Closed Daughters of Rak'Keli (Aidara)

[Iosha]

Time Stamp: 40th of Fall, 512AV Location: Imfirmary “My name is Dek Faric, and I died two days after storm struck,” Iosha stared at the apparition with wide tear filled eyes. The poor soul died when a rock fell from the ceiling landed on his chest. For a day, he was trapped under the weight of the rock. Screaming for anyone to hear him, but no one came to answer his cries. He cried to Priskil for help, but she never came. On the second day, a woman found him and effortlessly lifted the large rock from his chest. When the rock was removed, the woman disappeared, and hours later, he woke up and made his way out of warren. He crawled all the way to the Infirmary door and with the last of his strength pulled himself up on to the steps. He approached by a short beautiful crimson hair woman. She did everything she could to save his life, but eventually he died trying to telling her thank you. Iosha closed her eyes hoping the vision vanished, but he died on the spot she was standing, and she lost all control of her body. She had no choice but to listen his story. Iosha opened one eye hoping the spirit decided to move on, but Faric was still standing there waiting and watching her. Feeling like her mouth had sand in it, Iosha says quietly to the vision, “Why are you still here? I saw every petching detail of your death. Now leave me alone!” The last part was louder than expected, but the vision had her trapped under it's will. Her last outburst was not one of anger. It was a cry of panic. The vision of Faric tilted his head and said to her, “Don't be scared Io. This horrible ordeal will end shortly for both of us....I just need you to give the young healer a message for me.” Iosha still struggling to regain control of her body, closed her eyes, and whimpered to the vision, “What...What do you want me to tell her...?” The vision of Faric walked over to Iosha. Seeing her pain, he put two comforting hands on her shoulders. He brushed her pale blond hair with his hands, giving her a reassuring smile, and he said to her, “Tell the young daughter of Rak' Keli that she did her best for me. I never known a Endal to be as kind and caring as her to a Dek. Also tell her it wasn't her fault...Priskil just summoned me home.” Iosha stared at the vision with her tear filled violet eyes. She nodded quickly to the vision of Faric and whispered to him, “I promise...” Faric just stared at her and vanished. For a moment Iosha just stood there in a daze staring into nothingness. Suddenly she lost all her strength and crumbled to the floor crying. She crawled off the stairway to the wall and curled up into a ball sobbing.

[Aidara]

For the most part, Addy had avoided the preparation of a lot of the medicines they used in the Infirmary. While she could use them perfectly fine, it was her herbalism skills that were lacking. Sure, she could crush up some leaves as good as anyone with a mortar and pestle but if Keah or Miquel weren’t there to lay everything out for her… she was simply lost.

Addy sat on a stool she had dragged from the Infirmary and across the Courtyard of the Sky; she would have to sanitize it later, but there was no way she was going to stand while her goldenseal roots dried. Spread out along one side of the low-slung stone wall that had been rebuilt around the Courtyard of the Sky were more than a dozen small squares of cloth. Laid out carefully in the sun, each cloth contained a freshly picked and cleaned bit of the herbs root. Addy hadn’t found the goldenseal herself but she had helped prepare it for the drying process.

The washing had been quick, just simply removing all the dirt and anything else that clung to the roots that would otherwise impair whatever medicine the herb would be used in. Addy went so far as it quickly cast her power over each plant, pulling from the gnosis to cleanse it further, even though Keah told her it hadn’t been necessary. Better safe than sorry!

After each were patted dry and pared from the rest of the plant and separated so that they were in smaller bundles, Addy placed each root carefully on a small square of linen, folding half of the cloth back over the top to completely cover the root. It was these little packages that she so diligently watched out in the Courtyard. Placed in the direct sunlight and protected by anything that might fly by or otherwise be carried in the air, the only thing left to do was wait.

And wait.

Aaaaaaand wait. At one point, Keah wandered outside to find where Addy had gotten off too. At seeing the little woman perched on her stool in front of her drying herbs, the other healer couldn’t help but dissolve in helpless laughter.

