Closed Reminiscence

[Aidara]

Timestamp: 5th of Fall, 512 AV
Where: Wind Reach
Who: Aidara, Amon

The infirmary was wickedly busy. In fact, Aidara wasn't even thinking about getting out of bed when the Yasi runner came pounding at her door. The sound woke Natalie first, the little girl in her natural form waking with a shrill cry from her room adjacent to Addy and Siras. That, of course, in turn woke both the women. A small, muffled argument resulted in Sira having to untangle herself from the sheets and answer the door.

And it only went downhill from there.

Not even a quarter of a bell after being woken, Addy was clothed and rushing down the corridor that lead to the infirmary. Her hair was a red mess on the top of her head, lack sleep bruising the delicate skin beneath her eyes. By the time she rushed through the door and into the Infirmary itself, the little woman was completely out of breath, the chill morning hair puffing into little clouds infront of her face.

"It's not even light out yet!" Bustling forward, Addy swiped aside the curtain that separated the waiting room from the sick area. "What is going on?" The second question, however, died on the little woman's lips as she took in the sight before her.

Every. Single. Bed was full. All two dozen of them, each with a man or woman moaning and writhing in pain. At first glance, Addy couldn't see anything wrong with any of them and her stomach sank.

"Poison?" Keah had worked her way between the beds and offered Addy a clean, wet cloth to wash her hands with.

"No, we don't know what it is. It looks like bee stings but the reaction isn't like anything I've seen before. Come look..."

Dragging the healer over, Keah stopped at the nearest patient, a girl in her early twenties. The young woman was laying on her back, her arms dangling from the edges of the bed and completely unmoving. At first glance, Addy thought she was dead, alarm causing adreneline to slam through her bloodstream, making her knees weak.

Anticipating Addy's reaction, Keah took the woman's hand and showed her the faint pulse on the woman's neck. Relief flooded through her and Addy clapped a hand to her chest and shook her head. "Scared me." She murmured, leaning forwards to take a closer look at the girl.

Sure enough, her skin was covered with a sort of purple lesion, faint pastel colors expanding out from the purple center in concentric rings, like on the trunk of a tree. And there were dozens of them.

"What is this?" Baffled and completely astonished, Addy leaned closer and gently touched one of the bumps. It was hot to the touch. Extremely hot. "Where were they when this happened?"

"The Unforgiving" supplied the other healer, pressing a cloth to the unconscious girls forehead. "They all have the same marks. Every single one. They were brought in not two bells ago."

"I have never seen this before.." There was a choked sound from behind them, and Addy turned to see a man two beds away motion them over. Addy moved to stand by him, bending down at his beckoning so that he could whisper in her ear.

"Butterflies?! Butterflies did this?!"

[Amon]

The world was a dull sound. His vision was splotched, halved by the lack of a functional eye. He saw a swirl of earthen tones, sharp convexes that jutted out like daggers. The endal was vaguely aware that he was being led through a tunnel, but the destination eluded him. "Move out of the petchin' way, we've an injured," a man barked. His voice was deep, emanating an authority even Amon could appreciate. He had heard one, but the pressure on his arms alluded to two who were carrying the wounded Endal through the stone passages. Something warm trickled down his temple. Liquid ruby. He mentally smirked to himself. How pathetically poetic. Not as pathetic as the vagabond that stands in my friend's place. Amon scowled, as if the bird stood before him. But there was nothing but the flickering of torchlights that dotted the halls, like a trail of fire. They turned a corner, and a flood of light drenched them. Amon raised his head weakly, the metallic taste familiar on his tongue. "Healer!" One of the men had called. He was burly, with darkened skin and scars marring the length of his arms, but his stature and his tone denoted a rank of Endal. "We've a kin in need of aid. He's bleeding his petching bones out for Priskil's sake." Let me bleed. He wanted to say, Let it run it's course. But no words would escape him, and he was left to the care of the men who'd brought him here.

[Aidara]

Sure enough, just like Keah had said, every single Inartan there suffered from the same, rainbow hued rash thing. Aidara had just come out of her fourth trance, letting go of the strand of power she had pulled from within herself and used to inspect the fallen Endal. But using her eyes or her gift from Rek’Keli, it didn’t matter. Addy still had no idea what was infecting them.

“Damn butterflies. Really?” Throwing a dirtied cloth down in frustration, Addy took up a fresh, moistened one and began dabbing the forehead of the nearest victim. Keah, only a few beds away, gave a breathy chuckle at the frustration in Addy’s voice.

“I know. It makes no sense. But then again, after the Storm… Everything has changed. What we have now is no longer good enough, it seems.” Biting her lip, Keah looked over to the shelves where they kept the assortment of herbs and potions. Shaking her head, Addy sighed and tried to push the thought away. Though she agreed with the younger woman, there was nothing she could do about it now and no need to pile the additional stress on her shoulders.

