Houses of Healing II

[Isolde Alarion]

Mourgan & Nell in recovery room
@Cubanopele

Nell listened to the confirmation of her guess at his injuries but hearing how serious and life threatening it could have been she felt a lot better, if one could feel better about such things. “Well, thank you pele. I know you’ve done your best for him.”

Hearing her speak of the Umbarian then seemed at a loss for words. She understood and didn’t press for anymore explainations and she could tell she was anxious to check on her fellow Rangers. She noted the instructions and nodded her head. “I understand.” She motioned for her to leave and gave her a small smile.

She watched Pele disappear out the door, certainly eager to check on others, she could understand the need to know how they were doing. She lightly took his hand and looked down at him. She’d just had that same feeling coursing through her on the way here.

She decided to take a seat and wait. Silently she would check on his breathing, it seemed normal. She was relieved.
Time seemed to pass slowly and she made a routine of getting up to check on his breathing and stretch her legs.

Meanwhile…

He’d had a feeling of being moved but he couldn’t seem to respond. His arms were heavy and he couldn’t seem to talk. Every time he tried it seemed nothing came out and soon enough he found himself falling into a deep sleep. It wasn’t restful though. Images of dark creatures haunted him and then he found himself facing someone who offered him rest and peace from such things but he found himself wanting to stay there, forever. It was nice at first but he kept having a worried, nagging feeling he shouldn’t linger there too long. He felt he should keep fighting for his life, the words seemed to urge him to leave there and fight his way back to the surface. Back to his life. Back to those he cared about and loved. It wasn’t easy, it was like walking through a sticky bog, the more he fought the harder it was to move. He stopped struggling with a deep sigh. He could see himself fighting forever to get out of this. He turned his thoughts on the ones he would miss. His mother, Aunt, friends and then she came to mind.

He needed to know how she was. Had she made it through the fight? Did she run? He didn’t know the answers to the questions in his mind. He was starting to get bogged down even more with worry but when he thought of her smile he felt himself being freed, freed from the bog of worry but then something else replaced it, pain. He was confused, he’d felt no pain this whole time, why now? Why when he thought of her…

“Cali!” It came out as more of a pained gasp fill groan. He was suddenly aware of the pain in his shoulder and chest. He reached over with his right hand to grab at it but felt clothe. He had a pounding in his head that threatened to make him sick. Nell had been seated near the bed when he came too and rushed to his side. Gently taking his hand to keep him from pulling off his bandages and further hurting himself.

“Mourgan, you’re alright. You’re safe.” She tried to reassure him “Is she alive?” He grit between his teeth as he tried to blink his fuzzy vision away. Nell looked at him. “Yes. I seen her earlier. You’re both at the Houses of Healing.” The words seem to calm him and he relaxed a bit although she could see the pain on his face. “Stay still, I have something for the pain.”

She hurried to the table and prepared the tea Pele instructed for pain. She poured it into a small cup and brought it back to his side. “Drink this.” She helped him drink it all down then he leaned back into the pillow. She stood holding the empty cup. “How long have I been here?” He was curious because he really didn’t know what day it was. He could have been lost in the bog for a week for all he knew. He closed his eyes because it just felt better. “The better part of the day.” She answered as she took the glass back to the table and set it down.

She turned to look at him as she approached him. “You need to rest, that tea should be helping with the pain soon.” She went to straighten the blanket as he seemed to be falling back asleep. “We’ll talk more later, rest now Mourgan.” She told him but he muttered something as he fell back asleep. Nell smiled lightly. She hadn’t caught it all but she had caught the words.. Kaylin won’t kick…whatever that meant she had no idea.

She left him to sleep long enough to step into the hall to summon one of the workers. “Would you please let the Master Healer know that Mourgan was awake and talking but he’s asleep again.” She offered him a thankful smile as he nodded and took off. She returned to her seat and resumed her watch over him.

[Pele Alarion]

Master Healer Pele Alarion
Treatment room 6, with Arnyn and Cali
Last week of July
@Rillewen , @Arnyn

Pele removed the boot as carefully as she could, though her attention was then more on Arnyn to hear what she wanted to know so badly before she properly turned to examining Cali's foot.

"Her body..." she repeated once Arnyn provided the information she craved. She stood for a few moments trying to wrap her mind around it - while she had figured that their enmity would have ended only with the death of one or the other, she had not thought it would ever really come to it. Pele was used to living in a constant state of alert, even of fear, always watchful, and now - if only she could really believe that it was over - it would be such a relief. Feeling perplexed, Pele turned to the one thing she knew she had to do to snap herself out of the strange feeling that had crept over her.

"Cali," she eventually said, having examined the injured spot. "It looks fairly bad, but you can move your toes yes? If it was broken you would not be able to walk at all. I'll need to wash it properly to see how deep the teeth have gone."

Pele busied herself with preparing soap water, and returning with a bowl of it, warned the smith: "It will likely hurt..." Giving Cali a few moments to prepare, she then set about cleaning off the partly dried blood.

"All right," she returned to the questions, her mind beginning to work more properly along with her hands. "So Relic is dead. Good riddance, I suppose. But... it still does not explain the nature of the wounds. You could not have received them elsewhere; besides, this is not even a simple dog bite... strong, large jaws. So..." Pele paused thoughtfully, and then frowned. "If you received the wounds in the Barracks... You can't be telling me that Relic bit you... or did she?" Pele fixed her eyes on Arnyn, and her hands stopped their work for a moment.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn @Cubanopele

Cali with Arnyn and Pele
Room 6

Wincing slightly as the boot came off, Cali gripped the edge of the table harder and took a few slow breaths. She nodded as Pele warned her that the washing part would hurt. It wasn't her first open wound, so she had some idea what to expect. Still, she'd never been bitten by a wolf before, and had no idea how deep those teeth marks might be. "Yes, I can move them," She answered quietly, and slowly wiggled her toes a little bit as if to prove it. "I didn't think it was broken, but I can't seem to put any weight on it without a lot of pain." She frowned. "Though, at first, I didn't even think I was really hurt at all."

As the healer began to work on cleaning the blood off, Cali inhaled sharply and closed her eyes, hands tightening on the edge of the table. Yep. It hurt. She focused on trying to push through the pain, trying to find something to distract her from it. So when Pele asked about the bite marks, Cali spoke up, "After you had gone, that woman... the one who looked like Arnyn.. she turned into.. this big wolf, bigger than I've ever heard of any wolf being.. and.. it was.. how did she even do that?" She looked at Arnyn with wide eyes.

Now that they were no longer fighting for their lives, there was time to ask questions like this that had been bugging her. "I thought at first you just had a really awful twin sister who was impersonating you and trying to kill people for some reason, but.. after that..." She shook her head, having no words to explain quite what was going through her head right now. It was definitely baffling, and if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes she wasn't sure she'd believe it.

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Reception
Room 6
@Rillewen
@Cubanopele

Arnyn grew more alert again as she watched her friend take in the news and focus on Cali for a moment. Keeping her peace as healer and patient conversed, the blonde ranger was also curious to know how Cali's leg had fared - after all, it had been her job to safeguard Cali in that moment. The worse her leg was, the worse she had done her duty. Although she was not quite sure what else she could have done. The risks she's taken had already been... substantial.

So Relic is dead. Arnyn nodded at Pele's statement. It did not seem like her friend was unhappy about not being able to wield the blade herself, and Arnyn took that as a good sign. If Pele was not hung up on revenge by her own hands, at least that was one hurdle they need not conquer. At the questions that inevitably followed, Arnyn frowned slightly. She knew the answer, but the words would feel like a scary fairy tale as they'd cross her lips. "It was Relic," she replied slowly, and as she paused, Cali spoke up. The smithy explained what had happened in her own words, and spared Arnyn that much of it. Yet soon she was looking to her, wide eyed, with questions of her own.

The Lieutenant drew in a deep breath and took a moment before speaking. She consciously stayed her hand from scratching at the wound at her neck.

"Sorcery," she replied steadily to Cali's question. "I have never seen it happen before either. I stared myself in the face, knowing it was the enemy. And then she changed to what I gather was her own appearance..." Her eyes flicked to Pele. "...and then she changed into that creature. That large wolf. She'd chanted something and flipped me over. I still have no clue how. It is as if her strength quadrupled in mere moments. The transformation was baffling." And terrifying.

"She tried to bite me. Well, I guess she did bite me." Arnyn smiled sheepishly. "But something made her withdraw before the creature's teeth really sank into my neck. And then she focused on Cali." A frown settled on her face and her words came more quickly. "I tried to stop it." She looked back to Cali. "I tried distracting it and then keeping it away from you, but her strength was too much to avoid..." she gestured at Cali's leg. "I'm so sorry, Cali." Worried, she looked back at Pele. "Is it very bad?" she asked quietly.

[Rillewen]

@Cubanopele

Cali with Arnyn and Pele
Room 6

There was that name again, Relic. Cali frowned slightly in confusion, assuming that must be some sort of ranger business she was not privy to, but still. She was very confused and really wanted to know what all this was about. She definitely had not expected anything like this when she came to work today. "May I ask who, or what, Relic is? Or, was..?" She inquired, though not trying to interrupt the rangers, she was somewhat involved and yet had no idea what she'd gotten involved in.

As Arnyn then gave an answer to one question, Cali blinked in astonishment. Sorcery? While she hadn't really thought much about those sort of things, she'd kind of assumed all of that stuff had gone away with the defeat of the dark lord, though she realized, now, that maybe that was a little bit ridiculous. It wasn't really something she'd given much thought toward, to be honest, but it seemed surprising to learn that such things were still around. Yet, she'd seen the transformations happen herself, so she couldn't deny that it had happened. Cali fell silent as she absorbed this information, while Arnyn spoke more to Pele.

At the part about Arnyn getting bitten, Cali returned from being lost in thought. "Yeah, that's something I wondered about, by the way," She tilted her head at Arnyn in curiosity. "It was almost like something stopped her.." She found this quite curious, her gaze drifting toward Arnyn's neck, and subsequently, the necklace. "Could it have been that?" She wondered, softly, with a small nod toward it. "Is it enchanted in some way, or anything special about it?" She couldn't help remembering the amusement when Trastion had asked if the sword was enchanted but she was actually serious, thinking more along the lines of elvish magic, perhaps.

And then she was caught by surprise to hear the lieutenant apologizing to Cali for not doing more to protect her. Cali blinked, again, and shook her head slightly. "I think we both could find things to apologize about." She said with a soft laugh. "You told me to run.. and yet, I..." She frowned. "I don't know. I couldn't. It was like..I was trying to, but I couldn't seem to move. Like I was in a trance almost, and then when I did..." She shook her head slightly. "You have nothing to apologize for. If you hadn't done what you did..." She glanced down at the blood staining her apron and thought about how lucky she was that none of that was hers, except on her leg. She kept her gaze downward, feeling contrite as another thought occurred to her. "I do hope you aren't upset with me because I didn't stab her arm when I had the chance, as you asked. I just.. it seemed... well, I didn't know she was anything more than she appeared, and... I thought it seemed.. too vicious, and I feared that I might find it.. too satisfying." She admitted quietly.

[Pele Alarion]

Healer Linaiwe w/ Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Recovery room
4 days after Midsummer
@Rillewen

“Well, if you have nothing against chamomile it should prove helpful and relieve the itching at least,” Linaiwe said, and began to apply a thin layer of ointment over the affected areas, trying to make sure she got all of it covered.

Her hands deftly found all the angrily red looking skin, including what had at first escaped her gaze – reaching slightly down his back. “Yes, Erynneth, though I doubt it is from plants in this case,” she noted. “Looks to me more like some substance… You don’t have to tell me who did this to you or why, Trastion, but it certainly looks like someone poured something on you. I’d suggest you tell your commanders of it, if you have not yet, or I will. It is not as serious as a concussion, yet a notable circumstance either way.”

Once the healer had made sure Trastion was all but covered in ointment, she let his shirt back down. “Now you should eat before that stew gets cold,” she then said, replacing the lid on the ointment jar. “Erynneth, could you hand him the bowl and make sure he doesn’t pour that on himself on top of everything else that has already befallen him?”

---

Master Healer Pele Alarion
Treatment room 6, with Arnyn and Cali
Last week of July
@Arnyn , @Rillewen

While dealing with her duties as a healer, Pele pushed the broader implications of Relic’s death into a further corner of her mind to be dealt with later. It was no longer urgent, there would be no more danger forthcoming from that source, so she could focus on making sure to mend what she could of evils already done.

The joint account from Cali and Arnyn filled in the details of what had happened after she had gone. “I had no idea she was capable of that much,” Pele admitted, and then glanced at where the wolf… Relic… had bitten Arnyn. Had the teeth sunk in any deeper… “Necklace or no, I am very glad, she did not… had she killed you, Arnyn, I would not have been able to forgive myself for merrily walking off and leaving you to deal with her.” She then turned her attention back to tending Cali’s leg to hide the distraught look in her eyes.

Having cleaned the wound as well as she knew how, Pele evaluated the damage. “Well… She must have gotten a good grip on it, but there shouldn’t be any permanent harm done. Bad bruising; it might take a while for the pain to subside. And the boot has kept her teeth from sinking in real deep,” she described what she saw in enough detail both for Arnyn and Cali. “I will put something on it to keep the infection off and dress the wound. The bandaging should be changed each day and the wound checked for any signs of swelling or pus forming. You’ll have to take it easy for a while, Cali, at least until the pain is gone.”

As she chose the best ointment to apply, Pele thought on the words of apology the two had exchanged, and thinking that Cali deserved at least some sort of explanation.

“Look, I am happy that you have both gotten through it fairly lightly,” she said with a small smile. “Only with as much as being nibbled on a little.” Pele’s hands worked almost automatically as she opened one of the jars letting a strong and fresh scent waft out of it.

“A sorceress indeed, Cali, and it is I now who am sorry that you ended up caught in the middle of this all,” she spoke, gently applying the contents of the jar on Cali’s wound. “Relic – which is the name she was known by, an Umbarian slaver, she was really after me, and everyone near me ended up in danger.” As she said this, Pele ceased in her work yet again, glancing searchingly at Arnyn. "There were no more... victims? Besides the known, yes?"

---

Healer Linaiwe with Nurse Maeth, Eryn, and Trastion
Treatment room 8
Last week of July
@Rillewen

“I did not get a very proper look at the wounds, but it seems that her leg was injured,” Linaiwe explained to Maeth. “But it should not be anything too severe since she could still walk.”

Now that they had reached the room, the healer found that the young man needing her attention was Trastion.

“Why, here we meet again,” she smiled with some amusement. “It seems that you really like it here since you visit so often. Let me see what you have to show this time.”

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Reception
Room 6
@Rillewen
@Cubanopele

When Cali indicated her necklace and asked if that could have been what had saved her, Arnyn gave the smithy a strange look while her hand automatically reached for the teardrop-shaped saphhire. "I don't think so?" she mumbled, turning the gem around in her fingers, not having thought of that for so much as a second so far. "I mean, it was a gift - I do not know its history. But it would be very surprising to me if it had any special enchantments or anything of the sort. I've never known it to... do anything. It was probably simply a stroke of luck," she concluded, although there was some hesitation in her voice. She glanced at Pele, to see what she thought about it. Her friend would have long recognized it as Dhalion's, although the two of them hadn't really spoken about it. Then again, what would Pele know of it that Arnyn did not? Arnyn had been closer to the man than Pele had been... Yet you never knew. Some words exchanged here or there?

The smith's own apology made one corner of Arnyn's lips tilt upward. The Lieutenant supposed Cali was right. "Right. I did tell you to run." Her grin grew a little. "I should be grateful to you that you did not, however. That sword really helped to..." The grin faded a little as her eyes flicked to Pele. "... seal the deal. So to speak."

The admission about stabbing her arm possibly being too satisfying, made Arnyn raise an eyebrow as Cali looked away, down. "Too satisfying?" she tried, gently. "After what she did to Mourgan, or...?" Arnyn let her voice trail off. Cali might answer if she would. If she would not, that was alright too. Sometimes, people dropped hints to get people to help them open up. Other times, they dropped hints by accident, or changed their minds about wanting to talk at the last minute.

