Retreat did not stem the tide of injured that flowed into the newly set up healing tent in Neued, and Biroki's job only became more difficult as he managed the move and the patients and the prentices all at once. He was trying to delegate where he could so he didn't have to run around like a scorra with its head cut off, but it was still barely-controlled chaos.
It was a lull, though, and and he was finally able to take a breath and a break. He knew that the worst was still coming, that there were still injured trickling into the town. He would need his breath.
He waved the next patient... Alkidike? To a free bed. He wasn't paying attention just yet, though. He was thinking about the supplies, about the tired prentices and how they probably needed a break even more than he did, and he was also trying not to think about Zuri and how he hadn't seen her yet...
grasshopper Pie
Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 7:44 pm
At first, Bhima paid no mind to the medic. She nodded, clutching closed the wound on her arm, and sat on the cot. She was still bitter about retreat. The Oban would stroke their own egos and the natives were shamed with defeat. She'd have to try harder next time.
It was about then that her ruminations turned toward the Shifter. There were many of them here, but only one had warranted threats and a near-beating in recent memory. He looked different somehow, but there was no mistaking him.
She had sworn that her search would begin as soon as she could find him, and here he was.
"Biroki?" she asked, and then added: "I wouldn't have forgotten your name."
He had actually been thinking about another patient - a warrior of probably mixed heritage with a deep gash in her leg. It was a bad gash, and it threatened to disable the leg. He'd done some patch up with his magic, and he'd gotten her set up with some prentices, but he was just thinking that he needed to check on her when someone said his name.
He blinked blankly for a moment at the person as his brain shifted gears from professional to personal. It wasn't hard, once he'd gotten into the right mindset, to recognize the bald Alkidike - not many of those around - with the belligerent face. The one who'd threatened him.
Bhima. His face flickered with recognition, then with resigned fatigue. Why did he have to deal with her? Of all people?
His concentration shattered, he decided that since he was here and paying attention, he'd at least make the most of it and attend to her. "No." he sighed, "Y-you certainly remembered." He looked her over. "All right. What hurts." he said. He only saw a few splinter injuries - the handiwork of those great beasts? But perhaps she had troubles inside, injuries not visible on the outside?
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 9:55 am
"I'm fine," she insisted. While she was in some pain internally, she didn't feel as if anything had been broken. Bruises healed. "I just thought to could get a few stitches?"
She removed the hand from her upper arm to reveal a weeping wound. It wouldn't be life-threatening unless it was allowed to continue all night.
"I know that there are others who deserve more help. I have to ask you something. I won't take a minute." It was true. There were mothers and fathers here, brothers and sisters. She was only a stranger to most of Tendaji.
He was not a healer, but he was trained enough to handle minor things, and make the real healer's job easier. Stitches... he could definitely handle. He inspected her wound briefly before he got up and washed his hands in herb-treated heated water, finding a fresh thorn needle and thread.
He knelt back down, wiping the wound off with a magically-enhanced, warm, wt towel before threading the needle. "Ask me?" He heated the needle gently with his magic, "What?" what could an alkidike who he had barely met and who had basically threatened him possibly want to ask?
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:59 am
Bhima watched the Shifter prepare his needle and thread with slight trepidation. Should he decide to hurt her, it would be easy. She'd almost agree that she deserved it, although the jerk had certainly done his own amount of threatening. She winced only at the first pierce of flesh, though. Pain she could handle.
"A long time ago, in your settlement. Was there a girl named Hijil?" That was just about all she had to go on, besides physical appearance. It would be easy for her plans to fail here.
He held the wound together and began slowly, carefully threading it through her skin. He wasn't trying to cause her pain, but since she seemed like she could handle it, he was saving his magic and numbing slave for others - and there were others. He simply wanted to get the stitches just right, as perfect as he could manage, despite the chaos. That way, she was unlikely to re-injure herself.
He paused, looking up at her. "Hijil..." he said, thoughtfully, remembering, "Yes. She was Sara's daughter... I think." he said, remembering, vaguely, the crazy woman who had tried to attack him with a metal tube. The crazy woman who had been his uncle's friend. Of course, he didn't expect an alkidike stranger to know who sara was. It was ust a qualifier, a label. "I met her... once. Why do you ask?" he said, going back to careful stitching.
Posted: Thu May 01, 2014 10:43 am
Bhima's heart nearly stopped in her chest. The cold-hot rush of adrenaline bore its way down her arms.
She had been right, then. Hijil had come from the nearest Shifter settlement, the one she had wandered near not long ago. She hadn't remotely expected the beginning of her quest to be this simple.
"I'm looking for her," the alkidike said, giving a little hiss of pain and shaking her head to clear it away, "Is she still nearby?"
"Looking for her? Why?" Biroki was paying the alkidike a halfway-amount of attention - the stitches needed his focus. He was doing well with them, and he wanted to keep it that way. He threaded a few more stitches quietly.
Finally, he looked up, nearly done. "She doesn't live in Ast anymore." he said. He didn't know how he remembered - his mind must have been working on it subconciously. It had happened so long ago that Hijil had dissappeared, and it hadn't caused much of a stir. She and her mother had kept to themselves, so it was mostly just something new to talk about for a week or so. Only Reshel had cared.
