It was a very menial task, but it had to be done. The herbs had been set to dry over the past couple days and it simply couldn’t be put off any longer else they would start to fall apart. It took longer to dry the herbs in the Infirmary because it wasn’t as hot as would be ideal. Instead of taking half a dozen bells, the process was extended over a period of a few days. That was fine for Addy, because she definitely didn’t have the time to be plucking dried herbs from the walls multiple times a day.
Since Aidara no longer had the option of taking the day to scale the mountain sides or meander through the forest in search of the herbs that the Infirmary needed, she instead had to wait for the Avora or Dek sent to gather the plants when they started to run low, hoping that they would indeed finish the job before their stores ran dry. When the freshly picked herbs did arrive, it fell to Keah, Miquel, or Addy herself to sort and properly prepare the plants.
As it happened, Keah had done the sorting and Miquel had grouped them into small bundles and strung them from the lines in her office. All around the tops of the walls was a fine string, clips each holding a bundle every foot or so all the way around the room. Here in her office, where the door could be shut and a decent amount of heat trapped in, gave the plants the best chance of drying. The sun was quite unable to penetrate the deep shadows of Addy’s office, insuring that the herbs wouldn’t loose any important nutrients from prolonged exposure to the light while they dried.
The only downside was the fact that they drying string had been hung high enough that the tiny healer had to drag her chair all around the room, standing on the seat in order to reach the plants at all. Once they were brittle to the touch and just on the verge of crumbling was when they were removed. Almost too late, as she had noticed a few wilted leaves littering the ground of her office one morning, Addy had started pulling down the bundles. There had been a huge mishap on the archery range that same day, when the herbs would have been just perfect for preparation, clogging the Infirmary with half a dozen squalling and scared Yasi. An Eagle and her rider had been practicing their aerial attacks, poor planning causing the group of children to run screaming out from under the plummeting eagle and straight into the middle of an Avora’s target practice. No one was actually hit by any arrows, but the resulting chaos had consisted of two fainting children, one with a concussion from running into a tree and three that collided with each other as they tried to escape.
The frightened children came and went, only two begging an overnight stay. None of the healers employed were ones to turn anyone away and so the children lay, curled on the floor in the emptied waiting room, whispering loudly and laughing softly while the two women and elder man went about their work. It was only then the children fell into a comfortable doze by the fire that Addy excused herself into the back, found the almost – gone – bad herbs and hurried to take them down. Procuring a mortar and pestle, she set it off to the side of her desk, laying the dozen or so bundles of dried plant in front of her as she began to gently remove the thread that bound them. One by one the groups were pulled apart and dealt with appropriately. Those whose petals and flower parts were used in infusions went in one pile, the leaves that stayed whole in another while the ones she was to gently crush into a powder stayed front and center.
They were Powder Puffs, which usually dotted the landscape starting in early spring. However, it had been discovered that when dried and crushed, the leaves were an excellent treatment for headaches and a runny nose, not a cure for the cold, but it surely made things more bearable. Being that it was such a valuable asset to the city, they had found a way to grow the cold-loving flower within the city, under the careful care of Avora and Dek’s, where there would be an available supply should they run out before the spring bloom.
Pulling the tangled stems apart, Addy carefully plucked the leaves from the flower, leaving the puffy flower head alone. As was common with the flora around Mizahar, some parts of the plant was helpful while the other was deadly; it was a defense mechanism within the flower it’s self, a way for it to survive against all the grazers that would otherwise feed upon it. If too much of the Powder Puff flower was ingested, severe cramping, vomiting and finally death would occur.
Once the stems were stripped bare and laid aside to be discarded, Addy took a small handful from the pile of dried leaves on her desk. The stone mortar was nestled carefully in the crook of her arm, the leaves dropped inside and the pestle taken into hand when there was a commotion out front. Guessing that it was just the sleeping children, Addy ignored the sound and brought the stone pestle into the bowl and began crushing the leaves with a slow circular motion.
When the sound came again, the woman couldn’t help but sigh and roll her eyes, placing her tools back onto the desk and pushing herself to her feet. Of course, progress was never actually progressive around here; interruptions making every job take twice as long as it should. A quarter of a bell sorting and crushing the herbs was going to take her two now, at least.
