Bookish dragon with a pen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bookish_dragon) wrote2006-11-06 06:19 pm
bookish_dragon) wrote2006-11-06 06:19 pm
Entry tags:
NaNoWriMo, part 2
And that's me done typing up the stuff I wrote today.
Chapter 2
In the morning Olgyu thought back to her visit at the healer's.
It had not taken her long to find the healer's room: it was situated in of the hallways near the main entrance, since it served as a first aid post. There was also the smell of herbs wafting through the hallways. The door was closed.Olgyu had knocked and waited for an answer.
"A moment please, I will be right with you!" a voice called from inside the room. It sounded young and female. 'I hope she is not too young,' Olgyu had thought. This close to the room the smell of herbs was even more overwhelming and Olgyu sneezed.
"Bless you!" The door opened and a young red haired woman appeared in the opening. She wore the same outfit as most of the monks, but it had more pockets. She also had a large apron on over it, the front of it was heavily stained. Its pouch looked and sounded like it was full of vials. "Come in, come in." She stood aside to let Olgyu inside, waving at a chair which looked clean enough. Whatever was on it would not stain her visitor's clothes. 'Much, anyway,' she silently amended. She watched theblonde woman sit down. "Now then, I am Sister Emmar. How can I help you?"
Olgyu looked around her. Almost every flat surface in the room was packed with either pots or bundles of dried herbs. More were hanging from the ceiling. Here and there were rolled up pieces of parchment, carefully kept away from the fireplace. There was a small fire burning with a kettle hanging over it. It started to whistle.
"I was about to make some tea. Would you like some?" Sister Emmar took the kettle away from the fire and poured the boiling water into a large and chunky teapot which stood on a footstool near the hearth. She threw in some leaves. "It will just be tea, nothing more."
"Yes please." Olgyu leaned into her chair. It was a cozy room, and it made her feel safe, at home. When she had been younger she had spent a lot of time at the healer's hut, and this room reminded her of that.
"The tea will take some minutes to brew. In the meantime, can you tell me what brought you here?" Sister Emmar cleaned off another chair and sat down in front of Olgyu. The warrior looked uneasy. "We are all women here. And I have sworn an oath of secrecy. You do not have to be shy." The monk smiled.
Olgyu reddened. "It is not that kind of problem. It is my leg. Lately it has been hurting."
"When did it start? What kind of pain? Can I take a look at the leg?"
"I am not too sure when it started. I first noticed it a couple of months ago. It is hard to say when the pain will flare up."Olgyu was silent for a moment. "It is a shooting pain up the right calf and into the upper leg. Some times it is so bad I can hardly stand. It is very irritating. So far it has not happened while I was in combat, or it would have disabled me too much to be able to defend myself." She rolled up the right leg of her trousers, revealing a long muscular leg traced with small white scar lines. "See if you can find anything."
"You have had this for some months? Why did you not seek help earlier? I heard there was a cleric with you. Could he not help you?" Sister Emmar got up and knelt to the right of Olgyu, putting her hands on her leg.
"We do. He is good, but healing is not his field. He specializes more in getting the best physical possibilities out of people."
Sister Emmar hemmed to show she was still listening. She ran her hands over the calf of Olgyu's leg, looking for any bumps or lumps. With her index finger she followed one of the longer scars. "Lot of scars. How long have you been fighting?"
"Longer than I care to remember. Where I am from it is customary for all people to learn how to fight when young."
"Dangerous area?"
"It was. Rough. Neighbouring tribes we were not always on good terms with." Olgyu gasped at a new surge of pain.
The monk let go of Olgyu's leg, and looked up into the warrior's face. "I am sorry. Did I hurt you?"
"No, it was not you. It started hurting again." Olgyu stretched out the leg. Sister Emmar put her hands on it again.
"I can not feel anything that might be causing this. All I can do is give you something against the pain."
"I do not like taking those. They dull your senses. That is not a good thing."
"This pain does too. I will give some to you, and then you can decide which you prefer." Sister Emmar got up. "Tea's up!" She poured out a cup for Olgyu and one for herself, and started to rummage through some of the pots closest to them. "I would also advice you to see a physician if you can. My strengths lie mainly with herbs. Poppy...poppy...poppy...there you are!" She fished out a small pot, added it to the others she was precariously cradling in her apron, and walked over to a rickety work table in the corner of the room. There came a lot of muttering and sounds of pots being opened and closed back up.
