Ferin stirred slowly, he was stiff but remarkably free of pain. His one arm felt bandaged, and still in a sling, holding the arm across his chest. He rubbed at his face with his other hand grimacing at the day or two worth of stubble on his jaw. How long had he been out? Far too long judging by how his arm felt. He could actually move his fingers on the broken one. He was laying in a bed of some sort, not the rich fluffy ones like at the palace, no, this was the type he grew up with. Packed straw covered with furs. He had one blanket as it was relatively warm, and that was pulled up only to his stomach. He also thought he might otherwise be naked.
He turned his head, blinking a bit as he tried to clear his vision. IT was more like the home he had grown up in than just the bed. The house was one large room, though the bed he laid in was a bit of a cubby with a curtain pulled back that could be drawn for privacy. A fire crackled in a central firepit in the middle of the packed dirt floor, a cauldron of something wonderful smelling bubbling away. Two figures sat in the room, one smaller and slimmer chopping vegetables and adding them to the pot, the other a larger figure working away at what looked like a bow.
The smaller figure looked up and let out a little sound of shock. "Pa! I think he's awake." It was a male voice, medium pitched, and soon the figure was scampering over, getting clearer in his still blurry sight. It wasn't a human. A roundish face with an equally roundish muzzle full of sharp teeth in a cheery grin, bright blue eyes, and round ears. He was limber and leanly muscled, with slick brown fur that was cream colored on his exposed chest and stomach. In fact, all the beastman wore was a simple green loincloth. Ferin had seen an animal with a similar look once, a river otter he thought it was. The young beastman was grinning brightly as he came in close, looking Ferin up and down with a critical eye.
"Thank the gods, you are awake. That's great! You had us worried, me and pa. We found you out in the woods and didn't know if you were going to make it. Oh! I'm Tell. That's my pa, Toreg." He motioned to the bigger figure who was getting to his feet to come over, though the otter, Tell, barely seemed to take a breath as he continued rambling on. "The healers came and took a look at you and told us not to worry. The other human they found was in worse shape, but they patched you up and said you should be good in a few days. Are you hungry? I've got some soup on, or maybe you need some water?"
"Tell. Give the man some room. And get him a mug of water." The other voice was deep and gruff, gravely, but calming. Now closer, Ferin could make out the literal bear of a man standing a few feet away. He did have a belly, but otherwise seemed to be a giant wall of powerful muscle, dressed only in a black loincloth. He must have been the one he felt carrying him. Tell was a bit smaller than him, after all he noticed as he went scrambling off to fetch some water from a barrel in the corner.. "Sorry, my son is a bit excitable."
"It's alright." Ferin croaked out, his throat did indeed feel parched. He sat up as he graciously accepted the mug. He was naked, and he roughly pulled the sheet across his lap to maintain some modesty as he downed the water in a long gulp, holding it out once he finished. "More, please?" Tell eagerly obliged.
"What's your name, boy?" The bear asked as he took a seat on a large stool seemingly made for him.
"Guardsman Ferin, of the Royal Guard, assigned to Prince Elim of ..." He trailed off, memory coming back to him slowly. "The prince. I was looking for the prince, when I found a stone... You said there was another human?" He accepted the mug again, sipping the cool water more slowly this time.
"There is." Toreg confirmed as Tell stood off to the side, bouncing on his webbed paws. At first he thought the otter might be a bit young, but reassessed his build and the way he stood. No, probably an adult, just excitable. "The elders are meeting with him now, that's all I know. They'll want to talk to you, too. Once you're up to it."
"Me? I'm just a guard." He finished off the second mug and Tell took it from him, though Ferin didn't ask for another so the otter stayed nearby. That stew was smelling good though.
"Just a guard. With one of our sacred stones around your neck." Toreg said with a faint smile. He didn't sound upset, more he sounded amused.
Ferin's hand shot up to his grandfather's amulet that lay against his chest, wrapping around the black stone which felt a touch warm in his hand. Then he noticed something else. Ferin had always been a bit on the hairy side, family trait. Hell, in training he had been the only recruit that needed to shave daily. He didn't mind, it made him look older than his twenty-two summers, which in the guard was a good thing. But the hair on his chest felt too thick under his hand and as he looked down his eyes widened. He had a such a dense patch of hair across his chest it was practically fur, and it was snow white, not his normal brown coloration. It spread out from around where his amulet normally rested in the middle of his chest, spreading across and over the muscles in a vague arrowhead shape, like the amulet's. "What?" He pulled his hand back as if burned and looked at Toreg, then Tell. "What's going on?"
"We don't know." The bear answered honestly. "No doubt another reason the elders wish to speak with you. If anyone has the answers." Toreg stood, and placed a large paw on Ferin's shoulder, strong, reassuring. "But, you are alive, and safe for now. More than can be said for most of those we've found around that ambush."
The ambush. Looking for the prince, then waking up in a strange place. He had pushed it out of his mind. For a moment Ferin could see it again, the arrow taking Gensy through the face, fire tearing apart Halis, Tass' empty eyes. His friends, companions. He squeezed his eyes shut. All to protect that pompous little shit. But that was their oath wasn't it? Still, part of him hoped the prince still lived, so he could make up for the lives lost. He felt hot tears on his cheeks, heard the bed creak and a strong arm wrap around him, careful of his wounded shoulder. He cried into the bear's shoulder, not really caring if the two strangers saw him weeping.
"Tell." He felt the voice of Toreg rumbling against him. "Go let the elders know he's awake but he won't be able to talk to them until tomorrow. Let them know he'll be staying here with us. You don't mind the floor a few more nights, do you? And pick up some willow bark tea on your way back."
"Sure thing, pa." The young otter scrambled off as Ferin let his emotions out. The bear didn't move away until he was sure Ferin was able to sit up on his own, but stayed close by even then. He didn't prompt him to talk, just letting him sit in comfortable silence. Toreg reminded him of his own father in that way, a strong and silent presence you knew was there if you needed it, but not dominating. It helped ease him.
Tell was more sedate when he returned as well, whispering a few things to Toreg. Soon though, the bear set up a small table near the bed with a bowl of soup and a steaming cup of tea. The soup filled his belly, and the tea relaxed sore muscles, it also seemed to pull him back into sleep thankfully free of the images of the ambush that had still been playing in his head.