Arnyn waved Pele's words about the danger to her own person away. "Well, she did not kill me. So there is no need to fret over that part of it. You trusted me to handle her. And while I couldn't handle her exactly the way I wanted to... it's handled." Thankfully... thankfully... she had not violated Pele's trust.

Listening intently to Pele's assessment of Cali's leg, Arnyn was relieved to hear the diagnosis. All things considered, it was what the rangers would call a light wound. And when Pele gave her that searching look and asked whether there were any more victims, the Lieutenant shook her head solemnly. "No, no more than the known. Your guard. Minluzir. Danthor. Mourgan, who yet lives. Cali and I with our light wounds. No more." She tried on a faint smile. "Cali was very good at keeping the wolf from ravaging the kitchen staff."

[Pele Alarion]

Master Healer Pele Alarion
Treatment room 6, with Arnyn and Cali
Last week of July
@Arnyn , @Rillewen

Meeting Arnyn's look Pele only shrugged and offered a small smile. "You never know about necklaces and other things of beauty with additional meaning," she replied; while she was not that sure the jewelry possessed any special properties, she was glad it - or something else - had worked.

"I am glad, so glad you managed to stop her from harming anyone else," Pele said, while setting about gently covering the bite spot and the surrounding bruise on Cali's calf with the ointment. "Already so many have suffered." She worked quietly for a few moments, and then added: "You might not be a Ranger, Cali, but it seems you have managed to assist Arnyn and pull off quite a feat! Now..." Pele switched the topic to speak of the medical matters. "I will bandage the wound, but you should have it checked daily as I said before. You don't need to come to the Houses for that if you have someone who can do it for you, but definitely check in if it swells, begins festering or smelling badly. Unless you want to stay and rest here for a couple days, that is. Otherwise we'll have to figure out how to help you get home without tormenting that leg further."

As she bound up Cali's leg, a shadow of a smile lingered on Pele's face, and she eventually said: "Cali, you didn't stab her arm while not knowing her for who she was, but I had an opportunity to kill her right there and then knowing her evilness full well. Too much kindness? But perhaps it was better not to strike out of pure revenge rather than in defence of that which is good as it ought to be." She secured the end of the bandage, and then looked at Arnyn, the smile even brightening a touch. "Your turn, Lieutenant."

[Rillewen]

@Cubanopele

|
Apprentice Erynneth Raedor | Recruit Trastion Leithor
Room 3
4 days after Midsummer

Trastion held still as best as he could while the healer applied the ointment. It began to feel a little better almost right away, or at least, it felt cool to the burning itch on his skin. Still, he didn't like what he heard her saying. Frowning, he tried to think of why she would feel it necessary to tell the captain, but he had already done so much thinking it was making his head hurt a little. He rested his head back carefully against the headboard, (or pillow, whatever was there) closing his eyes for a moment. Yes, something had been poured on him.. but he wasn't sure he liked how close to the mark the healer had guessed. If his suspicion was right, then he didn't want to make a big fuss about the whole thing, and draw attention to his situation. At the same time, he felt like it didn't completely make sense, but then not a lot did. So he pushed away all thoughts and tried to let his head clear before it hurt any worse.

Watching Linaiwe work on putting the ointment on him, Eryn nodded thoughtfully, trying to run through her mind of what sort of things might have gotten poured on him. She thought of a few things, like poison and harsh cleaning substances. "Ohhh, you know, I heard something about the laundry people who wash the ranger's stuff, like that they use really strong soap with too much lye and stuff like that, could that be it?" She wondered, wondering if perhaps she might have solved the mystery. "I mean, Nal hasn't mentioned any issues with the laundry, but maybe Trastion's more sensitive to it? Or, not used to it," She tilted her head thoughtfully, wondering how might get around such an issue if that was the case.

Then she turned to get the bowl of stew once Linaiwe asked it again, but when she returned to bring it to him, she frowned as she saw that he had closed his eyes. "Um, here, Trastion." Eryn spoke softly, half wondering if he had fallen asleep. If so, should they wake him up? He was supposed to eat, right?

Blinking his eyes open, Trastion tried to remember the last time he'd eaten, but it seemed like ages ago. Breakfast? What time was it now, anyway? He couldn't remember, but his stomach was not pleased. "Thanks," He managed a faint smile and reached for the bowl.

She was about to hand it to him, about to let go and entrust the bowl to his hands, when she only just caught it in time, and realized he was probably not going to be so good at not spilling. Just as Linaiwe had warned her, she realized. "Oh... hold on, let me just.. here." Rather than giving him the bowl, she found a cushion and situated that in his lap, then carefully placed the bowl so it was nestled on the cushion, a little elevated and a bit more stable. "Do you need any more help?" She wondered, noticing that when he tried to pick up the spoon he seemed to misjudge its location slightly, but he found it on the second try.

"I'll be alright," He insisted quietly, a little embarrassed by all of this. "I think I can manage to eat without help."
"If you're sure." She shrugged, hesitating a bit, and glanced at LInaiwe. "Should I stick around, just in case?" She asked in a whisper, unsure.

---

@Arnyn @Cubanopele

Cali with Arnyn
Last week of July - Room 6

Hearing Pele's comments about her wound, Cali blinked in surprise. "I didn't even think she did get a good 'grip'," She murmured, trying to think back. "Arnyn was.. preventing her from getting closer. I'm not sure what she did," She cast a questioning glance toward the lieutenant, "but she seemed to have trouble reaching me.." She cleared her throat. "Most of this blood is from where I tripped and fell into..a puddle, from..." She trailed off, not wanting to complete that, and figured neither of the other two would like for her to go there either. "Still. It hurts a lot. I couldn't put weight on it," She frowned slightly, thinking about the part about 'taking it easy'.

Refraining from sighing at this news, Cali looked back at Arnyn and thoughtfully looked at the necklace she wore. That it had been a gift made it difficult to pin down anything particularly special about it, of course, unless they could ask the one who gave it to her. But then maybe it wasn't the necklace at all. She just could think of no other reason why the wolf would have recoiled like that. It surely wasn't the uniform, or any sort of power Arnyn herself possessed, right? Momentarily lost in thought, Cali shrugged then when Arnyn concluded that it must have been a stroke of luck. "Perhaps," She wasn't so sure but then she knew very little about this whole matter.

She listened quietly as Pele went on to explain about this sorceress, and frowned, eyes slightly widening at the mention that she was an Umbarian slaver. Immediately many thoughts flashed through her mind, the foremost being, was she in any way tied up with that other guy? She couldn't help wondering about the coincidence that it was only a couple of weeks ago that all of that stuff had happened at midsummer, and now this. She found her gaze straying toward Arnyn again, and wondered if she might know anything of that sort, but she didn't ask. There were too many things going on right now.

Therefore she was slightly caught off guard when Arnyn seemed surprised and questioned what Cali had meant with her previous statement, that she might have felt it too satisfying. And suddenly Cali felt her own mind go blank. What did Cali mean by that? She hesitated, blinking a couple of times. "Uh.." She frowned, trying to find the right words for that explanation. She hadn't really thought about it when she said it, but now... she wasn't sure she wanted to delve into such deep things right now. "I...don't really know, actually," She admitted after a moment, shrugging as she looked down, feeling her throat tighten a little with emotion. "Maybe. Maybe more... It's.. I'm just.." She shrugged, going quiet as she felt the lump in her throat getting bigger, and was somewhat glad for a distraction, listening to Pele speak about how she had not killed the woman while she had the chance, even knowing how she was. She nodded silently, taking a few slow breaths to push away the inner turmoil that had threatened to rise up inside. She remembered that moment, and how that had also had some impact on Cali, helping her to fight the urge to do something in anger she might feel guilt for, later.

She nodded as Pele spoke about being glad that Arnyn had not been killed. "I agree," She managed a slight smile. "I'm fairly sure I could not have handled that monster on my own," She laughed slightly, nervously. "It was terrifying.. and I'm glad it's over." She smiled a little shyly at the Captain's words about 'pulling off quite a feat'. "I was coming to offer my help with the fire, I had no intentions of getting caught up in all of that business... but I am glad I came when I did." She decided, thinking back about how she had been able to aid Mourgan.

She looked down at her leg when Pele tied off the bandage and declared her to be done. Yet, it was left up to her whether she would stay for a couple of days or not. She wasn't quite expecting that, and frowned slightly in thought. "What do you recommend?" She wondered. "I live on the third circle," She mentioned thoughtfully, hesitating. "Whatever the case, I think I would like to see if I can get someone to bring me some more clothes. I'd rather not go through half the city like this." She gave a slightly awkward laugh. "That's sure to draw a lot of unwanted attention..."

---

@Cubanopele

Nurse Maeth, Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Room 8 - last week of July

Maeth was a bit surprised to hear that it was just the leg. But she'd seen so much blood! Though, she recalled that Cali had said that most of it wasn't hers.. still, she wanted to go and check on her daughter.. her only living child, and the only family Maeth had left, except a cousin. She took a slow measured breath and nodded, trying to maintain a professional manner. "Good." She answered softly, though she would feel better once she could see Cali for herself.

Eryn looked up as the healer came in, and smiled in relief. "Oh, good." She declared, and motioned toward his arm that was bleeding. "He's got a shard of porcelain buried in his arm," She informed Linaiwe. "I.. didn't think I should try taking it out myself. It looks sort of deep, and I'm not sure if there might be more smaller pieces, and...yeah. I thought it'd be better to get a real healer," She explained.

Trastion looked up and almost laughed to see that it was the exact same healer as before, and wondered what the odds of that were. "Yeah, I just can't get enough of this place," He gave a slight grin. His voice still sounded a little raw but not quite as bad as before. "Eryn already made similar remarks," he added with amusement. "But, maybe you can answer this. I was just asking," He motioned toward the tea Eryn was trying to give him. "Won't the nettles irritate my throat more?" He repeated his question, puzzled, and hoped the healer could give a proper answer.

Eryn tried not to roll her eyes. "He was asking me what the nettle tea is for and I can't remember what Healer Eitha* said." Eryn explained, slightly embarrassed, although she tried to bring them back to the wound, thinking it was a bit more urgent to worry about. "So, I cleaned the area around the injury as well as I could without moving the shard," She informed Linaiwe, trying to minimize how much talking Trastion had to do. "And there was blood and like..lamp oil, all over his arm, he says it's a piece of a lamp that exploded in the fire. Oh, and there was also salt all around it." She added. "And we might get another patient later with more shards like that in his back, and burns and stuff." She added, passing on information Trastion had given her.

"Will you need any assistance from me, healer Linaiwe?" Maeth asked, standing by for further instructions, or else waiting to be dismissed to offer her aid elsewhere.


(*random npc made up for this occassion lol)

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Reception
Room 6
@Rillewen
@Cubanopele

When Pele said it was her turn and addressed her by rank, Arnyn smiled. "Yes, Captain." She just seated herself more securely on the treatment table. Since the table was large enough for a tall, grown man to lie down on, it provided ample space for Cali to remain where she was and Arnyn to sit on it a ways beside her. The Lieutenant slanted her head away from the wound. "As I said, Elanor cleaned it off a little already. I think she just wanted to make sure it wasn't worse than I was making it out to be." A roll of her eyes.

As Pele stepped closer to take a look, Arnyn made eye contact with her friend. "And just the right amount of kindness, I believe," she commented quietly to Pele's earlier words.

She thought about Cali's earlier questioning glance. The smith wanted to know how sh'd kept the wolf from getting any closer to her. "Um. Well, I only had my throwing knives still on me. I used two of them to..." she paused, looking for the right words to continue, "...well, get a grip. Stabbed them into her and held onto them, pulling back with everything I had." She sighed. "It wasn't enough, clearly. But at least it helped." Things could always have been even worse.

[Pele Alarion]

Healer Linaiwe w/ Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Recovery room
4 days after Midsummer

“Might not be laundry judging from where the rash is located,” Linaiwe observed to Eryn, but she also noted that their guesses made the Recruit very uncomfortable, so she let the matter drop for now. “I will leave the ointment here in case your stuff does not arrive soon enough and you need more relief,” she said, relenting just a little.

The healer watched on in silence while Eryn took the soup and offered it to Trastion, and before she could lay it down, she reached for his uniform shirt and carefully but swiftly pulled it out, collecting it together with the rest of his clothes.

“I’ll have your uniform washed and returned to you in perfect condition,” she said to that effect and then added more quietly to the apprentice. “Let us leave him be for a bit, Erynneth, but you can check in after a while.”

---

Master Healer Pele Alarion
Treatment room 6, with Arnyn and Cali
Last week of July

“Perhaps… if Arnyn had not held her back your leg would have been snapped in two, boot or no boot,” Pele commented to Cali. “Still, you might be out of commission for quite a bit if it hurts that badly.”

“Third is a ways off,” she said, turning her attention to Arnyn’s injury now, yet still discussing Cali’s situation. “You don’t have to stay here necessarily, but the way home would take a while, and you’d probably need at least a couple days off work. And clothing… I’m sure we could find you something from our provisions here.”

Pele dabbed at Arnyn’s wound a bit more, especially around the teeth marks. “Elanor has cleaned it pretty well, but there are some bits of skin that I’d rather clip off. Mmm. Apparently she found you quite tasteless. And not the easiest place to bandage…” A lopsided grin mastered Pele’s lips, as she found humour even in this situation.

“I must say that I am also very glad this all is over,” she agreed quietly, even though she still could hardly believe that something she had struggled with for years could be suddenly done with.

---

Healer Linaiwe with Nurse Maeth, Eryn, and Trastion
Treatment room 8
Last week of July

“A shard in the arm this time, ey?” the healer chuckled softly. “Less troublesome than concussion, I figure.”

She then turned to the nurse Maeth and said: “I think we will be able to handle this all right, thank you, Maeth. Perhaps your assistance might still be needed somewhere else. I’d like you to check if there are no more patients in the reception area, and then you can offer your help were needed.”

Her attention back to Trastion, she took him by his other arm and led him towards the window. “Come here, lad,” she said. “My eye-sight is not all that it was so I need more light not to miss any small shards.”

Motioning towards the chair by the window to indicate that Trastion should sit in it, Linaiwe searched through the drawers of the cabinet for the tweezers of the right size.

“Nettles would do no harm – they have been steeped and lost any sting that a living plant would have,” she explained while going through the search process and then dipping the tweezers in a mug of alcohol kept for cleansing of tools. “It may help a little against pain, infections and inflammation, so go ahead and drink it, Trastion.”

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Reception
Room 6
@Rillewen
@Cubanopele

When Pele said that if she hadn't kept the wolf back, it might snapped Cali's leg, Arnyn's eyes darted to the smithy for a brief moment. Luckily that had not happened...

Arnyn's thoughts drifted off a bit as Pele and Cali discussed the possibilities of the smithy going home or staying at the houses of healing, getting some time off - obviously - and changing her clothes. Dimly, the Lieutenant realized that, yes, they were indeed... somewhat dirty. Ahem.

She groaned when she heard Pele wanted to clip some bits of skin off. Rather than a groan of fear or apprehension, though, it was a sound of resignation. As if she had been there before, wasn't thrilled to hear the time to do such a thing had come around once more, but understood the need for it. "Might as well get it over with, then," Arnyn muttered. She knew it was better to have the skin clipped away if a healer figured it would not heal properly anyway.

"Well. I've never claimed to be tasteful," Arnyn commented lightly, easily going along with the master healer's humor.

A soft smile mastered her features. While she did not move her head since Pele was still working on her neck wound, she did shift her gaze toward Pele as well and good as she could. "I am glad it is over, also." Now, a new stage would begin for Pele. There were still things to take care of, of course. The aftermath of the confrontation would still claim a lot of energy. And they would also need to inform everyone, in a swifter way than they had done before. Finally, Pele would need to find closure for the matter internally. Perhaps taking care of the practical loose ends would allow for her to do just that.

