Closed Fog Blindness (Ixzo)

[Waisana]

17th Spring 516AV

The Sea of Grass was a law unto itself and that law changed whenever it felt like it. The weather seemed to be following the same laws, changing unpredictably and following odd patterns of which the Drykas could make no sense. A fog had crept in to trap the nomadic city of Endrykas, leaving its residents confined by its suffocating presence. Hunters remained in their pavilions, frustrated that visibility prevented them from hunting and cursing the choking fog from stealing their air if they tried to venture out in it. Anyone who could avoid going out did so, more out of necessity than anything else as it was easy to get lost in the tent city now that it was impossible to see further than an arm's length in front of you, with some areas even worse than others. It meant that those who needed to leave their homes couldn't, suffering being pavilion-bound as they were held hostage by the weather. The Watch had warned everyone to stay as close to their pavilions as possible, but there were a few who disregarded it. Some of them were fools who thought that they could continue on regardless of a bit of mist, although many of them had stopped venturing out, growing despondent as the fog refused to subsist. Others navigated the thick fog to help others.

Waisana didn't enjoy the conditions, on the contrary, she'd much rather be within her own pavilion or even confined to the River Flower. However, there were people who needed help, people who couldn't come to them, especially as the fog seemed to be causing a sickness. Some were coming down with colds, older Drykas were struggling with a dampness on the lungs that might be the beginnings of pneumonia and the very young were left gasping for air as worried families looked on. It was voluntary, of course, to wander around in the fog, calling your business in case someone needed your help. There was nothing to stop the healers and doctors themselves from growing ill but they were willing to take the risk. This was their purpose in life after all, and sometimes it could be just as dangerous as what the hunters did out in the wilds of the Sea of Grass. The nature of the danger wasn't the same, but sometimes they both ran the same risk of death.

Not that they were going to die, it was just a fog after all. Most of the volunteers were in the prime of life, too young and strong to be bowled over by a bit of cold and damp. It would no doubt take its toll but it had to be done and they were in the best shape to be able to pull it off. It still had its difficulties. By around midday, Syna's rays coloured the fog, turning it from an impenetrable whiteness to a luminous yellow cloud. Despite the light, there didn't seem to be enough heat in it to disperse the mist. Within that world of whiteness, the weak rays seemed amplified, burning brightly from the world all around Waisana as she soldiered on, moving around a series of tents that bore the emerald hue of the hunters. She drew in a breath to call out, inhaling the thick vapours around her so that they tickled her throat.

"Opal clan," she called in a choked voice, watching to see if any heads appeared from any of the nearby pavilions. "Opal clan! Will help!" A breath brought the thick vapours into her lungs, smothering her so that she felt as if she was gasping. The teen breathed more quickly, genuinely gasping to breathe now and set herself in to coughing fit. She spluttered and choked for the umpteenth time that day, her wracking coughs doubling her over and setting her lungs aflame. The blonde clutched for her waterskin. Finding it, she forced some of the contents down her throat, the cool liquid easing some of her body's fire. She was left with something of a lump in her throat but she kept walking forward all the same. Waisana knew she'd have to duck in to a pavilion soon, or she'd be no use to anyone but while she could she'd continue stubbornly.

"Will help. Am Opal Clan!" She repeated her cry a few more times before she was struck by another coughing fit much worse than the previous one. Tears welled in her eyes, the world becoming an even greater blur in her vision than it already had been and she was left to grope her way blindly. So great was her desperation for better air that Waisana's hands followed along the nearest material they came across and felt along it desperately for its opening. Her legs caught on the ropes and pegs that secured the Drykas tents in place but she stumbled on until the opening appeared and she fell through it onto her knees. Some of the outside menace followed her inside, its tendrils extending in search of a victim, but for the most part the air was far more wholesome. She could open her eyes again without being blinded by reflected sunlight and she could breathe without inhaling something akin to smoke.

The teen's arrival led to more violent coughing before her lungs were able to purge the noxious vapours and inhale the smells of the home around her. She began to breathe more easily, tears wiped away from her eyes as she got shakily to her feet. The home she'd stumbled in to was a small one but not without inhabitants, ones who were staring at her in wonder. Well, it was unsurprising really. She had just burst in unannounced.

