Twitching muscles and a pained groan brought Catli back to the patient’s side hours later with the pain cream already in his hands. Some piece in his heart contracted with a hard spasm as he shushed the man with nonsense words of comfort. Until the burns were healed, there was no real relief for his patient. Toa maimed deep and the damage was supposed to hurt for a long time after the fact. That’s how the God-Child made sure Its lesson stuck, though Catli had no idea what the lesson was about.
Eyelids fluttered as he dabbed the salve on the constellation on the stranger’s face first. Catli caught peeks of pale brown between the gold lashes. The color was washed out in the same way his flesh was. Maybe the almost colorless skin wasn’t a sign of a man used to the indoors. Eyes faded that mu
