The Pet, Part 3

It had been a couple days since he reached his new home, and things weren’t going so well. His own fault, really. He had made a stupid mistake, and he had to deal with the consequences.

He’d hardly seen the girl, Morella, since he’d let her back out. He hadn’t even had time to apologize, she’d run off so fast. He’d caught glimpses of her now and again, but she was clearly avoiding him. Yet despite this... she hadn’t returned him to the shop. It seemed surprising, but he also knew why. It was the kind of person she was; she knew he was at risk of being killed if he was returned to the shop, so she kept him. She was scared of him, but she wouldn’t risk endangering him.

He’d tried to keep track of her, look for where she might be sleeping if not in her room, trying to find a way to talk to her. He’d managed to talk to her briefly when she went to the kitchen to get her healing supplies. He’d apologized and explained what he saw in the photo book, but before he could finish trying to explain himself, she had what she had come for and hurried out of sight.

Despite her avoiding him, she was also making sure he was doing okay. One of the times he had come back from looking for her only to find a dead deer waiting in his room. She was making sure he had plenty to eat, enough food to last him a while. He wanted to explain himself to her more completely, and to find out what had happened to her to make her so different, what she was scared of and needed protection from.

He had found a second deer waiting when he first woke this morning, and after finishing, he made another round through the house. He checked out the various passages and hallways, tongue flicking out occasionally to catch scents as he figured out what areas his ‘owner’ had been in. He had gone through the area so many times he knew his way around fairly well now, knew where each room was and what it was for, and knew where the exits were and how large each was. The naga wondered if perhaps she had been spending most of her time outside. It would explain why he didn’t catch her scent much.

He opened one of the doors, slithering outside and looking around a bit. He couldn’t see any neighbors, at least none were obvious. He could smell smoke and charred wood, so he looked around for the source. He slowly circled the house, pausing when he reached a side he hadn’t gone to yet. He paused as he saw why the hallway had been closed off inside- it was severely damaged. Charred wood, a caved in ceiling... It explained part of why she was skittish. It didn’t look accidental... She had been attacked in her own home. But why? She clearly wasn’t the sort to start trouble.

Onan sniffed around a bit, managing to figure out the extra entrance she had been using to get in and out of the house. He could tell by scent that last time she passed the threshold, she had been going inside. Fresh blood too. He learned what he could from sight and scent before circling back to the door he had come out through.

Once inside, he decided to see if he could figure out where she was. He first went to approximately where the door she came in should be, although it was further back than his large form could go. He sniffed around a bit, doing his best to trail her scent. After a while, he was able to tell she had come into the larger area of the house, and he could even see a few small blood drops. The giant naga was starting to worry a bit.

He moved a bit quicker now that he had an easier trail to follow, and was surprised when the scent trail lead to his own room. He immediately thought of the bedroom he had noticed his first day, the room that was clearly meant to be hers. She hadn’t gone in there since he had been here... but scent told him she was now. He carefully lowered himself to the ground, peering in the doorway to see if he was right. Immediately he saw Morella lying limply face down on her bed, having started to bandage herself, but apparently passing out or dozing off before finishing. He saw a gauze pad laying over her back, and a couple others lying to the side. There were cuts or scratches of some sort visible on her back where the pad wasn’t covering, and a bit of blood was running down her side and dripping onto her bed.

He frowned, wanting to help her, both to make up for his mistake, but because she had clearly been trying to make sure he was comfortable despite what he did. He was a bit uncertain what to do... obviously she needed to be bandaged up, but she was in her room. He thought she might see her room as sanctuary, as a place to feel safe... and if he took her out of there, he would be violating that. Her coming in here was a hint of trust; she was trusting him to leave her be in her room despite how easily he could access it. He sighed, watching how the exhale moved the sheets slightly as well as knocking some of the pads and gauze wrap off of the bed. She needed help... but taking her from her room might be damaging to any hope of trust. It was a difficult situation.

