* * ☾ * *

Healer Rhea's POV

It wasn't anything in particular that had woken Rhea up, and not on purpose, either. There was much to take in all at once, the voices and commotion coming from outside that was a mixture between muffled and clear—The abrupt smell that seemed to assault her nose, danced around the room in waves.
First sour, then sweet, then an abrupt curse of burning—Followed by a sharp curse that had Rhea groan and turn to her side in damnation.

"Course, my cursing gets your attention...Come on you pretty thing, we have some work to do." Rhea's eyes felt heavy, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her as she peeked her attention to moving blur that continued its way towards her.

After a quick rub, she was introduced to a chipped cup.
One that looked awfully familiar, and she leaned forward with a bit of help to take hold of it entirely. "Gave Osmin a scare. But he doesn't know a thing about women, does he? Not from any species, human, witch, or wolf. Goddess, that male is hopeless." Rhea watched as the stranger had done nearly five things at once while ranting about the male that she remembered kissed her with love and intent.

"Hmm," Rhea said, still dazed by the area she was stationed in. The darkened layers that shield the tent from light confused her or did until the female came forward with a damp cloth and pressed it against her forehead.

"You're burning up a little..." She whispered, and Rhea's attention was fixated on something important, and she truly didn't mean to be so insensitive. But her distortion to the situation had made her blunt with her actions, and caused her hand to reach up to the scar running across the female's eyes.

"You're hurt."

"And you're sick...It happened when I was younger, nothing to get worked up about now."

"Are you blind?"
"Partially, but that hasn't stopped me from working. Not that the King would care." She's a witch! That's right!

"You're Lill—"

"Lillian, yes. You took a fall just as Osmin was leaving. Been out for nearly a day, and had to give your human males some words of relief when I said you were alright. Just exhausted and dehydrated. Now drink up, I need those well-working hands of yours. You're a Healer?" Rhea swallowed a few gulps, not prepared for a question as she nodded eagerly, but the witch had left her side to continue to catch a few stirs and add ingredients to.

"Y-yes. I'm a Healer.

"Perfect. We get a lot of humans to come in every day." Rhea nodded and placed down her empty mug beside her and tried to rise up to her feet. Only to catch a leather band on her ankle, and the tightness had caused her heartbeat to spike. "Rhea?"

"What's this?"

"Oh, it's Osmin's claim. Any Rogue bastard will be able to see that...Well, it also keeps you near the tent."

"Near the tent? Is this some of your magik coming into play?" Lillian eyed Rhea with the intention to speak as she stirred another bowl in her arms, but couldn't keep her level of disappointment contained.

Not with the amount of destruction featured in those eyes.

"I was forced to."
"To make the tailensmen?"
"The same way you faked a child? I love Osmin, but I swear he can be dumb as a damn pebble. Now get up and you can play that sob story later, right now we have to make inventory for the rest of the week. The males get worse by midday." Rhea didn't know what that had meant, necessarily, but it had become clear once the humans had started coming in the moment the sun had struck the center of the sky.

Apparently, the wolves turned more agitated and less forgiving, meaning harsher punishments for those working through the course of the day. And Lillian's only advice was a soft touch and the voice to keep their head down, though it did spark their attention that there was a new able body in the tent. Meaning double the help and double the kindness.

And that was something everyone in the camp that was trapped knew very little about.

As the day progressed into the evening, things had started to settle down—But not when the wolves started lurking about. Clearly, they were interested in a new untouchable female, and they eyed the leather band on her ankle with pure distaste, but once either Lillian or Rhea had voiced she was having a pup, they seemed to back off.

Some of them, at least.

Once Rhea's newfound friend had settled into the corner stool and put her head down, she assumed it was finally downtime to do something else—And even with the churning in her stomach and pure aggravation of how scorching hot it was with the roaring pots everywhere, she thought it better than being stuck out in the cold without anything to cover herself with.

The men's skin was showing signs of frostbite and Goddess, she could only pray that the weather grows warmer in the coming days.

"Do the men get shelter at night?" Lillian picked up her head and looked towards her in pure boredom. "Think so, but nothing to talk about, really. I've charmed the better part of my tent. Our beds are in the back, it's a little cooler there." Rhea nodded, but that wasn't where her concerned lied, at least.

Yet something had caught her attention and caused her to hurry to her feet. "Is someone back there?"

"Hm...The former witch, burned through her Nexus. I would've been there too if Osmin didn't back me up at the times I overused my abilities." Rhea was still unsure of how to process being in the presence of a witch she didn't have the gull to ask what that ability is.

But Rhea had peeked her head into the side room, seeing a woman with long white hair just wheezing at the edge of the bed. Dulled and lifeless to the point that Rhea double-checked that she was breathing.

Yet with this closeness, the thin body had managed to move—Only in a shaking fumble to point to the small cup on the bedside table. "Water? Let me go see if I can get you some good tea after this, hm?" Her voice sound soft and therapeutic compared to Lillian's, but it was clear the female on the other side of the tent's walls was overworked, overworked that she couldn't see the absolute carnage that was taking place just outside the thickened canvas walls.

"Wouldn't bother too much with her, don't have the resources to help her."

"And calling her a lost hope isn't what a Healer does." Rhea spat, taking some of the offered tea from the large kettle and returning to the witch—Who she soon learned was named Blair.

Now Rhea wasn't about to assume that Lillian had turned neglectful of the duties to Blair, not when the caretaking throughout the day for the dozens of injured or ill men was leaving the elder without the attention she needed.

Even with little to no energy, Rhea had taken to giving Blair a small sponge bath, washed out her silvery locks, and tried to spoon-feed her some broth—Hoping that the nutrients would be enough to give her some life back into her.

