The sight that greeted Mai's eyes as she rushed towards her friends in the immediate aftermath of the battle made her extremely anxious. Gohan was clutching one of his arms, staggering up from a position on one knee. He was gritting his teeth as he made the attempt, clearly pushing through pain to make it happen. The sight of it worried her to no small extent, but the fact that he was getting up at all made her feel as though her attention was needed elsewhere.
Ty Lee was a little further way, lying on her back and clutching her hands to her chest: hands that were slicked with liquid crimson. She was gasping and staring down at her hands like she couldn't quite grasp what had actually happened to her. Mai didn't know much about serious injuries, but that didn't seem like a good thing.
Sprinting over to her friend, Mai swiftly stooped down next to her to try and assess the damage. It didn't occur to her that she'd have no idea what to do if the injury was too complicated. One step at a time.
"Ty Lee, let me see! Let me see it!"
The brunette thankfully managed to at least focus her attention on Mai's presence, but her reaction definitely indicated that she wasn't in a good mental state. Maybe Gohan would know more about that kind of thing.
"N-n-no, I can't! W-what if, what if it-?!"
Unsure of how she could possibly help if she couldn't even see the wound, Mai grabbed Ty Lee's wrists, certain that she'd have to use force to get a look. Ty Lee seemed to catch onto her intent immediately, and she tried to pull her hands away, panicked.
"N-no, if I let go, I'll... I'll-!"
Having never dealt with this kind of situation, Mai had no idea what to do about it. It didn't seem like a good idea to force her when she was in such a state, but what else was she supposed to do?
"Mai, stop. Let me do this."
Glancing over her shoulder, Mai was shocked and displeased to see Gohan standing behind her, still holding his left arm tightly to his torso. The armor on that side was cracked and dented, so she could only imagine what his arm looked like underneath that. This was to say nothing about a clearly bleeding wound on his flank. She could see his lifeblood staining the cloth parts of his armor.
"Gohan, you're injured too, if you didn't notice!"
While there was a clearly disgruntled expression on his face, the group's lone soldier didn't seem like he was going to take that statement as an indicator to rest. All he did was kneel down next to her and in front of Ty Lee.
"I've been injured before. Trust me, I can afford to wait a minute. Ty Lee, look at me."
With his attention fully turned towards the bloodied Ty Lee, Mai didn't get anything else out of him. He did get Ty Lee's wild hazel eyes to focus on him though, at any rate.
"G-Gohan, am I... am I going to die? It h-hurts so much..."
Xisheng saw the pure terror in the girl's eyes, and while he found it mostly unwarranted, he also found it very understandable. This was probably the first time Ty Lee had lost so much blood due to getting hurt. Most people panicked when they didn't have the knowledge to understand the severity of their own injuries. Xisheng was admittedly no medic, but he had been injured many times and also seen many injuries during his time in the military. He at least had the knowledge to tend to a variety of relatively 'basic' wounds.
Allowing his wounded arm to hang for a moment, Xisheng took his good hand and placed it on Ty Lee's shoulder as he pointedly looked into her eyes.
"Ty Lee, I know it hurts, but you aren't going to die. You're lucid, and you can still move your body just fine. You haven't passed out and even though there's a lot of blood, it's probably not as bad as it looks. But I need you to take your hands away for just a moment so I can look at it. I promise, I'm going to take care of you. Just let me see."
Ty Lee heaved a few more breaths as she contemplated what Xisheng had said, hopefully finding comfort and assurance in his eyes. After a few more moments, she gingerly moved her hands away from her chest, grimacing just as Azula staggered over to the scene as well. The princess took in the injury, but looked away after the initial glance. Whether that was because she was uncomfortable with blood or because she was stunned by the reality of an injury to one of her allies was unclear.
"Lieutenant, is that... is that bad?"
Although Ty Lee's face was scrunched up in an attempt to avoid looking at her own gore, Xisheng breathed a sigh of relief as he took in the vertical gash that rested pretty neatly along the girl's sternum. It was about three or four inches long, and the skin was split very cleanly, rather than being ragged. Katara's ice blade had apparently possessed a nice, razor sharp edge. Despite the cut flesh, it was actually looking fairly good.
"It's not as bad as it feels, Ty Lee. The bleeding has already died down a lot, so nothing important was cut. I can't see any bone either, so it isn't that deep. It's even a preferable type of cut. You're not going to die, I promise. Still, put your hands back on it and keep some pressure until the bleeding stops completely."
There was a clear expression of relief on Ty Lee's face, though she was forced to grimace once again as she put pressure on her very fresh and tender injury. Hearing that her wound, no matter how frightening, wasn't going to kill her helped the girl calm down a bit and focus on something other than being hurt.
"Whew, t-that's... that's good. Um, what about you...?"
Placing his one good hand over the small puncture wound in his lower abdomen to staunch the bleeding, Xisheng tried to take stock of his own health. Based on the location of his wound from Katara's icy needle, he knew he hadn't actually been hit in his stomach. It had really hit his muscles more than anything else, which were thankfully pretty dense based on profession alone. Not that it had negated a deadly projectile by any means, but it had certainly penetrated less than it would have hitting in a fleshier, softer bit. He was confident that he could treat that with what he had available.
As for his arm, that was a little harder to determine, because the whole thing had been smashed by a pretty heavy weight. He couldn't tell much besides the fact that it really fucking hurt. Other than the throbbing throughout his whole arm, he couldn't tell how badly it was actually damaged.
"My bleeding injury isn't that bad either. Nothing that can't be fixed and it won't cause any permanent damage. But my arm... no idea. Can't tell without getting my armor off to see it."
