Aetius bit his tongue, doing his best not to let out the hiss of pain that wanted to escape. His wound wasn’t life threatening itself, not really, just a flesh wound on his side, but even so it was certainly unpleasant. Even more so when the elf applied a poultice of elfroot and spindleweed to sterilize it and reduce the swelling.
“I… really this isn’t nece— Kaffas!” The Magister’s words cut off with a curse as the slender little hand pressed the poultice tighter… proving of course that it was indeed necessary.
With a sigh of resignation, he frowned, but remained seated, managing an almost not-begrudging “Thank you.”
“You are welcome,” came the Keeper’s reply, pale eyes still focused on the task at hand. “Careful, that may sting a little.”
Haleir might not have been capable of much in the way of healing by magic, but to his credit, his skills as a field surgeon came bolstered by only shining testimony from the vast majority of his patients...to say nothing of his vigilant bedside manner.
Righting himself, he turned to a small table within arm’s reach and began pulling rolls of clean bandages from an open satchel, setting them out ahead of time. The poultice still needed to do its work, but afterward the wound would require proper dressing.
“As for what is necessary? Even the most insignificant of cuts can fester; the Inquisition has charged me with ensuring that such a thing does not happen.” As if to punctuate, his gaze snapped back to Aetius. “I do hope you understand.”