Closed Tales from the Infirmary (Aidara)

[Iosha]

Time Stamp: 27th of Winter, 512AV Location: Infirmary, Inclement Weather Who: Aidara Rak'Keli knew it was Iosha's calling to become awesome sexy healer, and when Iosha was born, she must have convened with her sister Avalis to find the best possible place to hone Iosha's skills in medicine. Avalis choose wisely as she told Rak'keli to send Iosha to Wind Reach since the city was a place of extremes and the humans living in the city were no different from their surrounding. When Iosha got out bed this morning, she knew today was going to be a great day to be healer! Iosha wasn't normally the person to wish bodily harm on someone, but she been waiting two months for poor red headed soul to break a arm or a leg because Aidara promised to show her how to mend that type of injury the moment a person showed up with that type of injury. Iosha knew it would only be a matter of time before a Inarta to came into the infirmary with something important broken. Iosha wasn't saying her adopted people were clumsy or careless, but the fiery red heads had a tendency to hurt themselves on a regular basis. Iosha started to make a tally of all the medical emergencies in the city of Wind Reach over the last week. It was quite a long list from something minor as severe rug burn to severe as a cracked skull. She figured it was a good way for the four healers to prepare better for these types of injuries in the future, but the idea soon degraded when Iosha and Miquel started to play guess that injury with incoming patients. Keah was hesitant at first to play the game, but she soon came around when she thought it would be a good way to visualize someone's condition on a glance. Iosha knew the game started to take a new low when Miquel offered her a one pinion bet that a patient with a broken leg wouldn't show up today, and if Iosha wasn't having such a great day, she would be one pinion poorer. Iosha knew something had been troubling Aidara for quite some time, and whenever Iosha asked Keah or Micquel they promptly changed the subject. Iosha never liked being left out of the loop, but she figured she was the new addition to the healing team, so it was not good to pry into someone else personal life. Aidara lived and breathed the Infirmary, and Iosha hasn't known a day since she started to work in the Infirmary that the little healer was present. Often times, she would catch the healer sleeping in the guest room if it was empty. Iosha would never said anything about it, but she started to wonder why Aidara was behaving peculiar. Iosha considered Aidara a work friend, but she never did anything outside of her job with the healer. Often the Konti would hear rumors about Addy's nightlife, but she never confirmed if they were actually true, but tonight, Iosha thought it might be a good night to observe the healer in action. When Iosha finished organizing the supply closet, she looked over at the door and saw Aidara walking into the Infirmary. She figured it was her best chance to talk to her. Before Addy got absorbed in her duties of the day. She grabbed her journal and started walking towards her, but she was suddenly stopped by Micquel with a big grin on his face. Iosha raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “Can I help you Old Man?” Iosha befriended Micquel early in her career at the Infirmary, so she quickly gave him the enduring title of Old Man. Micquel didn't seemed to mind the nickname at all, and he seemed to come up with clever nicknames for her on a daily basis. Micquel crossed his arms and said with a smug look on his face, “I think I am going to buy a new scarf with the pinion I get from you today. I figure it would be good sensible purchase in the winter months ahead. What do you think, Pale One? Should I get a green scarf to match my eyes, or a red scarf to match my hair.” Iosha adored the old man, but she had to get to Aidara before she settled in for the day, so she raised an eyebrow and said with a smirk, “Maybe I will throw in a few more pinions, so you can buy yourself a nice pretty vinati, Old Man...” Micquel was not letting her win this battle, and he quickly responded as she was walking past him, “I have decided when you buy me the vinati make sure it red, so it matches my hair OK.” Iosha shuddered to herself at the mental image of that man in a vinati as she trailed after Aidara. When She made it to Aidara, she tapped the red hair woman on the shoulder. Iosha was never good at small talk, so she always broke the ice with humor or a witty comment. Iosha knew people tended not to take her seriously most of the time, but she did it mostly to make herself feel more comfortable. When Addy turned around and looked at her, she presented her boss with a list of all the injuries of the week and three suggestions at the bottom. 1. To prevent possible injuries to the head, I suggest all Endals and Yasi should to wear helmets to curb concussions. 2. To prevent accidentally stabbing one self in the leg with dagger, I suggest all Endals should use their bows before EVEN attempting to jump off their wind eagles with dagger in hand. If they NEED to jump from said Wind Eagle (Once again very ill advised), I suggest them to sheathing their dagger before jumping. 3. To prevent severe rug burn, silvers, or shards of glass in unwanted areas of body, I suggest all citizens in Wind Reach to use caution or careful planning before engaging in intimate relations with one another. My other suggestion for the citizens of Wind Reach is to use a BED when him or her is engaging in intimate relation with one another. Iosha tried to keep a straight face while Addy was reading her report. Ultimately, the weekly report helped the infirmary with supply issues, but to Iosha it secretly gave her the opportunity to poke fun at her adopted people. Micquel thought the report was a hilarious way to pass the down time in the Infirmary, and Keah always gave Iosha a pained look when she presented the report to her. When she gave the report to Aidara, she always got mixed reviews from the little healer since Iosha loved to point out the hilarious and creative ways Endals tend to hurt themselves. Oh the Avora and Chiet hurt themselves in creative ways too, but the Endals loved to put the flair of dramatics into their bouts of recklessness. When Aidara was finished reading, Iosha crossed her arms under her white vinati and said to Addy with a amused twinkle in her eye, “Once again Addy, I have to remind you that I really do love my father's people. However, with some of the injuries, I have to ask this question from a expert in Inarta psychology meaning you, Addy.” Iosha takes a deep breath before continuing, “What is going through the mind of the average Inarta when they engage in unwise behavior like jumping from a wind eagle to kill a elk, and why would a person have their dagger out when they decided to jump from the wind eagle?”