“You know that watching them wont make it dry any faster, right?” Between fits of giggles, Addy could barely understand what Keah was trying to say.

“I know! But… I mean, if I just leave them here, they could blow away or… be stolen or…” Feeling a bit of a flush in her cheeks as Keah tried and failed to contain another bout of laughter, Addy found herself smiling at how stupid it all sounded, once she said it aloud. “Well, it sounded reasonable in my head! Watched herbs never dry, eh?” Putting a spin on the old saying, Addy slid from her stool and bent to check on the plants beneath their folds of cloth. Not even near dry.

Wrinkling her nose and turning to link arms with Keah, the two women then set back off across the Courtyard, the stool bumping and clattering as it was dragged behind them. It wasn’t until they reached the covered corridor that lead to the Infirmary that Addy stopped and smacked her forehead. “Petch it! I forgot to pick up the rest of the herbs. I got so distracted… watching them dry. Oh shush, you!” Giving Keah’s shoulder a shove, Addy shooed her on her way, passing over the stool before backtracking the way they had came. Sent out to not only dry the herbs but pick up more from an Avora who had gathered some for the Infirmary a few days hence, Addy had forgotten to complete that latter half of her errand.

The corridors were rather empty as Addy descended into the Inner Warrens, but it wasn’t much of a surprise. The Fall season always had a desperate quality to it, Endal rushing about to help prepare for Winter while the entire city tried to soak up as much of good weather they could while it still remained. To be inside on such a day, when the wind had hardly a bite to it, was blasphemy.

It was only about halfway down the hall that Addy picked up on the quiet sobbing; the ringing of her footsteps on the stone as she hurried along had managed to mask it until she got close enough that the sad sniffling managed to distinguish itself. It wasn’t hard to find the source, tucked away in a little corner of the hallway.

“Excuse me… are you alright?” Keeping a polite distance even though Addy’s instinct would have sent her forward to embrace the crying woman, it wasn’t hard to spot the shining silver hair and scales on the woman’s arms and neck that sparkled and danced in the dim, flickering light of the hallway, marking her as definitely not Inarta. The little woman had long since learned that not everyone, Outsiders especially, were not used to dealing with her close, intimate ways. Addy had always struggled to respect other people’s physical comfort zones, mostly because she didn’t have one herself.

“Miss? Are you hurt?” Such a pretty specimen would be the target for a lot of attention, since Konti only rarely visited their mountainous city. Addy wouldn’t have been surprised if more than one individual had tried to force themselves upon her. Not everyone was as considerate to the Outside races as she.

[Iosha]

Curled up in a comforting ball, Iosha couldn't believe she been reduced to sniffling on the floor like a child. If Grandmother was here, she would have never heard the end of it. Staring into nothingness, Iosha tried to wrap her head around the destruction that happened to the city, and how could this small community deal with so much death around them. Iosha couldn't walk fifty feet into the city without encountering a vision. Grandmother would tell her it was a gift from Avalis, but Iosha always thought her gift was a curse. She closed her eyes tightly trying to forget the memory of the last vision, and she says out loud in Kontinese, “Five visions just today...Rak'Keli, what happened here? I can't escape them. The dead are everywhere.” Minutes seemed like hours as Iosha laid there on the cool ground of the hallway. Her crying turned into soft whimpers. She hasn't cried over the visions since she was child, but after what she saw today. Anyone would be in the same condition if they saw what she just saw. She heard people walk by her, and said things in Nari, but no one stopped once to see if she was OK. Iosha understood she was just a outsider to them. Why would they care if she was in pain. Suddenly, she is jolted out of her daze by the voice of concerned woman asking her if she was hurt. She opens her violet eyes, and looks up at the origin of the voice. Still in a daze, Iosha sat up and leaned up against the wall. She turned her head slowly and looked at the young woman. She had long curly dark red, and if she didn't have the look of concern on her face, she would have a pretty smile. Suddenly, the memory from the vision flashed in her head, and her eyes widen slightly at her realization that this was the healer from her vision with Faric. She smiled slightly at how easy it will be to fulfill his dying wish now. Leaning her head on the wall, Iosha said softly to the young woman in common, “No, I am fine, but thank you for your concern. I am just out of it from my vision...It should pass in time.” Iosha ran a hand through her hair, and she looked down the hallway and saw a sign with Rak'keli symbol over a door. She laughed to herself at her bad luck. She was almost to the door of the Infirmary. She just needed to go thirty feet without seeing a vision. Iosha looked back at the pretty red haired woman and said with smile, “I am looking for the Infirmary. The Valintar told me to introduce myself to the other healers of Wind Reach. My name is Iosha Moonchaser, and I am daughter of Rak'Keli.” Still sitting on the ground, she rolled up her sleeve on her white shirt, and she revealed her gnosis mark to the other daughter of Rak'Keli.

