The scale drakari flipped over the hanging sign in the front window, from open to closed. His boss would be incensed with him if he noticed the temporary closure, but his boss had also been sobered by the criticising speech of this miniscule foreigner. He knew with certainty who's side he wanted to be standing on if another dispute broke out between the two, and it wasn't his hulking bully of a employer. Maybe Zrazire would fire him for insubordination, but...
...so what? By the sound of things he could be the first in line for employment at a new business next door, if that was how things were going down. This Yvonne creature, with her tremendous voice and tiny body would see that he and his family were well provided for. He was accustomed to looking up to bigger, stronger and more physically dangerous male drakari where the social hierarchy was concerned, but here he was, looking down, and acting on her behalf without command.
He kneeled down to pick up the first aid utensils and place them back in the medical kit, cleaning the blood on them and from the floor with rags as he did so. As he stooped down to sort through the disarray his concerned, draconian-slit eyes looked to the unconscious half-neanderthal, before shifting uncomfortably toward the half-dwarven woman, still cognizant and watching him, watching over her blood-sister.
"How do I help you help her... tiny matriarch? She needs a den to shelter and rest," the scale drakari suggested.
"There be another blanket in me backpack. If ye can find for me two metal rods or sturdy sticks we will make a stretcher ta carry her. I think it may be best ta make for tha edge of town and make camp on tha outskirts for tonight," Yvonne replied, her voice coarse and weary from over-use.
"We've caused enough of a disturbance in Donnalaich for one day. Felicity would benefit from peace, quiet and a hot meal when she awakens. I need tha very same. Ye be willing ta help me carry her and help us settle in for tha night, mister...? I be sorry, I never caught yer name dear," Yvonne admitted apologetically.
"Shaseth, little matriarch. You honour me with the question," the scale drakari revealed, making himself acquainted.
"Shaseth. Ye have made a life-changing decision today. Yer assistance will not go unnoticed nor unrewarded. I thank ye, for yer willingness ta act when it be frightening ta do so," Yvonne praised.
And so their newfound drakari supporter, and Yvonne herself, packed up their equipment and cleaned up their mess at the entrance to the storefront. They built the stretcher and gently carried Felicity to the outskirts of Donnalaich, where the town rubble ended and the jungle tendrils began, making a peaceful camp. Yvonne gave her exhausted companion a comfortable bed with plenty of moss padding from the river, warm blanket from dismantling the stretcher and a soft pillow from her backpack. She cooked a hearty deer stew in her cooking pot above a quiet, crackling fire, kept a perceptive lookout throughout her surroundings for feline ambush predators, her crossbow always at the ready. When everything was in order Shaseth returned to his wife and young ones for the night - but promised before he left, if there was anything the ragechild and little matriarch needed from him in the future... they would know where to find him.
To Be Continued.
Thank you for reading! You're awesome!