[Aidara]

If anyone were asked to describe Aidara, some of the most popular terms used to do so would have been fun loving, carefree, and passionate. That is, if they had asked a couple Seasons ago. For what seemed like a very long time, Addy had been slowly going downhill. First, she laughed less and joked around sparingly. Then her smile was not so freely given, until finally she hardly seemed to take joy in anything at all. Presently, the only words that anyone could accurately define the healer would be sad and withdrawn.

Iosha’s appearance had been a blessing wrapped in pale skin and fish scales. Not only did she possess the enthusiasm that Addy found herself lacking, but she was likable enough that Keah and Miquel could focus their attentions on the Konti woman rather than worrying about their head healer. Never being one for the center of attention anyway, Addy found this a most welcomed relief.

Not that she thought it could all go on for very long. Things at home were terrible with Sira, both of them staying completely out of the others way; Sira hunted during the hours that Addy was home for the Infirmary, and Addy slept at the hospital during the times that Sira stayed home with Natalie. As if the guilt of whatever grew between the two lovers wasn’t enough, added to that was the neglect she was feeling towards their daughter.

Natalie was old enough now to realize that something was wrong. Having hit her first birthday, the young kelvic resembled a teenage girl, with a mind and personality to match. No longer was she an oblivious toddler, and Addy dreaded having to answer the uncomfortable questions her daughter might ask. Questions she couldn’t even answer for Sira.

“What do you want?” The tap on her shoulder snapped Addy back to the present, where she found herself looking down at the half-rolled bandage she held between her hands; Iosha couldn’t have realized the little woman was deep in thought, but Addy didn’t even bother turning or correcting her tone.

Unphased, the Konti healer passed a piece of paper forward, holding it in front of her until Addy sighed and relieved her of the burden. It was a short list, and took only a few ticks of skimming to get the gist of it. Guilt burned in the pit of her stomach, and Addy bowed her head against the shame. Iosha was trying so hard to fix what she couldn’t, to make Addy laugh despite the fact that all she could manage nowadays was tears.

