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"Is this one likely to sting as much as the last?"
Adela uncorked the vial and dabbed the cloudy ointment onto a cloth, the smell of marigold hitting her nose like a strong gust of wind. She offered the woman sat before her a patient smile, "I shouldn't think so, miss Katherine- this is just marigold this time, to encourage healing in the smaller cuts."
She pitied the poor woman… attacked at the pond like that- so lucky to have gotten away with just some cuts and scrapes from fleeing through the forests in search of help. Adela had near cried when she'd seen her; her stomach had turned to a yawning, black pit when she'd stepped into the small room and her eyes had fallen upon the ripped fabric of Katherine's dress and the numb pools her eyes had turned to.
She raised the cloth to Katherine's face and pressed the balm softly into the cuts, some having started to bleed again after being wiped out with vinegar and water. Adela watched Katherine's brows pinch and the lines in her face deepen as she weathered the sting of having something touch the cuts over and over- a soothing balm to cover it over or not. "Don't bother with the 'miss,' part… neither of us are of a different standing in this place," she murmured, her tone strained but laced with bitterness besides. The way she spat out 'this place,' made Adela frown, but she dared not comment, looking back to where she daubed ointment into the scratches.
Katherine sighed as Adela withdrew the cloth, "I'm sorry, I'm still… shaken, it seems. I appreciate your help…" she trailed off and Adela heard her next breath come shaky and unsure. "I couldn't… not a man… not so soon."
Adela placed the cloth aside and stood from her stool, approaching the cabinet once again to sort through bottles and phials and pots. "Worry not, Katherine. I'm more than glad to help… I'd hate for you to get stuck with one of the other ladies; they'd have a poorer bedside manner than the sawbones, I'm afraid," she suggested with a soft giggle as she pulled another pot from the shelf. "I know this room better than most of the girls… I like to look amongst the herbs and the ointments when Master Lubomír is away."
Katherine hummed softly, still struggling to shake that far-off look in her eye during the gaps between their conversation. Adela sighed as she returned to the other woman, sitting down as she uncorked the pot, "this is comfrey, marigold and nettle. I'll put it on that cut above your brow but it might hurt, though it'll help with the healing and it'll make the swelling go down."
Katherine nodded, offering Adela a sad smile, "make me pretty again."
Adela's brow creased and she hesitated as she raised her hand, "you don't need to be made pretty, you are pretty."
Katherine snorted, and shook her head, cringing as Adela wiped the ointment into the deepest of the cuts. "You're a sweet thing, but I'll be glad once I'm some dried out old hag nobody wants a bar of."
Adela's chest clenched and she let her hand settle against where Katherine had clasped hers on her lap, squeezing the older woman's cold fingers, "men like that don't care if you're pretty or not… they just want to hurt you."
To her surprise, Katherine unclasped her hand and upturned her palm, accepting Adela's hand into hers, "you shouldn't know such a thing at your age."
A shrug as she filled the cut flesh with healing and purity. "My mother made sure I knew- it's better to live knowing and carefully than carelessly and bound to find out."
"A wise lady. Did she teach you how to dress wounds?"
Adela's chest warmed and ached at once at the thought of her mother, and her lip curled up fondly as she wiped the excess ointment away from Katherine's brow. "Aye. We grew up in such a small patch of nowhere that it's better to learn how to patch yourself up than go wandering for a healer to do it for you; my brother reset his own broken nose once."
Katherine's brows raised, her thumb drawing slow over the centre of Adela's palm, "really, now? Would that be the guard captain?"
Her mouth opened and closed, an action that repeated twice more as if she was loitering on the precipice of a decision. "No… well, yes. Our eldest brother was the guard captain when we were young, but… you cannot reset a hammer from one's head once it's in there."
Silence stretched between them, and Katherine pat over Adela's hand comfortingly, her eyes soft and caring and finally not that empty shade of dread. "I see… I'm sure he'd be proud of you both."
Adela giggled- a sound that surprised even herself, "he'd be shocked and assume Trosky has gone to pot to hear his horrid little brother is running the place."
The women shared a laugh as Adela replaced the cork in the pot and set it aside. Her palm still felt warm where Katherine had touched it, and her heart had started to skip in its rhythm at the soft sound of the other woman's laugh. Embarrassment flushed through her, sudden and surprising enough that she turned herself away from Katherine and wandered back towards the cabinet with unprecedented urgency. Honey… she needed honey next.
"Do you know if… have you heard whether any of the other girls have returned? There was a lass from Troskowitz, but there was a girl I recognised from the kitchens with me as well…" Katherine trailed off, sighing and pressing her palm tenderly to her brow as she tried to recall a name through what was likely a smothering blizzard of fear and panic still stirring in her head.
