Private Tales Our Blessings and Our Burdens

[Melek Ishikal]

THE WAR COLLEGE​

Melek Ishikal sat on a bed in the War College's infirmary. Injuries did occur from time to time, as of course they would in any institute whose purpose was martial and military in nature, but this was not why Melek was here. And as it happened, this was not the first time she had been in the infirmary either.

Una Farajal, one of the physicians, had become more than merely an acquaintance. Mighty mercy, Melek regarded her as something of an aunt now! And Una was nice! She did nothing to dissuade Melek's familiarity and friendliness.

Now Una had her parchment with Melek's notes, and sat on a stool next to the bed. Melek couldn't help but to take keen interest in the pen Una used to write with: dwarven made, sturdy, but with an embellishment of silver at its top. A beautiful piece, and a study in craftsmanship.

"And so there was no pain when Assistant Instructor Elissal used her magic around you?"

Melek shook her head in small, measured motions. And even though she felt familiar with Una, still she spoke quietly. "No, Una-gazi. No pain."

Una smiled—and Melek smiled back. "Just for the sake of diligence, I must ask: your eyes grew brighter when the Assistant Instructor used her magic, yes?"

"Yes. I can tell when it happens." Melek gave it an earnest thought then, touching a forefinger to her chin and looking upward. She clarified then, saying a bit sheepishly, "...most of the time."

"Okay," said Una, and made a note of that. "But let's return to the sensation. The Assistant Instructor's magic did not make you feel pain. What did it make you feel?"

Melek flushed red, and her cheeks puffed up with her bashful smile. "Oh...it tickled."

"It tickled?"

Melek giggled, for in this case she found the effect of her disease a bit comical. "Yes. It was weird. And when I burst out laughing, I, um...I think I left Assistant Instructor Elissal bewildered. She didn't know what to do." And this, remembering the queer look Nemeska-gazi had on her face, goodness, remembering it now made Melek giggle even more.

Una smiled again and said, "I believe someone may have forgotten to brief her on your condition."

Una went on to ask Melek more questions: the usual series of questions to see if there was anything different from Melek's previous answers, and some new questions specific to this occurence. All-in-all, a routine visit to the infirmary. Routine! Before enrolling into the War College, Melek had never seen anyone about her condition. Not truly. Only when she was little, when first it manifested in her eyes, did her parents take her to Gild, worried for her, and it was determined that she did not have magic and did not need to become a Penitent. But that was that.

A slight break in the routine followed at the end, however.

Una said, "Melek, I'm going to refer you to a friend of mine—a friend recently made, as it happens. She is very knowledgeable, and I hope she can shed some light on your condition. Maybe, even prescribe to you a remedy to help alleviate or mitigate the pain."

"Oh! Una-gazi, what is her name?"

Una, after finishing writing a small note to give to Melek, smiled to her and said: "Tera Lynx."

Tera Lynx

 

[Tera Lynx]

"Thanks! Please come again!"
The bell on the front door to the apothecary rang as Tera called after her most recent clients in a bright and cheery voice! only to suddenly wish she hadn't said that given her profession as a doctor and healer.
She groaned at herself, wishing she could take it back and tried to think up a better way to bid her clientele a fond farewell.

The apothecary, the "Cleansing Sun", had three rooms.
The first being the main shop and the front door. It contained rows of shelves full of carefully organized and labeled bottles and bags of medicinal cures and treatments.
Through the door at the back of the shop was the examination room. It contained several beds and tables where patients would come to rest and receive specialized treatments. Also lining the walls were shelves containing books, a few more for medicines less appropriate for common use, and clean bedclothes.
Through the final door was her office, a cramped affair with a desk, chair and a cot, and a locked chest containing official documents.
Since this was a small practice apothecary she didn't have a lot of capacity or the means to keep patients here, so she often made house calls for patients that needed to be bedridden.

