A Steamy Morning (Caela Dorin)

by **Kechaiya** on October 16th, 2014, 11:28 pm

"Yes, very lucky, gods smile on you. Yes, very bad. If not treat proper, could rip in half." She held out her hands like she was ripping paper, accompanied by the sound effect. "If happen, may never heal, no without Healer Priest. If no heal, bending, standing, moving, all hurt severely, forever. Then cause problems with back, with walking, then cripple." She took a drink from the red berry juice, enjoying the relaxation the hot water gave her joints and muscles. "I Kechaiya."

Kechaiya watched as the woman slipped into the waters, knowing it had been enough time with the ice. "In ten chimes, I wrap your torso. Then we do stretches. When stretching, go slow, stop stretch before pain. Easy." The woman had had quite the scary experience, having thought she would die. Kechaiya thought she'd been comforting enough. Now the woman seemed to seek some normalcy in the form of conversation. "What job you do?" Kechaiya assumed she was a prostitute, as pretty as she was. She probably injured herself doing something strange in bed. She'd learned long ago, most patients lied. But it didn't matter. If she could figure out the injury, she could fix it, no matter what caused it.

Kechaiya waited several chimes until it was time for Caela to get out of the water. Kechaiya pulled herself out, and grabbed a long fresh bandage from her pack, as well as two towels for them to dry off. She offered one to Caela, then quickly drying herself. "When ready, I bandage, then we stretch, yes?"

by **Caela Dorin** on October 18th, 2014, 12:52 am

This doctor seriously needed to work on her bedside manner. She seemed to have the treatment part down but filling her patients' heads with morbid ideas of what could have happened to them was something that she'd need to learn to avoid. She could have just left it at her being lucky - no god had smiled on her as far as she knew although they seemed to laugh a lot - and not tagged on the pain and crippling that was probably still a possibility if Caela made a false move now. She wasn't a doctor or quack or whatever this woman was so how did she know whether or not she was still capable of doing the irreparable damage that the black eyed one spoke of? No idea whatsoever and so she was left just as worried as before, almost frightened to breathe too deeply in case she caused damage.

A name was finally applied to the strange foreigner, Kechaiya. Certainly seemed to fit her exotic appearance whatever it might mean. Names were supposed to have meanings after all, not that Caela had an inkling of what her own was meant to signify. Most likely her mother had heard something like it or thrown sounds together until she found a combination she liked. Maybe Kechaiya didn't mean anything at all. Perhaps she'd take it to mean "scary doctor". Yeah, that'd work.

Kechaiya made no complaint as the blonde approached the pool and so she took it as a positive sign. At the pool's edge she began to remove her lower garments, bending her knees when they slid down that far and awkwardly reaching a sitting position by leaving any twisting to her left hand side while keeping her right as unmoved as possible. Once she was seated, her drink was set safely to one side and her pants and undergarments were fully removed and flung in the direction of the rest of her clothes. She scooted to the water's edge, feet entering the warmth first and the rest of her following as soon as she could manage. Once she was in the soothing waters she could relax. The worst was over she hoped unless her doctor was kind enough to shatter her optimistic outlook.

The dancer sank into the water, settling at the edge with the rim of the bath pressing gently against her shoulders as she listened to what the next stage in her treatment would be. It'd be several chimes before that came to fruition though and so Caela wondered why she didn't jug wait until the time for stretches came to give her instructions. Perhaps she intended to repeat them but just wanted the blonde to know that she at least had a plan outlined for her treatment. Kechaiya probably meant it to be comforting or something. The time for comforting was long past though, the fears gone from the dancer's mind now. Mostly at least.

Her drink was retrieved as a conversation seemed underway; the doctor was becoming a little more talkative. Caela took another sip of redberry juice, rolling the liquid over her tongue to savour and warm it before she swallowed in order to answer the doctor's question. "I work in a tavern. I dance," she explained, leaving it at that. She didn't need to know which tavern and she'd no doubt work out the purpose of the dancing. The prominent muscles in her legs, which should have been clearly visible before she slipped into the waters would prove what she said and show that "dance" wasn't an euphemism for something else. Caela was aware that some people mistook her for a prostitute - how they could come to that conclusion she could never understand - although it was a mistake that the dancer didn't regard lightly if it was voiced aloud. What people thought on the privacy of their own heads was beyond her grasp. She wondered if Kechaiya had perhaps stumbled into such a way of thinking but she couldn't know for sure.