When night finally came, Rhea was prepared for Lillian to head to bed, but unfortunately, that wasn't the way of a Healer in a prison camp that operated twenty-four hours a day.

Meaning there were night calls, more wolves than anything, who liked to snack and cause a ruckus for them not stitching or healing them fast enough.

By the end of it, or the end as in the wee hours of the morning, Lillian had fallen into her sleeping sack and pointed to the free one just beside her. "New shipment in the morning, better to wake up early." She said, drowsy as all hell, and no doubt already on the verge of falling asleep, yet Rhea couldn't keep herself from asking.

"How were you caught?"

"Parents died, neighbors took me in and sold me—Nothing special." She said all in one breath, and Rhea's nose twitched at the feeling and smell of the straw pillow case underneath her head. "I saw the burns on your arms."

"Nothing special," Rhea whispered back, turning to the side once more to see that Lillian now appeared awake. "No, but they're old, aren't they?" The question was returned with a nod, not wanting to admit it out into the world. "Was it a punishment or an accident?"

"Little bit of both...My left-hand doesn't work as well as it should. I'm hoping that it'll get better with time but it's been a while with the same issues." There were times when the phantom pains were too much to bear, and Rhea wondered if this was her own version of suffering through the inferno, her personally designed purgatory to live even before she reached the Goddess.

If Rhea had the ability to go back in time, she had a list of things she could do to stop what happened—But if she only had time for one, she would try and stop her father from letting things get too far deep.

To let things just segregate and allow those in the Tirean Territory to fester in anger.

"That must have been painful..." Lillian whispered, not knowing what else to say, and Rhea hummed. "I was in pain for years before I could even think properly again."

"How old were you?"

"In my teens. My family didn't have the funds for a proper Healer."

"So you decided to become one?" The connection wasn't truly what happened, as Rhea always found herself fixated on health that could be cured with the simple solution of looking back to the planet's resources for numerous sorts of ailments.

"My brother died when I was young, but I always seemed to like to tend the gardens. Didn't take long after to figure out that each plant has a purpose."

"Sure your mother wasn't a witch?" Rhea frowned as she turned towards Lillian once more with sure directive of needing an explanation. "I'm just saying, there is a difference between the skills you've used to what normal Healers from the kingdom. Who taught you?" It had been an elderly woman, a neighbor, really, who had taken to mentoring Rhea in her early days.

"Henda. It was back when there were more human settlements following the Kingdom's fall. I'm not sure really where it would be located now." If Lillian had caught onto Rhea's lie on location, she hadn't said a thing. Otherwise, Rhea would have to divulge further into the history of where she is from and so forth, keeping it vague was her best bet to keep her identity a secret.

Even if Osmin was under the king's paycheck, that still didn't mean he had the same intentions as Rhea or the rest. No, right now she needed to keep a low profile and her head low.

"Hmm, Henda's a witch name if I've ever heard one. I wonder if she's blessed you—I'm too tired to look now, tomorrow I will." Lillian claims, and Rhea's eyes burred together in utter confusion, not wanting to risk anything else Lillian might find in that regard.

"I don't have any special blessings...Not that I remember her doing at least."

"Has she passed away?" The question felt heavy on Rhea's chest, and the silence had spoken the answer without the voice of confirmation. "Witches have a sort of will, when a soul leaves the body. Tomorrow I'll be able to see if her soul has left some sort of resin on yours...Perhaps that's why you feel so strong for Blair."

"She's an elder, there's no need to be rude—"

"She's younger than I am. It's what happens when a witch's Nexus is overdrawn, besides—The King favored her. That always has its own downfall. Keep your head down, Osmin's claim is saving you in more ways than one." Now that had caused Rhea to rise to sit up.

"You love him."

"Love is dangerous here."

"That sounds like denial...But that's true." She confirmed and eyed the rest of the tent where two humans labored breathing causing their chests to move in a not-so-friendly pattern.

But they were breathing, and that was as far as Lillian cared.

"A virgin witch is much more valuable than a fuckable one."

"Is there any truth in that?" Rhea hissed, wondering if there was any backing to the idea of retaining a woman's virginity—And here she was, tempting to play off a pregnant female, without ever having a cock penetrate her—

"A bit, and it doesn't leave me distracted or out there with the rest of the humans. Osmin always says there's a little bit to his debt left, and then we're out of here. You too."

"That's just it? You're going to return back to the packs and kingdom as if nothing happened?" Lillian groaned and held up her wrist, showing a similar leather cuff to the one that Rhea had on her ankle. "He's not the only one with debt. The king is generous and I'm not about to risk anything, besides, what is the Alpha King going to do once the Mad king becomes even madder?" The fact of the matter was, Rhea was completely and unwillingly out of her element and would need to rely on the people at her disposal, isn't that what father would do?

To use Osmin and Lillian to get back to her men and return back to society—Then what? They wouldn't be able to live harmoniously without some redemption to fix things here. "Why would I count?"

"Because you're carrying Osmin's pup. How did you manage to fool them?" Rhea swallowed thickly, looking about as though someone would call her out of the foliage and point fingers at said lie.
"I thought Osmin was going to do something unspeakable, and before he could do anything more, he smelled my stomach and I—I assume the oils I used on my burns are potent enough where it smells sweet and resembles a pregnant female. Though that is just a theory of mine."

"I can see the backing to it, and Osmin wouldn't have done anything—He tests the grounds and puts on a show for those under him. He's a good male." Rhea smiled, not wanting to voice her own opinion and ruin this semi-friendship she has created.

Perhaps if she keeps her head down for a little while longer, regrouping without the constant strain of Rogues breathing down her neck would be a much better carriage than the Alpha King—Or better yet, the mad King.

______

Date: 05/11/23

Time: 12:17

Words: 2494