A Hard Lesson Learned
Log Info
- Title: A Hard Lesson Learned
- Emitter: Andelena
- Place: Soldier's Defense
The blood in the sketchy bar has given way to clean sheets and the gentle lights of the Soldier's Defense. That's where Andelena took Gale once she'd healed her older brother enough to survive being taken across the city on foot, and the Sunguard sits with Dolan now as she finishes up with the process of treating her man's wound, wiping away the last of the blood. They're occupying a bed in a quiet corner somewhere, with Andelena opting to treat him instead of taking up the time of another healer.
Her hand goes gently to Dolan's face as she smiles tenderly at him. "You did good, baby," she says softly. "Real good. I'm so damn proud of you."
Sometime in the process of getting Gale treatment, Dolan had removed the black garnet in its steel and bronze ring that sits where his right eye should be, leaving only an empty socket behind. He looks quite the fright, really, especially without it, his face still with streaks of blood and a pair of impressive shiners quickly developing around natural and unnatural eyesockets alike. The wound she'd been tending still has an angry red line beneath a shirt slashed open at the left shoulder and across the body, a wound that is close to being serious but merely ended up being unpleasant. The natural eye is closed, and the mobile half of his expression is nowhere near as happy as Andelena seems to be. "I ain't mean to kill him, baby," he answers unhappily. "Yeah, I intended to thrash him good. I ain't mean to kill him."
"I know you didn't," Andelena replies softly. "But that man--he's been a nuisance at best and a magnificent bully at worst, all my damn life. He used to pick on poor Seb when he was barely old enough to walk, and he was twice his size then. He used to torment me when I was young, too. It's why I started growing stronger as a kid, because Mother wouldn't do a damn thing to stop him, Father didn't care enough to say a thing, and all the servants could do was care for me for all the bruises I'd get."
She sighs gently. "He's never learned a damn lesson in his life, Bry, and I hope to the gods the one you taught him? It better fucking stick. That man's been coddled and spoiled into his current state. Someone was gonna come around and do it eventually--and better you, a good man who'd feel guilty about it and make sure he lives, than a man willing to gut him, take his coins, and leave him for dead in the street."
Dolan sucks in a breath and lets it out in a long, gusty sigh. "Gale's a whole stable worth of stall-muck, and no mistake, but - calling down the Knight's justice on him -" He lifts an arm, starts to use it to cover his face, then thinks better of it and drops the arm back to his side. "I hope I ain't misusing His blessings, but damn, Andie, I was so mad when he laid a hand on you. I really ain't ought to lose my temper like that, that's how he got me. I left myself open. But - if he's as much a bully as you say -"
He seems to think about that one for a moment. "Got to think with my head and not my blade."
Zeke walks through the Soldiers Defense, his eyes focused but tired as he makes his way through the halls. They flick from area to area, just checking on the patients to see if anyone requires current aid. He stops by one and talks with the for a bit before moving on and continuing on his path. So intent is he on his journey, that he almost walks right by Dolan and Andelena. Which means his steps carry him a bit past and he's forced to back-step in order to poke his head into the area that they are currently in. "Sssa. Dolan?" He inquires uncertainly and then with more surety he continues. "Peasssce on your nessst."
"He put a hand on me," Andelena says gently to Dolan, "and he was being an obstruction in an investigation for justice. It's not pretty and it's not nice, but it was completely justified, baby. I don't think the Knight would have aided you if you were in the wrong--"
And then Zeke enters, and her head whips around to the sith-makar. Her steel-gray eyes are alight with surprise, but she doesn't get up from the bed with Dolan on it. "Zeke!" she exclaims softly. "Brightest of days and peace on your nest. Damn, talk about timing."
Dolan turns his head towards the familiar greeting, and the natural eye opens blearily. How much he's seeing is anyone's guess, with the pair of shiners he's got, and a bloodied shirt is thoroughly alarming at first blush. Almost at once, he winces and closes the eye again, turning his head back to center. "That you, Zeke? Brightest of days, and peace on your nest. I'm okay," he adds quickly, although judging by what is quite obviously a thoroughly broken nose, he's not especially happy.
