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 Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:39 am
It had been a hard decision for Shrivatsa to leave the Padmapani herd. Much as she often felt like an outsider, it was still her home and family. She had never traveled on her own before and the first few nights she had been unable to sleep for staring around her at every twig snap and owl screech. By now, though she wasn't quite comfortable with her new solitude, she had grown used to it.
She had assured Vara that she wasn't leaving permanently before she left. The attack on Adagio had left her cousin scarred physically but it left more subtle marks on Shrivatsa. She now realized that her cousin wasn't perfect, no matter what she had pretended. Adagio had made the wrong mistake that day when she decided to try to reason with Samsara instead of fleeing on first sight. It left a large impact on Shrivatsa, that she might be the one to make the correct decision instead of Adagio. That wasn't why she was taking this journey, though. She was taking it because she could never forget the way Adagio looked the next time she saw her.
Shrivatsa had been filled with helplessness when she had seen her injured cousin hobbling around the herd again. It was then that she decided to seek out this unicorn stallion to teach her the art of healing. She wanted to be able to help the next time one of her friends or family was injured before her eyes. She didn't want to be filled with this sense of useless regret.
She started paying closer attention now, looking for marks and signs of a soquili's passage. She knew that the unicorn healer Regulus lived somewhere in this area, but not precisely where. "Hello?" she called, feeling a little silly while doing so.
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:02 am
 Regulus had had a rough night, it seemed this area was littered with skinwalker attack victums, mostly small animals and usdia's but the work seemed to be coming hard and fast. Due to the influx of visitors and those seeking his aid he had had to resort to saving his unicorn healing magic for those who needed it most and use alternative medicine for the less injured -though part of him felt guilty that they would be more likely to recieve scars.
Slightly exhausted he found himself looking for berries when he heard a faint 'hello?' the voice sounded to nervous to be a threat... of course that didn't always mean anything, predators tended to be very good actors. Still Regulus wasn't able to simply ignore it, after all it may be someone who needed him. Swollowing his mouthful he turned towards his best estimation of the voice. After a little while he called out, "Hello?" in reply, wondering if he was close enough now for them to hear him.
Regulus wasn't particularly a social creature, far from it infact, but he did try. It was easier though when he spoke of his trade or spoke to his patients, then he had a purpose and the words simply seemed to flow with ease.... but when it was simply a normal meeting? He was stumped. He subconciously shook himself... whatever lay ahead... he could handle it.
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:17 am
To Shrivatsa's surprise, a voice answered her. A small knot of anxiety formed in her throat. She hadn't contacted the unicorn before going out to find him. It was possible that he wouldn't accept her request or even appreciate it. Maybe he would find it rude her coming out of nowhere to demand teaching. She was used to being the strange one. She was used to being on her own. The reality of what she was doing struck her and left her immobile for a time.
Finally she worked up the nerve to answer. "Hello?" she called again while moving in the direction of the voice. "My name is Shrivatsa. I've come to talk to Regulus the unicorn..." Her voice was higher than usual and she expected it was obvious that she was nervous, but there wasn't much she could do about that. She kept walking instead, soon rounding a bend and seeing the one who had answered her.
"Oh," she said simply when she saw him. The unicorn was a deep brown color with glowing stars in his mane. His eyes and his horn glowed too, giving him an overall mystical appearance. Uncertain, she paused and waited for him to acknowledge her.
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:28 am
Regulus could hear the uncertainty in the reply, it was common for those who called for help be in such a way... unsure if their answers would be heard by someone who would actually help them or someone who would bring them more pain and possible death. Of course, usually those he helped didn't know his name.... and as he heard his name drift towards him on the win he couldn't help but pause. This stranger knew him? Had sought out him specifically? He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, afterall he had given out his names thousands of time before, helped many through out his travels that it was bound to happen sooner or later. Out of habit he looked to the sky, it was clear not a star to be seen.... he usually read his way by the stars, used them to guide him towards those who truely needed him. They hadn't answered him lately though...
With a sigh he turned in time to see a mare approach and then stop as if startled. He instinctively looked behind him, wondering if there was something dark lurking behind him.... nothing.... returning her to his line of sight he wondered what had spooked her. With a cough though he tried to push that aside, "Em... I... eh... am Regulus." In the back of his mind he recalled her calling out her own name... Shiva....Shirsta.... something like that. He failed at names, and despite his near perfect memory when it came to plants, properties and injuries he seemed to fail at things such as dates and names. A fair trade in his mind, after all he had always wanted to become the best and most skilled healer in all the land.
He coughed again, unable to look the mare straight in the eyes much longer as he turned his head slightly to look at the ground beside her. "What can I do for you?" The mare was pretty enough, but he couldn't help but note the pattern around her mouth and rump that appeared to be inked using blood....
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:54 am
"I heard that you were a healer and I wondered if..." She trailed off, noticing him eying her markings. She really didn't look much like a healer. She had always known that she looked more like a murderer like her father. She was the child who had most taken after him in appearance so she couldn't blame anyone else for wondering about her intentions.
