Edoras Infirmary--After the Fires

Where now are the horse and rider? In here, probably.
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Just visiting

Calimir watched Beda and the old lady quietly. Baby Leo seemed to be relaxing at last, which was good, and his sister looked like she was ready to leave him for a bit. He nodded when Beda spoke to him, although he knew that there was a dead child on the river bank. That's what Sighard had told Sheemie, the Wild man and Mr Bells.

Cal' wasn't sure it was a good idea for Beda to see her dead brother - not so soon after having to deal with her dead mother. Another thing bothered the lad from Gondor. He was sure the men on the hill had said the dead child was nine or so years old. That would mean it was Beda's oldest brother. It didn't look good for the young ones if the oldest had drowned

"I will take you Beda" he said taking her hand and walking from the tent. "I'm not sure it's a good idea, but you have to do what must be done. I'll be with you though and Sheemie when we find him."
man of gondor < Image > heart of rohan

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TEMPORARY RESIDENT
Old Mama Mute (whose real name has yet to be discovered) taking over temporary custody of a colicky baby

She confidently considered the baby as it was laid on the table before her, her face an image of sympathy as she shush shushed air between her lips and nodded to the young woman and the man in acknowledgement of their words. She tried to unwrap the clothing so she could inspect the baby thoroughly, but with only one working hand she had to wave in Beda to assist. And then she looked the baby over with a practised eye, turning it carefully to do so; feeling for its temperature, checking for any signs of injury or bruising, even lifting it calmly by its ankles to sniff at its bottom and wrinkle her nose a little in acknowledgement of the smelly load recently deposited there.

She offered a comforting smile to Beda who seemed very concerned and lifted a hand to gently stroke one thumb over the young girl's cheek companionably and wink, the only real approval she could offer with her lack of words but all the same it seemed a clear indication that this old lady who seemed to so confidently but carefully handle the baby was not overly concerned for its well-being. Then she returned to the babe, seemingly unperturbed by its incessant wailing, and began removing the wrappings around the babe's bottom with well-practised movements, skilfully removing the fouled diaper so that its was bundled up neatly on itself and then helped herself to one of the nearby drawers and some clean linens and clothes, wiped the baby clean. The little fella seemed to take umbrage at her ministrations and pee-ed up towards her, but she laughed a silent laugh and carefully pulled over more towels to clean up the mess and herself. Then she wrapped the baby up once again, tucking him neatly into a bundle. She delicately lifted her own injured wrist out of her sling and deftly lifted him with her good hand to rest him across her chest, his head against her shoulder, then wrapped her arms about him, subduing any wince as she caught her bandaged wrist until his wriggling had settled and he was safely tucked against her, even pulling her sling around to tuck hr arm back within it but over him as an extra measure of security for his position. Even while she did all this, she instinctively rocked and bounced him, patting his back gently and hushing him with air through her teeth, and at last his wails become a little less intense.

The young lady was appealing to be able to leave the babe here, and the old mute turned back to her even as she continued to rock the baby. She looked the youngster carefully, meeting her eye with a fixating gaze of her own - too young to be the mother, she confirmed, although she had known a few not much older than her to bear children of their own, against all wisdom. For the briefest moment she held the girl's gaze as though trying to read her thoughts, before at last she seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. Then her face broke into a compassionate expression and she nodded, looking down at the baby in a matriarchal manner, and reaching her good hand out momentarily to take Beda's hand and squeeze it. 'Leo' she mouthed down at the boy, no noise emitted, then she looked at Cali and Beda and gave them a firm nod, somehow surprisingly akin to a soldier acknowledging an order.

Then the old lady shuffled her way over to the seat, and let herself sink down into a more restful repose in it, taking up a relaxed but vigilant watch over the babe in her arms that she could keep up for hours if need be. She continued to rock back and forth as she held the babe carefully tucked into her good arm, and she had a strange way of pursing her lips and rocking her head gently from side to side that seemed reminiscent of someone who was humming to themselves, and yet no sound was uttered. Not surprising, given the thick cords of scars across her neckline that spoke of a devastating injury that had all the same not managed to claim her life. But the babe seem comforted all the same, or perhaps he was just exhausted from all his crying and fussing, and soon enough his sobs subdued into a heavy sleep.


@Calimir @Eléowyn

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NPC Beda
Visitor


The old woman was taking such tender care of Léo that it eased the burden Beda felt at leaving her brother with a stranger. “I will be back for you, Léo,” Beda whispered to her little brother, fighting back tears as she kissed the top of his head. “I promise. And I will take good care of you.”

The mute woman had said nothing, but Beda understood her nodded assent. “Thank you,” she said. She struggled to think of something grown-up her mother might have said, some sort of blessing or offer of future assistance to the woman. But her mind was too filled with grief and worry, and she was feeling very much the child she still was.

