He couldn't help but smile a little at her words, despite how much it hurt to do so. She was a sweet girl. One who probably made her life-mate very happy. Certainly he would be worried about her, and if she did not have one he could imagine the kind of father a girl this kind and giving would have. One who would flay him simply for daring to touch her, let alone take her blood like he had.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“Thank… you for your kindness… for your understanding… for not running in fear or assuming i had turned and calling the hunters down upon me...”</span>his voice was hoarse, but she needed to hear those words. It was all well and good to be humble, but there was a line between humble and self-depreciating in his mind. A bit of annoyance and anger welled up inside of him out of nowhere, a protective streak not aimed at her but at whomever had made her think that way, startling him. Fortunately, she had just begun to set his broken bones and he could brush it off as that.<br/><br/>When she called him hunter, despite not being able to see he looked away from her, turning his head in a semblance of shame.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff"> “I am no Hunter girl, only a fool playing at one… and i may have cost the others the attack… i do not know if they survived the trap I triggered… I just… I wanted revenge… he broke my little sister’s heart.”</span>thinking about something other than his wounds helped him fight through the pain as she worked on his injuries, packing the nourishing soil into them and binding them with fabric torn from her clothes. He hissed as she wrapped his ribs tightly, trying to shift his weight so that she didn’t have to lift him all on her own.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff"> “The Vampire… he was once a family friend… my baby sister… she loved him dearly. I thought… perhaps that being around her would help him survive his struggle with the darkness. He used to sit still and let her braid flowers into his hair, even as my father and their other friends teased him… I thought perhaps when she was older… that she might be his lifemate. But now I hope dearly that they were not… she is weeping in her bed at his loss, and he was my friend as much as he was my father’s… we joined the hunters when they went after him… my father had been one once, before he met my mother… but i was always just a gardener… I shouldn’t have gone...” </span><br/><br/>Speaking was coming a little easier to him, though he was still ragged and out of breath. He nodded when she gave him her name, confirming that she was at least of some relation to the carpathian that lived nearby with his family. He could not help but admire her name, the musical tones and softness, but shook the feelings from his mind. Now at least, he would know who to properly thank when he was fully healed and back to his usual self.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff"> “I am Ceiro… Ceiro Varisi”</span>he managed to get out, exhausted from speaking.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“I am sorry Marcella… I need to go to ground… to heal… but i can not open the earth, nor float myself down into the Mother’s embrace… I know you are exhausted… but I need your help once more…”</span>he stopped, fumbling around until his hand found hers, though he did not grip as tightly as he had before.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“Please… don’t leave me here…”</span>he whispered.