She hummed as she prepared her shop for her next clients, cleaning her examination tools and changing the sheets on the bed where a young boy with a broken finger recently sat.
Over her years of living in Gild it has been Tera's goal to improve the general health of her community, to promote cleanliness and proper hygiene among the commonfolk.
A neighbor just beside the Cleansing Sun, an elderly woman with a kindly spirit, happily includes Tera's needs in with her load of laundry, especially since Tera introduced to the woman a fabric softener that she invented that seemed to rejuvenate the fabric as well as eliminate common lices and parasites that made their homes in the fabric.
This fabric softener wasn't approved by the Church of Jura, it was a simple home remedy that she didn't intend to produce in mass yet, but in case the church came around she had the formula well documented so they could see no magic was involved.

She did need an assistant, to aid her during intense operations when she needs something brought quickly, but it wasn't an absolute necessity yet. She made up for the lack of help with good preparation beforehand, so she always had what she needed!

_________________________________________________​

After she finished cleaning up, she went back into the shop and opened her business ledger and produced the file that contained the names and treatments of the boy and his family.
Marking down the sale of the treatment for a minor broken bone in one book while recording the incident and the treatment in the patient's personal file.
As it was such a minor and common injury, the price for treatment was not high at all and only set the family back a few sikke.

Again, she started humming, just to fill the silence of the small building as she worked diligently. She was expecting a few clients to come in later after the working hours and laborers came in from the fields, but she could also expect walk-ins at any given moment given the manyfold needs of the community as the day goes on.

After a while she began tapping her quill absently, dry of ink as her mind wandered, going back to an old but increasingly relevant topic that she's devoted her life to studying... Disease, plague, infection... The silent killers, the invisible enemies.
When she lived in Belgrath they had magical devices that could see them... These little bugs too small to see with the naked eye, that got into your body and attacked it like evil little imps.
Unfortunately, such a device could never find its way to Gild, but she made do when she commissioned an artificer to make a compact telescope that could be fitted with multiple and a variety of lenses so that, under the proper lighting, she could see those little imps with her own eyes to study them and find out how to kill them.

She'd already had success in this mission, and it made her one of the preeminent in virology in all of Gild.
This earned her the recognition of the state and of the church of Jura, so she also now serves as a consultant whenever they are in need of an expert in her field.
Still... The enemy was ever changing and... she couldn't forget those she failed to save.
She couldn't rest until they've been avenged.

The ring of the front doorbell woke her from her thoughts. She set the quill down, returning the files to their folders and looked up with a bright smile at the new client.
"Welcome to the Cleansing Sun! What can I help you with today?"

 

[Melek Ishikal]

Melek departed from the War College, passed through the Krala Ait, and walked now through Gild proper.

Even having lived in the Kingdom's capital for some five years now, still Melek marveled at the size of the city—and to think that other cities in the world, like Belgrath, Alliria, or Bhathairk were even larger boggled her mind! She felt small before the large buildings and their large doors. So many buildings had doors ten feet in height! This was not so Bayat, for there were no ogres who lived in the town (but maybe that would come to change, as Bayat rebuilt after its sacking in the Ommite War).

And speaking of ogres! Mighty mercy, their sheer size and mass never failed to impress Melek. Why, she could clearly remember the very first time she had come to Gild—when her parents had taken her to the Temple of the Everburning Flame—how she simply stared in frozen amazement at the first ogre she saw. The ogre noticed her staring. But he merely smiled and laughed in a jovial way, and he had asked her, "Do you want to see the world from up here?" Melek looked to her parents. Ma and Pa both said it was alright. And then the ogre knelt down and gently scooped her up and sat her on one big shoulder and followed Ma and Pa to the Temple before there setting her back down.

Melek would never forget it, nor the name of the ogre himself: Mogrin Dhuumal.

This was but one of the seemingly endless wonders to find in Gild. Melek did always enjoy her courier journeys to Gild when she was younger, what few she had done anyway. Mostly she knew her way around the city not from her time living in the orphanage, not primarily that, but by remembering various homes to which she had delivered letters. Oh, down that lane will be the Junnals; oh, down that street will be Ankarals. There lives Osman, the leatherworker who wrote to his daughter out in the villages about her elder sister; there lives Erlina, who distilled raki and wanted to invite a friend of hers in Bayat to try some. Far more than particular streets or big landmarks did these memories serve as the guide for Melek through the city.

