The Hanes Enigma

Chapter Six - Inguz

Nova Theasphreyei

"Are you sure?.." I purse my lips, not liking the sound of this one bit.

"You said it yourself, Nova. I'm not gonna be able to fly again. What's the point of making sure a wing that would be too fragile to ever hold my weight again sets properly?" He smiles, but I can tell it's not real. It kills him inside to think that he'll never fly again. It would do the same to me too.

"If that's what you want, I won't stop you. I'll help you, you know I will. But I don't think it's sensible." I raise my eyebrows warningly and he nods still smiling away happily before getting a good grip on the mattress beneath him and pushing himself up. I immediately help, kneeling next to him on the bed and taking as much of the weight of his hips as I can. My heart breaks as I watch his one working wing flap helplessly as it naturally attempts to bring his body backwards.

He grunts but clears his throat and smiles again, finally sitting upright. "Much better." He shuffles until he's at the foot of the bed and I slide down to sit next to him.

I sigh. "Okay.. Can I check you out now?"

"You wanna check me out?" He smirks slightly.

"O-Over! Check you over. In an extremely medical sense." I ignore the blush creeping to my cheeks.

"Sure, you can check me over. You can check me out any time too, if you want." He shrugs and licks his lips slowly. I'm guessing the second gesture was one purely for my benefit. I ignore it.

I start with his leg, taking off the bloody bandages and putting a fresh layer of ointment on it. As I bandage him up I am very aware of him looking at me intently."Can I help you?"

"That is what you're doing, isn't it?" He smiles and I can't help but chuckle slightly. "What's in that stuff?"

"Coconut oil, oregano, helichrysum oil, lavender, frankincense and a little beeswax to thicken it up a bit... It's a simple antibacterial wound healing ointment, nothing special." I shrug.

"I wouldn't even know where to start..." He gapes at me. "So how does a faerie get to know all about that?" He crosses his legs underneath himself after I finish wrapping up his shin.

"I'm half dryad.." I look away uncomfortably, not wanting to spend too much time on the subject.

"Really?? That's so cool!" He leans forward but I push him back and start gently pressing his ribs.

"Does this hurt?"

"No." He grits his teeth.

"Taehyung..."

"A little..."

"Okay, so it's probably almost there. Maybe another week or so and it won't hurt anymore." I smile and move my attention to his wrist. "This is still painless, right?"

"Yes and I'm not even lying this time." He smiles proudly.

"Wow, that really is an improvement." I raise my eyebrows and he gives me a cheeky box-smile. "And bruises? They seem to be going down pretty well."

"Yeah, I'm practically good as new. All thanks to you." He bops my nose and I blink at him.

"Right... Well..." I tilt his chin up to focus on the marks on his neck.

"Seriously, you didn't have a reason to be this nice to me..." He gently holds my wrist with both hands and urges it down. "Thank you."

My gaze flicks to lips and I gulp. What am I thinking?

"Nova!" Euclea shouts, door slamming behind her and making both of us jump.

"Hey, Lea..." I sigh, moving awkwardly away from Taehyung.

"Is.. Is he untied?!" She glowers at us.

"Uh.." I lick my lips nervously. "He doesn't even know who I am, he's not going to hurt me!"

"He could be lying!" She glares.

"Then why am I not already dead?!" I fling my arms in the air exasperatedly. "Honestly, Lea, how did you think he was going to the toilet? He's been here for over two weeks. You think he hasn't needed to pee in that time?"

My friend huffs and crosses her arms. "Well, great. Thank you for listening to absolutely nothing I've said."

"Then how about I just go?.." Taehyung meekly remarks from the bed.

"Tae, you don't have to leave until you're ready to." I glare pointedly at Euclea.

"You said it yourself, I'm pretty much healed..." He shrugs. "I'll just pop back to Pharaway and get Laila to fix the rest."

"Laila?" I try to stop the vague jealousy that takes over my stupid brain.

"Yeah, she's a friend of mine. An angel." He smiles. "In a disgustingly cute relationship with a witch called Jin. They're always telling each other puns and stuff. Makes me want to gag, but each to their own." He shrugs.

"But you're not completely healed, Tae. I really don't think you shou-"

"I'm good enough to get a taxi. I'll be fine, Nova." He tries to smile comfortingly but I still have an uneasy feeling.

"But your leg-.."

"-will give me a bit of a limp. But, I'll be fine." He nods to me reassuringly.

"And where the hell do you think you'll get a taxi from?" Euclea rolls her eyes.

"Well, I was hoping you might take me to a main road or something.." Taehyung chuckles slightly.

"Uh.. Well, you won't find a road for miles. Not around here." I comment awkwardly.

"Miles?" Taehyung frowns. "Why, where are we?"

Euclea laughs. "Wow, do you anything about your own kind?"

"What do you mean?.." Taehyung's brow scrunches even further.

"This is Theasphreyei territory. You're bang-smack in the middle of it." Euclea sighs.

"I.. What?! But that means... How far away is Pharaway?" He looks up, eyes wide and frightened.

"Pharaway? In Crenford, right? Umm.. That would be two or three days travel by car if you spent nights in motels." I shrug. "Why would you go there?"

"That.. That's home..." He suddenly curls his legs to his chest and he looks like a lost little boy.

"Your school is your home?" Euclea laughs and I thwack her arm, hard.

"Lea, stop being so mean!" I chide.

"It's fine, I'm used to it. My parents died before I made double digits and my aunt and uncle have always hated my existence. School gave me friends and an escape, so yeah. I count Pharaway more like a home than the bed I was sleeping in before it." I make a mental note not to bring up the topic for a while, at least. I've never seen Taehyung quite so serious and upset. Not even when he's in pain.

"Well, you're two days of travel away at least so I am definitely not discharging you yet." I raise my eyebrows.

"No-"

"Euclea. We need to have a conversation. Outside." I interrupt, glaring harshly. I lead her out of the room and shut the door behind us. "Look, I know you don't like that I went against what you said, but you cannot hate him for that. He was hurt and lost and dying. Now, he's better and he still hasn't given us any reason to suspect he has ill intentions. I'm not asking you to like him, but stop being so mean all the time!"

"Will you just please be a little more wary about letting him in!" She genuinely seems worried.

"He's already in.." I frown, confused. "What use will worrying about it have?"

"Not into your room, Nova." Euclea rolls her eyes. "You don't trust anyone. Ever. It took you years to talk to me about anything other than the weather. Just be careful."