[Rillewen]

@Pele Alarion

|
Apprentice Erynneth Raedor | Recruit Trastion Leithor
Room 3
4 days after Midsummer

Nodding slightly, Eryn made sure that the stew was secure on the pillow, and wouldn't spill. "I suppose I'll check back with you later, then." She spoke quietly, trying to be mindful of his headache, then stepped away and went to join Linaiwe, giving another curious glance toward the ranger recruit. She was a bit puzzled why he seemed so reluctant to give an answer, but didn't keep pushing, as she gathered from Linaiwe's response that they shouldn't do so.

"Thanks," He relaxed slightly and started on the stew, halfway trying to remember when the last time he'd eaten anything had been. He recalled having some water on the way up here with Arnyn, but as for food, he was coming up blank on when that had been. He had mostly stuck to the 'little mess' so as to avoid the majority of people, but the last time he'd been there seemed like ages ago. It was nice to have some nice hot food that he didn't have to cook on his own, since most of what he'd had lately was not of that sort.

---

@Arnyn @Pele Alarion

Cali with Arnyn
Last week of July - Room 6

The thought of having her leg snapped almost brought a shudder from Cali, yet she refrained. Still, her gaze briefly met Arnyn's as the lieutenant glanced at her quickly. "There are many things which might have happened, which did not." She spoke softly, thinking of a variety of things. Mourgan might have died. Arnyn might have had her head literally bitten off. Cali might have had her leg broken or worse. And the list could go on, but thankfully, none of those things had happened, and the one responsible was... the thought trailed off as Cali remembered that she had aided in killing a person. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, trying to think of it more as killing a vicious wolf, rather than a human being, evil or not.

Hearing that she would have to take a couple of days off from work, Cali opened her eyes again, and held back a sigh. Yes, she had anticipated as much, yet it still didn't make it any better to hear it stated out loud. Not that her friends, or her mother, would've allowed her to do all that much without making a big fuss. She nodded slightly, though, relieved to hear that there were clothes that she could borrow. "Alright. I..I'll at least wait until I've gotten cleaned up and into cleaner clothes, but.." She frowned. "I don't know. Maybe.. I might have to stay at my mother's apartment." She tried not to sound too reluctant as she said this, as if being resigned to such a thing were a terrible fate. "Though, I'll probably have to wait around until someone can help me get there. And besides, I'd like to see Mourgan before I leave... if that's alright." She added quietly.

Hearing that Arnyn would have to have bits of skin clipped off, Cali wasn't sure whether she should be grateful her wound was not of the same sort. She spent the next few moments carefully avoiding looking in that direction, and busied herself with removing the leather apron which had the most of the blood on it. In fact, it could have almost been mistaken for a butcher's apron, except that there was a lot of blood on the back parts that wrapped around her. She tried to put aside the memory of falling into the puddle of blood, or reaching across the bodies in an attempt to get a shield. She managed a faint smile to hear Arnyn joking about not being tasteful. And the mention that it was all over, now. Yes, that was the part to focus on. That it was over, and the losses had(as far as she knew) been quite minimal, and should not increase from this point on.

---

@Pele Alarion

Nurse Maeth, Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Room 8 - last week of July

Trastion grinned slightly. "Right, I don't plan on having a concussion ever again." He assured her, his voice still a little bit hoarse from all the smoke. "At least, I hope it's not as bad as the concussion," He added, then went quiet for a moment as she dismissed the nurse. Cali's mother, he recalled, and noted how she appeared quite worried even if she was trying hard to hide it. He took the opportunity to sip the nettle tea Eryn had given him, since the healer assured him it wouldn't sting like nettles.

"Alright, thank you." Maeth nodded in reply to Linaiwe, then smiled slightly to the other two before hurrying off to check the reception again, and check if there were any new patients by now.

"Anything you'd like me to assist with?" Eryn asked, standing by just in case, though perfectly willing to let Linaiwe handle the injury, since she had asked her to. But she was ready and willing to provide any necessary assistance.

Following Linaiwe to the window, he watched her as she dipped the tweezer into alcohol, and tensed slightly, unintentionally. "Umm, could you let that dry first?" he requested, a little nervously, pulling his arm away from the healer a little bit.

[Pele Alarion]

Master Healer Pele Alarion
Treatment room 6, with Arnyn and Cali
Last week of July
@Arnyn , @Rillewen

“Better not to be tasteful, in this case,” Pele said with certainty in her voice. “Now, this is not a big deal, just a bit of snip here and snip there so it heals better.” She set about the work of sorting out Arnyn’s wound with quick and efficient movements. She knew too well that none of the Rangers really liked being treated and tried to avoid the Houses as much as they could; besides, she herself was a rather bad patient regardless the healer’s knowledge she had.

“Might take me a while to catch up with everything ‘it is over’ includes,” she commented, the smile lingering in her eyes and on her lips. She did feel a sense of relief, yet at the same time there seemed to be so much unknown that she decided it was better to take things one step at a time. Make sure Arnyn and Cali were all right first, then see if she was needed to treat anyone else, and then figure out the first tasks she’d have to perform in relation to Ranger business.

Satisfied with the way Arnyn’s neck wound looked, Pele set about applying the ointment on it with as gentle a touch as she could.

“Cali, it seems that you have options of where you want to rest,” Pele then returned to the smith’s situation when she mentioned staying at her mother’s apartment. “As I said, it is not a must for you to stay here – home is always more pleasant, no? Once I have fixed Arnyn I’ll have a look in the cupboards to see if there’s any piece of garment that would fit you, else the storage rooms would surely have something.”

“Now to bandage…” Pele was stopped in mid-sentence by a knock on the door, and a head of one of the staff peeking in through the half open door.

“Now, what is it? How many times must I tell you to wait for the reply first? Someone could be naked here or something!” the healer chided the young man at the door.

“Sorry…” he mumbled. “Just a message for you, Master Healer. Mourgan woke and was able to speak, but fell asleep again.”

“Fine, I’ll check in on him later,” she dismissed the messenger, waited for him to close the door, and then with a slight eye roll turned back to Arnyn. “They never seem to learn for some reason… The bandage, I was saying. A tricky spot, so I’ll have to bind you up more than strictly necessary.”

Remembering that Cali was asking about visiting Mourgan, Pele said: “I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt, if seeing him would settle your mind. But I doubt he’ll be awake enough to talk with you. The beans must have taken off most effect of the poison, but it might still influence him, as well as the wounds.”

---

Healer Linaiwe with Nurse Maeth, Eryn, and Trastion
Treatment room 8
Last week of July
@Rillewen

“It should not be as bad,” Linaiwe assured Trastion. “Perhaps a bit of a cough for a couple days, and some pain from where that shard is…”

She stopped halfway and furrowed her brow at Trastion’s request. “Are you afraid it would sting? I can’t deny it would,” she wondered, and then handed the tweezers to Eryn. “Perhaps you can keep it over the hearth for a bit so that it dries up and we don’t have to spend the whole night picking away at shards?”

Linaiwe then reached for Trastion’s arm again and inspected it in the light that fell on it from the window. “Hmm. I can see a couple smaller ones, near the very surface.”

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn @Pele Alarion

|
Cali with Arnyn, Healer Pele, joined by Nurse Maeth
Last week of July - Room 6

Cali shrugged slightly. "Home is more comfortable, yes." She agreed, thinking of how much more comfortable it would be resting in her own bed than the couch in her mother's apartment. "But it's three levels down." She added with a soft sigh, glancing down at her leg. "I'd rather not attempt that just yet." She frowned slightly at her leg, wondering how long it would be before she could walk properly again.

Suddenly the knock at the door interrupted her thoughts, and she glanced up at the young man who had come with a message about Mourgan. It was a great relief to hear that Mourgan had awakened, and she smiled slightly. That was a good sign, right? She glanced over at Pele as she spoke again. "No, I didn't mean right now. I meant more..when he's awake." She hesitated. "I know his mother is sitting with him. I wouldn't want to bother her or anything. I just.. I'd like to hang around a little while, until I can go see him myself."

The mention of the poison made her remember that knife, and she frowned, glancing at Arnyn. "Um.. what happened to that knife after you used it on her?" She asked Arnyn, suddenly concerned. "As you said, it's probably poisoned, and I'd be concerned whether anyone might pick it up, not knowing, and... well, it could be dangerous, right?" She frowned, trying to recall where the knife had gone. "Speaking of poison.." She frowned as a vague possibility occurred to her, "I don't suppose there's any danger that the wolf had any poison on her teeth?" She glanced down at her leg, and Arnyn's neck. If that was even possible, then.. that might possibly explain why the wolf had been content with merely breaking the skin on Arnyn's neck.


After checking with the reception, and finding there were no fresh patients needing tending, Maeth took a slow breath and went down the hall. There had been plenty of time by now for Cali to have had her wounds tended, and she was anxious to see her daughter. She passed the young messenger in the hallway. A moment later, she stopped at the door to room 6 and paused to brace herself for whatever injuries Cali may have. After a brief hesitation she knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

---

@Pele Alarion

Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Room 8 - last week of July

Glancing a little curiously at Trastion, Eryn nodded to Linaiwe as she took the tweezers over to the hearth. "Just make sure you drink plenty of water and get lots of fresh air, and your lungs should be fine," She added, in relation to the smoke inhalation concern.

Trastion paused, hesitating at the healer's question. "Um.." He cleared his throat, trying to think how to reply to that. "It'd do a lot more than sting," He muttered. He watched her hand the tweezers over to Eryn, and tried to think what to do. It was definitely not a good situation, and he hadn't expected to get an injury that would require going to the houses of healing. He shifted a little uncomfortably while the healer was inspecting his arm, and mentioned smaller shards. "The small ones shouldn't be a problem, right? I didn't mess with the big one, because I wasn't sure how deep it was.. I was afraid if I pulled it out, it'd start bleeding more than I could stop it. A lamp exploded from the heat, and.. well I'm probably lucky it wasn't my face."

He hesitated a little more, and sighed, realizing he would probably have to tell the healer at some point, and preferably before she started trying to pour alcohol on the wound. Still, he was reluctant. "I.." He paused and cleared his throat. "Um, healer Linaiwe," He tried to find the best way to go about this. "I need to make a request.." He glanced up at her, and lowered his voice a bit. "I need to tell you something..important. But I.. also need it to remain a secret." He glanced over toward Eryn and back to Linaiwe, slightly anxious. "I don't want anyone else hearing about this."

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Reception
Room 6
@Rillewen
@Pele Alarion

Arnyn put her teeth together in preparation for Pele to clip away what skin she would. It had sounded worse than it felt, even though the tension only left Arnyn's shoulders when Pele picked up the ointment. It had been... unpleasant. But bearable. Holding still while her friend applied the ointment, Arnyn pondered on Pele's words. A while to catch up to 'it being over'... That was to be expected. Hopefully, though, Pele would now be more inclined to talk about it. And to let others help her.

First grinning at Pele chiding the staff member who peeked into the treatment room, the grin faded for a relief when she heard that Mourgan had woken up and had spoken. Falling back asleep was to be expected. That he had woken up so soon was very good news.

When she heard Cali saying she'd like to hang out for a while until she could go see Mourgan without intruding on his mother's presence, Arnyn smiled softly. "Nelladel might just stay through the night, you know," she indicated gently. The Lieutenant had known others who had done such a thing - even when the healers requested they go home for the night. Bags - she had done so herself, with a few rangers way back when.

"But I might keep you company for a while," Arnyn offered. "For one, I would like to check on Trastion before leaving. Then I was planning on washing up and changing my own clothes at the barracks." Looking down at herself, she rolled her eyes. "Perhaps I can convince you to do the same, Cali. To clean up at the barracks first and only then don the clothes Pele can provide for you? No one will stop you if you come with me, and it will be the easiest and fastest way to..." She gestured at them both. "Get all this off. Cleaning up after a fight always makes me feel better, anyway. Perhaps by then, Mourgan might have woken again. And maybe we can go say hello, and not cause him to have a heart attack at the sight of you all covered in blood." She looked at the smithy to gauge her response. "What do you think?"

As for the knife... "I just threw it away on the floor, behind me," Arnyn replied. "I am sure one of the first things Kaylin will do is check for weapons lying around. And even if Kaylin gets cut by it - which she shouldn't, she still has the antidote on her to handle that." The question about the wolf's teeth having poison on them, surprised the Lieutenant. But there was more than one reason, Arnyn thought, why that could not be the case. "I doubt Relic was resistent to the poison herself," she mused. "But even if she were... if we'd been poisoned, we would have known by now. I feel nothing other than the bite wound. I assume it is the same for you?"

Pele's words about bandaging her up made Arnyn roll her eyes. "I'll just have to take it all off again when I go clean up, you know," she muttered. "Since I'm guessing you're going to go under my other arm to anchor the bandage?" Shrugging lightly in resignation, the Lieutenant looked at the master healer.

[Pele Alarion]

Master Healer Pele Alarion
Treatment room 6, with Arnyn and Cali
Last week of July

“Well…” Pele looked over Arnyn’s wound once more considering if it could be left without a bandage. “It is still raw in places where the teeth have gotten to it the worst, and clothing might rub against it, else you could go without. But no. I’d rather you have the bandage reapplied after the wash up instead of leaving it open. And yes, seems like it’ll end up being a proper wrap up even though the wound is not that big.”

She looked through the collection of bandages she had set out, and meanwhile continued talking: “No, I doubt she’d have poison on her teeth without the risk of it affecting her, else you two would not be sitting here like this.” She did not comment on the location of the dagger, not doubting that it would have been appropriately collected – she assumed Rangers would be professional enough in dealing with such things.

“You could check in on Mourgan at some point, but I am more than sure that Nell would want to remain with him until she sees that he is out of danger,” Pele said and shrugged lightly with a small grin. “Though would definitely recommend cleaning up first.”

Another knock came at the door, and Pele rolled her eyes slightly. “Aye!” she called out, bandage in hand as if she was about to attack with it if the visitor turned out unwelcome.

---

Healer Linaiwe with Eryn and Trastion
Treatment room 8
Last week of July

Catching Trastion’s muttered response that it would have much greater effect than mere stinging, Linaiwe stopped examination of his arm and took a step back to look into his face. However, he did not continue along the same train of thought at first.

“It might take a bit of time to pick out all the pieces, and it is likely to hurt. The big one might bleed more, but there shouldn’t be a problem in stopping the bleeding,” she said and nodded in agreement. “Aye, if it was in your face, you might be left without an eye in the worst-case scenario.”

“A secret?” the healer looked straight into Trastion’s eye. “It is a rule here that healers do not talk about their patients outside these walls. Except the cases when sharing it would save the patient’s life, or someone else’s for the matter. I would not talk of it,” she then turned to look at Eryn who would also be considered a witness.

[Isolde Alarion]

Nell & Mourgan Alarion
Recovery room

They’d been kind enough to find her a chair and now Nell spent most of her time checking on Mourgan and looking out the window in thought.
“Excuse me, would you like something to drink? Some tea perhaps?” An orderly checked in on her and she returned her offer with a thankful smile. “That would be wonderful.” She answered back. She watched the orderly leave then turned to look at Mourgan again.

Every now and then she would press the back of hand to his forehead to check for any fever but was relieved to find none there. She lightly moved his hair from his forehead which she was sure if he were awake he would ask her not to do it, he was grown after all. She couldn’t help herself, she had to touch him to reassure herself he was still there. She felt she’d come too close to losing him this time.

She couldn’t dwell on it though, she had to think about his recovery and she was sure it would take him some time for that. Just then she heard someone arrive and looked up from Mourgan to the orderly and the cup in her hands.
“Oh thank you.” She spoke as she took the offered cup. The orderly smiled and handed the cup over then looked at Mourgan briefly before leaving. Nell settled back into her chair and held onto the hot cup like an anchor. She sipped at it lightly and sighed. It felt good as it went down, she felt herself relax slightly.

