It was a roundabout way of getting inside the building, but Azdrei’in was pleased when the two humans agreed on allowing him to come with them. He felt more comfortable staying as close to Artemis as he could to make sure that nothing happened to her while she helped the injured person they’d been told about. If offering his assistance would help him achieve that goal, then it was worth the trouble, so he followed along as the younger Earthling led them past the barrier and into the building up ahead.

Resting one hand slack on his weapon, his eyes roved over the interior of the space with passive interest. It was oddly bare, without anything around to catch his attention. In a way, it reminded him of the mothership though, since his people didn’t have much to decorate their quarters either. When they’d lived on Ashad’te, his people had made cozy homes that weren’t that dissimilar from Artemis’s hideout, but none of them truly had their own spaces while they’d been traveling in search of a new planet. Everything belonged to the Eilix. It was only theirs to borrow until they colonized the Earth.

He strode down the steps with the humans, only to stiffen when the child in the room below screamed piercingly. His fingers curled around the grip of his gun reflexively, but he didn’t draw it. Even from a distance in the low light, he could see that the young female was too injured to move. Relaxing slightly, he glanced at Artemis and edged closer to the humans as they gathered by the one who’d wounded her leg. He kept some distance, though, to avoid sending her into a panic.

Observing quietly, he waited while Artemis introduced both herself and him, trying to coax the child to calm down enough for her to work on her broken leg. Only when it seemed like she wasn’t frightened enough to crawl away or scream again did he lower himself to his knees at Artemis’s side to watch more closely while she examined the limb. Expectedly, the younger female became tense in his proximity, so he didn’t reach out to her right away. Hoping to assuage her fears some before he laid a finger on her, he merely sat back on his heels and allowed the Earthling to adjust to him first.

He kept his gaze fixed on the mangled leg, but he could feel her eyes on him. After about a minute or so, he dared to stretch one hand toward her but paused when she recoiled from him with a whimper. He glanced up at her pale face. “You don’t move,” he told her firmly but gently. “I will help.” As one who’d been trained only to be a warrior, he didn’t have the most reassuring bedside manner, but he still did his best to be careful with the child. He didn’t want to make Artemis’s job harder by frightening her before her leg could be treated.

So, moving slowly, he reached out to place his hand on the calf of her good leg. At first, the child inhaled sharply and flinched at his touch, but as the calming effect swept over her, she relaxed, her eyelids drooping and her tight muscles unwinding. “It doesn’t hurt anymore,” she marveled dazedly, turning her head toward her brother.

“It could hurt some,” Azdrei’in warned them pragmatically. He could alleviate most of the child’s pain, but when Artemis set the bone, it was likely that she would feel some of the discomfort in spite of his efforts to take it away. The only thing that could fully numb the pain was true medicine, and he didn’t have anything like that with him.