Richard Cassia helped Ravenna and Teresa to carry the tall man carefully into the infirmary room. The man was over six and a half feet tall, and Richard was grateful that there were two more people there to help move him. It had taken a lot of effort between Adriana and himself to get the man onto the cart, and the extra help to move the man into the infirmary was welcome. But something about the healer's reaction to seeing the unconscious man piqued Richard's interest; she almost looked like she knew or recognized the man.
The young man was placed in one of the four beds in the infirmary room in the Hawthorne home. Richard moved a second bed closer to the first, allowing Teresa and Ravenna to stretch the young man's body across the two beds; he was simply too tall for a single bed. They left the unconscious man in the same manner that Adriana had placed him on the cart, as the injuries on his back were too severe to move him in any other position.
"Thank you for your assistance, ladies, and I hope the Ruler gives you all the blessings you need to be able to take care of this man properly." Richard bowed his head toward Ravenna and Teresa, and made his way toward the door.
"Wait!" Ravenna cried out to the Brackenridge man. "You have travelled a long way to help out a stranger, would you like to rest in the infirmary for the night before you continue travelling? You are more than welcome to stay, I hate the thought of you travelling such a distance while you're exhausted."
Richard gave a gentle smile to the young healer. "Thank you for your generous offer, Miss Hawthorne, but I must be returning home to my wife. We have the farm to look after, and I promised I would be back as soon as I could." The farmer bowed, and walked toward his horse, leaving Ravenna and Teresa with the unconscious man.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ravenna and Teresa stood at the edge of the bed, looking at the badly injured man who occupied the bed. Teresa noticed the unease radiating from Ravenna, and grasped her friend's hand to comfort her.
"Ravenna?"
Ravenna took her hand back from her friend's grasp, and knelt next to the man in the bed. She brushed a lock of golden hair from the man's face. "Michael…Michael…? Please wake up. Please…"
–Michael? But that was the name of the man that…– Teresa put her hand on Ravenna's shoulder. "You know him, don't you?"
Ravenna turned her head, meeting her friend's gaze. "...yes. This is Michael…the man who saved my life. It looks like Lucifer was right, Michael was going to Fall."
"But…you said Michael was a Seraphim, an angel?"
"He is. The wounds on his back; he's lost his wings. Lucifer said that was part of the Fall; the Ruler ripped the wings from his back and cast him from the Kingdom."
Teresa sat on the edge of the bed, trying to process everything Ravenna told her. "He looks badly hurt…what can we do for him?"
Ravenna's eyes darted between her friend and the Seraphim on the bed and back. "I…don't know, Teresa…we need to…okay." She took a deep breath, settling her thoughts. "We need to clean the blood from his skin, and try to bandage him up. I can't stitch his wounds, they're too wide, and the wounds are already starting to heal. I'm going to boil some water, can you keep watch over him?" Seeing Teresa's anxious nod, the young healer left to prepare water to begin her craft.
Annie began to fuss, and Teresa moved to comfort her child. The man Ravenna called Michael remained unconscious; Annie's crying had not roused the angel in the bed. Teresa sat on the edge of the bed where Michael lay, rocking Annie in her arms. The child settled, and Teresa laid Annie on the bed next to Michael so she could grab a fresh change of clothes for her daughter. Turning to pick up the infant, Teresa watched her daughter reach out and touch the unconscious man's skin. As Annie touched the bruised skin, the blemish shimmered and disappeared.
– Surely just a trick of the light…–
Ravenna returned with a large bowl of water, and Teresa quickly picked up Annie, placing the child on a different bed to change her clothes. Ravenna carefully cleansed the dried blood from Michael's back, quietly speaking to him as she worked. Teresa watched her friend work as she rocked Annie to sleep, empathy flooding her thoughts. –Ravenna so clearly cares about Michael, I hope he wakes up soon. She looks so heartbroken…–
As Annie fell asleep, Ravenna finished cleaning the blood from Michael's back, and a frown crossed her face. She saw the blood staining the Seraphim's pants, and was anxious that there were other hidden wounds. "Teresa? Can you help me move him?"
Teresa placed Annie in the middle of the bed, making sure her daughter could not roll and hurt herself. Ravenna looked at Michael, and back to Teresa. "I'm going to try to shift him so he's more upright; we need to wrap his back with some bandages. Can you help me support him?"
Teresa nodded, wanting to help as much as she could. She couldn't stand seeing her friend look so helpless, especially when Ravenna was always so confident in her abilities to heal. But Michael had severe injuries, and neither woman knew what the best route to help would be. Ravenna moved Michael so he was on his side, rather than on his stomach, and then sat behind him, pushing his shoulders forward. As the unconscious angel was moved into an upright pose, Teresa quickly wound fresh bandages around his torso, wrapping his wounds tightly. Once the large wounds on his back were covered, Ravenna moved from behind the angel, moving him back onto his side.
Ravenna took a knife, and slit Michael's pants along his thigh and hip. As she pulled the fabric back, she saw a large laceration on the side of his right thigh. Sighing, Ravenna took her cloth and cleansed the blood from Michael's leg, grateful that this wound was not too deep. She looked at Michael, who still showed no sign of regaining consciousness. Ravenna dipped a new needle in alcohol, and allowed it to dry, before beginning to suture the wound. Ravenna tied off the stitching, and ran her fingers through her hair.
"I'm just so worried about him. I can do everything that I was taught to do, but what if it isn't enough?"
Teresa thought about mentioning Michael's disappearing bruising, but kept it to herself; she couldn't bring herself to get Ravenna's hopes up if what she had seen was truly just a trick of the light. She placed her hand on the young healer's shoulder, trying to comfort her.
Neither woman noticed the Seraphim who appeared in the room. The angel looked sadly at his Brother, before placing a bag in the corner and disappearing.