Just a Flesh Wound (Kechaiya)

by **Saede Lare** on October 4th, 2014, 2:10 pm

Summer 4th 514 AV

Saede retreated out of the alleyway. She was in the Sunset quarters, where her former gang had been located. She had just attempted to save a victim of her first kill mission, but ended up killing her two partners and failed to save the victim. Talk about a mission failed. Now she hoped to get away before anyone had noticed what she had done. She navigated the area with a decent speed, looking for the healing woman she'd heard about some time ago. During her fight, she had acquired a wound about her waist area. She didn't know much about injuries, but she could tell that it would likely need attention. The buildings around her were all short, one story buildings with no main path between them. Some people noticed she was in a hurry, but having the reputation of being in a gang, nobody tried to stop her. Even if she was one of the lowest ranks. Why hadn't they chosen a more familiar area to try and kill him in? Sure, it was still their territory, but she rarely came around here. Finally, after looking around for about forty minutes she decided that asking somebody would be worth the risk. She spotted a woman walking by herself a few feet away, and shouted to her.
"Hey! You! I'm going to find the healer here. Tell me where she is and I won't give you any trouble."
The woman turned around, startled. Saede never liked using intimidation, but she needed answers fast. The gang would find out and hunt her down soon enough. She attempted to puff out her chest to seem more intimidating, and put one hand on the spear on her back.
"D-do you mean Kechaiya? S-she's got a place over.. Over there, yeah!"
The woman pointed up the road, and Saede gave her a glare. This was a terrible lie, and she could see right through it.
"Tell me where it is and I won't put this spear through you." She half-yelled.
Not many people were on the street at the time, and she really needed to get going. The woman gave her seemingly proper directions this time, and Saede head off where she had indicated. The wound bled a bit more after that, and she hastened her pace.

She approached the location the woman had indicated, and knocked on the door. She'd never intimidated anybody before. Her orders were always to keep quiet and stab if they ran. She felt kind of powerful, but guilty nonetheless. What she did was wrong, and she couldn't go back and fix that. She never actually intended to spear the woman, but desperate times call for desperate measures. She had no doubt that the gang would be after her soon enough.
She had to heal up and maybe take a boat somewhere. The way Darson had described Syliras made it sound fantastic. Maybe she could go there. About an hour had passed since she had failed her mission, and she was getting nervous. She turned her attention back to the door, waiting for a response, her eyes turning a light blue as she realized she had no idea who this healer was. He or she could rat her out to her gang if they wanted. Or knew. She'd best keep this private for now.

OOCIf you don't mind describing the place you're located, that'd be appreciated. Also, I finally made the thread! It may be obvious that Saede knows nothing about wounds as she is jogging around and therefore making it bleed more.

by **Kechaiya** on October 4th, 2014, 7:52 pm

Kechaiya was spending her evening practicing making a tincture that she had sold to a neighbor that was having digestion issues, and now she needed to restock. She had all the ingredients she figured she'd need laid out in front of her. There were dried peppermint leaves, a root of ginger, some fennel seeds, a pot of water in her hearth waiting to boil, an empty glass jar, and a small jar of grain alcohol she purchased from a man earlier. She grabbed a cutting knife from her herbalism kit, and cut the ginger root in half. She then sliced the two halves, and continued onward, dicing the ginger into small chunks. Grabbing the empty jar, she placed the mint leaves, fennel seeds, and chunks of ginger within it. Moving over to her hearth, she saw that the water was now boiling. Sticking her hand in her glove, she removed the pot from the fire. Bringing it back to her table, pouring the water in over the plant part until they were just covered. She then poured in the grain alcohol into the jar, sealed it, and placed it on a shelf with the rest of her concoctions in the corner to cool and stew for several weeks.