Olgyu sat back and sipped her tea. She was not too sure that what Sister Emmar was making would work, but it might. For now she enjoyed the rest. 'Grab what you can, afight's always 'round the corner,' her father had taught her. She followed it as best she could. A sound from the corner made her look up from her mug.
"Ha! Got you! You cannot get away from me!" Sister Emmar cried out. She looked around in triumph, then grinned sheepishly as she saw Olgyu. "Sorry. I tend to talk to myself . I am almost done here. Help yourself to more tea." She turned back to her work.
Olgyu closed her eyes. The warmth and the tea had made her dozy. She was standing on a battlefield. There were no flags of the tribes involved, no active fighters. There were a lot of bodies strewn around. The smell of blood was thick in the air.Olgyu looked down at herself. Her clothes were clean. What was she doing here? Where was she? This place did not look familiar to her. She knelt near one of the bodies, to check for any markings which could tell her what tribe this fighter was from. It was a man. He had died of a sword through the chest. There was not a lot of blood. She could not see any markings with all the dirt covering him. Suddenly the corpse reared up, grinning at the surprised Olgyu, trying to rip out her throat with his teeth. She scrambled away from him, reaching for theaxe on her back. She would not die like this. They both got up at the same time, the corpse still grinning, and Olgyu holding her axe tightly. They locked eyes. She swung first, the axe shearing cleanly through one of its arms. No blood came out of the wound, and it did not seem to faze it at all. It lunged towards her, and she made to step away, when her right leg buckled under her, and she fell to the ground, the corpse on top of her, its face buried in her neck. She struggled and tried to scream, but no sound came out. She could not get him off her. The next thing she felt was a gentle shaking. Olgyu woke up with a start.
"Wake up, please."
"Huh, what?" She focussed on the hearth. The fire had almost burned down. "How long have I been here?"
"Some hours. You fell asleep, and I did not have the heart to wake you. But now it is getting time for supper, and I did not want to leave you here alone. I take it you had a long day?" Sister Emmar looked concerned. It was not usual for people to fall asleep in her place of work. Most were only too glad to be able to leave No one liked to be sick. And this woman's rest had not looked all that peaceful.
"I am fine." The warrior stretched. "Thank you for waking me. I have to meet up with my friends."
"You are welcome. Here is the herbal mixture against the pain. Brew like tea and take in the morning. It should dampen the pain when it rises up. I would advise seeking further help if the pain stays. This is not meant as a cure, just as a way to handle the pain." The monk reached out a big stoppered vial. It was made out of clay, and glazed dark green.
"Thank you." Olgyu took the vial and stood up. She walked to the door, stopped, and looked over her shoulder. "For everything." She had left the room quickly, leaving a slightly confused monk.
Now the vial was packed safely in her backpack. Olgyu rolled over to her side. She did not know whether to take it. If it dulled the pain it could also dull her senses, and in her line of work that could prove fatal. She did not want to die because some herbs made her miss an enemy's deadly blow. 'Or because he buried his teeth in your neck.' She shivered. Getting crippled by a pain in the leg was a miserable way to go, too. Sister Emmar had been right about that. And she knew of her occupation. Surely she had kept that in mind when she had made this mixture? And she was not likely to get into any deadly fights here.Olgyu got up, put on the rest of her clothes, got out the vial out of her backpack, and went to the mess hall.
"It is good to see you have not vanished in the mists of time," a jovial voice next to Ameena said.She looked up from her bowl to find that the owner of the voice was the half-elf she had talked to yesterday.
"I am still here," she replied. Around them there were the sounds of people eating breakfast and talking to each other. "Do you want to sit down? I would not mind."
"Thank you. I was about to ask whether any of the seats were taken already. Bjernu set his bowl on the table, and sat down in the chair left of Ameena. She looked at him.
"I almost did not recognise you. You look very different from yesterday."
"Hmn? I am not wearing my work clothes today." He tugged at a sleeve of his dark red shirt, and lifted a leg to show that his trousers were a bright yellow. "It is not aver sensible combination, but I like it. At least I get noticed this way." He winked.
"I doubt you need those clothes for that. You attract enough attention already." Ameena ate some more of her porridge. Bjernu looked puzzled.
"Was that a compliment?"