“Sorry I snapped.” Turning and still clutching the parchment, Addy offered the Konti woman a lopsided smile, though it didn’t quite break through the sadness in her eyes. “This is a great list. Half of it you’d expect should be common sense, though sense doesn’t seem to be so common lately. Case and point.” Waving the parchment, Addy rolled it up and handed it back to the Konti woman. “We can be sure to spread these tips around. Feel free to chastise anyone who comes in having sheathed their dagger in their leg.”

Knowing that the woman was here to learn from Addy and practice her medicine, the little Inartan woman didn’t say a word when she began to follow her around the Infirmary. Tasking herself with mundane jobs, Addy didn’t say a word as she continued to roll bandages and fold cleaning cloths. Her mood was a bit darker than usual that day, and it took all the will power she had to ask politely, “So what do you think is going to happen today?”

[Iosha]

Iosha sat down in front of her and smiled at the little healer question. Iosha smirked at her and said innocently, “Well.. I think if the statistics are right. We will have to deal with mostly concussions today, and we will start to get a slight increase of winter illness. I doubt it will be much of concern because the illness will mostly be a cough, runny nose, sore throat, and maybe a slight fever, but I definitely would pay careful attention to elderly and children since they have a hard time of fighting these minor illnesses.” She put her hands behind her head, and she smile widen for a moment as she looked at ground, “Don't think of me as a horrible person, Aidara but I think I have good feeling somebody will break a arm or leg today. I don't wish any harm to come to anyone, but it has been month since I asked you to teach me how to mend a broken leg, and I know eventually our people will break something important other than their heads ” She looked at Aidara and laughed nervously, “Sorry, I get excited to learn, and sometimes, I get impatient waiting to learn something as important as mending a broken arm or a leg.” Iosha wanted to tell Aidara her idea about treating the Dek. She knew the Dek often don't have the time to take care of themselves health wise, so she got the idea to take her taking her healing services directly to where the Dek gather. Iosha looked at the beautiful red head and said softly, “Eventually, I want bring my medicine to where the Dek gather because honestly Addy their health condition is just abysmal. I hope you don't take offense at that comment, but I think it is the right thing to do. I will have to learn more Nari, but maybe I can find someone to help me translate when I am down there.” After waiting for Aidara comment for a few chimes, Iosha wanted to get to know her melancholy friend better, and she asked Aidara, “So you known me for a few months, and I really never had much time to spend time with you outside of work.” She ran a hand through her silver blond hair and asked softly, "Would you like to come with me to the Inclement Weather and have few drinks? Maybe we could go dancing when we are nice and drunk?” The blonde woman smirked at Aidara and giggled to herself, “Maybe when we are nice and hammered, we could wake Sira up with a drunken serenade. I am terrible singer, so I don't think the drinking could make it any worse.” Iosha knew the Endal had been under a lot of emotional stress lately, and she often overhead Keah and Micqual talking about Aidara. She wasn't very good hiding her pain from people, and she been isolating herself from her family and spending to much time in the Infirmary. Iosha knew it wasn't healthy, but she didn't know Aidara well enough to bluntly to her face. Iosha smirked at Aidara and teased the red headed woman with a impish grin on her face, “Besides, next time I find you sleeping in the Infirmary, Addy. I going to find some paint and start my masterpiece on your pretty face.”

[Aidara]

The pile of bandages slowly grew as Addy listened to the Konti’s prediction. There was an edge of excitement to her voice that, despite her sour mood, brought a corner of her mouth up into a smirk. There was no denying the passion in this woman and it was refreshing. The infirmary had become a burden, though Addy hadn’t really even begun to realize that medicine had shifted from being fun to simply being another duty until Iosha flashed into her life. With little time for introspection, Addy continued to fail to realize most of this and continued to simply attribute it to the Konti’s bubbly personality.