[Aidara]

“You don’t look fine. Here…” Stepping forward, Addy reached out a hand to help the woman up, pulling her to her feet and sliding an arm around her as best she could to help support her once she regained her feet; the healer was short enough and the Konti tall enough that the arm looped around her waist and held there, rather than under her arms or around her shoulders. It was the best Addy could do. “Although you are in luck. I am Endal Aidara, a healer here in Wind Reach, and The Infirmary is right behind us.”

Walking at the Konti’s pace, however slow or fast she needed to go, Addy patiently helped her get there. “What kind of visions?” Knowing from experience that it was easiest when sick to accomplish even the most mundane tasks with the help of a distraction, Addy tried to draw the woman’s attention away from whatever was wrong with her question. “Are you a fortune teller? We had a group of them here not long ago.” Offering a small smile, Addy maneuvered them around a group of Avora laboring over what seemed to be a hole in the stone floor of the hallway. “I must admit, we don’t see many Outsiders inside the city alone. They usually stick in groups.” It was the best she could do by way of apology, for she had seen a few of her people pass the woman by without the slightest bit of concern to her cries.

The truth was that the Inartans automatically assumed any Outsider to be unworthy of their time, especially collapsed in a hallway, alone. Many of those who came from else where seeking residence within their city were placed in the Dek Caste, forced to work their way up into a job of some importance simply through proving themselves worth it. Of course Iosha had been ignored. All Dek were ignored.

Though Addy was unaware of the extent to which these visions had been crippling the Konti, they made it to the Infirmary without further incident. Keah looked up as the two women entered from where she took the temperature of an elderly woman, confusion furrowing her brow. Giving her a lopsided smile and directing Iosha towards one of the waiting chairs, Addy took a seat in one as well. “As soon as she’s done, I’ll introduce you.”

Addy had felt the pull of the other healers gnosis mark long before she really realized what it was. Having met only one other marked by her goddesss, Addy simply didn’t expect to feel the pull towards her sister in Healing. When the pale Konti woman confirmed it in her introduction, however, Addy had been surreptitiously staring Iosha’s at the exposed skin of her arm bearing the Gnosis. It wasn’t long until she just couldn’t hold in her questions any longer; she had been over this with Keah already, also marked by the Goddess but unable to remember any more than Addy herself could remember.

“I was marked too.” Turning her arm outwards, Addy showed Iosha the swirling, never ending knot that existed on the inside of her left elbow, the black mark standing out starkly against her pale skin. “But I was marked as a baby, and I don’t remember anything about it. No one has any recollection of the goddess visiting me, either. I’ve never lived a day in my life without it.” Of course, that had proven to complicate Addy’s learning of medicine a bit, taking for granted her Gnosis mark in the beginning and skipping over some of the more key bits of knowledge that every other healer had to learn. Caught in tight spots when her gnosis didn’t get the job done, Addy had been forced to go back and relearn these skills later, lest she lose a patient to her incompetence. It was with a sort of childlike wonder that Addy waited for the Konti’s response, completely forgetting in her excitement that the woman had suffered some sort of unknown trauma and might not be up to questioning.