Her hands moved quickly, a placating gesture together with the whites of her clothing conveying that she wouldn't hurt them. She was here to heal, not harm.

"Sorry, I am. The fog is bad and I needed air. I didn't mean to frighten you," she explained, hands adding extra depth to her apology, as she looked from one person to the other, unsure how she should proceed. A hand rested on her chest as she introduced herself before gesturing outwards in inquiry. "I'm Waisana. You are?"

[Ixzo]

Over her time in Endrykas, she had learned to start fires without wood. She had no luxury of the leaves and branches of the great trees that surrounded her in Taloba. Instead she learned the packed dung of herbivores made a wonderful alternative. Of course, a slightly smellier alternative, but herbivore feces were much better than carnivore feces, and once they dried they hardly smelled.

Waiting until the kettle was screaming, she draped her hand in a rag and snagged the metal rim thing from the fire. She didn't have a very solid idea of how to help Iollu, but she had one remedy. Her only remedy: Ginger.

Returning to the tent, which was only a few feet away from the coals, and yet utterly walled off by the fog, Ixzo cleared her throught. Iollu, who was tinkering with her loom looked up. The poor child was very sick, and so far Ixzo had held it off herself, so she was designated caretaker. She had no idea what she was going, but with no way to know where or how to get to the River Flower, the kelvic did what she could.

Setting the kettle onto the packed earth, she scooted over to the food baskets, shuffling around for the ginger root she still had. Not yet finding it, her head snapped up at the sound of someone yelling. It seemed eerily muted, which unsettled the Kelvic. She didn't need the Watch to tell her she needed to stay inside, no animal would willingly go out in this weather. So why were humans so ready to risk themselves to do so.

Wide silver eyes turned towards Iollu, and the child shrugged, not realizing Ixzo gave her a questioning look because she did not recognize the Drykas words. She didn't have a chance to ask before someone came tumbling in to her tent. She hadn't tied up the entrance to the tent and when the flash of blonde hair fell to her floor, Ixzo jumped back, coiling back at the sudden entrance. The lack of sight had unsettled her, and she flashed her teeth at the stranger, watching the signs flash past. She couldn't read the foreing hand movements fast enough to understand them, but the words relaxed Iollu enough to relax her as well.

The coughing was enough. A little irritated that she was now surrounded by two sick people, she was mostly consumed with the sudden worry for her.

"I'm Iollu." The six year old chimed in, setting her loom aside.

"Waisana." Ixzo repeated the name to make sure she had it before placing a ahnd over her scars on her chest to introduce herself. "I am Ixzo… You are sick?" She asked, watching the coughing.

While waiting for a reply, she moved back to the basket, moving aside half a bag of rice and pulling some carrots out so she could see. Finally, Ixzo produced a half-a-palm sized ginger root. She presented it to the stranger, her one and only solution to any sickness. Boy was she pitiful. "I make tea." She offered, motioning towards the kettle. For sickness.

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

[Waisana]

The two individuals before her were an odd pair indeed. One was a child who watched her with a sharp intelligence in her eyes and the other, a grown woman, was... baring her teeth at her! That's certainly how it had looked at first, she would have thought she'd imagined it if the woman's posture hadn't looked as if she was ready to pounce on her. Waisana smiled nervously at her, hoping that the woman wasn't going to eat her or something. She hadn't come across a Drykas woman like her before but it quickly became apparent that she wasn't one of them, not a native to Endrykas at all. Sure, the look of her marked her as a foreigner, but sometimes such individuals came to live with them and passed on their exotic looks to their children. This one was strange though. She looked more than I'll at ease, she did genuinely look as if she was prepared to attack Waisana. The blonde's words appeared to have calmed her down somewhat but she still had a wildness in her face that made her feel uneasy. There was also something strangely familiar about it, as if this woman and her peculiar ways had stirred a memory within her. She couldn't think what it was though.

The little girl had spoken first although she shouldn't have had that responsibility. It was like a role reversal had taken place with the child looking after the adult. By the way the girl had talked though, she could speak Pavi proficiently. It wasn't just the words but the way she talked. Was she Drykas, acting as translator for this foreigner? The teen didn't know but she figured that she was would have a better time going through the younger girl who looked more open to communication.

