Completed "He's my friend."

[Litani]

Timestamp: 72nd day of Winter Season, 512 She heard the knock on the door. She heard his voice, and she couldn't help but cringe. Rak'keli's eyes, really? Him again? This isn't going to work if he keeps... ahh, petch it. It was the third time he'd come this month. She had to give it to him - he was sparing but consistent in his need, especially compared to some others. Maybe out of pride or maybe because he was otherwise distracted, there was no way to tell. All she knew was that once his animated eyes and lively body walked through the door, she'd be summoned... and he'd want something. That's what she told herself. He wanted something only she could give. Once he'd figured out that she could do things none of the other medics could, he'd singled her out and refused to be treated by anyone else. She felt flattered... sort of. Maybe she was overreacting in thinking it personal. Maybe not. And damn her Gift for confusing everything, anyway. Maybe he was just trying to be a friend. Maybe not. Alder met him at the door. He wore a genial smile and welcomed Rask as he usually did; if the apothecary held any disdain for how lucrative Litani's attentions could be, he had never said anything to her or her clients about it. He hadn't needed to. She could see it in his eyes - easily. Every time he delivered some battered young knight or some aching elder carpenter to be soothed by the Konti's skilled hands, the look was there. Well then get yourself on the table and I'll work you over, you stubborn ass... But with Rask, it was something different. Clearing her throat, she dismissed the reckless contemplations and stood up. Rask would be coming through the door any second. Her mind bounced back to the first time she'd seen him. *** He was in a particularly bad way, new to knight's training and so badly cramped that he actually hobbled when he walked in. She'd winced when she saw him - his body screamed pain and angst to her, and she'd gone to Alder to whisper a request that she be allowed to treat him. She knew what to do, she'd assured him. She'd seen him with the others, knew that they respected him, knew he was strong and capable. And with the new skills she'd been learning, with her Gift to guide her, she'd wanted to practice... Alder had obliged. He'd gone to the knight-to-be, explained the possibility of treatment, suggested his young apprentice. It wasn't the first time that Litani's fair appearance was called into play; Rask had glanced over at her, smirked his disarming smirk, and made Litani blush with the way he looked at her. But it was only for a half-second. Alder didn't even have time to clear his throat before the exchange was gone and Rask was all respect again. And then they were alone together. Alder left, waiting outside. Listening, Litani knew. Bastard. What do I have to do to get you to trust me..? Inwardly, silently, she sighed. "Pick on someone bigger than you, did you?" Litani said then, striking up small-talk conversation as she washed her hands, leaving Rask perched on her table. He laughed. "Y'don't learn any other way, do ya?" he'd fired back, chuckling, shrugging his broad shoulders as he sat there. She turned, dried her hands with a soft towel, then set the cloth aside and said with a smirk, "Take off your shirt and lie down." It was impossible to miss the human's response to her words, but then she'd known the gamble since initiating this situation. He was young, of an age to seek a mate, and despite her scales and webbed fingers, despite her handful of years his senior, she could still sense his awareness of her. She pushed it aside and tied back her hair. And then he'd started, unexpectedly, to talk. As he lay face-down on her table, he spoke to her of his training. As she warmed her hands with herb-infused oil, he described why he'd entered the service. And as she stood by his side, building the walls in her mind against sensing him too deeply, he quietly asked about her family. Her origins. I am here, now. The oil is warm, the ground is smooth beneath my feet... he is here, tense, needful. I am here, now. "My family?" she chuckled softly, guardedly, setting her hands upon his shoulders. The sense of him assaulted her but she kept control, speaking to distract herself - "My father passed away last season... and my mother is in Mura." That much was true. As she grappled with the way he felt, searching through his body for where his injuries lay, only a fraction of her mind contended with his question. "What of you, hm? What of your family? Your father must be proud that you serve as you do." "My father's dead." Ah hell. She felt the jolt through him, felt the walls go up and the relaxation stutter as the young man voiced such a hallowed comment. She forced herself to exhale slowly, a controlled and measured sigh. "I am sorry." Her hands set into his shoulders then - not because he was wounded there, but because she knew it would ease him. Her touch was strong, steady, and somehow her fingers knew just where to find the knots that even he didn't know he had. "Don't be. You didn't know. He died when I was little." Rask was settled and easy then, as calm as a summer day. True, he held a ghost of tension in his body but, for all that, he was relaxing again. Feeling this, suddenly she could not help herself, and felt a whirlpool of selfishness begin in her mind. "How did it happen...? If... if you don't mind that I ask, I mean." Her hands went stronger, soothing, willing that sense of relaxation into him even as she asked after delicate subjects. Her fingers walked their way along the scapular muscle on both sides of his back, easing tension from the wearied flesh of his arms. To her surprise, he'd told her. He wasn't as at peace with it as one might first think, but at the same time, the wound was years old. He'd learned to live with it. And as he lay there under her hands, as she poured herself into the feeling of him and started to seek out the injured mid-back that he'd come seeking treatment for, she felt herself slipping. He spoke of years passing, of how he missed his father, of how it never got easier... you just got used to it. Her hands walked along his spine, felt where a vertebrae was faintly misaligned... pressing on a nerve. Inciting all the muscle around it to tension and pain. He spoke of what he did for reverence, of going out on each of his father's birthdays, of remembering with fondness and drink and a smile. Her hands guided his body slightly, lowering his shoulders and setting his hips to a neutral position... He spoke of laughing, if sadly, as he remembered some of the things they used to do when he was a boy. Her hands prepared, one above, one below the misalignment. I don't WANT to get used to it... I want him BACK! A tear fell onto his back. And then her hands moved. And so did his spine. With a CRACK, she stepped away. She knew his head would spin, his senses would falter. She backed off, let him recover, yet one hand lighted faintly on the back of one of his legs, closest to her. She kept touch so she could read him, so her Gift would speak to her of whether she'd done it correctly or not. And she had. "Holy mother of the Gods, woman, what was that!?" Litani laughed softly. "That was me fixing you." All talk of their fathers was gone. Thankfully. After a moment, she returned to him, checked her work. The bones were together again, just as they should be. "Come back to me if this troubles you again, hm?" she said softly, to which he readily replied, "You bet. Don't need to tell me twice, doc!" She smiled faintly. 'Doc' was hardly a fitting epitaph, but it was what the soldiers called the ones who healed them in the field. And he was young enough to mean it as a compliment. She bowed faintly, then took the chance of glancing into his eyes as he started to get up. Her own had the lingering remnant of emotion unexpressed, and she knew he caught sight of it when his expression turned - his brows knit faintly in concern, and he started to ask, but she shook her head and smiled. "Thank you for speaking with me, about your father," she said. "I... know it must not have been easy. And I appreciate it." "Any time," came the casual response, casual and yet meaningful - made so by the quiet way that he remained for a handful of seconds after speaking. Just watching her for a time. And from that shared look, a friendship slowly emerged. "If you ever need to talk, let me know, ok?" *** (to be continued!)

[Radiant]

Litani :

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Observation	+2 XP
Rhetoric	+2 XP
Socialization	+2 XP
Medicine	+2 XP

Lores

Lore Earned

Him again?

Rask: Very regular customer

Rask's father has passed away

I want him BACK!

Loots

Notes :

Beautiful solo, as always, Litani.

Oh yeah, you may not post two threads in one grade request, so please re-submit the part 2 at the grade request threada gain.

My radiance is not bright enough?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, beam me a PM and we can work it out.