[Iosha]

Looking at Aidara hand for a moment, Iosha gives her a weak smile before letting the healer help her to her feet. Once on her feet, Iosha is hit with another wave of vertigo, and she stumbles forward, but Aidara quickly catches her before she topples to the floor. She looks at the red head healer and apologizes for her clumsiness, and she says to softly Aidara, “I am sorry for the trouble. I am not normally this...clumsy.” She stops and thinks about what she just said and continues jokingly, “No wait.. I am normally this clumsy, but the room doesn't normally spin when I trip over a chair.” Typical Iosha always deflecting her anxieties with a joke. She isn't normally like this, but the visions are coming more frequent since she settled in the city a week ago. She is starting to worry that she will be needing a blind fold to function in this city. Seeing their getting closer to the door, Iosha looks at the red haired healer, and she is pleasantly surprised she hasn't broke even a sweat helping her to the infirmary. She hears her ask a question about her visions, and she looks at the ground for a moment trying to figure out how to explain to a non konti what the Gift is without sounding like a complete crazy person. Feeling the dizziness start to subside, she looks at Aidara and says with a hint of cynicism at the question, “If I was a seer, Aidara, Berial could have sold me and paid off his damn boat and bought a new boat with the money. He got from selling me...Um Sorry, you weren't asking that were you...” Iosha bits her bottom lip and thinks to her herself, “What is wrong with me? Why can't I keep those thoughts in my head.” It was a simple question, but trying to answer it was much harder for her because her “gift” isn't the typical of most konti. She always wished she could sense truth like her grandmother, or predict the weather like her mother. However, nothing in her life was ever simple, and sometimes she thinks the gods are just playing a cruel trick on her. She looks at Aidara again once she gets her thoughts in order, and she answers the question with a half smile a wink, “Sorry, that cynicism wasn't directed at you, but at the man who will remain nameless.” Her thoughts also add to the statement, “and next time I see him. He will not have a very good day.” Hoping Aidara sees her last statement was a joke, she continues with her explanation of her vision, “I not sure how much you learned about Konti in Kalea, but each one of my sisters are born with a certain second sight. For example some of my sisters can foretell the weather or tell if someone is lying. What gives us our powers of divination is the vision water. It is the life blood of our island.” Iosha stops talking suddenly and grows sad with the memories of home. She wipes a tear, and she continues her explanation, “My “gift” or curse as I call it. Is the ability to see how a person has died. The visions manifest like a scene in a play. I see every gory detail until the time of their death. When the events play out to their inevitable end, the spirit of the person who died. The spirit tells me their name and normally leaves afterward, but the vision I encounter in this hallway...was especially vivid because I step on the vary spot he died. When this happens the spirit can actually interact with me, and they either give me a message or a dying wish. This puts me in a pickle because I am a giant softy, and I have to try to either deliver the message or fulfill their dying wish. Honestly when I encounter these visions, I just want to curl up in a ball and hide under my bed.” Iosha takes a deep breath, sighs, and continues with a giggle, “As you can tell my abilities of divination are not really welcomed at parties, and when I was a child, I was traumatize when ever I encountered a the death visions. My Grandmother told me. I should just suck it up and deal with like a woman, but I think my grandmother's father was a Zith, so that must explain her shining disposition.” Iosha giggles to herself. She loves her grandmother with all her heart, but she was impossible to reason with since she was always right even when she was completely wrong. Iosha looks at her and raises an eyebrow, “Don't you trust outsiders or me? Because I am as harmless as a kitten, all I can really do to you is gnaw at your finger as I helplessly try to get away.” Iosha lets Aidara lead her into the Infirmary, and she is slowly starting to come back to normal. She liked Aidara. Faric was right that she had a kind heart. What really impressed her was the fact that Aidara completely ignore her first explaination about her condition. Honestly she wasn't fine. The visions have defiantly taken a toll on her spirit. She needed to talk about to somebody even a stranger, but Aidara wasn't a stranger. She was a fellow healer of Rak'Keli, and Iosha felt a kindred to the red hair woman. Maybe it was they both shared the same love for their Goddess, and their goddess' radiant back to her followers. Whatever it is Iosha enjoyed watching the childlike innocents as she asked her questions. However, it is nice to feel a kindred to someone. Kindred or belonging was something she hasn't felt for a long time since she left her beloved island. Iosha lets her lead her to a chair and sits down. She blows a piece of silvery blond hair from her face, and watches the other healer help a elderly patient. She smiles at Aidara when she tell her that she will introduce Iosha to the other young healer. She leans back in her chair and runs her hand through her hair, and looks at Aidara and smiles, “By the way, if I had any friends at all, I would like them to call me, Io, so you can call me Io if you like, Aidara.” She gives her a quick wide grin, and she sits back her with a giggle. Small talk wasn't her specialty, but she thinks she can make up for it in sheer weirdness. A little while later, Aidara shows her the gnosis mark on her arm, and starts explaining her the way she received mark. Iosha just smiles warmly at Inartan woman. She was marked the same way Avalis marked her child. She says to softly to her, “You must be a blessed child of Rak'Keli, Aidara that is how I explain children marked by the gods. I could be completely wrong though, but I figure Rak'Keli will set me straight when I meet her.” Wanting to show Aidara her faith for their goddess in her words, Iosha takes her hand in both of hers and quietly says to her, “I believe being brothers and sisters of Rak'keli puts us in a special family of our own. She choose us to heal the sick and comfort the dying. We can only take a life if ours is threatened. You are special Aidara, and you are never alone when you have your family with you.”

