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Post by Celestia Myla on Jun 23, 2012 13:23:09 GMT -5
Morning light filtered through the canopy of leaves over a small, white and powder blue cottage. It created a beautiful orange pattern over the ground that shimmered and glowed like the bottom of a shallow pool. The air smelled of flowers and the wind echoed with birds and the wind chimes hanging from the porch. The grass was healthy and a cobblestoned pathway winded around house and lead from the front door into the wilderness past the trees. The whole clearing could be a setting for a fairytale.
Celestia herself was enjoying the day, how could she not? The temperature was perfect and a slight breeze made the garden flutter and shine. She was dressed in a simple linen dress that reached just past her knee, with a smudged red apron and bandanna to keep the hair out of her face.
Celestia loved her home, she couldn't imagine her life without it. The smell of the roses in the summer, the creak of the wood floor and even the howl of the animals of in the night. There was a picnic table in the front of the house, filled with open paints and murky paint water. In the centre of the table was a wooden plaque, newly painted with the words, Celestia's Health Clinic and Apothecary.
On the front of the house, leaning against the porch roof was a wooden ladder. Celestia was washing her hands in a bucket of water, wiping them on an old rag. She picked up the sign, seeing the paint was dry, and carried it to the ladder. She slowly climbed up and hammered began to hammer it just above the roof. She smiled at her handy work and began to climb down.
The day was young, who knew what else was coming.
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Post by Fáelán Wilde on Jun 27, 2012 0:36:38 GMT -5
----------Sometimes one wanders and when one wanders he often looses track of here he came from and where he was going and even sometimes where he is. Thus it was for Fáelán Wilde. He walked sleepily through the forest, boot-clad feet crunching leaves and twigs, lute slung across his back, and a wonderful pain in the right shoulder to counteract the tiredness. He winced a bit as he accidentally tried to move his arm and the pain of the dislocated bone shot through him freshly. How long had he been walking since he was last in town? It was early morning now and somehow he managed to miss the transition between night and day.
----------The sharp pain having pulled him out of his reverie, what met him was the sight of a cottage and the sound of the faint mutterings and humming of a sweet-voiced girl. Quickening his footsteps as much as he could without moving his injured arm, he approached the home, sparing simply a glance up at the sign. All he caught was the word "clinic" and called up to her on the ladder. "Miss, I'm sorry to disturb you so early in the morning, but I'm in quite a bit of pain and was wondering if you could help me?" He added a touch of honest pleading in his voice with the last few words. Not only was his predicament painful but also quite inconvenient considering his lack of ability to write or play music with the dominating limb for both incapacitated.
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Post by Yuliya Dukhkin' on Jun 27, 2012 0:53:17 GMT -5
Amri was grumpy. Not grumpy at her, that never happened, but she could tell he was in a foul mood. He got irritable when he hadn't slept much, and not much sleep had been had. Not by Yuliya either, but she was used to no sleep. Sometimes it felt like she didn't have to sleep or eat and could just sustain herself by breathing in the air and breathing it out again. Windy days were the best because it felt like it was blowing straight through her and she could feel it all around her and if she spread out her arms and jumped then maybe she could fly. But that never happened. Streak would do the flying for them.
She was with all of the animals except Windstar, Amri's horse, just having a walk through the woods. She liked these woods, plus Amri needed some space and she would give it to him. A dog on each side, a horse prancing around, and a peregrine falcon going back and forth between soaring lightly and riding on her shoulder. Many thought the sight strange. They thought they were watching some strange animal nymph walking through the woods but alas, she wasn't so. She would love to be a woodland creature, the only thing tying her down to life as a human was her brother, and he was a thick, heavy rope that she didn't want to untie.
But then a horrible wave hit her, it felt like the sun had left the sky and she was left to grapple in the dark, she felt the horrible cries and tears hit her wide eyes, Her animals stopped and watched her, looked around themselves, and then took off in one direction, the direction it was coming from. They all could hear it, but the sight still pained Yuliya when she saw it.
It was a badger lying on the ground with its middle caught in a metal trap. Yuliya fell to the ground and released the pin and even though he was free he wouldn't move.
“It hurts...” he said in her mind, the first clear words she had heard him say. But when she looked at the wound, with its gnarled marks covered with blood, hopelessness flooded through her. She knew how to deal with some injuries. She knew how to fix broken wings and bones, she knew how to clean out knife wounds, but she didn't think any of her plants would heal a middle this ripped up...but she could at least try.
“I will try and find some yarrow, but your blood is attracting too much attention. I must bring you with me.”
