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A sharp pain runs through Sol’s back as it crashes against a tree trunk. She immediately hunches over to the side. Anne whips her head around from the noise. She wants to help Sol up before she makes her injuries worse. Ever since they met, Sol has notoriously proved to herself time and time again that she’s as stubborn as a bull and ignorant of her limits. Still, the best course of action would be to fight off the elm bear as Sol taps out of the battle.
Sol and Anne were set to gather food for the rest of the party, but thanks to Sol’s lack of awareness, they found themselves trespassing on elm bear grounds. Elm bears don’t usually attack unprovoked, but when they sense another presence on their soil, they get aggressive. It also didn’t help that Sol instinctively pulled out her sword when one revealed itself to her and Anne, causing it to feel as if it was in danger.
Anne crouches and points her spear at the elm bear, unmoving, yet a fierce aura emanates from it. Her eyes glance at Sol struggling to get back on her feet and find her sword. Anne swiftly charges at the elm bear and slashes its wooden exterior. The elm bear lets out a painful roar and swings at Anne. Her body goes flying, but Anne maneuvers herself, planting her spear into the ground to abruptly stop the momentum. She lunges forward and weaves around the elm bear to strike it from behind. She lifts her spear and plunges it into the back, weakening it.
Without hesitation, Anne darts to Sol and slings her arm over Anne’s shoulder. She pulls her up, legs quaking a little as she struggles to balance Sol’s weight and her own.
“Not gonna lie, princess,” Sol groans with a small smirk, “That was pretty hardcore of you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Anne huffs, “You can thank me later. Let’s just get out of here.”
“But what about getting food-”
Anne shoots an annoyed look at Sol. “Are you kidding? You’re injured, you idiot!”
Anne shuffles the two of them away from the scene as fast as she can. Several times, Sol attempts to stand up on her own to give Anne a break from carrying her, but Sol’s legs seem to cave in each time. She doesn’t like Anne having to baby her like this. Sol knows she can handle anything that is thrown at her, so being unable to is practically humiliating. All she can do is let out small grumbles in retaliation.
After navigating in no specific direction through the forest, the two stumble upon a shallow cave that seemed to have previously been occupied, as a bundle of sticks surrounded by rock and pebbles lay on the ground. Anne shifts Sol’s arm off her back and props her against the cave wall. Without warning, Anne reaches out for the clasps on Sol’s cloak and begins to undo it.
“Uh,” Sol stammers, “What’re you doing?”
“Baking you a cake–I’m checking how bad the damage is.” Anne shoots back.
“Ah-well,” Sol moves her hands up to the clasp Anne is having a difficult time getting undone, simply doing it herself while glaring at Anne. “I’m not a child, and I can do this myself, Mom.”
Anne pauses with a somewhat bashful and embarrassed expression. However, not long after, she rolls her eyes and faces the other way from Sol, shielding a hand over her brows. “Just undress yourself so I can get a good look at your back. Just keep your back face towards me when you're done.”
Sol urges herself not to stare at Anne. She couldn’t help but read into the reaction Anne had. Was it out of embarrassment at so directly stripping Sol’s cloak off? Did she remember that Sol’s a girl and has a chest like hers as well? Or perhaps it was something as shallow as Anne was repulsed by taking on the job of a maid to a peasant like Sol?
After undoing her cloak, Sol slowly unties the strings to her tunic and slides it down to reveal her bare back. “Um, you can turn around now.”
Anne cautiously peers over her shoulder and creeps up to Sol, unable to see her flushed face. She kneels to Sol’s level and examines her spine carefully. Other than some bruising along the spine, Anne has difficulty assessing how severe the injury is. She raises her fingertips to Sol’s back but hesitates before coming into contact with her skin.
“Can…Am I allowed to touch you?” Anne utters with a nervous tone.
A brief noise can be heard from Sol, caught off guard by this sort of question. “Do what you must, I guess?”
Anne stares intently at Sol’s spine and back at her hand. Her fingers trace down it, and immediately she feels an unexpected wedge when she reaches Sol’s lower back. Sol winces. “Yup, you have a compression fracture, alright.”
“Uh, what?”
