Flashback Training the New Girl (Veldrys)

[Nyela Carum]

23rd of Winter, 508 The Place of Purging Nyela walked on air as she entered the Place of Purging. What a whirlwind the last few bells had been, shadowing Svorador Hellebore, the Symenestra who ran the Purging. His breakneck pace was a welcome relief after days of sitting around, with her future completely up in the air, not knowing if she had enough of the right skills to work there or not. Viratas, help me. Where is he? Her amethyst eyes scanned the rooms around her, hunting Veldrys. He was supposed to show her around. Her time with Hellebore was cut short when he got called away for an emergency. He told her Veldrys had been working there for a while and would be the best one to give her the tour and go over duties with her. Being the only new assistant meant a lot of the weight would fall on her shoulders. She was the only one around to screw up. If Hellebore caught her standing around with her arms dangling at her sides on her first day, he would probably fire her. She was eager to make a good impression, but she was starting to think the only one who could make a good impression on Hellebore was himself. It didn’t help that she couldn’t find her escort anywhere. She really had no idea who he was. The day she had her interview, she vaguely remembered seeing him. Or at least that’s what Hellebore told her. She honestly didn’t remember. He had black hair…no. Maybe it was lighter—cobweby. Was he tall? Short? Petch if she could remember. Where was he? Part of her wondered if he’d actually sent her out to chase after herself so he could be rid of her. Could he blame her for being excited? So she may have blathered a lot of questions. How else was she supposed to learn anything? If he wanted her to stop nagging him, he would only had to say so. Nyela sighed. Communication problems with the boss already. Not the best way to get started. It was the first time she’d ever been allowed inside of the Purging anywhere but his office. She was anxious to see things for herself. Now she was afraid that she’d been a little too excited. She smoothed her fingers through the satiny material of her skirts. There was still time to fix things. All she needed to do was calm down and start acting like she belonged there. She looked around again. There were women everywhere, but no sign of Veldrys. Nyela locked eyes with a heavily pregnant Symenestra woman in one of the rooms and her heartbeat stuttered. She fought the urge to turn away—to look at the floor. They both knew what the outcome of her pregnancy was likely to be. The look on Nyela’s face probably gave away her thoughts, but there was nothing she could do to even ease her burden. She was only in training and she couldn’t even start that until she found Veldrys. OOC : If this date doesn't work for you, I'm happy to change it.

[Veldrys]

„It’s what she wants“, came a gentle voice from Nyela’s side. If she turned around, she would see Veldrys standing there. She hadn’t found him, but he had more or less found her, without knowing that she had been looking for him. He had just been on his way to his next patient and noticed the way she had been looking at the pregnant woman.

His hair wasn’t black as she had thought, but pure silver and fell to his shoulders. He was probably quite a bit taller than she remembered, and he was rather slender, almost thin. He was young as well, only nineteen, just a year or two older than her, but he carried himself like a man twice his age, as if he had already been working at the Purging for years.

“She’s an Esterian. She thinks giving her life for that of her child will be worth it. As far as she is concerned, her sacrifice will help ensure that our race lives on and remains strong. She thinks letting humans and Kelvic bear our children weakens us. If you want to pity somebody, pity those that didn’t have a choice and spend their last remaining months in a world that is foreign to them, surrounded by people whose language they don’t understand.”

He looked at her from out of amethyst eyes. “You are Nyela, aren’t you, the new midwife? I’m Veldrys. I think we briefly met when Hellebore hired you. I hope he hasn’t been too hard on you. Don’t tell him that I said that, but he can be rather difficult sometimes. I still remember when I began working at the Purging.”

He shuddered briefly.

[Nyela Carum]

Pity her? She wouldn't say she pitied her. Nyela admired her strength. She knew that steel will didn't run through her own core. When the time came, she believed she would choose a surrogate, so the words Veldrys used about them, could have easily applied to her own views. She whirled around, startled that he had found her and not the other way around. He stood there, patiently looking at her. The tone of his voice remained even, but she internalized the imagined accusation in it anyway. The statement he made could have applied to many. She wondered if he knew it applied to her. Her eyes climbed up his lanky body to his face. She took note that he'd filed his nails down. She loathed the idea, but was afraid it would be necessary. His hair turned out to be silver. She hadn't even been close in her assumption and even though his amethyst eyes were the same color as her own; he was a stranger staring down at her. There was no spark of recognition at all. It was a good thing he found her because she never would have found him. She nodded. “Yes, that’s right. I’m in training to be a midwife. I’m only an assistant at the moment.” Nyela didn’t feel comfortable bad-mouthing her employer on the first day, so she bit her real response to the comments Veldrys had made about Hellebore, off her tongue. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work here. I guess you could say like a good challenge.” There would be a lot for her to learn. She looked around her. “He told me you’d show me around and tell me about my duties.” Though he looked busy. It seemed like he didn’t know anything about it. “Do you mind giving me the tour?” She would be quickly lost if he said no.

