SEVEN

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Waking up wasn’t the most comfortable experience in the world, but I was much better for however much rest I’d had. The darkness suggested I had been asleep for quite some time, at least; what I also noticed, though, was that most of the pain had faded to a dull ache along my back.

Attempting to move was perhaps not the wisest thing I’d ever done; that soreness translated to such a stiffness that I could barely convince my arm to budge. But with the sounds of hushed activity coming through the canvas all around, making my highly aware that I was probably the only person here not being useful, resting in one place was about the last thing I wished to do.

I’d been sore before. I dealt with it now as then: moving carefully, but most definitely moving, pushing against that resistance not with a sharp jerk, but with persistent effort. I convinced my limbs to move, and then I kept them moving, letting the blood flow a little more freely.

A rustle at the tent flap warned me of company, which turned out to be once again the medic, Jacob. He chided me somewhat for my efforts; when I protested, he silenced me by saying, “If you push yourself too hard, you’ll be more of a burden for longer than if you simply rest. If you don’t want to be confined to bed rest, you will limit yourself to what I tell you is an acceptable degree of work, is that clear?”

I recalled the looks I’d received from Rebecca’s old friend, every time I’d needed to pick myself back up. Enduring more of such looks didn’t promise to be easier if I was sitting still doing nothing.

“If anyone objects to you being on light duty for a brief convalescence, refer them to me,” the man grumbled. “Now, let me get a look at you so that I can tell how much you can safely do.”

I gave in, and submitted to his ministrations. “Has anything of note happened while I slept?” I asked.

“Little,” the medic replied, one hand on my shoulder while his other directed my arm to move about. “Helen has gone to seek word from the outlying towns, to learn if it might be safe for us to return, or if we ought to go farther as soon as we may. Nancy and Travis have between them found enough hares to make for a goodly portion of stew, so we won’t be forced to live on trail rations quite yet.”

That stew was most certainly sounding like a good notion. But first things first. “Rebecca…?”

“Is making the stew,” Jacob said, and shook his head with a sigh. “I think she craves more to do, to keep her mind off of this mess,” he added in a low voice. “She likes you, and I think knows you better than she knows her old friend, anymore. As you can, take care of her, please.”

“You hardly need to tell me that,” I shot back. Of its own accord, my hand drifted up toward my ear, though I brought it up short before actually touching the plain steel stud there. Rebecca had been willing to go through a great deal to make things a touch easier for me, and then it had all gone out of control. Forced into hiding, her family quite likely dead… it was hardly a wonder that she would seek some distractions.

“Is that new, there?” Jacob enquired, touching the edge of my ear near that stud.

I sighed. “Yesterday.”

“I’d best help keep it clean, then. The heavens only know what you’ve come in contact with on the mad dash out here.” He reached into one of his many small packs. “Try to hold still, here.”

It stung, but in a way it was almost a welcome distraction from the overall aches I was feeling. Certainly I’d suffered far worse the day before.

A few more small things, and he allowed me to dress and go outside of the tent. Travis, just sitting upon a fallen log with a steaming bowl in his hands, beckoned me over. Once I’d settled myself, he placed the bowl into my hands, silenced my protests, and went to get another.

I didn’t protest very hard; after my first attempts, I of course needed to take a breath, and that made it all too plain that the stew smelled delicious. I was tucking in by the time Travis sat beside me again with his new bowl.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to say. Yes, he was treating me markedly better than Elizabeth had done – both the men were, and the riflewomen were civil, though I wasn’t sure they didn’t dislike me. But to ask why it was so would also be to make a point of their commander’s attitude, and that was not my prerogative.

After a few awkward mouthfuls, I decided to simply say, “Thank you.”

Travis lifted a hand to clap against my shoulder. “Lady Rebecca says you’re a good sort. I’ll accept her word on that unless either she or you gives me a reason not to.”

If only everyone found such advice so easy to live by… ah, well. I could hardly blame Elizabeth for wishing we’d been able to move a little faster, a little longer; knowing that we were only a few hours from Nordport wasn’t a very comfortable thought when combined with the notion that someone who meant Rebecca harm might be searching for her.

“Does it get easier?” I asked. When Travis only gave me a quizzical look in reply, I elaborated, “The walking and carrying. It isn’t always so rough, is it?”

“Oh, that. Yes, certainly, but it does take time,” he said, setting his hand on my thigh. “You don’t like being told to sit still, then.”