"Just a statement. I am sorry if I offended you, I did not mean to." The conversation did not go how she wanted it to. Doom, it had seemed so easy yesterday. She stared at her bowl, waiting for him to leave. People usually did when they had been around her for too long. They said she made them uneasy. Her tail hung behind her, brushing the floor.
"No offense taken," Bjernu said, airily. He was willing Ameena to look back up. He really had not been offended, though she seemed to think so. "When I am not working, I like to get noticed. It makes it easier to get work if people know what you look like and where to find you. Of course, if they have a grudge for some reason...well, they know where to find you." Bjernu smiled. Ameena did not look up. Bjernu started to eat his porridge, and saw Olgyu walk into the mess hall. "Olgyu! Over here!" He waved a hand wildly to emphasise his words. The warrior noticed all this and walked over to their table. "Olgyu, Ameena. Ameena, Olgyu." He nodded once at Olgyu's questioning look.
Ameena looked up at the introductions. "Hello. Nice to meet you." She managed to smile.
"Good day. Nice to meet you too." Olgyu sat across the table from them. "Where is Marnak? Not up yet?"
"He is doing his daily devotions. He found a mostly empty room, so he would not interfere with other people's business." Bjernu shrugged. "You know how he is. He will be here shortly."
Olgyu drank her tea. "I do. What are you wearing today?" Bjernu showed his trousers again. "As I thought. If you stand in bright sunlight you can blind people with it." Ameena giggled. Olgyu looked triumphant. "See? She agrees with me. You are outnumbered. Take them off."
"I am not taking them off in here," Bjernu said.
"Why not? You could have used them to attract my attention. Do it later then, before we go outside and have to shade our eyes to be able to look at you," Olgyu suggested.
"These clothes do get the jobs," Bjernu contested.
"Bollocks. You juust like to wear them and torture those around you."
Ameena listened, fascinated. She was quite enjoying the talk between Olgyu and Bjernu. She was not often a part of banter like this.
"And you are going outside. I need a sparring partner." Olgyu finished her tea, and started to eat her breakfast, seemingly oblivious to Bjernu's groans.
"Please, I do not feel like spending most of the day at the healer's again. As Marnak, he can take it," he pleaded.
"Sister Emmar is very good at her job," Ameena put in.
"And you need the practice. It is decided," Olgyu stated. "Now let me eat."
Chapter 2
In the morning Olgyu thought back to her visit at the healer's.
It had not taken her long to find the healer's room: it was situated in of the hallways near the main entrance, since it served as a first aid post. There was also the smell of herbs wafting through the hallways. The door was closed.Olgyu had knocked and waited for an answer.
"A moment please, I will be right with you!" a voice called from inside the room. It sounded young and female. 'I hope she is not too young,' Olgyu had thought. This close to the room the smell of herbs was even more overwhelming and Olgyu sneezed.
"Bless you!" The door opened and a young red haired woman appeared in the opening. She wore the same outfit as most of the monks, but it had more pockets. She also had a large apron on over it, the front of it was heavily stained. Its pouch looked and sounded like it was full of vials. "Come in, come in." She stood aside to let Olgyu inside, waving at a chair which looked clean enough. Whatever was on it would not stain her visitor's clothes. 'Much, anyway,' she silently amended. She watched theblonde woman sit down. "Now then, I am Sister Emmar. How can I help you?"
Olgyu looked around her. Almost every flat surface in the room was packed with either pots or bundles of dried herbs. More were hanging from the ceiling. Here and there were rolled up pieces of parchment, carefully kept away from the fireplace. There was a small fire burning with a kettle hanging over it. It started to whistle.
"I was about to make some tea. Would you like some?" Sister Emmar took the kettle away from the fire and poured the boiling water into a large and chunky teapot which stood on a footstool near the hearth. She threw in some leaves. "It will just be tea, nothing more."
"Yes please." Olgyu leaned into her chair. It was a cozy room, and it made her feel safe, at home. When she had been younger she had spent a lot of time at the healer's hut, and this room reminded her of that.
"The tea will take some minutes to brew. In the meantime, can you tell me what brought you here?" Sister Emmar cleaned off another chair and sat down in front of Olgyu. The warrior looked uneasy. "We are all women here. And I have sworn an oath of secrecy. You do not have to be shy." The monk smiled.
Olgyu reddened. "It is not that kind of problem. It is my leg. Lately it has been hurting."