[Veldrys]

„Ah, I see“, Veldrys murmurred as Nyela informed him that she was only an assistant at the moment. „How long have you been training?“ At her next comment he nodded. He was grateful to be working here as well. The Purging was Kalinor’s only real hospital, so there weren’t any alternatives if Hellebore rejected you – apart from the surface – and he had returned from there the year before. It had been hard for a Symenestra doctor among humans at the best of times.

„He did?“ He arched an eyebrow as he heard that he was supposed to show her around. He hadn’t had the impression that the old man was particularly fond of him, but apparently he did at least think him competent enough to mentor his newest employee. „I don’t mind at all. In fact I would love to help you.“ He smiled a little. „Since you are training to be a midwife, we should start with the pregnant women, I think. Most of our pregnant patients are surrogates – they are in different rooms - but there are some Esterians like her as well.“

He gestured towards the woman behind them. „I was just about to check on her. The baby isn’t due until the end of the season, but there are complications. She had contractions when she was brought here two days ago. We’ve managed to stop them for now, but the baby will probably still have to be delivered early.“

He gestured for her to come with him.

„How many births have you assisted with so far, Nyela?“ he wanted to know.

[Nyela Carum]

“Today is my first day as an assistant. I’ve been thinking about becoming a midwife for a long time, but it wasn’t until last year that I knew for sure it was what I wanted to do.” She hurried behind him, anxious to keep his pace. “I haven’t actually gotten the chance to attend a birth yet. Hopefully that will change soon.” The woman in the room with them looked so uncomfortable. They may have stopped the contractions but it was obvious that she was still in some kind of distress. Her skin was damp with sweat. There were dark hollows under her eyes and her clawed hand lingered on top of her swollen belly, rubbing slow circles around it. Despite the way she looked, there was a sense of calm in her. Once again, Nyela was overcome by the strength of the woman. There was pain on her face, but not panic. Her lips drew up into a weak smile as they got closer and her tired eyes trailed after the new assistant. “Do you know what started the contractions? What did they give her to stop them?” She had so many questions, but she felt awkward talking about the woman who was resting on the bed right in front of them. Obviously, the woman could hear everything they were saying and probably knew more about what was going on with her pregnancy than Veldrys did. The tender way her touch kept her her connected to the baby through everything that was happening was all the proof Nyela needed of that. In the two days the woman had been there, she'd soaked up everything there was to know about it. There was nothing she'd missed. Delivering her was the only way to put an end to the woman’s discomfort but it was also going to kill her. It was a hard thing to know. Nyela was glad Veldrys was with her and it was his decision to make. It was going to take her a long time to be able to get comfortable with the weight of those choices being in her hands.

[Veldrys]

„What made you realize that you want to become a midwife?“ Veldrys asked while he watched his patient. The woman wasn’t looking good. She was sweating, and she looked exhausted. He’d hoped that she would last until the middle of the season at least, but judging by the way she looked, they would have to deliver the child sooner rather than later.

As Nyela asked him what had started the contractions, the young doctor’s face darkened. „She had an accident and fell. The accident itself wasn’t too bad – nothing was broken – but she told us that her belly began to hurt afterwards. We’ve given her an infusion of wild yam root and a few other herbs, and in case something is wrong there is somebody with Rak’keli’s mark at the Purging.“

He lowered his voice a little.

„It’s still very early in the pregnancy, but sometimes, if you do everything right, children like hers survive nevertheless. She won’t though.“ This was one of the rare moments when Veldrys was in favour of the Harvest rather than supporting Esterians. If the woman had used a surrogate, at least none of their own people would die, and she could have tried to become a mother again. This way though both mother and child were at risk.

He walked over to the woman, examined her and briefly held her hand while he whispered a few encouraging words to her. She nodded and then she looked at Nyela and managed a weak smile.

„I think we should let her rest“, Veldrys suggested and gestured for Nyela to follow him. „Do you have any questions? Do you have any experience at all with humans and Kelvic?“

„As I said most of our pregnant patients are surrogates rather than Symenestra.“

[Nyela Carum]

“My mother used a surrogate to have another child with my father last year.” Her gaze went back to the woman’s face as her thoughts turned inward. “But it didn’t work out.” Her eyes lingered on the woman’s stomach before they glazed over. “There were complications. We lost the surrogate and my brother.” Her heart still ached over it. The pregnancy had been close to full-term, but not close enough. “I guess it made us all feel helpless because there was nothing any of us could do. I never want to be in that position again. I want to be able to help someone the next time." Knowing there was a healer at the Purging if something went wrong or got out of control, eased her mind a little. Like waking from a dream, she realized she was still standing by the woman’s bed while Veldrys was no longer there. “Well, my mother’s surrogate was human, but I didn’t see her often. Kelvic surrogates might as well be a mystery to me." She was slightly embarrassed at her lack of knowledge. Prior to her decision to become a midwife, she hadn’t spent an unusual amount of time thinking about the process. Now she wished she would have been more curious. The midwife in training did her best to make a mental note of everything Veldrys told her and hurried out of the room after him, leaving the woman to rest in peace.