That happiness, though mixed with worry, and excitement of seeing Eavan seemed to quickly deflate as things progressed. And it deflated quite rapidly. To the point that Fletcher almost felt as if he'd been hit right in the gut. It was a rather disheartening sort of feeling, One that had him eventually standing on his feet next to the bed and his hands going into his pockets.

Quietly watching the exchange between father and daughter, his eyes narrowed on the man as Mr. MacKay turned his attentions to Fletcher. His anger flared in that moment, nostrils even flaring some. But then Eavan spoke and, as far as he was concerned, was far from in his favor. He'd known she wanted to take it slowly and was hesitant in telling her father but.. It didn't stop her lack of coming to his favor from stinging.

He gave her a curt nod, hardly noticing the smile. "I'm be sure to let a nurse know, sir," he all but ground out before turning quickly on his heel and heading on his way.

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BEE-utiful Set!

He didn't wholly believe Eavan's assurances, but the fact that she was lucid enough to intervene in the conversation helped settle his fears somewhat. He didn't even know how long she'd been here; with the way time had passed on his expedition, he'd barely had time to worry about her in the first place. What if she'd died while he'd been gone and he hadn't even heard about it until weeks later? He'd come back from the Amazon for her, and she could have damn well been killed while they were in the same village and he wouldn't even have known?

With this in mind, a few harsh words to a healer didn't register much on the measure of problematic things, however offended the healer looked. He was leaving, anyway, Eavan had sent him packing quite sensibly, and Conall breathed more easily already to hear it. "Good riddance," he muttered under his breath, pleased, as the man left. The more he let the fear seep out of him, though, the more he paid attention to the words that had been passed between them, and he couldn't quite work out the sense of their conversation now that he thought about it. Coming by? See him soon? ..."Eavan"?

"He doesn't work here?" Conall said, calm but now entirely bewildered, as he dropped onto the edge of her bed and listened to the footsteps march away down the hall. So what, he'd been visiting her? How the bloody fuck did she know him? He eyed Eavan more closely. "And you're sure you don't need anything else?"

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Fixing her father with another look, Eavan adjusted her position ever-so-slightly, trying to ease the ache in her side. "No, he doesn't work here." She blew out a slow sigh, feeling the discomfort ebb some. Eavan felt like she should say something now, about what he was to her, it was on the tip of her tongue, but she wasn't so sure this was the time. There was something holding her back and she didn't know exactly what it was. Still, she would have to tell him eventually. "And regardless, you shouldn't be such a brute. He is a healer after all and he's important to me." He cared a great deal about her and she was well on her way to falling in love with him, but her father didn't need to know that much just yet.

"What I need is some rest Da and I need you to get that looked at, for my own peace of mind." She vaguely motioned to his injuries with her good hand. The burns didn't look too bad, but she didn't want him to forgo getting them looked at just to sit here with her. "I'm glad you're alright. What a pair we are." She chuckled lightly so as not to give herself any more pain to complain about.

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He could feel her look, still disapproving, and read it well enough not to need the telling-off that came next. He bore it with only minor bristling, at any rate, but only because it was from Eavan and only because she must be mildly delirious from either the pain or the medication. She must be delirious, for any of what she was saying to make sense to her. Surely she wasn't friendly with that stuck-up popinjay? He hadn't been visiting her especially -

No, Eavan would do better than that in a friend or a young man. Definitely delirious. So Conall swallowed his protests and contented himself with raising a disbelieving eyebrow, muttering an: "I hear you." At that point, she stopped chiding and started fussing - which was not, as it happened, an altogether different tone.

"I'll go as soon as you're asleep," Conall told her, matter-of-fact, even if it was an utter lie. He mustered a half-grin at her last remark. "Can't blame me for being worried then, can you?" he said pointedly. Adventuring was in their blood; if he was off getting into trouble, heavens knew Eva was. "You got sent back to the zoo?" He said, still more softly. "I heard -" he didn't want to sound too keen about this, Merlin, she was bedridden from it, but - "something about you fighting off a croc?" (If that was true, all he had to say was: attagirl.)

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Eva wasn't entirely convinced he was actually listening to her, but she was too tired to really fight him on it right now. They'd have to have a more serious discussion about this at another time, when there wasn't quite so much else going on.

Nodding along to his questions, Eva was barely awake, but managed to answer anyway. "Yes, I met my group at the gate, I suppose they thought I'd be useful to go back through it." Truthfully it had been a smart choice on whoever was organizing the whole thing, but the rest of her group had been... well a little lackluster, save for Mr. Grimm.

"Mmm, water buffalo then croc. Probably would have done better if the lad in my group hadn't tried to jump ahead of me with the croc." She did hope Mr. Spryly was alright, but he hadn't given her much time to really think that through before dashing off. "Big Nile river one, I think his teeth were as long as my forearm." Which was why she was having so many problems currently. The medicines were really starting to take their toll now and Eva's eyes fluttered closed after a moment. "Get that looked at." She urged, managing to open one to give him a pointed look.

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He knew she was too out of it to be talking, really, but all Conall had heard was the vague report from the Ministry, and he wouldn’t trust anything until he’d heard it from her own mouth. It had to have been bad, for them to have moved her out here - he would have to harass the healers about it once she was asleep. (The healers who worked at this hospital, and thus actually had some business being here, this time.)

He whistled through his teeth, mouth twisted into a grimace, as she gave her account. Water buffalo, Nile crocodile? He might not have seen much of the Zoo yet, but he’d not have bet on them having either. (Not that he’d expected to encounter hailstorms and fire rain in Irvingly, either.) “They were darn lucky to have you,” he muttered, squeezing her hand to communicate how sorry he was for the damage the croc had done. It’d have been nasty, no doubt. His chest clenched at the thought that she was lucky to be here, even in this state, and his throat closed up in gratitude soon after.

Conall nodded at her, making sure she caught it through her barely-open eye, but returned his hand to the crown of her head, stroking her hair the way he remembered doing when she’d been a tiny little girl drifting off to sleep, all those years ago. If this had happened, and he hadn’t been here...? He didn’t think he had ever felt more relieved. He was here, and she would soon be right as rain.

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