"When did it start? What kind of pain? Can I take a look at the leg?"
"I am not too sure when it started. I first noticed it a couple of months ago. It is hard to say when the pain will flare up."Olgyu was silent for a moment. "It is a shooting pain up the right calf and into the upper leg. Some times it is so bad I can hardly stand. It is very irritating. So far it has not happened while I was in combat, or it would have disabled me too much to be able to defend myself." She rolled up the right leg of her trousers, revealing a long muscular leg traced with small white scar lines. "See if you can find anything."
"You have had this for some months? Why did you not seek help earlier? I heard there was a cleric with you. Could he not help you?" Sister Emmar got up and knelt to the right of Olgyu, putting her hands on her leg.
"We do. He is good, but healing is not his field. He specializes more in getting the best physical possibilities out of people."
Sister Emmar hemmed to show she was still listening. She ran her hands over the calf of Olgyu's leg, looking for any bumps or lumps. With her index finger she followed one of the longer scars. "Lot of scars. How long have you been fighting?"
"Longer than I care to remember. Where I am from it is customary for all people to learn how to fight when young."
"Dangerous area?"
"It was. Rough. Neighbouring tribes we were not always on good terms with." Olgyu gasped at a new surge of pain.
The monk let go of Olgyu's leg, and looked up into the warrior's face. "I am sorry. Did I hurt you?"
"No, it was not you. It started hurting again." Olgyu stretched out the leg. Sister Emmar put her hands on it again.
"I can not feel anything that might be causing this. All I can do is give you something against the pain."
"I do not like taking those. They dull your senses. That is not a good thing."
"This pain does too. I will give some to you, and then you can decide which you prefer." Sister Emmar got up. "Tea's up!" She poured out a cup for Olgyu and one for herself, and started to rummage through some of the pots closest to them. "I would also advice you to see a physician if you can. My strengths lie mainly with herbs. Poppy...poppy...poppy...there you are!" She fished out a small pot, added it to the others she was precariously cradling in her apron, and walked over to a rickety work table in the corner of the room. There came a lot of muttering and sounds of pots being opened and closed back up.
Olgyu sat back and sipped her tea. She was not too sure that what Sister Emmar was making would work, but it might. For now she enjoyed the rest. 'Grab what you can, afight's always 'round the corner,' her father had taught her. She followed it as best she could. A sound from the corner made her look up from her mug.
"Ha! Got you! You cannot get away from me!" Sister Emmar cried out. She looked around in triumph, then grinned sheepishly as she saw Olgyu. "Sorry. I tend to talk to myself . I am almost done here. Help yourself to more tea." She turned back to her work.
Olgyu closed her eyes. The warmth and the tea had made her dozy. She was standing on a battlefield. There were no flags of the tribes involved, no active fighters. There were a lot of bodies strewn around. The smell of blood was thick in the air.Olgyu looked down at herself. Her clothes were clean. What was she doing here? Where was she? This place did not look familiar to her. She knelt near one of the bodies, to check for any markings which could tell her what tribe this fighter was from. It was a man. He had died of a sword through the chest. There was not a lot of blood. She could not see any markings with all the dirt covering him. Suddenly the corpse reared up, grinning at the surprised Olgyu, trying to rip out her throat with his teeth. She scrambled away from him, reaching for theaxe on her back. She would not die like this. They both got up at the same time, the corpse still grinning, and Olgyu holding her axe tightly. They locked eyes. She swung first, the axe shearing cleanly through one of its arms. No blood came out of the wound, and it did not seem to faze it at all. It lunged towards her, and she made to step away, when her right leg buckled under her, and she fell to the ground, the corpse on top of her, its face buried in her neck. She struggled and tried to scream, but no sound came out. She could not get him off her. The next thing she felt was a gentle shaking. Olgyu woke up with a start.
"Wake up, please."
"Huh, what?" She focussed on the hearth. The fire had almost burned down. "How long have I been here?"
"Some hours. You fell asleep, and I did not have the heart to wake you. But now it is getting time for supper, and I did not want to leave you here alone. I take it you had a long day?" Sister Emmar looked concerned. It was not usual for people to fall asleep in her place of work. Most were only too glad to be able to leave No one liked to be sick. And this woman's rest had not looked all that peaceful.
"I am fine." The warrior stretched. "Thank you for waking me. I have to meet up with my friends."
