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They had seen the hot springs and immediately decided to camp here. There was still light left, but there was a strong agreement on hot springs being more important than the couple of miles they could still achieve before the night fall. They could enjoy the warm water, make a camp, hunt something and just rest for an evening. After all, the day had once again been uncomfortable and disgusting as they had managed to fight both monsters and what had likely been a huge carnivorous plant filled with toxic slime. They could all use a good scrub.
“Last one in the water hunts us a boar tonight!” Scanland yelled and all good ideas about making the camp before washing up left everyone’s mind as they rushed to undress. They didn’t really care about being naked around each other – travelling together made you not really care about decency, and so did being soaked on with wyrm intestines. Percival was the only one to hesitate a little whereas Scanlan – who most likely would be naked all the time if that would not make him end up in jail – was already sighing deeply in the hot water and leaning his back on a rock when the others were still getting rid of their bloody and sweaty clothes.
“Let’s never leave this place, please.” Vax sighed as he lowered his battle weary and aching body in the water. The rest seemed to agree, but the chipper talk, jokes about finally getting Grog properly cleaned and the bickering about whether Trinket was allowed to join them suddenly fell silent when Percival joined the rest of the group. At first he didn’t realize why, and squinted his eyes expecting some dirty joke from Scanlan or Grog, but then it dawned on him that the others had never before seen him without a shirt.
Percival’s whole body was crisscrossed with scars. It looked pretty much what it was; like he had been experimented on. The scars were too systematic and neat to have come from accident or from an attack by a toothed monster. Only torture made marks like that. A willing mind planning on where to cut next. Sure, he had some faint scars on his face as well, but they were nothing compared to his torso.
“…What the fuck happened to you?” Scanlan finally asked, after he deemed the silence more awkward than the question. Percival didn’t know what to say. This wasn’t something he was ready to open up about.
“I slipped and fell.” He finally said with a tone he hoped sounded flippant and turned his head the other way, not wanting to face the looks of his friends who were awkwardly glancing at each other and trying to figure out what to say.
“Hey… Umm… Do you want me to take a look?” Pike asked, moving a little closer to Percy in the water. Percy glanced at the gnome, and it took him a while to get the words out of his mouth. Asking for help was difficult when you hadn’t done it in years.
“…There is one on my back that is a bit of nuisance.” He finally managed to utter, and Pike smiled, seeming genuinely happy that Percy was willing to let her look. He knew it meant showing them details of his past, but well, at least he himself would face the other way and would not have to look at their reactions.
Percival turned his back on Pike and leaned his arms on a stone that was half out of the warm water. His back looked like a battle map, but it was very easy for the others to tell which was the nuisance he was speaking about. On his left shoulder blade there was a flap of skin that had scarred too tight. It was restricting the movement of his left arm a little and most likely caused some muscle tension and neck pains he had never really complained about, but which the others could now imagine being one of the reasons for him occasionally being pale, snappy, and irritated.
“Oh shit, Percy. You should have mentioned this earlier.” Pike said and even though Percy had given her permission, he visibly flinched when the gnome touched the mangled shoulder blade, feeling the scar tissue with her fingers.
“I’m right-handed, it’s fine.”
“Percy, that is not fine. It’s pulling your whole shoulder back.” Vex said and Percy could hear the water move as she swam next to Pike. “Can you fix it?” Vex asked Pike, who shook her head.
“No, my spells won’t heal wounds this old. …Although… We could open it up, and then I could heal it. It is a bit gruesome option, but it would give you more movement in your arm.” Pike said. She waited for Percival to object, but instead he seemed intrigued by the possibility.
“That… Might work.” Percy said, thinking about how much easier his life would be if he had the full range of his left arm.
“Vax, can you check this out? I’m not really a surgeon, but maybe if we cut here…” The water around Percival moved more as Vex made room for her brother.
“Yeah. I think if we cut from here to here it might free some skin that is now too tight.” Vax said, pointing at specific points on Percival’s shoulder. As he spoke Vax kept glancing at the others, like asking them whether they thought this was all really something that Percy could deal with, considering it looked like this would not be the first time someone was purposefully cutting him open.
Pike picked up on his meaning and decided to give Percival some time to process the idea.
“I think it might actually help to soak the skin a bit. And especially get clean. So… Maybe relax now and we’ll see if you feel up for this later?” Pike asked, giving a worried look to the back of Percy’s head.
“Sure.” He said, turning around in the water after Vex, Vax and Pike had moved a bit out of his way.
There was another awkward silence as nobody knew how to change the subject, before Grog farted underwater, causing the rest of the group to fall into laughter and noises of disgust. Percy was more than thankful for the distraction.