"Hello, Ixzo. Yes, I am Waisana." She bent over to talk to the girl, keeping her distance for fear of what Ixzo might do; she was still tense. "Hello, Iollu. Nice to meet you." She gestured, pretty in the girl's direction, favouring her with a kind smile before straightening and turning her attention back to Ixzo.

She waved off the offer of tea. "Not sick, no. Outside..." She waved at the entrance as she sought for an easy way to explain. Her eyes flitted to the little girl, wondering if she would translate if her companion failed to understand. Waisana did her best to keep her hand gestures slow as she spoke. "I was out too long. The air made me cough. I help the sick," she explained. She touched her fingers to the white of her clothing, signing Opal clan and touching a hand to her backpack. Medicine. She pointed towards the ginger. "For medicine? Tea?" she asked doubtfully. The spice had its uses but what did the woman think it could be used for in tea, alone?

"I need to rest here. I go." Few chimes. Only. She looked to Iollu, taking in her appearance. Did she look a peaky or was it just the lighting? She didn't know if the girl was healthy or not, but it was a simple matter to find out.

"Are you sick? Iollu? I can help if sick. That's why I was outside. I was checking to see if anyone was sick. People can't get out, can't find River Flower so we go to them."

She folded her hands over one another and dropped them in front of her, looking from one person to the other as she waited for some sort of response.

[Ixzo]

Ixzo shrugged at the woman's disbelief for her cure. "It all I know." Medicine, Ignorant child. She copied the sign, adding one. It was much more harsh than she intended, having learned it from the less friendly Drykas hunters who evaluated her kills. Ixzo shrugged again, raising one eyebrow and not realizing the possible meanness of her sign, only knowing vaguely what it meant. Most of her recent learnings of Pavi were copied, not taught. She took out a knife and begun peeling the skin off of one of the root stems, revealing the yellow root inside, glad it was still a little juicy.

But the woman seemed more interested in talking to Iollu, who answered her with a nod, which led into a fit of her own coughing. The child would have said more, but Ixzo was at her side in an instant. She knew now that the woman was here to help, and all hostility had vanished because of it. Yet, she still couldn't help but be a bit wary. Some Drykas were unconcerned with how foreign she was, others were very rude about it, she didn't yet know which one Waisana would be.

"You must not go out." She warned, as quietly and gently as she could. The Kelvic took to rubbing Iollu's back, offering her a rag in case she had to spit up, abandoning the root for now. Bad. "Not good, out." She pointed towards the flap of entrance to the tent, which still remained open letting in the chill.

"Ixzo-- Zozo has been saying the animals don't even go out in the fog, she doesn't want you to be out there. She thinks you're stupid for it." Iollu had always been a brash child, not sparing anyone. But Ixzo had gotten used to her little companion finishing her sentences when she struggled, so the Kelvic moved away to close the flap, letting her finish, understanding parts of the words.

"Humans generally don't listen to the animals, it isn't always bad." She muttered in Myrian, unthinking and offering a sorry smile as she passed. She was trying to excuse Waisana's foolish wanderings, trying not to sound so harsh as Iollu put it.

"You stay longer." Rest. She tried to add, turning back after tying up the tent. She plucked her only two clay mugs from the foods basket and returned to her ginger root, cutting thin, crooked slices into each mug. She poured in the hot water, handing one to Iollu, and then on to Waisana. Iollu grimaced at her fourth cup of the day, but immediately set it down to cough. Her forehead was sweating up a little bit, although Ixzo was sure she did not have a fever… yet.

"Opal clan does medicine?" She asked suddenly. She had moved Iollu and herself nearer to the green tents when she learned they focused on hunting. By doing so she had gotten recommendations for her kills and tips on new ways to hunt and where, it had become quite useful. But the Kelvic still had little idea what the other colored clans specialized in. "Better than ginger?" She grinned, knowing her only remedy was a very weak one.

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

[Waisana]

Waisana's comment on the ginger earned a quick reply and a harsh one. Ignorant child? Was she honestly calling her an ignorant child? This woman didn't know anything about her and clearly didn't know a huge amount about medicine, yet she had the gall to call her ignorant? There had been no hesitance in that sign either but a cutting force behind it. The girl was stunned. She didn't know what she's done to warrant such a response--nothing at all as far as she was concerned! The way Ixzo turned away to prepare the ginger was a dismissive gesture too, as if to add insult to injury. The teen didn't know what to do in response, staring in stunned silence at the woman's back for a few moments before looking to the girl as if searching for assistance.

