No dreams haunted her in her sleep, and when Rhen awoke, she felt refreshed.
Despite her status as a nobleman's daughter, this wasn't her first time sleeping on a simple bedroll; at the tender age of twelve, her training with the blade had begun. And that had meant traveling around with her aunt Kornari, who was a formidable fighter.
As Rhen lay there, staring quietly up at the ceiling, she missed her mentor. But maybe not so much the absolute ass-kickings she had received during sparring!
"Miss Rhen," said a familiar voice, and she saw Merip's helmeted head appear, peering down at her.
"Mouse has arrived. He can see to that wound now. Come, come!"
The halfling poked her lightly with the tip of his boot, and she sent him a smile and sat up.
A throb of pain shot through her arm, and she frowned, placing a hand carefully on the bandage.
"Thank you, Merip." she said, and rose to her feet.
Her brother's soft snoring told her that he was still fast asleep. Perhaps for the better, after having used so much energy during the fight with the Greycloaks.
A glance at her wet boots told Rhen that she would be going barefoot, and so she followed Merip, careful not to step in anything on the not quite clean floor.
The halfling led her to one of the doors, stopped outside, and gestured for her to proceed.
"Come see me out here once you're done."
She gave him a nod, and then opened the door.
The room she stepped into now was vastly different from the massive, underground hall outside.
First of all, there was an actual bed.
Second of all, the skulls of various animals adorned every wall, lit up by a single torch on each wall.
It gave the room a somewhat sinister, shadowy feel, and yet she felt like there was nothing to fear or watch out for.
By a small desk in the room stood with his back turned towards the door.
A long, brown cloak with a hood hid his appearance, and all she could tell was that he was tall and slender.
"Come in." said a smooth, calm voice from within the hood, and Rhen did as told.
"Excuse me, sir," she said,
"I was told that you might be able to help me."
"Mhm. A moment, lass." said the man as he continued working on something by the desk - crushing something in a mortar, from the sound of it.
Suddenly, a small, black rat crawled up on his shoulder, and turned its dark, pearly eyes towards her.
A small key hung around its neck in a leather cord.
Rhen blinked, surprised by the sight.
"Sit yourself down on the bed." said the man, as he put the mortar aside, and dug out something from a pocket, which he proceeded to crush in his hand, and spread out on the desk.
Rhen kept quiet, eyed the rat on his shoulder, and walked over to sit down on the bed.
The rat kept watching her, and she met its gaze as she sat there.
The staring competition was only interrupted when the hooded man turned to finally face her.
The hood hid most of his face, but she could see his sharp chin, pale skin, and quite formidable, white mustache.
"Let's see..." he said and moved over towards her. She didn't hear his steps, and his movements were elegant, which made her suspect that he might be one of the forest folk... an elf!
"Your arm, yes?" he asked as he knelt down in front of her, and held out a hand.
"Yes..." she replied and raised the wounded arm with some struggle, offering it to him.
"I got attacked by a... what was it... werewolf?"
Pale, blue eyes met hers from within his hood, and he asked:
"It didn't bite you, did it?"
"No. Just a scratch. But a deep one... I can't move my fingers."
The man lowered his gaze then, with a nod.
"You are new here," he said as he began to slowly, carefully remove the bandage from her arm.
"We do not see many of your... people here."
"So I hear." she mumbled, wincing as he removed the last bit of the bandage, revealing the wound.
It looked bad. But somehow at least not infected.
The beast's claws had gone deep, and from the looks of it, it was a miracle she hadn't bled out
"Muscle damage... severed tendons..."
She felt his wonder, and she knew why; how had a simple bandage saved her from dying due to such a wound? It wasn't the first time she had gotten hurt and taken less actual damage than what should be possible.
This was, however, by far the worst wound she had ever had.
"...sit very still." said the man, surprising her.
She had thought that he would ask questions.
Rhen did as told, and took a deep breath, remaining calm as he studied her arm.
Then, he placed a hand over the wound, making her grunt in pain at the touch.
The hooded man whispered a few words she could not understand, and what followed was a prickling, tickling feeling in her arm, beginning at the wound and spreading out along the whole arm and hand.
Moments later, he removed his hand and looked up with a small smile.
Rhen stared.
The wound was gone. Her skin unbroken, as if it had never been harmed.
Magic! He had used magic to restore her arm!
"Try to move your fingers. Let's see if I did it right."
She tried, and grinned happily as her fingers responded perfectly.
"I've never seen anything like this...!" she said, shifting her gaze to meet his.
"Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome. No payment is needed - but I would like to know your name."
"Of course. Sorry for not introducing myself sooner... I'm Rhen."
"Rhen..." said the man, nodding a bit,
"They call me Mouse. And the rat is Philip. Slightly confusing, I know."
Rhen chuckled at that and glanced at the rat, who immediately met her gaze.
Odd for an animal, really.
"Now Rhen..." said Mouse, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I won't pry. We all have our secrets, and I can respect that. But I feel like I should warn you."
His pale, blue eyes turned serious, and he continued:
"People like you and I, need to be extra careful. Make sure that you can trust the people around you."
He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, and rose to his feet.
"After all... neither you nor I, are completely human."