"She disappeared several years ago, so if you'r looking for her, y-you might not find her..." he said, gravely turning back to his stitches. He finished, tying it off with a practiced knot. He looked over his handiwork quietly and, satisfied, stood up to get a bit of salve to put on the wound. The stitches would hold it together, but having it actually heal properly was important. "Anyway, if you ask about her, don't believe the rumors..." he said thoughtfully, checking the jars of salve for the one he wanted, "They're, uh..." he frowned. Did he need to restock that salve? "exaggerated."
Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 6:04 pm
Bhima's brow furrowed and her lips parted to scold the Shifter. What did it matter to him why she was after Hijil? She scolded herself mentally for preparing to chastise the only person yet who had had any information. Luckily, he continued and quelled the wrinkles in Bhima's forehead.
"I didn't expect it to be easy," she responded, her voice grave for a moment, "but I have to try." Her eyes turned up to the Shifter while her mind drifted away from pain, toward the journey before her.
"Do you have any idea where she might have gone? Even the direction she ran." Rumors? Something terrible had happened, then, but she may very well still be alive.
3 ways this can go, because I really want the credit razz We can stretch this conversation out. OR we can have her sqeeze info out of him and then timeskip to him and Reshel in Ast when shes talking to them. Or whatever you are a better writer than I am.
Well, there was one more jar of the stuff, which meant yes, he needed to restock. He'd go do that in a little bit.
As for the Alkidike... He felt sorry for her, despite their previous encounter. He had no idea why she sought a shifter. Nobody had seen hide or hair of Hijil. Most had assumed that she had killed her mother and ran away into the jungle, and then died out there. Jahuar was deadly for the unprepared and alone, and she had been young when she had disappeared. Too young, anyway. She was probably already dead.
He'd acknowledged it, felt a little bad about it, and forgotten about it long ago.
Unless... His eyes widened as he prepared to open the jar. What if the Alkidike Bhima was seeking Hijil to kill her?! What if her dead was what she wanted? What if he had somehow become involved in some sorrt of grand quest for vengeance?! He calmed himself down - not too hard, all told. It was a stupid idea. He'd met Hijil once, and she hadn't seemed like a person that would involve revenge. Then again... he'd only met her once.
He gently applied some of the salve to the stitched wound. Finally, he spoke. "No. Nobody knows where she went." he said carefully, "Their home was on the outskirts of the settlement, with jungle all around..." He sat back on his haunches. "Again. Why are you looking for her?" he asked neutrally. His curiousity had been piqued, now, and wasn't going to leave him be.
Posted: Tue May 06, 2014 10:43 am
Bhima's jaw worked with emotion and stress. She would give anything to avoid this conversation, especially with someone she did not quite consider a friend. She would have worried the same if someone came to her looking for a long-gone sister, though. With a deep steeling breath, her eyes rolled up to Biroki again.
"We were good friends years ago," she replied. It was not so much a lie as a half-truth, so she could stand for it. "When she disappeared... if she disappeared... I just. I need to find her again. I need closure."
Even if it was to find a body in the woods, she needed something. She had looked amongst the ranks of soldiers to no avail. Hijil would be here, she knew she would... so had she missed her in the battle? Or, more likely, was she already dead?
"Does any of her family still live in Ast?" It was a desperate grasp for information, but absolutely everything was a possible clue.
Good friends, huh... He thought about that for a moment.
He'd never thought of her as ever having friends, which was sad. But she had just never been talkative and it had been rare that him - or anybody - saw her in the town proper at any time of day or night. If the Alkidike was telling the truth, that was very good.
He had only met her once, but he would wish her mother on nobody. He was glad that she'd potentially had someone else to support her.
He felt a little guilty that he hadn't tried to talk to her after he'd met her, but her mother had scared him so much... mmm...
"All right." he said, "I'll tell you what I know. No, she has no f-family in Ast. None that ever achknowledged her, to my knowledge." which was odd, because hadn't her father been from Ast? Or was he remembering his rumors wrong? "Her mother was it. And... Well. Thats the problem." he stood, busying himself with washing his hands, "She's dead."
Aside from the obvious complications and rumors surrounding the madwoman's death, Biroki wasn't sure if he felt comfortable talking about Sara at all. He still remembered that pipe, and the wild look in her eyes, and how utterly afraid he'd been.
"L-look." he said, drying his hands, "I honestly don't know much about Hijil, but my uncle... Reshel... He might. He had more contact with them than anybody..." he trailed off, unsure what he was offering. If anything at all.
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 12:28 pm
"Ah." Bhima nodded, a bit disappointed. She had known a story or two about Hijil's mother, about her life back home. It wasn't much, but it was enough to know that it hadn't been a pleasant experience for the girl. It was a good thing that Bhima wasn't going to be dealing with the woman. She'd certainly have had a few choice words.
"Could you bring me to him? Or tell me where he lives, at least?" She wasn't sure how well-received a full Alkidike would be in Ast, especially asking questions about someone who apparently grew rumors. Still, she couldn't give up. Who knew how much time she had?
In Ast, those of shifter blood were welcomed. If you had enough shifter in you to look like a shifter or therabouts, you had no problem. Half shifters who didn't needed a little help, but they could be accepted. Eventually.
But a fullblooded Alkidike? Unlikely. Thus, he couldnt' just tell her where Reshel lived. Not only would she likely get hopelessly lost in the understory-and-canopy settlement, but nobody would want to help her out very much. He sighed. He couldn't, in good faith, leave her on her own.
"I'll take you there." he said finally. "I wont be going home for a while though." though he would have to eventually, "Not until things are more settled here."