[Aidara]

Listening intently as the young woman told her tale, Addy waved Keah away until the stories were finished; starting from where she had found the Konti in the hallway to where they sat in the comfortable chairs of the Infirmary, Iosha told Addy more about herself than the little Inarta expected. Outsiders were hardly ever so… talkative. The sincere, heartfelt way that the Konti woman complimented and reassured the little healer was more than just a bit refreshing; Addy found herself clasping hands with the other woman and smiling softly.

“Well aren’t you refreshing? Such kind words, Io, I can’t help but already count you among one of my friends. Please, call me Aidara.” Tossing the young woman a dimpled smile, Addy patted her hand before withdrawing her own from their grasp. “’Aidara’ makes me feel as if I am in trouble for something.” Adding a fake shiver of fright, Addy rose slightly from the seat and beckoned Keah over; the other healer came quickly, bearing with her the small pot of tea and a tray of mugs.

As soon as she was close enough, Addy introduced the two women. “Keah, this is Iosha. Io, this is Keah. She also works here in the infirmary.” Taking the tray from Keah as they moved through their introductions and pouring the three of them drinks, Addy passed the mugs around and settled back into her seat. “So you said the Valintar sent you here? I am assuming that since you are a healer you are wanting to help us out.”

“Oh, brilliant!” Wrapping her hands around the cup to warm them, Keah blew lightly on the steaming drink as she turned a smile towards Iosha. “With all the hunting accidents that have been going on recently, we could really use it.” The pretty redhead glanced over her shoulder into the relatively empty sick bay, checking on the few individuals that lay there; they all seemed to be asleep, allowing Keah to turn back to their conversation.

“What kind of skills do you have? I am not sure the medicinal techniques throughout the rest of Mizahar. Perhaps we will have things to teach each other, but enough in common that we won't be bumping elbows the whole way.” Addy took a small sip of the tea, wincing as it seared her tongue, burning all the way down her throat. “Ahhh, this is way too hot.” Setting the cup down with a little more force than necessary, Addy rolled her scorched tongue around her mouth, trying to ease the pain. “Do you have any preference as to what you would like to do while here? I am Endal so I am not always in the Infirmary. Sometimes I must fly out with a hunt or go into the Unforgiving to help the injured there if they aren’t stable enough for transport.”

