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With single-minded intensity, Taka rounded the corner where Sarielle's only fruit tree sent its roots into the rich earth. It was a pear tree, and Sari's personal favorite.

Sure enough, there was a fresh wound where one of the lower branches had been, sap seeping out as though the tree actually bled. Taka felt the tears, hot and irrational, well up in her eyes. It's not as though Taka were likely to be punished...

But still. How could Angel just go off and let this stuff happen to her things?

Considering that Lind's stick was an old, thick branch and Rand's was a young thin one, it wasn't too surprising what happened next.

With Lind's whack, Rand's stick snapped in two. Unhindered by the little branch, Lind's stick continued on its course, the tail end catching Rand on the nose. Ouch!

"No fair..." Rand mumbled. He brought his off hand up to his nose, trying to make it not hurt, and found out it was all wet. Huh. That was a lot of blood. It was a very bright, interesting red, too...

Subo sighed slightly and walked over to the two small heralds. She knelt down in front of Rand, examaning the injury while placing a comforting hand on Lind's hand.Lind had an expression of apologetic horror on his face, the stick dropping from his hands a mere moment earlier. "I'msosoorryyy!" He wailed, hiding his face in his hands.

Subo winced at the crashing sounds coming from the house, and patted both white-haired heads. "'S alright, it doesn't look terribly serious..." she trailed off as she searched through her many pockets to look for something to clean up Rand's face with. "Lind, can you go see if Taka needs any help...?" she asked distractedly.

With an affermative noise, he raced into the house, poking his head through all doorways and around all corners untill he found Taka. His eyes widened as he saw the distruction in the kitched. "Help...?"

Taka started as the small Herald entered the room. He sounded as uncertain as she felt as he asked for aid. But if Taka had been proud of Sarielle for anything, it was the calm, quiet way she dealt with situations like this. And whether she would admit it or not, the Herald wanted to emulate her. Time to wonder about what happened later.

"S-sure, Lind," she said, eyes falling on a rag that would do nicely. Had it been in plain sight all along? "Come on, let's go." She didn't manage the serenity Sarielle seemed to possess; but at least she could be efficient.

Brisk steps took her outside and away from the chaos. Out of sight, out of mind? Not entirely, but it helped. "Here," she told Subo, proffering the cloth. The purple-haired woman seemed to already be calming Rand down.

Mentally, Taka winced. She wondered if this was the kind of "care" Owle was expecting when she left Rand at their house.

Lind trailed after Taka hesitantly, following her back to Subo and Rand.

Subo looked up and took the cloth, grinning apoligetically at Taka. "Sorry 'bout the havoc," she said lightly, wiping the blood off of Rand's face gently with the rag. "it seems to enjoy following us aorund, it seems. Here, hold this under your nose for a few minutes." she added, directing the last comment to Rand while gently pinching his nostrils shut.

Lind looked over Subo's shoulder expectantly, absentmindedly gnawing on his thumb. Whas Rand gonna be okaay? Was he gonna die? Aargh. With an exasperated sigh, he plopped down on the ground.

"That's right, be sure to keep your head tipped forward, Rand." Taka attempted to be soothing, echoing words she distinctly remembered Sarielle saying. Most people told you to lean your head back, but that wasn't the right thing.

She cut cold blue eyes to Lind, whose "battle" didn't seem to be going exactly as he thought it would. "He'll be okay," she told him. The words, spoken by anyone else, would have been comforting. But when Taka uttered them, they lost emotion, becoming merely a repetition of what someone "ought" to say.

Rand, on the other hand, was being a little trooper about it; and that, Taka truly respected. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have the little brat around after all.

Rand tilted his head forward obediently. He just wanted it to get better, that was all. And it really didn't hurt all that much, definitely not enough to cry over, and mom said if it hurt enough to cry over you were probably better off getting it fixed right away instead of crying.

"Tanks missus Lind's mommy." He shook his head a little when his hair was ruffled, he couldn't help it. But he quickly stopped when he felt resistance from Subo's fingers pinching his nose.

Rand blinked, and poked at his nose experimentally. It still hurt a little, but his fingers didn't come back red, so he guessed that meant it was okay.

"Mmhmm!" Rand said, nodding to Lind. His eyes fell on the broken stick he'd been using to fight. "But my sword's broke. Let's do something else! Something...with crayons!"