Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Kaito," Kyrie said to get the neko's attention, "I need your help. In my bag, grab those loose white cloths."

She waited for him to comply, but Kaito didn't move. He was still staring at Shrio, eyes wide, unresponsive. Kyrie cursed softly.

"Lin!" she called over her shoulder. "Are they doing anything?"

The taller one was shaking his head vehemently at the smaller person, who was still trying to pull away from him.

"Then I need your help," Kyrie told her tersely. "Kaito's no good at the moment, he may need some treatment himself after this. Ignore those two, I'll keep an eye on them while we work. Come on."

She nodded at her bag. "I need the rolls of cloth. And quickly."

Kyrie shook her head. "I need your help, Lin," she told her seriously. "If you can't assist me, then you have to bring someone up here who can. And fast. I'm going to cut him open to see where the arrow is and hopefully take it out without any further damage, but I'll need you - or someone - to soak up the blood while I'm working so that I can see."

That was of course the tip of the iceberg, but it would be enough to let Kyrie know whether Lin could handle the blood or not.

Kyrie nodded at Lin, her face expressionless as always, but she was pleased with Lin's response.

"When I cut into him," she said tersely, with every sign of having done this many times before, "there's going to be more blood than there already is. I need you to catch it with the rags. I can't take out the arrow until I see what it's going to do to his insides."

There wasn't time to waste, and so she began. She tore Shiro's shirt away from the wound, placed her hand next to it, and using the knife she'd sterilized earlier she made an x-shaped incision with the intersection at the arrow's shaft. Blood oozed from the wound immediately, and she nodded for Lin to mop it up.

"Quickly but gently," she told her, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Keep them there," Kyrie said quickly as Lin pulled her hands back. "Keep dabbing, the blood won't stop until he's stitched. If they get too saturated, toss them and get new ones, there are plenty."

She set the knife down and wiped her hands on her skirt, then reached into her bag - again without looking - and pulled out a slim metal instrument. She used it to pull back the skin so that she could see inside.

She swore at what she saw. "Nicked the artery ..."

Kyrie nodded. "The fact that I'm a wanderer isn't the only reason Lara and Cantor recommended me as your guide. Give me the cloths, I'll hold them for now - you go tell the others to come up here. I'm going to have to concentrate to get him fixed up, and I'll need your help, but that means someone else is going to have to watch those two by the trees and Kaito is useless at the moment."

She nodded towards the edge of the cliff. "Go quickly. Use your magic to get one or two of them up here if you can, preferably some of the better fighters, just in case."

"I'll go," Daeron volunteered immediately, stepping forward. His jaw was set with grim determination. "I have the most experience here, and Earendil should stay with your children."

"I can help," Wren offered anxiously. "Lin, can you take two of us at once?"

"You're an experienced climber," Daeron told Wren, shaking his head. "The others will need you here. It's just two, and they're not doing anything threatening at the moment. You stay here, I can handle this."

Andarien had his own idea. He took his two pokeballs from his belt and held them out to his mother. "Take them, Nana," he said quietly. "Let them help, too."

Daeron nodded and stepped towards Lin, but Iorlas grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Be careful," she told him anxiously. She pressed a kiss to his cheek before she let him go. "Don't take chances."

Daeron smiled and squeezed her hand. "I won't," he promised her. Then he turned back to Lin and took her hand. "I'm ready," he told her. "Let's go."