“Part of your spine is cracked. I think we can make a back brace with some sticks around here and gauze in your bag.” Anne hoists herself off the ground. “Don’t move, I’ll be back.”
Sol snorts, “Not like I can if I wanted to.” She doesn’t have to turn around to see the annoyed expression Anne is displaying. Sol fails to hold back a chuckle from this as she hears Anne stepping away.
She likes coming up with snarky retorts in response to Anne. It is somewhat satisfying when Sol says something completely absurd and stupid, according to Anne, that she goes speechless out of frustration. The same applies to Anne, but vice versa. So, their dynamic is more of a competition of who can annoy the other more. Even though both are aware of this, Sol can’t help but wonder what Anne really thinks of her. Sol knows that Anne first viewed her as a filthy trespasser when they first met under unfavorable circumstances, but after Anne joined the party, it's been mainly banter between the two (and some minor arguments). She probably thinks Sol is some impulsive idiot who swings a sword at things whenever she can. Which isn't entirely wrong. Still, Sol wishes she could show that she is more than that to Anne and perhaps see another side to Anne that not many see.
Suddenly, another shock of pain shoots through Sol’s nerves, making her yelp and scooch away from the source. She whips her head around and sees a startled Anne with a stick in her hand, motionless from Sol’s reaction.
“I-” Anne blurts out, “I apologize, Sol, for not warning you beforehand.”
Sol pants heavily, heartbeat practically racing from the shock. She grounds herself by taking a deep breath, only for it to be interrupted by a small grunt from her fractured spine. “It’s fine, Anne. Really. What were you trying to do?”
“Well, if we take this stick, line it up with your spine, and wrap it to your body with this gauze, then that should be a… good enough back brace until we get back to the others. I also have this-” Anne reaches to her belt to take and hold out a vile green ointment. “It doesn’t have healing properties, but Marie told me it soothes swelling in injuries.”
Sol didn’t expect Anne to be so prepared in case a situation like this would happen. She did live in a cushy manor most of her life and only recently picked up how to use a spear after failing with the bow. Perhaps, she knew from the beginning of the venture to get food that Sol would end up like this. Nevertheless, Sol was thankful to have someone like Anne to tend to her wounds. Marie would’ve been preferable since she knows healing magic, but grateful regardless.
“So, how are we gonna go about this?” Sol questioned, trying to shuffle to Anne, but only causing more stings in her back.
Anne scurries to Sol to prevent her from squirming any further. “I’ll lather the ointment on your back first. Then, I’ll hold the stick in place and give you the gauze to wrap it around yourself.”
Sol smirks a little. “Thanks, doc.”
Anne begins to pour the liquid into one of her palms, then proceeds to rub it against her other one. Sol turns her bare back to Anne and patiently waits. She can sense a feeling of hesitation from Anne. “It’s going to hurt at first, so just-...tell me when you’re ready.”
“Uh…read-”
Sol's body jolts as Anne’s hands touch her spine, curling her shoulders and head inwards. She lets out a suppressed groan as she grips the cloak on her lap to distract herself from the pain. Anne gives the ointment to set in and continues to massage it into Sol’s skin. Though Sol was in writhing agony not even a few moments ago, she did feel a tingling sensation from behind her. The feeling of a broken spine is still there, but it seems more manageable.
“Huh,” Sol responds, curiously raising her head, “That wasn’t half as bad as I thought it would have been. What’s in it?”
“Beats me.” Anne shrugs, “Marie gave it to me a while back in case someone in particular got hurt and didn’t have her nearby to assist.”
Sol frowns. “Oh. Is that right?” Her shoulders slump a bit as she runs a thumb over the metal clasps of her cloak. Anne abruptly stops moving her palms and glances at Sol, unable to read her expression, and can only see the back of her head.
“Sol?” Anne worryingly says, “Are you doing alright?”
“...Well,” Sol begins, still fidgeting with the clasps, “I don’t know, I just feel like a bother to you at this point. I know I get myself into stupid situations without thinking. It really shouldn’t be your responsibility to watch over me and prepare for the worst to happen. You and everyone else don’t deserve that.”
