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[Elin]

89th Summer, 517
"Common" | "Kontinese" | "Tukant"

It was around noon, and Elin was quickly making her way through Alvadas hoping that the Ionu's Mercy would make itself known to her soon.

All day Rion hadn't been himself, having developed some sort of fever earlier on in the day. Now that had progressed to the infant vomiting, and Elin's dress was stained with spots of bile from his last vomiting fit.

It was then that she decided that she should take him to the Ionu's Mercy and get him checked over, to make sure it wasn't too serious.

She'd asked a neighbour, who had told her how to find the Ionu's Mercy, in the inn to watch Ilia while she went out, then as she had picked up Rion to leave, the little boy had struggled and cried and flung his arms out.
His wrist had caught on a loose splinter of wood in his crib, and he'd began to bleed from a cut in his delicate skin.

Now he was still bleeding and Elin hadn't managed to get the bleeding to stop.
Rion was quiet now, and Elin noticed a rash on his arms, and she quickly whispered a quiet prayer.
"Rak'keli... I haven't prayed to you before, and I've never given you offerings... But please help my son. Please help Rion get through this illness and I will devote my life to helping others. I'll learn medicine, I'll learn and do whatever it takes to repay that debt, just help him through this and bring him back to me" she said quietly and oddly calmly as she turned a corner and saw the Ionu's Mercy. The grey building with no windows and only one door.

As soon as she saw it, she quickly he pace even more, changing to a jog as she tried to get there as quick as possible, and as she entered the building she felt a sense of dread. There were a lot of people. A lot of ill people with the same symptoms that Rion had and Elin felt her heart sink.
It was something serious, and she had no idea how she could do anything.

Feeling tears welling up in her eyes, Elin looked around a saw someone that looked like a member of staff and she approached them quickly, showing them Rion, the tears in her eyes beginning to roll down her face as she tried to tell them what was going on.
"He's sick. Please, I can't stop the bleeding." her voice was shaking with fear over the idea of Rion not recovering, but the nurse was understanding. She took Rion from Elin and placed him into a room, lying him in a smaller bed, and Elin followed, gently stroking the infants head as she prayed that he would get better.

But she knew she wouldn't be sensible if she stayed around him while the staff were working. She knew she'd get in the way or that she'd distract them, and that she'd lose her mind if she stayed there.
She knew she'd be better if she helped out somehow, even with no knowledge of medicine. Surely she could help out anyway.

"You look like you need help. What can I do?" she asked another member of staff and the nurse told her that she could help to feed the paralysed patients, or she could use cold damp towels to help keep them cool so the fever didn't burn them up, and Elin nodded, leaving the room and realising that a lot of others were helping out, despite obviously not being staff at the medical station. And Elin assumed that they must be in a similar situation as her.

Boxcode by Gossamer

[Elin]

Elin had managed to find someone who knew their way about the building and with their help she'd found a bucket that she'd filled with water, and then she'd managed to find a few small cloths that seemed somewhat absorbent, and placed them into the bucket, before stopping someone in the corridor.

"I was told that I could help out by trying to cool down their fevers. Where should I go?" Elin asked, and the woman she'd stopped pointed her to a few rooms that had only the patients in. They must have been people that had already been checked over and made comfortable before the staff moved onto the next person, likely with intention of coming back to them later.

Sighing, Elin made her way into the first room to see an elderly woman lying in silence, her arms covered in a rash, and undoubtedly a fever spreading across her.
Elin made her way closer to the woman, putting the bucket down on the floor next to her and pulling out one of the cloths, squeezing it so water wasn't dripping from the cloth, before she sighed.

"Why is this happening?" she sighed, before wiping the elderly woman's forehead, feeling the heat coming from the woman's forehead without touching it.

She's lucky... She's lived her life! the thought echoed through her head as she tended to her.
Elin had never wanted to be so bitter, not towards someone who was so obviously ill, but with her infant son being ill too, everyone else seemed like they were worth less. That they were lesser being compared to him, and Elin hated herself for thinking that way.

"You know, it seems as though half of the city are in here... My son with them." she said, attempting to speak to the woman even though she didn't know if the woman could respond, not knowing if the woman could even hear her.
She didn't know much about diseases, and especially not this one!

