Don't Try to Sit Yet

The roof is sod and too close. Afternoon light sifts through it. Your body is packed earth. At the back of your skull a wound throbs, deep enough that sitting is only a thought. The muscles will not rise.

Then the ridge comes back. Mean laughter. A blow. Forest soil, blood-smell, a scream going faint. Tamsin's face — tear-streaked, desperate — calling your name, crying to be saved. Her hand reaching. A black shadow taking it.

You are not on the path now. Old posts. A dirt floor. A wooden door that creaks. An unfamiliar ceiling, and a woman already here.

Dark copper hair in a long braid. A steady, unshowy face. Amber eyes. Hands careful at your brow, hard with the calluses a spear shaft leaves. Those are not a village woman's hands.

Senna Calder
"I found you on the path. Don't try to sit yet."

Senna Calder
"The wound is deep."

She sets a water bowl and a cloth down beside you. She wipes the sweat from your brow without waiting.

--- status ---
Station: ??
Gift: ??
Place: turf hut near Harrowfen
Time: 14:02
Date: Year 22 of the Pale Sun, Highgreen 20
Pack: none
Last aim: bring down House Vellin, seat the sun-king as a real ruler, put down Iskander Vale, and open a peace era in Vesperhold
Now: rescue the taken childhood friend, Tamsin Roe
[Senna Calder | 0 | rescuer | spear | calm]
[Tamsin Roe | 0 | childhood friend | ordinary | taken]

Include a gift and a strength grade (1-10, 1 is strongest) with your first answer.