With that assessment made, he turned his gaze towards Azula for a moment, noting that she looked worse for wear as well.
"Princess, what about you?"
Under ordinary circumstances, Azula may have said something along the lines of being hurt, but considering the state of two of her allies, she was hardly going to complain. Even she couldn't find it in herself to do that in good conscience.
"I'm barely scratched. Worry about yourselves."
While her words were gruff, Xisheng could tell that the young girl was just having some trouble admitting to any sort of concern. Maybe it was because everyone was around her at once.
Since Mai was clearly unscathed, Xisheng acknowledged that the team's injuries had been assessed for the most part. And while it wasn't officially his place, the soldier felt that it was his job to issue some commands here. He knew that none of the girls would be able to take the lead on their current situation.
"Mai, please help Ty Lee to the Overlord. Get some water and find my medical kit. It's lying next to the driver's seat in the front cabin. Just get everything prepared, I'll come to help you shortly."
The dark-haired marksman seemed a little stunned to get direct orders from him, but that was only for a moment. She wasn't used to taking orders, but based on her experience with Gohan so far, Mai felt that he was a reasonable person to obey when he did order things. He never asked anyone to do something that didn't make sense. Besides, she had to admit that she was still pretty nervous about everything, since she had never seen a serious injury and had no idea how to treat one. His calm demeanor and guidance was actually quite reassuring.
"R-right, I can do that. No problem."
With that, she turned her attention to Ty Lee so she could figure out how to physically help her up.
"Alright Ty Lee, keep your hands on your chest, use your knees..."
While they were doing that, Xisheng directed his attention at Azula, a pensive expression on her face.
"Princess, sorry to trouble you, but could you please assist me with removing the damaged armor on my arm? It'll be difficult to do with one hand."
Azula looked a little irritated by the question, though it wasn't for the reason Xisheng thought. It was apparently just the way he had worded it.
"Do you ever actually get rattled, Lieutenant? So meek, even in a situation like this..."
Even in a fair deal of pain, Xisheng managed to smirk for a moment.
"I get rattled more by social interactions I have little experience in than physical strife. And I can hardly order you around, Princess."
Getting down on one knee so she would be low enough to actually help Xisheng at his current height, Azula frowned as she took in the cracked and broken pieces of armor plating on Xisheng's left arm. The sight of it filled her with some sort of negative emotion she couldn't quite put a name to. The fact that she couldn't do that was the real reason she was frowning.
She wasn't used to a wide array of negative feelings. Jealousy and irritation were the ones she was mostly capable of identifying as familiar. And as always, she hated not understanding her own feelings.
"What do I take off first?"
"The bracer can go first. Then the pauldron. After that you can get the plate on the upper arm. Just please, be careful. The arm is in quite a lot of pain."
Considering that Azula often wore armor of her own, she didn't need to be told how to get these parts off. The armor of an elite soldier was not nearly the same make or quality as the armor worn by a member of the Royal Family, but the basic principles of armor construction were the same. That being said, it didn't take her long to get the straps off the bracer.
On the other hand, touching someone 'gingerly' definitely wasn't something she was used to. It was nearly alien to her, being this careful in touching another person. Maybe that unfamiliarity was why Xisheng still grimaced as she removed the armor from his forearm. Following that, they both had a hand in rolling up the sleeve of the cloth underneath, which revealed the skin of his arm.
Xisheng noted that he was mostly unscathed here, which was no surprise since the impact from Toph's boulder had been closer to his shoulder. While the pauldron had been utterly destroyed, it was Xisheng's hope that it had taken a large brunt of the impact.
"Well, that looks alright at least. Let's hope it doesn't get too much worse further up."
Azula cocked an eyebrow at him.
"You know I'm not the type for blind optimism."
"Neither am I, but times likes this are appropriate for dabbling in it. Let's keep going."
His very regal nurse didn't seem to find his brevity very admirable. From her point of view, there was nothing to joke about right now, or even anything to take remotely lightly. She still wasn't sure why the situation bothered her so much. Trying to undo the straps to the shattered pauldron as gently as possible, Azula tried to put some logic to the tumultuous emotions she had right now.
Of course it was understandable that she wouldn't feel good about any of this. From a purely tactical perspective, half of her forces had been injured. It was unclear to what extent thus far, but it was safe to assume that their injuries would impair their performance to an meaningful extent. Moreover, it was unclear how long their recoveries would be, so their performance would be affected for an unclear amount of time. From any logical point of view, it was a bad situation that someone in charge would be upset about.
This severely affected their mission. Pursuing the Avatar with her team in its current state was completely pointless and would only lead to failure. That too was something to be upset about, objectively. And yet, as she removed the destroyed armor from Xisheng's person, rolled up his sleeve even further, and witnessed the mottled blue, black and purple skin, Azula knew that she wasn't upset because of these objective reasons. Too bad that didn't help her put a real answer to her feelings.
"Your arm looks... terrible. Is it broken?"
Xisheng's expression was a strange mix of a grimace and odd appreciation for the state his arm was in. Azula couldn't understand that last half in the slightest.
"Hard to tell like this, but I don't think so. There's no obvious deformity to indicate a bone is where it shouldn't be, and while it's hard to say for certain considering the situation I got hit in, I don't believe I heard a snap on impact either. Despite this horrific bruising, there's no obvious swelling either. And even though it hurts like hell..."
The soldier slowly moved his bruised arm around, clear pain on his face as it moved to different positions. Azula couldn't imagine how much that must have hurt, but apparently he could bear with it for the sake of a diagnosis.
"...there's no apparent loss of mobility or function. Not that free range of motion guarantees it isn't broken, mind you."
