Old Wounds [Nai'a]

[Lexa Maze]

13th day of Spring 513av The pain was minuscule compared with what Lexa had felt in the past, but it hurt enough for her to be concerned. It had been a week today since Amon had given her that nasty stab wound in her side and it had been giving her trouble ever since. In fact, it had only just started to heal one she arrived in Zeltiva but she had somehow, stupidly, managed to take a tumble down a small incline when taking a stroll around Zeltiva's outskirts and it had opened right back up again thanks to a particularly nasty pointed rock. Lexa was afraid it might get infected if she just left it like this. That wouldn't be pretty. She'd been warned enough about her biggest scar opening and getting infected by doctors once she was deemed fit to leave, lucky that one was well and truly healed. Or as well as it was going to be, anyway. Lexa had begun to walk back towards Zeltiva once she had re-opened the wound, and was now just passing the gates. She decided it would be best to visit the infirmary to be on the safe side. She held the cloth of her tunic to the wound, keeping the pressure in it to slow the bleeding. Worry was present on her brow. She hoped it wasn’t already in infected. Maybe it was already meant to have healed properly by now anyway? She got a few concerned looks as she passed the prying eyes of passers by on her way to the infirmary. She bit her tongue. Any way she looked at it, this was painful. Especially at the too-quick pase of her walking. Lexa forced herself to slow down. She’d be okay, she had survived much worse in the past. Truly this was notning. She arrived inside the place of healing and headed for the lady behind the counter. She said “I’ve managed to open a wound of mine and I’m afraid of it becoming infected.” She rolled up the corner of her bloodied tunic to reveal said wound, face surprisingly calm. She awaited a healer without making too much of a fuss. As this was something that required immediate action, she should get help soon.

[Nai'a]

Nai’a’s day at the Infirmary was slightly busy, taking care of some of those still plagued with the sickness that had befallen Zeltiva during the Winter Season. She enjoyed her work though, the feeling of knowing she can heal, that she can help others, and being confident in that was a great feeling to her. Though, admittedly, the Winter Season did try her on her confidence in healing, she kept her head high, and her faith in Rak’Keli. Rak’Keli did not abandon her, but the goddess’s gift could not save everyone, and Nai’a had to come to terms with that. The pain of losing a patient was harsh, but she kept faith in herself and her goddess, and of course her reflection with Leth kept her sane as well.

She finished sewing a wound on a little girl’s foot, that she had hurt while running barefoot, slipping and cutting it on a sharp rock. She had cleaned it with her mark, ridding it of any infection and purifying the wound. Once she made her last stitch on the girls foot, and the tears of the little one had dried up she placed a healing salve on the wound that would keep it from getting infected, and sooth the pain for her. Then she carefully wrapped a bandage around the foot to keep out dirt and other germs.

”Alright beautiful, your foot is as good as new.” Nai’a said, smiling at the little girl, patting her leg softly. ”Just be more careful next time, and wear shoes from now on, okay sweetie?” Nai’a said in her soothing and calm voice. The little girl nodded, and her mother smiled at her in thanks. Nai’a nodded her head, ”Alright then. Please come see me if you think that it is getting infected or not healing up properly, do not wait, come straight her.” Nai’a advised the mother, and she agreed to do just that.

Nai’a walked out of the room and headed back to the lobby part of the Infirmary, to seek out Mistress Claira. She had become quite fond of the strict old lady, the work they did together during the Winter Season made them closer it seemed. But she still carried that strictness about it, still ordered Nai’a around as if she was a young and unwise student. Nai’a did not mind though, she knew it was in best intentions.

As she made her way to the counter there was a woman standing there with her shirt lifted up. Nai’a leaned over a little further and saw that the young woman was wounded and was bleeding. Some of the blood had even dripped down and had made splatters on the floor. Nai’a frowned and hurried further. She caught the tail end of the dark haired woman's explanation, she was afraid the wound was becoming infected. The Healer was a little shocked that the woman was so calm about the wound, not making a fuss about it, or becoming overly excited about the blood seeping out of the wound. It seemed the woman was used to pain, and the wound was nothing to her.

The Healer nodded at Mistress Claira, and faced the woman with the wound, ”I am Nai’a, let’s take a look at that wound in a room, shall we?” Nai’a said in a honeyed voice, guiding the woman into a room, not waiting for an answer really.

