Darker Days

by **Asterope** on August 28th, 2017, 5:52 am

89th/Summer/517

Aster could feel that something was off in the air. She shut the door of the Cubacious Inn behind her slowly as she stepped onto the street. The hair on the back of her neck prickled, and she glanced around uneasily, but nothing seemed visibly out of the ordinary.

The streets were perhaps a bit more abandoned than usual, and the sky was overcast; it was as if a great shadow had fallen across the city. The breeze that drifted by, causing Aster's dress to flutter loosely around her legs, was warm and did nothing to alleviate the strangely high temperatures of the day. It was uncomfortably hot, even with the sky being overcast and almost entirely devoid of Syna's light.

Aster frowned, the motion creasing the normally smooth skin between her brows, and began to walk. Perhaps it was the unusual heat of the day, or an illusion, or simply her imagination, but the hot, heavy air against her skin almost felt as if it was buzzing faintly. Normally one to enjoy the heat, even Aster felt herself begin to grow uncomfortable. The warmth coupled with the strange, subtle vibrating of the air made her feel uncharacteristically claustrophobic, even in the open and empty street.

Suddenly, she felt something small but relatively heavy hit her upper arm with a faint but audible 'thwack'; startled, she glanced down. A relatively large insect sat on the sleeve of her dress, clacking its pincers at the cloth. With a sound of mild disgust, Aster shook her arm, brushing the bug off. It took off, zipping past her face and flying upwards. Aster followed its flight with her eyes, and paused mid-step when she saw it join a cloud of other insects above the buildings.

She had no idea when, how, or where the staggering number of bugs had appeared from, but it made her skin crawl uncomfortably. It certainly explained why the streets were more deserted than usual, at any rate. Keeping her arms tucked closer to herself, as if that would somehow deter any more insects from landing on her, she hurried her pace slightly as she continued to walk.

90th/Summer/517

Aster hurried up the steps of Ionu's Mercy, which today were made of simple grey stone, and through the paint-chipped wooden doors, somewhat flustered. She'd learned very quickly that the healing house never sported the exact same appearance, and while she was becoming better at spotting the engraved symbol above the doors that marked it, the city had given her more trouble than usual today in finding it.

Wooden floors creaked beneath her feet as she rushed past the front desk, and promptly almost literally ran into Irene. She'd learned just as quickly that, like the hospital she ran, Irene also never seemed to take on the same appearance more than once. The defining trait that Aster was getting used to identifying her by was her seemingly eternal air and expression of calm. She had taken on the appearance of an older woman today, skin pale and wrinkled, with serene blue eyes.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Irene, I didn't see..."She trailed off as she noticed the somewhat uncharacteristic grim twist to the other woman's mouth. "Is everything alright?"

"It's good you're here, we've got more people coming in with bites."

Aster pursed her lips, concern etched into her fine features. Ever since the insect swarm that had descended upon the city the day before, they'd been getting patients coming in with bug bites, accompanied by varying degrees of signs of a budding illness. Nodding to Irene, she took note from the other woman of which rooms had patients that still needed to be seen, and took off down the hall.

(Word Count: 618; Total: 618)

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

by **Asterope** on September 6th, 2017, 12:21 am

91st/Summer/517

When Aster stepped out of the inn, earlier than usual, to head to Ionu's Mercy, she almost bypassed it altogether, largely due to the fact that it was right across the street. She stared for a moment. She had yet to have the city simply drop her destination in front of her face, and the fact that it seemed to be ushering her to the healing house caused worry to begin stirring in her chest.

She practically ran across the street, not even paying attention to what the building looked like today as she flew up the stairs and through the doors. The front desk was vacated. Breezing by, she stepped foot into chaos. Herbalists, doctors, and assistants alike bustled down the hall, popping in and out of rooms, doors left open all down the hallway.

It seemed that overnight, what had been a concerning amount of patients had swelled to an alarming amount as Ionu's Mercy was flooded with more and more people suffering insect bites; and from what Aster could gather from passing conversations, their symptoms were worsening rapidly.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Aster steeled herself as she dove into the madness. Sliding between bodies, she ducked into the nearest room that had the door closed. A young woman, perhaps still a teenager, lay in the bed. She coughed weakly, her eyes glazed and distant as she looked up upon Aster's entrance, but seemed not to see her.

