieces of stone in his bag. ‘And I owe you…’

‘A square…’ he nodded when Aerlid brought
one out. ‘One bar and a half bar.’

He smiled. ‘That’s settled then.’

‘Would I be able to get changed here, fa?’
Aerlid asked carefully.

The shopkeeper, amused, gestured towards an
alcove he hadn’t noticed before, with a curtain in front of it. ‘Go
ahead.’

Aerlid quickly changed and gathered his
things in his bag. He thanked the shopkeeper, silencing the voice
in his mind saying he could have been swindled and left the store
looking like a regular Astarian.

After that he quickly made his way to the
clinic, glancing up at the sun all the way.

Aerlid returned to the apartment bone tired
but satisfied. He had indeed met the standards of the clinic staff,
though it had been harder than he’d thought. He was tired and in a
completely new place. He’d had to go back and use skills he hadn’t
practiced in a long time. He couldn’t exactly just lay his hands on
a patient and heal them with his colleagues watching.

He dumped his purchases on the table and
went to check on Riley. He brushed his hand over her head lightly.
She would awake naturally when she was ready.

He closed the door quietly and went back to
the living room, munching slowly on dried meat. He’d have to buy
some vegetables somewhere, he thought idly.

What were they doing, shooting people like
that? he wondered. How exactly did they expect a wound like that to
heal? At best, left to their methods, she’d never be able to move
her shoulder again and have a very unpleasant scar. How did they
test those settings anyway? Did they round up Astarians, put them
into groups and shoot them?

‘Oh damn, looks like it didn’t go all the
way through…NEXT!’

He rather doubted that.

His mood soured, he stopped eating, no
longer in the mood.

Stretching out on the floor, he was asleep
in moments.

When he woke it was morning.

Aerlid blinked and raised a hand to his
eyes. Slowly he sat up and stretched.

He checked on Riley before showering. When
he returned he noticed in pleasant surprise someone had been at the
food. That was a good sign. He went into the bedroom and found her
curled up asleep, lying on her good shoulder. He didn’t want to
wake her yet he didn’t want to force her to sleep the rest of the
day again either.

Gently he woke her without touching her
shoulder.

She looked at him blearily.

‘Riley, I am going out. I will not be back
til it is dark. Ok?’

She nodded, but he doubted whether she
understood.

‘You’re safe here, I want you to stay here,
ok?’

She nodded again, her eyes fluttering
closed.

He closed the door carefully behind him. He
didn’t think he should- or could- do anymore to her shoulder until
she woke up and he could test her mobility.

He left early and ambled slowly to work. He
arrived promptly on time.

When he returned home that evening Riley was
awake. She was sitting on a chair in the living room, her legs
dangling off the ground, looking groggy. Aerlid thought she looked
how he felt.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.

‘S’ok.’ she mumbled.

‘I think you need a shower.’

‘Shower?’

To say Riley was surprised when she saw the
shower was a bit of an understatement. Aerlid spent a good five
minutes explaining to her that she wasn’t to take very long- water
(as well as everything else) was precious here. When he was done he
still wasn’t sure she understood, though she nodded, her eyes
wide.

He hoped she wouldn’t stay and gawk at the
shower, or try to experiment with it, but there was really no
telling. He wondered if their shower privileges would be revoked.
The fact she was wobbly on her legs was probably in their favour
right now. She
couldn’t
take long. He listened intently to
her shower, listening for the sound of her falling.

Despite his worries Riley finished quickly
and Aerlid was reduced to interrogating her about whether she’d
actually used soap. He gave her a sniff, decided grudgingly that
yes, she had used soap, and ushered her back up to their
apartment.

They had dinner together. He’d bought some
fruit and carefully shared an apple out between them. He felt they
both needed it. The pricing of food was curious here; it depended
on how much you bought. If you bought just enough to survive the
pricing was low, once you started adding more food the price of
every item increased substantially. It seemed the authorities
wanted everyone to have enough to eat, but no one to eat more than
they absolutely had to. He wondered how it worked- what if someone
else from the family came and bought food? What if you went to a
different store? He hadn’t asked.

Aerlid’s mood improved markedly as they ate.
Riley was eating with both hands, moving her injured shoulder
easily.

‘I am going to see how your shoulder is.’ he
told her once dinner was done.

She nodded, looking half asleep. Aerlid
placed a hand carefully on her shoulder and closed his eyes. He
didn’t heal, just examined. When he removed his hand dizziness hit
him so hard he almost fell.

Carefully he made his way back to his
chair.

Riley looked at him with worry in her
eyes.

‘I think I need to sleep now.’ he said,
swallowing thickly. He needed to rest. He needed good food. ‘You
should go to sleep too.’ He wouldn’t be able to do any more for her
shoulder for a while. Perhaps a long while. Neither would he be
healing anybody in the clinic with anything but human methods.

Riley slid off the chair and came over and
patted his hand. He smiled at her. Then she went to the bedroom. By
the time she was there Aerlid was asleep on the floor.

Chapter 8

The week Riley had first awoken had been
hellish. Aerlid had worried constantly over her shoulder, and
worked every day, when what he really needed to do was sleep for
three days straight. Now though, Riley seemed fully recovered and
he was starting to feel half alive again himself. He couldn’t be
sure about her shoulder though, not until
he
was recovered
enough to check properly. She’d practiced some routines the other
day and he hadn’t noticed that she was favouring her other side or
having difficulty moving her shoulder at all.

Yesterday he’d noticed Riley was getting
shifty about being locked in the apartment all day. He’d taken that
as a good sign. There was one day of rest every seven days. Last
Restday both of them had been too tired to do anything, but this
Restday he intended to show her Astar. As preparation for that,
he’d had to tell Riley that she wasn’t to go catch any birds (or
Lady forbid, somebody’s pet) for food.

That morning before work he moved some of
the meat to the ice box. It didn’t really need to be there to last,
but it kept the bugs from getting at it, at least. When he arrived
at the clinic he was greeted in a friendly manner by his
colleagues. He hadn’t been in the right state to pay much attention
to them previously, and thankfully they had understood. His
colleagues were typical Astarians. They were a people with pale
blonde or light brown hair and predominantly blue eyes. Men and
women wore their hair in the same way; short.

‘You’re a little early today, Arntar. Keila
and Lann aren’t here yet.’ Jania, the receptionist said with a
smile. She was an older woman and reminded Aerlid of a grandmother.
She also acted as a physician when she wasn’t in charge of the
waiting room. ‘How is your little girl? Do you have someone looking
after her while you’re here?’ she asked.

‘No, she is alone. I do not know anyone and
I am not sure if this is an appropriate place for her, fei…’

‘Nonsense! Bring her with you, she can play
with the toys. I can watch her while I’m here. Better than being
alone all day.’

Aerlid smiled, ‘thank you.’

There was the sound of a door opening.
Aerlid turned as Keila, one of the two other workers at their small
clinic, arrived.

She smiled when she saw him and said hello
to Jania. ‘You look better today.’ she said to Aerlid, looking him
over critically with a physician’s eye. ‘How is your little
girl?’

‘Better. I think she will be ok.’ he sighed,
trying to keep his expression from darkening.

‘You should bring her in.’ she said frankly.
‘If she needs her arm removed better to do it now.’

Aerlid’s stomach clenched, the blood drained
from his face. Keila suddenly rushed towards him and sat him down
on one of the chairs. ‘There, there, I’m sure it will be all right.
That’s just the worst case scenario, it doesn’t happen often.’

Aerlid swallowed. ‘No…no, she’s ok, fei.’ He
suddenly wondered what would happen when people realised Riley had
full mobility in her shoulder. Almost as if she’d never been shot.
He shook his head, trying to push those thoughts away. He couldn’t
deal with that right now. Suddenly he asked Keila about her child-
he vaguely remembered she had one.

The conversation turned to his worries about
Riley starting school, which seemed rather pale in comparison to
his other concerns. Keila was quite charmed by his concern for his
niece- that was the story he was going with- and told him she often
took her son to the park to play with the other children.

Keila looked up as the first patient of the
day came in. ‘Well, why don’t you and your niece come to the park
with us on Restday? It’ll give her a chance to meet some other
children before she starts school.’

Aerlid had trouble hiding his surprise at
her kind offer. ‘Yes, that would be- thank you, fei.’ He was
relieved and apprehensive at the same time. Well, if something was
to go wrong, better it go wrong with fewer witnesses.

She smiled kindly at him and touched his
arm. ‘Don’t worry, everything will be fine.’ Then she stood, her
attention turning to the patient.

As soon as Aerlid arrived home that night
Riley popped up to greet him- she’d been waiting. Aerlid felt
another surge of relief at her bright smile and shifting feet. She
was recovering nicely.

He’d been too tired to continue her lessons,
fighting or intellectual, though that didn’t stop her from
practicing.

‘What have you been doing all day?’ He asked
as he sat down on the hard wooden chair. No comfort here.

Riley smiled, ‘training! And cleaning.’ she
frowned as she looked around. ‘There was not much to clean.’ With a
frown she asked, ‘where do you sleep?’

‘On the floor.’ he replied.

‘Why do I not sleep on the floor?’

‘Because you were sick.’

‘But I am not now.’

‘I think you still need some rest.’

‘You sleep on that…’ she waved at the
bedroom.