The elongated silence between the two girls is almost deafening. The only sounds that can be heard are the forest trees rustling against each other and crickets chirping. Sol is somewhat glad she can’t see Anne’s face to gauge her reaction to Sol’s willingness to open up to her. She wants to break the awkward tension, but can’t think of anything to say. A warm gust of air hits her nape as an audible sigh comes from behind her.
“I don’t mind looking out for you, Sol,” Anne whispers, “Even though you act like an egotistical, overly confident, and reckless idiot, everyone gets hurt and needs help now and then. It doesn’t make you less human to have or want some support.” She taps Sol’s shoulder and holds out the roll of gauze, the other hand gripping onto a stick that hovers over Sol’s back. Sol looks into Anne’s green eyes and gently takes the roll. “I care about you, Sol. I wouldn’t be doing any of this if I didn’t. Sit up straight, please.”
Sol blinks, quickly shuffling to adjust her posture. Anne lightly presses the stick to Sol’s fractured spine and shyly looks into her eyes. Sol’s confused about what Anne wants her to do, but quickly gets the message. She assumes Anne finds it awkward to ask, especially after what she just said.
Sol slides off the rest of her tunic from her body, leaving her chest bare and ready to wrap in the gauze. She begins to loop the gauze around her torso with the stick attached. Meanwhile, she notices Anne averting her gaze as much as she can, a rosy tint spreading across her face. Sol loudly clears her throat.
“Gee, princess,” Sol chuckles, “Didn’t know you thought of me that way. If I knew any better, I’d assume the good ol’ Bernard charm worked on yo-”
Anne scoffs and lightly hits Sol’s upper arm. Sol lets out a laugh this time, having it die down into a warm smile.
“But, for real, Anne,” Sol softens, “…I appreciate it. Thanks.”
Anne’s default agitated expression quickly shifts into a contented one. “No problem,” Anne smiles. However, as soon as she switches expressions, she folds her arms to her chest, letting go of the stick since it can hold up on its own at this point. “But seriously, stop making messes for yourself for your sake and Marie’s stock in these vials. I don’t mind tending to your injuries, but for the love of Vera, stay out of trouble for a week at least.”
“Ha! You’ve got yourself a deal, sweetheart.” Sol flattens out what's left of the gauze and grabs her tunic. It…seemed a lot easier to take it off than put it back on with the back brace. She pathetically turns to Anne. “Anne. Princess . Please help me out here.”
Anne giggles, amused by Sol’s silly delivery of her request. She crawls to face Sol and assists Sol in putting on her tunic. Afterward, she grabs Sol’s hands and hoists the both of them up. Sol sheathes her sword and crosses her bag around her body. Anne bends over to retrieve the cloak and extends it to her bandaged-up adventuring partner. Sol examines it, only to push it back to Anne.
“You can wear it for now.” Sol grins, “Pretty sure that thing will weigh me down. So, I trust you with it until we get back to camp.”
Anne freezes but raises an eyebrow at her. “Really?” Anne sneers, “This filthy old thing has probably been through thunderstorms, mud, and cave dust all at once and hasn’t been washed in a millennium.”
“Untrue. I washed it last week!”
“…Whatever.” Anne groans slightly, pinching the bridge of her nose. She flings the cloak over her shoulders and clasps the neckline together. “If I get some sort of disease from this, it will be entirely your fault, okay?”
“Crystal clear, your majesty. ” Sol starts to march forward but comes to a halt, slowly rotating her body to Anne, confused as to why she stopped. Sol warmly holds her hand out to Anne. “C’mon.”
A shimmer comes to Anne’s eyes as she takes a moment to admire Sol. There’s something within that unlocked itself to Anne that she hadn’t experienced before. It’s almost nice. Anne steadily raises her palm, ready to make contact with Sol’s until-
“Too slow~” Sol cheekily grins, swiftly retracting her hand away and running off.
“Wh-HEY!” Anne shouts, “Don’t run, you're still recovering, you moron!”
While pouting, she furiously dashes after Sol, hearing her contagious laughter deeper into the forest. With anyone else, Anne would be genuinely upset that she’s being mocked and teased over. However, when around Sol, it strangely has the opposite effect. Freeing even.