Sage just squeezed her hand, watching her face closely. He could tell she was having a rough time of it....and he supposed he understood it fairly well since she'd disappeared for a while before. At least he'd known what had happened and had the sense of closure, in a way. He'd just.... disappeared out of nowhere. "You look like shit," he noted with a slight twinge of amusement to his voice. Though, when she asked if he remembered anything, something dark flickered over his gaze as he frowned with a tense nod. "More than I was hoping to getting banged on the head so much," he noted softly. How was he supposed to tell her about the woman? He hadn't had any way of fighting her but still. "I think....I think they were some sort of slave traders company or something," he murmured softly, brightening up again a bit when she asked if she could run him a bath. "I'll do my best," he noted with a soft chuckle, honestly just glad to be back with her.

Mari tried a little smile when he squeezed her hand, but the truth of it was that it didn't make her feel much better. The last few days had been tough on everyone. Of course, the kids didn't know about what had happened, or even that their father had been missing really... and she didn't want them to know. She wanted them to feel safe in their house, and the only way that would ever happen is by keeping the scary stuff away from them. Her eyes fell on his chest after a little while. Jesus, what was he thinking? Jumping infront of a bullet like he wasn't already on the verge of death. If it had gone just a little deeper, he'd really be gone. This man had evaded death like no one else she'd ever known. She glanced up when he spoke, though, and just scoffed. "Yeah... maybe I should have dressed up nice for you. Love you too by the way," she mused softly. She probably looked like shit, but he almost definitely looked worse. He didn't need to know that, though. Her brows pinched together when she saw his jaw tick, and shook her head softly. "Then you know how bad it is. You're gonna feel it later," she breathed. She didn't really know what happened... but she did know he'd been whipped, she knew he'd been beaten, tied to a Yoke and shot. That was enough to hurt anyone. Her eyes widened at his next comment. "Slave traders? Are you not a bit... old for them?" She asked curiously. They normally went for children or teens... she couldn't believe they'd break into their house for Sage, especially when there were two young children in there. It was weird. Of course, she was more than happy they hadn't touched the kids, but this whole thing didn't have to happen. "You should have seen the ship they were running. They did look like slave traders but... Sage this is barbaric," she murmured quietly. She looked him over again before letting go of his hand and sneaking a quick kiss to his lips. "I'll be back," she hummed, going to run a warm bath for him before wandering back to the ward. "You have to do your best not to collapse on me," she warned.

Sage felt the corner of his mouth twitch into a sort of amused, alibet tired, smile at her retort about dressing up nice. Of course, when she mentioned he'd feel it later he wrinkled his nose with a nod. In all honesty, he'd sort of figured he'd have died. Getting shot in the chest...well, he was lucky the doctor was so good at his job and it hadn't gone all the way through his body or anything. "I know," he grumbled. "I try not to think about it," he added with a shrug, then quickly stilled when the pain remonded him he was, in fact, hurt up there. He scowled when she mentioned him being too old for slave traders, biting his lip nervously. "They've always gone for kids ...while I was there there were a lot of younger adults. Maybe they figured it was time to branch out," he noted. "And....there are certain jobs people would want adults for, not kids or young teenagers," he added carefully, trying to hint at the nature of their things. "Those of us who didn't cooperate in...that manner got booted to field work i guess, given the yoke," he snorted, nodding when she called it barbaric. "Taking kids is barbaric too. They just didn't have anyone to go looking for them," he noted softly. Though he kissed her back as she wandered off, nodding and waving her concern off as he tried to get out of the bed. "I'll be fine, I just need to wash up a bit," he grumbled, knowing he'd need her help to do a lot of things. Get undressed, get bandages off, anything involving his hair....she may very well need to help wash his back and shoulders off so he didn't hurt himself even more. He wasn't sure yet.

