Gundam Wing

Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing;. I just borrowed some of the characters. Rated: NC-17

Reluctant Companion

Chapter 14

"Wake up."

Milliardo opened one outraged eye and moaned. "I'm dead, go away."

Wufei ruthlessly pulled the covers off him and tossed them on the foot of the bed. "No, you're not. I'm a physician and I know dead when I see it, you're not it. Get up. You have to complete the second part of our punishment."

Milliardo whimpered pitifully then sat up in the bed with a jerk. "Our ... you said our punishment. Not that I'm arguing but why do you need punishment?"

Wufei gave Milliardo a rueful look. "I've been saying that I should label all those containers. I've been too lazy to actually do anything about it. So ... now we, and I emphasize we, get up, go down and do it. Out of bed ... now!"

Milliardo crawled out of the bed and sighed. "Very well, but did you have to completely unmake the bed. I'm still not that good at doing this. I'll be down when I've got the bed made."

Wufei walked around to the other side of the bed. "Well, I won't make it a habit but this once, I'll help you. Since I unmade it in the first place. Then we'll go beg Cook for some breakfast."

Cook greeted them with a complaisant, "Well, it's about time. You two want breakfast? Or just fruit and tea."

Milliardo announced grumpily, "Tea and a real breakfast would be so good. But, do I get to eat it? Nooooo, I have to wait on his majesty here."

Wufei bopped Milliardo on the back of the head. "Shut up. I'm not a majesty. I'm a highness. Or you could address me as Magister, if you want to be correct. I'd recommend shutting up. It's too early."

Cook produced a wooden spoon and smacked both of them. Milliardo on the shoulder and Wufei over the head. Simultaneous ‘Ow!'s rang out to be met by Cooks jerky nod.

"You two sit. I'll feed you, but I'll not tolerate your horseplay. Master Chang, I need some of that moon tea for Sally. She's bleedin' something awful and feels like she's weak as a cat."

Wufei accepted his plate with a slight bow and nodded. "I'll see to it soon. Thank you for the food."

Milliardo took his plate and also thanked Cook. They settled to eat and Wufei gave Milliardo instructions on what needed to be done when they started doing the labeling.

Cook buzzed back and forth between one cook station and another as well as keeping Milliardo and Wufei's plates and cups full. She was into everything and kept an eye on everybody. But when the accident happened all she could do was call out a warning, she was across the room.

The spit boy was in a bad mood that morning as his mother had blamed him for something his sister had done, so he was impatient when he trussed the roast. This impatience cost him, the roast broke from the spit, rolled into the fire, caught fire itself and rolled out onto the hearth. It sat there flaming for a moment then popped grease onto his apron which caught alight.

He ran, Cook tried to get to him but got caught up in a huddle of kitchen maids. Milliardo made a grab and managed to get hold of one flailing arm. He dumped the boy onto the floor and turned a pot of water over onto him. Cook followed with another and one of the pot boys dumped his basin of wash water on him. This put the fire out, soaked the floor and left everyone panting in reaction.

Wufei rushed out the door making no explanation. Milliardo just started ripping off the boy's clothing. Cook shouted the rest of the kitchen occupants back to their jobs. She instructed two of the maids to clean up the roast and start another.

Milliardo managed to get most of the boys clothing off but some of it had stuck to his skin. The boy was also starting to shiver in reaction and shock. Milliardo looked to Cook who told him to get the boy on a table off to one side of the kitchen, out of the way of general traffic. This would make it easier for Wufei to treat him.

Wufei came back into the kitchen with his box and bag. He started issuing orders at once. Milliardo gathered the basin, towels and water he demanded. Cook came over to see if she was needed.

"No. You need to keep the rest of the kitchen in order, assign me a maid. If I need you, I'll call. Thank you."

Milliardo settled back against the wall out of the way and watched.

Wufei carefully examined the boy's burns. He was lucky in one way, his thighs were burned as well as his abdomen, but his groin had escaped any damage. However, the burns on his thighs were blistered and raw in some places, while others were black. Milliardo winced, this was going to be bad.

"He's going to survive. This is bad here, and here," Wufei pointed to the blackened areas, "the rest are not so bad. I'll make arrangements with one of the women to take him in until he's healed. Give me that cream and get more water. We're going to have to soak his clothing off where it's stuck. If we don't, he'll die of infection. Do you remember how to make that pain tea?" Milliardo levered himself off the wall and reached for the bag.

"Yes. But you'll have to be sure I've got the right herbs. Is this it?" Milliardo unscrewed a twist of paper and showed the contents to Wufei. Wufei glanced at the herb and nodded. "Make it strong. This is going to hurt."

So they began the long process of soaking the cloth out of the boy's burns.

