Bird of a Wing - Chapter 22: Chapter 22
You are reading Bird of a Wing, Chapter 22: Chapter 22. Read more chapters of Bird of a Wing.
Autumn in Navat was a beautiful time of year, as brief as it was. Navat was stunning all year round but there was something about that time of year Ryraso really enjoyed. The bright colours of the leaves, the smells of fires burning at time, it all reminded him vaguely of home but at the same time was distantly Navat. Navat's climate meant that it was the time of year where the days were still warm but the cold was beginning to settle in during the nights.
The chill hadn't quite set in that evening but Ryraso was wearing a heavy cloak which made him slightly too warm as he headed to work. The previous night he hadn't taken it and had ended up cuddling with some of the injured submissives who had basically guilt tripped him into sharing their warmth.
He was volunteering at a clinic as several of the human healers had recently left Navat and the current intake of trainees were occupying most of the K'nairi healers time. The shortage of hands meant much to the Winglord's chagrin, Ryraso was working as more than just his personal physician. Something Ryraso was pretty sure was making half of Navat love him and the nobles hate him. The shortage also meant there were only two others working with him, and neither, despite having passes, could control the k'nairi like Ryraso. Ryraso felt like he spent more time playing peacekeeper than anything else.
"Evening," Ryraso greeted the on duty healer as he walked into the office, pulling the cloak off his shoulders and letting it drop onto a chair. "How many people have we got staying overnight?" he asked as he poured himself some tea.
"Evening," the other doctor said dryly, giving Ryraso a clap on the back with an almost evil grin on his face. The man was called Tasmosi, a part fini human with light tawny skin and dark brown eyes, a rarity in Navat. Even the dark skin toned k'nairi still had yellow or orange eyes. "You have two. You're going to have so much fun," he said sarcastically, clearly glad he was not the only one on duty for that night shift. "One's a dom and one's a sub."
"Great," Ryraso groaned. "Who are they and please tell me they are mated to people who aren't each other?" That and only that was a good situation to be in when you were dealing with a dom and a sub. The worst situation was if a Dom had already started a nest and the sub was unattached. If the sub was unmated, the dom would spend all night trying to make moves on the sub. If the sub was mated to someone who was not the dom, they would leave each other alone and Ryraso would have a hopefully peaceful night.
"Well... the Dom has a partner, but the sub is free," Tasmosi dutifully informed Ryraso, a look of glee on the man's face as Ryraso groaned. "Don't worry, it gets better," Tasmosi commented, Ryraso giving him a look which plainly disagreed. "The dom is S'onon..."
"That pain in the ass got himself injured again?" Ryraso muttered, "I think I need to check his wings over again properly. I'm sure you can't have this many accident over nothing," he growled.
"Possibly but this time it wasn't his fault. A branch broke as a kid was climbing and he happened to be underneath. Good thing too or the kid might not have walked away with just scratches. I've already put a message thought to the Winglord's office asking them to recheck the branches on the lower levels, don't worry," Tasmosi commented, passing Ryraso the medical report on S'onon. "He's in overnight to make sure the bones in his wrist set right. I'm not risking it like last time."
"Good!" Ryraso nodded, shivering at the memory of last time. "Breaking a warrior's wrist to set it right is a nightmare on its own," Ryraso sighed, pinching the top of his nose and closing his eyes. Last time he had been forced to call in the Winglord and his mates in order to be able to do it safely. Ryraso understood why S'onon had reacted so badly to them attempting to do it of course. To a warrior, letting someone break their bones, even if the bones were healing the wrong way, went against every instinct in their bodies.
"The sub is Iri'na," Tasmosi added.
Ryraso dropped his cup of tea, wincing as it smashed on the floor. "Iri'na's here?" he said almost weakly as he knelt down to clean up the mess.
"Yes. She is still injured as well. She still won't let us fix her. The only reason we didn't call you sooner is that she only walked in about ten minutes ago," Tasmosi stated. From the healer's tone, Ryraso knew the injuries were nothing to be too worried over.
"What she do now?" Ryraso sighed, getting tired of patching her back together every time someone made a move and she had to fight to get them to leave her alone. One would have thought that people would get the hint but no, the female k'nairi got into more fights than any other unmated sub.
"The normal. Guy made a move, she didn't want him. A fight ensured. She won, the other guy is at a different clinic. Everyone knows you're her doctor," Tasmosi teased.
"Of all the things to be known for," Ryraso groaned, throwing the ceramic pieces in a bin.
