Chapter 38: CH. 38 | A Debt Repaid

Tuvei hurried off toward the back of the house, while Thalia stayed close by Theo’s side. Theo leaned back against the chair, setting the bottle of wound ointment down on the table.

"Did you fight that many monsters? You look terrible," Thalia said.

Theo went quiet for a moment, then glanced reflexively over at Avara, the crow from the birdfolk race, perched on the open windowsill. Thalia followed his gaze.

"Since when do you have a crow? Is it following you?" Thalia asked, pointing at the bird.

"Don’t chase it off," Theo said quietly, "I owe it. Without that bird, there’s no way I’d have made it out alive."

Before long, Tuvei came in carrying a bunch of his homemade remedies. He asked Theo to take off his shirt. Once it was off, Thalia gasped, clearly shocked at what she saw.

"Y-You’re covered in wounds," Thalia said, jumping to her feet.

"Yeah."

"I’ll explain later. For now, just let me heal up a bit," Theo said quietly.

"I’ll go wake up Lily. She might be able to heal some of this."

Theo turned and shook his head. He asked Thalia not to wake Lily or Aya, telling her to just let them rest.

Tuvei offered a suggestion. He explained that for tonight, Theo would be treated with his own remedies, and once Lily woke up in the morning, they could finish healing him with priest magic.

Thalia listened, then came back over to Theo. She even helped Tuvei apply his homemade wound ointment. Theo also told Tuvei about the wound on his arm from the Green Poison Frog.

The man examined the wound, then told Theo he had medicine that could neutralize the frog’s poison in his body.

"If you take it regularly for two days, the poison will be completely gone," Tuvei said.

"I will," Theo said. "Sorry for all the trouble."

"You and your party are the ones who helped me. I’ve got the lotus flowers now, and they’re brewing as we speak. Without you all, I might never have gotten them," Tuvei answered.

"So really, I’m the one who should be thanking you."

Theo nodded and let Tuvei and Thalia keep tending to his wounds. Off to the side, Avara was still perched on the windowsill, her eyes not turned outward but fixed on Theo as he was treated.

He had no idea what Avara was feeling as she watched him, but Theo felt some relief knowing she wasn’t afraid of being around humans.

Before long, Thalia and Tuvei finished applying the ointment. Theo put his shirt back on. Tuvei offered up his own room for Theo to rest in, and of course, Theo didn’t turn it down.

"Come on, Ava."

"Ava?" Thalia asked.

"Eh... that’s just what I call it," Theo said, "I figured she liked the name."

Avara flew down from the windowsill and landed on Theo’s hand, then hopped up to his shoulder. He walked into one of Tuvei’s spare rooms and immediately dropped his body onto the bed.

Once inside the room, Avara shifted back into her human form. She walked over to a wooden chair and sat down.

"I’m sorry for how my people treated you," Avara said quietly.

"If I were in their shoes, I probably would’ve done the same thing," Theo said.

His eyes opened, and he turned his head to the side to look at Avara, still sitting there in her black dress, legs crossed, glancing around the room.

"Are you going to rest in your human form?" Theo asked.

"No," Avara said, "The crow form is the most natural one for me."

She waved her hand and shifted back into crow form right away. She flew over to the nightstand by the bed and perched there, her eyes slowly closing, her head drooping.

Theo smiled briefly. He’d never known that was how crows actually slept. But what mattered most was that he’d made it back safe, his wounds were being treated, and now all he had to do was wait to heal.

Tomorrow, he and the others would need to head back to the city to turn in their guild mission.

***

The next day.

Lily came into the living room and saw that Theo was back. Thalia immediately filled her in on Theo’s condition, the girl wasted no time chanting a priest’s healing spell.

A priest’s magic rune appeared beneath Theo. A golden light rose up, feeling refreshing against his skin. He watched the small cuts on his arms start to close up, sealing shut and vanishing without a trace.

Even so, he noticed Lily starting to lose her balance. Her focus slipped, and the priest rune she’d summoned faded away.

Thalia rushed to catch Lily before she fell. She turned back around and asked how Theo was doing.

"Much better. Almost all my minor injuries are healed up."

"Thank goodness," Lily said.

Theo got to his feet and walked over to the pink haired girl, reaching out to gently pat her head as he thanked her. Lily’s help had left his body feeling far more refreshed.

Tuvei came over to Theo and handed him back his inventory bag. Theo took it and strapped it back onto his waist.

The man mentioned that he’d also tucked some medicine inside the bag, one ointment and one oral remedy.

The ointment was for treating Theo’s bruises, and the oral medicine was to neutralize the frog poison in his system.

Theo smiled and thanked him. He handed over the guild mission paper and asked Tuvei to fill in the progress section.

All he needed was Tuvei’s signature to bring back to the city guild, and Tuvei didn’t seem to mind at all.

Once it was signed, Theo shook his hand and said his goodbyes, and the others did the same.

They walked away from Tuvei’s house, following the village road south, toward the south gate of Tulu Village.

Along the way, Lily and Aya kept sneaking glances at the black feathered crow perched on Theo’s shoulder. Thalia had already explained things to them, but both girls still looked curious.

"What do crows... eat?" Lily asked, turning to Aya.

"I-I read somewhere that they’re omnivores. So they eat pretty much anything."

Lily reached into her pocket and pulled out some dried biscuits wrapped in cloth. As they walked, she handed them to Theo and asked him to feed the crow.

Theo took the biscuits and did as they asked. Avara pecked away at the biscuit Theo offered, and even though it was a bit messy, she clearly devoured every last bit of it.

They finally reached the south gate, where there was no one around. The horse cart that had brought them here the day before hadn’t arrived yet.

"Maybe we got here too early? I told him to come either today or tomorrow."

"He’ll show up. We just need to wait."

Theo and the others waited for hours in front of Tulu Village’s gate, but the cart driver never showed up.

Thalia started to get anxious, worried that their delay might cause the guild mission to fail.

To their surprise, the sound of a horse cart came from behind them. When Theo turned around, he saw Tuvei arriving with a cart, though not a passenger cart, just a plain cargo wagon.

"Do you all need a ride? I’m heading out to deliver some medicine to Aluric."

Thalia, who’d been sitting down, immediately stood up. Theo turned around and asked the others what they thought. None of them objected to the offer.

"Of course," Theo answered, smiling wide, "Sorry for the trouble again, Mr. Tuvei."