The warmth of a fire hugged my side, enveloping me in momentary comfort. I laid there, still, on my back for a while...wondering how I got there.

     Tssss.. A stinging pain suddenly enveloped my right palm. I hissed with the pain, sore shoulder commanding that the hand be set free. Another hand gripped my wrist and held it to the ground in place, so my meager attempt was doing nothing. Finally, my eyes opened. My dark irises shot to the source of the pain. Kao!? The villager was sitting on his knees at my side, holding my twitching hand in place as he carefully dabbed the open wounds.

     "..K--ao..?" The weakness in my own voice stunned me. The villager shot a concerned glance to me..before returning to his work. The pain wasn't so bad now that I knew what to expect... Feeling the shoulder which my right hand was attached to, I was shocked to find it already back in place! Surprising...

     "Hurrr..." Kao mumbled to himself once the old, crusty blood was all cleaned away, revealing the tender pink skin underneath and open blisters still leaking just barely. Kao rummaged through a small basket, pulling out dry-cleaned sheets of the fluffiest, softest wool I had ever seen. He tore the pieces apart and laid them over the wounds on my hand, including those on my fingers. Then, he took some clean cloth and wrapped my hand soundly. I frowned, seeing my entire hand had been restricted to a useless nub. Not like it would be fun to use it anyways. The coloring on it raged with bright purple splotches and darker purple veins crawling up my forearms. I watched Kao's pained expression as he stepped over me to do the same thing with my other hand. Dark red and brown bandages still were sloppily wrapped around my left one. And every finger was coated in a layer of dry blood.

     "How long...? How di..d you find ..me?" I asked groggily. Since the villager wasn't necessarily in any rush, he paused a moment to answer my question by writing on a sign.

     " 'I heard shouting from the village. Thought you were being attacked.' " Kao answered. Ah, so I really wasn't that far from the village, then. Kao wrote some more. " 'Saw you passed out, holding the egg. I got really scared.' "

     I chuckled. "Heh, well I wasn't attacked...technically. But, thanks for moving me inside...so I wouldn't be." I thanked. The villager smiled and nodded. Definitely would have been sad after all these years if a zombie of all things was the one to finally take me out!

     " 'What happened, then?' " Kao asked curiously. Then, he placed the sign down at his side, expecting a tale from me. I thought for a moment, awkwardly trying to come up with a good way to describe the night without painting myself as a mentally unstable person.

     "Well, I-" I began as Kao started unwrapping my left hand. "I tried to destroy the Ender Dragon Egg." Kao's head tilted. I couldn't tell if it was because he was questioning my motives, or simply didn't understand a few of the words I had said. After the oddly quiet moment continued of him staring at me, I rose my right arm to limply point at the large, dark object sitting on top of the furnace now. The villager turned, saw, and nodded. Guess it was the words he was confused by. He continued. As did I. "The, uhh. The thing can teleport." Kao's brow lifted at that. "Yeah, like an enderman." I clarified just in case. "And I for the most part injured myself trying to kill it. Why? Because, well, turns out it is what is responsible for the purple.." I sighed, dropping my head into the grass again. Kao lifted my left hand closer to his face, studying the new shades of  purple closely. The same purple which, on my legs, was now crawling all the way up to my knees. Though the purple on my hands had just started, it was already well along; stopping just past my wrists. After maybe a moment or two of silence, sudden pain hissed at my palms again. "Aa! Hey, at least warn me!" I said snatching my hand back. I sat up painfully, clutching the surprised limb closely to my chest. Kao just stared at me apologetically, one hand awaiting my other's return openly. I stared for a moment, wishing for things to be different. But, as things stayed the same, and it was still I who was injured and unable to care for myself anymore...I yielded my left, prized hand to the villager's care.

     "Choip!" A little head popped up from a mound of feathers nearer to the door. Butter stood quickly, stretched his legs, and bobbed his head while striding over to me. I held down a hiss of pain as Kao cleaned my hand, focusing instead on my little bud walking up to me. "Choip, choip." Butter came and sat on my right leg, making sounds of a pubetic bird: a mix between chirps and clucks. Smiling, I pet the little boy with my mittened hand. He happily closed his eyes as I gently stroked his feathers, slowly dozing back to sleep.

     "Hu-hur." Kao chuckled at the sight. He then sighed as he pulled out more fluffy wool. My heart sank as I thought about both of my hands no longer able to be used. Useless would they be, possibly for the rest of my life even if that purple curse got any worse! Kao could see the hesitancy in me once he prepared the wrapping. The shaking in my arm. I refused him my hand this time as he asked for it. He was...shocked by the level of fear in my eyes... "Hurr?" I could tell what he was asking by his facial expression alone. I shook my head, pulling my hand even tighter to my chest. The villager sighed.

     He turned away for a while, gazing around my room. My need of a storage chest and other things to help sort all of my scattered items came apparent to him. He studied the chicks; their constant need to be taken care of. And he thought about the small garden I had already started along one of the walls of my house, needing to be tended to on a daily basis. He took a moment to think about me, my withering body, and how much it would take from him to care for me alone. He thought of all of these things. Yet, surprisingly, I saw the most conflicted smile fading onto his face. His eyes shown sadness and the little trust he had in himself. But, his smile countered that with a sign of hope. At last, he turned again to me.

     Kao slipped off his dark green robe so he only wore the dirt brown shorts -- reaching past his knees -- and dirt brown short sleeved shirt. He held his robe before him, staring at it with deliberation clear on his face. Then, his mind made up, he turned around on his knees and fed his robe to the open furnace.

     "Wh!?" My eyes widened. I had no idea what this signified, other than the green robe typically marked the lazy, good-for-nothing citizens of the village. Kao turned to me with a smile. Then he picked up his sign, turned it over, and wrote,

     " 'Don't worry... I will take care of you.' " My widened blue eyes stared into his. So genuine was he. So willing to give up his entire way of life...to help me? Whether he could actually handle it or not was out of the question for now. The fact that he was willing was enough for me at the time.

     "...Yu- you mean it..?" I whispered. The villager nodded reassuringly. What he probably wasn't expecting were for the faintest of tears to enter my eyes. I was just so overwhelmed. Someone would actually be willing to DO that? To take care of me even if I couldn't offer them anything in return?? "How-how-how can I repay you?" The villager smiled sweetly as if to say, 'That's not how it works.' "Because I mean- I-I can't hunt. I can't farm. I can't-can't hardly even walk!" I began to argue the case he already knew. "I- I- I- I'm useless like this! I-" I was interrupted by Kao pouncing, startling Butter and I both, surrounding me in a tight hug. ...Nothing he could have written could have said anything quite like that. Kao hoped to hug the self defeating attitude out of me. "Wh?" I was shocked. My mind could hardly compute. I was never one for hugs, but... I rest my dreary forehead on his shoulder. "...If you're so sure you can do it all... I guess I'll let you try..." I whispered.

     Kao wasn't sure he could do it all.

       ...But he wanted to try.