“You remind me of me.” She chuckled, shaking her head as she tied off the final bandage and set it aside, turning to face her fully. Leaning back against the sculpted stone counter, Addy crossed her arms over her chest. “Though I hope you’re not too excited that you assist in the breaking of bones just so you can practice.” Pairing her words with a smile, it was made obvious that she was teasing. “As soon as someone comes in that needs their bones set, I will let you do it. As for the cold, it sounds like the common cold-weather illness that strikes every Winter. It’s tough on the children, mostly, since they are expected to complete their Bendi despite snow or sickness. We will have to prepare remedies that can help sooth those stricken.”

Pushing herself upright, Addy began to move back towards her office when Iosha stopped her, pitching her idea with a nervous sort of look on her face. The Endal let her finish without interruption, nodding when necessary but otherwise keeping her face expressionless until Iosha was done. She wasn’t surprised that the Konti woman felt drawn to help the Dek; most of the Outsiders couldn’t understand why such a large number of their people were left to suffer while the rest of the race prospered. They didn’t know the struggle it was to feed the all those mouths, how much work every individual had to do in order to stay alive.

If you can’t help feed your fellow ginger, then you’re on your own.

“It’s a great idea, Io.” The Konti woman was given a smile, and a warm squeeze to her shoulder, but Addy shook her head in the end and sighed softly. “I had a similar thought myself, but it just… We barely have enough to take care of the Endal and Avora that come in here injured or sick. The Dek don’t provide us with food or shelter, so we can’t give them the medicine that the Endal who is bringing home the meat needs.” The Konti’s cheeks were pink with the flush of embarrassment. It had taken her no small amount of courage to bring the subject up to in the first place, and Addy’s heart twisted in her chest. She couldn’t just simply shoot the woman’s hopes down. The passion and willingness to do something was what would make Iosha an amazing healer. It needed to be nurtured.

“I’ll tell you what. If we can get the rest of these headstrong idiots to be more carefully about where they are pointing their arrows, maybe we can start stock piling some supplies. It will take a while before we can actually do anything to help.. . but it’s a start, right?”

Obviously cheered by this compromise, Iosha perked up and began to joke again, and Addy had to laugh when she brought up The Weather. “Of course. Though if you get me drunk enough I might not even notice the off-key notes.” It was Addy’s turn to blush as the Konti brought up her preference to sleeping on a hard stone desk rather than her warm, comfy bed. “As long as they’re water paints, I don’t have a problem with that…”

Trying for nonchalance, despite the fact that Iosha’s observation hit painfully close to the already opened wound, Addy clapped her hands and rubbed them together in a show of excitement. “Right lets get started. With the lack of any sort of patient, why don’t you walk me through what you think you’d do if you were faced with a patient.” Taking the Konti by the shoulders, Addy steered her towards one of the many empty sickbeds, stopping her by the side and pointing towards the empty sheets.

“Young female, early teens, suspected broken wrist from tripping and falling down by the lake.”

[Iosha]

