Kinzie stared at Shin with wide open eyes and it was obvious to Kayn that there was some fear within her as well. Kinzie tried talking, but Kayn hadn't removed the cloth that was gagging her yet as he had other priorities.
"Oh, I almost forgot that." Kayn said this as he reached his hand toward her head to remove the cloth. However, Kinzie's head moved back ever so slightly, Kayn caught on to her struggle as he could see it in her eyes.
"It's just me Kinzie, you know Shin? Now let me remove that and get your open wounds taken care of, I can't remove the toxins otherwise." Kayn once again reached forward to remove the mouth gag and this time Kinzie let him.
"Is it really you Shin? I only remember a terrifying humanoid looking dragon thing before I finally succumbed to the pain and shock." Kinzie looked into Kayn's eyes looking for any hint of deception, however something else caught her attention, there were black rings around his pupils. Shin didn't have that particular trait before, the only one she knew with that oddity was Kayn.
Looking down further, she was finally able to see his hands without gloves and his arms without a shirt covering them. There were thin scars running the length of both arms, just like someone else she knew.
"Yes, it's really me." Kayn sighed because he knew he had disregarded his concealment spell and almost never paid attention to his arm scars other than covering them up. He needed all of his mana to keep himself upright and continue healing Kinzie. If he didn't stop the spell, he probably would have passed out already.
Kayn let out another big sigh before moving his hand to his face mask and removing it completely from his head. 'I really need a different mask, maybe just one that fits on the front of my face instead of this full headgear situation.'
Kayn had a pained smile on his face as he looked at Kinzie who had her eyes open and mouth in a doughnut shape because of the revelation.
"Yes, I'm also Kayn. My real name is Kayn though, so in private feel free to use my real name from now on. Now, lay back and let me heal you, you're in bad shape and I'm in no mood to explain things right now." Kayn stated blandly in resignation. He knew one day Kinzie would probably figure out his identity, but this isn't exactly how he pictured that moment going.
Kinzie's eyes shuddered a little in fear at Kayn's tone of voice, but then she finally took a good look at him. Seeing his poor appearance, Kinzie could understand why he was in a bad mood.
Kayn looked like he had just been trampled by a stampede of rune beasts. He was bleeding from his arms, chest, legs, abdomen, and on top of all that he was missing his left hand! After witnessing the terrifying form that Kayn could take, it made her head hurt thinking about something that was strong enough to remove his hand.
However, to her horror she noticed that she was still naked and that whatever drugs they gave her made her a bit hot and bothered. Kinzie tried to cover herself up with her arms only to realize she still couldn't bend her arms at the elbow.
"Just stay still, I haven't healed your tendons yet and that's going to take a bit. Plus, you don't want to have clothes on for what I'm about to do, otherwise you would just want to change again." Kayn stated with an emotionless face.
Kayn was tired, he just wanted to stabilize Kinzie, and then take her outside the camp so he could have a small nap before dealing with the slaves that were still locked up. Even though Kinzie felt some reluctance because she was fully nude in front of a man, let alone Kayn, she gave in to her fate and stayed still.
Kayn pulled out his water pouch as well as a couple lesser healing pills and helped Kinzie to swallow the pills as well as told her to be ready to drink the water. She was going to need the nutrients from the pills and the liquids in her body.
Kayn placed his right hand on Kinzie's abdomen even with her trying to scoot her body away a bit and began to circulate the water element through her body.
Kayn needed to cleanse the toxins from her body, and the best way he could think of while exhausted was to expel it through her sweat. Kayn had thoroughly examined his own blood and body fluids with all of the elements, so he used himself as a basis for what belonged and what didn't in Kinzie's fluids.
It took almost an hour before Kayn finally stopped circulating his mana in Kinzie's body. She was now laying in a puddle of sweat on the bed and looked a bit dehydrated. Kayn face-palmed at his own stupidity. He gave Kinzie water, but she couldn't move her arms! He felt like a moron for forgetting so many things in such a short span of time. Sighing, he grabbed the water and placed it up to her lips to help her drink.
'I really need to create a spell that can mimic IVs from Earth. If I can just directly inject potions and fluids into people and direct them where they need to go, it would make things so much easier for me.'
