who's healthy?

In Torbin’s craft, one was often obligated to come into close contact with repulsive people, or perfectly decent people with repulsive injuries or inflictions, for that matter. Her work would generally be considered distasteful by the multitude of her gender – cleaning wounds, often old and decay-infested, amputating, cauterizing proud flesh, treating rashes, fungus, growths, nausea…the list was endless. However, she couldn’t imagine a single opposite-sex inclined female that wouldn’t find the examination of this particular patient singularly enjoyable.

That far from surprising train of thought brought a smile to her face as Torbin watched Josen begin to remove his shirt, then stepped forward and helped him pull it over his shoulders. She watched with a practiced eye, noting the point at which he seemed to receive the hindering increase in pain, the precise phase at which his muscles were when this occurred, and all of the portions of him that tensed in response to the pain.

He needed bedrest, and the amateur version of the healer Torbin had become would have lectured him neatly on the fact and why it existed. However, she was very familiar with men of this variety, and knew without bothering to give it second thought that he would by no means allow her to place any sort of restraints on him at all. So, she pondered how best to treat him, noting as she gently probed his skin that he was making a rather remarkable recovery, despite his persistent activity.

“It’s still in place,” she said, surprised by the huskiness in her voice. Stepping back, she brushed a handful of dark hair behind her ear, and bent to take a few items from her pack. “Aside from demanding bed rest” – her upward glance and half-smile were wry – “I can really only treat the pain.” She took one of her four dark, natural sponges from the sealed undercarriage of her pack, and emptied one of her dilute chemicals into a vial of water, shook the concoction, and emptied the foaming mixture over the sponge.

“This should stay cold through the night. I added a little extra something to kill off any internal infection that might be developing, but right now everything looks good.” She cleared her throat after the last two words, adhering the bundle to his shoulder with soft bandage strategically positioned to be secure while not limiting the range of movement of his arm and removing pressure directly from the point of the injury.

They were almost through the trees when he grasped her arm. She turned toward him inquisitively.

"Wait. I noticed there was some tension when we came back. Is that because of Odin or did something happen while we were away?"

She looked down before he read more than she was ready to reveal in his eyes.

"If you do not trust to speak of it, then do not do so."

For a moment she misinterpreted what he meant by those words. Of course she trusted Josen enough to tell him anything that occurred within their party. After a split-second of contemplation, she realized what he really meant. Her glance moved instinctively through the trees, where a slight flicker of the small fire was visible.

Finally, she shrugged. “If he’s capable of knowing as much as he already does, I don’t think I know of any way to hide this from him.” She drew a breath, inadvertently drawing closer to Josen and lowering her voice, despite her decision that if Odin did overhear, it didn’t really matter. “Shortly after you left, Tamy and Dase were talking about what this ‘Airy’ individual really is. Somehow they got into the fact that Airy is apparently fond of Tamy, and that maybe Tamy could use her powers to contact Airy, or teach Dase how to contact her more efficiently than he already can.”

Torbin swallowed, then continued. “Well, Tamy agreed. She went into a sort of…a sort of trance, and then she took Dase’s hand, and he was in the same sort of a trance suddenly, too. They spoke sometimes, in full statements or just murmured pieces of sentences. It wasn’t long before Rhn got my attention. His medallion was responding to them somehow – it was glowing. My stone was dormant. Then he said he could see her – see Airy. And then, a sort of halo surrounded them. It was…it was pretty incredible. Right after that, Tamy woke up and Dase with her, and Tamy looked at Rhn, and said ‘So, that’s who you are.’” The words still sent a chill down her spine. “We don’t know what she meant…and directly after speaking, she became so drained that it seemed best to just get both children some rest. I think they’re both pretty rattled right no- ”

Before Torbin could top off the syllable, she felt the support leave her knees. She fell sideways, luckily caught by Josen’s arm. She felt a rush of heat run firelike up her spine from where his hand fell on her back, and blinked at the steadying effect it had.

“I’m sorry…” blinking, she stepped back apologetically. “I don’t know what that was about.” She instinctively felt the stone, but it was coy and cold in its place near her knives. Feeling unsettled, she shook her head to clear it. “We…we should get back.”

She had a feeling Josen had more questions, but she wouldn’t be far if he couldn’t get answers out of any one else. “When you have a little more time, I’d like to do a full examination of you. I have a feeling your shoulder isn’t the only thing that’s bothering you. Oh, and take this after you eat.” She tossed him a solidified, amber-colored globule, which he caught with impressive reflexes in his good hand. “It’ll help with the head ache.”

Torbin walked quickly to Rhn, hoping she wasn’t interrupting anything. “Okay, what is going on?” Her glance saw Tamy and Dase asleep, and the instinctive smile that came to her face was quickly removed as she looked back at the ranger.


****


Tamy couldn’t stop yawning. Somehow, even her fear of Odin left her, and she managed to convince herself that sleep was excusable. Dase had already laid down, and without hesitation, she snuggled close to him. She’d never had a friend before, but it was just as good of a feeling as people always said it was, and she’d only known Dase a day. Almost as soon as she had settled in, she was falling into a dreamless sleep, her final slumber-inducing sensation that of Dase’s hand in hers and a deeper sort of security surrounding their clasped palms.

Odin watched the children speculatively. It was terribly interesting, the way this race developed. They began with such sadly nonexistent instinct, it was a wonder they survived at all, and no wonder the people as a whole rarely made it past a hundred. Depressing, altogether, to be mortal – to have to count your days and monitor your hours, and to always - always - know that one day, perhaps when you least expected it, you should die. He felt a great amount of sympathy suddenly, which was quickly overcome by resentment. If he had been intelligent enough to stay away from this ragtag assortment, he’d still have his powers, and he’d be flying happily overhead at this very moment.

The mare was settled, which left him with little to do. None of these individuals particularly liked him, but he didn’t mind. Was that necessary, after all? The power had said he had to become close to them, but plenty of humans who hated one another were close. A strange aspect of the species.