Silas woke to the dimming light of day and the unseasonably cold, summer wind that whipped through the Kalean mountaintops. A Zeltiva native by birth, he was accustomed to the freezing bite of the Bonesnapper, not something even the winds of an exposed mountaintop could come close to comparing to, so the wind usually was more of a comfort than not. This wind was different though. It bit deeper than bone, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. It brought with it smells from leagues away, smells that fused themselves into such a cacophony that it deafened his nose to any single one of them. Still, the smell was not unpleasant. It carried an overall sense of cleanliness, like the petrichor of a long overdue summer storm.
Standing up from his mat on the floor, Silas reached his arms to the ceiling, feeling the stretch in his spine as his muscles remembered their work after having relaxed through a long day of sleep. Though he had lived in Lhavit for nearly a decade, their erratic sleeping patterns had not yet become regular for him. A part of him longed to rise with the sun and call the day quits when Syna’s light left. It was the natural order of things, but Lhavit was a place of the unnatural, the supernatural. When Zintila, the Goddess of the Stars, called your city home, you rose with their burgeoning light.
Silas sighed and rubbed his eyes, wandering over to the washbasin next to the window.
Wasted time. That was what these sporadic naps were, enough to waste time but not enough to leave Silas feeling rejuvenated. An unpleasant chill swept down his spine as he splashed cold water on to his face to wake himself up. He wasn’t put off by the cold, but damn it, did a ray of sunshine sound nice about now. People weren’t meant to be up at night, and the body respond well to not seeing the sun. But that was the way of things here.
Another splash of water hit his face, and this time he rubbed vigorously to clean away the dirt and grime of the previous day. He repeated the process several times before taking the towel that draped over the bowl’s edge and drying his face with it. The rough material dragged across his skin, catching on the stubble of the facial hair he usually shaved but hadn’t in the last few days, but the friction brought a warmth and a glow to his cheeks, leaving his face clean and dry.
As he took off his shirt, he looked down at his belly. There was a little pudge gathering there, something that had never happened in all the years he’d lived in Zeltiva, but too many days with too little sleep combined with a job that was generally not heavy on physical labor had added together to add a few pounds to his gut. Of course, he had been younger in those days. He knew one’s body looked different from one’s own perspective, and that others saw him as scrawny. But that didn’t matter. He thought what he thought, so he’d do something about it. Just not today. He’d already wasted enough time.
Filling a cup with water, he drizzled some across his toothbrush, then scooped some paste from an open jar with one finger and spread it across the bristles. He had learned nearly a decade ago that the health of one’s mouth was as important as the strength of their muscles for their overall wellbeing. Brushing the bristles back and forth, he felt the gritty paste scraping his teeth clean. When he was finished, he opened the window and spit the foamy remnants of the paste out into his barren garden. Whoever had owned the house before him had turned it into a miniature paradise, but under Silas’ ignorant care, it had fallen apart. Even the hardiest of plants had died, and now it was only a haven for weeds. It had been a waste of time, both for the previous gardener whose work was now gone and for Silas who had wasted nearly a year’s worth of his free time trying to salvage his failed attempt.
There were plenty of things for him to worry about but not enough time to actually do the worrying or do something about whatever it was he worried over. For now, he needed to be on his way to work. Packing his backpack with a fresh pair of clothes, he headed out the door into the thick fog. The precipitation in the air had been so heavy that he found himself soaked and cold by the time he reached the Catholicon each day.
While the cold the fog brought wasn’t bad, the lack of vision that came with it was off-putting. The going was slow when one could barely see two strides ahead of them, let alone their own two feet. Step by step, he followed the familiar pathway from his front doorstep to the main road and turned in the direction of Shinyama peak. The only saving grace was that this was Lhavit, and the city was as alive with light at night as it was during the day. Soon, but not as soon as he would’ve liked, Silas stumbled upon the twin row of lights that indicated he’d reached the first of three bridges he’d have to cross in order to reach Tenten peak, the mountain top where the Catholicon was nestled.
Road by road, peak by peak, Silas plodded his way across the majority of Lhavit until he was at the familiar front doors of the Catholicon. Pushing them open, he gave a small smile and a nod of recognition to his fellow coworker waiting in the reception area.
She returned his smile with a brighter one of her own. “Good night, Silas.”
That was something he would never get used to. Good night was never meant to be a greeting.
He nodded again before passing her and making his way up to the first loft. There, before moving farther upwards, he stopped to check on the patients from the previous day. There was only one, a young man who had been in many times previously for various wounds he had garnered in feats of daring. Yesterday, he had come in with a nasty gash on his forearm and a head wound as well.
Silas stepped up to the bed side where the young man was sitting up talking with a young woman who no doubt had been the one he’d been showing off for. “I see you decided to stay the day with us.”
“Yes. Alessia made me stay.”
“That was probably for the best. That head wound of yours was nasty.” Silas remembered Alessia showing him how the young man’s eyes didn’t focus. He had been in charge of checking on the man several times every bell to make sure his cognitive signs were improving. “May I check your eyes once more?”
The young man looked annoyed but nodded. Holding a lantern up near the man’s face, Silas noted in satisfaction the way the man’s pupils constricted in unison at the advent of bright light, something they had not been doing yesterday. Alessia had said that was due to trauma of the brain and that the young man should stay in their care until that resolved.
Silas nodded. “You’re looking better. I’ll let the doctors know. One of them should be by shortly to double check and send you on your way.” Silas was about to leave but turned back again. “And do us a favor. Stick with wounds to the limbs. They’re easier for us to treat, and the scars look better there anyhow.”
The young man laughed. “I’ll try to keep that in mind, if I haven’t already knocked all the sense out of it.”
Silas smiled and continued up the stairs to the top floor, reaching the scrub area where he changed out of his damp clothes. He noticed, as he slid on his clean shirt, that there was some surgical equipment that needed cleaning. He was about to start on that task when a voice stopped him.
“Silas, you’re with me today.”
He turned to see the half-Symenestra Alessia addressing him. “Alessia.” He nodded a greeting to her. “I think the young gentleman with the concussion had recovered.”
Alessia smiled. “Good. I’ll have someone else discharge him. I want you to shadow me today, learn some of the basics of an examination.”
It was Silas’ creed to escape attention whenever possible, his way of never having to better himself. He tried to worm his way out of this one. “I’d just to slowing you down if you try to teach me anything. I’d rather not waste your time.”
Alessia’s eyes narrowed around her crimson pupils as if sensing he was trying to avoid a day under her tutelage. “You’d only be wasting my time if you don’t learn.” She turned toward the stairs, calling back over her shoulder. “And, Silas, I expect you to not waste my time.”
Silas nodded in understanding. She wasn’t taking no for an answer. |
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by Adeliz on June 24th, 2018, 10:41 pm 