When Iosha heard Aidara warning about not assisting in breaking peoples bones, the konti had a distant look on her face as she thought about the idea intentionally injuring people, so she can practice her medicine on them. It was a silly idea, and she smirked evilly at Aidara at the very notion of the idea. She sat there for a moment with her hands in her lap, and she said with a dumb grin on her face, “I could always set up traps for my unsuspecting victims..err patients.” Iosha listened to Aidara tell her about how things work in Wind Reach regarding the Dek and medical treatment, and all the pale woman could do was shake her head in disappointment. She still didn't understand the reason the largest caste was basically forgotten by the upper classes. It didn't seem right to neglect people within their society, but the Inarta only cared about survival in the end. In her opinion, it was a sad way to view life, but she decided a long time ago that she would try to do something for the Dek even if it was just a small thing. A smile formed on the konti's face when Aidara didn't strike down the idea all together. The plan would just have to wait till a later date. When Aidara finished her thought, Iosha stayed silently to mull over her idea and said softly, “I think you have a good idea, Aidara. I still don't understand your caste system fully with the treatment towards the Dek, but I will respect your culture regardless of my own opinions on the Dek situation.” Iosha figured her violet eyes could tell Aidara everything she thought about the treatment with of the Dek, and she was going to be honest about her feeling on certain topic even a volatile one like the Dek situation. Aidara quickly changed the subject to a more lighthearted subject, and she giggle at Aidara suggestion about water colors, and she simply said with a hint of amusement, “Deal.” Iosha stood up and followed Aidara out of her office. The konti followed her out of the room to a empty bed. She figured Aidara wanted her to visualize the situation of patient before hand, so Iosha went to the bed and started to explain her approach, “Well, I would first introduce myself to them, so they know I was a healer than I would ask them where they hurt themselves, so I can determined the place of injury. Once I know the place of injury the wrist, I would examine it myself to determine the extent of the injury.” The konti took a deep breath to try to figure out to do next in the procedure, and she continued softly, “When I found out they broke their wrist, umm.. I would set their wrist straight, so the bone could heal straight.” Suddenly, Iosha mind drew a blank as she struggled to figure out what to do next in the procedure. She wasn't even sure how to set a bone straight or make a cast for the broken bone. The young konti knew she was good at diagnosing, but her applied knowledge of medical procedures were sort of lacking, and she turned red and said with a hint of embarrassment in here voice, “Honestly Addy, I am not even sure how to set a bone, or even make a cast for a patient to treat the injury.”

[Aidara]

Iosha was one of those individuals that was just good for the soul. It wasn’t anything she did intentionally, or anything she really had control over. No, it was just her innocent sort of love, for whoever or whatever you happened to be, that bled out into everything she did, everything she touched; whenever Addy was having a bad day, it was only a few moment with the lovely Konti before she felt better, as if Iosha’s upbeat positivity was rubbing off. As a result, Addy could feel herself smiling as she listened to the Konti healer rattle off what she would do in the imaginary case Addy had concocted.

“It is more practice than anything else. First thing you want to do is determine whether or not the break is open or closed, and that is actually pretty simple to do. We see open breaks less with cases like a wrist, and more with the larger bones, but an ‘open break’ indicates that the bone has punctured the skin and is usually accompanied by a wound.” As she spoke, Addy slid a small piece of parchment and a quill towards Iosha, tossing her a wink and a lopsided smile. A few ticks were given for the Konti to jot any notes she thought necessary before moving on.

“Most of the material in the Enclave is written by the same Healer, but some of the books we have brought in from other cities use different terminology, such as ‘fracture’. Though this sounds different, it’s just a more fancy word for a break.” Using her own wrist as an example, Addy held it out in front of Iosha and indicated the individual bones with her index and middle finger. “It will benefit you to find an anatomy book and study it, because at lot of the time you’re going to have to know what shape the bones are normally to fix it. We have the benefit of our gnosis, so it makes discovering how bad the break is and exactly where it is a bit easier, but it doesn’t help us straighten the break. Not with one mark.”

Addy said this last bit really fast, a slight frown curling the corners of her lips as she spoke. Her gnosis, or more accurately the one that she and Iosha both shared, was not something she talked about earlier. It was very personal, in her eyes, far more personal than anything else in her life. If asked to describe why, the little healer might not be able to vocalize an exact reason. It just was, so using even the mention of her gnosis in her explanation made her stumble and stutter a bit in embarrassment. “You look for any kind of swelling or deformation, which is why it’s important to know what a healthy configuration looks like. To set a bone, you simply have to try and, as gently as possible, pull the bone back into its proper position. This gets more complicated when nerves and blood vessels are involved.”

“Two types of wrist breaks are most common.” Using her own arm again, Addy rotated her arm so that the underside pointed skyward and her palm faced upwards. Using a finger, she traced the bone that started below the palm, directly under her thumb. “This is the radius, and it’s one of the most common bones to break because when we fall and manage to get our hands out, it takes most of the force and can snap here.” She drew a line across the wrist, below the heel of her hand. “Though the other common bone to break is here.” And she pointed to a smaller, more indistinct bone in the middle of the wrist. “The radius runs the length of your forearm but this second bone is just at the end of your forearm and is much smaller.”