She gently slid her arms under the badger and lifted him up in her arms and walked down into the forest. If she couldn't find yarrow, she could at least make sure he was safe, warm, and comfortable when he died. She was beginning to whisper her goodbyes when she saw the strange building she'd never seen before with a girl out in the front. She knew what kind of place it was, it was a healing place...but fear paralyzed her. She never talked to people. She never talked to people without her brother there, and even then, only a few words, but she had to be brave. She had all her animals at her side, so she needn't be afraid. She summoned up her courage.
“Can you help him?” she said in what was supposed to be a confident shout but what ended up being a whisper.
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Post by Celestia Myla on Jun 27, 2012 1:47:09 GMT -5
Celestia was very surprised to have two strangers come at once. Usually Celestia had one or two clients a week on a good day. Now two at once, the sign really was working to attract costumers. She should have put it up months ago.
But still, she stood there in her surprise for a few moments before getting to work. Though the banshee obviously in pain, but the badger was dying. She nodded and said, "Yes, of coarse, all of you. Come in, Come in." she said, walking to the young lady with the hurt badger and slowly taking him into her arms.
Celestia lead them up the porch and into the small cottage. Inside, it was small. The entrance lead to a rather large room separated in half. On the right side there was a clean, metal table and two or three large cabinets that were closed. On the left side was several chairs a desk and a fireplace. The fireplace was empty now, as it was not needed at the moment or in this heat, but the chairs were kind of comfy looking.
"Sir, if you could... er." Celestia couldn't deny at the tiny moment she felt a little frazzled. She walked to the right portion and put the badger down on the table."I'm so sorry, I'll be with you in just a moment." she said apologetically.
She then turned to the badger and looked over the wounds, she sighed and turned to one of her wooden cabinets and opened it. It was filled with bandages and ointments and such for wounds, burns and other things of the sort. It also had a pail of water. She took it from the bottom and placed it on the table.
"Okay, I'm going to wash off all the blood. Can you tell me what you know about this badger? Where did you find her?" she asked as she slowly began to clean off the wound. Celestia finished quickly, then grabbed a simple poultice from the shelf and carefully began to apply it to the wound.
Celestia was a quick and effective worker. She did what she did well and complaints were rarely voiced to her. Celestia loved that she had a power to heal people. Witches and Warlocks had the power to manipulate and create magic, and Celestia had her healing. Sometimes, she thought maybe she healed a little inside of her every time she healed another.
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Post by Fáelán Wilde on Jun 27, 2012 16:35:37 GMT -5
----------Only moments after Fáelán spoke, a young girl's quiet voice was heard from the other side of the ladder. Looking over he saw the bleeding forest animal in her arms and the looking worry across her face. Stepping back for the flustered healer to come down to their level, he gestured with his good arm for the girl with the badger to go first and tried his best to hide his pain. He could not bear to see a young girl so upset.
----------Once inside, he leaned against the wall, weight on his left, and watched as the healer intricately worked at the body of the badger. Her delicate fingers cleaning the wound and stitching it up. She worked with grace and patience. Something about the whole matter made Fae smile. There was so much evil in the world, but the kindness of one person could make bearing the darkness worth while.
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Post by Yuliya Dukhkin' on Jun 27, 2012 20:42:30 GMT -5
Stepping into the place was terrifying, and she was almost not able to. She hated walls, and she hated roofs and floors, she hated walking into things like boxes that would swallow her whole. But she had to. She had promised to the badger that she would make sure he was alright, and she always kept her promises, as long as they had been made to animals. So she took a deep breath and stepped in, watching her begin to take care of him. Hopefully he wouldn't die. She wasn't sure she could bear the weight of giving him hope and then watching it slip away.
At first she hadn't even realized she'd been asked a question. She had just been staring as the floor as Apollo and Luna and Streak followed in after her. Apollo was not happy, he was glaring his dog glare at the other people with a constant growl in his throat. Luna was not as angry as Apollo, but she was uneasy, mostly because of the badger, and Streak was also uneasy and so he settled himself on Yuliya's shoulder which was where he felt safest and nuzzled his beak into her hair. But eventually Yuliya caught herself and realized she'd been asked a question and she tried to formulate the words. “He was in a trap...a metal teeth trap.”
She looked immediately back to the floor when she had finished talking and started pacing. It was a habit of hers and her brothers to pace when they were nervous or bored. She walked around the room while her dogs walked beside her, Apollo still growling in the back of his throat.
“We need to get out of here as soon as we can,” he said.
“We have to make sure he's alright first...”
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Post by Celestia Myla on Jun 28, 2012 0:25:41 GMT -5
Celestia nodded when the young woman replied, the wound matched one of those traps. Those mean hunters were always setting those viscous traps for animals. She had healed more than one helpless animal that had fallen prey to those monsters. "You poor little thing." she said sadly, "Don't worry, we'll get you all healed up in no time at all!".
