[For Sam] Healer & Dragon

[carrythetorch]

It had all gone wrong this time. In retrospect, Lio thinks maybe he'd been going too hard. He was on the brink of exhaustion, and his latest raid on livestock had been met with more resistance than it should have, almost as if someone had known he was coming.

He'd gotten away, thankfully, but not before he'd taken a number of blows -- arrows shot from crossbows with enough power that they'd pierced even through his scales. He'd ripped them out in flight and set the better part of a fallow field on fire before he'd flapped high enough to disappear into the cloud cover. That had been what saved him. It wasn't long before he couldn't keep himself aloft any longer, too much pain, too much blood lost.

Even maintaining his full draconic form is too much, and as he plunges to the Earth and tries to slow his descent with his wings, he fizzles back into his human shape, a lithe, slender man. His clothes are dark enough that the blood soaking them isn't obvious from a distance. He lands in a crumpled pile not far from a road through the woods, just off the trail in the underbrush. And that's the last thing he knows.

...

When he opens his eyes next, he's warmer than he expects to be. There's soft blankets beneath him and over him. He can smell something clean and earthy, herbal maybe, and light spills in setting the whole room in a comforting brightness and-- wait. He's in a room. The last thing he remembers is falling, and, oh.

He sits up all at once, hissing at the way his body protests the movement. Where is he? Has he been captured? Except no, if he'd been captured he'd be bound. Or dead. Maybe staked through to the ground. Not wrapped in soft blankets and tended to. "Where am I?" He asks the question mostly to himself as he blinks against his bleary vision willing it to clear, willing his eyes to focus.

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[barenakedspirit]

The edge of the woods is his domain. As much as he likes other people a healer bound to the elements must be among them. That's fine by him and to the woods he lives by.

Galo glances at the sky as he sits on the edge of his window with his staff resting against his shoulder. A staff is a traditional symbol. Most healers these days don't use them. But when he'd finally been accepted he'd walked into the woods and let them guide him until a tree gave him his staff. He taps it against his shoulder as the sounds inside his home tell him his patient is awake.

His house has two beds, his own tucked away in the back of the house and the patient bed, it isn't far from the window. The floor is made of stone, and the shelves have some books but mostly every space that's safe to allow it has something growing there.

Galo is a tall man, corded with muscle and etched in the blue green tattoos that form vines and whorls of water over his chest and back. Another traditional symbol of his craft. One no one forgets. To be inked in such a way to make a pact with the earth and mother nature never likes to be double crossed.

He drops back into the house and gently lays his staff against the edge of the window. "Oh, you're awake. Thought you'd be down a little longer." Galo crosses the stone floor and sits on the edge of the bed the air growing lighter around him as he gathers magic to him, tapping his own reserves. He'd used so much last night to pull this man from the edge of death.

"You're lucky. The elements don't scream for a healer that often, but they did it for you. But don't try moving around much. You lost a lot of blood and you're still full of holes."

[barenakedspirit]

The sky is shades of orange and red bleeding into deep purple when Galo wakes up. He had fallen asleep half between in half form and for a moment doesn’t know where he is or what.

The second of panic passes and he sits up with Lio in his arms. His wings open then sweep around his mate as he climbs to his feet. “Hot springs,” He murmurs as he moves to climb to his feet. He can tell the eggs are alright.

They don’t need checking and the promise keeps rattling around in his head. Get to the hot springs then let everything else be somewhere else. For a time.

[barenakedspirit]

Waking up is difficult when all he wants to do is cuddle Lio and keep dozing. Galo wakes by degrees. The forest is unhurried, patiently waiting for him like an old wise friend.

He bares a bit of fang at the open air, heat rolling out as he exhales. Wing a dragon feels like some puzzle piece fitted into place. This is what he was missing. He strokes a hand down the middle of Lio’s back as he opens his eyes. The nest is in gloom.

He can still see just fine. He raises his head as he breathes in. The kids are safe. Their eggs are all warmer and he can feel how they respond to their flames. He doesn’t know how long it will be until they hatch. Instinct says a while but shorter than normal. The blessing of the world.

He scents the air and makes a small noise that’s closer to a snarl.

Other dragons are near the lair. He pulls the fire lord, his mate closer and buries his face against his neck. He internally checks the time. Early morning. He reaches down through his druid abilities to the forest and it reports that while dragons are close they aren’t trying to enter. It seems they just wish to be near.

His hackles that had been rising, settle. He shifts to allay on his back with Lio on top of him. He drags his fingers through his hair and down his mate’s narrow back.

“Keep sleeping. They just want to feel safe.”