By the time he was done saying all of this, Azula was not feeling very good about the situation as a whole.
"So basically, you have no idea if it's broken at all. What good does that do us!?"
Xisheng lowered his arm slowly back down to his side, grimacing as he did so. That said, his expression was a bit confused by Azula's irritability.
"Princess, are you... upset about this?"
Frankly, Azula seemed offended by the question. Almost like she was upset by some implication carried within the question itself. In a rare occurrence, Xisheng couldn't actually determine what that implication may have been.
"I do have the presence of mind to be concerned for a subordinate's health, Xisheng! Did you expect me to berate you for getting wounded? Belittle you for daring to get injured while serving under me? Is that what you expected me to do?"
Xisheng was clearly taken aback by her outburst, but while it did stun him outright, it also gave him greater insight into why Azula was upset after all. He didn't always get everything the first time, but he was very quick at picking things up when the clues were obvious.
"N-no, no... I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to imply that. I just... didn't think this would bother you enough for it to be... um, obvious? I uh, hope it doesn't sound presumptuous, I just... don't understand why. I mean, I can get why you'd be displeased with the obvious logical setback this situation creates, but you've handled a lot of setbacks before, and they usually didn't, uh... elicit an outward response."
Azula was honestly surprised by the open way Xisheng said all of this. It was always so weird with him: most of the time, he was the ideal image of a soldier, always bowing, always addressing her properly, always speaking in an appropriate manner... and then sometimes, he acted like he was talking to just any old person. Not to say that he was being disrespectful, but there was a certain degree of frankness one just didn't take up with a member of the Royal Family.
The Crown Princess inwardly acknowledged that he only ever got like this with her when they were talking about her feelings and why she felt the way she did about situations that gave her pause. Maybe he felt such situations gave him the right to supersede protocol. Azula could see why that kind of thing should have been reprehensible to her. And yet, she honestly didn't have any qualms with it. Whether or not she would admit it to anyone, she could at least admit to herself that Xisheng was more than a mere soldier to her. She trusted him to be loyal, competent, and truly invested in her success. He was more like... a vassal.
Of course, maybe the fact that had a special distinction in her mind was exactly why she felt the way she did about this whole situation.
"...people under my command have been injured, while carrying out orders I gave them. Doesn't that make those injuries my fault?"
Frankly, Xisheng was caught off guard by these words from the girl kneeling next to him. Not to diminish her, but he really hadn't expected Azula of all people to be this affected by the injuries her comrades had suffered. He certainly didn't think she was the type to feel at fault for those injuries. Of course, they had only just started talking, but in a way, Xisheng was kind of proud. Maybe Azula was shaping up into the leader he believed she could be, even faster than he had anticipated.
Now he just had to find the right way to answer her question.
"In a manner of speaking, I guess. Generally, the person in charge of any sort of operation is responsible for its outcome. But that doesn't mean everything that happens within the operation is their fault."
The expression on Azula's face made it clear that this explanation didn't really track with her right away.
"How can someone both be at fault and be blameless at the same time? That's illogical."
Clutching his arm to his side as he did some math on the best position to immobilize it in for the near future, Xisheng nevertheless put more thought into this conversation as well.
"There was an order my platoon got, one time on the front lines. The people in charge were getting a little antsy about the stalemate and wanted to take advantage of a weak spot in the enemy line that had sprung up while the Earth Kingdom was replacing their troops with fresh ones. So, my platoon got the job of making a direct charge, as a distraction for other troops to maneuver without scrutiny. Part of some bigger strike, or something."
Xisheng noted with some macabre fascination that his now injured arm was the same one that had been messed up in the story he was telling.
"During the charge, an Earthbender nearly split my arm from the rest of my body with an earthen wedge. My armor saved me that time too, and I had to crawl back to friendly lines to get treated before I bled to death."
There was a grimace of sorts from Azula that made it clear she didn't enjoy even thinking about what he had said, But she figured there was a point to this whole story, so she didn't intervene, which allowed Xisheng to continue.
"A lot of other soldiers got hurt or killed in the attack, but ultimately, it was a success. The Earth Kingdom line was broken, and the Fire Nation was able to advance our own lines by roughly two miles before the enemy was able to stonewall us again. Doesn't sound like much, but it was a huge success. Naturally, the colonel in charge of the whole operation got all the credit, just like he would have received all the blame if it had failed. But after the attack, that colonel came to the tent for the wounded and thanked us all for our sacrifice. He acknowledged that we had been injured while enacting his plan and gave us the credit for the victory. Our injuries weren't his fault, but he took responsibility for them. That's what it means to lead people into battle."
There was silence for a moment as Azula took in his story, but it was only a moment. Ultimately she didn't seem to get his point.
"Very admirable of this colonel to bother checking on his wounded, but how can you take responsibility if it's not your fault? Those are the same thing."
Xisheng sighed, figuring that maybe his explanation hadn't been that good after all. He supposed it was kind of confusing.
"It's... hard to really put into words. Yeah, I was only in that battle because of the colonel's orders, but it was my fault I was injured in the fighting. But even though my personal safety on the field rests on me alone, the colonel takes responsibility for the outcome I suffered because I went in on his orders. As the leader, he acknowledges that soldiers are sent into battle on his whim, and thus, every injury or death they suffer rests on his shoulders. But that doesn't mean he's at fault: fault would imply that he did something wrong. But he made a good tactical decision. Technically, our forces suffered low casualties, and it led to a great win for the Fire Nation that day. Someone who leads others into battle has to acknowledge and accept that the people they lead could be hurt or killed. Responsibility is valuing that potential sacrifice and ensuring that it has meaning. Fault is wasting those sacrifices with no concern for them."