“Hey, if we’re lucky maybe this is all we’ll have to deal with today.” Tossing Addy a smirk, Keah gathered up the soiled linens and disappeared into the back. No sooner had she gone than a group of men came barreling into the infirmary, shouting for help.

Silently cursing Keah for the bad luck, Addy bustled her way through the rows of beds, lifting a finger to shush the men as she did so. “Please, keep it down. We have many sick patients!” The man who spoke was quiet obviously an Endal, a sneer darkening is features as the little woman chastised him; hardly any of her fellow Endal expected Addy to be one of them, and especially not when she was doing the job of an Avora.

Propping her hands on her hips, Addy stopped in front of the lead man and arched a brow at him. “I am Aidara. Where is this bleeding man? It can’t be you, you look fine to me.” Exhaustion had honed the healer’s normally friendly tone until it had a sharp edge, her voice snapping with impatience as she spoke.

“Oh my petching…” But there was no time for words. The man had stepped aside to reveal the bloody form held between the other men; Addy had been unable to see him with the lead Endal standing in her way. Without wasting a single tick, the little healer ushered the men forward, out of the waiting room and into the actual sick bay.

It was only then that Addy remembered that all of the beds were occupied, most of the infected individuals in too much pain to be moved. Quick thinking saved the situation as the little woman grabbed a stack of freshly laundered sheets and dashed into her back office, laying the cloth out on the floor and motioning them to set the man down on the clean surface.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” Kneeling down next to the man’s head, Addy began feeling around beneath his hair; there was so much blood, she couldn’t even begin to tell where it was coming from. “You! Get me a basin of water and some cloth. We need to get rid of some of this blood.” One of the Endal dashed out to comply and Addy turned back to the fallen man.

“Try and tell me where it hurts.” She just needed to get him to talk, into some kind of conscious state. With that much blood loss, if he fell into oblivion he might not wake back up.

[Amon]

There was one word that seemed to drift past the lull of silence that engulfed him. The Storm. And suddenly he was in a field. An expansive sea of rustling green, stalks of grass beyond the scope of what he could see. There was nothing else in his vicinity nor the horizon but the image of a lone mountain with the likeness of a bird and the mass of darkened clouds that cluttered the sky. Then he looked downward, and saw the carnage at his feet. Pools of blood, hands dipped in red, and it was consuming him. His entire body was coated in blood. He threw back his head and laughed. It tore through his throat with spittle, but the croak of laughter forced its way into the room. His head felt as if it would split and his body ached with every miniscule motion, but the grin remained, with his one golden eye peering into the face of a woman he once knew. "Butterflies," He croaked, "You have... an epidemic of butterflies?" The Endal made to sit up, but found that his arms lacked the strength to elevate him, and he quickly found himself staring into the jagged ceiling above. "It's been some time... since I've been looked over by the pleasant Aidara herself," Amon muttered lightly, as if every inhale pained him, "I never did get the proper chance to congratulate you on your promotion." He wanted to wave her worries away, but he knew Addy enough to know such pathetic gestures would hardly deter her from the work she put so much effort in. "I slipped on a rock... Hit my head. The scratch might have gotten carried away..."

[Aidara]

A frown of deep concentration wrinkled Addy’s brow as she knelt over the fallen man, Endal by the looks of him, gently shaking to try and rouse and wiping away blood; head wounds were the worst, and bled profusely for even the tiniest scratch. Though she hadn’t found the injury yet, Addy knew it was going to be more than a scratch.

“I’m probably going to need a needle and stitching thread.” Having cleaned away most of the blood off his face, Addy felt a nagging familiarity when she studied the features. However, with all the cuts and scratches along with the sickly pallor from blood loss the little woman failed to draw a name to the face. Shaking her head and wasting no more time, Addy gently parted the man’s hair with her fingers, drawing the strands aside to look for the source of all that blood.

When the man stirred and instinctively turned his head away from her hand even in his semi-unconscious state, Addy knew she had found the spot. “Oh, this is bad. Keah can you-“ but the man rasped over the end of her sentence, the jab bringing a flush into the healers cheeks.

“Yes, well, that’s what they’re saying. It could really be anything, we don’t know if the wound also causes hallucinations… No no! Stay down!” Pushing down on his shoulders as he tried to sit, Addy motioned to Keah, who handed her a moist towel. This was placed on mans forehead as she commanded him to lay still. “You’ve lost a lot of blood. Moving around is about the worst thing you can do right now.” Trying to ignore the familiarity of the voice Addy tried to concentrate purely on the man’s wounds.