Mari went to pick up some towels as she wandered back into the ward, laying them lightly over his shoulder before moving to help him sit up... no doubt it was all gonna start hurting more and more as time went on. She felt her heart ache for him... for all of them really. He was right. No one was looking for those children. Their families didn't have the resources to look after them as it was; if anything they probably thought they were better off with the traders. She couldn't imagine being in that situation with their own kids. Loosing them and missing them, but feeling like they were better off working as slaves than being at home with people that loved them. Her jaw ticked at it all. Those kids were helpless there. Everyone was, really. They'd lost all will to fight for themselves, hell, even when people were trying to help them they were scared that whatever had happened would just get worse. She raised a brow at Sages comments, though, clearly not quite picking up what he was laying down right infront of her. "The yoke," she repeated. God, it was all awful... she'd never thought she'd see her husband in a situation like that. Sage had always been so full of it, but he really looked like he was right on the edge of... well, death. She was still scared for him, of these people... there were more of them out there, and she knew that just as well as anyone. "It's all awful Sage," she murmured. "I mean... I'd like to think we've helped at least a few of them," she breathed quietly. Her brows pinched together slightly after a moment, and gave a soft shake of the head. "I hate to think there's more of them out there, that no one knows where they are or what's happening," she hummed. She nodded in agreement when he said he needed to wash up... Yeah, he definitely needed to do that, but he also needed to not kill himself in the process. She sighed after a moment when he started to get up, gently wrapping her arm around his back to give him some sort of support. Her brows pinched softly together after a little while, and gave him a little pout. "Lean on me," she sort of mused before helping him towards the bathroom and sitting him carefully on the side of the bathtub, starting to help him get unchanged.

Sage hummed softly, getting to his feet with a grunt. He did try to help Mari as much as possible....but admittedly she was doing most of the work getting them down to the bathroom. "Getting them out of there was helping them," he noted softly. And the doctor had given them medical treatment....he recognized a decent amount of people in the ward. That was always good. "Anya should come down here and make a point to start being friendly with them if she wants to make a relationship with the lower classes though," he pointed out, breathing heavily by the time Mari sat him down on the tub. He honestly just let her undress him by then, not having the energy to help much. It was sad, really, but that was forgotten once they got him settled into the warm water and he could just sink down into it and close his eyes. It felt heavenly.....it was silly to think how much he was reminded of how wonderful warm running water could be.

Mari nodded at his comment, her brows pinching in thought as she carefully pulled his bandages from him. "They're getting more help than they ever have. I'm sure there's more out there, though," she sighed. The ward was completely full. There were people everywhere, and all of them seemed terrified as it was. She sighed softly after a moment, pecking the top of his head. "I'm just glad we got you back. God, we were so worried Sage," she whispered, chewing the inside of her lip as she thought about it all. It was terrifiying, really. She was so worried about... well, everything that could go wrong. Everything that had gone wrong scared her like hell. She nodded in agreement about Anya, though... the woman wouldn't listen to her, but once Sage was a little better he could speak to her about it all. They needed as much help as they could get. She helped him into the tub carefully, making sure he could keep his head above water. She found herself looking him over for a moment, her eyes landing on his chest where the bullet had hit him. "Sage, don't you ever do anything like that again. That could have been so much worse," she murmured. Her mind couldn't handle the thought of it. If he had died because he'd tried to save her, she'd have never forgiven herself. Hell, the guilt of it all was eating her up as it was.

Sage hummed softly in response to her comments, nodding. "Most likely," he noted. "Maybe Anya will decide to stop it once and for all." He shrugged. Anya had been with him when they'd tried to take his sister at one point ...maybe she'd decide this was worth her attention. Especially since they were getting bolder. "I know," he hummed softly. "I'm just glad they left the rest of things alone," he added, opening his eyes to peer at her when she scolded him. He couldn't help but chuckle slightly, moving to reach over and squeeze her hand gently. "It would have been worse if they'd blown your head open," he noted softly. "You know I'd do anything to keep you safe," he added. And he wouldn't have minded if he'd died. He'd have felt bad, sure...leaving them would hurt terribly. But she'd be alive. The kids would still have their mother, and edith and the boys would still have their sister. They would get over him soon enough. He did haul himself into a sitting position eventually though, reaching for the shampoo with a grunt as his muscles protested the movement.