By the time he was done saying all of this, Azula was sighing herself. For some reason, she felt like she was getting a lesson from a much older man than the one she was talking to.
"Admittedly, that still sounds like little more than semantics to me. Besides, I wasn't just the leader, I was also a combatant. Toph only managed to attack you because I didn't pressure her enough to command her full attention. One can't argue the difference between 'responsibility' and 'fault' there."
Figuring that he would probably need to go and help Mai with Ty Lee fairly soon, Xisheng struggled to his feet, being sure to avoid jostling his arm. Other than manually feeling for broken bones, he couldn't do much more for his injury right now, and needless to say, he wasn't too keen on causing himself more pain if it wouldn't make much of a difference. At this point, broken arm or not, the only remedy available to him was immobilizing the arm via a sling.
Meanwhile, he still had to offer some sort of answer to Azula. It was odd, how often he found himself giving advice to her these days. Wasn't he supposed to be the student?
"Well, that just goes to show that no matter how skilled a warrior you are, you can't control everything on the battlefield. It's an inherently chaotic place: even the sharpest fighter can't pay attention to every factor around them. That's just the way it is."
As she rose to her feet as well, Azula placed her hands on her hips. She clearly didn't see the situation in the same light Xisheng did.
"You know, one could be forgiven for being a little upset about getting injured due to the incompetence of their teammates."
Already walking towards the Overlord, Xisheng barely glanced back at the much younger girl as he responded to that.
"It's not a big deal, Princess. Don't worry about it."
If he had continued focusing on Azula, Xisheng undoubtedly would have noticed that she certainly appeared to still consider it a big deal. But since he hadn't, the sole male was none the wiser. Right now, we he was mostly worried about Ty Lee and her injury. It hadn't been all that bad objectively speaking, but it still had to be taken care of properly for things to stay that way. Treating a negligible injury in a poor manner had the potential to make it a serious injury.
Ignoring his own throbbing pain and stepping into the Overlord, Xisheng quickly took stock of the situation within. Ty Lee was propped up in the bed Xisheng assumed was hers, with the acrobat still clutching her hands to her chest and Mai standing next to her. The latter had acquired both of the things Xisheng had asked of her, that being the medical kit from the driver's cabin and a pot of water. With those two things, Xisheng was certain they could take care of Ty Lee's wound with little issue.
Well, that wasn't to say it wouldn't be harrowing for the girl in question, but from a practical point of view, tending to her posed little in the way of difficulty.
"Alright you two, let's take care of this. Ty Lee, you can take your hands away now. It'll be fine."
Looking a little pale, Ty Lee leveled an expression at him that was hardly the epitome of confidence.
"A-are you sure?" Won't I bleed more if I don't put pressure on it?"
"Your blood has probably clotted by now. If you were going to bleed out, it likely would have happened already. Trust me, I've dealt with injuries like this one plenty of times."
"I'll pretend that makes me feel better..."
Ty Lee said this as she lifted her bloodied hands away from her chest, though most of it was dried at this point. She averted her gaze from the wound itself, something that Xisheng couldn't really hold against her. Mai wasn't quite as squeamish, which was good since she was pretty much going to be Xisheng's hands for this whole endeavor. She even asked about their plan.
"So, uh... now what?"
"First, I'm going to boil this water before we use it to clean the area around the cut. That's going to take a minute or two, so I need you to help me immobilize my arm while we wait. We should save whatever bandages we have left for Ty Lee, so I need one of you to sacrifice some clothes for a makeshift sling."
Having said all that, Xisheng lit a flame in his good hand and held it against the pot of water Mai had secured for this procedure. The marksman may have remarked about using their clothes for a sling under normal circumstances, but she seemed to be in a more obedient mode of thought at the moment, as she didn't hesitate to go over to one of the chests in the room to dig through the clothes there. Xisheng assumed she was too out of her element right now to really snark about anything: it was easy to be nervous when you had to help in a serious situation you weren't well-versed in.
It didn't take her long to come back to his side with what looked like two pairs of pants or leggings. Frankly, Xisheng couldn't tell who they belonged to, but being of the darker variety, he assumed they belonged to Mai.
"If we tie these together, they should be able to go all the way around your body. How should I tie it?"
Xisheng placed his injured arm in a position that was comfortable and didn't cause him any extra pain beyond the incessant variety that couldn't be avoided.
"This position will be fine. Tie the cloth diagonally across my body. Messed up arm to opposite shoulder."
"Alright, I can do that..."
It didn't take Mai long to fashion a sling of sorts out of the clothing she had procured. Once that was done, she began the process of securing his arm with it, though she was clearly nervous about hurting him. Thankfully, it was easy enough to take care of that, as Xisheng just had to tell her when to stop once she began tightening the black fabrics around him. Fortunately, the water started boiling at around the same time that was finished.
"That's tight enough, Mai. Thank you. I'm going to hold the boil for a few minutes, then use my bending to cool it down faster. Go ahead and open up the medical kit, we may as well set aside the things we're going to use while we wait."
Before she followed through with that, Mai pointed down towards Xisheng's abdomen.
"And what about that?"
Having truly forgotten about it thus far since his arm hurt a lot more, Xisheng glanced down at the puncture wound Katara's icicle needle had left.
"It's not bleeding that badly. I'll keep pressure on it until we're done tending to Ty Lee, then we can take care of it."
"If you say so..."
