Suck the Venom Out

[Chamaeleon]

Spring 86th 512 AV, Morning Dreaming wasn't such a bad thing if it involved stuff like dainty butterflies, dragonflies, and cute bunnies. It was all good and well to dream about adorable deer, tricky squirrels, and playful Jamoura children, but when someone dreamt about feral people being pulled from the shrouded city and dumped in cages, sometimes really, really hurt, you couldn't help but not want to sleep. Even though Chamaeleon didn't want to sleep, she still did, and tossing and turning in her bed had proven to be nearly a deathtrap when she tangled herself in her thin sheet before nearly falling off the low, painfully thin, bed. The horned woman grunted as she hit the floor, peering from beneath a tangle of blonde curls at a sleeping bunkhouse full of fellow mercenaries from Sunberth. Most were still asleep, slumbering easily to her eye, and she snorted before unwinding herself from her blanket and pulling herself to her feet. When the Ethaefal peered out the window, what she saw was an early morning. Fog lay heavy on the ground, sweeping along bodies gently, and obscuring the light of Syna even more than the giant trees did. The trees, they made everything feel so closed together, and this was not one of the days when Chamaeleon could ignore this. Yawning, the Ethaefal turned back to her bed and made it, in something of a hurry, so she could go see what new arrivals came to the cages this day. Ten chimes later, Chamaeleon was changed into warmer clothes to shield against the chill of the fog, clothes she intended to shed later in the short interval of heat in the afternoon. Her blonde hair rested lightly upon her cloaked shoulders, and even in the thick fog her horns were bright. Chamaeleon tread the familiar path to the Injury Ward, going more on general knowledge of the layout of Base Camp to find her destination in this infernal mist. Perhaps it would have been better if she checked up on Jorg and the other doctors before taking off to peer into the cages. They might have need of something here. When Chamaeleon entered the Injury Ward, seeing immediately a great hustle and bustle, she knew she had gone to the right place. The few doctors up and useful were either grunting at eachother in the monkey language, or calling across to one another in Common. Chamaeleon discarded her cloak in the very back of the Ward before joining in, calling attention to her arrival and all but demanding to know what had happened. "Rattler bite," one Jamoura said, her voice slow as was typical, warm like the sun. "From a reclamation." "There are snakes in the Spires?" Chamaeleon lifted her eyebrows. The Jamoura smiled grimly. "There are snakes there. Big snakes. Snakes taller than you and with faces and bodies like humans, but tails like serpents. You don't know what that is?" The Jamoura seemed just as surprised at Chamaeleon's lack of knowledge as Chamaeleon was about hearing of this massive snakes. "They come from all over, these snakes. Come, look at this." The Jamoura took Chamaeleon's hand and tugged her over to the still form laying upon a bed. It was a young adult of lovely features, face contorted in pain. The features didn't draw Chamaeleon's attention, though. It was the size of the bite on the shoulder that did. "He captured the snake, the Dhani, and brought her back, but she gave him this. He passed to Dira's embrace." The Jamoura sounded sincerely sad as she said this. "The Dhani is hurt as well, but she is upset. We are to tend to her once she is pacified. Do you want to come or stay and help with the body?"