I think there are better ways, though. Maybe take him hunting? The Andinna hunt the occasional gryphon. Or just aerial sparring.”
“I wanted him to get the feel of flying with a gryphon near him,” she said softly, rubbing her hands together. “You’re right, though. There has to be another way to teach him this without risking anyone.”
By the time they made it back to their cliffside, Emerian was waiting at the door, holding a small leather bag.
“Found it!” the young mutt called out, lifting it high above his head.
Trevan tied Vahn up in his small holding area, then helped Mave up the stairs. She rolled her eyes when he took her arm to give support.
“My own husbands—”
“Would kill me and your nemari if we didn’t treat you with the proper respect after you’ve been injured training with us,” he said sharply, cutting her off. “And I wouldn’t blame them.”
Mostly, I don’t want them to see you walking around with a defeated slump because your plan didn’t work. I don’t like seeing it myself.
He shut them in his house and found her a seat at his table. Pulling a small knife from her belt, she cut open her breeches farther, exposing the entire injury. Trevan grabbed a washcloth from a bowl of hot water Emerian had set up before they made it back. Going to his knees in front of her, he looked over the scratch as he cleaned off the blood. The bleeding was already slowing, an Andinna trait he wished he had. He bled as much as any human or dwarf, but the Andinna had a special way to subconsciously slow their bleeding. He’d seen it keep countless gladiators alive long enough to treat their injuries and fall into a healing sleep after fighting on the sands.
“They aren’t deep,” he declared, nodding with satisfaction after her leg was cleaned. “That’s good. Be careful a couple days, and they’ll scar, but—”
“They can join the others.” Mave shrugged. “I just hope I didn’t ruin my relationship with Vahn. I didn’t want to scare him, but I think I did.”
“He’ll be fine,” Trevan said, shaking his head at her worry. “Bring him a leg of something, and you’ll win him back.” He dropped the bloody washcloth into the bowl, the water turning red.
“It makes me wonder who takes care of them,” Emerian commented as he picked up the bowl. “If they kill Andinna…”
“Humans,” Trevan said sharply. “Andinna slaves don’t help with the army or navy. There’s a ban on it. They use low ranking humans to tend mounts.”
“I didn’t know that,” Mave said softly. Trevan met her gaze, feeling a sudden wave of guilt as memories came flooding back. Years of training for his position and to keep his skills sharp. The things he had seen and had been expected to do during those months were ones he tried to never think about.
“It’s common knowledge,” he said, trying to dismiss it. “Um…”
“There’s nothing wrong with knowing,” she said gently. “Trevan, you were an Elvasi soldier. You were a guard in the pits. Of course, you would know things about their military.”
“I try to only tell you the useful things. That’s not useful. In fact, it’s not helpful at all.” He stood and stepped away from her, sighing. “The only time I saw Andinna around during our training was…” He trailed off as the source of his guilt came to the surface.
“The Andinna were banned from helping your military unless they were going to die,” she filled in for him. “I understand.” He watched her stand and stretch her injured leg. “I’ll leave you alone. Trevan, there’s nothing to feel guilty about. You were living the only life you could, and it led you to helping me, the Company, and my people. Everyone has their own journey to take, and now you’re here. Consider it in the past and forget about it. No one is judging you.”
“Have a nice day,” he said softly as she walked out. Emerian looked at him sadly, then followed her, off to do his duty as her nemari. Trevan was left alone in the cliffside home with a bowl of bloody water. He took the mess into the kitchen and quickly drained it, using some of his fresh water supply to rinse it off. Noticing she left her dagger on his table, he cleaned and sharpened the knife, deciding he would give it to Emerian when he returned for the night.