"That disrespectful sack of shit," he goes on, to Andelena, with a sigh. "I -" What Andelena said, though, seems to be sinking in, for whatever it was he's talking about, he just sighs one more time. "S'pose you're right. The Knight taught him a lesson he ain't likely to forget, assuming he survives it. And his justice sure as sunrise applies to bullies like that."
"Zeke, where are you? Damned headache."
Zeke slips in, examining the injuries from a distance first. "It isss thisss one." He offers in reply to the initial inquiry. Then blinks at the vitriol that Dolan seems to have for... something or someone. Zeke is not entirely sure which. "Can thisss one be of assssisstance?"
"I think we'd both appreciate a second look," Andelena replies, getting up from the bed and lingering a small distance away from Dolan, enough for Zeke to come in and examine her husband. "Zeke, we just came back from a real fucking hellraiser of a confrontation. Gale, my brother--he wasn't cooperating with us and eventually he slapped me and demanded a duel. Bry provided--and, well, here we are."
There's an undeniable anger in her own voice and eyes at Gale for everything that's happened tonight. But there's also that compassionate little look that she offers Dolan. "Gale went for a dirty maneuver by his own book. That's why Bry's got the nose." Yes, she has no sympathy at all in her voice for Gale.
"I damn near put him in the Halls, Zeke. He slapped Andie, called her a sow, and gave Tel lip," Dolan puts in, his eyes still closed. "I'm the one who told him to draw his sword, baby. I ain't sorry I did, neither. I just hope I ain't kill him. I can defend beating the everloving shit out of him to the guards, but killing him? Too damned many men learn there's bigger fish than them, and pay with their lives for that lesson."
He lies still for Zeke's examination, making no attempt to open his eye or interfere. "Do what you need, but - when you're done, can you go see if he's okay?"
Zeke makes a slightly worried sound, it's concerning to hear that Dolan might have grievously injured someone - who was not fiendish in nature, but it sounds as though there was a story there that Zeke did not quite know. He gives Dolan's face a quick examination and hefts a sigh. "The nossse isss broken, and hasss ssset in the wrong plasce. Would you like thisss one to ressset it?" He hasn't actually touched Dolan yet save for a few very light touches to verify that the nose is indeed busted.
"I healed Gale enough to make it so he wouldn't bleed out to death in minutes," Andelena tells Dolan and Zeke both. "He was damned lucky that someone was there to administer healing so quickly. And he always told me my choice of profession was 'unwomanly'."
She looks like she might spit, but that's not sanitary in a hospital. Instead, she just sighs, letting some of the tension leave her. "I don't think you killed him. We got him here in time with the absolute worst of his wounds closed up. He's gonna be uncomfortable, but--that's life, and he needs to learn that, too."
"Gale thinks any profession where she doesn't have her feet in the air is unwomanly," Dolan retorts acidly, but sighs and nods at Zeke, his intense disagreement with the attitude clear. "Yeah, do what you need to do. Nobody talks to my wife, or my friends, like that. He's lucky it was Tel and not Lana. I watched as Lana turned the man who killed Tel to fine dust."
He stills, then, waiting for Zeke to do what is needful. There also appears to have been a sword cut across his chest to the shoulder, but it appears to well-healed, and the angry red line is already fading. No harm appears to have been done to the shoulder, and most of the problem is in his face, but the swelling beneath the bones is almost certainly uncomfortable and could be an issue.
Zeke nods, taking Dolan's nose in hand and then snapping it back into place with a little concentrated movement. He could heal the damage, but the truth is that the whole it will heal from here without further aid from him. "Sssa! There you are." It was likely a painful snap, but a necessary one. "Thisss one will heal it if you like, but it will heal now. Thisss one can alssso check on the other for you." Regardless of the previous choice.