She wondered how the others were doing and how Pele was fairing in all this. She could hear how busy it was out there. She hoped none were too seriously injured from the fire. She sipped again while watching a bird in the tree outside the window.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn @Pele Alarion

|
Cali with Arnyn, Healer Pele, joined by Nurse Maeth
Last week of July - Room 6

Cali nodded in relief to hear both Arnyn and Pele express their doubts about the poison. It had been a little bit of a wild thought, and one that would not have likely occurred to her except for the talk about sorcery and all that. And, hearing that the dagger would have been probably collected safely, she relaxed slightly. She half-remembered Kaylin was the red haired ranger who had helped her up, back in the mess hall. "No, you're right, I don't feel any signs of poisoning..although I'm not entirely sure what I'd need to watch for." She frowned, thinking for a moment, trying to remember what Mourgan had said that day when he gave her the beans, but it was a bit fuzzy. Probably since she'd been rather sleep deprived at the time. Still, she hadn't exactly studied poisons and their effects, so even if she knew what poison it was, she wouldn't likely know what to watch for.

Arnyn's following suggestion about cleaning up at the barracks did seem like a good one. Although Cali couldn't help but give a little laugh. "I wanted to clean up before coming here," She reminded the lieutenant with a slight smile. Which, if she had, might not have alarmed her mother quite so much. "At least my poor mother didn't have a heart attack, though." She added, and shrugged slightly. "I don't mind going along to wash up there..." But then she thought of something. "Oh.. but did they get the fire out? And are there even still wash rooms there?" She asked, frowning as the thought occurred to her. They had no idea how bad the fire was, nor how extensive the damage was, did they? Cali definitely didn't, since she hadn't made it as far as the barracks.

After hearing Pele's answer to her knock, Maeth peeked in cautiously. "I hope I'm not interrupting," Her gaze strayed toward Cali, relieved to see she had much less blood on her now that her apron was off, though there was still plenty of it noticeable on her dress where the apron hadn't covered it. Still, the only evidence she could see of an injury was, in fact, on her leg, just as Linaiwe had said. "I, well, I wanted to check on my daughter mostly. But I also thought, if you needed anything, Healer Pele, perhaps I could be of assistance." She explained, turning to the healer. "How are you, Cali?" Her tone adopted a less professional sound and more of a 'worried mother' sound.

"I'm fine." Cali answered softly, giving her most reassuring smile. "Um, Mother, I know you know Captain Alarion, but this is Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen. Lieutenant, my mother, Nurse Maeth Dringolben." Cali made quick introductions to remedy the lack of any, before. "How is Trastion, by the way?" She asked, since he was last seen with Maeth.

Maeth smiled politely at the lieutenant. "Pleased to meet you, Lieutenant." She greeted the woman, before answering Cali's question. "He is being treated by Healer Linaiwe, and apprentice healer Erynneth, in room 8. I've just come from there. He seems to have improved as far as his coughing, but they were about to tend to his arm injury when I left."

---

@Pele Alarion

Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Room 8 - last week of July

Trastion blinked, a little surprised to hear that they did not speak about the patients, and that it was actually a rule. "A rule? You don't..really?" He frowned in slight confusion at this. His only real experience with any healers was his family's personal physician who had always told everything to his parents, regardless of the child's wishes. But then, he considered, maybe it had a lot to do with the situation.. since the healer back at his family estate was employed by his parents and probably had orders to report all such health concerns to his parents. There were still a lot of things he would need to learn, apparently.

Eryn had not really been paying much attention to Linaiwe and Trastion talk, until, as she was returning with the dry tweezers, she heard something about a secret. When Linaiwe assured him that they did not reveal secrets, and glanced at her, Eryn nodded emphatically. "Absolutely. I can keep secrets." She had plenty to keep and had not spilled any of them, even though some were really hard to keep.

Trastion hesitated, glancing at Eryn and back to Linaiwe. He'd intended to try and avoid having Eryn overhear this, but it was sort of too late now. But her assurance that she could keep a secret half-reminded him of his little sister, though Eryn was not quite as young as Linn. He couldn't help a faint smile, but it didn't stick long. This was difficult. Trusting people he hardly knew with a secret like this.. that could draw certain people to him if they failed to keep the secret. He took a deep breath and sighed... he might as well get it over with and tell them.

"Alright. Well..." He shifted, a bit uncomfortable. At least it was the same two who had treated him before, with the concussion, and who had seen the evidence of what he was going to tell them already. And so, he figured he'd start with that. "Um, so, you remember when I was here before, that rash you kept asking about..." He cleared his throat. "That's...what happens when alcohol gets on my skin." He admitted quietly. "It burns and blisters and lingers for days afterward... it's just very unpleasant and I'd rather not go through that again." He glanced nervously at the container of alcohol she had used with the tweezers. "I'm not sure how strong that stuff is, but with it being an open wound, I... I thought it might not be very pleasant for me."

[Ercassie]

Arkadhur Halsad and Sorrela Korsey
The Prisoner and the City Guard Recruit.
Recovery Room. 5 days after Erulaitalë
@Rillewen @Lantaelen

His head was propped up on a plethora of collected pillows, fashioned so that there was no means he could choke. He was all but sat up almost upright, held in place with a shackle bolted about each extended wrist. The chain that linked them ran under the sturdy wooden frame of the furniture, and had been wrapped around the legs of the bed’s head, so that he could not drag his whole self to one side or the other, or retreat beneath. Not without hauling the entire bed over onto it’s side. And given both the girth of the thing, and his most dramatic performance of writhing about when he was first secured, Arkadhur was assured the tree corpse would not be easy to tip. Which meant it would also be difficult to drag. Which meant he would not be going anywhere unless he could get loose.

Despite the very evident injury done to his throat, nobody had yet proposed that he write his testimony. So against his better judgement and in light of his dwindling options else, during the second night he had smacked one hand repeatedly and hard against the solid frame, and sought to break his thumb that it might be more easy to manipulate the whole mass of his hand’s bones through the unyielding metal ring. A portrayal of convulsing all of his limbs had managed to disguise the intention somewhat, and as far as he could tell nobody who had examined the swollen hand afterwards had suspected it was anything more than a symptom of his pain-induced seizure. Still, the Guard had panicked, the healers had administered some sort of dwale or it’s equivalent. He had slept well that night and wakened only hoping that it was a single night which had been wasted. Now his self-inflicted thumb had swollen so that his hand was even less pliable than it had been before and a bandage to protect the tender digit further had rendered that outlet far from dextrous. He had decided then ..not to risk the other hand.


The pain when swallowing was not an act, and neither was the excessive amounts of drooling which he had not known to expect. But the blood flecked sputum was enough to retain his custody here and so the coughing he made sure to repeat at least seven times a day. Glass of course was only sand when ground down to it’s smallest form. And though he had made sure to slice open the bottom of his boot in the cell, so they could imagine that a lot more glass had been swallowed, than had, .. it had still necessitated a large and sharp enough piece to claw its way down his throat. One piece was enough of a dare to take on. And there had naturally been the chance that it would really mean his end. But that would have meant that his troubles at least would be over. Whereas, his good ‘luck’ had ensured that the blood loss, and the lack of substenance which he could manage to swallow at all, not much, atop of the repeated doses of that damned anaesthetic were all leaving the Umbarian only less and less able to try and free himself as time went on. Despite all of the attention that had been paid to keeping him so restrained, the man had to admit, the bed was still far more comfortable than sleeping on the stone floor of a dungeon cell. And there were times it was tempting to just surrender to the rest and peace. If he had not spluttered and deliberately spat the second lot of dwale back over the nurse, they surely would have anaesthetised him more regularly to make the ordeal easier on all concerned. But an anaesthetised throat can not swallow. And he was already struggling to intake enough sustenance to survive. More than that though, they were probably withholding the resource so it could be saved for patients who were not deliberately damaging themselves.

But he had not put himself through this in the first place for no reason, and to not exploit the current opportunity for all that it was worth, would only be counted as a failure. So it had to be worthwhile. Only now his thoughts were ever more muggy and his limbs tired and aching, and his stomach hurt like bugs were trying to crawl out through the skin from the inside. He had vowed to get out of the dungeon. Because not only did he know who would have access to him there, but also that same person knew his .. disinclination toward dungeons as a whole. There was no chance that Ademar would not seize some opportunity to make clear who was in control, if Arkadhur had not taken matters into his own hands. And so he had. As a wolf caught in a trap would gnaw off it’s own paw to escape. Whatever it took.

The cells of Gondor were not the same as in Umbar, but they were enough to breed a want to leave. To get out. And he had rested far too much hope of intimidating Isys with the threat of revealing her secret. To say the woman was unpredictable was ironically not a surprise, but on this occasion it had gone against him, rather than the surprise of last time. And then they had found the dagger. Against all odds. The only physical evidence and support to the witness testimony. Everything else had been smoke and mirrors, suspicious for certain, but not proof. The sheer amount of suspicious circumstances .. he might have been able to explain away. But it was no longer just bias when there was physical evidence.


So, in desperation, he had not put much thought beyond that first and important point. Getting out of the dungeons, getting away from where those who wanted him dead could make him suffer. Now of course he had nothing but enforced comfort. And devoted eyes upon him. A guard making sure that he was not left alone for a second, for his own good. Frequent checks to tend to the humiliation of soiled sheets. The necessary change of dressings at his hand, efforts to assist him in swallowing water at the least, keeping him alive ... The fine day-clothes which Ilisys had dressed him in, the day he was arrested, had been cut away during that hectic first few hours when the actual amount of blood had startled him, let alone the healers, to the point he had believed he had gone too far. They had resembled a far more gruesome trial than the one he had been willing to put him himself through. Now left in but a standard nightshirt, barefooted, and on the sixth rather than the second circle of the accursed city .. it was beginning to dawn upon the prisoner that his fortunes were not exactly improved now if he meant to walk out of this place unnoticed and alive.

No Ademar though here. No cell. The room was clean, light, and airy. And against all his best efforts, the healers were good at their job. He would be discharged with a bill of health as soon as ever they were sure the last of the glass had been passed, and his airway was strong enough to handle food and drink. He was running out of time.


Time however had not been miserly with it’s gifts. There was routine here, at the Houses of Healing. And though the nurses did not speak kindness to him, nor offer the same bedside manner that they likely awarded to their less reprehensible patients, still they made sure that he was ‘managed’ to the best of their abilities. Regular checks, uniform duties, .. he might wager a gamble on which one was the nurse he needed by the way the guard Sorrela stiffened, each time that she (Maeth) entered the room. Cali’s mother was a nurse, he knew. Cali’s mother knew by now what he had been accused of, what he had done to her darling daughter … It was only a matter of time. They really should have made sure that particular nurse was not assigned to come anywhere near him. But with all the efforts which had been paid to keeping the Masterhealer from his proximity, save for the most dire emergency, they were left short handed then by the amount of healers willing to apply their oath to one of the ‘Enemy’. She had not shied from the duty. She .. Mother Maeth. He was hedging all bets that she was the one. At any rate, it could not hurt to try.

And so the very next time that particular Nurse was brave enough to come and take her turn at the latest most unpopular chore in the building, he was ready. And when she came close enough, he stirred his injured hand. Just enough that it might be a tremor of pain. But enough to catch her attention. It was not hard to keep his voice to a low. He had not yet put much thought to whether he might have damaged his tone forever after. But he put his all into the effort and turned his head toward the woman, the nurse, as she went about doing her job. What a perfect diligent medic she was ! Probably holding back a want to wring his neck. But she was not Ademar. And the Guard, Sorrela was at hand. He could risk it.



“You want to know why ?” he fought through the rasp. And caught the nurse’s eye even as the Guard recruit rose up from her seat across the room.

“Did he say something ?” Sorrel asked, one hand reaching instinctively for the truncheon at her hip, as she caught over to the other side of the bed.

“Bring,” Arkadhur wheezed, clawing at the air between him and the nurse. “Abrazimir Dimaethor” he gasped, before retreating into the nest of pillows. “I’ll tell ..” the words were weak enough, the Umbarian’s face pale and drawn so that the Guard readied to relax, although she motioned for Maeth to back away from the patient. Just in case. “I’ll tell. Only. Him.” were the last words emitted before Arkadhur closed his eyes. Exhausted. Apparently.


Umbarians had long learnt from Harad the draw of a diarchy. Two heads being better than one after all. Not that the two heads had to always think with the same mind, often not. Disagreements and backstabbing between duos might have been the true cause why Umbar had so repeatedly failed to defeat Gondor. But a second opinion could often be preferable if the first had proven disappointing. A spare could make the difference and it never hurt to have a second shot.

So if one Belfalasian who knew him was not going to lift a finger, then he might as well try the other he had been smart enough to know. Even if Sorrela did not go for this, .. the nurse, Cali’s mother, had definitely heard .. what it would take for the prisoner to finally make his confession. To give her, and her daughter the precious closure they needed. Two chances, two chances. This might be his last chance, so he did not have a choice. Did they ?

[Pele Alarion]

Healer Linaiwe with Eryn and Trastion
Treatment room 8
Last week of July
@Rillewen

“Ah,” Linaiwe said thoughtfully when Trastion finally decided to share what exactly had been bothering. And along with clarifying his present concerns it also explained the condition of his skin before. “That makes sense, and it is good to know such things when treating you.”

She took the tweezers from Eryn and took a hold of Trastion’s arm, but then turned back to Eryn. “This might cause some bleeding, I want you to fold a cloth so that it would be thick enough and could be used to press on the wound to stop the bleeding.”

“Why is it that you are so bothered about your sensitive skin, Trastion?” the healer turned her attention back to the patient and did not relent with more questions. “It is not something so awfully extraordinary. I will keep my promise. However, I want you think about this – if you happened to be badly injured in some battle and one of the Ranger medics tended to you without knowledge of this, they would for sure apply alcohol to clean the wounds. Is there a serious reason why you are risking great discomfort because of this?”

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Room 6
@Rillewen
@Pele Alarion

The knock on the door made Arnyn wait, despite Pele already having the bandage in hand. With some amusement at the master healer's impatience and the emphatic rolling of those blue eyes, the Lieutenant grinned at Cali. She made a face as she reconsidered Cali's comment from earlier: that she had wanted to clean up before coming to the houses of healing. "We didn't know how bad your leg was or wasn't, then," Arnyn said quietly, fighting the urge to stick out her tongue. Was she hanging around these youngsters too much? Or was she spending just the right amount of time with them to rediscover a bit of joy in life? She preferred not to think on it for too long. "Or Trastion's arm." She'd prioritized their safety over their cleanliness. Now that Pele had judged Cali and Arnyn to be in the clear, at least... they could tackle the next issue.

When the surprise visitor turned out to be Cali's mother, Arnyn returned the woman's polite smile. "I'm glad to make your acquaintance, Nurse Dringolben. You have raised a brave daughter, if I may say so." Cali's question about Trastion drew Arnyn's attention even as she noticed Pele turning her attention back to her - to wait. With a quiet sigh, the Lieutenant started taking off her leathers and her shirt so the master healer might apply the bandage as she would. For the brief time it would be on her. She wasn't bothered by Cali or Maeth's presence; she'd spent too much time on long campaigns with the Rangers, too much time traveling with others in the north, to think too long about a little bit of exposed skin.

She listened to Maeth's response and frowned slightly. "It didn't look too bad," she mused. "But it was hard to tell how deep it went, and he wasn't moving his arm much. Room 8, you say?" The Lieutenant considered that for a moment. "Nurse Dringolben, I'd just suggested to your daughter she and I go clean up at the barracks wash rooms. Unless you have the time, option and preference for her to do that here, of course. At any case, I will wait to leave for the barracks until Healer Linaiwe and apprentice Erynneth are done with treating Trastion. I want to ask the healer about his arm's mobility, as well."

[Pele Alarion]

Master Healer Pele Alarion
Treatment room 6, with Arnyn and Cali, and Nurse Maeth
Last week of July
@Arnyn , @Rillewen

"Always better to make sure injuries are looked at first, and then everything else," Pele threw in her own thought in the discussion of whether cleanliness or treating injuries came first. Though she knew full well that even healers and nurses could be highly concerned and downright frightened to see the people they hold dear come in all covered in blood.

The knocker on the door turned out to be Cali's mother, and Pele accepted her presence with a quiet nod. "Your daughter is all fixed up," she said after the short introductions. "Only a flesh wound. All that blood was just a cover up, so to say. Being in close proximity to Rangers might also be somewhat dangerous..."