By then, Celestia had started to wrap up the wound with some linen cloth. She made several layers and held it together with two metal pins. She then took a premade mixture of herbs in a small cup and gave it to the young woman, "Could you perhaps get her to eat these? They'll help her fall asleep. Then you can put her beside the fireplace and I can check on her later." she said kindly before walking over to her second patient.
She looked over the hurt banshee with concern showing in her pale blue eyes. There was a strange familiarness about him, like she had seen him in a dream a long time ago. It was quite possible, she did have very real dreams. They were horrible, but Celestia tried not to think about those in the daylight. They made her sad, but thinking about healing made her happy. That's all she needed to know to persuade those awful thoughts into the back of her mind.
"So, you dislocated your shoulder, Sir?" she asked softly, "I hope you don't mind me asking how you accomplished that." she touched the shoulder very gently, making sure she didn't hurt the poor man. "I can put it back into place for you, but it is going to be rather painful." she gave a little frown, she hated it when she had to inflict pain to begin healing-but the healing usually made up for it in the end.
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Post by Fáelán Wilde on Jun 28, 2012 20:42:32 GMT -5
----------Fáelán flinched slightly under her touch, his shoulder feeling more sensitive than usual. When she declared it dislocated he nodded, "Figured as much. At least its not broken." He looked up at her and managed a smile. "Please do. A bit of pain is worth the relief afterward." Seeing her face he narrowed his eyes slightly in thought, she looked remarkably familiar, more so than just a good audience member or previous client.
----------"I managed to irritate just the wrong person is just the wrong way. Some men take incredible offense at the verses of my ballads and songs," he said in reply to her first question. Laughing ever so slightly at the thought. Make light of insults, worry not of pain. Thus he had lived, thus he would continue to live.
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Post by Yuliya Dukhkin' on Jun 28, 2012 22:57:13 GMT -5
Yuliya nodded and bent down in front of the badger, “If you eat this you will sleep and you will heal better,” she said softly to him as she caressed his fur behind the ear. Thankfully animals seemed to trust her just because she could talk to them, so he lapped up the mixture and closed his eyes, and with a small smile, she gently picked him up and lay him down by the fireplace as she took a seat next to him. She wasn't sure whether she was expected to leave now, but she couldn't. She had to know he was okay. And she wasn't completely terrified yet. The other stranger hadn't really acknowledged her so she felt safe and she always had Apollo and Luna and Streak and...
Amri. How long would it take for the badger to fully heal? How long until her brother started worrying about her? How long until he started looking for her...well, one thing she knew was that if it took much longer he wouldn't be happy. And if found her it wouldn't matter what reason she had come for, this place and the people here would cease to exist. The healing girl hadn't given her a reason to hate her and she would be sorry if the person who'd helped the badger had to die because Amri thought she was trying to kill Yuliya. He tended to think everyone was trying to kill Yuliya. So she twisted nervously in her seat, stroking Luna's head when she had a thought. “Do you have paper?” she asked in a small voice, not wanted to disrupt what she was doing with the stranger. But maybe she could send a note with Streak.
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Post by Celestia Myla on Jun 28, 2012 23:45:06 GMT -5
Celestia laughed a little, still studying the arm to find a good grip. She held the arm gently in the starting position as she sat beside the man with her fingers holding it firmly, but not too tight as to cause too much more pain. She was about to preform the manoeuvre when the girl asked about paper, so she paused-actually a little happy she was able to distracted herself for a moment, "Oh, there should be some in the desk behind you. There should also be some quill and ink somewhere in there as well." she flicked her chin to the desk.
After she spoke she focused back on her current patient. She held her breath and in a series of smooth and precise movements she began to put it back in place. As she felt the shoulder fall back into place she flinched a little, mostly with a slight twitch-not enough to be painful to her patient. She always winced at the feeling of relocating bones, even when she was an apprentice, watching her mentor Leif preform it, she always cringed. There was something just, unsettling about the whole ordeal, as if she knew what it felt like to have her own bones move under her skin and reform into a natural state once again.
She let his shoulder go gently, careful not to let it drop down. She once again moved towards her cabinet and took a linen wrap and another small cup of herbs. She placed the cup on the table and walked over to the banshee with the fabric. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to recommend you wear a splint for a few days until we know it's fully healed. Neither of us want you to have any permanent damage, now." her voice apologetic, but kind. She knew many warriors refused to take the splint or even try to keep their arm out of use. They were the ones that ended up coming in again the most for the same reasons.
She turned to the young woman, asking "Did you find what you need alright, Miss?". She looked also down at the poor badger, but it had seemed to have eaten it's herbs and was already falling asleep.
