Redsand Canyon With legs littered with scars cut from these olive branches

She worked and he waited. Any exasperation she expressed was ignored; Glaukos was focused on keeping a handle of his pain without her help and was a little hazy otherwise. He needed only to be here long enough for treatment before being dismissed, and with Germanicus watching them both, the boy felt those eyes needling at him.

Next the healer was droning on about proper wound care or something. Glaukos caught bits and pieces of it as she worked upon the wounds on his neck and shoulder, his head swimming with each touch. He gave a few grunts as reply - either to the pain she was creating with her touch or to the warning she shared, it would be unclear.

He wondered why she worked so diligently to mend what had been done to him. Did she feel guilty? No; this was the act of someone doing a job, not someone with remorse.

It had been her fault that Kallik had been so riled up, Glaukos reasoned. It was her word that had sent the other auxillary after him at the training ring. First she had demanded training of Glaukos and then she had gone to Kallik to manipulate the other boy; that was the situation as he saw it.

She manipulated, like everyone else. Like any good survivor must. Glaukos could respect some level of that - he was a survivor too - but he had grown resentful after the spar had turned so violent.