Once in the wound, Nai’a lifted up the girl’s shirt. The wound looked to be an old one, the skin seemed to sealed the wound that was inflicted, but was reopened. Thankfully it was not that deep, it was shallow, but still caused a bit of blood to come out. Though the previous wound looked to be a lot deeper from the wound she now had. ”This looks to be an older wound. What happened to make it reopen?” Nai’a asked, glancing at the wound.

As the woman told her what happened, Nai’a placed her palms over the wound, and a warm, soothing, blue light appeared at the base of her palms. Her Gnosis mark’s magic flowed into the young woman, soothing any aches and pains, making her calm, not just a façade of one. Nai’a cleared the wound, ridding it of any infection, so it did not become septic, and then worked on mending the skin with the blue light.

”You need to be more careful when you are wounded. There is no sense in doing the things you could have done without wounds, just to be hurt over and over again; it is a waste of time.” Nai’a said with a warm smile, as the skin of the shallow wound knitted it together. Once the wound was closed up, Nai’a gave the woman a bright smile, retracted her hands from the woman’s person.

”The wound will not cause you anymore problems now. Thankfully it was shallow enough for me to close up. If it had reopened to its previous injury I would have to have stitched it up first. Thankfully the body is a wonderful thing, and can heal itself if properly taken care of.” Nai’a said, looking over at the woman. She could not help but wonder why she was so calm through the obvious pain the wound caused her.

How she had become so hard to the pain inflicted upon her person. The woman was rather intriguing to the Healer. Most women she had met would of freaked out at the sight of blood, cried at the pain that was coursing through their body. But she, she just stood there with an emotionless expression, as blood seeped from her wound.

[Lexa Maze]

Lexa saw a lovely woman with very strangely coloured hair. Had she dyed her hair that way? Lexa had met all sorts of people. For all she knew, this was a natural colour that was completely normal somewhere in the world. The woman introduced herself as Nai'a and invited her further into the infirmary. She looked back at the blood that had seeped out of the wound and onto the floor of the infirmary and frowned, then hurried to match the pink haired lady's stride. The healer was rather beautiful. She had lovely grey eyes and soft facial features that brightened when she smiled. She asked Lexa what had happened to re-open the wound and Lexa told her of her clumsy fall outside the city. As she spoke, Nai'a placed her hands over the wound and a strange blue light appeared. Lexa sucked in a surprised breath, but she soon felt a soothing sensation relax her body, and the pain dissipated swiftly. Still smiling Nai'a warned her to be more careful. Lexa smiled and said "I'm usually not so clumsy" She chuckled "But your right, I'll be more careful." as Nai'a looked at her, Lexa saw a hint of curiosity in her eyes. She supposed most people would be a lot less calm about a wound such as this. Probably cry, and make a fuss. Her father had made sure to beat that kind of pathetic behaviour out of her when she was but a child. "Thanks for your help, Nai'a" She paused then said "My name is Lexa, by the way" Lexa's eyes surveyed the healer "You have very unique hair, I must say, did you dye it that way?" Lexa surprised herself at how much her conversation skills had improved since last year.

[Nai'a]

The girl replied to her insistence on being careful, with her stating that she was not normally so clumsy. Nai'a gave a melodic laugh, and a sweet smile, "Clumsiness has nothing to do with ripping open an old one. If clumsiness caused bleeding I would be dead." Nai'a's tone was a playful one, not trying to be rude, just tease the girl a little. Being serious all the time was no fun anyhow. Though she was happy the girl did agree to be more careful, but with her experience of people like this woman, being careful was something of a challenge for them.

The dark haired woman offered her name, and Nai'a smiled, "It is a pleasure to meet you Lexa." The Healer spoke in a sweet tone, smiling at the girl's next set of words. Her hair. Yes, this was always a good topic for people to get on. She had vibrant pink locks, unique, and different. Though what Nai'a thought was most unique about her, was the fact that she shifted into a pink dolphin. But the Kelvic shrugged off the thought, replying to the woman in a soft voice, "My hair is naturally pink. No dyes as of it has touched my locks." Nai'a smirked, it was her turn to ask a question of the woman, "Now I must ask, how does one like yourself get a wound that resembles a knife being jabbed into the skin?" The Healer knew it was a personal question, but the hair question was just as personal to the Kelvic.


