The announcement that the capital had fallen struck both of the other girls hard. "I .. I had family here." Yukiri announced, wrapping her arms around herself. "Cousins. I hope .." she let her voice trail off, unwilling to give voice to her fears. Ahsell placed an arm around her shoulders, but said nothing.<br/><br/>The silence was broken after a minute or two by a knock on the outside of the tent pole. Ahsell untangled herself from the other girl and opened the flaps, looking up at whoever was outside. "Honour to serve." she said, repeating the words the others had heard when they had arrived at the tent.<br/><br/>"Honour met." came a rough sounding voice. "Now move yourself girl. I want to get back to my nice warm bed before these old bones freeze up and anything falls off that I'd prefer to keep."<br/><br/>Ahsell moved aside, a faint smile on her lips, which she quickly hid again, allowing another figure to enter. He was quite short, at least in comparison to the soldiers Larissa had seen previous, but fairly stocky, and had a bushy grey beard which stretched almost halfway down his chest. She would probably put his age at somewhere over fifty. He shrugged a satchel off his shoulder and passed it to Ahsell, who took it without comment. He stepped over to the newcomers and looked over the pair of them, before turning his attention to Asha on the bedroll. "I take it you're the one in need of my talents?" he said, though it seemed as much a rhetorical comment as a question. "Well, let's have a look at you then."<br/><br/>He carefully turned the injured woman over then turned to Ahsell, pointing to the ground beside him. "Observe and report." he said.<br/><br/>Ahsell knelt beside him, her hands gently touching the bloodstained cloth on the woman's back. "A small wound, to judge from the hole in the cloth. Possibly deep, judging by blood soaked into the cloth."<br/><br/>"You do not sound certain of your diagnosis." the Imperial commented.<br/><br/>Ahsell shook her head. "That degree of blood loss should have left her weaker than she appeared to be when she arrived. The blood has spread over a handspan of cloth. Either it was deep, or wide. I think wide."<br/><br/>The apothicary, Venn, nodded. "Procedure?"<br/><br/>"Cut away the cloth, confirm wound. Clean and bandage it. Give something for pain and shock." Ahsell replied after a few moments.<br/><br/>Venn nodded, reaching into the satchel and lifting out a small, sharp knife and a roll of cloth. His deft fingers quickly cut away the bloodstained clothing, and he cleaned the dry blood from her skin. He gently probed at the wound and frowned slightly, then shrugged. "It doesn't seem to have been all that bad." he remarked, mostly addressing Ahsell. "Some people bleed much though, more than a wound warrants. Should you find yourself treating someone like that, bind the wound swiftly, otherwise they may bleed out and die from a wound that should not have killed."<br/><br/>Another minute or two saw him wiping his hands and packing his tools away. He nodded at the women, opening the flaps just as another man arrived carrying a small kettle of stew and a waterskin, two long loaves of bread tucked under one arm. Venn waved a hand at him as he opened his mouth to speak. "Yes, yes. Go feed our newcomers, I'm sure they could use it. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my bedroll." Venn waitied til the man had set down kettle, bowls, bread and waterskin, and then pulled the tent flaps closed. "Go brew me some tea." his voice came from outside. "I suspect I may need waking up properly before long."