Once she could access Arnyn properly, Pele began to secure the bandage on top of the cleaned out bite place. "Make sure to have this replaced once you are cleaned up," she told her friend. "Should keep the thing covered until it begins to heal properly." Then she addressed Maeth again: "Come to think of it, perhaps could use your assistance in cleaning up..." a slight nod towards Cali indicated what she meant. "If you all decide that washing up here would be better. Having that sorted, and knowing that Trastion is in good hands would free me up to check on Mourgan once more."

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn @Pele Alarion

|
Cali with Arnyn, Healer Pele, joined by Nurse Maeth
Last week of July - Room 6

The comment about Cali being brave, Maeth knew was meant to be a compliment, and she smiled faintly. "Indeed, she is... too brave, I should say." She barely refrained from a sigh, but cast a knowing glance toward her daughter, wondering what sort of 'daring adventure' she had gotten involved in this time. "I'm sure I will be hearing about it later..." She added in a somewhat skeptical tone, since she really wasn't sure whether Cali would actually tell her about it.

Cali also held back a sigh, and turned her attention toward inspecting the bandage on her leg. She wondered just how much of this tale would be alright to tell her mother. It wasn't as if she was a child who might get in trouble, anymore, but still.. old habits die hard, they say. She knew her mother would be far too worried about her to simply accept what happened without making a big fuss about how much danger had been involved. She could practically hear her already, suggesting that Cali ought to go back to live with Ivornith, because nothing like this ever happened in Dol Amroth, and ever since she came back it's been one thing after another, blah blah... not that much of that was even true. But whatever.

"Isn't the barracks on fire?" Maeth inquired with some concern. "Or, even if they've got it put out, there may be damage... we certainly have wash rooms around here that you two can use." She assured Arnyn. "After you've seen Trastion, I can show you to a wash room that's just a short way down the hall. It's not nearly as far to go," She knew the ranger barracks wasn't far, but even if Cali had only a flesh wound, she wouldn't want her to have to walk too far on that bandaged leg. "It isn't a serious wound, then?" She was relieved to hear, but still concerned. "But how does it feel, Cali? Does it hurt very much?" She frowned in concern.

"It...hurts a bit," Cali answered, a little evasively. "But it's alright now that I'm sitting down."
Maeth frowned slightly, thoughtfully looking at her, but let it slide. "Hm. Well, when you and the lieutenant are ready, I can help you to the washroom. In the meanwhile I don't think your friend will be much longer. And Cali, I want you to stay with me tonight. No arguments. I want to keep an eye on you with that injury, just in case." She declared.

"Good thing I was already expecting it, then." Cali muttered, but smiled slightly. "Don't worry, I won't argue, mother." She promised. Mostly because she didn't want to go all the way down to the third level just yet. Also she knew it wouldn't do any good. Although she sort of wished Pele hadn't said that part about being close to rangers might be dangerous. Cali briefly glanced at her mother when she heard that, and saw the worried expression grow a little more intense, but she didn't say anything about it. Still, Cali began mentally preparing her defense ahead of time, just in case Maeth tried to tell her she should find a safer job.

---

@Pele Alarion

Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Room 8 - last week of July

Hearing Trastion's 'confession', Eryn looked a little puzzled, but before she could ask anything, Linaiwe was replying to him. Eryn decided to stay quiet, though she remained a little confused, as this was not something she had ever heard of happening before. She returned her attention to the work to be done, however, when Linaiwe requested she stand by, ready to staunch the bleeding. "Yes ma'am," She answered, grabbing a cloth. She folded it as she had previously been shown, and hovered nearby so she might press it against the wound once the shard of porcelain was out.

Trastion was a little surprised by her reaction, or rather the lack thereof. He had expected a bit more inquisitiveness, perhaps surprise, maybe even disbelief. He was still a little puzzled, wondering if maybe it was more common than he had been led to believe, when she returned to the matter and asked him a question, but not quite like he had expected. "Um," He blinked. Sensitive skin? He stared in great surprise then, as she went on to say it wasn't all that extraordinary. "It's not?" He asked, rather astonished by this. He frowned slightly, confused by this, but before he could get too deeply involved in that trail of thought, she asked him to think about something else. Yes, most would use alcohol to clean a wound, and that was something he hadn't thought about until today when it had actually happened.

His frown deepened after hearing the question. Was his reason serious? He gave a small nod. "Serious enough." He answered quietly, though still a bit confused at the thought that this may not be as rare as he had thought. Still, maybe she just didn't really understand what the issue was exactly. Then again, he couldn't blame her for that; he couldn't exactly say, himself, even if he could actually tell more details. He sighed softly. "Maybe... I suppose I ought to tell someone in charge about it." He admitted, thinking mostly of Arnyn, who already knew most of his secrets, but also wondered if he ought to tell the captain as well, since she would likely be the one in charge of tending wounds and such, in some sort of ranger expedition thing, right? So he would at least think about it.

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Room 6
@Rillewen
@Pele Alarion

Arnyn smiled faintly at Pele when she agreed that treating injuries should claim priority to cleaning yourself up. That had been her thought, as well. She nodded at Pele's instructions. Keep it covered until it had healed over enough. Made sense.

"I've seen too brave," Arnyn mused, thinking on nurse Dringolben's words. "But in this instance, I think your daughter did not fall prey to that particular trap." Once Pele was done securing the bandage, Arnyn got dressed and then almost hopped off the treatment table. "Alright. I can see the sense in that. So we will swing by room 8 first and then get cleaned up here." It would be nice not to have to go back and forth, she supposed... Although part of her did want to know if the fire had been dealt with by now. "Captain?" she asked, drawing Pele's attention and immediately indicating she meant Ranger business. "Could we send a messenger to the barracks to find out about the state of affairs there? At first I thought I could go assess the situation now, but since I'll be staying here a while longer perhaps a messenger has become opportune?"

Once the Captain and Lieutenant had agreed on how to handle that, Arnyn made it clear she wanted to check off the next thing on her to-do list. Treatment room 8 would not be far away from this one, she supposed. "You think the healer with Trastion will be as happy as you were with a knock on her door?" She teased Pele briefly, before putting a hand on her shoulder and stepped in a bit closer. The Lieutenant lowered her voice as she made eye contact, so that neither Cali nor Maeth would be able to quite make out the words. "We will talk later, yes? If not earlier, this evening at the barracks. There is no need for you to deal with the aftermath of all this alone. I told you I would be right by your side every step of the way. That promise still stands, Pelepele." Arnyn gently squeezed her friend's shoulder.

The next moment, she was heading for the door. "Thank you for the wound care, master healer! Time to check up on my recruit." The Lieutenant looked at Cali. "Do I come back here in a few minutes? Or wil you be coming along with me?"

[Pele Alarion]

Master Healer Pele Alarion
Treatment room 6, with Arnyn, Cali and Nurse Maeth
Last week of July
@Arnyn , @Rillewen

Pele smiled and shook her head lightly but did not mention that she thought Cali was properly brave, and not at all too much. The whole situation had been dangerous and probably very confusing, and yet she had managed to provide the necessary assistance just right.

At any rate, it seemed that Cali’s stay with her mother was all sorted, Arnyn looked rather perky regardless of the bite and the neck, and the washing up was arranged. Pele then realised that her outfit was stained with blood as well while she had been tending to all the wounds, and it would be preferable to change into something less bloody looking to continue with her duties.

“I suppose a messenger can be sent, yes,” Pele then agreed to Arnyn’s suggestion on the way to gain information on the status of fire extinguishing. “Linaiwe might not be so short-tempered towards knocking,” Pele responded to the teasing, a merry glint touching her eyes for a brief moment.

Yet the next moment Pele suddenly felt incredibly weary when Arnyn came close to exchange quiet words with her. While the threat was no more, there was so much to deal with, and she appreciated the fact that she would not have to handle it alone.

“Yes…” she breathed the words out barely audibly and made herself smile a little. She could not let herself fall apart or give in to weariness now, not when there were things to be done yet. “Evening most likely. I am not sure how long I’ll be here.”

---

Healer Linaiwe with Eryn and Trastion
Treatment room 8
Last week of July
@Rillewen

“I’m old enough to be only rarely surprised by people’s health conditions,” Linaiwe said lightly and offered Trastion an assuring smile. “People may have itches and other reactions to all sorts of things.”

The healer regarded her patient, standing with tweezers at the ready as if it were a weapon. “I will not pry you for secrets, Trastion,” she then said. “But it would be for your own good if you had one or two people in the know whom you can trust. And make sure not to get yourself into too much discomfort by keeping quiet when you shouldn’t be.”

Seeing that Erynneth was prepared, Linaiwe examined Trastion’s arm once again, and then explained: “I will pick out any smaller pieces first, and then the big one so that those are not pressed in when we cover the place where the big piece is stuck. Just try not to pull your arm away, yes?”

As carefully as she could Linaiwe collected any smaller bits and pieces she could spot along the length of Trastion’s arm, and then secured the grip onto the bigger piece, pulling it out in one swift motion. “Cloth and pressure, Erynneth,” she instructed the apprentice since dislodging of the stuck piece of the lamp caused the blood to well up plentifully.

[Rillewen]

@Arnyn @Pele Alarion

|
Cali & Nurse Maeth, with Arnyn, & Healer Pele
Last week of July - Room 6

Despite both ranger ladies insisting that Cali had not been 'too brave', Maeth still didn't feel convinced. She may have had a different definition, of course, given how worried she was. She would prefer that her daughter would keep completely clear of any and all dangerous situations. Having lost all three of her sons, and her husband, she didn't think she could bear to lose her daughter as well. But, she made no comment, and quietly squeezed Cali's hand, trying to silently convey how glad she was that her daughter was alright.

Cali hesitated slightly at the lieutenant's question, considering for a moment. "No, I think I'll wait." She decided. Partly because she didn't know Trastion all that well, and partly because she didn't want to have to put weight on her leg sooner than necessary. "But, please tell him that I said thank you.." She paused with a slight smile, "for his assistance, earlier." She figured Arnyn would know what she meant, and hopefully, so would Trastion.

---

@Pele Alarion

Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Room 8 - last week of July

Trastion nodded slightly in reply to the things that the healer said. She did make some sense, saying he should have a couple of people who were aware. But there were so few that he did trust, yet. While some seemed like they'd be trustworthy enough as far as not betraying him, he wasn't so sure about their secret-keeping abilities, and so that was another factor that had him hesitating to tell anything.

He watched quietly as she picked out some small pieces he hadn't even noticed in his arm, and managed to keep his reaction to just a little wince as the pieces stung a little, coming out. But when she got to the big one, he had to force himself to relax his arm, as his instinct was to clench his fist and brace for it. But he figured that would likely only make it worse, and so he turned his head and held his breath as she pulled the chunk of porcelain out. It definitely hurt more coming out than he remembered it hurting, going in. Looking back at it, he watched blood well up in the gash. It looked sort of deep, he thought. But before he could get any better look at it, Eryn had pressed the cloth down on it. Trastion winced again, but kept his jaw clenched and didn't make a sound.

"Is it going to need stitches?" Eryn asked Linaiwe, curious. She had yet to see that process actually done on a patient, and while it wasn't that she was eager to see it done, she was curious as to how it was done, aside from just reading about it and hearing others tell about it. Keeping pressure on his arm, she hoped it would help the bleeding stop soon. "Also, what can we use to clean it, if not alcohol?" She asked the healer. "Just soap and water? I used that to clean his arm as much as I could before you got here, but I couldn't get the wound very well without removing the chunks." She explained, to let Linaiwe know what had already been done.

---

@Ercassie @Lantaelen

Nurse Maeth
One of the recovery rooms - 5 days after Midsummer

There was a part of her that wanted to huff at the very suggestion of tending to the man who had done such harm to her little girl. To say 'Who cares if he cuts his throat to shreds, let him suffer as he made those poor girls suffer. Cali had taken months to recover after what he did to her arm! Not to mention the possibility that he.. this monster.. might have slain her youngest boy? If that was true... Let him lie in his own filth and develop bed sores, why should she be bothered? Maybe he'd think about what had brought him to this point, and perhaps he would learn some remorse. Or at least learn about consequences.

But the other part of her mind reminded her of her desire to help people, to make their suffering as little as possible. When it came to some, like Ms Irma, and this man, it was far more difficult than other times, but a nurse couldn't pick and choose whom she wanted to help and whom she did not. She kept telling herself these things, when it came her turn to have to tend to the prisoner. And so she went in, each time her duties called for it. She didn't speak, and tried not to even think about it as she went about her job. If she kept her mind distracted with other things, then she could just about pretend like she forgot who the patient was.

So far, all had gone well enough so long as she ignored him. There had been no trouble, and little temptation to do anything...retaliation-like. Until today. Today, Maeth was just going about her usual routine, when the monster had the audacity to speak to her. There was no mistaking the fact that he was speaking to her, not to the girl they had guarding him. (She couldn't really understand why they had such a young lady, hardly older than Cali, even working in the guards, let alone why they would assign her to watch this creep) Maeth stilled from what she had been doing, and frowned at the patient. The guard girl spoke up, asking if he had spoken. Maeth wasn't sure what to say, or do. Did she even trust herself to reply to him?

Watching as he pathetically reached out to her, Maeth found no sympathy for him, as she would for others. For a moment, she thought he was going to ask for water, but instead.. he asked for a person. Maeth's expression did not change as he struggled to make his request known. Or rather, it sounded like a demand, she noticed with annoyance. Once he had finished, falling back in the pillows (which he did not deserve, if you asked her..) Maeth turned back to what she had been doing. "I don't even know who that is." She declared in a feigned tone of indifference, though she cast a brief glance toward Sorrela, silently asking, 'do you?'.

Did this mean that he intended to give his confession, if they brought this person to him? Was there some way of learning who this Abrazimir person might be? Because, if she understood right, he meant that he would talk to him, and maybe they could finally learn a few things which had puzzled them all for so long. Was he the one who killed Ryndir? Was he in league with the one who did? How else would he have gotten Ryn's dagger? And why else would he have targeted Cali and her friend? There was so much that Maeth did not understand, and while she just wanted to get over the sorrow, there was so much that had come out recently that she didn't understand, which made the loss all the harder to bear. If she could get this other fellow to find out a few answers, then..perhaps it would put her and Cali's minds at rest. Whatever they might learn, however painful it might be, it had to be better than not knowing, right?

[Lantaelen]

@Rillewen @ercassie

The Lord Abrazimir of House Dimaethor
Houses of Healing, after Midsummer, Fourth Age,
Coming at a request of an acquaintance.

The newly polished and harnessed Swan-Knight of Dol Amroth entered the Houses of Healing upon the Sixth level and circle of Minas Tirith. Abrazimir had not been here in quite some years, since the end of the War, and the structure had always held some dread for him, remembering the chorus of cries of anguish and agony in the aftermath of the Great Battle. So why was he here? Less than a hour ago, he had attended upon the smithies outside the Ranger’s HQ, to retrieve his armour from the resident blacksmith in employ there, a young woman named Calithildis Dringolben. She had another message for him though, one which surprised him, but he felt no harm in carrying out. His presence had been requested here, by one of the nurses there, Cali’s own mother apparently. So, here he was, with no small measure of trepidation.

Even in his armour, the sensation was not easily shaken. This was no battle, or contest of arms or strength. Here, in these halls, skilled healers battled against the hands of time itself, staving off death and worse for those afflicted by wound or disease. Here was a place in which Abrazimir was truly helpless, or so he deemed, and had no defenses against what he might see or hear. His Swan-Helm tucked under an arm, with his Dol Amrothian blue cloak fluttering about his side, fully armoured, and armed, he gazed about the foyer before catching sight of one of the working healers. Removing his hood of chain mail from his head, Abrazimir signaled and approached.

”Greetings. My name is Abrazimir Dimaethor. I was requested by Nurse Maeth to meet and attend upon her here.” He inquired, and would wait patiently for the message to move into the inner halls of the structure to find Maeth, who could in turn find him here in the foyer for whatever need there was for him. For Cali didn’t say and Abrazimir had no inkling what it might be. He had no friends or kin who were currently ailing. But he did not suspect such a summons would be dubious either, not here of all places at least. Hospices always made him nervous though. Perhaps from a sense of helplessness. Suffering and illness, and here he could do naught to help, not being trained or knowledgeable enough in the healing arts. He was a soldier. He perhaps put other warriors in such a state before. He felt he did not belong here, that his presence was sullying in such a place. What was done here and what Abrazimir was trained to do was anathema to one another.

