[The Chapel] Feel It In My Bones [Veldrys]

[Vanos Strongarm]

72.S.511 An Isurian's body has been made to withstand many pitfalls in which one could assume that they take for granted; their strength and their almost invulnerable flesh made them appear that nothing could take them down. That when they were blessed by Izurdin they were practically gods that were made of the stone and hard rock of the earth at their feet. But Isurs weren’t completely invulnerable as, like every species that existed, they were also vulnerable to a simple cold – a cold that wasn’t discriminatory about race and made day-to-day living for them a pain in the ass. Vanos was one of these poor men that had nothing but a cold, possibly combined with a bad case of allergies. While he had never had an allergic reaction to anything before, his new setting and the new air that he was breathing could have set rubbed his lungs the wrong way and made them overreact to a certain pollen that was in the air from a plant that was native to the Denval area. But that didn’t matter to Vanos as his body was still strong and still able to move, so there was no “reason” in his mind for him to not do what he regularly did every day. It didn’t matter that his eyes were slightly more watery than usual, or that he had to breath from his mouth as his nose was stuffed up – he was still able to work. It would take something far more than the sniffles to make him consider laying in bed all day. Now the reason why Vanos was going to The Chapel in the late afternoon was not because he had a cold, or he wished to pray (as his own prayers to Izurdin didn’t have to take place in a chapel, in Vanos’ mind) but was because of the consequences of his senses being slightly duller than usual. When he was performing a routine that he knew like the back of his larger-than-normal left hand, Vanos managed to let slip an anvil that he was carrying back to storage on his right hand. While the regular one that Jerzy used was perfectly normal for any human to use, it was too tall for Vanos to use properly. The alternative of using a stool was something Vanos didn’t care of, as that limited his movement to standing on a wooden stool, that creaked under his feet, but was of necessity if he wanted to make anything. But now that he was near done for the day, Vanos was going to place it back where he found it so that when Jerzy got back it would be the same way as when he left it. The weight and force of the anvil on Vanos’ hand was heavy enough for it to cause discomfort as he felt his bones resist the damage, but the angle that his hand was under the hunk of metal was not so kind to the less damage resistant cartilage of his hand. When he brought the anvil back up and returned it to where it belonged, Vanos looked down to his hand and noticed that it looked … off. It wasn’t broken, the bones were solid as ever, but what held the bones together had succumbed to some form of damage. His fingers couldn’t make a full fist and he frowned as he examined the flesh of his hand, hoping that it would somehow translate the damage to the surface so Vanos could repair it. Without a guide or blueprints on how to fix his own body, Vanos washed the two hands in the basin and dried them on the front of his pants before heading out of the shop. Jerzy had mentioned how if he had ever needed to be healed or fixed up there was a very thin looking man near the chapel that would be able to help him. The way that Jerzy had explained what the man looked like to Vanos was odd, as if he was describing a mix of man and insect but Vanos merely brushed off the odd description as a misunderstanding of Common and the odd slang that they use to describe objects. He made his way into the perfectly trimmed garden and narrowed his eyes as he looked around for any form of life near the chapel. Someone would have to be around here in the middle of the afternoon, Vanos thought, as humans enjoyed their peace and serenity in very quiet places. A nice place to “nap” is what he was told once, and it took all of his self control not to scowl at that remark. “Nap,” Vanos grunted to himself and let out a little chuckle as he made his way along the path to the doors of the chapel.

[Veldrys]