And it was by such a reckoning that she found the Cleansing Sun. Una had of course given her directions, but Melek made the realization in her mind that, Oh! That's simply up the street from Unnar-gazi's home! He was kind, but a bit lonely, for he was elder and had outlived many friends.

Melek double-checked the outside sign, and then, satisfied but still a bit nervous, pushed open the front door and stepped inside. She clutched with both hands the note Una had written, and had it pressed to her breast as though it alone were some ward against imminent illness or misfortune.

Even though the woman's greeting to her was kind and welcoming, Melek shyly had her eyes cast down and head slightly bowed, and she looked even smaller than her tiny stature might usually be. She spoke quietly and slowly, but her shyness did not lead her to stammering.

"Um...salt and silver, friend," said Melek, giving the polite salutation of Gild. "I am Quaestor Melek Ishikal, and I was told to come here to the Cleansing Sun. Might...you be Tera Lynx?"

Tera Lynx

 

[Tera Lynx]

Even though the woman's greeting to her was kind and welcoming, Melek shyly had her eyes cast down and head slightly bowed, and she looked even smaller than her tiny stature might usually be. She spoke quietly and slowly, but her shyness did not lead her to stammering.

"Um...salt and silver, friend," said Melek, giving the polite salutation of Gild. "I am Quaestor Melek Ishikal, and I was told to come here to the Cleansing Sun. Might...you be Tera Lynx?"

Such a shy and demure girl for a Quaestor! Tera barely concealed her gushing grin over how adorable this sprig of a girl was!
If she remembered correctly, a Quaestor was a Preator in training, or something close to a squire.
After putting away her business books she walked around the counter and stood before Melek, smiling at her reassuringly.

"Evet! I am she. Doctor Tera Lynx, but please call me Tera!"
She gave the girl a cursory look over, trying to see if she could identify the issue on her own but she seemed to be in perfect health.
The girl obviously got a reference from somewhere, judging by the crumpled paper, but that didn't narrow down the options much. Professionally she knew of several people who served as doctors and apothecaries in the military.

... But, if she looked at the evidence at hand, she had a Preator in training that showed no signs of physical injury, which could have been easily handled by the medics on staff at the War College anyways. Preators are people gifted in the use of anti-magical techniques recruited by the military, a naturally occurring ability amongst many Gildan's and a phenomenon that she'd only recently began studying.
These abilities often took many different shapes and manifested in many different ways, similar in some ways to sorcerers who inherit their magical abilities naturally or are gifted with magic from the day of their birth. Magic always complicates things, and magical ailments were an unfortunate eventuality of magical lineages.

From all of that evidence she could deduce... Nothing really, magic was a world of possibility and unknowns and that was her main reason for not relying on it for her medical practice, aside from the fact that she lacked any magical ability or skill.
As a medical professional she couldn't ignore the effectiveness of the other lands using magic to heal injuries and ailments instantaneously, like her home in Belgrath... But she also couldn't ignore her own findings of the various ill side-effects caused by such convenient methods, or the fact that not everyone had access to this mysterious force and the common people's quality of life had to improve with or without magic.

"How can I help you today, Melek-Gazi? I notice you have a reference; may I see it?"

 

[Melek Ishikal]

A welcome such as the one from Doctor Tera helped allay the shyness, the nervousness, of a new interaction. Always was Melek like this, save for when she had done work as a courier, and she could deliver—

How can I help you today, Melek-Gazi? I notice you have a reference; may I see it?

O-Oh! Wait. But this was something like being a courier! Different in its ultimate purpose, to be sure, to be sure, but...still there was a delivery to be made, wasn't there? Save instead of the letter pertaining to one of Doctor Tera's friends or family, it just so happened to be about Melek herself.

And at this realization Melek brightened, her smile small and bashful still, but in her eyes there lay an unmistakable comfort.

"Yes, Doctor Tera." She had in her sudden realization, however, forgotten Tera's preference for lax formalities. "It is from Una Farajal, of the War College. She believes your expertise may be able to help me, and to come to a better understanding of my condition."

Melek offered the note, and it read as follows:

Tera,

I am sending Quaestor Melek Ishikal to you to tap into your wealth of knowledge. She has, I am told, had a certain condition since a young age, but I am unable to determine what, for the traits of this disease are queer indeed.