"You are welcome. Here is the herbal mixture against the pain. Brew like tea and take in the morning. It should dampen the pain when it rises up. I would advise seeking further help if the pain stays. This is not meant as a cure, just as a way to handle the pain." The monk reached out a big stoppered vial. It was made out of clay, and glazed dark green.
"Thank you." Olgyu took the vial and stood up. She walked to the door, stopped, and looked over her shoulder. "For everything." She had left the room quickly, leaving a slightly confused monk.
Now the vial was packed safely in her backpack. Olgyu rolled over to her side. She did not know whether to take it. If it dulled the pain it could also dull her senses, and in her line of work that could prove fatal. She did not want to die because some herbs made her miss an enemy's deadly blow. 'Or because he buried his teeth in your neck.' She shivered. Getting crippled by a pain in the leg was a miserable way to go, too. Sister Emmar had been right about that. And she knew of her occupation. Surely she had kept that in mind when she had made this mixture? And she was not likely to get into any deadly fights here.Olgyu got up, put on the rest of her clothes, got out the vial out of her backpack, and went to the mess hall.
"It is good to see you have not vanished in the mists of time," a jovial voice next to Ameena said.She looked up from her bowl to find that the owner of the voice was the half-elf she had talked to yesterday.
"I am still here," she replied. Around them there were the sounds of people eating breakfast and talking to each other. "Do you want to sit down? I would not mind."
"Thank you. I was about to ask whether any of the seats were taken already. Bjernu set his bowl on the table, and sat down in the chair left of Ameena. She looked at him.
"I almost did not recognise you. You look very different from yesterday."
"Hmn? I am not wearing my work clothes today." He tugged at a sleeve of his dark red shirt, and lifted a leg to show that his trousers were a bright yellow. "It is not aver sensible combination, but I like it. At least I get noticed this way." He winked.
"I doubt you need those clothes for that. You attract enough attention already." Ameena ate some more of her porridge. Bjernu looked puzzled.
"Was that a compliment?"
"Just a statement. I am sorry if I offended you, I did not mean to." The conversation did not go how she wanted it to. Doom, it had seemed so easy yesterday. She stared at her bowl, waiting for him to leave. People usually did when they had been around her for too long. They said she made them uneasy. Her tail hung behind her, brushing the floor.
"No offense taken," Bjernu said, airily. He was willing Ameena to look back up. He really had not been offended, though she seemed to think so. "When I am not working, I like to get noticed. It makes it easier to get work if people know what you look like and where to find you. Of course, if they have a grudge for some reason...well, they know where to find you." Bjernu smiled. Ameena did not look up. Bjernu started to eat his porridge, and saw Olgyu walk into the mess hall. "Olgyu! Over here!" He waved a hand wildly to emphasise his words. The warrior noticed all this and walked over to their table. "Olgyu, Ameena. Ameena, Olgyu." He nodded once at Olgyu's questioning look.
Ameena looked up at the introductions. "Hello. Nice to meet you." She managed to smile.
"Good day. Nice to meet you too." Olgyu sat across the table from them. "Where is Marnak? Not up yet?"
"He is doing his daily devotions. He found a mostly empty room, so he would not interfere with other people's business." Bjernu shrugged. "You know how he is. He will be here shortly."
Olgyu drank her tea. "I do. What are you wearing today?" Bjernu showed his trousers again. "As I thought. If you stand in bright sunlight you can blind people with it." Ameena giggled. Olgyu looked triumphant. "See? She agrees with me. You are outnumbered. Take them off."
"I am not taking them off in here," Bjernu said.
"Why not? You could have used them to attract my attention. Do it later then, before we go outside and have to shade our eyes to be able to look at you," Olgyu suggested.
"These clothes do get the jobs," Bjernu contested.
"Bollocks. You juust like to wear them and torture those around you."
Ameena listened, fascinated. She was quite enjoying the talk between Olgyu and Bjernu. She was not often a part of banter like this.
"And you are going outside. I need a sparring partner." Olgyu finished her tea, and started to eat her breakfast, seemingly oblivious to Bjernu's groans.
"Please, I do not feel like spending most of the day at the healer's again. As Marnak, he can take it," he pleaded.
"Sister Emmar is very good at her job," Ameena put in.
"And you need the practice. It is decided," Olgyu stated. "Now let me eat."