Edwin must really think himself clever, Daniel thought, to put the entire family dieting, so Daniel wouldn’t be the only one eating rabbit fodder. Well, ok, that wasn’t fair.

He also ate cream cheese on freshly baked wholegrain bread, courtesy of Edwin, with a side helping of smoked turkey and freshly ground spices for breakfast. Salmon, grilled and not smoked, as Daniel preferred it, for lunch. And brown rice with garlic and the tastiest chicken Daniel had ever had. But it was not perfect, for Edwin removed the skin beforehand.

Daniel was given fruits by the children at different intervals of the day. Lucy, especially, liked to give him peeled and sliced apples. The boy thought that Daniel was his first patient and would hit him with puppy dog eyes if he didn’t eat.

Which was quite the problem, as Daniel was a sucker for those eyes. And there laid the even bigger concern. With all the good, filling food, he was slowly getting fat.

Oh, it was slow progress. But he felt slower. He had taken to juggling to keep his reflexes sharp, and just yesterday he had dropped the ball. Edwin dropped the ball all the time, but he was neither a warrior nor a rogue. No one expected from him to be able to be good at the activity. But Daniel owed it to himself to be able to do something so easy as juggling.

Which had led him to this point. Doing sit-ups, as he couldn’t use his arm all that well. He had done a thousand so far, and he kept going even as his kneecaps protested.

As he kept up the exercise, his mind wandered. He wanted to avoid thinking about the liver transplant he was going to be getting. His last transplant had ended with him growing tree bark on his arm and nearly dying.

They were going to do this right, this time. No, half measures and no black market. That meant a waiting list and then a licensed charlatan cutting him open. He would be the first to admit that Edwin Roberts knew his stuff and that anyone would be calmer being operated on by him.

But Edwin didn’t have a license. Could get one, after the hare-brained task of spying on the Hafnons was over. But for now, that was a far off thing, Daniel groaned when his knees creaked like a rusty door.

Never miss leg day, but never do it every day. His teacher, the warrior Leo the cripple, would say. Well, if old Leo could do everything with only one leg, then Daniel felt comfortable in doing a couple of push-ups.

He bends down, and he began to do the exercise. One, two, and his bandage colored an angry red. Daniel cursed and got up. Blood was leaking out of the bandage. Edwin was going to kill him.

Deciding to face the consequences like a man, he went through the open door and cleared his throat.

“I, ah…” Well, maybe he was a lesser man than he thought. The words hitched in his throat and he was unable to form them.

“What did you do?” Hissed Edwin, his eyes boring a hole into the injured arm.

“Push-ups?” Answered Daniel with a nervous smile.

“Lucy, when a patient does something like this, what do we do?” Asked Edwin with a grim expression.

“Well, normally, we give them bitter pills. But Dany’s wound won’t get better with pills. So, we give him itchy ointments!” Said the toddler, eyes extending towards the candy that was waved before him.

“Correct,” said the evil, horror of a healer.

“Now, let us talk about this.”

“But, Lucy, we reserve that treatment for murderers. For Dany, a change in bandages is in order,” said Hadrian. He went to Daniel and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Smile and be grateful,” whispered Hadrian in Daniel’s ear. The pained smile, that could have felt at home on the face of someone who had to clean a sewer for a living, made Edwin’s face soften.

“Fine, we clean the wound and bandage it. But pull this stunt again…” Edwin pointed at Luciano who pretended to scratch his skin, the evil little gremlin.

“That would be counterproductive,” said Daniel, trying to get the idea out of their heads. “You will just need to patch me up again if you put on itchy ointment on me.”

“Who says we won’t tie you up?” Said the eldritch horror who masqueraded as a hedge healer.

“Eddy, can I help mummify Dany?” Asked Luciano excitedly. He ran to where Edwin kept the medical supplies and came back with rolls of bandages and cleaning alcohol.

“No, you are to never touch him. And, Lucy, you forgot the gloves,” said Edwin as the toddler rushed back to the cupboard and came back with a pair of cloth gloves.

“You took out a clean pair this time, right?” Asked Edwin. Hadrian had the decency to look sheepish.

“I wore those once, Eddy. They were hardly dirty,” defended himself Hadrian.

“You let Harry rummage around your supplies?” Asked Daniel, slightly green. Hadrian, while not a slob, was not a clean freak either.

“What, he is a healer in training too, you know?” Asked Edwin with a shrug. As Edwin did not trust anyone to touch Daniel’s skin, least they grow warts, he was the one to bandage him.

The old bandage and gloves were put in a separate trash can for burning, and Daniel was given a glass of water with some raw lemon. He made a face at the fruit. As Edwin was cutting it for him, Daniel Hollow wondered what he had done to bring this on himself.

One lemon later, and he was ready to barge in through the gates of Hell. But he needed to know one thing.

“Why did you give me the lemon?” Asked Daniel between gulps of water, trying to get rid of the unpleasant taste.

“For making a mess. The carpet will need to be burned, and the floors will have to be scrubbed. If you were not weakened, I would have made you do it,” said Edwin.

Daniel may have eaten a lemon, but it was Edwin who spend the day cleaning. The apartment smelt just as before, which gave Daniel a hint to Edwin’s need for cleanliness. In the end, they both got their petty revenge. And Daniel liked to believe he had taken more satisfaction out of his.