Aldric's eyes peeled open as a weird sense of motion jostled him. His blurred vision cleared, and he saw the starry skies above. The next glimpse he caught, he saw a bright flare flickering, its radiating glow high overhead.
Then he saw the wrens. Two slim, serious-looking boys dressed in white were dragging him behind them in what he could only assume was a stretcher. He wondered what had happened and how he'd ended up in that position.
He remembered brief moments of his session in the ravine, but couldn't quite piece it all together. He felt the swelling of his face encapsulate his eyes, and his ribs seared again. He faded in and out of consciousness, catching glimpses of his journey back to the aviary.
—-
When he woke fully, his memories had seemingly come back, aside from how he ended up back on the beach. He'd woken up in a familiar room, with a familiar pair of eyes gazing down at him.
"Mornin', Al," Peyter smiled, mixing a concoction with a mortar and pestle.
"How long was I out?" Aldric asked, forcing himself up in bed.
"Well, jeez, take it easy," Peyter intervened, and quickly adjusted him back in bed.
"You have been off your feet for three days. Your body needs to heal and build strength. You need food before anything else," He insisted, placing a tray on his lap. The tray itself wasn't anything extraordinary: a large chunk of glazed ham, peas, potatoes, and some kind of jam.
Aldric begrudgingly accepted the food and slowly pecked at it as Peyter applied a paste to his bruises.
"So, you guys really do go on rescue missions, then, huh?" Aldric asked, throwing back two long strings of ham.
"Every night. We all rotate shifts, but with the amount of dumbasses out there, we all stay pretty busy," Peyter said, gently rubbing the mixture into the boy's cheek.
"That sounds exhausting," Aldric groaned.
"Sounds a hell of a lot better than whatever it is you've got goin on, Mr Phoenix," Peyter chuckled, closely inspecting Aldric's body.
"Just flesh wounds, my friend. Nothing more than steel being tempered, that's all," Aldric declared, coughing quietly.
"Right," Peyter's brow raised.
"Well, for now, let the metal cool. Let your body heal, and you'll be back at it in no time," Peyter said, his tone almost begging.
"You got it, doc." Aldric flicked a two-fingered salute and smiled widely before shoveling another scoop of potatoes into his mouth.
"I've got a new lesson for the boys whenever we've all got time," Peyter said, the thought beaming in his mind like an internal reminder.
"Yeah? Sounds great. Harden, and I have picked up some new stuff too; I think you and Grum would find it useful," Aldric said, sipping his juice.
"I don't quite have my schedule pinned out just yet, but as soon as we find an opening, we'll start the meetings back up," he said, swallowing and burping into his hand. Peyter nodded and turned to leave his bedside.
Aldric's body slowly regained strength as he rested under the bright sick bay lights. He heard the shuffling steps of wrens ushering other boys in and out. He thought back to his first visit to the med unit. When the architect had originally told him he was special.
It felt like a different place now, with beds filled on all sides of him. Falcons filled the majority of the beds; there were a few scattered wrens, and at the very end of the unit, a lonely raven. A slim, small boy with brown hair.
He lay curled in a ball facing away from Aldric. Though he wanted to remain indifferent, Aldric couldn't help but wonder if the boy was okay. He struggled with himself a moment before sitting up in bed and placing his pecked tray to the side.
When he swung his legs over the edge of his bed, the tiles grazed his heels slightly. The cold burned his feet, sending chill bumps up his entire body. When he stood, his head rushed, and he snubbed back to a seated position. He focused his vision and again went to stand.
He grabbed the metal rack his medications were hanging from and wheeled it slowly past the other boys. Moans and groans quietly filled the room. The smell of cleaning solution was especially pungent and began giving him a headache.
When he reached the raven's bed, he recognized the boy almost immediately. Toby was always a smaller boy, but very charismatic. He often found himself in the hot seat for talking too much. Aldric paused for a second before tapping the boy's shoulder with his finger.
Toby rolled over and glanced up at Aldric. His eyes widened, not with malice or fear, but more longing and excitement.
"Al, what're ya doin here?" He asked, rolling over to sit up. When the light hit his face, Aldric realized why he'd been in the med bay. His left eye was swollen to the size of a softball and completely sealed shut. His forehead was a deep, sickening shade of purple and blue, and riddled with cuts.
Aldric's face dropped, and Toby, too, remembered why he was there.
"It's nothing, Al, you know me, always mouthin' off," Toby explained, shielding his face and turning away slightly.
"Who did this to you?" Aldric asked coldly.
"Al, really, it's okay. I'm just a bit bruised up, but a few days with these magicians," he gestured to the wrens.
"And I'll be right as rain," he insisted. Aldric's face didn't budge. His stare was angry and cold, and his eyes didn't so much as blink.
"Who?"
Toby swallowed as the light shimmered off Aldric's silver eyes, and gazed down at the tile floor.
"What're you going to do?" He asked, his hands trembling as he picked at his fingers.
"I'm going to make sure it never happens again." Aldric's fists clenched, and for a moment, a burst of orange exploded in his irises.
"Who was it?" He demanded.
"Jasper,"