“Thank you,” she said again simply, “and bless you.”

Cal offered his hand, and Beda gladly accepted. Mam had always said that a burden shared was a burden halved. Beda was not quite sure that the weight she carried would be halved, but she was grateful to have someone by her side. Even as they left the infirmary, Beda could hear Léo’s cries subsiding.

@Allacan ob Burzum @Calimir

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NPC: A Pictish impostor (masquerading as a patient)

The strangely hued occupant of the bed near the tent door watched the girl (Beda) and lad (Calimir) depart through slit eyes. The man lay in silence, counting off the minutes on his fingers, with his ears cocked for any sign of movement around the tent. He sat up suddenly and scratched absently at the itching skin below his right shoulder with his left thumb. The nail, kept long for occasional use on the strings of a lute (and, more often, to scour grime from a nostril), peeled away a layer of dried lard, exposing pale, freckled skin and part of a strawberry-coloured birthmark.

The man had been roused by the screeching of a babe… Thank Bema, that howling was now stilled! … and had caught snatches only of the departing duos’ conversation. His head ached and the words … dead mother … lost children … were of little interest to him. He needed a drink, needed more than one, badly. But he was totally naked, which might not spark much interest. But he was still stained an alarming shade of blue!

He wound a bed sheet around his spindly frame and crept over to a table near the door. Bandages and other medicinal oddments were arranged neatly on the table surface. He bound two dressings clumsily about his head and face, and slunk up the passage between the beds in search of clothing. A thin curtain covered a doorway at the end of the room. He stepped through it quickly.

The sight that greeted him brought him to a halt, and a trembling sigh escaped his lips. A woman, pale-faced and golden-haired, lay on a trestle before him. He did not need to reach out and feel for a pulse, or lean over her face to mark whether she breathed or not. The man was well acquainted with death, dealing it out and feeling its painful aftermath, and he knew immediately that the vrou was long gone to the clearing at the end of the path.

Tears sprung in his eyes. He’d known her only briefly, they'd not bothered with small-talk, or shared names even, during their fleeting encounter. But the fug of alcohol, and the grief that had stalked him from Anduin's shore, had not rubbed their intimacy from his mind.

Two lonely souls they’d been back then, seeking solace in her bed while her bairns slept in the front room of her shabby cottage. He stared at Gléonild for a long while, then bent and kissed her chastely on the forehead.

With that he was gone, through the curtain, and on down the row of beds. Goldwhæt Dooley blinked as the daylight found his eyes, then hurried off toward the city gates.

--
@Calimir & @Eléowyn
- he hath not forgotten Image the face of his fathers -

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TEMPORARY RESIDENT
Old Mama Mute (whose real name has yet to be discovered) with a sleeping baby Leo

The two youngsters had gone to their other duties and left her alone. It was comforting to be holding the babe, now resting peacefully in her arms, but her sharp mind was already starting to think ahead to when the babe would wake. It would need feeding, and Nahar's hooves she could not help with that! And it would need someone with more dexterity than she to wrap a new nappy about it; cuddled up in blankets as it was she was running the risk of being soiled when it woke - likely even before then, knowing babes - and yet she smiled blissfully to herself and bobbed her head all the same even as these thoughts crossed her mind. Having a babe in arms felt homely, it felt like belonging, like family - something she had not felt in a very long time. She would do her best for this little Leo, although she knew she could not see to his needs alone.

She waited until she was sure he was deeply asleep before carefully standing; a difficult affair at the best of times with one sprained ankle and one broken wrist, even more so for a woman her age holding a not over-light babe. On the sixth or seventh attempt she managed it, and carefully hobbled over to the tent's main entrance, looking around for one of the Infirmary's attendants. She had been surprised when nobody had come running at the sound of a crying babe; people must have been run ragged with the fire patients, but surely someone would have been left on watch. She glanced in to the rows of beds; a curtain was swinging as though caught by the wind, but all the patients were lying calmly in their beds getting what rest they could after a fretful night.

She considered what to do next. She had thought she had heard raised voices away in the fields earlier, but that might have been her imagining of a remnant of a dream. And she didn't fancy carrying little Leo about in the woods where her unsteady feet might trip and get them both into more trouble. She considered trying some of the other little buildings around the courtyard, but she was loathe to disturb any patients resting there or risk invading on something more private.

She settled for returning to her own little nest, laying the babe carefully in the middle of her cot while she pulled the rocking chair out into the warm sunlight where she could see and be seen, then retrieved the babe and settled herself down into the more comfortable chair to await the sight of one of the Infirmary's healers, silently whispering a prayer to Bema that someone would appear before the baby awoke.