It's a tiny little wince when Zeke sets her husband's nose back into place. Andelena can't help it to some degree. That's the man that she loves. His pain is her pain. The vows they'd spoken to each other included helping the other through injury and illness, after all.
But she smiles just a little at Dolan's remark about Gale's thoughts on women. "You're right there, baby," she says. "Thank you again, Zeke."
Dolan gasps and lets out a small cry when the nose snaps back into place, but it's a brief thing, and he lets out a breath of relief when it is done. "Thanks, Zeke," he echoes. "If Andie says he'll live - then I won't subject you to his whining, Zeke," he decides, then sighs. "I opened him shoulder to hip, Zeke, hard enough to knock him backwards. He's lucky to be alive. I ain't proud of it, but I did it. If it gets his attention, I can live with it. If it don't, he won't be so lucky next time."
Zeke folds his hands. He hadn't gotten a reply about the healing, so he lets that go for now. Instead he listens to the story of what happened an lets out a low worried rumble. "Ti sssounds to thisss one ass though if your posssitionsss were reverssed, thisss man would not have mourned your passsing. Then; you were fighting for your life. You are ssupposssed to defend your-ssself Dolan."
"Zeke's absolutely right," Andelena points out. "Gale was doing what he always does. He's a fucking bully through and through--I don't think he would have felt a thing about killing you if he had the opportunity."
She looks at Dolan. "You're the one who's been advocating for a quick and clean fight as much as possible. Gale? He doesn't give a shit about that. He doesn't do that."
Andelena sighs. "No, I'm content to let him heal in the company of the healers for a few days before we try and talk to him again. Maybe his ego will be at a point where he'll actually let us talk to him. Wishful thinking, but hey, girl can dream."
"We need to know what he's got, Andie." Dolan lets out a hard breath, and shakes his head slowly at Zeke. "Nah. Save your spells. Could have handled it my own self, but I wanted to make sure I ain't heal something wrong. Thanks. As for Gale -" He doesn't move immediately, but he does open his eye, and it seems to hurt at least somewhat less. "I guess you're both right. If the Knight had a problem with me smacking him down, he wouldn't have lent His aid, and He sure as sunrise did. S'pose Gale gets to find out what the difference is between a man who fights for sport and a man who fights to survive. It's a damned harsh lesson."
Zeke nods firmly, glad to see Dolan coming around. "Sssa. Can thisss one get any-thing for you two? Tea? A meal perhapssss?" He inquires gently. It takes food to heal injuries, fuel for the body to recover; and he doubts either one of these two have thought about getting some proper food into themselves.
"Food?" The question coming from Andelena confirms Zeke's suspicions quite nicely. She thinks only a moment before she says, "I think some kind of soup or broth might be nice. What do you think, Bry?"
"I could definitely eat," Dolan agrees at once, sitting up slowly and carefully if someone does not move to stop him. "Soup's probably best," he agrees. "Can't smell a damned thing right now." The admission is almost offhand. "I just hope we cracked that ego of this. Men like that are damned fragile. They put on shows like that when they're scared inside."
Zeke glances at Dolan. "You ssshould be breathing better ssssoon. If you are not by the time thisss one returnsss, let thisss one know." He steps out of the room quietly then to get something to eat for the pair, heading down the hallway with quick steps.
"Yeah, men with fragile little egos and the need to strut around like roosters like Gale are a copper-a-dozen out in Selentia," Andelena says with a soft sigh as Zeke departs to get some soup. "Land of a Thousand Princes, as they say--it means that they all are raised like they're princes. Every man's got it in his head that he's His Royal Highness even if he's just a son of a knight like Gale is."
She shakes her head. "I'm glad we're gonna have our family away from all of that bullshit," she says. "They deserve a healthier world than that one. Your parents are good folks, too."
"Damned right, we are," Dolan agrees, sitting up more fully and blinking a few times, taking a deeper, experimental breath. "Better," he concludes with some relief. "Thank you, baby, and I'll thank Zeke when he gets back. I'm glad they'll get to know their grandkids. As just need to make sure it stays that way."