Moving to her bedside, Aster cooed gently at the woman to try and get her attention, pressing a hand softly to her forehead. Alarm made her eyes wide, but she struggled for a moment to keep her expression under control; the woman's skin was almost burning to the touch, as if at any moment she might simply burst into flames.

Finally, the woman seemed to take notice of Asterope's presence. "Hello,"she croaked, through cracked lips. The effort of moving them caused blood to well up from the dry skin, which she then laboriously swiped away with a parched tongue.

"Hello there,"Aster swallowed, offering the girl a gentle smile. She smoothed back her sweat-soaked hair, moving to pour a glass of water from the pitcher on the bedside table.

"I need you to drink a little bit of this, alright?"She held the glass to the girl's lips carefully, watching her throat intently until she saw it move in a pitiful swallow, then two. Aster removed the glass as the woman suddenly began coughing, sounding for an awful moment as if she was going to throw up, before settling down, looking even paler than before. Her chin was flecked with blood, and Aster had no idea if it had come from her lungs or merely her lips. Grabbing a cloth, she wiped it away with a swift but tender motion.

The woman was staring dazedly at the ceiling, seemingly having already forgotten about Aster. Moving to the cabinet present in every room, she began to sort through the bottles. Fever, I need something for fever. Preferably not tea,she doubted she could get the poor girl to drink enough to have any potential effects actually do anything. But if she could get the fever down, then she might be able to work on whatever else was ailing the woman.

Finally, her fingers settled on a jar full of bon'mur leaves. She pulled it down off the shelf; but there was no way the woman was in any condition to be chewing on them.

(Word Count: 582; Total: 1,200)

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

by **Asterope** on September 8th, 2017, 6:27 pm

With a low, frustrated sound, Aster placed the jar of bon'mur leaves back on the shelf, perhaps setting it down a bit harder than was necessary. Pausing, she forced herself to breathe in deeply, then exhale. Getting frustrated wasn't going to help her patient.

Think, fever, she furrowed her brow. Something easy to take. Tinctures were the easiest to take; since they were so strong, they generally only required a spoon or two, sometimes even only a few drops.Willow bark. Her hands returned to the shelf, finding the correct bottle.

The fever was strong enough that Aster also went through the shelf until she found a bottle of elder flower tincture, a jar of the full petals sitting beside it. If this worked, she would make some elder flower tea for the girl to sip on to keep the fever reduced; but first, she had to get it to go down.

Grabbing a glass, she measured out a spoon of the willow bark tincture, adding a few drops of the elder flower. Swirling the contents with a flick of her wrist to mix them, she returned to the girl's bedside. She sat down, coaxing the young woman's attention back to her.

Debating the best way to go about it so that the girl would swallow the liquid without coughing or throwing it up, Aster settled on taking a small spoonful.

"I need you to open your mouth, gapee."Aster's free hand moved clumsily but automatically, a poor version of the hand movement for 'love' in grassland sign as she spoke it; it was one word of Pavi Aster knew she would never forget even if she never spoke the language again. Nara had used it to refer to her often, especially to calm her. She hoped it had the same effect now.

The girl blinked at her blearily, then slowly, almost painstakingly, did as she said and parted her lips. Holding her chin gently, Aster tipped the girl's head back a bit and slid the spoon into her mouth, tipping it to slide the tincture mixture down the back of her throat.

The girl swallowed automatically, then coughed for a moment, but otherwise seemed to take the liquid easily. Pleased, Aster let her rest a moment before repeating the motions with the last of the mix.

Setting the glass and spoon down, she fetched a cloth, wetting it in the basin in the corner and squeezing out the excess water before returning to wipe the girl's face and lay it across her forehead."Rest now."It was an unnecessary command; the girl had already closed her eyes again and was breathing shallowly, though if she was asleep or not Aster couldn't tell.

A few red bumps were visible on the girl's arm where she'd been bitten by the insects; Aster inspected them from a distance. One or two had scabbed, likely scratched open, but none were actively bleeding, so she left the girl as she was and exited the room. It's going to be a very long day,she thought, as she shut the door behind her and moved on to another room.

