Some Scars Take Longer to Heal (Veldrys)

by **Alea Davenport** on April 30th, 2013, 12:10 am

Time: a couple bells after dark, on the 25th of Spring, 513 (immediately following these events)

When Alea first slipped back into consciousness, it was to the unfamiliar sensation of galloping without falling off of the glowing horse underneath her. Her first memory was of the dead foal, and her first instinct was to wonder why she wasn't guarding its body. She only realized there was someone else on the horse with her when her panicked arm-flailing to gain control of her horse was quickly repressed by the strong arms of Jakobi, the man she worked for.

The blood-loss from the deep gashes in her thighs might have been affecting her lucidity, but she still had enough adrenaline to sound determined when she told him to turn around. When he didn't answer, she struggled to look up into his stony face. "We have to get him back. We can't let that thing have him." Speaking the words made it more real, and she choked up as she forced more words out. "I have to recover the body...give him a proper funeral..." A wave of dizziness threatened to drag her back into unconsciousness, but she held on to demand desperately, "What are the funeral rites for a horse?"

There was a hard edge to Jakobi's voice when he answered. "There are none. That foal's spirit has departed; recovering the body is meaningless. Now it is merely meat and bones for Caiyha's creatures to feast on."

A sob caught in Alea's throat at his answer. Sloppy tears began falling down her face as she tried to explain. "I thought I could find him in time! I didn't know...I didn't think it would be this dangerous. I'm sorry!" she wailed. Then she returned to the desperation and anger she'd felt earlier. It didn't exactly make her feel...better, but it hurt slightly less than the helplessness. "I'll find that Zith. I'll find it and make it pay."

"No," Jakobi said with a harshness that surprised Alea into silence. "The Zith did nothing wrong. They do not hunt in the Spires, and in return they are not hunted. You let the young Gilding escape into their domain. Because of you a Gilding is dead!"

Alea had nothing to say to that. On some level, she had known that it was her fault. But she'd always assumed she could fix it, that even if she did something wrong, there was a way to set it right. But from the moment she saw that creature descend on the foal, she knew her mistake had cost more than she could ever pay. And so she had reacted the only way she knew how, with violence. But violence hadn't helped. Nothing would ever help...

~*~*~

Alea had drifted off without noticing, and the next time she woke up, she was in an unfamiliar bed. By the light of the firefly lantern she could tell there was someone else in the room, but she could not make out who it was before the pain of her injuries overcame her. A strained noise of discomfort escaped her throat as she tried to sit up and determine where she was.

by **Veldrys** on May 3rd, 2013, 5:03 am

As Alea tried to sit up, she could feel a hand on her shoulder. It was a soft hand, and the touch was gentle, but something about it was dififerent, wrong, nevertheless. She wouldn’t be able to tell what exactly it was though. The hand just didn’t feel quite like a human hand.

A moment later she could hear a man’s voice. It was pleasant, soothing, with just the hint of an unfamiliar accent. „Please don’t overexert yourself. Lie down again. You are hurt. You are in Nature’s Nurture. I’m Veldrys, one of the doctors. I’m going to take care of you. Who did this to you? Zith?“

She could see the doctor’s face in front of her now. He was young, only in his early twenties, with deathly pale skin and luminous violet eyes. His hair was silver and tied back so that it wouldn’t get in his way when he treated his patients. He was thin, much thinner than would be healthy for a human, but of course he wasn’t human. He was a Symenestra, with limbs that were slightly too long and slender fingers that ended in black nails.

His clothes were just as foreign as his appearance. He was dressed in a shirt and pants of white silk. Such clothes would be considered luxurious in most of Mizahar, but where he came from everybody dressed in silk, from the poorest to the richest and the leaders of Kalinor.

As he waited for her answer, he arranged the things that he would need to treat her wounds on a small table next to the bed, bandages, a fine needle, thread, salves and alcohol to clean the wounds and hopefully prevent an infection.

by **Alea Davenport** on June 8th, 2013, 5:49 pm

Alea was not exactly comforted by waking up to an unfamiliar voice, and she thrashed against the restraining hand until a painful twinge from her injuries made her rethink her mobility. As she settled back against the bed, what he said began to register. He was a doctor? Was she hurt so badly? She tried to focus her eyes on his face, and to bring her mind out of the fog enough to remember what had happened.

