What the Hunter Found

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When he woke up in the morning, soft sunlight steaming in through the clouds and his windows, Oliver groaned as he sat up, still tired. Knowing that the girl would need her bandages changed, he forced himself to change and wash his face and hair from the basin in the corner of his room. Walking to her room, he knocked on the door before stepping inside. "Good morning..."
 
Alyss made no response, for she was sound asleep. Sometime during the night, she had drifted off to sleep regardless of the pain and nightmares, and now she was sleeping like a rock. She was still laying on her stomach, her head sideways. Her hand was dangling off the edge of the bed, and her other was sprawled out to the side.
 
Seeing her still asleep, Oliver smiled softly, deciding that he would make breakfast for her before changing her bandages. Walking down the stairs to the kitchen, he cut slices off of a loaf of bread he had bought the other day. Putting some slices of cold pork onto the bread, he hoped that she wouldn't mind it as he carried it on a plate up to her room. Setting it on the nightstand, he placed a hand on her shoulder, looking down at her. "Alyss," he murmured, shaking her shoulder gently.
 
She groaned. "But I'm still tired... Just five more minutes?" She rolled over on her side, back facing Oliver, and covered her head with her arms. But, she winced, as she had rolled over right onto one of her knife wounds.
 
"Come on," Oliver said, shaking her shoulder again, careful not to disturb her injuries. "I know they probably hurt, and I don't want you to get an infection..."
 
She groans, but pulls herself up into a sitting position. Yawning, she rubs her eyes. "Good morning," she mumbles, a strand of hair hanging in her face. She looks exhausted, but doesn't look as weak as she did yesterday. She yawns again. "Has the blizzard stopped?"
 
"Yeah, I think so," Oliver answered, grinning. Taking a hold of her hand, he begins gently unwrapping her wound, wincing as he saw the open wound. "You're looking better," he said as he began wrapping her wound with a new bandage. "Do you think that you're okay to walk? I know I would hate to be confined to a bedroom like this."
 
"Maybe," she said. "I'm not sure. Hopefully. Probably." She glanced out the window, and it had indeed stopped snowing. Overnight, a bruise on her cheekbone had formed. It was a blossom of blue, purple, and yellow, but it didn't look that bad.
 
"Mmm," Oliver answered softly, musing about whether it would be safe to help her out of bed. As he put fresh bandages on her wounds, he checked for infections, not wanting her to lose a limb or something. "You should eat something," he told her, gesturing to the food he had left on the nightstand. "It's not warm, but it'll fill you up nonetheless." He grinned, trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible.
 
She smiled back. "Thanks." Timidly, she takes the food, and wolfs it down like she was starving, which she was since she hadn't eaten in three days. She smiled at him. "Thanks, again," she said.
 
"Of course," he answered. "Are you still hungry?" he asked her. "I mean, you seemed to eat what I gave you pretty fast. Do you want some more?" He smiled at her again, trying to be kind and polite.
 
"No, I'm good," she said. Even though she could have probably eaten some more, she didn't want to take advantage of his kindness. "So," she asks, trying to make conversation. "How'd you find me? I didn't expect anybody to be out there in the woods." She looked genuinely curious, which she was - not as if she was just asking to be polite.
 
"I was hunting...for deer or anything that I could eat over the winter, when it gets really cold. I didn't get anything, but I found you. Suppose that's good, right?" He smiled, and then asked, "Do you want to try standing now? I could help you, if you want."
 
"Ah, I see," she said. When he asked Alyss if she wanted to try standing, she nodded. "I guess I could try. No use sitting here all day." She tries to pull herself up, but gasps at the pain. "Crap," she says, wincing.
 
"I guess it hurts, huh?" Oliver asked, frowning. "I wish I had something for it...Here, hold onto me, I'll help you stand." Without waiting for an answer, he took a hold of her wrists, and was easing her to her feet.
 
As Oliver began to help Alyss ease to her feet, a wave of pain engulfed her, but she bit back her cry of pain. She didn't want to look weak. That would be one of her fatal flaws, she guessed. That, and her trust issues. Those would probably be the death of her someday. After a few seconds, she was on her feet, leaning heavily on Oliver. "Well, I'm up - sort of," she muttered.
 
"It'll get easier, I promise," Oliver told her, holding her up so that she wouldn't fall. That might be worse than making her walk too early. "I won't make you walk today, we can do that later, but it's good that you can stand already. That means that you're healthy. Do you want to sit down again?" he asked, wondering how much endurance and stamina she had after an ordeal such as hers.
 
"No, no, I don't need to sit," she said, though she really wanted to. Once again, she didn't want to look weak. "I want to attempt walking," she said, a slight air of determination about her. Something in her face said she wasn't going to take "no" for an answer. She takes an unsteady step, and curses violently in elven as her knees buckle underneath her. She grabs Oliver's shoulder to keep from falling to the floor, cursing to herself.
 
Moving his hands beneath her arms, he caught her, letting out a grunt as he took on her weight. "No more walking for you," he told her, moving her back to the bed. Helping her sit down, he sighed before saying, "We can maybe try again tomorrow, if you're feeling up to it...I shouldn't have let you walk today...I'm sorry." Quickly glancing over her to make sure she hadn't opened any of her wounds, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no blood.
 
"No, no, don't apologize," she said, sighing and brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, but if fell right back again, and she sighed in defeat. "It's not your fault. I'm the one that wanted to try walking, even though I knew I wasn't up to it yet." She sighed, and then grumbled under her breath, "Me and my stupid stubbornness. Can't even admit defeat when it's staring me straight in the face." She paused for a moment, and then continued. "We can try again tomorrow, right?" Even as Alyss said it, she knew she probably wouldn't be well enough to walk tomorrow, but she didn't care. She didn't want to spend too long confined to this bed. She'd go crazy.

((I'm sorry, but I don't know how often I'm going to be able to post because I'm having some serious computer issues. My computer basically won't turn on, and when it does it either crashes or freezes, so I'm typing this from my grandmother's laptop that's older than the dinosaurs that runs at one mile per hour, maybe even slower. So, I apologize for any inconveniences that may be caused by me not replying due to lack of a sufficient computer. Sorry :c)
 
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