(Word Count: 520; Total: 1,720)

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

by **Asterope** on September 18th, 2017, 8:43 am

Aster scanned the hallway, locating another closed door, poking her head in. An older man, though not old enough to yet be going grey, lay in the bed. He raised his head when the door opened, fixing Aster with a cold stare. "About time,"he rasped, scowling.

"I'm sorry you had to wait so long, sir. We're a bit understaffed at the moment,"Aster explained, already feeling slightly frazzled. She rolled the sleeves of her dress up, smoothing down loose hairs in an attempt to calm herself. The man huffed, muttering something about excuses as Aster approached him.

"What's troubling you, exactly?"

"What do you think? The same petching thing that's troubling everybody else in this damned city as of now!"He swore, body trembling slightly with strain as he sat straighter before collapsing back against the pillow again.

Aster exhaled slowly through her nose; she knew Nara would never deal with such an attitude, no matter how badly injured a patient was, and she doubted Irene would either. But she was neither of them, and she felt some pity for the man, so she swallowed any irritation she felt.

"Can I see your bites, please?"The man begrudgingly tugged the blanket off of himself, pulling up his pant legs to reveal a total of five bites across his two lower legs. They were an angry red and raw from being scratched, oozing a mixture of thin blood and clear fluid.

Fetching the small flask of clear spirits used to disinfect wounds, she poured a generous amount onto a clean rag. The excess ran down her wrists and dripped onto the floor, filling the room with the sharp, antiseptic smell."This is going to sting,"she warned, before gently pressing the sopping cloth onto one of the bites.

The man jerked bodily, except for his legs, which only twitched weakly, the muscles spasming beneath Aster's hand. She frowned at the marked difference in physical reaction compared to the rest of him as she carefully wiped the bite clean before repeating the process with the rest."Sir, are you having trouble moving your legs?"

The heavy silence that filled the room supplied an answer."How long has this been going on? Just since the bites?"Concern filled her, though she pushed it down in an effort to remain calm on the outside; she had no idea whether or not this was a common symptom yet. The people she'd treated the day before had experienced some physical weakness and tingling, but not to this extent. She would have to find someone who knew.

"What do you think?"Came the sharp answer, finally enough to break even Aster's patience.

"I think,"she said, somewhat hotly, looking up from searching for a mortar and pestle,"that you should be a little bit more respectful and helpful seeing as I'm only trying to help you, which I can't do if I don't have the necessary information."Her voice hadn't raised at all, though her tone had become more intense. One would hardly consider it an outburst, but for Aster it was, and such moments were rare for her.

The man had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed, glancing away from Asterope. He didn't apologize, but after a moment, he responded to her original question in a gruff voice. "Yeah. Only since the bites."

"Thank you."Aster gentled her voice, moving to the medicine cabinet, searching through before plucking out a bottle of comfrey leaves, to stop the sparse bleeding of the bites and encourage them to heal, and a jar of jile salve to keep the wounds clean.

She shook a few of the comfrey leaves into the mortar, adding a splash of water before beginning to grind them with the pestle, eventually creating a somewhat lumpy, thick paste. She applied a thin layer of the jile salve to the bites before dividing the comfrey poultice among them, applying it on top of the salve. Once that was done, she bandaged the bites neatly.

"Try to keep from scratching them,"she advised the man, as she moved to the basin in the corner to wash the salve from her hands. He looked for a moment as if he was going to retort something, then seemed to think better of it and said nothing.

Returning to him, she placed a still-damp palm over his forehead."No fever, at least not yet. We'll have to keep an eye on that, it seems to be the most common symptom right now."It could also signal the beginnings of an infection, given that his bites had been freshly opened, but Aster didn't say that out loud.

(Word Count: 767; Total: 2,468)

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"

by **Asterope** on October 2nd, 2017, 5:10 am

Making sure the man was comfortable and that the water pitcher was close enough for him to reach, Aster readjusted the blanket over his legs, straightening it."I'll try to come by again at some point later, alright?"The man grunted, and Aster straightened up, smoothing a hand down over the skirt of her dress before turning to leave, pausing when the man suddenly spoke again."Thanks."She almost didn't catch it, so low was his voice, the word abrupt and curt. She glanced back at him, a gentle smile curving her mouth."You're welcome,"she responded, in a similar pitch, though her tone was much gentler than his.