"Well, I don't need to ask you what you work at. Unless of course you'd like to choose this moment to tell me that you're actually a thief or something," the blonde laughed, peering in the foreigner's direction. The laughter faltered as she wondered if her sense of humour carried across to the other woman. There were a number of people who could speak Common fluently who her sense of humour would be lost upon so of she didn't get it, Caela wouldn't be all that surprised. "Where do you live or work? I might have to see you again. I hope that this won't take long to heal?" The note of anxiety that came into her voice was a true one. She needed to be able to dance and if her side hampered that then she was out of a job. Bit of a problem that.

The cue to remove herself from the healing pool was an unwelcome one. The foreigner exited the water with ease but for Caela it was more of a struggle. She would have preferred an offered hand rather a towel but you couldn't have everything in life so she soldiered on alone, the pain she was in attesting to the accidental use of the injured muscle as she dragged herself out of the pool. Hands took the offered towel when the blonde's breathing recovered from pained panting to something resembling a regular breathing pattern. The drying was a careful exercise, a mixture of careful dabbing and more vigorous rubbing until she was mostly dry. Raising herself on shaky legs, the towel was carefully tied about her waist to achieve some semblance of modesty should someone come in - a miracle thus far that no one had come in to bathe - and approached Kechaiya. "Bandage away!" she told the other, her tone an attempt of joviality offset by the grimace of pain that crossed her face.

by **Kechaiya** on October 31st, 2014, 7:02 pm

Kechaiya prepared to bandage up the woman's waist, and decided to answer the woman's questions. She had assumed that when the woman had said dancer, that she took her clothes off for a living, but she seemed to be trying to maintain some sort of modesty. Kechaiya found this quite strange. Then she realized that it was because she wasn't being paid. Strippers only liked taking their clothes off for money. It made much more sense now. Kechaiya only healed people who could pay after all.

"I live in Sunset Quarter." She then quickly described the exact location of her home, "I work all over Sunset Quarter. People always need fix." She then set back to work, pressing one end of the bandage high on the woman's ribs, just below her left breast. "Hold this here." She then began walking around the woman, wrapping the bandage tight, though not overly so, lowering down a bit with each revolution. She kept this up, ending with the bandage just above the woman's hips. She tucked it in on itself, and slipped a single finger beneath it, to confirm that it was tight enough. She didn't want it as loose as when she wrapped a sutured wound, for the muscles needed some compression, but not so tight as to inhibit breathing and movement.

"Okay. Now we stretch. If stretch start to hurt, stop there. Should be able to stretch more every time. When can stretch without pain, all healed. Should take several days. Make sure apply heat before stretch. "

Kechaiya stood in front of Caela, and placed her feet hip-width apart. She patted her side that coincided with Caela's injury. "Hurt here, raise this side arm." Arm straight up, Kechaiya began bending toward the side opposite the injuring, slowly, keeping her arm always above her head. She stopped when she could feel the muscles beginning to stretch. She held this position for half a chime, then returned to the normal position. "Do this stretch three times day. Not all at once."

Kechaiya then began on the next exercise. She knelt down on the ground and bent forward, placing her hands flat against the rocky surface directly below her shoulders. She then straightened her legs and assumed a push up position, and held it for half a chime, her weak arms already tiring from this. She then rested for a full chime, then did it twice more, each time resting for a chime after. "Do this once day."

She then laid down on her 'injured' side, gently bending her knees ever so slightly. She then stuck her forearm beneath her, and pushed up so her torso and hips raised up, using her knees as an anchor. She held this pose for half a chime, rested for a chime, then repeated twice more. "When stronger do like this." She repeated the position, but instead of using her knees as an anchor, she used her feet, her body completely straight now, her supporting arm struggling beneath her weight. She then repeated the entire exercise on her other side. "Do each side once day."