Mari nodded softly to him after a moment, humming thoughtfully. Maybe she'd do something if they could convince her it would be worth her time. Who even knew. She felt a soft sigh escape her as the thought rattled in her head, and gave a bit of a pout. "Maybe. She'll listen to you if you talk to her," she advised lightly. Hopefully she'd do something if she saw the state Sage was in, and the rest of them too for that matter. These were peoples family members, her subjects... surely she'd feel some sort of remorse for them. It was hard not to. She sort of reached up to to his hair, her fingers running soflty though it as she tried to get some of the matting out. She scowled at him as he continued, rolling her eyes when he took her hands. "It would been a hell of a lot worse if that bullet whent any deeper," she mumbled bitterly. Hell, the idea of it all was eating away at her. The last thing she wanted was to see him hurt... and watching him get shot because of her made it all so much worse. Yes, she knew he wanted to keep her safe, but it didn't take the guilt away. She didn't want him getting hurt in order to protect her, especially when he was already in such bad shape. "It was stupid. You're stupid, Sage," she huffed after a few moments, her voice a bit of a scoff. She sort of slapped his hand softly when he picked his shampoo up, taking it off him and placing a soft hand on his back until he'd gotten into a comfortable position to keep himself sat up before starting to wash his hair carefully. "How does your back feel?" She asked curiously.

Sage hummed softly and nodded when Mari mentioned Anya, though he was in no state to go wander off and find her at the moment. He did wonder if she'd even thought to visit....part of him wondered if she'd even need enough to. He knew that was rather unreasonable, she did have a kingdom to run after all, but part of him did wonder. Though, when Mari called him stupid he just gave her a sort of sheepish grin, face softening slightly. "It could have been," he noted. "But I'd rather it have been me than you, no matter the outcome," he added gently. He rolled his eyes when she took the shampoo from him, but gave no resistance to her washing out his hair and then body. He hummed softly when she asked about his back, reminding himself not to shrug. "I feel pretty drugged up still," he admitted. "It really only hurts when I move." He cocked his head, thinking. "It's similar to Dad's belt, I guess. Just....worse since it was over oyher injuries and stuff," he thought out loud. It would hurt later, he was sure, but the doctor was keeping him pretty comfortable. He couldn't really tell how bad they were. "How bad is it," he asked after a moment or so. "Be honest," he added.

Mari shook her head slightly at his comment. She really hated it all. If things went her way, it wasn't a decision he'd ever of had to make. Choosing between your own life and the life of someone you loved seemed like an impossible one. She knew she'd have done the same for him, but that didn't make it any easier. She still thought he was stupid for it... humans weren't programmed to do that sort of thing. To put themselves in that kind of danger, no matter who it was. She sighed, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his temple. "I love you, you know that?" She asked, the corner of her lips lifting into a small smile. "But don't ever do it again. I won't forgive you for it," she mused. She nodded slightly when he said he was drugged up. Yeah, she'd want to be drugged up if she'd gone through what he had. When it all wore off, his chest was gonna hurt like a bitch and his back was gonna sting like mad. "Mhm... if you move this is all gonna split," she whispered. Her eyes ran over his back at the question, finding herself biting on the side of her cheek. His back looked like a chopping board. He was lucky he already had scarred tissue back there for some sort of protection, she supposed. It looked awful. He was lucky they hadn't gotten infected or anything. Her brows pinched together slightly, kind of moving to run some water over his back to clean it off. "It's... not as bad as you think," she whispered quietly. It probably felt quite raw, but the doctor had managed to stitch some of the deeper ones back together, while the others just had to heal. "It's not good, though," she added carefully.