Giving Iosha a smile, Addy leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms lightly over her chest. Her head canted to one side and she inclined it slightly in a gesture that encouraged Iosha to speak. “Any questions yet?”

[Iosha]

When Aidara handed her the parchment and quill, Iosha quickly dipped the quill in the ink well and started writing down notes in Kontinese. Iosha always took her notes in her native tongue because it was easier to write in her birth language and not many people outside Mura and Riverfall know her language, so it was kind of a “code” for the blond haired woman. Iosha watched and listened to Aidara's explanation about identifying a broken bone and the type of break. Iosha wrote a note about how the “open break” being commonly associated with a larger bones, and the bone might be exposed outside of the body. Iosha added to her notes the part about studying a anatomy book. Iosha realized that she haven't looked over a anatomy book in over eight years, so she circled the part about studying the text book again. The konti wrote down the indicators of the possible broken bone swelling and deformation, she added under her note to mention studying a anatomy book to figure out a healthy configuration. Suddenly, Iosha lifted her eyes and realized she had a question. She wrote it down in her notes. Does the Enclave have books on the anotomy of the different races of Mizahar? Iosha took down another note and made a smiley face by her sentence when Aidara mentioned healers of the Rak'Keli had advantage with identifying the injury; however, when she mentioned a single mark wasn't able to straightened the broken bone. Iosha drew a sad face with a single tear running down it's cheek. For a moment, Iosha eyes caught the slight sadness in Addy's voice and on her face when she mentioned the limitations of a single gnosis mark. Iosha knew how frustrating it could be to watch the other healers with multiple gnosis marks do a task easily while she had to struggle through the process. Iosha decided to draw a happy face on her thumb with ears on each side of it. Iosha wondered to herself if Aidara thought that she wasn't in Rak'keli's favor since she wasn't rewarded a second mark yet. Iosha wrote a another note, Make Addy smile. Iosha quickly finished and made a new section for wrist fractures. Iosha started to draw a diagram of a disembodied arm with a hand. She drew a small oval under the thumb, and she labeled the bone radius. Iosha drew a jagged line through it indicating a break. She quickly wrote the the common cause of a possible break on the parchment. She drew a secondary oval around down the length of the arm indicating the other smaller bone that can break with the same injury. When Aidara asked if she had any questions, Iosha looked up from her parchment, and she gave the little human a thumbs-up with the smiley face staring straight at her. Iosha gave the other healer a warm smile and said softly, “You would be surprised on how well konti can read body language, Addy. I often get frustrated with the fact that I have to struggle through a task that somebody with a multiple marks can do much easier than me.” Iosha made her thumb dance slightly and continued, “You know having a single mark doesn't mean we are farther away from our goddess than the healers with multiple marks. Besides, you must be one of Rak'Keli's favorite Inarta in Wind Reach since you have to put up with all these feather-brained idiots all these years.” Iosha gave the beautiful red head a wink, and she asked in a more serious tone, “What is the name of smaller bone connected to the radius, and does the library have any anatomy books on the different races of Mizahar? I wanted to ask because I have noticed there has been a influx of outsiders into our volcano especially different races, so I am thinking we should start studying the anatomy of the different races.” Iosha shook hear head and said nonchalantly, “Addy, I couldn't believe my eyes. I actually saw a konti in Wind Reach today, and I asked myself what is the world coming too.” Iosha dipped the quill into the ink well and motioned to her friend to carry on with the lesson. The konti loved to tease her friends, so she flashed her friend a smirk and said softly, “Carry on.”

[Aidara]

Touched by Iosha’s words, Addy couldn’t help but smile as the Konti comforted her. There was still a measure of sadness to her smile, but the majority of it was for the other woman, her face a picture of gratitude not fit for words as she reached across and gently tucked a strand of pale white hair behind Iosha’s ear. “You are a treasure.” A simple but completely true, Addy let the statement hang between them for a moment or two before reluctantly resuming business; It was good to have these reminders of just how lucky they all were to have the Konti woman amongst them.

