Quest Fowl Play

[Prophet]

So much of a violet culture could be used to explain practices where bodies are left out for the beasts and bones are carved and thrown for the telling of one’s future. These were common things and people had become desensitized to them. Because of these facts, one would expect a medical professional conducting a thorough autopsy to be just another day but that was not the case. Several of the hunters and other volunteers watched for a moment while the young blonde woman began her examination. The breaking of the jaw had been one thing which only drew minor whispers and disgusted looks.

One man signed that what she was doing wasn’t right.

Another responded with a sign for agreement.

This went on for a while but the remarks became louder and more destructive as the dead woman was disassembled. Several people simple walked away while a few horrified others lost the contents of their stomachs when the chest cavity was removed. Olina had come to help despite her churning innards simply because she knew the hardships of being a woman and also because she had an innate curiosity about everything. As the organs were piled out, the old veterinarian slowly made his way over even before his name was mentioned. By that point, Balen was right behind the women when Waisana called his name.

“I am here, Waisana.” He leaned down and stared at what her skilled fingers were holding. For several long moments of silence, he said nothing and then as if hit by a club from the sky, his face lit up. “I’ve seen things like this before!” The man stood up and looked around at the scene once more. His eyes had a youthful light that had been missing previously. “Look!” He signed to emphasize his point; bodies, arrangement, find center. It didn’t take much for those who remained to see what he was getting at and while everyone seemed to understand they all turned to watch the daring blonde. Balen knelt next to her and put his hands on her shoulders in an embrace very much like one a father might use on his children. “It’s poison.” He kissed her forehead and stared at her with large pools of admiration. “You found this.” He pointed at the disfigurement of the vertebrae then he pointed to the water. “Now help us find how.” The older man got up and began carefully examining the water’s edge. He shooed some people back and gave brief explanations of the water being toxic or tapered with and that seemed to be enough for the simple folks who volunteered.

One of the Watchmen rode up and peered down at the corpse then to Olina and then to Waisana. In Pavi, he directed his focus on the doctor. He signed that he knew her and understood the necessity of the young woman’s practice. He paused a moment and gathered his thoughts. “Before we leave, if you need, I would like to help you make her…” He paused. It was clear he was searching for the right word and after several ticks he signed the word whole. His body language and the expression on his face revealed that he was not disgusted or repulsed but rather that he wished to see the young woman at peace.

A Ferrin Template

[Waisana]

The blonde hadn't expected the healer to be right behind her but she was momentarily startled by what in her eyes was his very sudden appearance. She smiled apologetically for starting but her expression became more serious as she waited for Balen's assessment of her findings. He examined the portion of the spine that Waisana indicated to him and judging by his expression, he had an idea exactly what he was looking at. He grabbed her and kissed her forehead, causing the teen to look at him with bemusement. He looked at her with admiration as he announced the cause. The girl's cheeks flushed with pride as she realised that she'd done it. Despite the way the others had talked about her as she'd worked, disapproving of her actions, she had found the cause. If it wasn't for her methods she wouldn't have been able to find the cause of death at all. It was good to know that she could hold her head high with pride. As the veterinarian jumped up eagerly to go in search of the source, the teen carefully covered up the organs and the woman's corpse. Once they had investigated the source of the poison, she would come back and put things right. After all, she had no intention of leaving the woman in such a barbaric state.

As she finished the temporary measure, a Watchman rode over and offered to help her set the woman right when this was over. The Opal clanswomen smiled warmly at him. "I would be glad. I would not leave her like this. The sooner we find the poison, the sooner I can make this right." My thanks, she added in sign. She wiped her hands clean, stood and dusted herself off before she followed the older man to the water's edge.

"Balen," she called to gain his attention. "Is the poison in the water? Everything dead comes from here. The waterskins were full. They probably drank then refilled them," she explained as she peered down at the pool of water. It looked harmless enough but then she knew very little about poison. She knew that some plants were poisonous. She knew that water could become dangerous if something died in a water source or arrived in it by some other means. Obviously, she had never attempted to poison anything or delved into such knowledge because she had no interest in being able to hurt anyone or anything. As far as she knew, you had to eat a poisonous plant or take the poisonous stuff out. If it was a liquid poison then they wouldn't be able to find it but they should be able to tell if it was toxic. If it was a corpse in the water then it would be relatively easy to find, or so she hoped at least.

Body. In water. Question she signed. "If it is poisoned otherwise then I do not know how to find without making something alive have it." Grass. Question. The teen didn't know how much use she could be to Balen and the others. She knew how to find problems so that she could fix them but this was beyond her field of expertise. She had no idea if she was even thinking along the right lines to find the source of the poisoning. She hadn't even known exactly what had caused the problem to the woman's spine. All the same, the young woman did her best. The doctor started to move along the water's edge in search of anything that might be in the water. Touching the water seemed inadvisable but she didn't have anything to swish through it to check below the surface. The teen bit her lip, looking around for an idea and her eyes lighted on one of the hunters. A bow. She approached the woman with a confident stride although she was more than a little terrified but she needed to look like she knew what she was doing.