Keah caught Addy’s eye, and the little healer nodded before adding onto her questions, their thoughts along the same wavelength. “You do intend on staying here for a while, yes?”

[Iosha]

Feeling the small healer take her hand, Iosha gave her nod and smiled at the other healer, “Alright Addy. I will promise to call you Aidara only when I am mad at you, and I doubt you'll ever hear your real name uttered from my mouth very often.” When the young healer made it over to them with the refreshments, Iosha nodded to Aidara and gave the other healer a welcoming smile and said to her, “Its a pleasure to meet you, Keah. You can call me Io.” When the young woman offered her a mug of tea, and she took the mug and sipped the tea slowly. Deciding she should answer her question about the Valintar, Iosha said to them both, “Yes, I have been assigned to the Avora caste from...what I understand of the your caste system is the artisans and tradesman fall into this caste.” She blushed slightly and said jokily to them, “Well I should say my system now too since I am a honorary Inarta now. Unless I bad at my job and the Valintar throws me off the mountain.” She smirked into her glass and said without looking up, “My main duty will be a healer, but I will be volunteering at the hydroponic farms when my life starts to settling down. My mother gave me the basic knowledge of gardening, and I enjoy working with plants especially flowers, so if any of you are interested in gardening, it could be fun to have some help. It a good way to relieve stress too.” Iosha turned her intention to Keah. Who definitely seemed to be excited to have the extra help around the Infirmary. Iosha frowned at her last statement about the hunting accidents and shots a questioning glance to Aidara. She decides to asks to understand the situation, “I know Wind Reach was hit hard by the spring Djed Storm, but are the injuries caused by carelessness, or are they caused by a increase of predators?” Turning her attention away from the blight facing Wind Reach, Aidara asked her about her medical knowledge and she blew the surface of her tea. She smiled at Leah and said softly, “By the way, your tea tastes fantastic Keah.” She looked at Aidara and Keah said proudly, “OK, I not sure if you know, but Konti is considered an adult by the age of thirty, and I am thirty-three years old right now, so I would be about three years into adulthood right now. We can live up to two hundred and fifty years.” She takes another sip and continued talking, “Most of my childhood was spent studying my grandmother's arts, and I was studying medicine at the Mura Medical Library for about ten years. When I graduated from school, I left Mura at the age of twenty-five. Honestly, I educated in medicine, but I am lacking the hand on experience since I had a bad case of wanderlust for eight years. I practiced most field medicine, but nothing as elaborate as your Infirmary hear in Wind Reach... By the gods, I love your ceiling here.” Suddenly Iosha's eyes caught the colors shining on the wall, and she looked up and saw a ceiling made of stained glass. She sat there for a moment trying to make out the images over her head. While looking up the gorgeous stained glass ceiling, Iosha started thinking about Ravok for a moment. She decided to intentionally skips three years of her life there and said to them, “At the age of twenty-eight, I signed a two year contract with a hunting and trapping band in northern Taldera as a healer for about twenty- five hunters and ten or so tradesman. I was taken in as a apprentice by a kind human physician in the camp. The small community was always around forty or so people there was equal number of men to woman in the hunting band. Our caravan traveled all over Northern and Southern Taldera as fur traders, trappers, and traders till I settled in Avanthal when I was thirty-one. I spent a year in Avanthal before making my way to Wind Reach.” Remembering she strayed from Aidara question about her knowledge, she blushed and said to her, “Being a Konti, we tend to take a more holistic approach to medicine, so I am knowledgeable medicines pertaining to diet and the inner energies of the body. Being trained as a Konti healer, we see a sick person as someone as a person who is out of balance with themselves. For some reason, their body, mind, and spirit is in disharmony with one another, so my job as Konti doctor is to treat all parts of the triangle equally, so the triangle can correctly heal in perfect harmony. Being the home of Rak'keli, the Medical Library in Mura tries to focus on all the medical techniques around the world, so the medical students learning medicine from their try to understand and practices all the healing techniques of Mizahar since all medicine is important in the eyes of Rak'keli.” Iosha laughed suddenly and continued, “Hai, I studied about a Zith blood draining techniques to curb infections. They were brutal, but effective from what the study wrote. However, they are way to advanced for me to attempt right now at my current skill level.” Iosha sipped her tea and contemplated Aidara second question. She looked at her when calls herself a Endal. She took a another sip and said to Aidara, “Basically, all I have going for me right now is the book knowledge, and I don't have much hands on experience other than field medicine. Well, I definitely going to be looking for opportunities to get hands on experience, but I will be asking a lot of questions because I am mostly a student right now. In the future though, I would like to be physician. I believe I would like to combine Konti medical techniques and to the Inarta medical techniques of my father's people and put them into a practice. I guess. I want to work on prevention of illness and curb injury before it happens. Also, I want to start studying herbalism because I am severely lacking knowledge in herbalism. In the near future if Wind Reach doesn't have one already. I would like to start a garden that is strictly plants that serve a medicinal purposes, so if any of you want to help me, it could be a lot of fun watching plants grow. However, I first need to go to library and study up on the plants I will need.” Seeing her tea is starting to cool slight, Iosha took a sip and noticed the two woman must have been thinking the thing the same thing because Aidara looked at Keah and the other woman just nodded in agreement. Aidara asked her question about how long will she be staying in Wind Reach. After sipping her tea, she decided to responds playfully to the two human woman, “How long is your average life span in Inarta?”

