The Water Sprite

The Healer.

With the hood of her jacket clutched tightly in both hands, Bai Qian struggled to drag Mo Yuan back towards the track where there was at least some cover from the rain.  She was already soaked through and with a good mile to go, she knew it would be dark before she got him back to her cave.  

But clenching her jaw tightly, she slowly but surely moved him inch by inch without pause that by the time she hit her own side of the forest, night had fallen.  Sweating and in pain from the exertion, she finally got him to the base of her cave and the four low steps that led to the small platform before it delved off into the cave itself.  

Every muscle in her body was screaming for respite, but she did not rest.  The blood around his head was still oozing and having seen what the bear had done to his back after he fell, she knew she could not waste time resting.  Instead she hauled him up each step, while ignoring the sickening thud of his body hitting them on the way up.

Dragging him inside, she fell exhausted beside him on a large fur rug in front of the hearth to catch her breath and to check his head wound.  The blood had already matted one side of his hair and his clothing was drenched through.  But it was also his back she needed to look at and quickly.

So quickly lighting the fire, she then stumbled to her feet to gather what she would need from the kitchen.  First came a pail of water which she placed on the hook above the fire to heat it.  Then came strips of cloth she would use to clean him and then warm dry clothing to dress him in.  They were not exactly suited to men, but with a little adjusting, they would do.

Lastly she gathered a selection of herbs and more strips of cloth to use as bandages.  It was all she had, but once she had him cleaned, dry and bandaged she would rest before heading out in the morning for whatever else she needed.

 Now on her knees beside him, she first drew back each of his eyes lids to check the pupils of his eyes.  She had lived among the animals long enough to know a dying a one when she saw it, but his pupils seemed to look alright to her, so slowly and very gently she began to clean his head.  

The Bears powerful hit had split his head open, and though the wound was not deep, she instinctively knew it would have an affect on his healing.  His hair she quickly drew back and tied with a piece of rag, then placing a thick wad of wet cloth over the wound, she dabbed away the blood until she could see the wound clearly.  

The herbs and plants she had were not suitable for such large deep wounds, but it was all she had, so placing large dabs of her herbal mixture directly onto the wound she then placed a lily leaf over the top, to help draw out any infection.  Once done, she then bandaged the entire head tightly while his hair was left to fall about his shoulders.

Once his head had been taken care of, she checked his eyes again.  They did not seem to have changed but throughout the whole procedure, she kept checking them.

He was a large man compared to her small size, but living alone and providing for herself, she was physically strong and mentally capable of handling any situation, however as she turned him onto his side, the raw wound on his back which she could see clearly through the torn remnants of his shirt brought tears to her eyes. The wounds were deep and already beginning to swell which meant infection was settling in.

With only lily leaves to aide him, she quickly steeped her cloth in the hot water, before stripping him of his upper clothing until his entire back was clear.  With his body laid out on her fur rug in front of the fire to keep him warm, she then began to clean away the blood from the four large gashes the bear had raked down his back.  

Tearfully, she dabbed at each one with a hot cloth until she felt it was clean enough.  Then mixing some of her hot water with a good amount of salt that he had given her, she then tipped it slowly over each jagged tear in his skin to clean them even more, before dabbing her herbal mixture into each tear until there was none left.