The tea knocked him nearly out, he was conscious enough to do as he was asked but out of it enough that he didn't really hurt. Wufei put pads of wet cloth on each bit of debris and left them for a bit while he salved other burns. When he lifted the cloth, Milliardo was relieved to see that the charred material stuck to it rather than the boy.

"This is good. I'll just finish salving the burns and bandaging them then I'll see if I can't find someone to nurse him."

Cook came over when she heard this and said, "I got that covered. Boy's mum will come up from the village. We got an empty maid's room they can have. You just get him physiced."

Wufei nodded shortly and started to roll another length of bandage around the boy's leg. Milliardo reached out to hold it up again, as he'd been doing before Cook interrupted.

.

Wufei finished his bandaging and began to put away his things, Milliardo took the bag away and stuffed the bandages into it. He dumped the empty salve container into the medicine chest and asked Cook to see that both bag and box were brought to the apothecary. She just grunted, nodded and motioned to one of the nearby pot boys who hurried to gather them up.

"Thank you, Cook. He shaking like a leaf, I'll take him home and see to him. Could you send some hot soup and tea? I'd really appreciate it. And see that the boy is covered carefully and kept warm." Milliardo picked Wufei up and strode out the door. Wufei didn't object, he just sighed and relaxed against Milliardo's broad chest.

"I would fuss at you but it had to be done. Are you all right?"

Wufei nodded against the wall of Milliardo. "Yes. It's just that smell will get me. He's going to be in so much pain. I'll have to compound some special tea for him. And make a big batch of burn cream, we'll need it. ... goddess, I'm so tired."

Milliardo just hummed softly. "It'll be all right. We'll rest a bit. Then we'll make the things you said. After that we can do the labeling. It won't take long. I had an idea."

Wufei snuffled a little and Milliardo realized that he was half asleep. He didn't say much more, just told Wufei that he was going to tuck him in and get a short nap himself. Wufei sighed, "Very well."

Milliardo didn't actually need a nap, he was upset by the boy's accident, of course, but he didn't know the boy and had never been burned badly so he seemed to be coping with the incident better than Wufei. He felt a bit shaky but he wanted something sweet more than a nap. He rummaged around in the cupboards until he found the honey, he also found butter and a heel of stale bread. He sliced off two slices of bread and toasted them. He buttered them and slathered on honey in the comb. The tea pot on the hearth was warm and there was enough soup for two. He settled down to fill his stomach, realizing that it was nearer supper time than lunch. He hadn't realized that it had taken that long to tend the boy.

.

Wufei woke near dusk, he was a bit disoriented since the last he remembered it was breakfast. He flinched slightly when the bed dipped.

"It's just me. Soup and tea and, if you want it, toast. The bread is stale so I made toast. I'll run over in the morning and get a loaf from Cook. Now, eat that."

Wufei eased himself up in the bed and sighed. "Thank you. It looks very good."

Milliardo picked up Wufei's discarded clothing and tossed it through the closet door. He'd put it in the hamper later. He fiddled around, straightening the room, dusting as he went.

"We never got our chore done, you want to try to do it this evening or wait until tomorrow."

Wufei stretched and groaned. "I've got to go check on that boy. I know Cook had some pain tea, but she'll be needing more." He eased out of bed, his feet were stiff from standing for so long. "I'll make some up before I go over."

Milliardo nodded. "If it wasn't for the fact that you have to see the boy, I'd offer to just run it over. But as it is, you'll have to go. I think I'll stay here and get things ready for tomorrow. I have an idea about that. If you tell me what's in the container, I can write out the label. While I'm writing out the label, you can glue the one I just did to its proper place. What do you think?"

Wufei, who had done it just that way since his apprenticeship, just said, "I think that's a brilliant idea. Now. If you cut rectangles about this size ..." Wufei held up his hands, describing the size by framing it between index fingers and thumbs. "That should work fairly well. If we need smaller, we can cut them down a bit." He finished buttoning his tunic and accepted Milliardo's help with his shoes. "Thank you."

Milliardo followed him down stairs. "Do you want me to come with you? You're limping."

Wufei shook his head. "I'm just tired. I always limp when I'm tired. I won't be long."

Milliardo helped Wufei compound the tea and watched as he walked out the door. He started to clean up the work table then stopped. Wufei wasn't here and he wasn't supposed to do anything without him. He closed containers and left everything else where it was.

He went back up stairs and settled in the soft comfortable chair. He reached over and snagged what he thought was the scroll he had been reading. It wasn't, it was a spell scroll. He decided to read it instead.

As he read, Milliardo realized that Wufei wasn't a sorcerer in the normally accepted interpretation of the word. He was a real one. One who could work real magic. He felt a fierce anger at Wufei's clan. How had they managed to capture someone capable of such things as contained in the scroll?

Milliardo carefully rolled the scroll up and put it back on the desk. He was just settling back in the chair when Wufei came up the stairs.

"Oh, are you reading my scroll? I've been translating my spells into your language so they won't be lost if anything happens to me."