"Good luck," Tasmosi clapped him on his back again as he left, clearly happy to be leaving. "You're going to need it," he winked at Ryraso.
Ryraso growled under his breath before making his way out into the clinic's main room, just in time to see S'onon about to start a fight with Iri'na. He coughed loudly to make his presence known. Both k'nairi jumped slightly and backed away from each other. S'onon greeting him warmly while Iri'na just snarled and sat down on her bed unhappily. S'onon rolled his eyes at Ryraso and Ryraso resisted the urge to hit the warrior over the head.
"Right then Iri'na," Ryraso said, walking over to the woman and looking her over. "Let's see what I can do." She didn't say anything just moving so Ryraso could look over the wounds.
Tasmosi had been right, the injuries were nothing too serious, but it was going to take a while to treat them. As Ryraso began to bandage her wounds, he mused to himself that he was likely the only male who could give her a once over without being insulted or attacked and from the way she gripped onto his clothes, he assumed it was a good thing. This was a woman who was growing tired of fighting off suitors and who needed a male around her who didn't want to get in her pants. Iri'na wasn't like most females, she was a guard and the k'nairi guard, much like the human guard, was full of males with far too much testosterone. S'onon was not the person for her to be stuck overnight with, but there was nothing he could do about it. Normally he would have scolded her for getting hurt but he could tell this was not the time for that.
"Thank you," she murmured as he finished. Ryraso nodding and patting her hand as he moved to the cupboards to fish out some blankets. The evening chill was starting to settle in and neither k'nairi would ever stoop so low as to admit they were cold.
"Not a problem Iri'na," Ryraso murmured softly as he drafted one of the blankets over her and threw the one to S'onon. "If you need me, just yell. Otherwise, good night," he said, patting S'onon on the leg as he passed him, giving him a warning look. S'onon just looked at him innocently.
Back in the office, Ryraso could hear everything the two k'nairi were saying to each other in the other room but he mostly tuned it out as he did his paperwork. S'onon tried to flirt with Iri'na who was in no mood for it and Ryraso winced at some of the barbs the woman shot out at the man. There was a dark growl of anger before a scuffling noise. Ryraso twisted to look back into the room to find Iri'na still on her bed but now blanket-less.
Blinking twice, Ryraso debated whether he should get involved or not. The woman should have known better than to insult another warrior and it wasn't his job to police bullying. Exhaling, Ryraso went back to work. She could either apologise for what she had said or he would sneak her a new blanket when S'onon was asleep but he didn't have the strength to fight S'onon at that moment.
As the night drew on, it became colder and colder, Ryraso drifting off to sleep at his desk leaving Iri'na as the only one awake with S'onon falling to sleep easily. She cursed viciously and curled up to try to conserve warmth, too proud to just go and retrieve a new one from the cupboard where they were stored. She was an adult warrior, one night in the cold wouldn't kill her.
Something woke S'onon up. It was an odd noise and he wasn't even really sure what it was. He sat up and looked around, shivering as the blankets fell off him. Iri'na sat curled up in a ball on her bed, shivering with her wings curled around herself in an attempt to keep warm. Her teeth were clattering it was so cold.
"Iri'na get over here," S'onon ordered lightly in his best dom voice, moving backwards to show his intention. There was plenty of room to share a bed and she was so cold.
"Fuck off," she cursed refusing to obey. She wasn't going to give in to the dom just because of the cold.
S'onon sighed, not awake enough to deal with it in his normal way. Instead he simply stood up and walked over to the shivering K'nairi. "Ryraso won't be pleased if you freeze and my bed is warmer now," he reasoned with the stubborn ball of pride. "It won't kill you to give up this once," he added seriously.
"I'm not yours!" Iri'na snarled her teeth sharp.
"Not asking you to be at the moment. I'm simply asking you to be sensible so Ryraso doesn't rip me a new asshole," S'onon drawled back. It was crude but if she was going to curse, he wasn't going to hold his tongue on account of her being a woman.
Iri'na's wings slumped and she looked up at him warily, her eyes tried with a dark bruise covering one side of her face from her fight. S'onon smiled gently at her, before sweeping her up into his arms. She struggled all of one second before curling into his warmth and wrapping her arms around his neck. He carried her back to his bed and placed her on it before curling around her and pulling the blankets over them. She cuddled into his chest, her head under his chin.
"Tell anyone or try to touch me and I will kill you," she muttered sulkily, but her words sounded too tired to be threatening.