“The smaller bone is called the ulna,” tracing said bone with her finger, Addy bit at her lips as she pondered the remainder of Iosha’s question. “You know, I’m not sure. Very few of us have taken time to actually study the outsiders, even the amazing Konti,” A wink there, before she continued, “So I wouldn’t be surprised if our collection is very small. It would be worth a look. And you make a good point. With all these newcomers, it would be in our best interest to start broadening those horizons, right?” The Konti was good for them all. While Addy was considered worldly in comparison to her peers, she didn’t know very much when it was put into perspective. An expert on Inarta, for sure, but Addy was bright enough to realize that the redheads were not the entirety of the world, even if they all wished it to be so.

“Of course, as you pointed out, these techniques would change if you had a different race with different bone structure. What I just showed you is for Inarta, and possibly humans.” Of course there was a difference between the two. “Though wrists and arms are simple, they might not deviate much between races. What do you think is most drastically different about our structures? It gets far more complicated the deeper in you go... and we're not always going to be dealing with broken bones.” Wiggling a finger between them, Addy leaned back a little and crossed her arms over her chest. Teaching wasn’t really her “thing”, necessarily, but having raised a child she knew the merits of having someone work through a problem for themselves rather than having it parceled out for them.

“I actually don’t know much about Konti, so this could be a dual teaching session.” Waving for Iosha to take the lead, Addy grabbed her own slip of parchment and quill.

x

[Iosha]

Iosha couldn't help herself and blush and advert her eyes when Aidara put the stray white hair behind her ear. It was nice hearing such kind words from a beautiful woman like Aidara. Iosha didn't really have any words to return her compliment with, so she gave her friend a warm smile instead. The konti watched Aidara explain that the smaller bone was called the ulna. Iosha wrote the name of the bone on her diagram she listened to Aidara ponder her idea about expanding the Inarta medical knowledge of the outsiders that come to their mountain home. Iosha looked at her and said with a smile, “I am sure you can ask for volunteers for examinations.”[color][color=#f8faf1] Iosha ran a webbed hand through her hair and said softly, “Whenever you need to examine my anatomy, you just have to ask, Addy.” Iosha stopped after she said it and realized that the sentence could have a double meaning to it. Iosha turned red again for moment and continued listening explain their was a difference between normal humans and Inarta. The konti looked at the little Inarta woman and tilted her head and said bluntly, “Addy, I have to be perfectly honest with you if I put in the middle of Syliras and dyed your hair blond. You would be just typical beautiful woman human on the street with the rest of people of Syliras.” Iosha didn't want to burst the woman's bubble, but if Aidara ever went outside of Wind Reach into the rest of Mizahar. She will have a rude awakening that she would be just another human with a wind eagle to the rest of the world. The konti started to wonder if Aidara ever been to other city, but at the moment, she was learning how to fix a broken bone, so the question will be asked at a later time.

Iosha wasn't surprised that Aidara was eager to learn about her people's physiology, so Iosha sat up on the examination table next to her and took off her socks and boots. The stuck up her hands and wiggled her bare feet for Aidara to see and said softly, “Well, Konti live about two hundred and fifty years, so our lifetime is about three times as long as humans if we don't succumb to disease or violence. All Konti give birth to female konti children regardless of the father who sired them.”

Iosha started to think of obscure example and said plainly, “For example, if the father my child was a Zith than my child would be born a konti regardless of the circumstances. Unless the father is a Akalak than I could give birth to a akalak boy, konti female, or rare occasions a mixture of the two.”

Iosha took a deep breath and said with a smile, “I am telling you how we reproduce because the father doesn't determined the physiology of a konti child. It will always be determined by the mother. In truth, the baby would barely look like the father at all. It sometimes heart breaking for the males who sired them, so we tend to raise our children ourselves without the fathers involved. It could explain the reason mother took me away from Wind Reach when I was born to spare father. Anyways, I am getting off subject.”