If Vanos entered the Chapel, he would only find a single person inside. There was a man with shimmering silver hair, dressed in a robe, standing in front of the altar, praying, although the prayer was in a language that the Isur couldn’t understand. Veldrys had just sacrificed a few drops of blood to his god, but as he noticed that somebody had entered, he stopped abruptly, quickly bandaged the cut on his palm and turned around. Vanos could see that he was holding a small dagger in his right hand. Its tip was covered with blood. The Isur could also see that Jerzy’s description of Veldrys somebody that was a mix of man and insect hadn’t been entirely correct. His pale face with its deep violet eyes looked almost human, although his features were a bit too fine for a human male. The general shape of his body was human, although he was a bit too slender, and his hands that ended in black nails were a bit too long. Veldrys didn’t look like he was half insect, he just looked very different from most people in Denval. And so did the Isur. Veldrys hadn’t seen very many of his kind in the city yet, and thus Vanos‘ appearance in the Chapel made him instantly curious. Was he here to pray? He had never thought that Isur had any interest in Viratas or Aquiras. Most of them were followers of Izurdin. He decided to come closer – and noticed that there seemed to be something wrong with the man’s hand. „You are hurt“, he observed. The tone of his voice was calm and polite, but he spoke with a strong accent that betrayed that he was not a native speaker of Common. „How did that happen?“ He gestured towards Vanos‘ hand, and then he added, „I can help you if you are in need of a healer.“

[Vanos Strongarm]

"Hurt, yes. But not pain." Vanos narrowed his eyes at the choice of Common that he spoke with; the words didn't translate properly from the way that he said them in his mind. He had injured himself, yes, but he wasn't in any sort of pain. The Isurian may look as if he was injured due to the slight swelling of his hand, but it was not a hindrance. With a soft sigh he held up his right hand so that the thin man could get a better look at it, and Vanos' eyes went right for his finger tips. They were thin, black, and oddly sharp looking - though from the small details that he could physically observe about Veldrys he knew this man was far from human, despite his appearance. "Anvil fell on hand. Bones not broke. Something else." Vanos grumbled out the Isurian word for 'cartilage' but wasn't sure of a better way in Common to explain it than the-stuff-between-the-bones-that-keeps-them-together-and-moving-freely. Hopefully if this man was a healer he would be able to recognize that the swelling was not from a cracked or broken bone but from that sort of injury, without the Isur actually telling him that. "Jerzy said you good to help to heal." Vanos said with a shake of his head. "Not sure how to fix. Hand works fine." He said with a little stubbornness in his tone and changing his posture to reflect that false-positive attitude as he tried to curl his fingers into a fist. The big fingers managed move towards the palm but were struggling to make contact. "Perhaps more broken than I thought..."

[Veldrys]

„Not in pain?“ the Symenestra repeated, and then decided, „That’s good. If you are not in pain, the injury probably isn’t particularly severe.“ He noticed that the Isur’s accent was much stronger than his own. In fact the man seemed to be struggling to find the right words for what he wanted to say, and unfortunately Veldrys wasn’t familiar with the Isur’s language at all. Communucation would definitely be a problem in this case. „May I?“ he asked before he stepped closer to examine the man’s hand. He had little experience with Isur. He had heard that their skin was much denser. Were they also more resistant to pain? Did they feel pain in the same way a Symenestra did? He was just about to touch Vanos‘ hand when something he had said caught his attention. He stared at the Isur. Had he heard correctly? „An anvil fell on your hand? It’s a wonder it didn’t crush your hand then!“ He let his fingers run across Vanos‘ hand. „It’s swollen right here. And yes, it seems to be a little more broken than you thought.“ He tipped a claw against the Isur’s fingers. „Does it really not hurt when you try to move them? If an anvil fell on my hand, I would be in a fair amount of pain.“ „Don’t worry about not knowing how to fix it. I know. It’s not particularly complicated. I’ll just need to get my things, and if you do what I say, your hand will be as good as new after a while.“

[Vanos Strongarm]

Vanos shook his head as the man in front of him seemed more concerned with the amount of weight that crushed his hand than he was. Heavier things had fallen on his head or crushed parts of his body that made an anvil look like a paperweight. But he could suppose that some non-Isurian would find their tolerance to pain and their nearly-invulnerable bones to be odd and impossible. He held the hand out obediently while he wanted the Symenestra to feel the bones and see that they were, indeed, solid and not broken. It would be a different sensation to press soft and delicate-looking fingers into hard and unforgiving flesh, but once the fingers would press harder into the swollen area they would feel the swelling and also the bone that was as hard and stubborn as always. "Isurian bone not break. Very rare." He moved his fingers as the Symenestra's fingers danced over the wound. Vanos was almost tempted to reach out for his fingers to push them harder against the wound. While there was pain, it was something that he could tune out as it wasn't something overly hindering to his activity. Just annoyingly ... uncomfortable. Vanos moved his fingers without a flinch of pain. It was the curling of a fist that took some difficulty. "Your hand different. You different. You react to pain differently than me." Vanos' eyes looked over the thin form of the man in front of him. "You're not built for Isurian life. I'm not built for your life. Vhat vould crush you, vould be nothing for me. Vhat vould kill me, might be more of nuisance to you than anything." Vanos said with a smile as he twisted his arm so that the palm was facing upward, so the Symenestra's fingers could feel the wound from the other side of his big hand. "I vill listen," Vanos said with a nod of his head. "Useless to have hand with no function. Might go crazy staying away from forge vhile hand heals, but, small price to pay for hand fixed."