"Zith?" she repeated, uncomprehending for a moment. The leathery wings, deadly claws and teeth, yes, that was called a Zith. She nodded and said, "Yeah." Her voice was scratchy, and it took a moment to occur to her that she was thirsty. She did not elaborate on that point. She was starting to recall the things Jakobi had said, and it was making her feel a little sick inside, mostly because she couldn't honestly see a way to interpret what had happened without it being her fault.

Luckily, there was someone here to distract herself from such uncomfortable thoughts. She was immediately struck by his death-like pallor, and couldn't help from blurting, "You don't look healthy enough to be a doctor." She was also convinced her eyes were playing tricks on her. From the sound of his voice, she had thought he'd be not much older than her, but he was clearly entering his twilight years. His hair had already gone completely grey.

by **Veldrys** on July 20th, 2013, 6:26 pm

„Calm down“, Veldrys gently spoke as she started to trash. “Nobody’s going to hurt you. Everything will be fine. Whoever did this to you is gone. I’m here to help.” He noticed how rough her voice was. Was she thirsty? Food and drink would have to wait until he had taken care of her wounds. If they weren’t treated properly, they would get infected, and then she might die, even if the wounds themselves were not life threatening.

“I get that a lot.” A sigh escaped his lips as she told him that he didn’t look healthy enough to be a doctor. There had been a time when he would have used magic to blend in, to make himself look as if he had human blood, but he didn’t trust those abilities anymore. Magic could be addictive, it could destroy you, besides, no matter which mask he wore, inside he would always be Veldrys of the Vervein Web, a Symenestra of Kalinor. He couldn’t escape his fate.

“This is how I always look. I’m not human.” He paused, opened the bottle of alcohol and poured some of it onto a clean piece of cloth. “This is going to sting a little now”, he told her. “I have to clean the wounds and the area surrounding them. There is a little bit of dirt in them. I’ll try to be gentle, but if it hurts, please try to hold still nevertheless.”

With that he moved to her legs and started cleaning the wounds. The procedure was by no means pleasant, but it was bearable for the most part.

by **Alea Davenport** on July 24th, 2013, 10:36 pm

"If you're not human, then what are you?" Alea asked the obvious question in an unintentionally accusatory tone. Under other circumstances, she would have been delighted to meet a new race. Sadly, recent events had put a damper on any enthusiasm she might have had, replacing it with bitter cynicism. It did not help that most of her body ached.

Nor did it help that the alleged "doctor" seemed intent on causing her more pain. She flinched wildly when she first felt the sting of the alcohol. At his request, she tried to hold still, but that was easier said than done. The pain was of the sort that, for a split second it felt like it wasn't going to be too bad. And then, all at once, she couldn't imagine how anyone could tolerate this. As a result, she voiced her displeasure, loudly.

Alea soon tired of throwing curse after curse at Veldrys, and finally had to just grit her teeth against the stinging pain. When it was over, it took a few chimes for the sting to die down enough that she could think. When that happened, she realized she almost preferred the pain. Thinking only brought confusing and disturbing questions. Rather than let them consume her, she decided to inflict one of them upon the doctor.

"Hey. What do you do when...when someone in your care...doesn't make it?" She had to swallow a few times to keep her voice from catching. She wasn't sure why it was so important that he not find out how relevant this question was to her, but the thought of admitting the events that led to her injuries filled her with such a black dread that she couldn't stand it.

by **Alea Davenport** on September 12th, 2013, 9:54 pm

OOC :

Epilogue:

Veldrys finished patching Alea up without answering any of her questions. Dismayed and guilt-ridden, she felt the overwhelming urge to run away. She remembered an old, half-forgotten plan to get her friend Banir to a mysterious and far-away place called "Mura," so in the following days, she found a boat with that destination, and arranged passage for herself and Banir. That way, she could get out of the Spires and away from all her painful memories, without it being obvious why she was leaving.

She left all her pets behind in the Spires, knowing they would probably be safer there.

by **Lullaby** on November 2nd, 2013, 6:01 am

Alea Davenport :

Veldrys :

A quiet song to soothe the heart

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

Closed Some Scars Take Longer to Heal (Veldrys)