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 Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 11:11 pm
Were all mares like her? A mystery? Why did she change from being that mare who dove into the mud without a second thought, to this distant standoffish mare? Her attitude toward him seemed to be one that a soquili in power takes toward those that they deem below them. Did she consider herself Queen and those below her as her subjects, or surfs who should obey her command? Westrion watched her warily; he knew that he would need to be patient with her and treat her with the respect she seemed to require. His thoughts went back to all that he had done that day, he could only count a few things that he did wrong; he was young, he was bound to make mistakes and forget the art of being a gentleman. It was time he fixed that.
“With Poppy,” he nodded his head in the direction of the weeds resting on the rock, “Poppy has the healing capacity to reduce pain. Willow Bark also does the same, but the nearest willow is a day or so downstream.” He took in a deep breath, steadying himself before he continued on with what he was going to do with the weed to help alleviate her pain, “I will make the poppy into a paste which you will have to eat if you want it to have any affect, I am sorry that the taste may not be best, but at least it is an effective treatment.”
His brown caramel eyes pleaded with her, “Will you please let me help you? You saved my life, I would like to do something in return and currently I am able to help ease the hurt you carry.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 12:49 pm
She listened to him, watching the small male foal down her long nose. Finally she gave a small regal nod. His phrasing allowed her to accept the help, not for her sake, but for his. She could accept the relief from pain without admitting weakness or investing power over her within him. She could be magnanimous in granting a request placed before her.
"I will allow you to do this thing, if removing my pain will ease your heart," she consented, every inch the queen. She stepped daintily out of the river and flicked excess water from her tail.
With small measured movements, each carefully planned and exacted, she settled herself comfortably on the grass, sitting with her legs neatly folded beneath her torso, so that only the tallest of the grass brushed her stomach or sides. She might have to wash again, but it would be minimal dirt. Even as wet as she was, it was like as not only to be her legs that would become adorned in mud. That could be washed carefully by just walking through a swift enough current. No one ever needed to know, no one needed to see that she was fussy unless it served her.
Once she was settled she nodded again. It looked as though she was being considerate, thoughtful, even, to lower herself to his level to ease the crick he must be developing in his neck, looking up at her, and so that any ministrations he might come up with that were more involved then simply offering her a paste to eat. She could handle a taste that was less then stellar. After all, part of royalty was a stiff upper lip. She wasn't sure how that saying got started, but she knew that it meant never to show that something displeased her unless there was an advantage to doing so. What that had to do with her upper lip, she was unsure. Well, perhaps fighting the urge to sneer. Maybe.
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:31 pm
He nodded his head to the mare and began his work of preparing the poppy for her pain. He walked over to the river, the poppy resting in a large leaf which he had found before asking the regal mare if he could take away her pain. He washed his hooves using soap stone, knowing that the mare would balk if she saw him use his dirty hooves for something that she must ingest. Carefully he rinsed the poppy in the cool waters and placed it back on the leaf; using his clean hoof he began to grind the poppy into a paste. Soon his task was done and he washed the excess poppy residue off his hooves and approached the flutter. Westrion bowed his head to the mare, “I have prepared the poppy Ma’am. I must warn you that it may cause you to become loopy for the first hour after you have eaten it. If I may also place some of it upon the part that ails you, it will also sooth the pain.” Would she still take the herb even if it would cause her to act strangely, perhaps he should not have warned her of its effects; he quickly chastised himself, what sort of healer would he be if he lied to his patients? He turned his gaze to the poppy, “Once you have eaten half of the poppy paste, you might want to wash it down with some river water, to rid your mouth of the lasting aftertaste.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:50 pm
She considered his words as her head throbbed. A release from the pain would most certainly be welcome. However, she was not exactly overjoyed at the prospect of behaving foolishly after the fact. It was unseemly and undignified to act as a drunkard might. Was that not what it meant when he said that she might become loopy? What else could he mean? Loopy could mean anything from unstable on her hooves to acting foolishly with an unladylike abandon.
