Faline

I clear my throat so I can speak without squawking, shoving my hands into my pockets.

"If you're done we can get Trisha in here to look you over, make sure there's nothing serious and to get your open wounds seen to."

On his nod, I call her in. Danica ends up following before I think to say anything. Her face flames red, eyes averting only to be drawn back. Aww, shit. Petable is not good right now.

The healer also seems to be affected, so I help everyone by retrieving him a towel. Still petable, but now less dangerous seeming. He's watching them, but once I step back, golden-green eyes fly to me.

What I see in Leidolf's eyes now has me freezing in place. Fear. Nervousness. Uncertainty. Male knows he has a draw, and it's something he can't help. He doesn't want to be left alone with others he doesn't know and possibly be abused or molested again.

Giving him a small smile, I step closer and touch his arm softly. As with the Shifters and Weres, touch from someone he knows helps steady him. Which in itself is pretty amazing, seeing as the touching he's had for who knows how long has been anything but comforting.

Trisha looks over him, thinking aloud as she inspects the body in front of her. When she reaches out to touch him, he stiffens. She catches it and looks to me.

"Leidolf? It's alright, she's a healer. She needs to be able to touch you to do what she needs to."

I reach for his hand, he lets me take it in mine and I move it up to sit on my shoulder, my eyes on his the whole time.

"Just keep watching me. If you're too uncomfortable, we'll try something else. Her touch may hurt, but she isn't doing it to harm, I give you my word. Let us help soothe some of your pain."

Things always seem to hurt more before feeling better, just hope he sees that. Staring at me, he finally gives a small nod.

"For you."

Golden eyes flutter blink at him. That's the second time he's said that. The first time was kind of nifty, now it feels like he's saying more than what actually comes out. Not sure if it's good or bad.

While we lock gazes, Trisha continues her thing. Peripheral vision lets me know when parts of him clench, so each time I pat his hand, still resting on my shoulder. The hold is firm, but there's no squeezing to his grip.

Listening to her while she works is actually kind of comforting. May not be able to see what she's doing, but she explains for me as she goes along. Seems to help him, too.

Salves are put on raw skin and burns. The seeping that he had going on earlier has slowed or stopped, bruises are tender but the only thing to help them would be heating pads or something similar. The towel goes from around his waist to held just over his groin, even then it has to be moved so she can get to his inner thighs.

His gold-green eyes flash at me as she nears his groin and rear end. I give him pleading eyes that have his jaw clenching, but when he starts trembling I call for her to back off. She looks a little annoyed until it actually registers in her brain, having been so caught up in nurse mode to not see the very real danger that was escalating. I lay a cool hand on his heated chest, warm from the water and his own inner fire. The skin feels feverish, but it’s just his magic working on healing him.

The old woman finishes up, consulting with her apprentice who after a few minutes also ignored his nudity to focus on helping him. My attempt to stifle a yawn fails, and just like monkey-see-monkey-do, it sets off a train reaction. Don't know what time it is, but I know I've been up for more hours than I care to think about.

"I don't know about you guys, but I need a nap."

Trisha nods, Danica shrugs, and Leidolf just blinks at me. Realizing I'm still holding his hand to me, I let go and pull my other hand away from his chest. Clearing my throat again, I stick my hands behind me once more.

"Do you heal like the other animals or is it different? Will resting near them help at all?"

"I will heal completely after deep sleep for a few hours. I am unsure if the heat of the others does much or not."

Nodding, I call for Seth who has my clipboard. While writing in it, Trisha gives the Changeling the water bottle, who chugs it down pretty quickly.

"How long did they have you? Are you new to the city or have you been here a while? Sorry if I sound ignorant, I've no clue about Changelings. I'm still learning about what I am, let alone everything else. Since all I've seen are Vampires, Shifters, and Were-animals, I’d just assumed that's all there was."

Leidolf shakes his head as he holds the towel loosely around him once more. Gaze focuses inward as he counts the hours, days, or weeks. Don't think it'd be months, if it had, he'd be too far gone.

"The man, Eddie, caught me six days ago. I'd been walking around the town, familiarizing myself with it. I'm new to this area, but not to being human. If you count from when I first became one, then I'm twenty-five years. Wolves reach maturity between two to three years."

So he's either twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Real young. Real brave too if on his own.

"Do you have family you can return to?"

The look he gives me has me going over my words. Shit. Don't know how long wolves live in the wild, but it can't be more than ten or so years, right? If he's almost thirty, then most if not all his family has died. Or been killed.

Feeling like an idiot, I apologize. Embarrassed that it was asked in the first place, I keep my head down. I'm clearly not very tactful.

Trisha asks him some questions since she hasn't come across his species before either. For just the short time he's been human, he hasn't wasted it. Going from place to place and learning what he can, finding other various supernaturals along the way. He’s avoided Vampires as much as possible; apparently we smell. Now I know why I'd almost gotten a smile from him earlier when saying he did.

I'm curious as to what we smell like to him, but at the same time - I don't think I want to know. One thing I've noticed is, outside mostly, but even here, that the three main species don't care for the others' scent. Didn't understand it all that much till I really started using my nose instead of my eyes.

Each has their own blood smell, animal, species, and whatever they're carrying on them, like perfumes and such. One of my bigger issues with the late Anthony, was after I became a Vamp, he stunk to me. Granted part of that was due to him not bathing all that often, but still. Werewolves smell.

Not all are bad per se since some Shifters and even Vamps can smell more strongly. Some scents my brain can't even find a word for, so one is given that would be the closest. My sister, for example, smells of her wolf, but it's also a 'wild' smell.

Almost like how you can smell sunlight or the woods. It's a collection that makes up a whole. Kierra smells of wolf, wild, and cinnamon, which is what her blood scent is.

Wolf is close to what a dog can smell like, just more. Wild being either their magic or, I'm not sure what else, since Shifters also have that smell. Animal magic I guess. Changeling magic, however, smells like spice.

Kie's scent is a mix of the cinnamon blood, evergreen pine, and her magic, but also has the added scent of family, of home. So far, she's the only one who has that type of scent. My mother has a close version, but I don't live with her, so it isn't as 'strong'.

So yeah, going off of what I smell from other Vamps, I don't think I want the Changeling’s description.

"The town that you were picked up from is hours from here. We're in Pecatonica, technically, but I'm from the Rockford and Loves Park areas. This building is built in a wetlands forest preserve."

Not sure how they managed that, really. But I'm guessing it was here before 'officials' sectioned it off as 'natural land' to be safe from getting mowed down and paved over. Magic maybe? Vampire persuasion?

He looks a bit lost and confused, so I guess he hadn't made his way around this area yet. Shrugging, I keep my voice bland.

"Depending on your choice after the Lady speaks with you, I can take you out and show you."

Healer finishes up her questioning while I work on getting it all written down in a way that makes sense. Most things that she asks are answered with a shrug or an 'I don't know', so she's a little put out by the end. Have to fight the smile that wants to arise at her expressions.

For not having been on the 'outside' for who knows how long, she isn't ignorant of how things have been changing, medically wise. Guess Lady has her kept up with all the recent works of doctors or whatever. Next yawn I don't try to stifle at all, too tired to bother.

"Alright, if you shift we can get going to the room. Trisha, can you keep the papers and such for me? Not like I have a place to put them."

Woman is expecting me to watch over her 'cattle' yet how am I supposed to keep shit together? Can always claim the faux library by the kitchen, guess it's as good as anything. Clothes are stashed in there as well and I had Orion go through all that trouble of taking books down.

Have to do a double-take and triple blink as I look over at Leidolf. Think Changelings take the cake on shifting speed. One second human, the next a large animal. No fair.

Think all of us take a moment to process what just happened before we can shake ourselves loose. The old woman nods and holds out her hand for it. I pass it over with no trouble, almost grateful to be rid of it for a while.

Same as his human hair, the brunette wolf has gray undertones in his fur. Almost the size as Kie when she's in animal form, but not quite. The same eyes look at me from the canine face, same intensity too.

"Do you have the telepathy like the other animals do when animal?"

The large head shakes, so I guess he's like the Vampires when they're in animal form. It's all body language. The injuries he'd carried as human also show on his wolf body.

I frown as I reach out, but pull back before touching. Raw skin is exposed in some areas, especially around his legs where wrists and ankles would be. He said he'll heal it all after some good sleep, but we'll see.