Niphru struggled to consciousness again, still fighting off the pain from before.  Carefully avoiding trying to do anything else, he simply attempted to open his eyes.  He could still somehow smell Dawn, even though it seemed impossible.  After several minutes, he finally succeeded, and was shocked at what he saw.  Just a few inches away from his muzzle, he could see Dawn’s face, contorted in pain, most of her hair missing.  As he watched, her eyes opened before suddenly darting to his own.

For some reason, Dawn didn’t move at all except her eyes and the slight rise and fall of her body with each breath.  Additionally, now that he thought about it, he was unable to feel the formerly ever-present bond they had formed, no sense of her presence despite seeing her almost in reach.  Shifting his eyes, with great difficulty, he saw that her back was covered in bandages that shimmered slightly in the candlelight.

As he tried to process and understand what he was seeing, he became aware of labored breathing outside his vision, and the scuff of shoes against the floor.  Someone groaned and coughed, then he saw Monti’s head over Dawn’s back as he walked to someone out of sight and leaned down.

After gently speaking with the person, Monti turned and moved towards them, meeting Niphru’s eyes as he did so.  Monti remained silent until he leaned over Dawn, before finally speaking softly, “I’m glad to see you awake, Niphru, when Devon brought you in, you weren’t breathing.  Somehow you began to recover when your mana stone was returned to you, however.  Amilya made sure to tuck it between your forelegs and under your chin so it would be nearby without risking you choking on it.”

He shifted his focus to Dawn’s back, carefully peeling back the bandages, which came away soaked in blood and flaking scorched flesh.  Once he removed them, he walked over to the side, and the sound of splashing water was heard for several minutes.  He returned with the bandages, now damp and clean, then set them down behind Dawn.  He held his hands over her back, a faint light shining from them as he carefully hovered them back and forth until he had gone over her entire back.

As he continued, he spoke again, “As I’m sure you can see, Dawn was injured pretty badly, and it is a miracle she survived.  However, everyone from the Church of Conflict agreed to gift their emergency healing salve to the two of you, and seeing the effects, I am certain she will recover completely, though it is likely she will have scarring on her back.”

Niphru could see tears forming in Dawn’s eyes as she heard what he had said as well.  Meanwhile, Monti pulled a metal container from his robes and began applying the contents to Dawn’s back, causing her eyes to widen and dart around, tears flowing freely.  A few tiny twitches made their way down her spine, but there was no other movement.  After he finished, Monti put the salve back, then reached down to where he had placed the cleaned bandages, holding his hands out of sight for several moments as he closed his eyes.

Dawn finally seemed to relax just before Monti began applying the bandages to her back again, her eyes focusing back on Niphru.  As he worked, Monti continued speaking, “From what I hear, whatever you did happened just in the nick of time, Niphru.  The man who brought her in later told me that an ant was in the middle of trying to tear her throat out as it was carbonized by your flame.  Had it been even a second later, she wouldn’t have survived.  Unfortunately, it appears you accidentally killed Travis at the same time.”

Niphru began fearing he may be cast out or killed due to what he just heard, but Monti seemed to guess his thoughts.  Chuckling for a moment, he shook his head before resuming, “Don’t worry, we don’t hold it against you.  They both fell into a swarm of the little monsters, which meant certain death.  Somehow you saved Dawn, so one person survived who would have certainly died, and someone who would have certainly died anyways died in a much quicker fashion than the alternative.”

Monti headed out of the room as he finished speaking, leaving Niphru to think about the situation for a minute.  He then reappeared from the other room carrying a large bowl and a glass funnel, approaching them again.  This time he walked around the bed, the noise indicating he had set down the items he was carrying on the bedside table.  His voice sounded out again, “Oh, Dawn, I hadn’t realized you were awake.  I’m sorry, but I can’t stop all the pain without risking killing you, so I’m afraid you have to suffer through some of it.  And you don’t need to fear being unable to move, I had to make sure you couldn’t harm yourself by rolling over or otherwise shifting around.  It won’t be for much longer.”

Dawn’s eyes seemed to relax, her vision shifting back down to Niphru.  Seeing she was looking somewhat behind him, he wasn’t too surprised when he felt himself being grabbed and his head shifted to the side towards Monti.  As he came into view, he spoke again,  “I’m going to assume you are probably feeling starved, right Niphru?  I haven’t seen you move since you came in, so just blink twice for yes, or move your eyes up and down again.”

Feeling relieved he wasn’t expected to answer, or move much, Niphru tried to blink for a second before realizing it was too difficult, instead focusing on moving his eyes as Monti had requested.  After several seconds of difficulty, he succeeded, Monti nodding his head before reaching back to the side.  His hand came into view holding the glass funnel which he then gently inserted into Niphru’s mouth.  He then shifted hands, holding both the funnel and Niphru’s head with the same hand, tilting them back.  A moment later, his other hand carried a spoon over the funnel, slowly tilting it to allow just a few drops of broth to flow down.  After several tries, Niphru managed to swallow, Monti watching and waiting until he caught his breath again before repeating.

Many minutes later, Niphru had managed to consume several spoonfuls of the broth before closing his eyes.  Monti immediately stopped, putting the spoon back in the bowl before removing the funnel and gently laying Niphru’s head back between his paws.  There was a groan from behind them, and Monti left to help the other patient.

After a few moments and hearing him speaking quietly, Monti returned, questioning if Dawn was hungry as well before carefully shifting her arm on the far side and tilting her sideways.  As he held her in that awkward position, he reached out of sight to the head of the bed, bringing several pillows to support her.  He then shifted her face as far to the ceiling as he could before carefully spooning broth into her mouth.  She had similar difficulty swallowing, though not quite as bad, and several minutes later she also finished.  Monti carefully returned her to laying on her stomach, returning the pillows to their places, and headed back to the other room with the bowl and funnel.