A part of her felt bad for having gotten so irritated with him; she had never gotten sick, so she had no idea what it felt like, but she could imagine it was unpleasant. On top of not having been seen for some time and the fear that must have accompanied the loss of feeling in his legs, his snappish attitude was understandable. Still, she and the other doctors and herbalists were doing their best to help; such an attitude was only going to make things harder for everyone, so it was best to be upfront about his behaviour early on. Leaving the room, she continued on to a different room.

It was a hard day; she was trying to work as quickly and efficiently as possible so that she could see as many patients as she could while still giving the best treatment possible. Even Aster began to feel the work affecting her, her energy slowly draining as she moved from room to room.

One of the patients had a nasty bite on their stomach that had abscessed; using a sterilized scalpel, Aster nicked a tiny incision into the bump to drain it, apologizing as the woman whimpered. She was feverish as well, but more coherent than some of the other patients with high temperatures. Once that was done and she'd cleaned the incision, Aster placed two fingers gently over top of the cut she'd made, focusing intently on the still leaking abscess. She became acutely aware of the injury, and a tingling passed from her fingers into the woman's wound, the place where her skin was in contact with the patient's giving off an almost imperceptible glow for the briefest of moments.

Removing her fingers, Aster inspected the newly aged cut; the scab was thin, but there, and there seemed to be no sign of infection. Deciding to leave the abscess open to the air for the moment to let the scab thicken, Aster gave the woman a few bon'mur leaves to chew on for her fever, seeing as she was capable of it."Chew slowly, and only small bits at a time. Drink water in between and take breaks if you need to, coughing or throwing it up won't do you any good,"Aster instructed, pouring a glass of water and setting it down next to the woman.

Satisfied she would do as she was told, Aster swept out of the room. She made it through another two patients before deciding that she needed a moment of rest after she almost careened into a fellow herbalist on her way out of the room. Catching herself on the door frame, she apologized before more carefully making her way down the hall, back towards the entrance. There were a few windows scattered around the healing house that day, but they were all small, and nothing could really beat the feeling of direct sunlight on her skin.

Pushing through the main door, Aster wasn't surprised to find the buildings surrounding the Mercy different from that morning. She sat on the top step, leaning her head against the railing of the stairs and breathing in the afternoon air deeply. Her eyes fell shut, and she sat still and silent for a long moment, breathing deeply and focusing on the warmth of Syna's light washing over her skin, the golden rays of sunshine lighting up the inside of her eyelids to a vivid orange. Asterope wasn't sure how long she sat there for, but she could feel the stress and exhaustion melting away.

Slowly but surely, the light caressing her skin and soaking into her hair filled her with energy until she felt ready to return to her work. Blinking open her eyes, she straightened her back, stretching her arms above her head. She hesitated, glancing over her shoulder and back to the doors of the healing house before bringing her hands to her lap and clasping them, bowing her head.

Her hair fell around her face in a sheet of loose waves, filtering the light; with the last day of the season, it was now almost entirely a deep auburn, a faint rosy gold remaining only at the very tips, soon to disappear entirely. Tentatively, Aster reached out with her thoughts to the goddess of healing. Rak'keli, please grant the people of Alvadas your blessing. Let them recover and be healthy, and let me have the strength and knowledge to help them as best as I can. Thank you.

With replenished energy from her time spent relaxing under Syna and fresh hope and determination from her small prayer to Rak'keli, Aster rose from where she sat and turned to enter Ionu's Mercy once again. Despite autumn bringing with it not only shorter, darker days and cooler weather but also vicious illness, Asterope felt that the new season held good things in the future. She was in a new city, meeting new people, doing what she loved, and her eventual destination was closer in sight than it had been; things were looking up, and she hoped it would stay that way.

(Word Count: 958; Total: 3,426)

"Common" | "Nari" | "Pavi" | Thoughts
"Other People's Speech"