The girl's coughing fit had the Drykas doctor moving forward on instinct. Ixzo approached so quickly that Waisana found herself retreating again quickly. It was such a protective gesture on the part of the foreigner that the girl found that she couldn't intrude, not yet at least although Iollu was sick. Some people would stubbornly refuse help sometimes though, no matter how sick they were and she might be forced to stand by rather than provide aid if that was what was wanted of her. The child's lungs seemed to be rattling, something that both touch and sound could confirm, but she only had half of what she needed. The young woman would have to look at her more closely, probably put an ear to her chest while she breathed, to see how her breathing was, whether it was laboured, whether she wheezed but for now she had to wait and see.

Waisana stood by while the girl was tended to although it was clear that the woman wasn't capable of doing much to help her. She seemed to have become worthy of Ixzo's notice again, however, as she told her not to go outside. Was she warning her or ordering her not to go out? The firmness of it seemed to suggest a leaning towards the latter. The blonde blinked in surprise, before the child piped in as translator. Her eyebrows rose at the tone of it, amazed that the child had gotten that from it and vaguely amused at the sentiment behind it.

"Well, you can tell her that someone has to do it. Sounds like you need a someone like me too," she responded simply, giving the little girl a wink and a smile.

Ixzo had moved to close the tent flap that Waisana had fallen through so abruptly, murmuring something to herself that sounded like gibberish to her. It was likely that it was her native tongue, but Waisana couldn't tell. It didn't sound as harsh as what the woman had conveyed thus far through Pavi so maybe it was a matter of miscommunication? Except that Iollu seemed to know what she meant and she must have an idea because she was... what? Ixzo's child? Waisana didn't think so, they didn't look alike but then what relation did they have? She acted like a mother figure, she was protective but if she wasn't her mother than what was she? Was Iollu some sort of foundling? Had they been thrown together after the pirates had appeared? Maybe Iollu didn't have any family left.

What came next suggested that Ixzo was merely looking out for her, warning her to stay indoors for the time being. Maybe if she stayed for awhile she could allow the woman to warm to her more and be given permission to treat Iollu. Then again, she might be able to gain the child's own permission as she seemed bright enough. But no, this wasn't her domain so she would wait for now. The other woman had gone back to preparing her ginger so the Drykas teen took the opportunity to quiz the girl on her condition.

"Your cough... Has it been on you long? Is it here, " she indicated her throat, "or here?" she questioned, rubbing a hand on her chest to indicate her lungs. "Did it come with the fog?" Talk. Please. I help. Her eyes flickered to the foreigner as she approached bearing mugs, Waisana's hands drooping guiltily as if that would hide the fact that she had been signing. She accepted the mug with a thank you inhaling the aroma of the warm ginger as she did so. She sighed appreciatively as she wrapped cold hands around the hot vessel, holding it below her chin so that the steam warmed her face as well. The steam brought brief relief but left behind moisture that made her shudder a little as it cooled. The other mug had gone to Iollu who had descended in to a coughing fit again. The teen frowned.

Her hands signed a lazy yes as she sipped tentatively at the hot liquid, the burning sensation set her wincing as a result of her eagerness. She ran her teeth over the scalded spot as if that could chase the pain away, the sharp tingles warning her that she would probably be left with a blister for her trouble. Despite her hurt, the blonde favoured the other's joke with a light laugh.

"Stronger, yes. Plant medicine. Old medicine. Works well. I have lots." Once again, she indicated her bag, carefully shrugging it off one shoulder and then the other, the hot cup exchanged between her hands as she did so. It was opened with her free hand, pulled open wide so that Ixzo could see the carefully wrapped and well cushioned containers, the swathes of cloth bandages, some small water skins and some dried herbs peeking out from their wrappings. "I could help Iollu." Medicine for young. Child medicine. She gestured at the bag's contents again, her expression hopeful.