She knew the woman looked to be strong, fit, and athletic. But the fact still remained, as to why someone would harm the girl. The Healer was not sure if it was a knife wound or not, but she had seen them before and this one kind of looked like a wound from a blade, though she could be completely wrong about that assumption. Either way, she seemed so sweet and innocent facial wise. Why would someone want to hurt such a sweet looking creature?

[Lexa Maze]

Lexa smiled at the humorous tone the sweet healer undertook. She liked this healer. She reminded her of her mother in many ways. She admired healers, and she was so much more relaxed around this woman than anyone else for that reason. She drifted off thinking about all her failed attempts at focusing on a complex healing textbook. She didn't have the right level of concentration to be an academic. Many attempts had left her utterly bored out of her mind. Her smile and words about her unusual hair snapped the warrior back to attention. So it was her natural colour. She didn't have time to ask any more of the woman however, as she was asked a question of her own. Lexa didn't have an issue answering the healer, but she wondered what she would think. After all, fighting was the opposite of what this healer did. Maybe she disliked violence. At any rate, she wasn't going to be squeamish. You had to look at some pretty gory stuff, she supposed, with a job like that. So Lexa looked up at the woman and said "You're right, it was a dagger wound." She confirmed "It was supposed to be a friendly sparring match." She said staring into space "I met a stranger whilst traveling here through the wild lands, and, he challenged me to a match. But It got... rather out of hand." She looked down. "He seemed to get angry when I picked up one of his daggers, and the fight became real suddenly. He came at me with a strike I wasn't ready for. It could have killed me, the wound was a lot shallower than it could have been if I hadn't reacted fast enough." The scene played out again in front of her eyes, ending as he road off into the distance. "I stopped the fight after that, had him in the position to take his life and he seemed to snap out of it and apologise after that. But I turned him away, after that" Lexa shook her head. Had she really just explained it that fully? Just the first part of the story would have been enough. It wasn't like her to blurt things out like that. She tried to defuse the silence by making light of it "It wasn't one of my better days, but it could have turned out worse right?" She drifted off into silence again wondering how this healer would react. It was better than telling the story of the other wounds she held. Her back was the worst. She wondered if Nai'a had seen the scar she possessed there? Oh boy, this wasn't turing out well was it?

[Nai'a]

Nai’a listened as intently as a healer could to the woman’s story, which was very intently. The woman looked small, but fit. Nai’a figured that maybe she did some training like she did, just in case she needed to defend herself. But it seemed the woman had sparred with a man, and the man became angry when she picked up a dagger, and stabbed her. At least the woman did get the better of the man, and that made Nai’a smile. ”Well, I do hope you do not interact with him no longer. Cheating during a spar is rather lowly.” Nai’a said with a shake of her head, ”You should try to learn acrobatics. I heard that is really beneficial to those who fight. Maybe it can also help you from getting wounds from others” Nai’a said with a little chuckle then shook her head. ”I have the mark of Rak’Keli, so I cannot partake in violence unless it is in self-defense. But I still train when I can, so I can defend myself.”

Nai’a was an overly friendly person. She could get along with anyone, which was a good thing, but also a down fall. She let people in too easily, she accepted and gave her trust too easily. But the woman had this personality that attracted Nai’a, kind of like Ricky but more mysterious. Nai’a smiled warmly at the girl, ”My shift is almost over with. Would you like to join me to get something to eat, or a drink?” Nai’a offered to Lexa. Nai’a herself could not drink due to being pregnant, but maybe the other girl would like a drink, she wasn’t sure. But she was going to offer either way, she already felt as if the two could become good friends if given the chance.

