[Flashback] Don't Touch That! (Solo)

[Alana Kaye]

43rd Day of Fall, 501 AV Alana swung her legs back and forth impatiently from where she sat on the table. She sighed loudly, hummed random tunes and tapped the wooden tabletop with a fingernail. Waiting around for her father to finish work was extremely boring, and she had already been here for a little over 30 chimes. The room was stiflingly hot; Alana’s father Juan was a smith and so she was sitting near the back of a forge room, out of the way of the fires and tools. She could see him near one of the workbenches, hammering what looked like a longsword. She slid off the table, landing lightly on her feet and stepped over to where her father was working. The sound of the hammer hitting metal was sharp and loud in her ears, and she scrunched her face up into a frown till it stopped. Her father glanced sidelong at her with a raised eyebrow. ”Are you nearly done yet? I’m bored.” A smile tugged at the corner of Juan’s mouth. ”Almost. Give me a few more chimes.” Alana sighed audibly and turned, heading over to the wall where they hung finished blades. Alana leaned in and studied them closer. While most were standard, plain swords, one or two had more intricate hilts. What caught her eye though, was a small dagger. It had patterns carved into the blade as well as the hilt, and she thought it was beautiful. She reached out a hand as if to run her finger along to flat side of the blade. ”Alana don’t touch that!”

[Alana Kaye]

The call came too late, and Alana’s fingertips came into contact with the smooth surface of the dagger blade. It tilted backwards; the dagger was only secured to the wall by two pieces of bent metal hooked underneath it. The weapons never stayed in the forge for long, so the means to store them had to be temporary, easy to move around. Alana’s eyes widened, and she pulled her hand back. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. The dagger tipped forwards as her arm moved away. The metal was heavier, it moved quicker, twisting through the air as it fell. A yelp of pain and surprise left Alana’s mouth as the blade bit into her forearm. Everything sped up again. The dagger hit the floor with a ringing crash, and Alana clutched at her arm with her right hand. Blood seeped from under her fingers and the cut was long enough that her small hand didn’t cover it. Her father was by her side in an instant, removing her hand and replacing it with his own. He said nothing, instead leading her over to the back of the workroom. He directed her to a water tap and held her arm beneath it. Alana wriggled and cried as it smarted, tears tracking down her cheeks. ”Do not move your arm, leave it under the water.” Juan carefully let go of his daughter and moved to find a bandage. Alana hesitated, almost pulling her arm away from the running water to stop it stinging so much. She left it though; she had the injury because she hadn’t done as she was told in the first place. Her father returned quickly with a cloth and a bandage. She watched carefully as he patted the area around the still-bleeding wound dry, then quickly layered the gauzy bandage round it. He tied it tight enough so that she could feel pressure, but loose enough that it would not hamper the blood supply to her hand. ”Press down on the bandage over the cut Alana.” She obeyed, crying out as pain shot through her arm, and then released it again. Juan shook his head and then held onto her arm himself. She made as if to protest, but the look in her fathers eyes silenced her.

[Alana Kaye]

After five or so chimes, Juan carefully peeled back the bandage. The cut had all but stopped bleeding now - perhaps it wasn’t as deep as it appeared to be. He gave a small nod, and then replaced the gauzy material, this time directing Alana’s hand to clamp down on the wound. Juan had learned how to treat cuts himself; working in a smithy often led to similar injuries. Since it was his daughter though, he decided to take her to a medic just to be sure. --- Not even a bell later, Alana was sitting up in her room at home. She had a brand new bandage on her arm, though the wound had stopped bleeding chimes ago. The medic had applied honey of all things to her injury. Curious, Alana had asked him why. ”Well, honey is very good at stopping bleeding.” A frown had crossed her face then; the cut had all but stopped bleeding back in the smithy. Seeing her expression, the medic had smiled. ”It’s also good at making sure you don’t get anything nasty in there. We don’t want your hand falling off do we?” He winked at her, smiling again at her now horrified expression. ”Don’t worry, I’m joking. Your cut isn’t that deep. It’s just in case.” With that he had tied the new bandage round her arm and sent her back out to her father. She fingered the bandage for a moment, before walking over to her desk. She picked up her pen, and in shaky handwriting wrote her first ever healing note. Honey stops bleeding and makes sure cuts don’t go nasty. Perhaps this was the start of a new venture for the young Denvali girl? Only time would tell.

[Paragon]

Alana : Alana Skill XP Reward Observation +1 Medicine +1 Writing +1 Lore: Look but Don't Touch, Honey Stops Infection, The Scar Other: N/A Lovely little solo, short and sweet. You got the point in medicine for hearing the tips given by others in the thread, I hope you like the lores - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.