The sooner he was out, the better.

When Nurse Maeth made her appearance, Abrazimir would bow his head low in respect of the woman’s art and age, as he was always taught to do. ”Greetings and well met, ma’am. I was told by your daughter, Calithildis, that you had need of me here. I am Abrazimir Dimaethor, from Lond Côl. How may I assist you?” He smiled politely, helmet tucked under an arm and his other hand resting upon his sword hilt, all the fresh product of this woman's family's skill and talent.

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Room 6 -> Room 8
@Rillewen
@Pele Alarion

Arnyn nodded in respect to Cali's decision to stay and wait for a moment. In the back of her mind, the Lieutenant wondered whether it was not presumptious on her part to assume Cali and her mother would simply wait for her? And that perhaps they would see her words as some order that must be followed, even if they were not in fact rangers themselves. Why should Cali have to wait to clean up until Arnyn returned, after all?

Yet, her prevalent concern was Anurion's condition. Therefore she was missing the mindspace to pull aforementioned thoughts to the forefront and only consciously registered these matters the moment before knocking on the door to treatment room 8. When the time to address them was well behind her.

With a mental sigh at herself, Arnyn raised her voice to speak through the door, remembering the doors here were quite thick. "Healer Linaiwe, Trastion? Might I have your permission to enter, or should I wait?"

[Rillewen]

@Lantaelen

Nurse Maeth with Abrazimir Dimaethor

He came much quicker than she expected. As soon as someone informed her that the younger lord Dimaethor was asking for her, Maeth hurried to go and meet him. It had taken a little asking around before learning who Abrazimir Dimaethor was, and she had been trying to figure out how she might contact him. Then, talking with Cali last night, she had been a little shocked to hear that her daughter was working on armor for the very young man in question. And apparently, Cali had delivered the message, for he had come. Maeth was relieved that he had come so swiftly.

As she entered the reception foyer, there was no mistaking who he was. All clad in maille, like a warrior out of place in this place of healing. But then, there had been many a patient who wore similar gear. The nurse paused for a moment, gathering her composure before approaching with a small smile. "Lord Dimaethor, thank you for coming." She had little experience with folks nobility status, and wasn't entirely sure how she ought to address him, but hoped that was suitable. "I.. don't really know where to begin," She admitted, after a slight hesitation. "Would you come with me, please sir? I'll try to explain why I've asked for you, but..here doesn't seem the best place." She explained, leading him toward a room where they could talk with more privacy than in the entrance foyer.

"I.." She wrung her hands as she turned to face the young man once more. She guessed him to be not far off in age from what her oldest boy would've been... but she tried not to think of that, lest she get emotional. "It was a patient we have here, who asked for you." She explained quietly. "He asked for you by name." She frowned. "And yet, we aren't even sure of his." She held back a sigh. His name didn't even really matter that much to her. The nurse turned her gaze down to the floor, taking a deep breath. She could do this. "I.. well, I only went along with this man's request for you because... I need to know." She paused. He must be awfully confused. "Let me explain, please. This man is a criminal. He.." She paused to get a firm grip on her emotions. "He injured my daughter quite badly, last autumn. And.. there are allegations against him now, suspicions that.. he may be the one who murdered my son, a few years ago."

Despite her best efforts, Maeth's voice grew thick with held back emotion, and her eyes brimmed with tears. "And.. now he..says he will speak with no one except for you. He specifically asked for you, to give his confession to. I.. I hope he meant a confession, at least, because.." She sniffed, struggling to keep from dissolving into tears or something. "There has been no evidence to turn up in my boy's murder, until now, and.. it's.. so hard, not knowing what really happened, who was responsible...why..." She took a deep breath, and let it back out. "And then this same man attacked my daughter and her friends, and... I couldn't bear the thought of him getting away with what he's done. We need to know... please, would you speak to this man, and find out whatever you can?"

[Pele Alarion]

Healer Linaiwe with Eryn and Trastion, and also Arnyn
Treatment room 8
Last week of July
@Rillewen , @Arnyn

"Stitches?" Linaiwe repeated as she gently placed her hand on Trastion's arm just under the injury and moved it a little higher. "The wound will stop bleeding faster if it is above heart level," she instructed Eryn, and then returned to the matter of stitches. "Let us first wait for the bleeding to stop, and then we will be able to properly evaluate how deep and long the wound is. Stitches are needed only if it is long and sides need to be kept together, but if it goes deep it is best to leave it without stitches so it can clean itself out as it heals."

The elderly healer stood behind the supplies she went over so that Eryn could follow what she was doing. "A bandage, an ointment to keep it from sticking to the wound, and yes, a needle and thread just in case," she said. "Nothing overly fancy."

"Yes," Linaiwe then said in relation to cleaning wounds, and then expanded the short reply further. "Soap water is good, though it is best not to pour it right into the wound. Salt water, with just a little bit of salt, mind you, is an option. It might sting, but it would not really do damage to the wound if it gets in."

Her explanations were interrupted by the knock and a following voice from behind the door.

"You may enter," the healer responded, assuming that it should not be an issue for Trastion as well.

[Rillewen]

@Pele Alarion @Arnyn

Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Room 8 - last week of July

The thought of having to get stitches had made him slightly nervous, but Linaiwe's reply relaxed him slightly, or at least gave him some hope that he might not have to have stitches. He glanced at the wound, and wondered if it was stitch-necessary or not. But he couldn't really see because of the cloth Eryn had pressed to it.

Eryn nodded and pressed the cloth against the wound, though it was a little more difficult with it raised up above higher. "Um, maybe you could sit down," She suggested, as he was rather taller than Eryn. She could manage, but it would be easier if he were seated.

Trastion grinned a little and nodded. "Might be easier for you." He agreed. He held the cloth against his arm while she went to pull a chair over to the window, and took a seat, while holding his arm at a height that kept it above the level of his heart. "It's already had quite a lot of salt on it," He mentioned to the healer, and made a face slightly.

"Yeah, that was one of the things I had to wash away." Eryn confirmed. "That, and some lamp oil." She still wasn't entirely sure how he managed to have such a strange combination of things on his arm along with the injury.

The knock at the door was a little surprising, but hearing the Lieutenant's voice calling out to ask if she could come in, Trastion smiled slightly and gave a small nod in case the healer glanced his way. Her reply spoke for them both. And technically he was supposed to be resting his throat, so he figured it was probably best to not call out his reply. He was anxious to hear whether Arnyn was alright, though it seemed she probably was, since she was now coming to check on him.

[Lantaelen]

@Rillewen @ercassie

The Lord Abrazimir of House Dimaethor
Houses of Healing, after Midsummer, Fourth Age,
Meeting with Nurse Maeth.

The Swan Knight wasn’t waiting long before an older woman soon found him, offering up a courteous reply to his greeting to which he replied to with a smile and a nod of his head. With a gesture to signal his assent to following, Nurse Maeth led Abrazimir further into the Houses of Healing. While a pleasant structure, he couldn’t help but feel he was walking himself into a spiralling situation that would spell some sort of danger or angst. Still, it was what he had been brought up to do, and he would do so with as open and precise mindset as he could muster. They soon entered a more private room and Abrazimir, with his helm tucked under an arm, waited patiently for the woman to explain all.

She looked very uneasy and uncomfortable given her body language. Shuffling hands, darting eyes, low volume despite the subject matter. So, Abrazimir had been asked for, by a patient, but it certainly was no friend of his, as he did not consort with criminals. His brow furrowed at the mention, but he did not move to interrupt the old Nurse yet. And he had apparently harmed her daughter, Calithildis, who had been so kind and helpful to Abrazimir and his family. And murdered her son. ”I am sorry, ma’am.” He offered up a brief condolence. It was despicable, this feud against her family. So then, why was this criminal even asking for Abrazimir at all?

For a confession. Why was this suddenly starting to sound familiar? And yet, too vague for him to put his finger on it. The criminal wished to speak with Abrazimir. He no longer regarded this man as a patient of any kind. And therefore, maybe, not under the adherence of certain honors and respect supposed to be given to wounded prisoners. Abrazimir though did share the idea to speak with the man, ascertain his name and origin, and see what he could to get to the heart of this matter. Before he replied anything though, he reached into one of the pouches aside his belt and drew out a folded blue cloth, offering it up to the grieving Nurse who suffered so much. For her tears, if necessary. It stirred his heart, knowing such a scene might be all to familiar with his own mother should something happen to him. He wouldn’t want that. And he didn’t want it for her.

”I will speak to this man. And I will endeavor to find the truth of these grievances inflicted upon your family. Ours and yours have been linked for many generations. My father was a great friend to your late husband. We are happy to help, here, and in any other need that should arise.” He offered up as a form of assurance. ”Even if this matter goes beyond this individual. A few questions I have though, before I proceed with an investigation.” Abrazimir said, taking a few paces towards the Nurse, so as to speak more softly and secretively.

”Do you know, if you do, the circumstances which brought this criminal into these halls? Was he captured committing another crime perhaps? Or seized and brought hither because of his criminal repute?” He inquired first. It was important to know just how far Abrazimir could go when it came to…obtaining information. Maeth didn’t need to know any more of that though. ”And the Warden, does he know about this individual? And that I’ve been called in to help? It may be that a figure of authority here in the White City would not appreciate a man from Dol Amroth operating without his purview or awareness.” He explained, though in truth, it matched his earlier scheme. The less people knew, the less restrictions and obstacles…the further he could go in obtaining information.

And finally… ”This criminal, is he of Gondor? Or elsewhere? Do you happen to know this man’s name?” And with these questions answered, Abrazimir could be led on to meet this mystery directly.

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Room 8
@Rillewen
@Pele Alarion

Upon receiving the healer's permission, Arnyn quietly came inside. The door was soon closed behind her once more, as she took in the room. Trastion was sitting on a chair near the window. And he was in the company not of one, but two healers. The Lieutenant soon nuanced her thoughts as her gaze briefly took in the two women. "Thank you, Healer Linaiwe," she thanked and greeted the older woman in one go, along with a respectful nod. She smiled faintly when her eyes touched Duinion's daughter. Her tone was friendly. "Hello, Apprentice Eryn."

Her eyes were drawn to the ranger recruit then, quickly assessing the look on his face and the position of his arm. He was holding it up himself, which bode well.

"How are you doing, Trastion?" Arnyn asked him directly, rather than asking Linaiwe or Eryn. He was not a child, incapable of speaking for himself, after all. If he knew, he could answer. If he wasn't sure, he could look to Linaiwe or Eryn to provide more information. She approached some, halting about two yards away to give the healers room enough to do as they would. She firmly suppressed her first instinct to wave the healers aside and take a look at his arm herself - if just for a moment. You're on their turf, she told herself, and this is their expertise. Not yours.
Yet she wasn't sure if she liked that they had not yet finished with his injury, because it made her worry that Trastion was worse off than he looked. Which made passivity on her behalf more difficult. "If your voice is holding up enough to answer," she added a bit more quietly, her tone sounding just a bit warmer than she would have perhaps preferred.

[Rillewen]

@Lantaelen

Nurse Maeth with Abrazimir Dimaethor
In an otherwise empty room
5 days after Midsummer

"Thank you," Maeth spoke softly, accepting the offered handkerchief. She dabbed at her damp eyes, taking a moment to try and gather her composure. At the young man's questions, she frowned slightly, unsure exactly how to answer some of those. She took a moment, to give him time to ask all that he wished to know, and to form the appropriate answers in reply. It had been a mild surprise to her, to hear that this young man's father had been a friend of her husband's. But she hadn't really been much involved in Damion's business in the last few years of his life. Not since their oldest two sons died.. that was when she had taken a keen interest in finding work here at the houses of healing. To help others who might be suffering from wounds. To try and offer some comfort to those who were in pain. Though there had been nothing that could be done for her boy Berthion, she liked to think that she had been of some help and comfort to others who had less grievous wounds than those which had claimed him.

Now, Maeth took a moment to focus her thoughts on the one patient here to whom she couldn't bring herself to wish any comfort or relief. "The.. circumstances are not entirely known to me," She answered slowly, hesitating. "But, what I do know is that he was arrested because of the crimes he committed against my daughter, and her closest friend." Maeth took a deep breath. "Cali... hasn't told me very much, to be honest. I think she fears that I will worry too much," She sighed, wishing Cali would be more open with her. "And... perhaps I do. For she is my only remaining child, and.. well, I can't help it." She dabbed the corner of the handkerchief to her eyes again. "From what I have heard, this man has apparently been parading around using a multitude of names," She scoffed lightly. "Or, at least, he was using one name when he.. attacked Cali. And it seems he's known by another name, to the guards. So I'm not sure which to call him, to be honest." The nurse sighed, rather frustrated that this was even necessary. To have to call in someone else to talk to him, when there were others here to whom he might have spoken his confession.

"As for a warden," The nurse frowned slightly. "Well, I don't know much about that. I think maybe the rangers have taken over, at least partially. But I do know that the prisoner was arrested shortly after the midsummer day, and placed in the dungeon, but it seems that either... he was attacked, or he brought harm upon himself... I couldn't say which. They brought him here, after that. And he's had guards by his bed day and night ever since."

She paused, thinking over some of the other things that Abrazimir had asked. "I couldn't say where he's from, myself. But my daughter, Cali, she says he's from Umbar. Yet, both names I've heard for him sound Gondorian," She shrugged, uncertain. "The crimes of which he's accused.. he committed while using the name 'Lowendir'," She explained. Having heard Cali refer to him as such, it had stuck with her, though she wasn't sure what his rightful name might be. "However, some others seem to call him 'Lord' something.. Menzir, I think? I don't know what to call him, and I really don't care that much what he's really called. I've tried my best to simply go about my duties and pretend he isn't there, lest.. well." She trailed off from that thought.

"They have him chained down, so he can't go anywhere." She continued, trying not to bring up her own personal feelings about it all. "But, I still don't trust him after what he's done. Even with the guards. And I can't understand why they assigned that young girl to guard him all by herself.. she's hardly older than Cali, guard or not.. and I just worry about her whenever they have her in there with him," She frowned, shaking her head a little at this, then sighed, remembering to stay on track.

"Anyway, his injury has affected his ability to speak... conveniently enough. But he spoke to me, just enough to ask for you. And, it sounded as if he might have been willing to give a confession, but.. only to you, he says." She explained, dabbing the blue cloth to her eyes again as more tears brimmed up. "It...it's been nearly six years since my little boy was murdered... and it nearly destroyed Cali, losing her twin brother and all..." Maeth sniffled quietly. "I can't say it was easy for me, either, but.. watching her go through that torment.. it was nearly unbearable." She added, her voice growing a little shaky with held-back emotion. "If.. if he is the one who did this awful deed... perhaps you can find out..why?"

[Rillewen]

@Pele Alarion @Arnyn

Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Room 8 - last week of July

"Hello, lieutenant." Eryn answered the greeting, glancing with much barely-restrained curiosity toward the "legendary" Lieutenant. Because, of course, she had already heard a very raspy version of what Trastion had seen occur in the mess hall just a few moments ago. She tried very hard not to stare with wide eyes at the woman, who still wore the blood of her foe(and possibly some of her own along with it) and instead turned to focus her attention back on keeping pressure on Trastion's wound. She firmly clamped her jaws shut before any questions slipped out, although there were plenty racing through her head.

"I'm alright," Trastion answered with a slight grin. "Healer Linaiwe says maybe I won't even have to have stitches... I'm hoping, anyway." He cast a hopeful glance toward the older healer, and then looked back at Arnyn. There was still a little bit of hoarseness to his voice, which he had been told might linger for a day or two, but it was definitely better than before. "They just got the shard out.. now we're waiting for the bleeding to stop, right?" He checked, and Eryn gave a brief nod in confirmation.