[Aidara]

Addy was the picture of attentiveness as the tiny Konti woman filled the space between them with her stories, her past and present, her ambitions. Though it wasn’t all that dramatic of a tale, the little Inarta’s eyes widened as Iosha’s story unraveled, telling of Avanthal and the other places she had seen; being stuck in Wind Reach for the majority of her life had left Addy with an almost childlike awe of those places beyond her home; an awe that was backed up with a healthy dose of reservation and the lack of desire to actually explore beyond her mountain. She was fine where she was.

When the other woman spoke of her goals with medicine, Addy nodded slowly, her lips resting on the rim of her teacup before taking a slow sampling of the now plesesantly warm liquid. “Everyone does have to start somewhere. I taught myself in the beginning as well. I know exactly the books that can help you most. I’ve even had my own personal copies made that I can lend you.” A smile then as she lowered the cup to balance lightly on her knee. “If you promise to take care of them, that is.” The smile that dimpled her cheeks told Iosha Addy was kidding, unable to keep from joking very long.

“I don’t know how medicine is handled in other places but here we tend to try and use what we have; herbs, minor implements and our Gnosis’.” Using a hand to encompass the rest of the Infirmary, Addy settled back in her chair before continuing. “This is all we have for taking care of patients. It has served us well thus far though we could easily use more space for our herbalism, a place to make our medicines.”

The conversation moved quickly from there, though Addy still had her questions she knew they could wait. Before long, the young Konti woman was asking about the Inarta themselves. Addy found herself smiling, for the question amused her though she tried not to laugh. Her people kept themselves separate from the outsiders, for the most part, and it was odd to be answering questions that everybody else already knew, only drawing more attention to the fact that Iosha wasn’t from around here.

It was refreshing. Such cultural nuances get taken for granted after a while. “Few of us make it past eighty years, though it is not unheard of.” Frowning for a moment and taking advantage of the pause for more tea, Addy’s tone was thoughtful when she did speak again. “Life is hard. We do a lot to keep our city going and it takes a toll on us all. Life is what it is and you don’t find a lot of people around her thinking about death or life spans.” Raising a brow and giving Iosha a playful smile, Addy leaned forward and gently touched her arm. “Does how long we live play a part in your decision as to whether or not you’re going to work here?”