Milliardo got up and just went to Wufei. He knelt at his feet and wrapped his arms around Wufei's hips. "I don't believe this. You're a real sorcerer. The ... your people are all crazy."

Wufei petted Milliardo, concerned that he seemed so upset. "Yes, I am. I can do transformations, lift curses, and control some animals. I don't have a familiar though. That's an old wives' tale. What brought this on?"

Milliardo sighed rubbing his cheek against Wufei's belly. "I was reading that scroll and realized that ... Anchora considers all magicians and sorcerers, male or female, as sacred. They ... you belong to her. How could they try to destroy you? You're a treasure beyond price. I want to kill someone. Really, really bad."

Wufei petted and soothed for a few moments then eased out of Milliardo's grasp. "I see. I think we both need some rest. I'm not sure where this came from. And, frankly, I'm not ready to deal with it. Please, let's just go to bed. We'll deal in the morning."

Milliardo sighed. "As you wish. I just ... I don't know where this came from either. I just don't understand how they could even catch you."

"Ah! One answer I can give. My lover was found out. Someone saw him with me, only they didn't know who I was. They took him into custody and told him that he could go into rehabilitation if he'd tell them who I was. He did and swore that he wasn't homosexual. He told the judges that I had bespelled him. So they let him go on the condition that he help them get me. He drugged my tea and when I woke I was already condemned in absentia and tied to that stake. Now. Can we please go to bed?"

Milliardo just stood up and headed for the bedroom. "Yes, of course we can. I think ... I really need to write a letter to Duo and another to Relena. I'm so tired I'm acting stupid. Bed it is."

.

The next morning, by mutual agreement, they ignored the night before. Instead they ate a breakfast of toast and tea then settled down to work.

Wufei got a pot of paste, several sheets of cheep paper and his writing box. He handed the box to Milliardo and said, "You had an idea of how to do this. Explain please."

Milliardo fiddled with a small knife from the writing box. "Well, I don't know belladonna from hay. So my idea was to have you identify the contents. Then I'll write them on a label. Then you read off the contents of the next container. While I'm writing that label, you glue the label on the container. That way you'll check twice to make sure that they are all properly labeled."

Wufei picked up one of the sheets of paper. "This is good for labels. If we cut it into six pieces, that's about right. If it doesn't fit the container, I can always trim it off."

Milliardo shook his head, making a stray bang cling to his nose. He blew at it irritably. "I don't like that idea much. If you trim it wrong, it'll be illegible. We should make sure of the size first."

"As you wish. Here." Wufei settled down to his task, handing Milliardo several sheets of the paper. "Cut plenty. We can always use it for notes and such. As well as squills for medicines."

Milliardo nodded absently, he was in the process of cutting a page in half.

The worked until they had a neat pile of labels.

When Wufei called his name, Milliardo put down the knife and looked up. "Yes? Do we have enough?"

"I think so. We should get on with it. If there's not enough, we can cut more later. Here's the ink and quill. I'd really like to have one of those new steel pens, but I can't find anyone who is selling them around here."

Milliardo clutched his nerve with both hands. "Why not just transform one? It's small. It should be easy."

Wufei glanced at Milliardo, sharp black eyes flickering over him. Milliardo wondered what he'd said wrong. Then Wufei sighed and shook himself. "Sorry. I tend to be a little defensive except with Heero. I can't just transform something. Especially if it's fine work and something I've never seen."

Milliardo blinked as something in his mind popped. "The rings. I ... you transformed the rings you chained me to from ... what?"

Wufei was looking a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I couldn't bring myself to trust you. But, you'll have to admit, my track record isn't very good."

Milliardo sighed. "No, I will admit that I'm not the sort to engender trust at first sight, and you really have had a bad deal. Your lover sounds like a real ... um."

Wufei grinned over the arm load of bottles, boxes and tins he was holding. "Duo said he sounded like a real ... er ... shit was the word he used. I'd agree, but I'm too noble."

Milliardo snickered softly. He was trimming his pen with a small pen knife so he didn't look up. "Duo would. And I'm not going to insult you by telling you what I think of your father. Better for my ass." He turned his attention to the first container. "We better get started. What's in that?"

Wufei let the painful subject of his family drop with some gratitude. He was trying to be better, more trusting. He trusted Heero and Duo, Quatre and Trowa were on his might be list. But he didn't trust much of anyone else. He kept it carefully hidden from the troops and guards. He also second guessed himself until he was nearly sick over which troops and guards to send where. Milliardo he trusted ‘to the end of his chain' but he was beginning to feel that he could really trust him. He hoped.

"This is lavender." Wufei waited while Milliardo wrote out the label. He read it then told Milliardo what was in the next container. While he busied himself pasting the label, Milliardo wrote out the next one. They continued on in this fashion for most of the morning.