— Her eyes are discolored red. I would have thought Arcanochromia, as one sees in many Penitents, but: she does not have magic, and, strangely, her eyes glow in the presence of magic. Odd.

— In addition to her eyes glowing, nearby magic also elicits various sensations in Melek. Mostly it is hurts and pains, but it can be other things. I fear this may come to affect her Quaestor training, and eventually her Praetor duties.

Melek can tell you more. And thank you for your help!

Your friend,
Una


p.s. Does raki on Feiringsday, or Titheday, sound good?​

Tera Lynx

 

[Tera Lynx]

A welcome such as the one from Doctor Tera helped allay the shyness, the nervousness, of a new interaction. Always was Melek like this, save for when she had done work as a courier, and she could deliver—

How can I help you today, Melek-Gazi? I notice you have a reference; may I see it?

O-Oh! Wait. But this was something like being a courier! Different in its ultimate purpose, to be sure, to be sure, but...still there was a delivery to be made, wasn't there? Save instead of the letter pertaining to one of Doctor Tera's friends or family, it just so happened to be about Melek herself.

And at this realization Melek brightened, her smile small and bashful still, but in her eyes there lay an unmistakable comfort.

"Yes, Doctor Tera." She had in her sudden realization, however, forgotten Tera's preference for lax formalities. "It is from Una Farajal, of the War College. She believes your expertise may be able to help me, and to come to a better understanding of my condition."

Una... Tera nodded to herself, she remembered Una Farajal from her last consultation at the War College. In spite of Tera's passion for medicine and lack of social literacy, she and Una hit it off and became well acquainted.
Yes, Tera put on a cheerful and sociable front but only because it was part of being a good doctor. If she couldn't get her patients to trust her, she couldn't very well be a good doctor.
But that was the extent of her social skills, that and being able to give scientific presentations in front of a crowd.

All of her skills were almost exclusively in the pursuit of her medical practice, but Una was adept enough to find a common ground with Tera and go beyond a mere professional acquaintance.
Tera accepted the reference and adjusted her glasses while she scanned it quickly.

Melek offered the note, and it read as follows:

Tera,

I am sending Quaestor Melek Ishikal to you to tap into your wealth of knowledge. She has, I am told, had a certain condition since a young age, but I am unable to determine what, for the traits of this disease are queer indeed.

— Her eyes are discolored red. I would have thought Arcanochromia, as one sees in many Penitents, but: she does not have magic, and, strangely, her eyes glow in the presence of magic. Odd.

— In addition to her eyes glowing, nearby magic also elicits various sensations in Melek. Mostly it is hurts and pains, but it can be other things. I fear this may come to affect her Quaestor training, and eventually her Praetor duties.

Melek can tell you more. And thank you for your help!

Your friend,
Una


p.s. Does raki on Feiringsday, or Titheday, sound good?​

Tera nodded as she went over each point, absorbing the information for later use.
She hummed.

Turning her attention back to Melek she folded the letter.
"Very well, I will need to remember to write a response for her before you leave. But for now, will you follow me to the next room?"
Assuming her assent, Tera turned and led the way to the next room where the bed is set up.
She'd then direct Melek to remove any weapons and armor and any restrictive clothing and sit on the bed. Tera would go to her satchel and prepare her examination tools.

"Alright, Una-Gazi tells me you have a condition that's causing you some discomfort, related to magic? If you don't mind, can you please elaborate? She's mentioned some of your symptoms when exposed to magic, such as your eyes changing pigmentation and experiencing a variety of physical sensations."

Tera prepared a few tests to run on Melek. In the absence of magical items or a spell or a penitent, she couldn't exactly observe her affliction herself. In her letter she might include a request for War College clearance to conduct such a test.
Instead, she prepared to examine her eyes for any anomalies that might indicate a magical influence or presence.
She prepared several other physical tests to find any other anomalies in her physiology, magic always left a mark, always. If she's being injured by the presence of magic in any way due to a special sensitivity or allergy, Tera was sure she could find that at the very least without seeing it in action for herself.