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NPC ~ Sheemie Rheus, with Almod (deceased): Visiting

Sheemie, son of Stephen, stood before the entrance to the Infirmary pavilion for the second time that day. He heard the steady click-clacking of the hooves of Esol, the Fool's ass, fade away behind him, and knew that the task ahead was his, and his alone. He was bringing Almod home to his mumma, Gléonild. But there would be no celebrating their reunion… Both were kilt-dead!

The burly lad's tummy rumbled rudely. He thrust the pang of hunger away. He shouldn't be thinking of scoff and tea - that was unseemly. Poor Almod and his ma would never eat again; Beda and Cal' were making do without lunch as they searched for the missing bairn's!

Sheemie stepped into the tent, and cradling Almod gently in his beefy arms, walked the aisle to the chamber set aside for Gléonild. He stood in silence beside the table on which she lay, and offered a quick wish to the Turtle-feller.

"I brought your boy home to you, Beda-mamma," he whispered, placing the cloak-shrouded body beside the dead woman. "He's with you now. Keep him safe till it's time for Beda and the bairns to join you.”

Sheemie stood chewing his lip. “I wish Arthur was here, or Will,” he said to himself. “They'd know better things to say. But they aren't - mores the pity - I bet they'd find the other children!"

Sheemie turned now, and hurried off to find one of the healers. He wanted Almod looking proper beside his ma' when Beda returned.

--
@Allacan ob Burzum @Calimir @Eléowyn @Wamba_the_Fool
- he hath not forgotten Image the face of his fathers -

Thain of The Mark
Points: 1 271 
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TEMPORARY RESIDENT
Old Mama Mute (whose real name has yet to be discovered) with baby Leo

The sun sets. Such is true. The end of life is inevitable. But the sun also rises, and where hearts are heavy with grief in the loss of a loved one, they might also delight in the innocent joys of youth also. I would challenge you to find as effective a short-term boon for the soul as the laughter of a babe. And such was the noise that came to Sheemie's ears as he made his way into the reception area, along with a strange sort of raspberry blowing noise.

Leo had woken, and though he had initially been wriggly and discontent he had soon warmed to the feel of the gentle arms holding him and bouncing him about. She had managed to grab the attention of one of the overworked (NPC) attendants long enough to get warm milk provided; goat's milk she guessed at the taste. It might upset his stomach again and the young babe was in desperate need of a nurse-maid, but for now he was warm, fed and content enough to be happy.

His baby giggles announced the mood before even anyone set eyes on him, and turning the corner to the side chamber where Mama Mute was keeping him entertained would reveal the sight of her rocking back and forth with him in her chair (she'd had the same attendant fetch it from her room) while pulling silly faced. The sight of her gurning and the sensation of the chair rocking back and forth had the babe in fits of giggles, and every now and then when he seemed like he might switch to whining and crying she pressed her lips against his belly and blew softly and loudly, which had him erupting in a fresh bout of laughter.

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NPC ~ Sheemie Rheus (visiting)

No one responded to Sheemie’s calls for assistance, and he stood near the pavilion exit unsure of what to do next. He couldn’t just leave poor, dead Almod lying next to his mamma! Someone had to come clean him and make him presentable for when the Beda-sweoster came back from her search by the Snowbourn.

A sound reached the brawny lad’s ears, a sound he would not have thought to hear in a place of sickness and death. His eyes lit with pleasure as he hurried toward the sound of happy giggling.

“Hello, Gra’Ma!” he said, with a broad smile, when he found an old woman (Mama Mute) pulling faces at baby Léo. “I’m Sheemie, a friend of Beda… She’s that babbie’s sister… Their ma is lying in the tent over that a way – the fire kilt her, kilt her dead! And now I’ve brought their brother, Almod, from the river. Lawks, he’s dead too… All bashed and drownt.

I need someone to clean him and make him ready for when Beda comes looking for him… Can you help me, Gra’Ma, please?”

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@Allacan ob Burzum
- he hath not forgotten Image the face of his fathers -

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Image
Sighard


The Edoras Infirmary was awfully quiet when Sighard arrived, with Beda still unconscious on the horse in front of him. "Hello?" he called out, and was relieved a few minutes later when a gentleman (NPC Alwin) approached, because Sighard did not know how he would get Beda and himself off the horse without hurting her.

"This is Beda," Sighard said once they were both safely off the horse. "She passed out maybe an hour ago, but I think probably more from exhaustion and shock than anything else. I don't know exactly what all has happened, but I know she had some losses in the fires last night, and today we've found at least one of her siblings drowned in the river. I think someone already brought that body here."

Once Alwin had Beda secured in his arms, Sighard spoke again. "I can't stay, I'm late reporting in at the Dragon Room as it is. You'll see that she gets the help she needs?"

"I will," Alwin assured him, and Sighard sighed with relief, and then mounted his mare again, and left.


@Eléowyn @Aodh Hammerhelm @Allacan ob Burzum

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