Iosha wiggled her hands and feet at Aidara and said with smile, “My people were created through the love between Avalis and Laviku, so we are children of the sea along with being land dwellers. The two gods blessed us with a set of lungs to breath on land, and set of gills behind the ears to breath underwater.”

Iosha pushed back her hair, turned her head, and pulled back her ears to reveal her gills to the Inarta, and she said softly, “As you can see, we are well developed for living long times underwater. My grandmother's house is partly on land, but the other half is built underwater. It a strange lifestyle for most land dwellers to grasp, but it is common place for konti in Mura.”

Iosha looked at her hands and stuck up her webbed feet and said softly, “Since we are water dwellers too, the gods blessed us with skin between our fingers and toes to help propel us through the water.” Iosha smiled at her red haired friend and laughed,“When I first met Kovac, I called myself a fish girl because it is basically what I am. I move through the water like a fish, and I can breath underwater like a fish.” Iosha figured she should let Aidara ask questions, so she asked with a smile, “Do you have any questions, Addy?”

[Aidara]

Having never felt even a glimmer of sexual tension between herself and Iosha, Addy had to blink in utter surprise when the Konti seemingly came on to her. In fact, the silence was drawn out between them for the span of more than a few chimes. “I…” But then she saw the blush and knew. Shock melted quickly into amusement and the little redhead couldn’t help but laugh. Long, loud and deeply she laughed, her knees going weak from the force of it so that she had to hold onto the sickbed to keep herself upright. “Oh. That’s just great. You’re never going to live that one down.” With her emerald eyes sparkling with unshed tears of mirth, Addy wiped at the few that had managed to roll down her cheeks. “You said I could look at your anatomy anytime. Oh gods…”

Clearly not finding the incident as funny as her healing counterpart, Iosha had quickly moved on, talking about the land outside of Wind Reach and going so far as to insult Addy in the process. “Hey! Everyone is special!” It was true, but the fact was that the Konti simply hit on a sensitive point in the little woman. She was more than a little worried about her looks, even if in the past half dozen Seasons she had catered to her appearance less and less. “I bet I’d still knock anyone’s socks off, even in Syliras.” Addy knew the city of Knights, and had fantasized more than once what it would be like to visit. Perhaps now she would have too, even just to prove Iosha wrong.

But before their conversation could digress into pointless squabbling, the Konti swiftly changed the subject and launched into a description of her people that immediately caught Addy’s attention. The details of their lifespan and their aversion to violence were not unknown to the little Inartan, but she scribbled it down onto her parchment anyway. It was the reproduction that really made the little woman pause. “Really? All girls?” A quick note was made there, starring the information for further research because that kind of phenomenon was just begging Addy to delve further into it. “I had sort of wondered why you didn’t look anything like us, despite claiming and Inartan father. I had started to doubt!”

The spaces between Iosha’s information was filled with the rapid scratching of the quill as Addy tried to get everything down, the anatomy that allowed Konti to swim well and breathe underwater particularly intriguing. “It must be hard to live on land then, right? I hadn’t really thought about that before. Are there any kind of additions to the Infirmary at least that we can make for you to make it any more comfortable?” A bit embarrassed that she hadn’t thought of it before, Addy set aside her quill and parchment and stood, tucking the stool away beneath the sickbed. “A simple request to the Valintar is all that needs to be made. After everything you’ve done for us, it’s the least we can do in return.”

When Iosha didn’t immediately set down her notes, Addy reached to snatch them away, setting them with her own and placing a heavy stone mortar on top to keep any of them from blowing away. “I think that’s enough work for now. What do you say to some play? Maybe that drink we talked about?”

OOC :

I figured this would be a good place to end it, but you can go as far as you want with your next post. If you don’t want to end it, let me know!

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