If he were inclined to be dishonest about his remedies, Etienne probably could manage to drug Nate into stupor. Once. Only once. And thereafter even the most mundane offerings of remedy would be met with abject suspicion, if not outright refusal. There might come a day when it was called for... if so the fates could only hope Etienne chose that moment wisely.

For now, Nate remained blissfully unaware of the very notion, and even managed to make it a fair distance before mortality outpaced mulishness. Okay. Whew. Right. I'm fine, really. What a dead horse that was starting to sound like. Lemme just, catch my breath. For a minute.

Panting, he tilted his head at Etienne, smiling through a faintly masked wince. Where'd you learn your trade, anyway? Might as well pass the time getting to know his savior, right? Sounds like you been telling idiots like me to sit down and take their medicine for a while, hah.

Gonna guess that was a charming pet name related to my endearing attitude or very large nose. Nate nodded, not terribly fussed about the scolding and still hoping to make light of the situation.

Working his jaw, he tested a few more attempts to swallow and found them obscenely sore. His nose scrunched. But he was listening, and smiled back at the end, All women, huh? Bet they kept you busy.

Cato would've insisted such a life was bound to make the lad too soft. Nate figured more likely, it made Etienne the man of the house. The hefty kind of responsibility that had you skipping childhood altogether. Nam necessitas, quae nostrarum inventionum mater est, verus creator erit... (For necessity which is the mother of our inventions, will be the true creator.) ¹

But still, Sounds like a hard way to learn. His tail thumped an amicable wag. And now you... are you a traveling healer, or did you come lookin' for something?

---

¹ Quote from Plato's Republic

Eyes creasing, Nate's smile grew soft with something like grief. I think I know how you feel... It's hard to leave something like that behind. Nate wished there was more he could do, or even say, to ease the ache. But if there was a cure for that kind of thing, he hadn't been the one to find it.

Best he could offer was, Well, you're welcome to stay in Walosi. As long as you need. We're good folk here, and most of us lost something on the boat over.

No getting it back, maybe. No replacing the loving that was ripped clean out of wounded hearts. Still, Been trying to build something new together, as best we can.