89 Warmth

Arrion did not feel any real need to get his wound looked at. It was not all that deep. Sure, it bled but just tying it up took care of that.

He had not been lying to his wife when he had mentioned his healing rate. In fact, he may have been downplaying it just a bit. Though, with the fogginess he still had towards details he could not be entirely sure.

But he felt like he had always healed rather quickly from wounds. Perhaps he was misremembering but he did not think so.

But thinking back on it. Back then, when he had supposedly died, at first everything had hurt so much. And he probably should have been dead. But he had healed, and that had been far worse than this little wound.

He was not sure how his body could handle such wounds. Perhaps he had, but that was not something he could remember. Not really. Just the faintest impression that it was normal for him, even if it was abnormal.

He took a deep breath and instead of dwelling on it turned to look at his companions. They seemed alright. A few nicks, and cuts, here and there. But really? No one was missing any limbs and that was always a good sign.

His own wound had already stopped aching, now it was just a little bit itchy. A small price to pay for Dawn's safety.

Without really even meaning to, his eyes sought out the beautiful woman who was his entire world. What would he have done if that blade had pierced her? If it had claimed her life?

The very thought made his blood run cold. And his heart constricted painfully. Arrion understood very well what it was like to be separated from a loved one. And the thought of losing her was something that just filled him with dread. It would be even worse than losing his parents, as tough as that had been. Even with the horrible fact that he had never gotten to say goodbye to them and that he had not even been there, it would still have paled to losing the love of his life.

But she was fine. She was safe. He had managed to protect her. What did it matter what could have happened? It had not. And there was no point dwelling on it.

"Raven." The male voice intruded on his thoughts. He turned to look at Askar in surprise. "Queen Dawn told me to heal your arm."

Arrion would have argued, but as everyone else had already gotten healed, it was just easier not to. He submitted to having the divine energy go through him. It felt warm, and gentle. Like the caress of his mother's hand. Or the warm embrace of his father. Or like… there was something else it reminded him of, but he could not place his finger on it.

It also made him feel drowsy. And somewhat famished as well. Though he had already been feeling that last one, but now it was even worse. Arrion had an inkling that that was normal. Healing magic, at least the one that clerics could do this many times in one day, more or less just vastly sped up the body's natural repair functions. Leaving the aftereffects of hunger and fatigue. At least that was what he sort of remembered learning years ago.