Trying to keep her face calm and neutral, Addy grabbed the edge of the partially closed office door pulling it in towards her as she stepped out into the main infirmary room. The door was closed carefully behind her, as to not disturb the delicate leaves she had left laying out, green eyes scanning the room for the disturbance. There was not sign of the two Yasi anywhere, nor Keah or Miquel, but she had definitely heard footsteps and a voice.
“Boys?” She called, standing on her tip-toes as she walked through the rows of beds.
“What are you doing?” There was no answer. The curtains had been drawn across the end of the infirmary, sectioning off the waiting room from the medical side.
“You better not be fooling around! There are so many things that you could break in here!” Reaching the curtains with her short, but quick, strides Addy grasped one edge and yanked it open as she spoke, perhaps a little harder than necessary in her looming annoyance.
“I asked you what you were- Oh!” The boys were sleeping soundly in front of the fire, where she had last seen them. The flames had long gone out but a comfortable warmth from the coals must have sent the Yasi into a doze quicker than she had expected. A rueful smile at her own wrong conclusions and Addy turned to retreat back to her desk, only then spotting Rista who was clutching her stomach and had slid down the doorframe to huddle on the floor.
“Oh my god, Rista!” So that had been the noise. Dimly recognizing the Yasi girl as the timid one from her Baby Shower, Addy wasted no time rushing to her aid. Spinning quickly back around, Addy almost tripped over her feet as she rushed to the girl. Small hands found their way under equally small armpits as the healer tried to hoist the young girl to her feet.
“I can’t lift you, hun, you’re going to have to try and stand for me, okay? It’s not far…” Talking softly and slowly in case the Yasi was delirious, Addy gently guided her back through the half-opened curtain and onto the nearest bed. It was made in freshly laundered sheets and was nestled against the wall. Seating Rista carefully, Addy left her side only to send the sconce hanging above the bed on the wall into a warm glow.
“What happened? Where does it hurt?” So far Rista hadn’t spoken a word, but Addy had seen enough to know that she had been in a fight. Their last and only meeting had been an awkward one, the girl quiet and stand off-ish when Addy had tried to talk to her. Sai had warned her that the upper Castes made Rista uncomfortable, but the healer had tried to befriend the Yasi anyway, promising her help should she ever need it. The need to help was deeply etched into the little woman’s personality, and this small and seemingly lost mongrel Yasi had tugged at the healers heart strings.
However, Addy had also gotten the impression that the girl didn’t accept help from just anyone, so for her to show up now was surprising, but not more so than her battered state. Her hands were all sorts of torn up, there was a rip on her shirt that showed a bright red patch of skin. It could be a gash or a scratch, the healer couldn’t tell nor would she try and remove any clothing before she verified the girl in a sound state of mind. There could be more hurts that she couldn’t see in her cursory glance, but what she did see was enough to make her heart beat a little faster. The poor thing.
Belatedly, Addy saw the knife. Trying to disguise her sharp intake of breath as a shallow cough, the healer-turned-Endal carefully extended her hand, wrapping her fingers around the childs delicate wrist.
“Why do you have this, child? Give it here.” The girl would not easily let go, her hand clamped tightly to the sweaty hilt. It took more strength than Addy thought would be necessary to wrest the blade from her, eyes glued to Rista’s face lest she react violently to the taking of her weapon.
Should Rista put up no fight, Addy would prod her gently into answering her questions, asking them again in a slow firm voice. But should she put up a fight, Addy would be forced to act quickly, forcing and holding Rista’s arm to the bed while the other was grasped and pressed down as well. Climbing up onto the bed, the little woman would straddle the young girl, applying only enough pressure to hold Rista down and deny her any movements that would harm the healer. Hopefully, any further irritation of her wounds would take the fight from the girl, but one could never be too careful. Hurt animals snapped at the hands the helped them, and Addy had quickly learned that humans were no different.
OOCAs you can see, I left this post kind of emotionless because there hasn’t really been too much interaction between the two of them yet. Is that okay?