"It's serious, but I don't think it's too serious, unless you've been told by someone more qualified that it is that serious..." she said attempting to be calm while hateful and chaotic thoughts swirled through her mind.

If you killed her, then there'd would be less people for the staff to focus on... They'd have more time to work on helping Rion. the thoughts swirled through her mind and Elin shook them away, trying to replace them with prayers to Rak'keli, but she was certain that the goddess would be able to tell what she was thinking outside of those prayers.

Shaking her head attempting to get rid of those thoughts, she rinsed the cloth in the bucket of water and squeezed it out again, wiping the woman's brow, before folding the cloth and leaving it on her forehead, hoping that would help as she moved onto the next person, knowing that she couldn't stay in the room with the elderly woman without such dark and horrible thoughts clouding her mind and judgement.
She knew that if she continued thinking those thoughts, she likely wouldn't be able to keep being what she considered 'helpful'.

Boxcode by Gossamer

[Elin]

The next room Elin walked into held two mum. A young girl of about eight years with a rash covering her whole body as she lay almost completely motionless, and an adult female with a bleeding nose and a bucket next to her that she regularly turned to to vomit into. Occasionally she would use a blood stained cloth to attempt to blot her nose, though the blood wouldn't stop flowing down her upper lip to her lower lip and then to her chin.

"They say the disease stops it from clotting." The woman said when she noticed Elin. "It were bleeding all morning, an' we only came 'ere when she go' ill." The woman said, gesturing towards the child before she found her head in the bucket again, vomiting profusely.

"That's awful!" Elin exclaimed, taking a few steps towards the little girl and gently touching her forehead to feel how hot she was, before gasping slightly. "She's so hot... Am I okay to?" Elin stopped talking and simply gestured to the bucket of water and cloths she was holding, and the woman nodded.

Carefully Elin squeezed out one of the cloths and started to wipe the child's forehead, getting rid of the beads of sweat so that the cool dampness of the cloth would have a chance at calming the fever.

"Is she your daughter?" she asked the woman, turning to look at her in time to see the woman nod, and Elin felt sympathy towards the woman. "My son is here too. I couldn't stay there though, and since I seem to be okay, I opted to help out, keep my mind off everything and just try to help each other." she said trying to remain calm despite the worry and sadness in the pit of her stomach.

"How old is 'e? Your son a mean." The woman asked and Elin glanced down at the floor before looking back at the woman.

"He'll be a year old at the end of next month." she said, feeling tears beginning to well up in her eyes as she continued wiping the little girls forehead.

"Poor tyke. 'E's lucky you got 'im 'ere, otherwise 'e'd 'ave no chance." The woman said and Elin felt a lump in her throat that she tried to swallow down without success.
Silently she removed the damp cloth, placing it back into the bucket as she retrieved a fresh damp cloth and wrung it out, folding it neatly before placing it on the little girls forehead.

"Aye, I'm praying for him though. Praying to Rak'keli and Ionu." she said calmly. "I'll be praying for her too, but I gotta go see the next few. All the best." she said to the woman, leaving the room as she attempted to calm herself and clear her mind.

Please Rak'keli. Please help everyone here.
She thought to herself, beginning to head to the next few people as another thought came into her mind.
"Ionu, please say this is an illusion. Please say that tomorrow everything will be back to normal, and that every ailment was never real." she whispered these words, hoping that Ionu was listening and hoping that this was just a trick and that everything would be fine tomorrow.

Then she turned and headed towards the next few people, though a tap on the shoulder stopped her in her tracks and she turned around to see a young woman, probably younger than herself, who seemed to have also volunteered to help out.

"Are you the lady who had the really young son? They told me she had dark hair and a dark red dress like you." The girl asked and Elin nodded, hoping that it was good news.

"Is he better now? Please tell me they've sorted everything out and he's healthy now." Elin said suddenly, her eyes flashing with hope though a feeling of dread rose in her stomach.
It has to be good news. I'd know if it wasn't. I'd know if anything else bad happened to him. The thoughts swirled around her head as she watched the young woman, waiting for her to speak.

Boxcode by Gossamer