He probably wasn't going to accept her. Her pessimism found that idea and clung to it. Her trip from the herd was pointless. She'd have to just turn right back around and go back with nothing to show for her efforts. With her voice somber and slow she continued her sentence. "I wondered if you could teach me how to heal soquili. I've heard about you and how you help people and I wanted... wanted to be like that too."
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:21 am
Regulus blinked and blinked again at her words, part of him had not expected such a responce to come.... perhaps a I have hurt someone please help me' but not to become his student. He found himself blushing, oddly flattered by the idea even as he felt guilty for having judged her on appearances alone.
It was for that reason that he bowed to her, the tip of his horn touching the ground in the ultimate sigh of submission and trust, "I must apologise m'lady." He started, the words slow and deliberate as he tried not to stutter, "I fear I misjudged you on your appearance and that was not right of me. Please forgive me." With his apology said he raised his head once more to look at her, this time in her eyes since he didn't want to offend her again.
"As for teaching...." He paused, wondering for a moment why she would need such a talent. Regulus believed that everyone should know a little healing, and that the stars guided his path through life.... from his pain to his joy, to his sucesses and failures.... and it seemed, to his teaching, but curiousity had him asking, "...may I enquire why you are wanting to learn? It will not change my answer.... I am simply... curious." He smiled softly at her, the tear marks on his cheeks being tugged to look more like a wave than a line. "Either way I shall accept you as a student." In the back of his mind a thought rumbled -'It is the least I can do for judging you.'
Regulus only hoped that if he was talking about his trade that he wouldn't stutter and stammer so much, or it was going to be a lot of work trying to keep his voice deliberatly even.
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:04 am
Shrivatsa's head swam. He said he had judged her based on her appearance but then he apologized for it in the same breath. She was used to other soquili finding her eerie but not used to them feeling bad about it. He called her a lady, too. The soquili of the Padmapani herd didn't have such standards of addressing one another so to her the word seemed to elevate her to a higher status. The most important thing that he said was that he would accept her as a student. That was the part that left her internally reeling with the suddenness of it.
"I... well..." She couldn't find her words and struggled to gather herself. After all her expectations of defeat it was difficult to know what to do with her success. "My cousin was attacked by a skinwalker and very badly hurt." Her look became distant and her voice pained at the memory. "She could have died and there was nothing I could do about it. I want to know what to do if that happens again."
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:25 am
Regulus's face flooded with understand, he could still remember his first ever patient as a child.... the mare had died, and ever since he had always blamed it on his own weakness, it was part of the reason he wanted to better himself, to master his craft.
Deciding there was no need to go into the situation further, after all he didn't want to see the sad look upon her delicate features continued, Regulus turned to the task at hand.... teaching her. She was not a unicorn, and he would assume she had no unicorn blood within her... which meant she was interested in field first aid.
"What do you know already?" He figured he would ask, weather his fondation was a little or nothing Regulus wanted to be able to make sure he started where she need him to. Since Regulus had been in the area a while he knew of an abundence of healing flowers and plants in the area great for cuts and wounds, and he could teach her splints should they find a volenteer.
Regulus hoped that he could give her what he wanted.... that feeling of helplessness when you watched someone you loved in pain was something he had seen on several occasions from the partners and friends of his patients... and every time he had wished there was something he could have done. Perhaps in this he could.
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:47 am
Hesitantly, Shrivatsa began to describe her limited knowledge. She did know some things, like chewing willow bark to ease pain, but she truly had no great amount of knowledge. Strangely enough, the Padmapani herd had no truly skilled healer among their ranks. They had several unicorns who might heal with their horns but they didn't have any master herbalist. The soquili had a smattering of knowledge that she had picked up on but that was that.
Hopefully she'd be able to learn things here that she could carry back to enrich the herd. Maybe she'd even be able to help Adagio if she was still feeling any pain from the attacks. Maybe she would be able to help her mother, said a small voice in her mind. Bari had also been attacked by a skinwalker and had been a wreck ever since. When before she had cringed away at Bari's presence now she could barely stand the sight of her. Maybe she'd be able to find some herb or technique that could soothe her mother's mind. Maybe they could be a family, for once.
Regardless, she intended on putting her mind to learning healing more so than she had ever taken to Vara's philosophy lessons. If she could only succeed at one thing in her life, it would be this!
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:52 am
Regulus had listened to the mares words with genuine curiousity, and he was pleased in a way that she was not a completely blank slate... he hoped it would mean she would have an understanding of collecting plants and others items needed for mixing medicines.
Which was their first lesson.First Lesson - Sometime later - mixing medicines Regulus had prepared several medicines for them to copy during the lessons. One was more like a broth, designed to eleviate colds and illnesses of the nose and chest. Another was design to counteract poisons, and the third was a healing balm to keep away infection and to speed up the body's own healing. In many ways Regulus knew that Shrivatsa -since he had now officially learnt and remembered her name- was mostly interested in medicine that could heal her friends from attacks such as skinwalkers but he wanted to give her a broader knowlegde. He was pleased that she had seemed eager at this....