[Veldrys]

The Isur’s skin was remarkably hard. As Veldrys examined the hand, he couldn’t help but wonder if he would be able to replicate some of its properties with Morphing. His own bones broke easily. Sometimes all it took was somebody pushing him too hard. Magic was dangerous, and if he morphed too often, he’d risk looking like a horribly deformed freak, but it would still be useful. Sometimes being vulnerable just wasn’t an option, and the risk was worth it. „You are right“, he agreed. „It’s not really broken. There’s something else wrong with your hand. It might be some type of cartilage injury.“ He nodded as Vanos pointed out that he reacted to pain differently, but it still amazed him that an anvil could fall on the Isur’s hand, and he wasn’t screaming in pain, and his bones hadn’t been shattered into a thousand pieces. „I’ll just be gone for a moment“, he promised, and then he had already disappeared through the door. As he had said, he returned but a few chimes later, carrying his healer’s kit. „I’ll put something on your hand to reduce the swelling and wrap a bandage around it, and after that you have to keep it still for as long as possible.“ He touched Vanos‘ hand again, and then he shook his head. „I don’t think the injury is severe enough for you to need surgery. It’s unbelievable.“ He fell silent as he began to work on Vanos‘ hand. Veldrys‘ fingers moved quickly. He had never treated an Isur before, but he had found that, while Vanos‘ skin and his bones were thicker, but the basics were the same. His hand was the same shape as a Symenestra’s or a human’s, and his bones were in the same places. „Still, I would advise you to be a little careful from now on“, he remarked once he was done. „Don’t try to let an anvil fall on your hand again.“

[Vanos Strongarm]

Cartilage, among many other words in Common, was one that Vanos didn't understand. He had an assumption about what the word meant but in his mind he thought Veldrys assumed that there was something wrong with the bone. Vanos shook his head at the diagnosis as he almost pulled his hand back away from the thin fingers of the healer but, instead, he waited to see what sort of treatment would be given to the swollen hand. The Isurian had no idea what sort of "magic" that was being worked on his hand, the only thing that he could truly identify was the odd smells that were coming from whatever was being placed under the bandage. The thought of being idle was enough to quicken Vanos' heart. Getting him to remain still for his hand to heal was like asking him to pry the hard flesh away from his rib cage so one could stab him directly in the heart. A look of compounded concern (thanks to that dramatic ridge that made all the Isur's expressions seem more serious than they were) washed over his face as he looked to the bandages that were right around his hand, restricting the movement of his fingers. "How I remain still? No vork? Cannot vork vith just one hand," Vanos said, almost correcting the Symenestra's orders that he keep his hand still and implied that he keep his activity low. "Anvils and other heavy things fall on and against Isur all the time. Ve bounce back." His eyes and that look of dramatic concern went back to his hand as he wiggled his fingers about, but the way that Veldrys' bandages worked it made the fingers difficult to move... As if it was his intention to purposely prevent the Isur from doing anything with it. "Vhat I do instead of vork? No use in forge if no use both hands." Vanos looked around him and the man in front of him for a moment before settling his eyes back up at Veldrys. "Gardening take two hands?"

