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His gaze moved over the crowd and returned to her. “Doing what?”

“Deciding I need your body between mine and everybody else's.”

One dark brow lifted. “Three males near the water trough are discussing whether Red Basin will challenge my claim before sunset.”

Kesta’s eyes narrowed. “You can understand them?”

“Yes.”

“What are they saying now?”

Dreven listened for a moment.

His expression became dry.

“One believes you will stab me before Red Basin has the opportunity.”

“That one seems perceptive.”

Dreven’s mouth twitched.

Kesta looked toward the men.

They promptly found something else to study.

“All right,” she said. “You may loom slightly.”

“Slightly?”

“Don’t abuse the privilege.”

The quiet sound Dreven made might have been a laugh.

Before she could be certain, Sera came through the crowd carrying a weathered medical satchel.

Up close, the healer was older than Kesta had assumed from the wall. Fine lines radiated from the corners of sharp silver-gray eyes, and several pale scars crossed one horn.

She ignored Dreven completely.

Her attention went to Lina.

“Table.”

“I reset the fracture,” Kesta said as they moved toward a low building near the eastern wall. “There was compromised circulation before reduction. Pulse returned afterward. Blood loss moderate, possibly more before I reached her.”

Sera glanced at her. “You may tell me what you used while I determine whether you helped.”

The challenge was so professionally familiar that something inside Kesta relaxed for the first time since entering the settlement.

Inside the infirmary, they transferred Lina onto a narrow examination platform. Sera cut away the field dressing and palpated the limb with efficient hands while Kesta described the splint material and medication.

“Human sealant,” Sera muttered.

“Yes.”

“You waste too much.”

“Your suture needle is made from bone.”