[Lexa Maze]

Lexa nodded "My flexibility is good, so it shouldn't be too difficult to begin learning acrobatics. Men are often stronger physically, but there are other ways to beat an opponent than brute strength" The Acrobatics skill was something she had been meaning to learn for a long time actually. This woman was really growing on Lexa. She felt so much more relaxed around her, than around others. She made all the accusing, patronising voicies of her father, her brothers silent for once. She made Lexa feel like she was ok. She listened as Nai'a told of her mark. Rak'Keli. The Goddess of healing? Well that made sense. "Oh, The goddess of healing? I'm afraid I don't know much more about her than that. Maybe you could educate me" She said with a chuckle. Lexa couldn't imagine not fighting, it made her feel strong. Powerful. Worth something. She couldn't imagine the life of a pacifist. non-violence. Violence had been her whole existence. She wasn't good for... anything else. She didn't deserve to talk to such a kind woman. No. Stop it! This was it wasn't it? The simplest of things could get her so wound up inside. Lexa shook it off. She was listening to the side of herself that she was trying to close off, in order to make friends. She had to quit talking down on herself, or she would never become better. She would never respect herself. This was probably the main factor as to why she had never really preyed or studied any of the gods. What would they want with her? She was here, in this city. Focusing on skills like painting, and socialisation. Things besides fighting. Really, she was just trying to be happy. Lexa looked up again when she was invited to eat, or drink with the healer. "Really?" She blurted. What was that Lexa?! "I mean, That would be great. I mean, I don't drink, but are you hungry? It must be nearing noon by now, right?" Lexa tried a smile "I haven't been here long, mind you, where's the best place to go? I suppose much of it is seafood related." She was happy. There were not many who could possibly be interested in hanging out with her. She wasn't very open with people. Usually that pushed others away. That and her awkwardness when talking to... anyone she founf likeable really. It was so alien, making friends in this way.

[Nai'a]

Nai’a smiled as the woman agreed acrobatics would be useful in fighting. Nai’a herself learned acrobatics along with her hand-to-hand combat, to make it easier to defend herself. Acrobatics made a flexible person more flexible, using muscles that you normally would not use in a fight or spar to throw off the opponent. Besides that, Acrobatics in Nai’a’s opinion was artful in a way, others who are more skilled in it seemed to contort their bodies in such beautiful ways, it made Nai’a slightly jealous, especially being pregnant now and not being able to do anything but work, study, sleep, and eat. The energetic Kelvic had become restless as of late, so inviting the woman out to eat would be such a break from the normal routine for the Healer.

Nai’a gave the woman a warm smile, ”Rak’Keli is the Goddess of Healing. She helps balance out the tricksters, and destroys the lurkers who cause trouble by erosion of value or faith. She isn’t one to play games or make obstacles you have to overcome. She grants a mark to people like me, to battle in ways just as fierce as wielding a sword.” Nai’a explained, saying a silent prayer up to Rak’Keli, thanking her for her knowledge and blessing.

Nai’a chuckled softly when the woman was shocked at her invite, but happy that she agreed to come along. ”Splendid! Yes there is a lot of sea food, I adore fish though.” Nai’a said with a laugh to herself, she was a dolphin after all, ”With the food shortages, there isn’t much anywhere to go publicly for a meal, except the Fish Market really, but I do promise that it is succulent and wonderful. Way better than eating raw fish!” Nai’a said excitedly and laughed at the end. Being a Dolphin Kelvic, she had mainly dined on raw fish she would catch in the depths of the water. So when Ricky introduced her to the wonderful grilled fish, she had fell in love with it’s taste. ”Come on then, let us traverse to the Fish Market. Dinner is on me.” Nai’a said with a wink, hooking her arm in the other females, and walked out of the Infirmary.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


They made it to the Fish Market and the delectable scent of grilled fish caressed Nai’a’s sensitive nose, making her toes curl. Nai’a and her new found friend Lexa stepped up to the grill, Nai’a ordered two grilled horned Sand-fish for them, paid the man with a smile and a thank you, and sat down on a bench over looking the water. The treat was so delicious, stuffed with seaweed and salt, wrapped in seaweed, and skewered on a stick then grilled over an open flame. The seaweed helped absorbed much of the fishiness taste, and left the fish soft, juicy, and delicious. Nai’a bit into her skewered and moaned softly at the taste, it was so good, and her baby inside her womb seemed to be enjoying it as well. ”Well, what do you think?” Nai’a asked Lexa after swallowing her first bite. She wondered if the girl even liked fish, maybe she had never tried it cooked like this.


OOCTo shorten the thread, I went ahead and skipped the whole walking part, but you can mention the sights on the way that way your PC can learn the particular buildings leading up to the Fish Market