With that temporarily concluded, Mai grabbed the brown bag that was nearly a foot across, undoing some of its latches and straps to reveal its contents. Within were things one would need to tend to basic wounds: some small surgical tools, a few natural remedies, bandages, and the like. With the Fire Nation having no chance of defeating the Earth Kingdom's superior numbers, with their own, a quality over quantity approach to warfare had ensured that most Fire Nation soldiers had access to things like this. It was better for a small nation like them to heal injured soldiers and return them to the battlefield when possible, rather than replace them.
"Alright, grab the needle, that coil of thread, the bandages and that little vial in the corner. That's all we should need."
Xisheng saw Ty Lee gulp at the mention of a needle, no doubt well aware of why it would be needed. He couldn't blame her for that reaction. Who liked needles anyway?
Mai said nothing as she laid out all the things Xisheng had indicated. By that time, the soldier was using a lesser utilized aspect of firebending to draw the heat away from the water he had just boiled. They'd be sitting here for some time if they had to wait for it to cool naturally, and they certainly couldn't use it on Ty Lee while it was still hot. The last thing she needed was to be burned. At the same time, he laid out the process they were going to be doing.
"So, first thing we're going to do is clean away the blood. Then, we're going to take the contents of that vial and apply it to the area around the wound."
Before he could continue, Ty Lee cut him off from the bed.
"Um, what's in the vial?"
Xisheng began to give an immediate response, but stopped himself short as he acknowledged that he didn't actually know the answer for certain.
"I... can't really remember what all is in it, specifically. But it helps with pain. You're going to want it, trust me."
Ty Lee whimpered at this, prompting Xisheng to reconsider how blatantly he said that. Maybe he shouldn't be telling the person they were about to treat that the process was going to hurt. But it was too late now.
"Don't worry Ty Lee, the ointment is very effective. Anyway, Mai: I don't suppose knitting is something you've tried your hand at over the years?"
For the first time since things fell apart tonight, Mai managed to return to some semblance of her usual self.
"Really? You think I could find knitting entertaining?"
"Just asking."
"Well no, I haven't. But I already know why you're asking, and I'm pretty sure I have the necessary skills to do it. Even though I don't really like the idea..."
While Ty Lee didn't know much about medical treatment, she at least knew what needles and thread of any sort implied. The thought of getting stitches didn't sit well with her for a variety of reasons. But since she knew it had to be done one way or another, she didn't say anything against it. It was mostly just more whimpering.
Xisheng ignored it since he needed to be the face of calm here. He was the most knowledgeable and comfortable in this situation, and the girls needed to know that he had no doubts regarding anything they were doing.
"Once we stitch the wound up, we can bandage it to keep it safe from the elements, and that's all there is to it. It'll be fine, Ty Lee, I promise."
"Will it? What if it leaves a really ugly scar? Oh, that'll be terrible!"
With the water he had boiled sufficiently cooled down, Xisheng grabbed some of the bandages Mai had laid out and motioned for her to help him, since there was no reason to delay Ty Lee's care at this point. He could afford to take pressure off of his minor wound for a minute or so. It wasn't bleeding that badly at this point.
It was time to clean away the blood so they could actually see what they were doing. As he stepped closer to Ty Lee and made eye contact with her, Xisheng figured he had to tell the truth, though he'd be sure to comfort her at the same time.
"I'm not going to lie to you Ty Lee, there will almost definitely be a scar. But the cut isn't too deep, so it probably won't be that bad. Besides, you don't have to worry: something as minor as a scar isn't going to detract from how pretty you are."
Even though she knew this was a blatant gambit to comfort her, Ty Lee nevertheless manged to smile. Sometimes it didn't matter if the underlying motive was obvious. Mai frowned for a moment, but the expression was quickly wiped away. She was hardly going to raise any objection under the current circumstances, and she couldn't even understand why the exchange irked her in the first place.
With nothing else to say, Xisheng motioned for Mai to help him with the current task. With both bandages and clean water available to them, the process was a swift one. It was a little awkward, wiping around Ty Lee's bosom, but it was easy to ignore any unscrupulous thoughts considering the situation: it was hard to think about anything sexy when they were cleaning up blood and looking at an open wound. Even the proximity of the patient's breasts really couldn't overpower those sobering aspects of the situation.
Ty Lee winced a few times whenever they got too close to the edges of her cut, and the group went through several bandages cleaning everything up, but within a few minutes, most of the acrobat's blood had been wiped off of her body. With nowhere else to put the soiled linens right now, Xisheng simply lied them aside on the ground.
"OK. Mai, hand me the needle you're going to use so I can sterilize it. While I'm doing that, apply the contents of that vial to the skin around the wound. Don't get it into the cut, that'll sting a lot."
Mai moved to do as she had been told, clearly a little uncomfortable with the warning.
"No pressure, I guess. Honestly, how often have you had to do this?"
While Xisheng required two hands to hold the needle and apply a small flame to its tip, thankfully it was only his arm that was hurt. His hand on that arm was actually perfectly fine, so it wasn't a problem that he had to hold the implement in that hand.
"Half a dozen times, probably. When there's a big battle on the front lines, there's usually more wounded than professional healers to take care of them. Lots of normal soldiers learn how to treat basic injuries in those situations. Skill born of necessity, and all that."
Ty Lee winced as Mai got a little too close with the ointment she was rubbing on her, prompting the dark haired marksman turned nurse to focus her attention more acutely, though she still managed a response.
"Guess we should be grateful for that..."
Since Ty Lee really had nothing to do other than be tended to, she commented on the process she was forced to go through as Xisheng finished his task.
"Eh, my skin's getting kind of tingly..."
"That's good. That means it's numbing the skin. It won't completely negate the pain, but it'll make it a lot more tolerable. Mai, do you know how to cross-stitch?"