[Ixzo]

Iollu struggled to keep her coughing down. "You're a medicine woman?" She asked, nodding at Waisana's first comment on them needed her help. "Good, because Zozo knows about as much as a rat." Iollu muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the Kelvic, who didn't notice.

Here. Iollu signed, patting her chest when Waisana asked. "Worse at night." Can't sleep.

Ixzo watched silently until Waisana spoke of the medicine she had. Abruptly, her heart started thumping. The rhythm took to racing as the Kelvic realized how lucky she had just gotten. A medicine woman had stumbled into her tent! But of course, Ixzo had already insulted her. She didn't intend to, although the Kelvic had never been one to think about another's emotions before she spoke. Now she regretted whatever she had done.

"You help, I pay you." She asked, wide silver eyes flitting between the Drykas woman's so fast she nearly got herself dizzy with excitement. Please.

"Pshhhhh," Iollu snorted, not having taken a sip of the tea yet. "I'm fine." The stubborn child waived it off, but was immediately caught by another coughing fit. Ixzo held back the glare, but let her face fall as animated as she could, trying to communicate the words she could not speak.


Please. She signed again. "I not help very good." The rushed, broken words spilled from her mouth, and she immediately sat up moving over to the bedroll. Quickly as possible, and working to obscure her movements, the Kelvic snatched a coin-purse from under the mattress. "I pay." She reiterated, perhaps trying too hard at this point. The Kelvic had barely given the Drykas a chance to accept or deny. Working to calm herself, she crossed her legs, settling the coin purse between her knees, and waited for an answer.

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

[Waisana]

The Drykas teen had become grimly thoughtful as she considered what the girl had told her a little about her illness. She was thinking about how if it was in the lungs then it might well be serious, but if it could be chased out of her chest, even higher up her airwaves then Waisana knew there would be fewer complications. An illness that sat on the chest could cause a lot of problems and it probably wouldn't be chased away by some ginger tea. She wasn't surprised that Ixzo hadn't had much luck although she'd clearly had good intentions. Ginger tea could help the stomach, it could help the throat and it could boost the immune system, but the lungs had to be helped in very different ways, either on her chest on the outside, to allow some remedy to seep through her skin, or by inhaling things in to her lungs. Waisana was confident that she would be able to do something and if the girl was closely watched then she could probably pull through all right. It was a good sign that she was sitting up and looking as lively as she was. If she'd been bedridden then her prognosis would have been a less positive one. But this was only based on initial observations and a few exchanged words. It wasn't a proper diagnosis, not yet anyway.

The show of medicine had worked a change over Ixzo that had the woman shaking her from her medical thoughts. The wildness that had retreated somewhat below the surface came to the fore once again as the woman became desperate, pleading, trying to push the doctor in to a service that she would willingly give anyway. It became quickly overwhelming, a tension in the air growing tangible, as Ixzo offered money and Iollu denied needing help and started spluttering again and the foreigner became somehow more insistent.

Waisana found herself backing away, hands before her to ward the other off. The fervent way the other regarded her dried her mouth and left her tongue like lead, to difficult to move to say anything. Her hands were too busy seeing off a possible attack for her to use them for speech and it wasn't until Ixzo made an effort to calm herself that she found the nerve to stay where she was without bolting. She moved her tongue around in her mouth in an effort to get it mobile again, the tip licking across dry lips so that she could speak. She spoke slowly and moved her hands as carefully as possible as if calming a horse so as not to set the woman off again. She was far too excitable for the teen to handle right now. She still wasn't particularly well since her last jaunt in the haze outside.

Easy, she signed. "I will help. I am here for helping. Money... is not important." Later, she added.

She moved closer to Iollu, making an obvious show of keeping some distance between herself and the woman as she did so. She decided that she would be better explaining some things to Iollu, who could at least understand the language. She was young so she might have some trouble understanding some things but Waisana was sure she could handle it. Hopefully Iollu could communicate things to Ixzo because all she'd seen so far was the girl translating what the woman said, not speaking to her directly. They had to be able to talk somehow but she feared that it might only be limited between them.

"You are sick, Iollu. Sick enough to need help. I have to check you. I have to hear how you breathe. I need to listen at your back." Must touch. No hurt She indicated that the girl should bear her back, which would make things easier for her. While she waited for the girl to follow her instructions, she tried to explain to Ixzo what she would do.