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Post by Fáelán Wilde on Jun 30, 2012 12:18:55 GMT -5
----------Fáelán smiled slightly at the healer's lack of concern considering people rummaging through her belongings. Holding people's needs above the desire for personal possessions, even in such a small aspect, was admirable. As she places her hands on his shoulder, he bit down and braced himself. The sound of the bone jerking back into its rightful place was matched with a quick pain followed by a flood of relief. "Oh great heavens above, that feels fantastic!" he said with a sigh, followed by a wince as she began wrapping it up and it reminded him that it was still tender.
----------"I am more than willing to suck up my pride for the sake of my profession. What is a bard who can not hold his lute or a scribe without his right hand?" He looked at her face with a bit of a smile which then turned pensive. She looked too familiar and remarkably similar to someone he once knew.... a healer. "Might I ask your name?" he suddenly inquired.
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Post by Yuliya Dukhkin' on Jun 30, 2012 12:39:59 GMT -5
Yuliya nodded and looked through the drawers to find a scrap of paper and a quill. What should she write? 'Amri, I happened upon a beaver whose dam broke down and I will be spending the afternoon helping him fix it.' That seemed like a plausible thing for her to do and it would relieve any worry. She was about to put the quill to paper when a thought hit her: her brother couldn't read. He'd never had the time to. He spent all of his time getting stronger, whereas Yuliya had been confined to their tent and when their uncle visited he would spent time helping her learn the letters until she considered herself a rather proficient writer. But her brother...he couldn't even read his own name.
Panic started to flare through her, and it was a strange panic. Rarely did she ever want her brother not to come, his presence was always a comfort, but she didn't want him to destroy this place. But what else could she do? She nervously fiddled with the locket around her neck that was always under her shirt when she realized she'd been asked another question. This time instead of thinking about it she just let the words fumble their way out of her mouth, “Oh...I...um, I...did not need it...no.” Her gaze quickly descended to the ground as she began tapping her foot.
“Apollo, what should I do?”
“Get out of this place, I don't trust the male,” he growled.
“No, I have to stay. He needs to see a familiar face when he wakes up.”
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Post by Celestia Myla on Jun 30, 2012 14:04:28 GMT -5
Celestia finished the expertise knot on the man's shoulder, though she had to go on her tippy toes to reach properly. He was quite tall compared to her, though Ava was used to this since her primary patients were usually tall men, warriors and fighters mostly. She didn't mind, she got to hear interesting stories of their travels and they never stayed too long.
He asked what her name was, which was a perfectly reasonable question-but then the young woman spoke. She seemed to be in distress, so in habit she turned to her. "That's fine, ma'am. Just leave them on the desk and I can put them away later." she paused, "If you need anything, I can help-you know." she said with concern.
She hated anyone feeling unwelcome or uncomfortable in her home, it made her feel like a bad healer. She always tried to make her cottage a safe haven for everyone. It was important to her and to her patients.
So she turned back to the man and smiled softly again, "Sorry, yes my name is Celestia." she said, looking up to meet her patients gaze. He seemed so familiar, more than just from a dream-but from somewhere else. From deep in her past. It was so long ago, it really couldn't be him, could it?
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Post by Fáelán Wilde on Jun 30, 2012 16:15:21 GMT -5
----------Her smile, her occupation, her personality, her familarity, and now her name. All the pieces were falling into their places. With this confirmation Fáelán suddenly grinned widely. "Celestia!" He promptly lifed her up by her waste and spun her around before suddenly setting her down and then looking incredably appolgetic as he remembered they were no longer children. "Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry. Though you are still light enough to be a banshee after all these years." He laughed a bit at the thought.
----------Looking down at her he continued to smile. She had grown up from an adorable girl to a beautiful woman just sever or eight years, those blue grey eyes the same, her face more matured, and the ever so bright smile which could light up a room. She was the last person he expected to run into but one the first he would want to.
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Post by Yuliya Dukhkin' on Jun 30, 2012 18:23:48 GMT -5
Yuliya shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She felt like she shouldn't be there anymore but she didn't really get what was going on or who the man why or was he was so happy all of a sudden. Did they know each other? She wouldn't touch someone like that even if she did know them...not that there was anyone she really knew other than her family. She knew the names of people in her tribe but she'd never talked to them, she wasn't supposed to, and when she did they usually walked in the other direction, cause she was “odd.”
Perhaps she should just grab the badger and leave, she would've done that had the girl not said she would check up on him later. She didn't know what that meant, but she hoped it wouldn't take too long. Apollo hadn't stopped growling the whole time and she was afraid that he would soon lash out whether she wanted him to or not. Streak was nuzzling his beak in her hair which was what he did when he was nervous and wanted attention. She rubbed his head slightly and tried to think of another way to make sure Amri wouldn't come barging in with his sword swinging and his eyes red.
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