She moved back to her table to begin cleaning up, when there was a knock at the door. Kechaiya instantly froze. No one ever knocked on her door, she never had visitors. The only people to come into her home were those she had brought for treatment, and they never came back. Quietly, she put the pot of water back on the hearth, and grabbed her dagger. Making her way over to the door, she stood back to the wall, unlatched it, keeping the dagger out of sight, and cracked the door open. She saw a woman she did not recognize, not able to see the wound through the opening. In her broken Common, "What you want? How find me?" She was prepared to stab the woman in the gut if she tried to force her way in. This was her apartment, her sanctuary, and she would defend it. It didn't have much, a hearth, table, bed, chair, and chest, but it was all hers. And she would be damned if anyone took any of it from her.

by **Saede Lare** on October 4th, 2014, 8:26 pm

Saede shifted nervously at the door until it opened a crack, and a small woman peered through, saying,
"What you want? How find me?" in a none too friendly tone.
"Easy now, I'm just looking for a bit of treatment. I'm not going to hurt you. I uh, got a slash on my waist and I was thinking it may need some help."
The woman's improper phrases surprised her, and she hoped that she would get the message across. For now, it seemed that healing her was the opposite of that she intended to do. She put her hands up in the air as a gesture of peace, showing that there was noting she was hiding in them. The woman didn't seem to have a very big place, but then again. Nobody did.
"As for how I found you, a woman on the street told me that you were a healer. A good one." She added.
What if the woman gave her the wrong address again? No, that kind of stuff doesn't happen to me. It can't. She could have very well have just knocked on a horse breeder's home. Or anyone's really. This person was either very cautious, (A good trait to have in Sunberth) or never gets visitors. Maybe both. Saede tried to inspect the woman through the crack. She had black eyes, first of all. And wasn't quite as tall as herself, she was still a medium height though. She also noticed her wavy brown hair, but couldn't see much more of her than that. She backed a step away from the door and waited for a second in one more attempt to show the woman she was peaceful, just in case she didn't understand her. Being stabbed by her would-be healer would not be the most exciting end to her life.

by **Kechaiya** on October 5th, 2014, 2:03 am

The woman hadn't shoved her way in to attack her, so Kechaiya relaxed a bit, lowering the dagger. She was a bit surprised that she had developed a reputation, but she treated a lot of her neighbors in some fashion or other. And she hadn't specifically told them not to talk about her. And the woman did appear to be desperate. And desperate people always paid. She opened the door, following it, gesturing the woman inward with her dagger. "In, in, hurry. I fix you, you pay. Understand?"

She didn't wait for a response, her insistence more than evident, before she shut the door and latched it. "Show me wound. I examine, tell you cost, you pay, I fix. Understand?" Kechaiya gestured to her only chair for the woman to sit in. "Tell me how got wound. What type weapon?" Kechaiya went to her medical kit grabbed several bandages, and dropped them into the pot in the hearth, just as it had begun boiling. She grabbed another jar of grain alcohol, and splashed some on her hands, rubbing them together until the alcohol dried. She returned to the table to ready to begin her exam, hoping the woman would be an easy patient.

by **Saede Lare** on October 5th, 2014, 2:33 am

Due to a sudden turn of events, Saede was ushered inside of the woman's home, and sat down onto an examination table. Or operation table. Or torture table. No, there wan't enough blood here to be a torture table. In fact, the room was very neat and well taken care of. Still, she didn't quite know this woman and she could very well exploit her injury to get more money. She woman shut the door and latched it, which made her worry a bit. When the healer raised some more casual discussion, she was able to relax a bit more. But then again, she had raised some casual discussion with her target as well. Saede raised the bloodied part of her shirt, which was already dyed red through other means than blood.

She revealed a medium-depth cut on the upper left side of her waist, Just about her leg joint.
"A sword wound. Got in a tumble with a gang. Didn't end well for them." She grinned up at the healer despite her instincts yelling at her not to. This wasn't something to be proud of. She watched the smaller woman prepare some medicine, or so she assumed. She splashed some liquid on her hands, and rubbed them together. She has little to no idea what it was, until she smelled it. Alcohol? What would alcohol do for her? She assumed the healer knew what she was doing, and leaned back. Hold on. She tensed up,
"Wait. How much are you charging?"
She could easily injure her here and then make her pay an absurd amount of money lest she suffered for at least a few days. If not until the end of her life. That was the last thing she needed in this situation, and she looked up at her for a response, praying it was realistic.

by **Kechaiya** on October 5th, 2014, 5:13 pm

Kechaiya knew her Common was weak, but this woman clearly had not heard the order of things. A sword wound wouldn't be too bad so long as it didn't hit the internal organs. She didn't care about the rest of the details the woman provided, though it seemed her patient took great pride in it. Pride got people killed, nearly proven here. "I examine first, no mizas. Tell you cost, you pay. Understand?" She had to repeat her instructions for it seemed the woman missed the gist, and this time it was dripping with sarcasm.