However her patient had other ideas, forcing Addy to lean in closer to him as he mumbled to himself. She’d tended him before? Promotion? A myrad of images flickered quickly through the woman’s head as she tried to remember who she could have left an impression on so long ago, before she was Endal. They couldn’t have been someone she was intimately close too or she would have remembered the face…

“Amon?!” The gasp was quiet and Addy sunk down closer to his side as all the pieces clicked together. “ I haven’t… where have you…” Reaching out to gently turn his face towards her, Addy instantly saw what had thrown her off from recognizing her friend on sight: The eye. “How did you…. No. No, not now.” Shaking her head, Addy sat back up onto her knees and shook herself back into healer mode. “Those questions are for later. What you do need to answer is what the petching hell happened?”

Folding her arms over her chest and not even attempting to keep the look of disbelief from her face, Addy arched a brow down at Amon and pursed her lips as he finished his excuse. “A rock? You couldn’t have come up with anything better than that?” A gesture to his bloodstained hair and clothes, as well as a nod to cloths they used to clean him up, now stained a dark red. “How much of this is yours, and how much is theirs?” Shifting so that she was directly in his line of sight and unable to look away, Addy pushed the subject a little harder. “It was a fight, wasn’t it? What weapons? Where else are you hurt, Amon? If you don’t tell me, I’ll just rip your clothes off you right here and now. But you know…“

Addy softened her tone with a playful little smile, her emotions getting the better of her. She was excited on the one hand to see her old friend again, but the circumstances could have been far better. “… I had always pictured it going a little differently than this. Y’know, with less blood and more privacy.”

[Amon]

The questions the healer bombarded him with did little to soothe the splitting headache that plagued him now. He felt a pressure in his temple that made him want to scream, but Amon swallowed the pain and forced a heavy smile. Aidara had no need to concern herself with pain she could not physically heal. "The one and only," He replied, with a shadow of a grin. "Part of it is true, as rocks... were involved." Then the smile died, and a part of him had wished that it wasn't his childhood friend who was forced to see him in such a degraded state. He lifted a hand, idly inspecting the thin coat of crusting blood on his hands and forearm. "Half and half, perhaps," the endal rasped, "I was... outnumbered. A thrilling fight... I could feel the rush... That ever looming feeling of mortality, Addy, it's intoxicating." Now you see how off his rocker he is. Sakima interjected, I've done my share of persuasion and convincing with little results. He's been picking fights and taunting notorious troublemakers. Amon seemed to disregard any semblance that the bird had spoken because the healer had placed herself precisely where he could not avoid her gaze. The milky white iris looked little more than a stone compared to his feverish golden eye now flashing with uncertainty. "I didn't want you to see me this way," He murmured angrily. "Patch me up and I'll see myself out, it looks like you have more pressing matters to attend to than some shyke who suffered a few cuts." And what a terrible humility that would seem: Amon a former paragon of altruism degraded to a thug obsessed with the thrill.

[Aidara]

Try as she might, Addy couldn’t keep the grimace from her face as she listened to Amon’s attempt at a light hearted detailing of his fight. Letting him finish without interrupting further, the healer continued to push the man back down, pulling his hands so that his arms lay at his sides and pointedly holding his head in place.

“Oh hush. They’re all unconscious with all the proper fluids still inside their bodies. You’re bleeding out." Brows gathered over green eyes as Addy fought to ignore Sakima’s interjection; it wasn’t uncommon for other Endal’s Wind Eagles to converse with someone other than their rider, but that wasn’t what had the woman worried. Even after only a few bells in his presence, Addy could sense something greatly wrong within her friend. “Plus, I’ve tried everything that I know for them and nothing has worked… we have to wait until the Avora we sent out come back with more information…”

Unsure of where to lead the conversation, Addy rambled as she tended to the various cuts and bruises, cleaning the skin around each and gently dabbing away the excess blood. “ You’re not going to be going anywhere for a while. I won’t let you.” The latter was paired with a firm glare before the little woman stood from where she sat next to the Endal and situated herself behind his head. “Now just be quiet for a moment or two while I…” But already she had slipped into her place of concentration, accessing the power deep within her for the goddess-knows now many-eth time today. Having pulled Amon’s head into her lap, Addy placed gentle fingers on either side of the gash on his scalp before she sent the golden thread of her power into the wound, cleansing it from the inside before moving onto the more minor cuts across his body.

It took less than half a bell before Addy visably relaxed and turned her gaze down to meet Amon’s. “Still okay?” The question came out in a breathy sigh, color rising up into her cheeks as the healer swayed a little where she sat. “We just have to stitch up your head…” Keah was waiting nearby, stepping forward as Adddy spoke and placing the needle and thread into the small, outstretched hand.

Practiced fingers deftly threaded the needle, the finer strands of Amons hair carefully brushed aside. “I’m sorry I can’t give you anything for the pain… with your bloodloss… the risk is just too great.” Hunching down, Addy carefully began to place small, neat stitched along the wound, working quickly to hopefully reduce the pain. It took twelve to sew the wound shut, but Addy had a clean bandage wrapped around his head, ointment and linen over the other wounds faster than anyone else in the city could have managed.

