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 Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:13 pm
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:34 pm
Gwendolen pulled her horn back from the black flutter mare and took a deep breath. She wasn't used to doing so much healing in such a short period of time. She was only an assistant healer but when Carmine and Lorenna had turned up a week ago her mother had been away at the village. If Lorenna's cuts had been the only case she would have been fine. Unfortunately she still had the usual customers to handle. She took a close look at the remnants of the wound and nodded satisfied. She wouldn't need to perform another healing. "You should take it easy for a while." Gwendolen said in her best authoritative voice. "If you don't your wounds will keep opening up." She fixed the flutter with a firm look before giving her pink-haired friend the same look. They would do well to listen to her but somehow she doubted they would.
As Gwendolen trotted away from the pair she cast another look in Carmine's direction. She needed them to be gone before her mother returned with Scarlet but at the same time she needed Lorenna to rest. Gwen ground her teeth together and made a beeline for her temporary assistant Dita. It had been an odd sort of trade. Dita had come to help Gwendolen from the village on the same day that Gwen's mother had departed. Gwen had no idea if it had been planned or not but right now she needed a little advice from her friend.
She found Dita standing by the water containers. "Do you have a moment?" She asked coming to a stop by the white maned mare. They'd become friends ever since Gwen and her mother had accepted a donation of blankets from the village. It was a natural friendship. They both had a lot to offer each other and were close enough to the same age to understand everything the other was going through.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 1:33 pm
Dita had been unusually busy this past week. She had opted to come visit Gwendolen as an opportunity to learn valuable skills in basic healing. She had not expected to find the Gwen's mom had left for the village the same morning that Dita had departed. They must have just barely missed each other on the path. It seemed that she'd picked a good time to come seek training, however, because with Gwendolen's mother gone Dita's poor fluttercorn friend greatly needed the assistance.
She'd spent the entire week fetching water in the buckets they had taken from two leggers, moving blankets to keep the ill warm, taking the blankets to the river to cleanse them, helping Gwendolen prepare herbs for the sickly and anything else that came up. Dita was quite certain that she'd only gotten a few hours of sleep a night since her arrival. She now found herself standing by the buckets trying to decide if they needed to be filled yet. She was distantly aware that she'd been standing there for nearly half an hour without doing anything remotely resembling work. The sound of Gwendolen's voice snapped her out of her stupor.
"Huh?" She asked dully turning to face the brown mare. After a moment she finally figured out what had been asked as though she had actually been paying attention. "Oh, yeah, I've got a minute. What do you need Gwen? Blankets? More water?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 1:51 pm
Gwendolen blinked and then smiled as she stifled her laughter. Poor Dita. She wasn't at all used to this sort of life style. Her mother and grandmother seemed to keep her on a rather strict schedule. That was all good and well but healers had no set schedule. There was no telling when the next person might show up. Accidents didn't stop just because the sun had set. There had been a time when Gwendolen herself had acted so vacant but she had grown out of that. Maybe one day Dita would grow accustomed to it too.
"It's not work, Dita. I just...do you know how badly my mother was needed at the village?" As she spoke her gaze drifted over to the visiting mares. Dita probably hadn't noticed, she had no reason to, but Gwendolen suspected she knew who Carmine was. Scarlet Wing had spoken of a daughter and a son on occasion and Gwen had a feeling that those butterflies on the wind mare were no coincidence. If her mother's plan to shock some sense into Scarlet Wing didn't work by taking her to the village she feared on her business trip then when she got back things could get very bad very quickly.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 2:12 pm
Dita tilted her head to one side, this was certainly not what she had been expecting. "I don't really know, Gwen." She said following her friend's gaze. "I heard something about a complicated pregnancy when I was leaving but I'm not sure if that's what your mom was going for." Dita frowned. Was there something bothering Gwen about these people? Were there complications with Lorenna's injuries? There were a hundred reasons why Gwen might want her mother home but she could only think of a handful that might concern patients as well.
"Is there something I should know about?" She asked quietly leaning in as though someone might overhear. It was likely that no one was listening but if Gwen wasn't just saying it that meant it was sensitive information. "Is...she dying?" Dita gave a little nod of her head in Lorenna's direction. She looked alright but there was no telling.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 10:30 am
Gwendolen wrinkled her nose slightly. A pregnancy complication didn't really sound like her mother's usual work. She was more of a bruises, cuts and shattered bones type of healer. As far as Gwen knew her mother never touched anything involving birth, there were more practiced healers for those. She sighed slightly as she drifted into deeper thought only to be snapped out of it not three seconds later by Dita's questions.