Ignoring the woman's command to wait, "This hurt. No move." She brought her eyes down to the wound, pressing her fingers gently around it. She then moved her finger of her right hand into the wound, knowing the touch would be seemingly excruciating. The benefit of a wound like this, from a sword, while deep, was fairly clean. It looked like a jab that was nearly dodged, and not a chop. A chop to the side would have sunk much deeper. She could see where the skin gave way to a small layer of fat to a layer of muscle. Getting her fingers deeper into the wound, she was able to feel that the wound hadn't cut all the way through the muscle, courtesy of the tough tissue that resisted her probing fingers. That was a good sign.

She removed her fingers, her exam done. Standing up and looking at the woman, "No vital organs injured, muscle protect. I clean, sew, patch. Three golds. Place on table or leave now. No pay, will die, lose blood, get infected. Understand?" Kechaiya assumed the woman would pay, an continued her preparations. She returned to her alcohol, splashing her hands again, cleaning the blood from them. She pulled out her sewing kit, a small jar of local honey, a small vial of aloe vera oil, a tiny vial of primrose oil, and a small pouch of coneflower petals. The honey and aloa vera would promote healing, primrose to reduce inflammation, and coneflower to prevent infection. She took the pouch of petals, dumping them into her boiling pot. The rest of the ingredients were scooped into a small bowl, and stirred vigorously until mixed thoroughly. She set the bowl down, placed her jar of alcohol next to it, and the sewing kit next to that. "Ready, want heal or no?"

by **Saede Lare** on October 5th, 2014, 9:19 pm

"I examine first, no mizas. Tell you cost, you pay. Understand?"
She repeated sarcastically. Saede recalled that she already mentioned that, but at the time she didn't quite get what she meant. She gritted her teeth as the woman continued after clearly insulting her. It appears that a language barrier won't stop somebody from being rude. The woman gently poked around the wound, and then jabbed her fingers in. "Gya!" she cried as pain shot through her. The pain here almost seemed worse than the wound itself, and she reluctantly allowed her to continue. Maybe it could have healed on it's own, I could be gone by now.

"No vital organs injured, muscle protect. I clean, sew, patch. Three golds. Place on table or leave now. No pay, will die, lose blood, get infected. Understand?"
The woman roughly described her status, and mentioned that she'd only have to pay three gold. A good price. She thought to herself. But I'm not going to die from it. That part was quite a stretch, even she knew that the wound wasn't deadly. She continued to gather things up, without waiting for a response. Of course she'd pay it. Saede fished through her pack and took out the three gold, placing it on the table beside her. She put the liquid on her hands again, and Saede recognized that it must be to clean them. Well, that's actually pretty smart then. The woman turned around again with some materials in her hands.
"Ready, want heal or no?"
Saede debated whether or not she should say, 'Yes, very want heal.' or not. After her sarcasm, it would be satisfying to insult her back. She decided not to. She didn't want to piss off her healer and have her ruin her recovery on purpose.
"Yes. I would like it healed." She said carefully.

by **Kechaiya** on October 8th, 2014, 2:21 am

Kechaiya nodded, indicating she understood that the deal had been accepted. "This burn. Hold Still. Try not pass out." Kechaiya pressed a hand against the woman, pushing her back just a bit, so the wound could be angled upwards instead of to the side. She then grabbed her jar of alcohol, and with steady hand poured a small stream of it into the wound, watching it mix with the blood. She knew it would burn, as if she were stuck with a red hot fire iron. But it would be short lived pain. She took a bandage, and began dabbing at the alcohol-blood mixture that overflowed out, soaking it up. When satisfied, she stuck a finger into her herbal mixture, pulling out a large dollop. She then gently, pressed the finger into the wound, doing her best to keep the salve inside the wound and not spilling out. After the pain from the alcohol, this would be nothing by comparison. She made sure to spread out well, trying to coat the entire interior.