"I haven't heard a thing, I'm sorry to say," Adela answered, guilt clogging up in her chest, though she knew it was completely beyond her powers stowed away in the fortress as she was. "My brother was patrolling about that pond and his patrol is still not yet back, perhaps they are helping or… clearing them off," as she reasoned her way around it, doubt flooded her mind and her tone drew tight until she had to clear her throat, blinking away the worry that had welled in her eyes. She approached Katherine again and offered a persevering smile.
Katherine tutted and brushed her hand up Adela's arm, squeezing comfortingly at her elbow, though Adela was quick to batt her away and shake her head in refusal of the offered comforts, "please, miss- I'm supposed to be the one helping you, you've… endured so much tonight without needing to worry about me."
"Nonsense, allow me to spare a moment of my own misery to remedy the worries of a sweet girl such as yourself… please."
Adela looked up from where her knuckles had turned white against the seal on the honeypot to meet Katherine's eye- creased in the corners and round with concern, though the tension in her brow hinted to plenty of turmoil within. Adela nodded wordlessly and clutched the pot tight as Katherine rose to her feet and drew her into a soft hug, stroking over the wispy fly-aways at Adela's hairline.
"Worry not, little miss, they'll be alright. As will I, thanks to your help."
Adela's skin felt hot and her palms clammy with sweat as she remained in the embrace, her heart thundering under her breast. By the time Katherine drew away and sat herself carefully back against the bench, Adela was sure her face would be much the same shade of red as the Trosky banner. She saw Katherine's mouth curl almost into a smile before she schooled herself back into neutrality.
"I appreciate your kindness, even in such circumstances," Adela stammered, sitting herself on her stool and finally unsealing the honey, "this will seal the cuts from infection. You should reapply after you wash yourself, but I'm sure the sawbones will have more precautions you may take than I can offer."
Katherine hummed as Adela dabbed the sweet-smelling honey over her cuts, a dimple near the corner of her lip creasing as she watched the younger woman's brow furrow with concentration, "you've done more than enough, Adela."
Adela leaned back as she finished applying the honey and looked over the other woman's face, secretly proud of how neat and clean she'd left Katherine's scratched face. Her eyes drifted to the woman's braid, hanging over her shoulder and stuck full of twigs and leaves from her mad dash through the forest.
Katherine caught her eye and glanced at her hair, sighing, "I'll hope it fixes itself in the bath, God knows I've not the patience to pluck it all out."
"Let me!" Adela blurted before she could think twice about the offer.
"Please, you've sat with me long enough- I'm sure they want you up before the first cock's crow whether you've been kept up or not."
"It won't take long, I'll just work out the worst of it," Adela insisted, hand already reaching for the tie holding the braid in place. Katherine's chest swelled with a deep breath as she nodded, relaxing her shoulders from how she'd tensed to get to her feet again. The tie fell away and Adela worked open the braid, plucking broken-off bits of twig and dried leaf from the dark strands.
Her hair was wavy from the braid and half tangled in itself as Adela split it and draped half over each shoulder, working it into smaller segments to pull free the tangles and work out all matter of snags. She would only keep Katherine so long as it took to fix the worst of it, sensing the woman was beyond exhausted and needed rest more than anything.
Her eyes caught Katherine's as she worked free a tangle full of twig, the older woman's face softening before Adela forced herself to look away. The warm ball of giddiness that had sat in her chest seemed to only grow; she was close enough that she could feel the warmth of Katherine's skin and the tickle of her breath, and the feeling only seemed to worsen.
Her fingers worked deftly through her hair until there sat a small pile of detritus next to Katherine on the bench and thick waves of tangle-free hair over Katherine's shoulders. She let out a soft hum, thoroughly pleased with her efforts. "There you are, the rest should wash out easy enough without taking half your scalp with it."
Katherine touched over her hair, looking softer and smaller with it down and flowing about her breast, though Adela didn't let her eye linger. "You're a sweetheart, but I really must let you get going now," she urged, standing herself up and pushing her hair over her shoulders. "If anyone gives you any trouble tomorrow, let me handle them, hey?"
Adela giggled and shook her head adamantly, "that's quite unnecessary, I'll be just fine."
Katherine reached up and softly squeezed Adela's chin between her thumb and forefinger for a scarce moment, "I'm sure you will… thank you again, I'll remember this."
Adela bent her back in a polite curtsy that Katherine waved away with a haughty scoff, shifting around to let herself out of the room, "save it for your Lord, Adela."
The door shut quietly behind her and Adela sighed as she slumped against the table, staring out the window and up at the moon, only a scant few hours from its apex in the sky. She palmed over her brow and swallowed her residual nerves.
She jumped at the sharp cry of a horn- an inarguable signal that someone approached the gate. Shouts broke out over the silence and Adela watched as the guards scampered along the ramparts. Her heart jumped in her chest, a feeling of knowing dread pressing down upon her as she flung herself at the door and let herself out.
A survivor from the pond approached.