Mai reached for the needle Xisheng offered her, as well as the thread from the medical kit that was made of something she couldn't identify.
"More or less."
"Well, you're going to do that until the skin is pulled back together. When that's done, you'll tie the thread into knots so it doesn't come undone. Simple enough, right?"
"Yeah, I suppose..."
Xisheng thanked the stars that Mai wasn't overly squeamish as she leaned towards Ty Lee. He wasn't sure what they would do if she couldn't handle this kind of thing. He noticed Ty Lee lean away from the approaching needle, the girl clearly a lot less comfortable with what was going on. Ultimately, she couldn't take it.
"W-wait! Gohan, hold my hand!"
The brunette offered the hand closest to Xisheng, which was still caked in dried blood since they had only focused on washing the skin near the wound. Of course, considering the situation, Xisheng had no qualms with taking hold of her hand in his own. He was hardly going to deny her in this moment over something like that. Besides, he'd touched blood plenty of times, considering his profession.
With the two of them now holding hands (it was more like Ty Lee trying to crush his hand, but thankfully she wasn't that strong), Ty Lee nodded towards Mai, signalling that she could continue. Naturally, the brunette averted her gaze from the operation entirely. Looking at it certainly wasn't going to make her feel any better.
She winced when the needle first touched her skin, though Xisheng had of course expected that.
"I-it's not that it hurts that much, but it still feels really uncomfortable... ugh, Gohan, distract me! Talk about something!"
Eager to help in any way he could at this point, Xisheng wracked his brain for something he could talk about that would take Ty Lee's mind off the fact that Mai was threading a needle through her skin at the moment.
"Tell me how you learned chi blocking, Ty Lee. Was it really some guru on top of a mountain somewhere?"
This question actually put a small smile on their patient's face.
"Heh, no. That's just what I tell people. I learned it at the circus, of course. Where else have I even been over the past few years?"
"Well, I have to hear about that. I always thought circuses were mostly about stunts and tricks with animals, but every time you talk about it the circus seems to become more and more wild."
"Come on Gohan, when you think about it, a lot of stuff at the circus is just people showing off weird things they can do. Strongmen, ladies with beards, conjoined twins... Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Paralyzer just knew about chi blocking. Not that the normal people who came to see his 'magic powers' knew that."
Even busy as she was, Mai couldn't help but exchange a confused glance with Xisheng at the ridiculous and practically impossible to repeat name. On the bright side, the conversation was seemingly distracting Ty Lee. She was still twitching and wincing a little whenever Mai had to pierce her with the needle, but it seemed more like an automatic response than the result of her dwelling on it. That being the case, Xisheng made sure to keep it going. That was easy, since he was genuinely interested in this.
"So you learned this extremely useful martial art from a performer at the circus?"
Ty Lee gave him a look that said she found his question a little confusing.
"No. He just taught me how to block a person's chi through their pressure points. There is no 'chi blocking' martial art."
"But... you use it in a clearly martial style."
"Yeah, but that's all stuff I made up myself. Chi blocking is just a thing you do, like punching or kicking. It's not a 'style' until you incorporate it into a means of fighting. Well, I think. Maybe I don't really know what I'm talking about."
Taking her words into consideration, Xisheng ultimately figured that she had a point.
"No, no, you're onto something there. But are you telling me you're a self-taught fighter too?"
"Hm, I guess I am! Chi blocking might be the only thing I didn't actually teach myself how to do, now that I think about it."
"Well, how did you convince this Pippin Paralyzer guy to teach you his super rare and mysterious skill, then?"
Xisheng briefly glanced at Mai's progress as he awaited Ty Lee's answer, noting that the raven haired girl was about nearly done with her stitching.
"He was just getting old, that's all. He wanted to retire soon and he was a major draw for the circus because of his niche skill, so he passed it on to me because I asked. Simple as that!"
"I would have assumed you were already doing acrobatics for the circus."
"Not at the time, they had another girl already doing that. I didn't get to focus on circus acrobatics until... you know what, never mind."
Xisheng raised an eyebrow at that, immensely curious as to what mysterious part of her backstory Ty Lee was hinting at now. Honestly, of all the people in the group, he hadn't expected her to have such an expansive and interesting array of tales from her past. Just went to show how little he really knew about her beyond her personality. He would have inquired further to sate his curiosity, but didn't get a chance to, as Mai announced the conclusion of her task.
"I'm done."
Since he was probably the one who actually knew what stitches were supposed to look like, Xisheng peered over at Mai's work at the same time that Ty Lee dared to take stock of it. Thankfully, it was especially neat and proper. No surprise, considering Mai's deft hands.
"Looks textbook to me. Congratulations Ty Lee, you're well on the way to recovery. Let's wrap this up to keep it away from the elements."
Since Xisheng only had one free arm available, it clearly fell on Mai to do that as she grabbed what remained of their bandages. Apparently they wouldn't be able to afford getting hurt again after this. Or at least, not until they were able to resupply.
Ty Lee breathed a sigh of relief since the worst of her ordeal was over. Before anyone could comment on that, Azula's voice finally joined their little party, from the direction of the open door.
"Well, this seems to have gone well."
Xisheng glanced over his shoulder to look at the new arrival, noting that Azula's hair seemed a little more rustled than when he had last seen her less than half an hour ago. He wasn't able to ask about it, however, since Ty Lee beat him to speaking.
"No thanks to you! Azula, I needed emotional support! Where were you?!"
Naturally, Azula's response to this accusation was an irritable one.
"Rounding up our Mongoose Lizards before they wandered off! In case you haven't noticed, everyone else was busy in here! You should be grateful I didn't make you do it, those petulant creatures are a nightmare!"