"Must hear how she breathes," she mimed taking deep breaths before continuing, "Then I can help." Don't worry.

She turned her attention back to the girl. When she was ready, she would place her hand horizontally on the child's chest so that the heel of her hand rested over her heart and her hand crossed the middle of her breast bone. At Iollu's back, Waisana would hold her ear to the left side, moving her head up and down between breaths as she listened before doing the same on the right side. Instructions were murmured to get the girl to inhale and hold the air for a few ticks before expelling it. She couldn't imagine how strange the whole procedure must look to Ixzo.

[Ixzo]

An instinct that she knew too well flared in her when Waisana backed away defensively. No, she hadn't run, like a prey animal, so Ixzo wasn't driven for the immediate chase. Yet her senses demanded that there be repercussions for this move. Something told her she was in charge, but Ixzo could only see she was terrifying the girl in front of her, rather than doing any good. Her face heated up in shame and Ixzo shrunk back, cradling her coin purse to her stomach. She didn't want to make an enemy out of another Drykas, especially not one as caring as the blonde before her. She tried to give the horse woman her space, scared that she would be hurting Iollu by this. Shifting her weight back onto her heels, Ixzo ducked her head, trying to appear as passive as possible, waiting for Waisana to speak.

After she did, and made the painfully obvious move away from Ixzo, the Kelvic raised her head. She held as still as possible, but was unable to peel the wide silver eyes from the woman's hands, reading her words.

Iollu, of course, complied. She grumbled, as any child would, but turned, shrugging the top of her shirt off to expose her back to Waisana.

Ixzo gave a curt nod and a flickering smile when Waisana told her what she was doing, grateful she had gotten that reaction. Quickly, the sharp pain of her teeth on her lip stopped the questions from erupting. She would have to let Waisana help Iollu before she asked questions. If she scared her again, at least Iollu would have benefitted first.

Iollu followed the directions, breathing in and then coughing out a few times, as Waisana requested. The child managed one steady breath out, but the others were interrupted by the deep flem-ey agitation of mucus. Once the doctor moved her head away, the child groaned. "You're both overreacting. Ohs Tratche." She muttered, crossing her arms.

Ixzo didn't have the heart to glare at the rude child at the moment. She knew Iollu was just tired and worn out, so she didn't correct her. But she didn't find the medicine woman to be so strange. Back in Taloba, she was watched her clan's medicine man come to stranger conclusions with much less evidence. Her cousin, who had been bleeding from his nose at random moments for a whole season, had gone to him. The medicine man had simply examined his fingernails and prescribed more fruit. As if fruit would cure him. She didn't understand what the woman was doing, but she saw no pain in Iollu's face, so she didn't complain.

It wasn't until Waisana was finished, a pause after Iollu's grumble, that Ixzo spoke up. "Sorry." She said, to bring the woman's attention back to her. "I not want to scare." She glanced at Waisana and back at Iollu, who was content to continue pouting in front of company. Grateful. Helpful. She signed, and then remained still, trying not to be as overbearing as she had been previously.

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

[Waisana]

The doctor was happy to have such a cooperative patient, despite being in an uncomfortable working environment. It was clear Ixzo cared greatly about the girl, but her eagerness was highly disconcerting. There was something terrifying about the woman's demeanour that made Waisana want to run but she could be brave. More importantly, she didn't think that the foreigner would actually do anything to her. She was just letting her imagination get the better of her where the woman was concerned. She was allowed to carry out her examination in peace as neither of them said anything while they worked, something the doctor was thankful for because listening was an important part of what she was doing. Not that she needed absolute silence to hear the loud rattle of Iollu's lungs, especially as her breathing kept descending in to phlegmatic coughing. It was sickening to listen to and it did not bode well for the child.

The girl was precocious, clearly believing that she understood this situation better than the two adults did. Waisana wasn't going to correct her by telling her that there was plenty to worry about because she didn't want to frighten her. Instead, she smiled at her and spoke softly.

"I will give you something anyway." To be safe, she added with a sign. She winked at Iollu before turning her attention to Ixzo. If she wanted to convey the worst of it to the woman then she would have to do it out of the child's earshot and sharp gaze, which meant moving closer to her. The outsider had clearly realised how intimidating she'd acted previously because she was now offering an olive branch. The teen glanced briefly towards her patient before she picked up the pack she had brought and carried it over to Ixzo.