"I'm sure," S'onon smiled before falling back to sleep. Iri'na soon following. Safe and warm in S'onon's arms. Ryraso found them like that the next morning.
The chill hadn't quite set in that evening but Ryraso was wearing a heavy cloak which made him slightly too warm as he headed to work. The previous night he hadn't taken it and had ended up cuddling with some of the injured submissives who had basically guilt tripped him into sharing their warmth.
He was volunteering at a clinic as several of the human healers had recently left Navat and the current intake of trainees were occupying most of the K'nairi healers time. The shortage of hands meant much to the Winglord's chagrin, Ryraso was working as more than just his personal physician. Something Ryraso was pretty sure was making half of Navat love him and the nobles hate him. The shortage also meant there were only two others working with him, and neither, despite having passes, could control the k'nairi like Ryraso. Ryraso felt like he spent more time playing peacekeeper than anything else.
"Evening," Ryraso greeted the on duty healer as he walked into the office, pulling the cloak off his shoulders and letting it drop onto a chair. "How many people have we got staying overnight?" he asked as he poured himself some tea.
"Evening," the other doctor said dryly, giving Ryraso a clap on the back with an almost evil grin on his face. The man was called Tasmosi, a part fini human with light tawny skin and dark brown eyes, a rarity in Navat. Even the dark skin toned k'nairi still had yellow or orange eyes. "You have two. You're going to have so much fun," he said sarcastically, clearly glad he was not the only one on duty for that night shift. "One's a dom and one's a sub."
"Great," Ryraso groaned. "Who are they and please tell me they are mated to people who aren't each other?" That and only that was a good situation to be in when you were dealing with a dom and a sub. The worst situation was if a Dom had already started a nest and the sub was unattached. If the sub was unmated, the dom would spend all night trying to make moves on the sub. If the sub was mated to someone who was not the dom, they would leave each other alone and Ryraso would have a hopefully peaceful night.
"Well... the Dom has a partner, but the sub is free," Tasmosi dutifully informed Ryraso, a look of glee on the man's face as Ryraso groaned. "Don't worry, it gets better," Tasmosi commented, Ryraso giving him a look which plainly disagreed. "The dom is S'onon..."
"That pain in the ass got himself injured again?" Ryraso muttered, "I think I need to check his wings over again properly. I'm sure you can't have this many accident over nothing," he growled.
"Possibly but this time it wasn't his fault. A branch broke as a kid was climbing and he happened to be underneath. Good thing too or the kid might not have walked away with just scratches. I've already put a message thought to the Winglord's office asking them to recheck the branches on the lower levels, don't worry," Tasmosi commented, passing Ryraso the medical report on S'onon. "He's in overnight to make sure the bones in his wrist set right. I'm not risking it like last time."
"Good!" Ryraso nodded, shivering at the memory of last time. "Breaking a warrior's wrist to set it right is a nightmare on its own," Ryraso sighed, pinching the top of his nose and closing his eyes. Last time he had been forced to call in the Winglord and his mates in order to be able to do it safely. Ryraso understood why S'onon had reacted so badly to them attempting to do it of course. To a warrior, letting someone break their bones, even if the bones were healing the wrong way, went against every instinct in their bodies.
"The sub is Iri'na," Tasmosi added.
Ryraso dropped his cup of tea, wincing as it smashed on the floor. "Iri'na's here?" he said almost weakly as he knelt down to clean up the mess.
"Yes. She is still injured as well. She still won't let us fix her. The only reason we didn't call you sooner is that she only walked in about ten minutes ago," Tasmosi stated. From the healer's tone, Ryraso knew the injuries were nothing to be too worried over.
"What she do now?" Ryraso sighed, getting tired of patching her back together every time someone made a move and she had to fight to get them to leave her alone. One would have thought that people would get the hint but no, the female k'nairi got into more fights than any other unmated sub.
"The normal. Guy made a move, she didn't want him. A fight ensured. She won, the other guy is at a different clinic. Everyone knows you're her doctor," Tasmosi teased.
"Of all the things to be known for," Ryraso groaned, throwing the ceramic pieces in a bin.
"Good luck," Tasmosi clapped him on his back again as he left, clearly happy to be leaving. "You're going to need it," he winked at Ryraso.