"Animals can sense ill feelings Azula, it's no wonder they didn't want to listen to you."
Azula merely rolled her eyes at that, not deigning it with a response. Xisheng picked up the silence.
"Princess... what's our next move?"
There was a small degree of trepidation in Xisheng's voice, something that Azula managed to pick up on just fine. Evidently, he had some concern that she would demand a pursuit of the Avatar or something. Well, that certainly wasn't the case.
"There's absolutely no point in pursuing the Avatar in our current condition. It'll be weeks before we're in fighting shape again, so we may as well use that time for something productive. We're going to head for a Fire Nation outpost to the East, to learn the state of the Nation's upcoming plans. Not only is this outpost the nearest military base relative to our position, but I'm fairly certain taking Ba Sing Se is the next major step. This outpost is near the sea, so we'll be able to take a ship up north and skip the Si Wong desert altogether. As for tonight in particular, I don't think there's any need to rush: resting would be the smart thing to do, wouldn't it?"
Xisheng breathed a sigh of relief as he heard good news. It wasn't that he had explicitly expected Azula to push them even after their harsh battle, but he hadn't seen the possibility as being zero. He was glad to hear that they could take it easy for what was left of the night at least.
"Well then, I suggest we eat something and go to sleep as soon as possible. We all need to rest after today."
Neither Azula nor Ty Lee had any dissent to offer to that idea, but Mai did. Well, it wasn't really dissent.
"Aren't you forgetting something, Gohan? You've still got a hole in you!"
"Ah, right... sorry, I'm going to need your help with that. Don't worry, I'll walk you through it..."
---
With everyone far too tired to wait for any sort of meal that wasn't a quick one, dinner was fairly simple, even for the ladies. In fact, it was mostly eating provisions that didn't require cooking at all. Bread, dried meat, and things of that nature were all anyone cared to dine on when resting seemed like a much more important thing to get to.
Unfortunately for Xisheng, resting meant facing certain difficulties in his current situation. Like every other night with the Overlord, his only options for sleeping were the very uncomfortable chair of the driver's cabin or the ground outside, which happened to be a whole lot of rock and little else at the moment. Far more exhausted and sore than he had been at any other time during the trip, he wasn't particularly looking forward to either option.
But, such were the options he had. Right now, Xisheng was standing outside of the driver's cabin, debating which choice would be better for him, if only marginally. Unfortunately, the two options were so equally undesirable that he couldn't really find any metric to raise one above the other, short of having a roof over his head if it happened to rain.
Before he could come to a decision either way, his evaluation was interrupted by the approach of one of his companions to his left. A quick glance revealed it to be Mai, arguably the only person in the group who didn't look much worse off than any other day. She wasted no time in speaking to him.
"What are you doing?"
While there was still a dull aching in his arm, Xisheng managed to shrug with only a little difficulty.
"Trying to decide if rock or metal makes for a better pillow."
"How would you like an actual pillow instead?"
Xisheng cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Are you offering to lend me one?"
As for Mai, she pointed her thumb over her shoulder, back at the main cabin.
"Actually, turns out there's enough spare bedding between our three beds that you could sleep pretty comfortably on the floor of the main cabin. Don't know why we weren't doing that to start with."
"Well, surely three women would be a little uncomfortable sleeping with a guy in the room? Did Azula agree to this?"
It was slight, but the small upturn of Mai's mouth showed that she found his line of thought amusing.
"She was surprisingly gracious and cooperative with the idea. Didn't even offer one of those 'fine, but I'll complain about it' things she usually does. Who knows, maybe she's actually started to worry about you?"
"I won't complain if she has. Still, I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable."
Mai folded her arms, apparently displeased that he was still resisting.
"Seriously Gohan, I think you've reached the level of familiarity with all of us that goes beyond something that petty. I mean, maybe it'll still be a little awkward, but with you jumping at the chance to die on our behalf at every conceivable opportunity, I don't think anyone is going to object to letting you sleep comfortably at least."
Xisheng felt like he needed to defend himself to some extent.
"Now hold on, I'd hardly word it like that..."
"I'm just saying, we trust you enough to sleep in the same room. It's not like you'd live very long if you tried anything anyway."
"That's... true. I guess I should just be grateful."
Mai motioned for him to follow her as she walked back towards the main cabin.
"You're welcome. It was my idea."
"Oh? So generous."
"Don't look too far into it. I'm just the only one besides you who actually knows how uncomfortable that damn chair is. No one should sleep in that thing, even when they aren't hurt."
Xisheng smiled since Mai couldn't see him do it, amused by her mild hypocrisy. She probably didn't even realize that she was just like Azula in regards to doing nice things under the pretense of it being something negligible or complaining about it. Neither of them were 'gracious' nice people in most circumstances. But Xisheng didn't mind. For one, Ty Lee tended to fill that role very effectively. Second, he was more of an intent over delivery kind of guy. Knowing that Mai had thought of his comfort and well-being was what made him happy, not how she went about saying it.
Stepping up to the main cabin of the Overlord, Xisheng quickly took stock of the situation. The bloody bandages they had used for Ty Lee earlier had already been thrown away, and any mess from that ordeal had been cleaned. Both Ty Lee and Azula were already in their own beds, though the latter appeared to be sleeping already. The Princess had seemingly fallen asleep with her arms folded, as though she were disgruntled or contemplating something. Whatever it had been, sleep had at least replaced whatever consternation that had been on her face with a peaceful expression. Xisheng briefly noted that she hadn't even bothered removing her armor before ending up in this situation.
Mai, on the other hand, frowned at the sight of it.