She laid face down on the ground. Her legs were together and fully extended, toes pointing downward, and she placed her hands to the side of her shoulders against the ground. She then pushed against the ground, forcing her torso to arch up and back, keeping her legs flat against the ground. She held the pose for half a chime, then returned, and resting for a chime. "Do three times day."

Kechaiya then assumed a crossed leg sitting position, "That all you need do to heal muscle. If stretch too far, could tear it. Never stretch to hurt. No dance for three days, and when you dance after, be gentle. Questions?"

by **Caela Dorin** on November 2nd, 2014, 4:18 pm

So the doctor lived in the Sunset Quarter but was still a stranger to her. It wasn't too surprising that she hadn't seen the other woman before. The city was a big place and just because they lived in the same general area didn't mean anything. Besides the other was a foreigner who was still clearly struggling with the Common tongue so she probably hadn't been in Sunberth all that long either.

Although she hoped that she'd have any need for a doctor in the future it was still a good idea to know where to get ahold of one, especially one who didn't seem to charge outrageous prices for her care. She didn't appear to be making her side any worse either, the throbbing pain of her injury eased somewhat by the cold and hot treatments. She did as she was told, bandage held in place as Kechaiya wrapped the material around her. It covered more than Caela had anticipated her lower torso encapsulated in the tight cloth. It wasn't uncomfortable but somewhat like the corset that she sometimes wore in work; it didn't impede her movements.

The mention of stretching made her grimace. It had been stretching that had gotten her into this mess in the first place and seeing as she'd have to use her injured right side, she wasn't too keen on the idea. The grimace was accompanied by a groan when the woman said that healing would take several days. Merv wasn't going to be happy about that and he wasn't going to pay her for work that she couldn't do so it seemed that she'd be dipping into her meagre savings just to get something to eat and pay for the baths whose heat was necessary for her stretches.

The first stretch was followed carefully. Her right arm was raised straight above her head the young woman leaning towards the left in imitation of the foreigner. At the point that pain seemed imminent, her injury giving a warning prickle, the other stopped her leaning and held her new position for a half chime. Caela was glad to relax her body when Kechaiya did, nodding her understanding at her instructions. Three times a day wasn't too bad, she could manage that. Her next form of exercise was a push up, a fact that brought a smile to the dancer's face. She was well acquainted with that move thanks to her exertions yesterday and her chance meeting with Palaren. At least something good had come out of her day's exercise.

She struggled to follow along with the exercises from the push up onwards, having to ease up at some points while Kechaiya continued rather than causing herself pain. The black eyed outsider had made it clear that pain was a very bad sign and she didn't want to permanently cripple herself by damaging the muscle further. Once her exertions seemed to be over and the doctor was sitting in an easy sitting position that Caela envied, the dancer set about dressing herself with slow and awkward movements. She had no intention of continuing her naked state if she had any choice in the matter and once she was dressed she planned to head back to her room and mope.

The foreigner's words gave her some relief as she dressed. She could go back to work in 3 days. That was a definite improvement on what the other had told her before. She wouldn't be fully healed but she could still work at least. t did prompt some questions though. "When you say gentle, how gentle do you mean? What can't I do in terms of dancing? Is there anything that would make it worse that I should avoid? Will it take longer to heal if I use it?" The queries came in a flood of anxiety, the blonde desperate to know the answers. She didn't want to be working and tear the muscle by accident. If the risk was too great then she'd still have to avoid resuming her dancing duties in the Pig's Foot. She'd dig into her savings rather than do more damage to herself for the sake of some more coin. No amount of money was worth permanently incapacitating herself. Better to lose a few days' coin rather than a lifetime's.

by **Kechaiya** on November 3rd, 2014, 3:12 am

The woman began getting dressed, Kech assuming in preparation for leaving. Kech's eyes moved along the woman's semi-nubile form. If this woman was in fact a stripper, did that mean her body was something men desired? The woman did not have the skinny, scrawny even, look that Kechaiya had. Wide hips, ample breasts, the light skin that showed she wasn't likely a foreigner. Kechaiya found herself a bit jealous. Only just recently had she taken any interest in a man, and now she was feeling self conscious. Her own breasts were tiny in comparison, her hips practically non-existent, and her she was a dead giveaway for a foreigner, and always would be. In a moment of weakness, Kech scooted over to the edge of the waters and slipped in up to her neck.

