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Paej had a basket on her arm and looked like she had a goal in mind. Her coin purse was firmly stashed away under the cloak that hid the scars of her missing arm. Tiny glasses perched on her rounded nose and glinted in the sunlight as she walked with a determined air about her.

The Prentice wanted to buy something to make for supper tonight, since her parents were too busy. She thought she'd treat them. Of course, her mother hated her in the kitchen by herself, but she was determined to show that she'd be fine if she ever had the desire to leave Yael. (Which she doubted she did, but still.) To do this, she detoured to the sanctum. She also wanted to see if there was anyone about. Someone to talk to. What she found was another girl looking like she was about to start watering the vast amount of flowers planted about.

"Hello," she greeted the other, stopping a few feet away from her. "...Do you need help?"

When her arm was noticed, Paej was glad it wasn't in question. "I assure you it's no trouble." She smiled a little sheepishly and just bit down on her bottom lip. She put the basket to the floor for now and wandered closer.

"...I wouldn't mind a talisman, honestly." Everyone knew she could use the extra help. "But I was on my way to market to get something for supper tonight. I just took a detour." Paej shifted a bit more, looking into the flower pots.

"Ah, my name is Paej. Sorry for not saying that earlier. Are you sure you don't want help? Supper is still a ways off.."

When she prayed, Paej closed her eyes as well out of respect. She took the talisman and thumbed it before quickly tucking it for safe keeping, a huge smile on her face. She bowed her head a bit before the talk turned back to the flowers.

"I'm so sorry to hear that! How did you hurt it?" She moved a bit, taking the watering can into her arm. It was a muscled arm, clearly she'd been like this for a while. It was very little effort to start the watering process. "I don't mind at all. We can all use help from time to time. Nothing wrong with it." It had taken her so long to realize that.

"Acolyte Fallon.. Fallon is a very lovely name."

Shot with an arrow? Paej's eyes widened and she looked at the poor Acolyte, a hard frown forming on full lips. Who would shoot an Acolyte with an arrow? Who would harm one of them? She stopped watering the flower pot and then just shook her head.

"Do you know who shot you?" It made zero sense to her. It was angering her, in all honesty. Her face was colored with anger. "Who in this world would ever harm someone like you? Any religious figures, really! They do no wrong.." She frowned and pushed her hand through her hair, watering can at her feet.

"I understand. When my arm had to be removed I.." She shrugged. "I felt useless. I didn't want to accept help. I wanted to do everything on my own as if I had all my limbs."

And here it was. Paej shook her hand and her head and clicked her tongue. "No! You can complain of your hardships! Just because I'm missing an arm doesn't mean your pain is irrelevant!" She flushed and was flustered now, trying to make sure it was okay. "Everyone has hardships. I've gotten over mine, you've just started. You've got more reason to talk about it than I do!"

The smile that appeared on her face was hopefully a soothing one. "Honestly. It's okay. I mean it! It's fine. I'm not upset and you shouldn't be either."

Then it clicked and Paej realized she said it wasn't one of them. "An Alkidike? Of course..." She sighed hard and rubbed at the back of her neck now. "Hopefully you get the strength back. You might need to work it out. Do you have something squishy that boucnes back you can just like squeeze?" She made a squeezing motion before grinning. "Or you can start off with an empty pail and slowly add small amounts of water to build up your muscles again."

The girl looked like she was going to cry. Paej wanted to offer her a hug, but she didn't know if touching was okay. So her expression softened a bit. And she watched as Fallon tried out the can and then just let out a little noise.

"Yes. Slow and steady. Don't tear the muscles. Well I mean.. Working them out will, but don't hurt yourself... Recovery is a slow process." She sighed lightly and just shrugged a bit. Slowly she pulled the cloth over her shoulder more firmly. "If you find a pail is too heavy, try books. You can hold a book, raise it above your head. Get your range of motion back... I had to work out this arm a lot." She flexed her arm, the muscle bulging under her skin. Paej was really proud of her arm, thank you very much.

"Everyone's different, honestly. It took me a couple of years to feel like I wasn't completely helpless..." She thought back to her childhood, a far-off expression on her face now. "It was hard, though. I had my days where I.. honestly asked myself if I was better off not.. alive. But then I realized my family is here and they'd suffer if I kept thinking like that." She put her hand on her hip now and just bit down on her lip one more time.

"If you'd like, I can bring some of the things I use to keep my strength up? I have this device I use, that I squeeze with my hand and it works out my lower arm muscles. I have a weight that I raise above my head.. I can let you borrow these! I've got extra ones, so it's not going to hurt me at all. And I can always just try to do push ups.." She hadn't actually done that yet. Paej had struggled so hard with them and she just ended up in so much pain that she stopped doing it.