"We're the ones who had the toughest day, and she falls asleep first? The world really is unfair."
Recalling Azula's seeming distress over the outcome of the battle, Xisheng felt the need to defend her.
"She had a tough day too, just in a different way. We should hope she sleeps well."
Azula stirred a little, maybe bothered by the voices, but ultimately she just rolled over, leaving a still awake Ty Lee to comment on the exchange.
"Aw, you're always so sweet, Gohan. The world doesn't deserve you, and yet, Mai thinks you should sleep on the floor. You can sleep in my bed you know, there's enough room."
From behind him, Mai leveled a clearly venomous glare at her friend, once again feeling a surge of some emotion she couldn't exactly identify. Irritability, obviously. Jealousy? Maybe. But like always, she didn't even know why that kind of emotion flared up in these situations. It seemed to have no rhyme or reason. Maybe it was just Ty Lee's incorrigible antics that bothered her: the girl was so loud and pushy even when she had been hurt as badly as she had. Yeah, that was probably it.
As for Xisheng, while he blushed at the idea put forward, he decided to decline. Tired and wounded though he may be, he didn't know if he'd be able to sleep easily if he was lying in bed with a girl he'd seen naked not that long ago, and a girl who had expressed a desire to see him naked at that. He needed to rest well, not spend an hour awake due to a racing heartbeat.
"You're very generous Ty Lee, but if I did that, I'd be ignoring the sacrifice Mai and Azula made with their spare bedding, and that would be kind or rude, wouldn't it?"
As expected, his response earned a frown from Ty Lee, but it was less of a pout and more of a legitimate expression of malcontent.
"It just bothers me, alright? You work so hard for all of us, and what do you get? You have to sleep in a metal chair, or the ground, or the floor! You deserve a bed more than any of us!"
Taking a knee on the pile of blankets and the few pillows that were on the floor between all the beds, Xisheng tried to dispel Ty Lee's not entirely unjustified misgivings.
"I appreciate that, Ty Lee. Really, I do. But honestly, it's been so long since I've slept in a truly soft bed that it would probably be harder to rest in one than on the padded floor. "
This time, the brunette did give him more of a pout.
"Your life is way too hard, Gohan..."
Since everyone was present and there was no reason not to, Mai closed the door to the cabin, which was an unfortunately loud noise considering the metal hinges. Azula didn't stir though, and Mai wasted no time getting into her own bed after it was done.
"For once, I agree with Ty Lee."
Smiling ruefully at them both, Xisheng situated himself with his makeshift bed.
"Your concern has been noted and filed. I'll get the lights."
With his firebending, the wounded soldier easily dismissed the flames that were flickering in lanterns around the cabin. With little choice but to lie on his back considering his arm, Xisheng found himself in the greatest amount of tolerable comfort at night since leaving Omashu. There was enough padding that he wasn't feeling his shoulder blades dig right into a solid surface, but enough firmness that he felt supported everywhere. Perfect, in the soldier's opinion.
With a very long and arduous day behind him, and a new set of injuries sapping his physical strength, Xisheng didn't even have the energy to feel nervous sleeping in the midst of a bunch of girls, and it wasn't long before he was dozing off in the darkness.
However, he didn't make it all the way to slumber before something got in the way.
"Gohan? Are you still awake?"
For a brief moment, Xisheng felt a pretty prominent flare of irritation at Ty Lee's whispering voice. He really just wanted to sleep at this point, and he couldn't imagine that Ty Lee was in much better shape. Was whatever she had to say important enough to bother him right now?
Despite feeling this way for a second, Xisheng dispelled the irritation quickly enough. Ty Lee knew he was tired, and she was usually very aware of his needs and comfort, or lack thereof. He doubted she would get in the way of his rest for no reason. Maybe she was in pain from her injury or something.
"Yeah. Are you alright?"
After a moment of silence, the brunette's voice quietly emanated from the darkness again.
"Um, well... could you come over here for a second?"
Pushing down a grumble since he didn't want to get irritated at the girl, Xisheng begrudgingly pushed himself up onto his knees and lit the tiniest of flames over his index finger. In total darkness, even a candlelight could illuminate a room, but hopefully this would be dim enough to avoid bothering Mai or Azula while still allowing him to see where he was going. At any rate, neither Mai nor Azula seemed to stir when he did this.
Crawling the very short distance to Ty Lee's bed, he placed his elbow on the mattress so he could see the brunette lying there.
"What is it? Are you in pain?"
To the best that he could tell in the dim lighting, the brunette didn't appear to be in any meaningful discomfort. But he wasn't going to assume. She had to have called him over here for something. Naturally, Ty Lee began to explain what that something was without any delay.
"No, no, I just wanted to..."
Instead of continuing what she had to say, Ty Lee leaned forward without warning and placed her lips directly on Xisheng's own, catching him completely off guard. Groggy and tired, for a moment the soldier questioned whether or not he had actually fallen asleep and was just having a very nice dream. But the silken sensation on his lips felt real enough.
It was brief, only lasting a second or two, and when Ty Lee pulled away she sported a blush and a sheepish smile, though she nevertheless managed to finish saying what she had started.
"...thank you for taking such good care of me. And for taking care of my friends. You really are the best, Xisheng."
Still reeling from the encounter, Xisheng didn't say anything even as the girl that had just kissed him leaned forward and cheekily blew out the tiny flame he'd been using for light.
"Goodnight, Gohan."
Left in darkness, Xisheng at least had the presence of mind to say goodnight back to her. But after that, he didn't manage to do much of anything other than go back to his bed and dwell on what had just happened until exhaustion finally took him.