“Hardly,” I sighed. “I won’t deny I miss my warm room and comfortable bed, but… back in the city, I wasn’t making people wait if I wasn’t always rushing to and fro.”

“And now we’re waiting for word from Nordport,” Travis pointed out. “We weren’t all about to go nearer the city than we needed to, nor would we wish to move our camp while Helen isn’t here. We’ll always be waiting for someone – heavens, most of a soldier’s life is waiting.” He took another mouthful of his stew. “And times like this ought to make us appreciate the waiting that much more.”

A few more moments passed in silence, save for the muffled sounds of eating. The stew was simple fare, but, as they say, hunger is the best sauce; it was prepared well, and it was quite satisfying indeed.

“If you want something to occupy your time, I don’t think Jacob will think it unsuitable if you load our spare magazines,” Travis suggested. “I think Nancy has reloaded hers already, but I got back late enough that I haven’t had a chance to do so.”

“I’ve never handled bullets,” I protested. Doing so in the cold while I was sore didn’t seem particularly wise or safe.

“They’re much more forgiving than you might think.” He gave me a small smile. “And with gloves on, it’s a fine enough task that it might occupy your attention nicely, as well as showing that you are at least trying.”

I had to concede that he had some good points. Sitting around doing nothing, with Elizabeth around again to note that fact, was not getting any more appealing.

Too, I might be able to help with the food, or, at this point, the cleaning. I wasn’t accustomed to cooking, no, but I could at least help prepare.

And if I threw myself into that, perhaps I, too, would be able to keep from dwelling on the situation we’d left behind us.

Which reminded me, in turn, that I ought to think of how to talk to Rebecca. She was quiet, now, stirring the pot and staring into the steam rising from it. There was a tension about her, though, that even a thick cloak couldn’t conceal, a nervous set to her ears, an occasional twitch in them that revealed something of how ill at ease she was. And of course she was. All of us had reason for concern, but it was her family that had been attacked, her life that was on the line.

What in the world could I possibly say?

That question didn’t leave me even as I was loading cartridges into Travis’s spare magazines. Nor even as I was shrugging into an ammo belt myself – if I was going to handle the ammunition, I figured, and Jacob concurred, I might as well do so for all of them, that I could hand anyone a new magazine at need. Travis’s were somewhat larger, but all the others used the same sort, so it was just a matter of rounding up their empty magazines and taking them back to the ammo satchel I was working from.

But after the first few rounds, it was a simple enough task that I could worry some more. I didn’t want to leave her to herself if she needed support. Yet I didn’t want to insult her strength by being overly solicitous, either.

It was Nancy, in fact, who noticed my fretting, catching my cloak as I sought her spare magazines. “You’re making yourself busy,” she declared, “but there’s something more pressing on your mind, is there not?” Her gaze drifted over toward Rebecca by the campfire.

Wordlessly, I nodded. Apparently I had failed to keep it to myself, but I wasn’t about to tell a lie when directly asked about it.

She reached up behind my neck, pulling me down close. “Just talk to her,” she urged. “Tell her you’re there if she needs you. Give her a moment to say she does, and if she does not, then go back to your tasks, knowing that you’ve made the offer. Everything I’ve heard of her suggests that she’s a sensible sort; when she’s ready, or in need, she’ll seek you out.” Her whiskers splayed in front of a crooked smirk. “Sooner or later, I don’t doubt several of us will, for one reason or another.” Her fingers drifted up to touch the back of my ear. My right ear, the one that was pierced. “If you’re willing.”

That touch was all it took to make plain what it was she meant. “I… thought you would have rather kept to someone more familiar,” I admitted. “If you speak of willingness, you aren’t speaking of hiring me – and I’d feel daft trying to take money for it out here even if you were.”

“No, it would need to be as travelling companions, you’re right about that. But, Edmond, consider – if this turns into as horrible a mess as it looks to be doing, we could be at this for quite some time. None of us can afford, well…” She looked aside.

“Getting with child,” I filled in for her. “It’s quite all right; I know what’s been done to me, and I’ve no regrets about it.”

“Not now,” she retorted. “Once you’ve been through a few tight spots, you come to appreciate your own mortality a touch more. Should that come to pass here… I hope you can keep your optimism.”

“Hopefully it won’t,” I replied.

“Indeed. But for now… put your work down, and talk to her. You’re dear to her, perhaps you can get her to open up and let herself mend, where we might fail.”

I took a breath, and nodded. Daunting a prospect though it might be, the main task I could perform here was to see to the comfort and well-being of my companions, especially Rebecca. Anything else was just passing time.

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