"I was actually just saying how I..uh. I probably should tell you about something... but I'm not sure if I should also tell the captain." He mentioned with a slight frown of uncertainty. "But.. that can wait." He declared, figuring that it wasn't like it was anything urgent, and there were other things he was a little more worried about right now. "How are you?" He added, glad to see she appeared to be bandaged, at least, but he was still worried. "And Mourgan? Have you heard anything about him?" He added, his worry showing through despite his efforts to appear non-chalant.

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Room 8
@Rillewen
@Pele Alarion

To hear he was alright, was not a surprise since he had been able to help her up back in the barracks, walk here, and was now holding up his arm - but logic did not always win out, of course. Relief brought a genuine smile to her features. "Stitches are unpleasant. I might even prefer getting skin clipped off," she mused, unconsciously touching a careful finger to the piece of bandage that was visible.

Arnyn tuned in more when he gave her the state of affairs. The shard was out. Now the bleeding had to stop. She noted Eryn's nod, confirming his words. Arnyn's smile remained as Trastion continued and then asked about her and about Mourgan. He was her recruit alright. Questions galore.

"Then we will discuss that matter later," was all she said in response to his vague comment. A comment which would have made most people question him, especially since the people in the room already seemed to be in the know of whatever it was. Yet Arnyn realized that if it was a sensitive issue, it might be linked to his real identity. While Arnyn did not believe he already spoke freely to her, as far as she knew she was still the only one in the White City with whom he had shared more personal information. Secrets... If he was considering telling her another, she was not one to push. Just to make sure he knew she was available once he had fully made up his mind.

"I'm fine," she waved his question away about her own well-being. She mimicked a pair of clippers with one hand, and made a face. "Pele 'took care' of my wound." She was more interested in setting Trastion at ease about Mourgan. "I have not yet seen him myself, but the master healer said he was stable. And we got word he woke up briefly already. Which is very promising. It looks like he will make it through. After a change of clothes, I mean to verify with my own eyes. Mourgan doesn't startle easily, but I've been told 'the blood look' is not really acceptable when visiting patients." Her eyebrows lifted. "Go figure."

[Lantaelen]

@Rillewen

The Lord Abrazimir of House Dimaethor
Houses of Healing, after Midsummer, Fourth Age,
Meeting with Nurse Maeth.

”Welcome, ma’am.” Abrazimir smiled courteously as the old Nurse took the offered napkin to dab at her eyes. The tears were a sore sight to see. He thought he’d seen the end of widow’s or mother’s tears after the War but not yet. He folded his armoured hands before him and proceeded to listen attentively as Maeth explained all that she could about this patient and answer his queries. It seemed her daughter Cali may know more and he made it a mental note to check in with her again with follow-up questions, if necessary. And maybe, if possible, get her and her mother some recompense for what happened to their kin.

So, this patient had various names. That reminded him of a few individuals. The Warden of the Houses of Healing did not seem to be involved, with the Rangers managing security, even going as far as placing their own guard on the room. A young woman, apparently. Seems the patient himself was taken on Midsummer, with Abrazimir recalling one particular woman of Umbar being arrested, but Maeth was not describing that woman. But there was another Umbarin, one under guard by Abrazimir’s own kinswoman. Could it be…? When he heard the names Lowendir and Lord Menzir, he began to formulate a suspicion, but held off on putting his own label on it. All would be revealed in short time.

He quirked a dark eyebrow when it was mentioned the patient was chained to the bed. Curious, but not unwarranted. ”Worry not, the Rangers are well trained and do not select their recruits idly. I’m sure this guard is more than qualified.” He spoke at least to assure Maeth and give his former comrades in the Rangers the benefit of the doubt. What difficulty could there be for any young warrior however competent or not to handle a chained and bound prisoner?

The next and most pressing issue however was the patient’s own condition. Hardly able to speak. So it might be that Abrazimir may not even be able to rouse words out of the man. And yet he asked for Abrazimir. He was the only one the patient would speak with. Still a curious thing to request. He sighed heavily through his nose as Maeth concluded her knowledge and awareness of the situation, pleading with Abrazimir to learn why this man had done the horrible crimes he had, against both Gondor and the Nurse’s family. Among so many others, no doubt. In response, he snapped his arm and fist to his chest, his hand over his heart, in a solemn salute to the old Nurse.

”I will endeavor, ma’am, to get to the bottom of these misdeeds. I am truly sorry for your loss, but fear no longer the uncertainty. I will find these answers for you. I promise.” Abrazimir assured her, while also feeling a swell of pride in himself. This is what it meant to be a Knight of Gondor. To undo the acts of evil and protect those who could not protect themselves. That was the core of his oath. He was happy to do all he could to see it done. And he would see it done, properly and diligently. He needed no reward or payment for his service. Comfort in the act alone was enough to sate him.

”I will go myself and speak with the patient now. Can you show me the way? Afterwards, I will speak with you again. And furthermore, I would ask you tell no one about my presence here until I am finished with the patient.” He requested of the Nurse, gesturing to the doorway of the room they spoke in, for Maeth to lead him on to the chamber containing the prisoner and his current guard. ”It may be that a subversive agent such as this one may have eyes and ears in many places. We must take especial care not to be heedless with our words and who we speak to. Tell no one else, if possible. Now please, lead on ma’am.” He concluded his own preamble and opening queries. It was now time to tackle the core of the situation; to speak with the prisoner himself.

[Pele Alarion]

Healer Linaiwe with Eryn and Trastion, and also Arnyn
Treatment room 8
Last week of July
@Arnyn , @Rillewen

"Lieutenant," the elderly healer greeted Arnyn with a small nod and a smile, and then let her converse with Trastion while turning to arrange some things in one of the cupboards. However, she listened in to their interactions closely even though she did not say anything. It was not her place to meddle in the affairs of Rangers though she often did find roundabout ways to influence some things related to healing.

After a few moments, she turned back to the matter at hand and said: "Let's see what that arm is doing, then. So I can release you to talk of the secrets. Or not." Linaiwe's hand motioned as a wordless instruction to take the covering off the wound. Once the cloth was removed, it was clear that the bleeding had mostly stopped, though a few drops still formed.

"Erynneth, look," she invited the apprentice and left space for Arnyn to approach as well if she wished. "While the gash is long and might do with a couple stitches, the shard was embedded rather deeply, and there might still be some of that salt and oil deeper inside, so I would prefer the wound to be left open so that it can push out any impurities. If it were stitched, those might remain inside and cause infection. Now, take one of the bandages and wrap it up, if you will." The healer considered the injury light enough to let the apprentice have a little bit of practice without causing discomfort to the patient.

"Now, Trastion, I am not really happy with how the edges look however, so you might end up with a small scar," she warned. "But as far as I know you warrior folk are pretty proud of those."

---

Master Healer Pele Alarion with Nurse Maeth and Cali
Treatment Room 6 --> Recovery Room with Mourgan and Nell
@Rillewen , @Isolde Alarion

Once Arnyn had left, Pele was quiet for a while, watching the door thoughtfully, and then turned back to Cali and her mother.

"I would suppose," she said, making her voice sound light-hearted. "Since I have finished what fixing of injuries was necessary, you two do not need me to tell you how to care for it next or how to clean up?" Her blue eyes managed a small smile. "I will then leave you to your own devices and visit Mourgan - if anyone needs to know where I've gone."

That said, Pele put away the last remaining items and headed for the door. Her steps were hurried, as she made it towards the recovery room with a detour through the kitchen to take a cup of steaming tea and some food - for Nell, since she assumed that her cousin would stay, probably all night. She made a quiet entrance into the recovery room and set the brought items on the table.

"How are things, Nell?" she asked, coming to stand next to her and placing one hand on her shoulder as she studied Mourgan's sleeping form. He looked peacefully at rest, though she could see that his hair was damp with perspiration.

[Rillewen]

@Pele Alarion @Arnyn

Apprentice Erynneth and Recruit Trastion
Room 8 - last week of July

Trastion nodded, slightly relieved that Arnyn was fine with putting it off until a more private talk could happen. And hearing that Mourgan was alright, and that Arnyn was fine too, eased a lot of his concerns. He nodded, relaxing slightly. "I'm glad to hear that," he mentioned, after hearing that Mourgan had already woken. "If I get done here, could I go along? To visit him, I mean." he added. Obviously, he didn't mean to go with her to clean up and change clothes. "And what's wrong with the blood look?" He asked jokingly. "You look very.." what was the right word? "dangerous," He grinned. "I wouldn't want to mess with you."

While amused at the talk between Trastion and Arnyn, she made sure not to be distracted by it as she listened to the healer's instructions. Nodding as Linaiwe requested to see whether Trastion's arm was still bleeding, Eryn hid a grin as she prepared to pull the cloth away, as Trastion was telling the lieutenant she looked 'dangerous'. Once the healer had come over to look, Eryn took it away carefully, and she was glad that no gushing fountain of blood issued forth from the wound the moment she took it away. It was mostly stopped, luckily. She disposed of the bloodied cloth, and thought of preparing another one for just in case it started bleeding again, but then Linaiwe instructed her to take a look at the wound. She nodded thoughtfully as the healer explained about it being deep, and that there might be some stuff still inside that needed to come out.

"Yes ma'am," She answered cheerfully, when instructed to bandage it. She was glad for Trastion's sake that it didn't need stitches, and figured that was probably painful and unpleasant. "At least you'll have a very exciting story to tell people when they ask about the scar," She told him with a little grin. "Putting out a fire... exploding lamps, wow." She shook her head in amazement as she began to carefully wrap the wound as she had been previously taught.

Trastion laughed faintly. "Yeah, I think the lieutenant here will have a much better story." He said with a slight grin toward her. "But then, yours may not leave a scar." He added, unsure whether it was the sort of wound that would leave a scar or not. He held still, watching as she bandaged his arm.

Eryn laughed softly and wrapped the bandage around his arm, making sure there was plenty of gauze padding over the cut, in case it began bleeding. At last, she tied it off carefully, and tucked the ends under so that it was nice and neat. "There, now don't be swinging your arm around and knock it into anything, it might start bleeding again. And pay attention to it, because if it does start to bleed you need to have it rebandaged." She told him, with a slightly questioning glance toward Linaiwe, as if to check if that was right. "And you'll need to rebandage every day, too, and check to see that it's healing properly and all that."

"Right. So, am I all done now?" Trastion asked, hopeful, and glanced from Eryn to Linaiwe.

---

@Pele Alarion

|
Cali & Nurse Maeth
Last week of July - Room 6

"No, you go ahead." Cali answered, assuring Pele she did not need her any further. "Mother can tell me all of that," She barely refrained from rolling her eyes, knowing that her mother would indeed be sure to tell her ALL about what she needed to do to care for her injury. As Pele left, Cali let out a little sigh and glanced at her mother. "Can I go get cleaned up, now? I want to check on him too." She mentioned, anxious to see her friend. Even though she'd heard a few good reports about him, she was anxious to see Mourgan for herself. After all that had happened, she couldn't help the feeling that she needed to see that he was alright, with her own eyes.

"Of course." Maeth answered, possibly more anxious than her daughter, for Cali to get into non-bloody clothing. The apron had the most, of course, and now that it was off, she didn't look as bad. But the hem of her dress had been drenched in it. With an arm around Cali, Maeth helped her limping daughter the short distance down the hall, to the washroom. "Will you be alright on your own for a moment?" She asked, worried.

"Of course," Cali answered, thinking it a little amusing that after the situation that had gotten her covered in blood, her mother felt the need to ask if she'd be alright in a washroom by herself.

"Well.. alright, if you're sure.."

"I'm sure." Cali insisted.

"Then, I'll get some clean clothes for you. And the lieutenant. I expect she'll be ready to join you here soon, and she'll surely want to change clothes as well." She mentioned. After Cali had indicated that she didn't need any help, Maeth left a little reluctantly, to gather some clothes the two women could borrow.

---

@Lantaelen

Nurse Maeth with Abrazimir Dimaethor
In an otherwise empty room
5 days after Midsummer

Despite his assurance that the guard was surely properly qualified, Maeth still didn't feel fully convinced. "Oh, no, this girl is not a ranger," She clarified*. "She's a city guard. But there is another young woman, who also guards her, and she is a ranger. They take turns, the two of them. And I haven't seen any other guards watching him." She frowned about that, unsure what this meant. But she could provide no answers on that matters, and honestly, had not even learned their names. She avoided the room unless the duty fell upon her to tend to that patient. And when that happened, she avoided speaking as much as possible, while doing her work.

The knight's assurance that he would learn the answers, brought a small, sad smile to her face. "Thank you, sir." She answered, dabbing again at her damp eyes. "I've never understood why anyone would want to harm my boy. He was.. always so sweet, and kind to everyone. At-at first they said it was bandits, and that.. well it was awful, but I could understand that. But.. recently, to learn.. that it was outright murder..." A little sob caught in her throat, and she let out a shaky breath, then nodded silently in answer to his request to lead him to the murderer.

Maeth had only gone a step or two before he made another request, which she found slightly surprising. To tell no one that he was here. She paused, and looked at him inquisitively, before he explained that someone in league with the man might be spying. Tearful eyes widened slightly, and she gave a serious nod. "I shall say nothing of this, then." She assured the knight, a little uneasy at the thought of the murderer possibly having people working with him, watching and listening. With that worrisome thought racing around in her head, Maeth turned and led the way to the recovery room where the criminal patient was detained, stopping just outside the door. "I have other duties to attend to, but I will try to remain near enough to be easily found." She spoke in a hushed tone. "Just ask for Maeth, if you need me for anything."

*(the two mentioned here are Sorrela and Isys)

[Isolde Alarion]

Recovery Room w/ Mourgan and Pele
@Pele Alarion

Nell was looking out the small window as she sat in the chair they were nice enough to bring her. Once and awhile she would turn her attention to Mourgan and check on him, his breathing mainly but she would press the back of her hand against his forehead to check for fever at the same time.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been looking out the window that time when she heard light steps and turned to see who it was. A smile immediately formed on her lips as she seen Pele enter the room then set down what looked to be a cup of tea and some food.

She joined Peles gaze as she felt her hand on her shoulder. “The tea you left for pain has helped a lot. His sleep is more restful now.” She offered her a grateful smile before her attention turned to the tea. “Thank you.” She took up the cup and took a light sip. It went down her dry throat which she hadn’t noticed till now. She noticed her looking at the perspiration. “Is it something to worry about?” She asked, concerned. She wasn’t sure if it was to be expected or perhaps a side effect of the poison.

[Arnyn]

Lieutenant Arnyn Dealedwen
Room 8
@Rillewen
@Pele Alarion

"You can come see Mourgan," Arnyn said slowly. "Though we should make sure not to overwhelm him or his mother. Too many people at once probably isn't a great idea. And odds are he is still asleep." She took a second to think. "We will probably run into Pele on the way there or on our arrival. We can ask what she advises and act accordingly," the Lieutenant decided.

As Linaiwe took a look at the wound, Arnyn stayed where she was. When the healer made room for Eryn to see the wound, however, she subtly used the healer's opening - which also seemed meant for her - to inspect the wound herself. Albeit from a distance. Just a bandage then. The Lieutenant smiled - contented.

Arnyn watched Trastion when Linaiwe said he might end up with a scar. His reply made her roll her eyes before she could catch herself. As it was, she stopped herself mid-roll. "I'm not sure if it might," she said. "I don't think Pele said anything. And I didn't ask."

Eryn's instructions caught the Lieutenant's attention. "Then we should probably postpone at least his weapons training. I'm assuming he needs to be careful until it scabs over or has otherwise closed enough that the risk of it opening up easily has passed? Any thoughts on how long that would generally take with this kind of wound?" A grin touched her lips as she glanced at Trastion. "You might have to take it easy again, for a while. One more time and I might think you're doing this on purpose," she teased.

[Lantaelen]

@Rillewen@ercassie

The Lord Abrazimir of House Dimaethor
Houses of Healing, after Midsummer, Fourth Age,
Meeting with Nurse Maeth.

