[Ridge]
The sound of the door creaking open reaches the kitchen and I jump up, almost falling over from the sudden added weight on my ankle. Before I even have the chance to straighten myself out Kadeeth walks leisurely into the room. In his hands he's twirling a long, smooth stick.
He takes a whiff of the air, "I keep forgetting about this room," he smirks, "but you seem right at home!" His cheerful voice has Raforn spinning around faster than humanly possible. He bites his lip, somehow refraining from putting this idiot in his place.
He eventually changes the conversation, "Just give him the thing." Then he turns back around and keeps muttering irritated curses to himself.
"Who spit in your breakfast?" Kadeeth laughs, but he lets it go nonetheless.
"What thing?" Tellur asks. We all look at Kadeeth expectantly.
"Well," He starts, "Doc over there insisted that walking on your bum ankle like that all the time was gonna make it heal slower, so we brainstormed a little, and this is what we came up with."
He spins the stick some more, as if emphasizing something that should be obvious. Am I supposed to know how a stick is gonna fix my ankle? Well, I don't, so I just stare at him.
"It's a walking stick." Raforn speaks up reluctantly.
"Like...a cane?" I ask, unsure.
He nods, "The doctor I trained under gave them out sometimes. He called them crutches. They'll help take the strain off of your injury while it heals."
Kadeeth walks around the kitchen island and claps Raforn on the back approvingly. He smiles while Raforn hisses and tries to get away from him, rubbing his shoulder. I think I'm getting deja vu. Oh yeah, the incident earlier when Kadeeth hit his hand away from me. Good times.
"Hey, you really sounded like a real doctor for a second there!" He mocks.
I glare at Kadeeth, "Leave him alone and give me the stick, er, crutch."
I wave him over with my hand and he rounds the island again. Once he's back on my side I snatch the stick out of his hands and run my fingers over it. The dark wood is smooth and carved with small meaningless patterns. It has one continuous line winding down the entire stick, with small pictures scattered up and down the staff.
"Um, it's too tall." I admit sheepishly. I feel bad, he spent precious time doing this for me while we have so many pressing matters, and it doesn't even work.
He barks out a laugh, which makes Raforn jump. His wooden spoon clatters to the ground. This, of course, only makes Kadeeth laugh more. If I don't punch him in the face, I think I can get Raforn to do it for me.
Raforn picks up his spoon and sets it in the water basin. Then he puts his hands on his hips and saddles Kadeeth with a glare. When he's satisfied that he's glared at him enough he addresses me, walking over and guiding my hands.
He adjusts the stick so that the longer flat part on top is tucked under my arm, instead of in my hand. So, it's not a cane? They should've said that from the start then. I can feel my face heat up so I spit out a thank you to Raforn and grab the bottom of Kadeeth's tank top.
He's covered in sweat from being outside whittling this crutch for so long. I drag him behind me and out of the kitchen, making a beeline for the Duke's study. We need to make a plan. Although I do still have the idea of leaving Raforn and Tellur alone in the cabin, if they were going to cause trouble they probably would've done it by now.
"Call us when dinner's ready!" I yell out behind us as we leave the room. I try to keep my head down while I let my face return to its normal temperature. I can't really make fun of Raforn for blushing if I do it too. I think the last time I was embarrassed like this was the first day I met Martina, in the great hall.
I march us down the hallway, pushing all thoughts of Martina aside. He'll be the first person I worry about when we reunite with the Ravenous guard, but that can only happen if I focus on convincing Kadeeth to join the war.
We slip into the study and I set the crutch up so it's leaning against the wall. Kadeeth eyes it disapprovingly. I ignore him and hobble over to the same chair I sat in last time. He follows suit and sits across the desk from me in his father's chair.
"Y'know you're supposed to use it when you walk, right?" Kadeeth interjects, picking at his nails nonchalantly. He's obviously very unhappy now that he's realized how much of a challenge it'll be to actually get me to use the crutch. I just feel like it'll slow me down.
"Yeah, yeah, I will." I agree offhandedly. He sighs.
"It's for your own health-"
I wave him off, "We took care of my health, now we can move on to other things. There's a new priority that needs our attention." I look at him expectantly, almost excitedly.
"And what would that be?" He raises his eyebrows and folds his hands over each other, laying them flat on the desk in front of him.
Wow, he looks like his dad right now. I've never really seen the businessman side of him like this. He looks so professional, so... Noble. I'm not used to thinking about him that way. He's always seemed like just 'one the guys' to me. We've never had to deal with that status difference between us, our friendship has always transcended social norms. So, I pick up a small desk trinket and toss it at him.
He fumbles, but catches it with one hand. Curse this man's natural athleticism. He rolls his eyes and leans back in his chair, taking a more casual posture. It makes my own posture relax, which he notices, and it makes that smirk climb up his face. Well, I can fix that.
"I want to join the war."