She considered her options. Yes, there were those who might argue that to suffer is noble, that pain is a form of grace, and that bearing up under it is elegance. She did rather like the concept of being perceived as elegant, however the pain was more than a little tiresome.
Were there not another option? She considered, with her eyes half closed. The pain made thinking a rather difficult and thankless task, but she endeavored anyway. A middle ground, perhaps would be the way to go, then. Were such a thing achievable, of course. Mayhaps she could have some of the pain reduced, enough at least that she could think, but not so much as to cause her to take leave of her senses as well as her pain. But how could such a thing be accomplished?
She opened her eyes and regarded the youth before her. "What would happen if you applied the paste to the injured areas, only, and did not in fact cause me to imbibe or otherwise take the mixture internally? Would the tincture serve in such a case?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:14 pm
Caramel brown eyes blinked and then looked at the paste he had created with his hooves, it rested on the leaf, ready to be used in some form or fashion. Westrion closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, as he thought about the mare’s question; he was not surprised that she did not wish to partake of the poppy, since its effects vary depending upon the soquili. For him, when he consumed the herb, his legs became like honey and his vision swayed; his mind was still lucid and coherent. When treating a patient once, he gave the pain reducing plant to the injured stallion and the reaction seemed to be almost instantaneous, words came out of the stallion’s mouth without structure, nothing seemed to make sense. The injured stallion then swayed upon his feet and acted as if he was drunk on life, prancing about like a woodland fairy. Westrion shook his head; he doubted that this regal mare would have the same reaction as the stallion.
“The pain would be reduced, but not completely alleviated, there will still be some throbbing pain, which can be bearable or not. I do not know the extent of your current pain, so it would be hard to ascertain the extent the external use of the poppy will have upon your injuries.” He looked at the mare; she seemed to be able to handle pain well, since she had not once complained that her horn was giving her problems. If he had not mentioned that he could take away her pain, would she have ever said anything? Most likely not he thought with an internal cringe, still feeling guilty that he was the cause of her suffering.
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:27 pm
"Would there be any harm then," she asked, considering, "in trying first the paste, and then waiting to ascertain if I need further consideration?" As best as she could think through the pain, she thought that this was a reasonable suggestion. Of course, the pain fogging her mind was growing, and so she was not certain that she could trust her own grasp on the situation.
"Would the paste have the same affect on my mental acuity?" she asked before he could respond to her previous question. After all, if there would be the same consequences then there was little cause to limit the abilities of the tincture.
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:00 am
“No there would not be any harm in placing the paste on the injury,” he smiled at the mare, “Although the poppy will not take effect quickly since it is being applied to an open wound or being ingested orally.” He could see the pain in her eyes, how much more could she withstand?
“I,” he paused for a second, “I will not lie to you, I do not know what the poppy will do to you if you swallow it, for it is different for each person. Your reaction to the herb could range from nothing to extreme. When I sprained one of my wings, my father gave me poppy for the pain. It felt as if my legs were made of water and the world seemed to sway, but I was still able to think coherently. Mine was one of the more milder reactions.”
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:21 am
"Then let us simply attempt the poppy poultice and avoid ingesting anything for the moment," she said. She closed her eyes. Poppy poultice? Had she really just used such an annoying alliteration? Apparently. And there she went again. She needed to get past the pain. Somehow. Hopefully the paste would do the trick, if not, she would need to decide what risks she was willing to take. Most likely, should she need to swallow any of the poppy paste, she would probably take her leave first and do so in private, where she could embarrass herself. She nodded, that plan was sound, at least, it seemed like it was. So it was all up to how well this stuff worked.
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:37 am
Westrion bowed his head to the mare, a few strands of black hair falling on to his face, which he blew out of the way before he transferred half of the poppy poultice to another green leaf, “Ma’am, could you bow your head for me? I fear I am not that tall too place this upon your head.” He could always try to hoover over her and place the compress on her then, but he doubted he had the skill to keep in the air right above her horn and not cause her pain somehow. It was times like this, when he wished he was an adult, and able to reach his patients without asking them to inconvenience themselves for his convenience.