Kayn lifted Kinzie up in a princess carry to move her to a dry spot while simultaneously casting simple wind magic to dry her off. After wrapping her in a couple of blankets, he carried her out of the building and camp. He was fortunate enough to find a nearby cave to camp in.
He was still bleeding profusely from his deeper wounds and was starting to feel a bit disoriented from the blood loss as well as the overexertion of his mana.
Kinzie had passed out after drinking the water, so Kayn placed her in a comfortable position on one side of the cave before setting up his own bedroll. He didn't have enough mana left to heal himself and close off the cave entrance. He had to settle with just wrapping his wounds with bandages and some poultices he carried around as well as taking a lesser healing pill.
After he finished wrapping himself up, he used the last little bit of mana he had to lift a wall at the front of the cave to block the entrance. Kayn only left a bit of a hole at the top so that the air flow would continue. Once the entrance was to his liking, he promptly passed out without another thought.
…
Kayn's nap turned into him being asleep for more than half the day and by the time he woke up, the sun was already starting to set again. Kayn sat up and looked over to where he had laid Kinzie only to notice that she was still asleep as well.
Now that Kayn's exhausted state was a bit refreshed, he used mana to heal his most serious wounds before changing his clothing since his previous tunic, shirt, and pants from his father were in tatters. Between the transformation or whatever it was and the fighting, his clothes didn't make it.
Kayn could only sigh once again thinking that he would need to buy new armor or see if his father could send him something else. He had lost track of how many times he sighed recently and unfortunately; he was aware it would only continue for the next few days at the very least.
Now that Kayn's mana was mostly replenished aside from what he just used, it was time to heal Kinzie's tendons. Kayn stood up and walked over to where Kinzie was lying asleep and woke her up since it wouldn't exactly be a comfortable process.
Kayn's plan was to stretch the tendons and muscles back to their original position and slowly mend them back together. The procedure would be painful and also a bit itchy, but Kayn figured it was better than destroying the old ones to regrow new ones as was the typical practice. This would leave the individual in a state of recovery for a few months to a couple years though, and he didn't want that for Kinzie, nor did he know the original spells.
While Kinzie may be a sort of test subject for Kayn in this aspect, he had performed the procedure on animals he had killed in the past, so he was confident in succeeding.
After waking up, Kinzie didn't say much and only nodded to Kayn's instructions. It was obvious that she was struggling internally with something, and Kayn knew it was probably about his identity as Shin as well as the draconic form he had taken that even he didn't fully understand.
He could only explain things to the best of his ability and hope that she would understand and at least keep in contact with him, realizing he cared more about her friendship than he originally thought. Kayn didn't want to put himself too high on a pedestal, but for Kinzie, having a multi-talented friend who could heal and fight would be very beneficial.
What Kayn was worried about was her revealing his identity. This was something he couldn't let happen as his anonymity was important to both himself and his parents. If the Empire, or any important organization for that matter, learned about an all-element attributed core such as his own, he would be in major trouble.
Not to mention the fact that it would put a spotlight on his family. While his father was already famous in the Empire and Clem excelled in her classes, Kayn's peculiarities would stand out. If somehow that led the people hunting his family to their doorstep, he would never be able to forgive himself.
"Kinzie…I, please don-" before Kayn could even finish his sentence Kinzie interrupted him.
"Shin, no Kayn, please understand that even if I'm a bit scared of you right now and even more so confused, I wouldn't dare reveal your secrets to anyone. On top of saving me twice, you went out of your way and received injuries, even losing a hand. Not to mention you're also my only friend." Kinzie gave a heart-warming smile even with her current state.
Kayn dipped his head down and only said two words, "Thank you". However, to himself he was thinking about something else.
'I'm a terrible person who doesn't deserve her as a friend. I was literally just thinking about how to disappear without anyone knowing, especially keeping her from knowing who I am. However, even without me finishing my sentence she knew what was on my mind. Truly, she has been far better to me than I have to her. I guess she deserves some honesty from now on.'
Kayn kept his head down for a few minutes until finally lifting it and looking Kinzie straight in her eyes.
"This procedure isn't going to be comfortable and might even be extremely itchy, but do your best to remain still please. I'll be putting my full concentration into this, since if I'm even a bit distracted it won't end well. Now then, let's start."
And just like that the procedure to mend Kinzie's tendons began.