After over an hour of resting in the warmth of the spring they finally started to feel clean and relaxed enough. Keyleth was the first one to feel too hot and climb out of the spring, followed by Pike and Vex.
“Can you do it now?” Percival asked Pike as she was sitting on a stone next to the spring, drying her feet with a sock. Pike glanced at Vax, who nodded.
“If you are sure you want it.”
“I am.” Percy answered.
After some preparations Percival was laying on his right side on a blanket near the campfire. Pike was carefully setting him on a position that would make it the easiest to open the scar tissue and Vax was waiting for his dagger to cool, after he had cleansed the blade in fire.
“Okay, the dagger should be ready. Now… I think Grog should probably hold you down.”
“No one is holding me down.” Percy said with a stern tone, causing his friends again to look at him with some concern. Percival avoided everyone’s eyes as best as he could.
“Listen, I get it.” Vax tried not to sound frustrated. He could imagine Percy had his reasons. “But if you flinch, I might accidentally cut you too deep. We only want to open the skin and scar tissue, not your whole shoulder.”
“I won’t flinch.” Percival said, his tone making it clear that this was non-negotiable. He was already fighting a flashback, and if Grog would hold him down and he could feel himself being restricted, not being able to escape or fight back, he would absolutely lose his shit.
There was a brief, wordless negotiation of looks between the others before Vax kneeled next to him.
“Alright then. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
Percival took a stone from the ground to his hand and squeezed it as tight as he could. He just needed something to ground himself as he closed his eyes.
“I will count to three. One- - “ Percival had known Vax would not wait for the three, but he had expected him to do it at least on the count of two. Instead, the half elf sliced his shoulder open with one swift move before Percival realized it had even happened. He hadn’t flinched and the cut was clean, but he could feel the warm blood pouring down his back as well as his mind start to wander somewhere else. His body was trembling, and cold sweat was rising on his face as he lost the strength in his fingers. The stone he had been squeezing in his hand fell on the ground and Percival was afraid of losing all connection to his body.
“Hey, you are okay. Take a deep breath. Just a little longer.” Pike’s voice echoed in his ears like it was coming from somewhere far away.
Pike moved Percival’s arm a little, stretching the wound as much as she dared. She was worried about hurting Percy, who seemed to be somewhat out of it. Pike was not certain if it was good or bad that he wasn’t fully present in the moment. His eyes were open, and he kept blinking, but it was clear he was dissociating.
“Alright, Percy. I am going to heal this now.” Pike said with a gentle voice, before casting a healing spell on his back. Percival felt the spell as a warm touch and gave a relieved sigh when the pain disappeared. After all this time, he was still always amazed how good Pike’s healing spells felt. He had been healed plenty of times in the Whitestone dungeons, but that had usually been worse than the wounds being cured. After the spell Pike wiped the blood off his back, to check how it had worked and Percy slowly started to feel a bit more grounded.
“I think it looks better now. Do you want to try and move your arm?” Pike asked and Percival sat up. His hands were trembling, he was sweaty, and he was clearly trying to hide how bad of an experience this had been. But once he moved his arms, he felt a bit better. Relieved, even.
“…It’s actually really good.” He sounded almost surprised as he stretched the arm. He was able to move it more freely, without the scar tissue pulling the arm back in an uncomfortable way. Percy looked at Pike and Vax. “Thank you.”
“Good! You should probably res- -“ Pike had started, but Percy wasn’t listening. He got up, tried to get his clothes, and managed two steps before he vomited under the nearest tree and fell to his knees. Vax had been on alert, and he grabbed Percy’s arm and helped him back up.
“Alright, listen to the healer. We are not going anywhere, so you might as well rest for the night.” Vax said and helped Percival back on the blanket. Keyleth was quick to get him some water, clothes, and his own coat to use as a blanket and to keep him warm.
“I… I’m fine. Just feeling a bit lightheaded.”
“Then be fine while you rest, dear.” Vex said. “There is no need to hurry anywhere tonight. Grog and Scanlan went to find us more food. They promised us a boar, but most likely we will get berries and twigs.” Vex said dryly, scratching Trinket behind the ear while she spoke. “Anyway, we’ll see if you are up for eating something later. For now, we can take care of the camp.” Vex said and Percival nodded weakly. He placed his head on a bundle of clothes Keyleth had formed as a pillow for him and closed his eyes. There was silence for a while, before the usual banter and bickering was slowly picking up again. That, if nothing else, made him feel safe enough to let himself drift to sleep.