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 12:53 am
With a regal motion, Queen Stephanie lowered her head, as though she were being knighted, or more realistically, as though she were knighting the foal before her. Her eyes closed in a way she was hoping was appropriately dramatic. The truth was that her eyes were crossing and that on top of the pain was making her more then a little queasy. The smell of the poppy did not help either. She tried hard not to think of how vulnerable she must look, sitting on the ground, doubtlessly red around the horn, eyes closed before this young male. She loved fairy tales, but she was sure she would impale the first dashing knight who decided that she occupied the role of damsel in distress.
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Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:50 pm
Everything the mare seemed to do was in some sort of noble manner, even bowing her head to Westrion seemed to excrete regal. How was she able to keep it up? The young foal shook his head, removing his thoughts about the regality of the flutter standing before him. With his teeth he picked up one of the two leafs covered in paste and placed it upon the mare’s horn, wrapping it around the swollen area as best he could. Westrion took a step back from the mare and looked at his work, the leaf appeared out of place upon the mare’s head; he shrugged, at least it would help with the pain, who cares how one looks if pain is the only thing upon the mind.
“How does that feel?” He knew that the poppy needed a few minutes to soak in before the pain began to alleviate, the young colt just wanted to see how his patient was holding up.
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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:01 am
Queen Stephnie considered the question, her eyes still closed. The pain had not yet eased, should it have? His question implied a far speedier response time than she was experiencing. Her head still throbbed and swam. Should she lie for the sake of this young foal? No, that would serve no one, and ill no purpose. "The sensation is cold and somewhat wet," she said in a simple, and she hoped regal manner. She did not drive home the point that the pain had not yet abated, but neither did she claim that it had. A fair compromise, she thought, given how her head swam.
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Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:02 pm
He gave a slight nod, he did not expect rapid results with the compress, “How much time do you wish to pass before you are willing to try consuming the poppy mixture?” Westrion could gather a guess that if and when she decided to partake of the paste, she would want to be alone and nowhere near another living being for the fear of the poppy making her do strange things. The foal looked down at his hooves, it was again, at times like these, he wished that he was part uni, like his patient, so he could heal them with magic instead of herbal remedies.
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:59 pm
Slowly Queen Stephanie opened her eyes to look at the youth, who seemed to be studying the grass below him. She managed to suppress a sigh. He was trying so hard. She could tell that. And she wished to be regally magnanimous. However, the pain made it hard to be properly kind. The manners for aloofness were far simpler to follow in her muddled state. Still, she would have to grant him some boon once she was recovered to express her gratitude, once she could recall the precise depth of a bow that royalty used when showing or expressing thanks to a commoner who had preformed an exemplary service to the crown.
Until then, however, she was still unfortunately trapped within a reality that included so much pain that thinking was neigh impossible. Finally her swimming head circled around to the reason that she had opened her eyes in the first place. He had asked her a question.
She tried to focus, to remember what he asked, then she swallowed and considered. When did she want to take the internal mixture that might help the pain, but might make her loopy? "How long should it take the tincture upon my brow to work, if it is going to?" That could help her know when she had to choice any longer.
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 5:14 pm
Westrion looked up at the sky, the sun was a few degrees pass midday, and soon would we gone and dusk would approach, “The tonic should begin to work in about half an hour to an hour, when the sun is almost gone from the sky and the dark light of the night will be upon us.” He turned his caramel eyes to the mare, “If you ingest the Poppy, the pain reduction will take place as soon as the mixture hits your stomach, so about five or so minutes.” He was not exact with his time calculations, but he was positive that he was close to the mark.
“Ma’am, again I am sorry for causing you this much pain.” The young foal fervently hoped that the concoction he created for the eloquent mare would work and alleviate the strong pain she was feeling on her horn. He looked up at the mare, would she be able to heal herself, “Ma’am, I have a question and it may sound strange to you, but I am wondering, since you do have a unicorn horn and tail, can you heal yourself? Or is that not possible?”
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