She pulled her finger out, cleaning it on a bandage, and lowered her face down next to the wound. She watched and waited. The salve held a lot of the bleeding at bay. Her hands then moved over to her sewing kit, pulling out a large needle and a spool of thread. She threaded the needle carefully, after a few failed attempts. "Hold very still." She didn't have the curved needle that made this easier, but she would make due. She stuck the needle through the skin at the lowest part of the wound, pushing it through firmly. She pushed it across the tiny chasm of the wound, piercing the skin on the other side. She then pulled the string through, and repeated the process, slightly above the last site. As she continued, the skin began pulling and stretching itself to close the gap. She made sure not to seal it entirely, so the body could push out any toxins or waste it needed to while it healed. Finishing the last stitch, she bit the string short and tied them off close to the skin.

She took some more of the alcohol and splashed it on the wounded area. She then pulled the bandages that had been boiling from the pot out with a spoon, now able to smell the coneflower essence in them. She let them cool and air out, then squeezed them dry. She folded it into a neat little bundle, and placed it against the stitched wound. "Hold this," she commanded. She grabbed another clean bandage, and placed an end of it above the wound as a base, holding it with one hand. She then began wrapping it around the woman's stomach, walking around the table to do so. When covered and secured, she tucked the end in on itself. She then left her patient, and grabbed a sack from her pack, and after drying and straining the remaining bandages, folded them and placed them inside. "Change bandages once day. See no blood or yellow coming out, need no bandages. If lots of yellow, and area pain not go away, come back, mean infection. Will fix for free. Questions?"

by **Saede Lare** on October 8th, 2014, 2:47 am

Saede sat gaping at the process she had just undergone. The words "Try not pass out" still lingering in her mind. And were they ever true. Saede had never felt something so painful. No sword slash, stepped-on nail or even fire could compare to the amount of pain she had felt in such a short amount of time. But it was gone now, right? Maybe she stole the pain from the future and suffered it all at one time instead. No, that would be silly. Kechaiya had done spectacularly. When she looked down at where the wound was, there was only a bandaged area with stitches underneath. No more pain or bleeding. That was good. Now she had to change the bandage every day until blood or 'yellow' stopped seeping out. It was simple enough, and Saede was glad to have had it fixed. She smiled at the healer, and reached into her pocket to find her an extra gold coin. A tip, because even though she was skeptical at the start, she did the job quickly and skillfully. Passing her the extra gold coin, she said,
"No questions, you did a very good job. Keep the extra money, as a reward for being such an excellent healer."
She made to get up, but slowly to make sure the wound wouldn't re-open. When it didn't, she started to move a bit more quickly and gathered her things. About to step away, she turned back and grabbed the bandages that Kechaiya had supplied her with, putting them in her backpack.
"Thank you ma'am. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."
Approaching the door, she turned around to make sure that she hadn't forgotten anything, or if there was something Kechaiya wanted to say to her.

OOCI payed Kechaiya a total of 4 GM during this thread. Sorry that my posts were so short, there wasn't much for my character to do besides allowing you to heal me.

by **Kechaiya** on October 8th, 2014, 4:45 pm

Kechaiya smiled lightly as the woman gave her another gold miza as thanks for a job well done. The woman thanked her with words, and Kechaiya nodded in response. As she turned to leave, Kechaiya spoke once more, "If ever need heal again, can find me here. Show miza at door so I no stab you on accident." Always the business woman, hoping to get a repeat customer. She had a lot of cleaning up to do now, and needed to get around to it so she could sleep. But she had one final thing for the woman, "Try not get stab so much. Death bad for business."

With that, she turned toward her now bloody table. She moved all of her tools from the table, made a pile of bloody rags on the floor, and grabbed the pot of water from the hearth. She then poured it on the blood on the table, before grabbing a clean rag and scrubbing as hard as she could. She would prefer to not have stains in her table, but it happened from time to time. For now, Kechaiya just enjoyed the smell of the coneflower coming from the water. Table scrubbed clean, she returned the pot to the fire, and refilled the pot from her waterskin. When the water was boiling, she dropped in some odesea as well as the bloodied bandages and rags. She would leave it overnight, and tomorrow morning, they would be clean and white.

She dunked a clean rag in the water, and with it, began to clean her bowls, needle, and other tools. Satisfied with her efforts, she packed away her gear, reminding herself to restock everything that had been used, or given away, tomorrow. For now, she undressed, slipped into her bed, quickly drifting into a deep sleep.

Flashback Just a Flesh Wound (Kechaiya)