Then the woman let loose a flurry of questions like a panicking mother. Glancing over her shoulder back at the woman, Kechaiya's demeanor a bit grumpier now, "Is like stretches. Use careful, never go to pain. Anything that make stomach muscles bend is danger. Only thing make worse is stretch far. No take longer to heal if careful. If feel pain, will take longer. Try sleep upright, will help. If pain too much, find me. I make medicine."

Kechaiya turned away from the pretty stripper, convincing herself that Caela would be the ugly one back in Eyktol. And blonde hair was just stupid. Could see it from a mile away, in the dark. At best, she'd be a slave to clean Eypharian feet. And that pale skin would turn crimson in a bell in Eyktolian sun. Kechaiya fully intended to stew here in the pool, only now taking another swig of her juice, slamming the goblet down a bit louder than she normally would have. Stupid strippers.

by **Caela Dorin** on November 3rd, 2014, 8:37 pm

.

The dancer had seen the doctor eyeing her form but she'd assumed that it was a purely professional criticism. Presumably her movements were being assessed to see if she had any pain, any difficulty movement but she'd seen something in the girl's eyes and the set of her mouth. Caela had no idea what the look might mean if it wasn't professional. Was it envy? Attraction? She had no idea. Women didn't normally look at her like that. The stares of men were something she was used to even if they did disgust her. The stares of women always made her feel somehow uneasy. Occasionally a woman would come into the Pig's Foot and look at her a certain way, appraising her like a piece of meat. This woman's dark eyes were not as easy to read, her gaze tugged into the depths of the onyx with a feeling of vertigo but she didn't gain anything for her trouble.

The young woman tried to ignore the foreigner's stare and what it might mean. It was an effort not to return her appraisal because regardless of whether it was envy or interest in the other's eyes such an action was likely to convey the wrong sort of idea. She certainly didn't want that.

When the answer to her question came as she finished dressing, the meaning of the gaze seemed to become clearer. The woman was decidedly more sour towards her now and the only thing that seemed to make sense was that she was jealous of the blonde's figure. She'd paid very little attention to the darker skinned woman and so she couldn't tell if her jealousy was well founded or not. Now that the other was back in the water she wasn't going to approach her purposely to gawk at her. Kechaiya was sure to take it badly, what woman wouldn't? Well Caela wouldn't but then she knew that she was attractive.

Her mind was forcibly pulled from that line of thought in order to pay attention to the doctor's advice. So she wasn't to bend her stomach muscles if she could help it but that was all right. She could just focus on her legs and not try any of the more interesting feats that she included in her dances every now and then. Wearing a corset was out of the question but she'd figured that out herself. So as long as she didn't cause herself any pain she was in the clear and if the pain got the better of her she could always pay a visit to the good foreign doctor. She hoped that her medicines were as cheap as this treatment had been. If she'd gone to Doctor P, he would have charged her an arm and a leg but one gold wasn't too bad, especially as she got some redberry juice for it into the bargain.

Her own drink was retrieved from the poolside and the goblet drained as the doctor slammed her own drink down on the pool's rim. The noise echoed around the room and made the dancer flinch from her. She made a hasty retreat then deciding that the woman was best left alone. Maybe she was just upset that Caela had upset her bath but the young woman sincerely doubted that that was the true reason. She wasn't so ungrateful as to leave the woman without a word but she did it from the safety of the doorway and darted out through it immediately afterwards, not keen to remain in the others company any longer.

"Thank you, Kechaiya. If I need you, I know where to find you."

Once she was out in the bathhouse at large, the blonde set off for the city as fast as her injury would allow her.
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by **Orion Michaels** on November 24th, 2014, 5:24 pm

Caela :

Notes
I gave some medicine because of Caela’s lack of skill in it coupled with getting some good general treatment advice. Let me know if you have any questions about your grade, and I’ll be happy to answer them. Thanks!

Completed A Steamy Morning (Caela Dorin)