Pardon. "Can I borrow your bow? I need to dredge the water." Search. Sickness. Important. Help. Please. The teen tried to inject some authority into her posture, to make herself seem older than she was. For a moment, the woman looked ready to give in to the way the blonde had presented herself but then she shook her head.

You're clueless. "You don't have any idea what you're doing. I don't think you need my bow. I'll keep it," the huntress told her coldly. The girl could have backed down but instead she drew herself up to her full height and decided to slam some true authority down on her head.

No! "I know what I'm doing. I'm making sure that more people don't die. What are you doing? That bow is useless to you!" Give. Now. "Do not waste my time, Olina's or Balen's." Out of your depth. Waisana was not taking any nonsense and that was clear in her body language and the snappishness of both he words and gestures. The bow was extended to her mutely and she snatched it, quickly signing a thank you before she strode back over to the water's edge. Now that she had something to poke around with, she could probe the waters well, at least the one's within her reach. She didn't risk stepping into the water but instead stretched her arm and leaned her body out so that she could probe further. Her probing stirred up sediment from the bottom, which clouded the surface but if there was something dead in there then it wouldn't make any difference. Her probing did turn up some hard objects but when she nudged them to the water's edge, they were revealed to be stones.

After a few chimes, she did turn up something strange looking though. She nudged the object to the edge and poked it tentatively with the end of the bow. It looked like a short piece of wood, like a piece of a branch. Its sides were curved and as she crouched down to get a closer look, she discovered that it looked pockmarked at the end as if something had punctured it repeatedly. It almost looked like... marrow. The teen was afraid to touch it in case it carried contaminants but she didn't think that it could be a bone. She was looking for something that had died recently and if this was a bone then it had been picked clean. That didn't seem right to her unless something had eaten from it and then dropped it in the water. She shook her head, frustrated by her searching. The blonde wondered if Balen had found anything suspicious.

[Prophet]

Balen had been searching through the edges of the small body of water for some time without any luck. He felt old and the dejected faces around him only served to make the burden all the heavier for his weary shoulders to bear. He straightened his back and saw Olina moving around to where Waisana was discussing something with one of the hunters. The pieces of his spine protested which left him in an awkward, half-bent posture for a chime or two. He used his weathered hands to rub the muscles and massage the ligaments trying to circulate some heat and some blood that would allow him to move like a normal person.

The whole process wasn’t too bad and since everyone else was busy, there was little exposure. He started to make his way around to check on the other educated members of the party. Balen was a true Drykas in that he understood why so many chose to fight, hunt learn the physical aspects of life and the world. However, in his heart he was an intellectual and he craved the company of those like him. It’s why he often hung around the River Flower after his day was through so he could gather some gripping conversation or stimulating story. Anything was better than hearing how some herder thought his Zibri was sick because its droppings were ‘wrong’. The older man chuckled but also rolled his eyes at this then quickly put on his ‘job face’ as he approached Waisana. She was using a bow to fish something out of the water. He went to bend down but his back complained so he remained standing.

“What have you got there?” He squinted his eyes and as Balen focused more, Olina came over and took a gander. She gasped and patted Waisana enthusiastically on the shoulder.

“Grab that!” She blurted out. “But don’t touch it!!” She stood upright and gave a triumphant glance to the old Drykas animal doctor. “It’s a talisman!” She chirped.

“You mean-“ Balen was going to finish his sentence but the songbird tone of the Endal interrupted him.

“Malediction!”

A hiss escaped the lips of several of the onlookers. The rest of the party was gathering around the young blonde doctor. Some of the hunters were packing up their gear while others finished gathering the dead critters and birds then burning them. Balen gave Olina a nod and removed a square piece of leather from his cloak then handed it down to Waisana. “Wrap that up, Zulkina. We’ll need to have it examined.” His eyes said many things that his mouth did not. He and Olina began to round up all of the volunteers in an effort to direct them back to Tent City. It had been a very long day and Syna was only partial over the grasslands.

A Ferrin Template

[Waisana]

The veterinarian appeared beside her as if summoned by her thoughts. The fact that he had come to her suggested that he had found nothing, which meant that both of them had had fruitless searches. He squinted at her find but she knew it wasn't anything to get excited about so she answered his question with a shrug and some negative answers.

"I don't know what it is." Unimportant. Useless, she added with a sigh as Olina came over. She turned to the woman, intending to give her a similar assessment in Common but was stunned to find the other becoming excited. The teen gazed at her wide-eyed as she ordered her to take it out in a voice that implied that it was a magnificent find rather than a mouldy old bit of bone or whatever it was. Her gaze moved back and forth between the Endal and Balen as the older man seemed to grasp some meaning from the little redhead's words that were lost on Waisana. When she burst out with the word 'malediction', the blonde gasped, turning her horrified gaze on the little item that the end of the bow was still touching. Carefully, she began to drag it from the water with the wood, pondering the implications of such a thing.