Job done and with her friend stabilized, Addy looked up to the lingering attendants and gave them a warm smile. “I think we’re good in here now. Why don’t you guys go out and check on the others? I’m just finishing up here.” Heads were inclined and the group dutifully took their leave, closing the office door behind them. It was only then that Addy allowed the worry and concern enter her eyes, a bright green with unshed tears. Leaning down, the small redhead placed a soft kiss on Amon’s forehead, avoiding a purpling bruise there, lips lingering on the too-hot flesh. He had a fever.

“Why? Who?” Though she only spoke the two words, Addy’s eyes all but screamed for him to let her help.

[Amon]

The past weeks had been driven by agony, both unleashed and endured. His body ached as if he'd aged thirty years, and so Addy's touch was a welcome change. The warmth of her magic engulfed him, surging through every torn flesh and scraped limb, mending the result of countless duels and skirmishes. She might have spoken to him but her words fell on deaf ears. Amon felt a heavy weight on his lids and the caress of soft hands on his head. Then a sharp pain exploded and he clenched jaw and fist to keep his cry from escaping. With body bandaged and a concluded silence, the endal lay exhausted and aching with the remnants of strained bones. But a quiet reprieve was far from his reach. Her questions were inevitable, but still he lay quiet for several chimes. Her lips burned on his flesh, but not because it was unwanted. It ignited in him something he had never imagined to feel again. "You're inserting yourself into affairs that don't concern you," He growled. If he had become irate it was because of the pounding of his head and the pressure in his eyes. Carefully, the endal leaned forward, grimacing with every strain and pang. "You don't need to concern yourself, that's all I'm saying Addy... This is between me and whoever the petch gets in my way." Which, as of late, has been everyone. "I don't want you to come to harm because of some stupid fuckup of mine, Addy. What if one of those vagiks barged in, destroying your property and all you've ever worked for? What if they took you and planted an unwanted seed? I would be driven to the edge, Aidara. I just..." He clutched his temple, as if in pain, "I just want you safe, if anything else. And if silence ensures that, then so be it."

[Aidara]

Frustration nibbled on the edges of the little healers compassion, a tension creeping up into her neck that had nothing to do with the fact that she had been squatting next to her injured friend for almost an entire bell. No, the strain that made her shoulders hunch was born of pure annoyance; it was hard for Addy to keep it from her voice when, after a long silence between them, she finally spoke.

“I can take care of myself, Amon.” Her words were crisp despite her effort to keep her tone even. “For years I hid behind my sister, but now… she’s gone. And has been for a while. Not only that, but when I was rose to Endal, I also continued to commit myself to the job I held as an Avora.” Spreading her arms to encompass the Infirmary, Addy raised a brow in Amon’s direction. “Twice the work. Twice the duty. Had I not been capable of either position, I would have crashed and burned by now. Doesn’t that say enough about my character?”

Pushing herself to her feet, Addy left the question to hang above the injured Endal as she strode from the office and out of sight, leaving Amon alone with her words and his thoughts for a number of long chimes. Whatever else she may have attended too after leaving her friend, Addy returned in her own time with a steaming mug of tea. The leaves inside were to help the Amon find some rest, but she said nothing as she handed the clay mug down. “I do what I want, Amon. Neither you or anyone else is ever going to get in my way.” There was a fire behind those green eyes, a spark flickering as the intensity of her words rolled over the stricken man. “For years I doubted and floundered, but no more.”

Amon’s aversions and excuses to protect her had ignited some sort of fierceness within the tiny woman. “Silence ensures nothing. It’s stubbornness and a self sacrificing attitude at work, and that’s all it is.” Another emerald flash and a curious smile curled the corners of her lips. “Drink the tea, Amon. When you wake, we’ll be one step closer to fixing you.” The choice of words was intentional, for Addy was talking about more than just his most recent wounds. “And you’ll have no argument or excuse that will change my mind."

Once Amon drifted off into sweet unconsciousness, Addy stuck her head outside the office door and gestured to the two Dek she had left to retrieve before making the tea; they waited not far off, responding immediately to their summons. It was slow going, but the three of them managed to transport Amon from the Infirmary to the aerie that Addy shared with Sira.

Indicating that they should leave him on the massive bed in the biggest room, the master suite, Addy set about tiding the space to kill time while Amon rested; Sira had been out since before dawn and wouldn’t be back until well past dusk, but she had left a gigantic mess in her wake. Focused as she was on cleaning, Addy still had an ear out for any sign that her friend should awake.

The bells that crept by were filled with softly whistled song and much dusting, folding and straightening. If she was lucky, Amon wouldn’t wake up before she was done.