"You have ginger. Do you have onions?" the doctor asked the other, a seemingly harmless question, even if the little girl overheard. The teen dug in her bag until she could retrieve a cloth about double her handspan. She held it out to the other and began to explain how to make a poultice. There were lots of hand gestures as she mimed some things out so that the woman would be able to understand what she was saying.

"Onion. Garlic. You chop. Put in pot with little water. Heat on fire. Take water off and put onion and garlic in here," she indicated the cloth, Fold. "Put on her chest. Not too hot. Can heat again later. Or put on feet. Only use for a short time, twenty, thirty chimes. She will cough but may help with breathing. Also I give you herbs for pain, other things. Have her drink lots of water as well. You can manage?" Question, she added with a sign.

She leaned in closer to the other woman to have a quieter word in her ear so that Iollu wouldn't hear.

"She has fluid in lungs. We must get it out or she could get very sick. Maybe even..." she trailed off, not willing to voice the grim possible outcome of the youth's death, not even willing to suggest such a thing aloud in case it should cause it to come true. Young. Weak. Great danger, she added in Grassland Sign. "She needs great care. She might not get very sick if she is looked after but even then there is hope. Hard work but possible. You can do this, I think. You care about her very much. Is she... your dotra?" she asked innocently. They didn't look alike but maybe, just maybe they were related. After all, Ixzo's protectiveness was motherly, like a night lion with its cubs.

[Ixzo]

Ixzo nodded at the question, she had onions. They were not the thick jungle kind she had grown up with, but the small purple roots were similar enough. Surely it was what the Drykas would be useful. With a long arm in the small tent, Ixzo scooped two of the small ones out of her food basket, both of them easily held within her hand, and offered them to the healer.

But the doctor was already issuing instructions. The words were fast and jumbled, but by aide of the signs and hand motions, which she could only assume were signs she didn't yet understand, Ixzo understood. Iollu would need a poultice on her chest, still she did not know how it would help. Her father said a strong smell can wake those unconscious, but did that then work for this sickness as well?

She would have to take Waisana's word for it. "Lots water, warm poultice for her chest, and… 'herbs for pain'?" She asked, her low accent making the words heavier than the light vowels of the Drykas accent. The last thing she was unsure of. Pain was good for a child, made them stronger. Iollu had little issue with Ixzo's rough parenting, as she had learned it from her mother. Herbs for pain would be only to ease one to death, not to numb them to healing. She didn't like the idea of making Iollu soft. No, the Drykas were not the Myrians, but there were a strong people, did they not let their young feel the pain then?

Decidedly, Ixzo said nothing. She did not decline them, as it would be rude, but she knew Iollu would ask for them, if she were truly used to such softness among her people. Maybe she would have to let the child gain release from the pain, would these Drykas look on her differently if she didn't?

Ixzo nodded again, pain herbs it was then. "I do care." She said, not recognizing the word for daughter, but needing to fill in the reason somehow. "She… family… they were killed, pirates." She spit the words out, uncertain how to properly form the sentence, but hoping the vocabulary was recognizable enough. "I cannot find them. She is with me now." She followed up, much clearer to let the Doctor know why she was taking care of such a child.

She turned to give a playful glare at the child, who was coughing and did not see. "Cruel child, I am more like with her." She grinned, trying to joke about the trickster's callous nature, as it had already showed to the other Drykas clearly even in the short visit.

Realizing her terrible joke fell through, or even may have come across as an insult, Ixzo crawled over to her boot, pulling out a coin sack. She dumped four coins out, stuffing the others back in. She was not certain how much one would pay for this, but had little issue with cost.

She did not give the blonde Drykas a chance to protest, grabbing one of her hands a little too quickly and pressing the coin into the palm. Just as fast, she let go, folding her hands across her lap to show that she would not take it back.

"Thank you." She said to the woman, bowing her head slightly for respect. "Would you like to stay?" Both phrases were so practiced they were understandable, unlike some of her earlier phrases. She did not want the doctor to get sick either, but she did not say so, unsure of how it would sound on her lips.

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign