The Fallen Will Rise Once More [Complete]

[GoblinFae]

"Another thing in common. I too am an only child. I have not spoken to or seen either of my parents in a very long time. I guess that is best though given my occupation," she said trying to bring light to it.

"Did you always want to be a healer? Saving people's lives, healing their hurts, assisting the entrance of new life into the world, it all seems," she paused looking for the right word, "uncomplicated." Backtracking, she began again, "I mean I am sure you have your share of troubles; not everyone lives, not every job is easy or fun etc,. It is just," she sighed. "Uncomplicated," she finished shrugging her shoulders sheepishly.

[CastlesInTheSky]

Windsor nodded. Interesting. He wasn't going to pry into her personal life, as he figured it wasn't any of his business, especially because of the situation in which they had met.

Windsor wasn't sure how to answer the question for a moment. He sat, pondering her question for a moment. "Well..." He rubbed his chin, answering slowly. "Yes, I have, actually. And as for the other part...I suppose the goal of it is and such. Simple in its own way, but not in an array of others. Like how a pattern of a quilt looks simple enough until you look at the advanced stitchwork." He studied her, curious. "You've been the only one to say they've hated me and taken it back. Thanks..." He smiled a bit and looked at the floor, a bit sheepish himself.

[GoblinFae]

Tiraris listened intently to what he was saying. 'A quilt? Now that is very interesting way of putting it.' She found herself fascinated and puzzled by this man. He was so innocent. 'He is like me before everything really started. He is good and kind. He is one of those pure souls, selfless and caring.' The thoughts surprised her. She had long since forgotten who she used to be. Having long ago locked away her youth in order to protect herself from her mother, she had become the colder more calculated woman she was today. Windsor's kindness was a new and foreign concept to her. She did not dislike it. But, she was wary of it. Past experience had taught her not to trust.

"Hate you?" She repeated, rejoining the conversation. "Now that is not fair. You had me knocked unconscious when I will wanted to do was to stop being an inconvenience," she teased back in mock innocence. "Of course, I am going to say 'I hate you.' You would do the same, I am sure. But, you are welcome nonetheless. I was wrong to say that; you were only trying to help me."

[CastlesInTheSky]

Windsor shook his head. "Ah, I don't care, don't bother yourself with saying sorry. People like to throw around the words hate and love these days, and neither they really seem to mean." He glanced at her, remembering something. "Oh, and I was going to say-"

Suddenly, a man burst in through the front door, or seemed to have been thrown in. He had light coloured skin with a shock of black hair. Windsor was up and at the door in what seemed to be barely a moment. He hissed, "Get in the back room, idiot.", and glanced back at Tiraris, mouthing, "he's not a threat", and proceeding to shove the man in the other room. There was a lot of whispering and mumbling with a bit of scolding and complaining from the other man. Soon Windsor emerged, rolling his eyes. "Don't mind him," he said to her quietly, "he's just a patient of mine. I promise you that he won't turn you in and I doubt highly if he even knows something happened."

[GoblinFae]

The interruption startled Tiraris. Her fighter instincts took over causing her to grip the plate tightly, at best she could use it as a weapon of distraction. Even with Windsor's mouthed reassurances, she did not feel relaxed. 'Fool! You trust and you get hurt. Have you not learned this by now? How many more incidences will it take before it has been beaten into your thick skull? He will betray you, they all do in the end! You are going to die!'

Winsdor returned offering her more reassurances but it was no use. She was back in the old mindset. She say ramrod straight, listening to him try and calm her. "You were going to say something before we were interrupted; what was it?" Her voice was colder. The child-like warmth and amusement had disappeared leaving behind the calculating woman Windsor had first encountered.

[CastlesInTheSky]

Just as she had changed, the dry and uptight doctor with two blue eyes had returned instead of the friendly man that had just been speaking to her. He adjusted his glasses, muttering something.

"It was nothing. I don't recall anymore."

Before he could say anything else, the man burst in the room and Windsor held out his arm, preventing him from moving past the doorway.

"Phoenix, stay out, she doesn't want any company."

The man called Phoenix peered at the woman in the room. His deep red eyes glittered with curiosity. The strangest part about him without doubt was likely the serpentine tail that trailed on the floor around him, covered in black scales. He said "hello" and gave a smile that was nowhere near calming, his two especially sharp and slightly longer canines standing out.

[GoblinFae]

Her heart pinged painfully at seeing the dry doctor return. 'It is just business. You are his patient, nothing more. He was indulging you because you were nearly dying. Now he non-criminal paying patients to take care of. Of course he will choose them over you.'

Tiraris played the frightened woman when Phoenix barged in. She gasped, pulling the covers up to hide her chest and shoulder, as was proper. While her body language was the perfect imitation of a frightened hurt, young woman. Her eyes told a different story. Those mahogany eyes blazed with the fires of hatred, distrust, and anger. Her left hand slipped under the covers reaching for a knife that was not there.

In an attempt to calm herself she lowered her head with closed eyes, her hands clenching tightly in the blankets. 'It would not do to blow up Wind- the healer's quarters because of his obnoxious patient.'

"Healer Wright, when you are done with your patient I believe my bandages need changing," she told him moving her hair back to cover her face. 'Please do not hate me Windsor!' the child Tiraris screamed.

[CastlesInTheSky]

Little did she know that Phoenix wasn't paying him nearly the amount he deserved, and that he would gladly choose her as a patient over him, the half-demon slob who burst in his house from time to time stinking of alcohol and blood.

As she reacted to the situation, Windsor remained unmoved while Phoenix seemed to find it amusing. His smirk remained. Windsor nodded at her comment. "Understood, miss. I will be done with him shortly." He almost had to drag Phoenix away from the doorway into the room opposite. Shortly after he emerged, making his other patient leave as fast as he had come and locking the door this time. He sighed, leaving for a moment to go get bandages and coming back carrying some into the room.

"I apologize for that. Phoenix is..." As he sat next to her shaking his head, "a complete idiot." His professional demeanor slid off once again but he wasn't happy this time.

[GoblinFae]

"I understand," she replied with bowed head. "Could you help me?" she asked still refusing to look at him as she lowered the blankets and pointed to her side. "I seem to have really strained it with my stretching exercises this morning."

She turned her back towards him struggling to lift her nightgown to show him the damage. Her silken red locks felt like cool caresses on her inflamed cheeks. "What does he come here for, your client?" she asked glancing back at him over her shoulder. She could not hold his gaze though and allowed her head to drop forward once more.

[CastlesInTheSky]

"Mmhm", he mumbled. Wasn't that what he was there to do, to help? He wondered where people assumed doctors went when they needed assistance.

Windsor's cheeks may have had the slightest hint of a rose colour forming on them, but due to his occupation he wasn't particularly flustered by someone removing clothes to show a wound. It was interesting that he, on the other hand, was never seen without a jacket on and fully clothed. After moving aside the bandages he inspected the wound and took a moment to answer, wrapping the fresh ones on her gently but firmly to ensure their proper use. He didn't need to use any magic on it at this time.

"He comes for a many a thing including insomnia and getting his wounds from fights healed. I can't tell you too much about him and his problems, though, as they aren't really my secrets to tell."

He looked up for a moment, studying her face from what he could see of it when she was leaned forward and continued his work. "Does it hurt a lot? If need be we can numb it a bit."

[GoblinFae]

"Secrets, yes I can understand that." Turning she caught his hand in her own and looked him in the eye despite the pain. "I respect you for that."

After holding his gaze for a few seconds more, she turned away fixing her nightgown. "Do not concern yourself with the pain. I can bear it," she said trying to smile at him. All she managed was a slight upturning of her lips before she looked away again. 'I must bear it!'

"How much longer do you think it will take to heal? Is there anything I should be aware of and take care of?"

[CastlesInTheSky]

Windsor held her gaze for a moment, then looked back to his work. He didn't reply to her comment in words but instead simply nodded his appreciation for the compliment.

After he had finished he sat there and listened. He doubted it didn't hurt at all, but he decided not to comment on that. "Alright."

He appeared thoughtful, sweeping away a strand of his lightly coloured hair. "Hm...Well, I'd stay here for another week and a half if I were you at least. With our magic we can hurry the process somewhat, but it is a very, very deep wound and you're lucky to have survived it. Without care for that long it could be prone to infection as well. There's nothing you really need to do besides the obvious."

[GoblinFae]

"The obvious being, be the perfect little patient and stay in bed," she huffed playfully. "Do you often have clients? I know most of my stay I have been unconscious but, it does not seem like many people have come through today."

Looking about slowly, she tried to think of something else to say. 'Wait. Why do I want him to stay? I should be trying to think of a way to get out of here. A week? I can mend faster than that.'

"My things. I know for a fact this is not the outfit I was wearing when I was injured," she said pointing to the nightgown. "I believe I had some lovely armor and a few knives. You would not happen to know where they walked off to, would you?"

[CastlesInTheSky]

Windsor smiled a bit at her remark. Perfect patient, haha. Unlikely.

His clients...hm. He would need to get back to there soon. After all of this blew over perhaps. Though he didn't have any who needed him at the time, there could still have been someone needing something.

"This isn't my house, this is my friend's that you met. My house is elsewhere in the capital; we're in a small town nearby. I couldn't bring you there at the time."

He glanced at her, a playful smile dancing across his lips briefly. "They flew away to the lovely land of 'you'll get them later, I promise." He snickered.

[GoblinFae]

"Ah, that is quite understandable. Should you not go there, then? I am sure you have clients that need your attention. If you trust your mentor enough to house me here, then you have no reason to stay. Any man who can train such a healer as you, can take care of my minor injuries." The compliment was veiled but there nonetheless. If he chose to hear it for what it was, was none of her business. The art of twisting words had always been a favorite of hers.

Feigning confusion she continued, "The land of you'll get them later? I am afraid I have never heard of it. Perhaps you can show it to me on a map? I really could use a few important items that were in the rucksack," she bluffed. 'All I need is the location of the bag and I am free!'

[CastlesInTheSky]

Windsor glanced at her, replying with, "Ah, no. I don't have anyone needing urgent care as of now. He did take note of the compliment, but didn't show it.

He shook his head and got up, pacing and gesturing. "I'm not going to give them to you right now. Isn't it all you can do to be a good patient and just sit there when I am healing you, free of charge, and not try to run off when I'm risking my skin to help you out?" He turned towards her, studying her face for a moment, his stare intense. Though the tone hadn't been completely serious, there was an underlying meaning to the statement.

[GoblinFae]

Tiraris raised her brow in response to his questioning. "While I thank you for hospitality and sacrifices, I have never asked for it. I have tried to repay you, and you refuse. You have taken all choice out of my hands. Is it so wrong for me to want freedom, to want security, to want my fate resting once more in my own hands? Or have you forgotten what I am, what I do on a daily basis, multiple times a day? Let me remind you. I. AM. AN. ASSASSIN. A murder, a killer, a taker of life, a destroyer and a monster!" Her voice rose with each word she hurled. Her breathing came fast and heavy as she her ribs protested the outburst.

She opened her mouth to say more when a bang reverberated through the building as a door was flung open. "We need a healer now!" sounded a man's gruff voice that was coming closer. The unmistakeable sound of armor clinking about indicated at least one if not more soldiers were present.

[CastlesInTheSky]

Windsor's eyes narrowed and stared coldly. A thousand mental walls had clicked into place and at this point it would have been like talking to a wall rather than a person. It reminded him of a time a long ago, a bit after he had first gotten the house in Arca...

When the door slammed open, he whipped around, turning to her with a finger to his mouth indicating silence and hurrying through the doorway in a moment, closing the door fast behind him.

"What, what's the matter?"

[GoblinFae]

She glared at Windsor, nostrils flaring. 'Great help he is!' She looked about searching for an exit. Finding none but the door with the approaching footsteps, she desperately searched for a hiding place. 'Of course! No one will search for me here,' she thought sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Carefully and quietly she dropped to the ground rolling under the bed. Unbeknownst to her, a lock of her red hair lay just outside the bed's hiding capabilities.

"Captain Henry has been wounded on duty. A group of bandits ambushed us while we were coming home from patrol," barked one of the two guards holding the severely wounded captain. Pushing past Windsor, the forefront of the two kicked open the door of the room that housed Tiraris. "Well what are you doing? Get him on the bed! And you healer, if the captain dies it will be on your head. Hurry up do you work, before I run you through and find another healer," he said as he stood by the bed, his foot bare inches away from Tiraris visible lock of hair.

[CastlesInTheSky]

What in the world?

In a moment he was being pushed away, a severely injured guard captain being placed in the same room as her.
The hidden assassin wouldn't stay hidden for long, hm?
He entered the room, ready to burst out in explanation when he didn't see her. Scanning the room while the guard barked orders to both him and the other men, he hurried to the bedside with the injured captain now upon it, grumbling at the others to move aside. He caught sight of the red strand and his eyes widened, but he put his eyes back to the wounded man so quickly that it could easily have been attributed to the wounds. He quickly began his work, purposely putting himself in a position so it would be harder for the man to see the hair. He went about it quickly and efficiently, looking at the other guard next to him. "Will you go to the room, second on the left and get the man in there? He can assist me in healing this captain."