After thinking it over for a while, hesitating to disturb her, he finally lifted the ceiling piece off the room, slowly to avoid making a sound. Maybe he could bandage her without waking her... That would probably be best, let her get her rest.

He picked up the first gauze pad, looking it over before picking up what looked to be a jar of the herbal medicine she had been brewing in the kitchen the day he arrived. He put a little on the pad, then leaned over to look at her closely. He carefully lifted the pad she had already set there, which had been absorbing the blood but hadn’t been treated with medicine. He used it wipe her off a bit better, then leaned over to examine the wounds. The cuts weren’t as bad as they could be... but there were older, still healing ones visible. He wiped it off, surprised at just how many there were, both old and new. It didn’t make sense, why would anyone do this to her?

He heard a faint moan from Morella, and pulled back slightly, not wanting to accidentally wake her. He waited until she seemed better asleep, then placed the gauze over the cuts, soon preparing another pad and placing it as well. He carefully maneuvered her to his hand so he could better use the gauze roll to tie it in place. Once he had her there, he waited to make sure she hadn’t woken, then started to fix the bandaging in place.

He was hesitant at first, but soon was carefully maneuvering her as he wrapped the bandages in place. After a little while, he got so focused on it that he failed to notice Morella stirring slightly, muttering under her breath as she started to rouse. He only realized she had come to when she cried out and started trying to get away.

He quickly took a firmer hold on her, wincing when she yelped in pain as he accidentally placed a finger over her wounded back. He quickly adjusted his grip so he wouldn’t cause her pain, but was also trying to hold the bandages in place until he could finish tying them on. “Calm down... Take it easy, little one. I’m just trying to put bandages on, then I’ll return you to your bed. I promise; I won’t do anything other than help with the bandages.”

It took a moment, but the girl eventually calmed down and stopped struggling, but her expression made it clear how nervous she was as she stared up at him. He was as careful as he could be as he secured the bandages in place, then looking her over to see if he could take notice of other wounds. He frowned at what he saw, noticing a number of bruises and smaller cuts and scrapes. He considered working on bandaging all of it... but it was clear Morella was nervous and wary, so it was probably better to just let her take care of it once he set her down. He’d just have to make sure to keep her awake until she did.

He brushed a finger lightly over her side as he moved to lower her back to her room, pausing when he saw her wince slightly. He frowned, touching a finger lightly to her back and carefully moving it to feel where he had touched that made her wince. He watched her, frowning, “Is something wrong?” She didn’t look at him as she replied, “No... well... nothing out of the ordinary... I’ll be fine after a few days with a sling.”

He tilted his head to try to look her in the eyes, but found that not only was she turning her head away, she wasn’t opening her eyes either. He sighed, slowly lowering her to set her back in her bed, watching as she finally opened her eyes and looked around. He watched her go through the medical items she had gathered, setting up a sling before going to lay back down. He rest his hand on the wall where the ceiling would set down on it, as if it were the rim of an open box. “You need to stay awake long enough to bandage the smaller things.”

She hesitated before looking up at him, then shook her head, “They don’t really matter. I just need sleep.” He frowned, “If you don’t treat them, they’ll scar.” “I’m used to it.” He lowered his hand to reach in and touch the bandages and creams, “If you don’t take care of it, I will. Once you are done and get some rest, we need to talk about a few things.”

Morella frowned, finally going and getting the rest of the bandages before sitting on her bed. She paused before starting, looking up at him a moment, then to the side, “If I do... will you leave my room?” Onan smiled slightly, and lowered the ceiling piece back in place. Once he had it repositioned, he lay down so he could look in through the doorway. She stared at him a moment, then finally started working on the bandages. While she worked, he repositioned himself so that he could lie facing the room, but his tail was blocking the exit to his room. She could leave her room, but not his. Only once he was satisfied that she had taken care of most of the wounds did he close his eyes to rest, to wait for her to recuperate a bit before talking to her about what had lead her to buy him, about what she needed protecting from and what had been done to her.