Stefana Sedai
Stefana's eyes immediately went to that open door when she heard the Gaidin yell for her. There was an urgency to the other woman's voice that made the Aes Sedai want to gather up her riding skirt and run inside. She didn't, not quite, but she did pick up the skirt, and wasted no time getting to the house and through the door. The first room she entered was an absolute wreck. Most of the furniture was destroyed, and there were smears of blood on the wall closest to her. There was no redhaired Gaidin, however, so Stefana didn't pause to look around any further. She found the hallway and scurried through it, checking both of the bedrooms she passed, which were in the same condition as the larger room.
It was in the last of the bedrooms that she finally found Natlya, and another woman Stefana first thought was laying on the floor. A couple steps into the room and a closer look at the scene before her revealed that the woman wasn't laying down at all. Or rather, she was, but only because she couldn't move. Someone had driven knives through the woman's hands and feet, and the sight of the wounds, and the blood trickling from them, caused Stefana to freeze in her place for a moment. If either the woman or the Gaidin had looked at her right then, they would have witnessed the very rare sight of Stefana's composure slipping. Battles and fighting she was used to, but this was neither, and it struck Stefana in a way the Red couldn't explain.
The instant of pure horror passed quickly, if only because she forced herself to move, returning to her normal emotionless appearance. Her steps were fast as she hurried to kneel beside the brown-haired woman, letting her skirt fall and trying to keep it out of the blood. She made herself study the hand that lay closest to her, and came to the fairly obvious conclusion that Healing was what was needed here. Truthfully, that made Stefana a little nervous, not that she allowed herself any display of that. She was no Yellow; her Talent for Healing was small, and seldom used unless she found herself in a situation like this where there really was no other choice.
Light, can I do this?
She thought she could, judged her ability with the weave as adequate, if barely that, but she knew it wouldn't be the best that could be done. Stefana hated knowing that, but there was no possibility of getting the woman to one of the Grey Tower's more competent Healers fast enough, and to leave her as she was wasn't something she even considered. Still on her knees, Stefana leaned forward so that the woman could see her face.
"Will you allow me to Heal you?" the Aes Sedai asked softly. The woman gave the shortest possible nod, and Stefana suspected that was all the consent she was likely to get. She scooted down until she knelt beside one of the woman's hands, rearranging her skirt as she did.
"I'm going to have to remove the knives first," she warned the woman. "I need you to try to stay still, even if it hurts." She knew it probably would, but there was no alternative. Placing her left hand over the woman's fingers to keep her hand still, Stefana took the hilt of the knife in her right hand and pulled it out as quickly as she could, trying not to prolong the woman's pain. The woman moaned loudly, the sound fading into soft whimpers once the knife was out. The Aes Sedai pressed her lips together, regretting the necessity of what she was doing, then moved on to the next limb.
When she finally finished, the woman didn't move from where she laid. Her body shook slightly as Stefana knelt down and laid a hand on her head. "I'm going to Heal you now," she explained. "You'll probably feel cold, but there won't be any more pain." She could have sworn she saw the woman smile before she reached for saidar and began to work. Stefana held her breath as she formed the Delving weave, relieved when it didn't show signs of any further injuries she couldn't manage herself. She shifted straight from that into the Air, Water, and Spirit of Healing. It was a slow process, since she did this so rarely, and she focused entirely on her weaving, even once she finished and allowed it to sink in.
She kept her eyes on the woman's head as she shivered under the effects of the Healing weave, refusing to let herself look at the woman's hands. Scars from her wounds would be forming as the weave worked, a direct result of her lack of Talent that Stefana didn't want to see. When she finished, the Aes Sedai sat down hard on the floor, more tired from the effort Healing took from her than she wanted to admit. In front of her, the woman had rolled over with her back to Stefana. The Red sister looked towards the Gaidin.
"Did you happen to see any food or water in the other room?" she asked. "She's going to be very hungry, and is probably exhausted. Light alone knows how long she's been here. We may need to stay here for a while, until she's up to looking after herself." Stefana herself didn't feel capable of further travel either, but that wasn't something she felt comfortable sharing with Natlya.