Waisana's understanding of Malediction was very limited. She knew the name, she knew that it was evil and hurtful magic, and that it was connected to corpses in some way but that was about it. This thing that was coming out of the water was called a talisman, she noted as the strange object broke free of the surface. It did look like a piece of bone but she couldn't understand how such an item could cause such a stir. Was this the cause of the death surrounding them? She took the offered cloth and stooped to wrap it up quickly, not taking the time to examine it further before she tried to rid herself of it. Balen and Olina moved away quickly and so she was left with the item despite her weariness of it. She returned the bow to its owner and attempted to palm the talisman off on the woman but the other refused it and simply commented that it belonged with her for what she did to corpses. The girl was shocked and horrified by such a comment but was unable to come up with an adequate response, her knowledge of malediction limited as it was. Instead, she hurried to Balen in her distress and offered him the talisman, signing with one hand.

Take. Please. Don't want. "I must do something before we go. It's very important, please. I need to see to the dead woman before we go. I cannot bring her back as she is. Please, let me fix her," she pleaded. She set the cursed object at his feet and hurried off towards the corpse. She doubled back to find the Watchman who had offered to help her with this task and signalled that she needed him. Waisana uncovered the body, lips pressed into a thin line as she saw the state of the corpse; with fresh eyes, she could see what work needed to be done. Drusine was made to stand beside her, her bag slung on the yvas so that she could take what she wished from it. She took her flint and steel and fished out a scrap of cloth to light. The cloth was set on the ground and the doctor held the flint and steel over it. She struck them off one another, brows creased in concentration as she tried to aim the few sparks she managed to produce onto the fabric. It took a few attempts but at last, a spark landed on it and glowed. The girl blew on it carefully, coaxing it into life. It continued to burn feebly and so she folded the cloth carefully, leaving a tunnel in it to the ember. She puffed into the tunnel and watched the glow grow. A blade of dried grass was directed cautiously to where the embryonic fire was and after a few moments, it caught alight. It was slow going but she succeeded in setting the cloth aflame. As soon as it caught properly, Waisana piled grass on it that she pulled out in clumps. Many of the strands were green and she didn't realise the error of this until her puffing produced proper flames that set the live growth smoking. The more she blew, the more smoke she produced and she found herself choking and coughing because of it. Green growth was not good for a fire if you wanted to see or breathe near it, it seemed.

The Watchman took over the feeble attempt of a fire while the doctor turned her attention to the organs. Each organ was replaced accordingly, each having a proper location that allowed things to fit in as they should. The reproductive organs were returned to their proper place low in the cavity, the bladder placed carefully above it. The long small intestine was bundled close together and spooled over the kidneys. Liver, stomach, heart and lungs were replaced and the whole mass of organs were carefully pressed down upon to push them to settle better in relation to the bottom of the cavity. The front of the ribcage was put back and the flaps of fat and skin were closed over towards one another. The teen cleaned the slipperiness from her hands before fishing for a needle and gut thread in her bag of supplies. The Watchman had greatly improved upon her fire--not a difficult thing to do--and it was now more than sufficient for the purpose she had in mind. The gut thread was carefully threaded through the eye of the needle, the thread held clear as she ran the length of the needle through the flames. When she thought it was heated enough to make her work easier, she began her task.

She had gained an audience once more and if they had a different opinion as they saw the reverse of her previous operation, Waisana didn't notice as she shut out the world around her and focused all of her attention on closing the Y incision she'd made. She began at one clavicle, passing the needle through one side of the wound before crossing it over to the other side to pierce and bind the flesh there. She made a diagonal stitch about an inch across before she doubled back on it and made a stitch directly across. Each stitch was pulled taut, tugging the flesh together. She moved diagonally across again, making a new line that crossed over her previous diagonal stitch in an 'x'. This stitch wasn't doubled back on as the girl made a new diagonal stitch down the wound. She repeated the same process again and again until she had closed one of the arms of the Y incision with a row of crosses. She repeated the same thing down the other arm, carrying out a series of looped stitches to reinforce the point where the two arms met before she set to work down the main body of the Y. The process was a long and arduous one, with the teen having to replace her gut thread and reheat her needle regularly to allow it to pass through the dead flesh with greater ease. When she was finished, the flesh along the incision was pinched together but as she dressed the woman again, her shape looked the way it should. Resetting the jawbones she'd broken, the girl fussed over the clothing of mother and boy before rising and stretching.

Waisana watched as the Watchman kicked earth over the fire to extinguish it, stamping the dirt down upon it until not even an ember remained of the small blaze. As the young Opal woman stroked her Strider's mane before mounting her, she found that a weariness was taking hold of her body. The prospect of riding back to the city was not an inviting one but the teen was resigned to her fate. Despite her weariness, she was grimly pleased with what she'd achieved to today and was proud of the closing work she'd done on the corpse. She was confident that nothing would ooze out although the stitches might come under strain when the body bloated with gases. It would do for the time being at least.

"I can go now she is right." Respect. Important. "It is what makes us different from those that use... a talisman. Malediction..." What is it. Question. Don't understand, she signed to the veterinarian after she'd urged Drusine to his side.