Tarrin looked at her and almost laughed, but he caught himself. With a hole in his chest, laughing would be excruciating.

"She's ruthless, my brother," Allia told him. "She fully intends to kill any Wikuni stupid enough to remain in the city, but she's already declared all those that took part in the attack on us dead. Any Wikuni in a military uniform is marked." She looked at him. "Anyone with a silver sword is dead, as is anyone in his company. She knows about those men, my brother, and that they hire local cutthroats to aid them. And since she doesn't know which cutthroats are working for our enemies and which aren't, she's ordered all of them killed or chased out."

"Wow," he breathed after a moment. Triana didn't play around. "She's, thorough."

"Systematic," Allia agreed. "My people could take lessons from her on the proper way to exact revenge."

The door opened again, and Triana entered with Dar and Dolanna. Faalken stood outside the door, nodding to them as they passed, serving them as a protector of the vulnerable Were-cat in his private sanctum. Tarrin appreciated the long hours Faalken must have spent standing at the door, staring at a wall and keeping him safe. Dolanna was carrying an armful of white cloth, the bandages they used around his chest. "Things are looking up, cub," Triana said. "Rahnee just arrived, and if we're lucky, Mist and Kimmie will be here by sunset. I'll feel better with some kin around you to help protect you."

"You don't have to go out of your way for me, Triana," he said mildly.

"Perhaps, but it's a mother's privilege to go out of her way," she said with a direct stare at him.

"I'm not really your child."

"As far as I'm concerned you are," she said flatly, challenging him with her gaze. "I say you're my cub, and that makes you my cub. Do you want to argue about it?"

"N-No," he said meekly.

"Good. I hate beating sense into people when I can avoid it. Now, we're going to change your bandages. Dar here is going to see how we do it, so he can help in case Dolanna isn't here to do it with me."

"Why do you need Dar?"

"I use Sorcery to ensure the wound does not open while we remove the bandages, dear one," Dolanna explained. "With luck, it will not be needed in a few days. Your injury has already showed marked signs of healing."

"We heal fast, Dolanna," Triana told her. "Even silver wounds heal faster than a human would heal from a similar injury. A wound like that would put a human in bed for a month. Tarrin should be out of it in ten days."

"Let us prepare," Dolanna said.

The changing of his bandages was a remarkably quick affair. It was the first time he'd been awake for it. Dolanna used Sorcery to affect the bandages, to peel the dried blood in them off of the wound in such a way that didn't make it begin bleeding again. She used a weave of water, strangely enough, infusing the dried blood with water to soften the scabs that held the bandage against the wound, then separating them gently with another weave of air. After it was pulled away, he got his first look at the wound. It didn't look that bad. It was nothing but a scabbed hole on the left side of his chest, through the pectoral muscle, that oozed tiny amounts of blood around its edges. But what made it bad was the fact that it reached deeply inside him. Triana put her paw behind his neck, on his upper back, and then he felt Dolanna weave together another weave consisting mainly of air, felt it wrap around him gently, yet preventing him from moving his back. Triana then pulled gently against his neck and upper back, lifting his chest and torso off the bed. The move caused the wound to shiver with pain, but it wasn't anything that he couldn't endure. While she held him up, Dar and Dolanna quickly and carefully wrapped the bandages around his chest, then tied it. When that was done, Triana laid him back down. The sharp pains from being moved subsided, leaving him feeling strangely weak and tired.

"And that is that," Triana announced as she pulled the covers back up over his torso. "Do you feel alright?"

"It hurt some, but I'm alright," he assured her in a tired voice.

"Let's get you some broth, and then you can rest a while," Triana announced. "And get ready. Tomorrow, we're going to start your education. You'll be strong enough to pay attention then."

"I can do it now."

"You're not ready yet," she told him. "I can see right through you, cub. It's all you can do to keep your eyes open, and you haven't been awake more than ten minutes. You'd last about five minutes if I started droning on about obscure laws. You may think you're resting, but in your condition, thinking rationally and talking take alot of effort."

He couldn't refute that. He was tiring himself out, and them changing the bandages hadn't helped. Fighting against the pain was strangely exhausting, and it was exacerbated by his attempts to remain coherent.

"You'll have some broth, then you'll sleep. If you're feeling better tonight, I'll read for you." She looked at Allia. "Go get us some broth, Allia. And make sure the innkeeper understands that it annoys me when he doesn't keep it hot."

"Yes, Triana," she said obediently, squeezing Tarrin's paw in farewell before scurrying off to do the elder Were-cat's bidding.

"Dolanna, you can take care of Tarrin for a while. I have to talk to Rahnee. I'll be back in a while, cub. You take it easy, and do what Dolanna tells you to do."

"I will make sure of that," Dolanna told her, sitting down by Tarrin's head and laying a gentle hand on his forearm. Tarrin noticed for the first time that the manacles were not on his wrists. He didn't have the energy to worry about it, though. He'd find out what happened to them later. Triana walked out without another word, and Faalken silently closed the door after giving Tarrin a quirky grin.

"She shouldn't talk to you like that," Tarrin said weakly. "It's disrespectful."

"Dear one, that she will trust me with you is saying a great deal for what she thinks of me," Dolanna said with a warm smile. "Triana is fiercely protective of you. That is why she has had Faalken guard the door. Today is the first time she has left the room since we brought you here."

"I know, but still-"

"Hush, dear one," she said quietly, patting his arm. "Do not waste energy on things you cannot change."

He leaned his head back against the pillow a bit more, feeling his cat ears bend against the pillow. He really didn't have any energy to waste. He had never been wounded so badly before, and he decided that, even if there wasn't any pain involved, it still was nothing he ever wanted to go through again. When it exhausted him just to speak, it told him how weak he really was.

Allia returned with the broth, and Dolanna carefully fed it to him. It chafed at him that they had to treat him like a baby, but he wouldn't be able to hold onto the spoon. The broth was still rich and very tasty, and it managed to satisfy his hunger. It also had that same pain-easing effect, and made him distinctly sleepy.

It was a combination that his weaked body just couldn't ignore. He drifted off to sleep mere moments after Dolanna set the empty bowl on the table.

For some reason, Tarrin was worried about this.

Triana turned a wooden chair around and then sat down on it, folding her arms on the chair's back and leaning against it. Her tail slid back and forth behind her rhythmically, and she looked right at him with one of those stares, her expression sober and assessing.

That morning, she and Dolanna had propped him up into a semi-upright position with several thick, soft pillows. Strangely enough, the change in position had eased the pain a bit, though getting into that position was something that he didn't exactly enjoy. He did like being able to look at people from a viewpoint other than below, and he had gotten very tired of looking up at the beamed ceiling. He felt much stronger than he had the day before, both stronger and in less pain. He found that he could move his arms relatively well, and could shift himself without jagged lances of pain lashing at him. It still hurt, but the pain was duller than before. Just as Triana predicted, he was healing much more quickly than he expected. Triana just kept staring at him. He had no idea what she wanted, and it was making him uneasy. Almost afraid.