[Veldrys]

Veldrys furrowed his brow as he noticed the look of concern on the Isur’s face. He didn’t know why Vanos looked like that. Was he in pain? Had Vanos misunderstood something he had said? Had he understood what he had said at all? Maybe he should have spoken more slowly and used simpler words. He had known that the Isur’s grasp of the Common language wasn’t perfect! „There is no reason to worry“, he remarked. „The injury isn’t that severe, and the bandage will come off soon enough. Just do what I said, and it will be as if nothing ever happened.“ „Surely there are some things that you can do with one hand“, he disagreed. He realized that that was probably why the Isur had looked so worried before. He was not in pain. He was worried that he wouldn’t be able to do his job with one hand anymore. „Can’t you hire help for the time it takes for your hand to heal?“ he asked. „There are probably quite a few eager young men and women in this city that would love to help an Isurian blacksmith.“ As Vanos informed him that heavy things fell on Isur all the time and the Isur bounced back, he made a face. „Maybe“, he remarked. „Maybe you simply bounce back, but having things fall on your still can’t be good. Try to avoid it please. As for what you can do instead of work, invite somebody into the forge and instruct them. Make plans for the things you’ll build once your hand is healed. You can do a bit of gardening as well, if you want. It’s light work. You wouldn’t have to use your wounded hand a lot. Is gardening something that interests you?“ He found the Isur’s question about gardening a bit strange. Vanos didn’t look like somebody that enjoyed digging around in the dirt.

[Vanos Strongarm]

Vanos didn't acknowledge the instructions that Veldrys gave him, instead he continued to scowl as he looked to the bandage around his hand. He supposed that he'd be able to somehow survive a light duty day by the forge but it would be difficult. And weird. Vanos had seen other Isur in far worse physical conditions than what he was in at the moment and that little bit of information made him scowl even more at the thought of having to baby his hand like a human, if they had just broken a bone. "Cannot hire help. I am the help." Vanos corrected Veldrys as he looked over and up to the Symenestra with a quirked brow, just for a moment. He took his attention away from his hand as there wasn't much else that he could do with it at the moment and glaring at it wouldn't make the ligaments heal any faster. The thought of sitting around and planning what he would build while he was injured was an option that he never considered before. He would still be able to think as the injury didn't impair his mind, so there was that that he could do. Plan projects that he could do with Jerzy, maybe something that would require the use of a Gnosis on his arm that seemed to be more for show at the moment than actually used. But what about the problem of gardening? Vanos didn't know a thing about gardening or plants or anything of that kind. But the way he phrased the question in Common made anyone that spoke it more fluently than himself get the impression that he was interested in that "soft" hobby. He feigned a smile on his hard face as he gave a single, curt nod of his head. "Gardening, yes. Farmer Isur, I am not from. Don't know anything about gardening or plants or vhat edible, vhat not. That something you could teach? Or better read in book?" Vanos repressed the laugh and gave a beaming closed-lip grin at the thought of sitting by the fire and reading a book about gardening. That was about as likely to happen for Vanos as much as the pieces of the world moving back to where they were prior to the Valterrian.

[Veldrys]

„You are the help?“ Veldrys asked and furrowed his brow. He didn’t quite understand what Vanos meant. Did he not want to have strangers in his forge? Was he worried that they’d steal from him or damage his tools? Or ...? „So you don’t actually own the place where you work, but are just employed there. Is that what you were trying to tell me?“ he asked slowly, wishing that he could speak the Isur’s language. It was frustrating to try and communicate with a man that barely seemed to be able to form complete sentences in Common. „Your hand won’t heal faster if you try to stare the bandage down“, he remarked, somewhat dryly, as he noticed how the Isur looked at it. „I know that it’s uncomfortable, but it won’t be forever.“ He went through the list of herbs he knew in his mind. Was there anything that could make Vanos‘ hand heal faster? No, unfortunately he didn’t know any such herb. He let out a sigh and then he turned to listen to what the Isur had to say on the matter of gardening. „I understand“, he remarked. „You are not a farmer. Neither am I, although I sometimes work in the garden. I can’t teach you anything about vegetables or fruit, but I’m a herbalist. I could teach you which herbs are poisonous and which not and which have healing properties if you’d like. I probably also have a book or two somewhere.“ He wondered if Vanos could read Common. Could he understand a book that had been written in Common when his spoken Common was so bad?