Chapter 10: Punishment
The sun had risen higher in the sky but Irene continued to hide herself underneath the cloak. Even though it was getting hot, there were too many people there who thought she was a boy. She had a strange urge not to disappoint them by revealing herself as a girl.
Her father had left her behind to tie a few loose ends up and he made her sit patiently on a rock while one of the younger mages healed her hands enough that the blisters that had opened up were closed. Unfortunately, they weren't able to go much further than that because the man leading the mages told them to conserve mana.
Luckily, those with healing mana were usually adept in other aspects of first aid so the girl wrapped Irene's hands snugly with bandages after applying an ointment on them.
"Keep the bandages on so the skin can absorb the medicine," the young mage told her. "You still have a few filled blisters that will heal on their own."
"Thank you, mage," Irene responded, recalling how the knights addressed the mages when they were spoken to.
The girl with short black hair only nodded before she moved on and rejoined her group of mages.
As Irene's green eyes scanned the groups, she realized everyone truly did keep to their own. Knights with knights, mages with mages. Even within the groups, she realized there were probably nobles with nobles as well.
Seeing that all the knights were cleaning up, she decided that's where she would go next.
Unfortunately, her father's voice cut her path short.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked sharply.
Irene turned around and bowed her head in shame.