Ryraso growled under his breath before making his way out into the clinic's main room, just in time to see S'onon about to start a fight with Iri'na. He coughed loudly to make his presence known. Both k'nairi jumped slightly and backed away from each other. S'onon greeting him warmly while Iri'na just snarled and sat down on her bed unhappily. S'onon rolled his eyes at Ryraso and Ryraso resisted the urge to hit the warrior over the head.
"Right then Iri'na," Ryraso said, walking over to the woman and looking her over. "Let's see what I can do." She didn't say anything just moving so Ryraso could look over the wounds.
Tasmosi had been right, the injuries were nothing too serious, but it was going to take a while to treat them. As Ryraso began to bandage her wounds, he mused to himself that he was likely the only male who could give her a once over without being insulted or attacked and from the way she gripped onto his clothes, he assumed it was a good thing. This was a woman who was growing tired of fighting off suitors and who needed a male around her who didn't want to get in her pants. Iri'na wasn't like most females, she was a guard and the k'nairi guard, much like the human guard, was full of males with far too much testosterone. S'onon was not the person for her to be stuck overnight with, but there was nothing he could do about it. Normally he would have scolded her for getting hurt but he could tell this was not the time for that.
"Thank you," she murmured as he finished. Ryraso nodding and patting her hand as he moved to the cupboards to fish out some blankets. The evening chill was starting to settle in and neither k'nairi would ever stoop so low as to admit they were cold.
"Not a problem Iri'na," Ryraso murmured softly as he drafted one of the blankets over her and threw the one to S'onon. "If you need me, just yell. Otherwise, good night," he said, patting S'onon on the leg as he passed him, giving him a warning look. S'onon just looked at him innocently.
Back in the office, Ryraso could hear everything the two k'nairi were saying to each other in the other room but he mostly tuned it out as he did his paperwork. S'onon tried to flirt with Iri'na who was in no mood for it and Ryraso winced at some of the barbs the woman shot out at the man. There was a dark growl of anger before a scuffling noise. Ryraso twisted to look back into the room to find Iri'na still on her bed but now blanket-less.
Blinking twice, Ryraso debated whether he should get involved or not. The woman should have known better than to insult another warrior and it wasn't his job to police bullying. Exhaling, Ryraso went back to work. She could either apologise for what she had said or he would sneak her a new blanket when S'onon was asleep but he didn't have the strength to fight S'onon at that moment.
As the night drew on, it became colder and colder, Ryraso drifting off to sleep at his desk leaving Iri'na as the only one awake with S'onon falling to sleep easily. She cursed viciously and curled up to try to conserve warmth, too proud to just go and retrieve a new one from the cupboard where they were stored. She was an adult warrior, one night in the cold wouldn't kill her.
Something woke S'onon up. It was an odd noise and he wasn't even really sure what it was. He sat up and looked around, shivering as the blankets fell off him. Iri'na sat curled up in a ball on her bed, shivering with her wings curled around herself in an attempt to keep warm. Her teeth were clattering it was so cold.
"Iri'na get over here," S'onon ordered lightly in his best dom voice, moving backwards to show his intention. There was plenty of room to share a bed and she was so cold.
"Fuck off," she cursed refusing to obey. She wasn't going to give in to the dom just because of the cold.
S'onon sighed, not awake enough to deal with it in his normal way. Instead he simply stood up and walked over to the shivering K'nairi. "Ryraso won't be pleased if you freeze and my bed is warmer now," he reasoned with the stubborn ball of pride. "It won't kill you to give up this once," he added seriously.
"I'm not yours!" Iri'na snarled her teeth sharp.
"Not asking you to be at the moment. I'm simply asking you to be sensible so Ryraso doesn't rip me a new asshole," S'onon drawled back. It was crude but if she was going to curse, he wasn't going to hold his tongue on account of her being a woman.
Iri'na's wings slumped and she looked up at him warily, her eyes tried with a dark bruise covering one side of her face from her fight. S'onon smiled gently at her, before sweeping her up into his arms. She struggled all of one second before curling into his warmth and wrapping her arms around his neck. He carried her back to his bed and placed her on it before curling around her and pulling the blankets over them. She cuddled into his chest, her head under his chin.
"Tell anyone or try to touch me and I will kill you," she muttered sulkily, but her words sounded too tired to be threatening.
"I'm sure," S'onon smiled before falling back to sleep. Iri'na soon following. Safe and warm in S'onon's arms. Ryraso found them like that the next morning.
End of Bird of a Wing Chapter 22. Continue reading Chapter 23 or return to Bird of a Wing book page.