[Iosha]

Iosha listened to Aidara as she explained the length of average lifespan of her people. She knew it was a strange question to ask during her initial conversation with her fellow healers, but Aidara explained her people were in a constant struggle to survive, and they don't have the time to think about their mortality. Iosha gave Aidara a reassuring pat on the hand when she touched her arm. Deciding to answer Aidara's question, she answered with a hint of amusement in her voice, “To set your mind at ease Addy, I think I am going to accept the job if you want me.” Thinking for a moment, she contemplated the answer to her question and said softly, “Honestly the reason I asked because I want to fully experience my father's people. I figure forty to fifty years would be a good length of time to fully understand the Inarta people. It is my way of getting closer to my father even though I never met him... Besides what kind of friend would I be if I abandoned my friends after ten years?” Sipping her tea, Iosha looked around the Infirmary. She started to picture herself working in this place. She remembered Aidara mentioning the idea of more space for herbalism. She looked over at Aidara and suggested, “ Since I am volunteering my services in the garden along with working in the Infirmary. Maybe I can help you sent up a herbal garden in the hydroponic farm. Also in the spring. Both of us could head into wilderness and find some seedlings to transplant in the garden. My mother taught me the basics of gardening, so I kind of want to see if my green thumb still works.” She looked at one of the walls and decided to make another suggestion, “If I can make a suggestion about the lack of space for herbalism. Maybe we could ask the Valintar to make some more space in the Infirmary. I figure two adjoining rooms. First room could be used as our medicine laboratory, and the second room could be used as a quarantine room. I know the construction will be disruptive at first, but I think they would be good additions to the Infirmary in the long run.” After she gave her suggestions to Aidara. She felt awkward suggesting them to someone she just met for the first time.

[Aidara]

“Forty years.” Whistling, Addy looked over to see that Keah, who had been listening into the conversation, raised her eyebrows in surprise. “That is some dedication, that’s for sure.” The little Endal had always possessed the insight to look ahead, though found herself shocked at the sheer number of years Iosha had laid out before her. Addy had never gone to that depth.

The two healers recovered rather quickly from this minor surprise, Keah finishing up with her patient and coming to join Iosha and Addy where they sat. Both of the Inarta were taken with this Konti who, like them, seemed to put her work before most everything else. “I think we can work something out with the gardens. But for an actual farm, we might have to proposition that it be built.” Keah nodded in agreement as Addy spoke, piping up to add her own two cents.

“It won’t be too difficult to get approved, I don’t think, but it might take a while to actually complete. Not to mention, Neither Addy nor myself really have much experience in actually handling the herbalism side of our medicine.”

“The Valintar wouldn’t say no. The space for herbalism is a legitimate need. Not to mention we all could learn from and teach others with the increased space. Perhaps send some of the more adventurous individuals out to find where the herbs we use are located nearby? I’m sure most of the Endal wouldn’t mind taking an extra along while they go hunt.” Smiling, Addy nodded at Iosha and clapped her hands together in excitement. “This is brilliant. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this before now!”

Taking all of empty teacups, Addy moved to rinse them out before returning to her seat. She took a moment to simply look at the Konti woman, taking in her appearance and the way that she held herself. It wasn’t hard to tell that this woman was good, and not someone who was just trying to pull one over their eyes. Inarta had an inherent distrust of those from outside their mountain, but Addy was always more willing to give anyone a chance to prove themselves… but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be cautious. Especially when allowing the Outsider to work around their sick and injured. That could be disastrous.

Iosha gave her no reason to be nervous. There was a genuine warmth the emanated from her that one could just not fake. Giving the woman a pleased smile, Addy extended her hand out to the waiting Konti. “Welcome to the Infirmary, Iosha.”