Blossoming Path

I sat cross-legged on the worn floor of my shop, sorting through the last remnants of my medicinal herbs. Most of them were bruised, like the people they were meant to heal, and barely enough to cover the worst of our wounds. My fingers trembled slightly as I worked, but I willed them steady, ignoring the dull throb radiating from my chest. Each breath came with a faint hitch, a reminder of the punches Wei Long had delivered, but I refused to let it slow me down.

I sighed, shaking my head at the limitations, but there was no point in complaining. With gentle fingers, I crushed the dried leaves into powder, applying it over Windy’s bruised scales. My arms protested the motion but I pushed through, forcing myself to focus on the task at hand.

Using the last of my extracted chamomile essence, I poured it over the powder and watched him coil, a faint hiss slipping out as the medicine stung.

“It’s alright, Windy,” I murmured, patting his small head. “You’re a tough one.”

Windy gave a reluctant nod, his usually sharp eyes softened, if only slightly, by pain. Lan-Yin, the least injured among us, tended to the rest of the villagers. Beside me, Wang Jun sat with two massive bruises along his forearms and a broken nose from his contest of strength against Wei Long. He shot me a look that was half a grimace, half a smile.

“Didn’t expect a beating like that today.” he muttered.

“I'm sorry for getting you all pulled into it,” I replied quietly, casting a glance toward Tianyi. She sat a little apart from us, leaning against the wall, her face as serene as ever. However, her eyes seemed calmer, the only tell from her expressionless face to determine what she was feeling. Her human form was still unfamiliar to me, but the patches of spiderweb-like cracks running along her neck and shoulders reminded me all too much of the damage we’d endured.

The rhythmic ache in my chest surged again, sharper this time, as if my body were chastising me for ignoring it. I resisted the urge to probe the bruising around my sternum. I could already guess the extent of the damage; probably cracked, if not broken ribs. But those could wait. There were more pressing matters at hand.

As I worked, I noticed a thin thread, shimmering faintly, stretched across Tianyi’s shoulder.