"So...." He said, adding a spree of honeysuckle to the mixture, "Honeysuckle is designed to get rid of heat and posions from the body, making it a good ingredient for cold medicines where the patient has a temperature as well as in poison relief mediciation." Regulus was pleased to see that he had grown comfortable around the strange looking mare, no longer stuttering and stammering..... of course, the subject matter was likely also helping him.
With a soft smile he asked, "What else could we add to help with colds and illness?" He was interested to see what she had picked up from their examination and talk about plants earlier that day.
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:51 am
With a little time they both had gotten more comfortable around each other. Shrivatsa felt something different about learning from Regulus than she had when learning from her great-grandmother. She didn't feel burdened by the weight of her mother's fear out here. She finally felt free of that bloody history. She liked this sort of learning, too. It was something physical that she could taste and create. That made more sense to her than philosophy and mantras.
When Regulus questioned her, her brow furrowed in concentration as she remembered. It was sometimes hard to keep the different plants apart. She had to think very carefully still and recall their shape and smell.
"Elderberries," she said. "The flowers are good for the skin too," she added.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:00 am
Regulus smiled softly and nodded. "Correct," he said adding some of the elderberries they had collected earlier. Once it was done he spoke once more, "....of course you have to remember not too add to many as they can become a laxative, and if that is not what you are using them for it can be a bit of an unpleasent surprise for you patient.... especially if they mostly bed ridden." He was not telling her off, after all she had done nothing wrong, he was simply explaining and reminding her in the hopes that it would sink in more. He knew from experience that it was difficult to remember so much at once.... it had taken him years to learn as much as she had in a matter of a day or two, and for that reason he was more than happy to repeat anything and to go at a pace she was comfortable with. He had to hand it to her though, she was very intelligent, eager to learn and with a good memory. All excellent qualities. And qualities that he was sure would aid her in turning these thoughts to memory and then eventually to second nature and habit.
"Now..." He started, taking in a deep breath of the mixture for colds. "Taste it and tell me what you think." Normally he wouldn't advise taking a medicine that you didn't need; but when learning it was the only way. He suspected that the mixture would be slightly too bitter but would easily sweeten with the addition of fruit -and easily enough made with the patients faviourite should it be in season.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:35 pm
Shrivatsa hadn't remembered that it was a laxative. She imagined what the result might be if she overdosed one of her herdmates with elderberries and internally winced. It wouldn't help with her lack of popularity. Her ears flipped back at the thought then forward again in concentration to listen to her teacher.
Now it was time to taste this brew they'd concocted. She leaned down and sniffed at it a little dubiously. Though she knew each individual element of the mixture, when together they put off a strange and unfamiliar scent. It went against her instincts to taste it but she overcame that to take a little sip.
She wrinkled her nose at the result. "It doesn't taste very good, but I guess I'd still drink it if I was sick."
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 7:19 am
Regulus couldn't help it.... but he burst out laughing. It was likely the combination of the look on her face, and her effort to remain polite despite the fact that what she had just tasted was not exactly pleasant... and he knew that all too well, before he had perfected sweetening the mixture without destroying the properties he had forced himself and his patients to drink the bitter concogtion.... Shrivatsa was right of course, if you were ill you would drink and try anything to get better, including this. But still... Regulus couldn't help but see the funny side, something that was... odd for him to say the least.
Taking a moment to compose himself he coughed softly and returned his gaze to her, amusement still lingered in his eyes and a smile upon his face but he was not mocking her. "True... true.... though we could add some sweeter berries or fruit to take away some of the taste. Even then though, you will find some of the more potent ingredients will leave an aftertaste but that can't be helped."
Smile still on his face he spoke once more, true and honest words. "Congradulations Shrivatsa, you have been doing so well. I am proud of you....." He paused for a moment, allowing his rare praise to sink in before he gave her a task. "...now it is your go. I would like you to make me a balm, from scratch, designed to cover a wound and prevent infection. Bonus points if he speeds up healing."
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:58 pm
Shrivatsa felt chagrined when her mentor broke out laughing and shifted from hoof to hoof with uncertain embarrassment. She didn't know what he had expected but apparently her reaction had surprised him. When he said he was proud of her, her chagrin faded as quickly as it had appeared.
Proud of her. Vara had said it from time to time, of course, but from her great-grandmother it seemed like more of an endearment than true pride. She had always assumed that Vara would tell her that she was proud even if she aspired to do nothing more with herself than roll around in the mud all day. Hearing it come from Regulus felt more real.
She smiled shyly at him, for she was still unused to feeling good about herself. "Thank you," she told him. "I'll see what I can do." She scrutinized the materials that they had gathered. She started by cautiously picking up a piece of bayberry bark and putting it in an empty bowl that stood by. The fragrant smell of the bayberry tree still lingered to remind her of its properties. The others would be tougher.
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