So not a guard assigned by the Rangers. There was a less likely chance Abrazimir would know them, then. This whole affair was steeped in a tremendous amount of mystery, so he was growing eager to learn and discover what it was. And there was another as well. Another young woman. Who might that be? He had to be careful not to let the enthusiasm of a fresh investigation cloud his judgement. Bandits though he did not think it was. Only Corsairs had this sort of audacity and logistics to carry out kidnappings and murders so deep in the Gondorian heartland.

”It is not our place to understand evil, simply combat and resist it where it may be. I will prosecute this affair with great diligence and caution, I assure you.” He promised her again, after she gave her assurances that she won’t say a word of his presence here to anyone else until after he had conducted his inquires. He glanced at the napkin he had given her. ”Hold on to that if you need it. I will seek you out first when I am finished.” He nodded, outside the room containing the prisoner. With that being said, he turned and entered into the room, to find what he may.

He would nod first to the guard, before, with his helmet clutched under his right arm, he faced the patient, folding his armoured hands before his abdomen. ”Well this is not what I expected.” He started off as saying with a wary smile, before turning his sea-grey eyes upon the young guard. ”Abrazimir Dimaethor, of Lond Col, at your service.” He introduced himself courteously. ”I’ve been asked to question the prisoner.” He stated, with a measure of authority in his tone. He didn’t specify who had requested or asked him. As a Swan-Knight, he figured he outranked the guard.

[Isolde Alarion]

Mourgan
Recovery Room
Uriel 15 (2 days after the barracks fire)

Propped up on a few pillows Mourgan once more endured a bandage change. He found it to be uncomfortable and painful but an evil necessity. The nurse was as gentle as she could be but even lightly moving his arm up caused the wounds to protest their care.

“Sorry.” She said apologetically as she gathered her things and readied to leave him. “It’s alright.” He tried to get comfortable on the pillows as the brown haired, blue eyed young woman offered him a small smile before looking over to his mother and excusing herself. Nell stood in the corner and watched the whole ordeal with her arms crossed. “Well, at least this time you didn’t growl at her when she cleaned the wounds. I’d say you’re improving.” She offered a small smile to counter the groan he answered her with.

He settled into the pillows as she came to stand beside the bed. Absently smoothing out the blanket as she spoke. “I’m going to run home and check on things at the bakery. Is there anything you need?” She asked. “My flask.” He answered but that suggestion was met with a pursing of her lips and narrowing of her green eyes. He raised his right hand in defense. “Alright, alright…never mind. I’m good.” He lowered his hand and her features softened.
“I think you’re in good hands.” She felt comfortable enough to leave him for an awhile now that he was more awake.
She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the top of his head. “Mother.” He nearly scowled at being kissed on the head like a child but she ignored him and gathered her wrap.

He watched her leave then leaned his head back into the pillows and let out a deep sigh. The bandage change nearly exhausted him but he wasn’t about to tell her, she wouldn’t have left if she’d known. He closed his eyes for a moment, his mind trying to remember some of the details of that day but after laying on Relic things got fuzzy and unclear. He figures that’s when he must have past out. He wanted to know what all happened after that but it would have to wait he figured. He test his arm by flexing his hand. Instantly he felt the pain in his shoulder and chest.

His eyes opened as he let out a frustrated groan. This wasn’t something he would heal from in a week, it might take a few months to heal the muscles enough to support his arm. That was an unpleasant thought.

[Rillewen]

@Isolde Alarion @Arnyn @Karis Ziranphel

Recruit Trastion Leithor
Houses of Healing - with Kaylin & Thullir
Urimë 15 (two days after the fire)

Trastion was relieved that they gave them no trouble at the reception desk, and since he'd already been to the room Mourgan was using, two days ago when he was here after getting his arm bandaged, he had little trouble finding his way back. The walk from Headquarters to here, felt rather too short, and while he was glad to no longer have to stand around and wait, he found it a little challenging to merely walk down the halls, rather than run, like he really wanted to do. Somehow, he managed to restrain the excess energy inside, trying to wait for when he got out to the training grounds later with Duinion.

He was a bit surprised to spot Mourgan's mother coming out of the room as they approached. "G'morning, ma'am!" He greeted the baker cheerfully, feeling that it must be a good sign. He had a strong suspicion that she would not be leaving Mourgan's room at all if he wasn't doing well, so he must be fine. Trastion lowered his voice some, then, remembering where he was. "Is Mourgan asleep? We came to visit, and brought him something." He held up the card slightly, as evidence. "But if he's asleep.. we could come back later," He would be a bit disappointed, if that was the case. And the other two probably would, too. But they'd all understand that Mourgan needed to rest, and it would be counterproductive to wake him up.

[Karis Ziranphel]

Ranger Thûllir Bregedŷr
Houses of Healing - Urimë 15
With Kaylin and Trastion

Thûllir paced quietly alongside Kaylin as they followed Trastion down the hallway, amused at the suppressed energy in the recruit. The humor showed in the gleam of his blue-grey eyes, and he squeezed Kaylin’s fingers where he had captured her hand. He nodded in greeting to Nell when she emerged from the room they were aiming for. Must be the right place. He paused to listen to Trastion’s greeting and explanation to Mourgan’s mother, both amused and slightly impressed at the young man’s long winded politeness. If he is asleep we peek in and leave the card…

His mental note was broken off when he heard the frustrated groan through the door. Guess he is awake. A smile brightened his bearded features, and he stepped forward to place a reassuring hand on Nell’s shoulder and gave it a silent squeeze before continuing to the door. He would skip the pleasantries.

Cracking it open, he stuck his head inside. His gaze immediately caught on Mourgan propped up in the bed, and a strong wave of relief flooded through him. He knew the reports had been that Ranger had regained consciousness and was doing well, but the last Thûllir had seen him Mourgan had lain still and pale. Clearing his throat to warn the occupant, Thûllir swung the door a little further open and stepped through. “Hey Mourgan. Good to see you are still kicking.”

[Arnyn]

@Rillewen @Karis Ziranphel

Kaylin
Visiting Mourgan with Trastion & Thullir
Urimë 15 (two days after the fire)

Thüllir's light squeeze of her fingers made her look up at him with a little smile. She didn't say anything nor ask anything, however. The houses of healing always had the effect of a library on her: the atmosphere turned her into a more quiet and respectful version of herself. Just by crossing the threshold.

Nell leaving Mourgan's room made Kaylin's eyes widen a bit. She watched the woman carefully, trying to see how she might be feeling. Trastion's greeting was cheerful, and made Kaylin smile. Perhaps cheerful was exactly what the baker needed. Thûllir was his typical more silent self, putting a supportive hand on the woman's shoulder and then peeking into the room after they heard some very understable frustration through the wood.

Meanwhile, Kaylin smiled softly at Nell, lingering. While she only knew Nelladel superficially, Kaylin was a frequent customer at the bakery, and Nell knew that Mourgan and Kaylin had been recruits together. "How are you doing?" Kaylin asked quietly. Yes, it was Mourgan who had suffered the injuries. But Nell must have gone through the pits of Angmar and back just sitting with him, hoping he would remain stable. Hoping her son would live. That was worth attention, as well.

[Pele Alarion]

Healer Linaiwe with Eryn, Trastion and Arnyn
Treatment room 8
Last week of July
@Rillewen , @Arnyn

“It is not a good practice to wander around here in blood-soaked clothes and make some vulnerable patients pass out,” Linaiwe commented to Trastion light-heartedly. “These are no Ranger grounds, after all. Some little old lady or expectant mother might not need much…”

The healer watched Eryn apply the bandage and give instructions satisfied with how the apprentice was mastering the knowledge and applying it. It seemed clear to her that it was well worth investing time and effort into this young lady in hopes of securing the future expert staff for the Houses of Healing.

“It certainly needs rebandaging every day, or more often in case of bleeding,” Linaiwe confirmed. “And it would do good to let the arm alone at least enough to heal over so that rigorous movement wouldn’t tear the wound open again. Perhaps a week – unless it is not as deep as it seemed and heals sooner.” She looked at Arnyn meaningfully as if seeking proof that she’d hold this young Ranger accountable in this regard.

“If you do visit now, make sure not to barge in like a handful of rowdy pub-crawlers. As far as I know, Mourgan might need a lot of rest,” she added, though she did not believe that they would be about to create much havoc in Mourgan’s room. “Otherwise, it seems that we are done here.” Linaiwe paused, and then added with a small grin: “So how soon should we expect you back with some injury or other, Trastion?”

---

Pele with Nell & Mourgan
Recovery Room
@Isolde Alarion

“I hoped it would help some against the pain when he woke,” Pele said gently, while she carefully sat down on the very edge of Mourgan’s bed so she could see both him and Nell. It brought to her heart a certain measure of peace to see that neither the wounds or the poison had claimed him. Yet. Pele looked at Mourgan once more just to be sure her hopes were well-founded.

“That is not a cause for concern,” she then hastened to calm Nell’s worries. “Some sweating is usual when the body is fighting. As long as there is no severe fever with it.”

Pele looked at Nelladel and managed a small smile of encouragement, while doing her best not to give in to weariness just yet even though sitting at peace for a while provided room for such a temptation.

“The threat is gone…” she sighed. “Things should only improve from now on.”

[Ercassie]

Arkadhur Halsad and Sorrela Korsey
The Prisoner and the City Guard Recruit.
Recovery Room. Approx a week after Erulaitalë
@Lantaelen

She felt as much a prisoner as the man who was shackled to the bed, in that Sorrela absolutely did not want to be here. She might even have been less keen on their location than he was, if the man’s injuries were as self-inflicted as many supposed. Still she was in two minds of contrasting responsibility, and they both meant that the young Guard recruit really had no choice.

For one, the crime which the prisoner had first come under suspicion for, was the case she had been investigating. That she had become friendly with the victims of that crime, had sworn to see things made right for them, only further stirred her determination to see it through to justice. Then there was the matter of her personally having taken the suspect into custody, delivered him without following the proper protocols into a cell, only hours before he ended up in need of medical assistance. Sorrel had then been the first guard on the scene to discover the state he had come to in the dungeon cell. Nothing about this was simple or convenient. She was almost half expecting to be accused of attacking the man herself. But thankfully, she was also possibly the only reason he was still alive. A fact which seemed to have cancelled out all concerns as to her motive. Superiors had implied that she was ‘learning the hard way’ how to do a job she was still technically training in. It had been implied that her now safeguarding the prisoner from further harm would absolve all doubt of her deliberate involvement. Given the immense pressure therefore, from both sides of the coin, she was exhausted before even her shift ever began.


The alternating watches had been the Ranger’s idea, another less than simple circumstance. For Lady Ilisys was clearly a one known to the man from before his arrest. She had held him under house arrest until the evidence was readied to question him, and then escorted him to the Guard HQ herself for questioning. Which was where it had all fallen apart. Because the man refused to answer any questions. He would not even confirm which of the several aliases was in fact his rightful name. Which left more than one to assume that maybe none of those known were, in fact. Isys had given Sorrela the distinct impression that the Lady was more concerned about the man dying in custody, than about his not giving up information, but the Recruit had to admit that the one would more or less result in the other all the same.

When the prisoner himself had asked the nurse to bring … this mysterious stranger, some new strains of fretting had entered the young Guardwoman’s mind. The Nurse he had directed his request to had agreed to the patient’s request, accommodating a patient’s right for visitor in the case of life-threatening injury. The fact of that nurse being a mother of one of his supposed victims … it was all a little too much of a coincidence, if that was what it was at all. Sorrel was beginning to concern that they had underestimated the prisoner yet again, in having brought this whole scenario to be. But then came the undeniable matter of jurisdiction. Because, as the Guard recruit discovered when she had made enquiries, the Lady Ilisys had made known to the Guard that this man was also wanted in relation to crimes committed in Belfalas … a fact which perhaps better explained the Ranger’s involvement in the entire episode. Although the lady had, noticeably, refrained from making any mention of that whatsoever until she now had call to do so.


Sorrel had not long consoled herself with once more checking the man’s restraints, when the Swan Knight, a hopefully more unbiased representative from Belfalas, arrived. The Guard rose up from her very recently reclaimed seat then, with immediacy, at the sight of one who was clearly not a healer. Armoured and tall, the man had respectfully removed his helm, for which the Recruit was grateful. She found Abrazimir to not look fearsome about the face, despite all of his weight of his intimidating regalia. She had not known quite what to expect, but now decided that ‘hope’ would not be far from the truth. Maybe this would all soon be over .. she very much hoped so.

“Sorrela Korsey, sir” the young woman bowed her head in deference as she introduced herself in return to the knight. “City Guard,” sounded very tame, even if she left out mention of her ‘recruit’ rank, but she was no shrinking violet, for all her tender age. In height she equalled most men and, after years working lumber under her father’s tutelage, she had come into the Guard with what combat training her parent had imparted and a tireless physique which served her well. At least enough to counteract her inexperience until it caught up with the rest of her.


“That is my understanding as well,” she agreed with the newcomer’s interpretation of his role here. “As such, the room is yours.” Sorrel did not add that she was taking the key to the patient's restraints with her. Isys had insisted on being denied those herself, and it was assumed this Knight would not argue the point for his own sake. The prisoner was not to be moved without permission of Sorrela’s superiors.

“I will remain outside,” the Guard promised, and because it seemed almost impertinent to suggest that such an mighty-looking individual would require any assistance from the likes of her, she refrained from adding that nicety. Instead she left Abrazimir with a nod, and “The best of luck, sir,” was her parting shot.


As the young woman made her departure, Arkadhur tried and failed to shift to a more comfortable position, where he was held. The Umbarian had not interrupted the young Guard, and did not give up any response to Abrazi’s remark, while Sorrela had stood at hand. He was actually surprised that the little group had managed to make real what he had asked for. Gondorians really were quite unlike his own people where it came to dealing with their prisoners.

“A pleasant surprise ?” he began, and then he coughed quite substantially, in an effort to improve on his hoarse voice, with not much success at all, and perhaps so forcefully in the act that it was entirely for the sake of the Guard beyond the door. For after all, just afterwards, he managed an entire sentence, with only some few pauses to force swallow, or make a devout show of it. “Perhaps you would like .. to ask again, Lord, quite how I am enjoying … your peoples’ hospitality ?”

The question was worded politely, but there was a glint about the Umbarian's brown eyes which nonetheless suggested a good deal of restraint being employed. By his will as much as by the man's bonds.

[Isolde Alarion]

Nell leaving Mourgans room
Recovery Room
Urime 15
W/ Thullir, Kaylin, Trastion

Just as she left the room and turned while adjusting her shawl she looked up with a smile when she heard a familiar voice greeting her. “Ahh, good morning Trastion.” She was happy to see the young man and Thullir and Kaylin behind him. She returned Thullirs nod of greeting and continued to listen with a smile as he explained his reason for being there. Her smile widened to see the card in his hand. “Oh that’s very thoughtful of you and yes, he is awake. He just had a bandage change so I’m sure he’s still awake.”

Just then she heard a frustrated groan come from inside the room she’d just left causing her to shrug and grin but she returned to a smile as Thullir lightly squeezed her shoulder before heading into the room. Her eyes followed him for just a moment and she looked back to see a smiling Kaylin. Listening to her question she let out a deep breath of relief. “Tired of course but relieved to know he will recover in full. It will just take time. I’m on my way back home for a bit.” She spoke while wrapping her shawl into a loose knot. She looked between the pair. “I’m sure he’ll enjoy some new company.” She smiled at them both as she readied to continue on her way. “Trastion, it’s lovely to see you again.” She lightly reached out squeezed his hand in gratitude for the card and for coming to see Mourgan then she turned her attention to Kaylin and although she only really knew her from the bakery and Mourgans time with her in the Rangers she once more reached out and gave her hand a light squeeze. “You keep these men in line.” A twinkle showed in her green eyes as she bid them farewell with a light nod before continuing on her way.

Meanwhile in the room..

He was still moving his fingers when he heard a clearing of a throat. He looked up at the door and watched as it swung open and Thullir stepped into the room. His words caused a half grin. “Despite her best efforts.” He chuckled lightly and held his hand up to shake Thullirs. “It’s good to see you, is that Trastion I hear out there?”