Gwendolen pulled her head back, alarmed, and stared at her friend wide-eyed. "Is she...? No! Of course not. What kind of novice do you think I am." She frowned. "It's her friend, the one that carried her here. I think she's...well..." Gwendolen leaned in to whisper her suspicions into Dita's ear.
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On the other side of the clearing Carmine ruffled her wings and sidled over to Lorenna's side. Now that her friend's check up was over and the fluttercorn was across the way Carmine suspected that it was safe to talk freely. However, Carmine did not know if Lorenna would want to talk. They had barely spoken since Phibrizzo's attack and Othelia's betrayal. Lorenna had said on a number of separate occasions that her wounds were not Carmine's fault but the wind mare wasn't sure she agreed. As leader of the Under Ground any decisions made were ultimately her responsibility. As much as she hated it that was the way things were.
"Look...Renna...I..." She bit her lip. It had been her intention to apologize yet again but now she was getting the feeling that if the words 'I'm sorry' passed her lips she'd be the one in need of medical attention. Not wanting to risk that she shook her head and slapped a smile on her face. "I'm glad that you're all patched up. We can go home now. She said you had to rest but we can do that at home. Everyone will be happy to see you. I can fly you there...if you want." Internally Carmine was kicking herself. Somehow even though she had said nothing vaguely resembling an apology her words still managed to sound exactly like one.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 10:46 am
Lorenna did what she could to study her wounds without twisting herself into uncomfortable positions. From what she could see they were mostly healed but the hair had not yet grown back. The vanity in her wanted to ask the tan mare if the hair would ever grow back but Lorenna was not sure she wanted the answer. Cuts like this often left scars. There was nothing she could do about it. What was done was done. Off to the side she could see Carmine shuffling closer and Lorenna sighed as her friend began speaking. So it had come back to this?
Lorenna turned her head to observe Carmine keeping her face emotionless. It looked as though Carmine was trying a new tactic today, though it was no more effective than her usual apologies. "Carmine I hardly believe that walking would qualify as a strenuous activity and if it did surely they would have found some way to tie my down like a human would." She shook her head casually brushing off Carmine's attempt at an apology.
What had happened had nothing to do with Carmine. They were kalona. They were dangerous creatures that could be expected to turn on their friends at a moments notice. Even if Carmine had said no to Phibrizzo Lorenna suspected they would have met a similar fate, it just would have happened a lot sooner. "All the same...returning to head quarters would be a good idea. We have...things to discuss."
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Dita listened to her friend carefully trying to keep herself from twitching away at the ticklish sensation. There was a lot of distance between herself and Gwen and Gwen's patients, Dita could see no need to whisper. The longer Gwendolen spoke, however, the more Dita began to understand the need for secrecy. When Gwendolen finished and pulled away with a stern look Dita swallowed. This was bad on a number of levels and Dita was beginning to think that the spirits had a truly disturbed sense of humor to bring them all together like this.
"Do you think was should tell them?" She asked in hushed tones glancing as subtly towards Carmine and Lorenna as she could. After a moment's thought she gave her head a shake. "No...no that's a bad idea. Forget I said it please... We need to get them to leave though...if your mom and Miss Scarlet come back and see her...what might happen..." Dita frowned deeply.
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:16 am
“I agree.” She said solemnly turning to watch Carmine and Lorenna with an apprehensive look. Gwendolen wished that she had more unicorn blood in her veins. She wished that herbs were easier to apply to chest wounds. Gwendolen wished that Carmine did not seem to be Scarlet’s daughter. Gwendolen wished for a million things that she could do nothing about but above all else she wished that she had a good idea for how to get rid of them.
“Do you think that they would leave if we asked them to or do you think we’d need some sort of excuse?” She pursed her lips contemplatively. Now she even wished that she hadn’t instructed Lorenna to get rest. That had come back swiftly to bite her in the a**. “I think...we will need a trick, Dita...any ideas?”
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Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:27 am
“Well, I think if we asked them they would leave.” She said shifting to watch the strange duo as well. “But if you really want some sort of trick...we could always claim there are skinwalkers headed this way? Or we could say we’ve just received word that a number of injured kelpi are about to pay us a visit. People don’t seem to like that fishy smell all that much.” Dita paused for a moment wondering why these ideas were coming to her so easily. To her knowledge she was not a liar. In fact, she was far from it. “If you don’t like those we could always say we don’t have the supplies to keep them well fed anymore. If things were less comfortable here they might be more willing to go home.”
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