Elendor
Arguing again
Frarin and Thari get to bickering at the Beorning infirmiry and poor Hildis is caught in the middle
Sort Date: no date set
Location: Infirmiry, Beorning Village
Game Date: Day 30 of August 3046
IC Time: Morning
Description: ** Real time is: Sun Apr 12 11:13:52 2009, GMT -8 **
Elendor time is: Mid Afternoon (1500) on Hevensday, Day 30 of August 3046.
In the Summer sky, Tonight the moon will be waxing gibbous.
Infirmary
Upon entering this room, one's first impression is that it is small, immediately changed upon further examination. It is the amount of objects in here that creates this pleasant illusion. There are two lines of cots down either side of the wall, terminating at the far wall, where there is a room concealed by a long curtain. In the far right corner, there is a small hearth that provides heat for both cooking and for warming the room. Opposite the hearth on the far wall is a long cabinet and table with marked drawers and shelves, obviously meant for storing herbs and medicines for those who are treated here. The room is lit during the day through the large windows on both sides of the door, granting a fine view of the outside.
Contents:
Thari
Obvious exits:
Back Room and Out
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari and Hildis came in a few hours after everyone else, just as the more hale dwarves were about to go up to look for them. Once Hildis was settled into a cot, Thari located where Frarin was and collapsed into a chair nearby.
And that's where Thari is now. She hasn't slept very much since arriving-- every sound seems to awaken her and she hobbles frequently around to check on wounded dwarves, using the beds as support to keep from using her right leg much. Just now though, as the morning comes, she is in the chair again beside Frarin's bed, looking filthy in the morning light.
[Frarin] Frarin does not perhaps look much better than Thari. He lays with a stack of pillows propped up behind him to make viewing the room easier without having to jostle broken ribs. His left arm is swathed in bandages and held fast in a split that runs all the way from his shoulder to his wrist. His shoulder is liked excessively be-bandaged and he looks pudgy with the bandages that circle his chest. Only the fingers of his left hand protrude from the swirl of white cloth and these are a sickly purple. They are, however, at least straight again.
Frarin sleeps, but sweat beads thick upon his brow and on his cheeks. His face seems to have been dabbed clean by some healer, such that the dirt and blood is most gone. He moves abruptly in his sleep, his head rolling.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari jerks her head up at the sound of Frarin's hair on his pillow and looks over at her husband. Someone else tended to him before she got here, but they must have bandaged him well enough because she hasn't fussed with that yet. She leans over now and rests her hand on his brow.
[Frarin] Beneath Thari's hand, Frarin's brow burns as beads of sweat roll down into his closed eyes. But though a fever no doubt rages, it could certainly be worse. The worst of the damage from the troll club seems to have been limited to his extremities.
The silversmith shifts again when Thari's hand presses against his brow. And then, after a second, one eye flickers open. The other follows after a few moments. His gaze is glassy and blank as his focus takes some time to kick in.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Mahal." Thari's hand is removed and she stands. She leans against Frarin's bed, disturbing the grass-stuffed mattress, and hobbles to the foot, where a basin on a table awaits. A cloth is dampened, and soon she is lurching back toward the head.
[Frarin] Frarin's eyes open only wide enough for a half-lidded stare and slowly his gaze sharpens. But even as it fixes briefly on Thari as she lurches for the end of the bed, the silversmith suddenly groans and scrunches his eyes shut again as if to curse himself for having woken up. His head rolls. "Oh by Durin," he curses messily, words still slurred with drowsiness. Eyes still screwed shut, his unharmed right arm moves, his palm pressing against his brow.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari sits on the edge of his cot and reaches up to try to tug his hand away from his brow and replace it with a cool cloth. "Stop it, stop it," she says in a terse way. "I'm not giving you medicine yet."
Hildis arrives from outside.
Hildis has arrived.
[Frarin] "Like I would take it," Frarin grunts irritatingly. He drops his hand and his eyes flicker open with that same annoyed expression. He lets Thari dab at his brow, but after a moment lines bunch there and his good hand clenches into a fist, which he weakly punches at the side of his cot. "Damnit," he growls faintly to himself.
[Thari(#31038)]
"I wouldn't brook one bit of argument from you, Frarin Forlisson," Thari says in her terse way. She leave the cloth folded on his brow and reaches for his fist. "Stop that. What is it? You're just fine."
[Hildis(#23062)] The dammit wakes Hildis who has slept fitfully since they arrived. She opens one reluctant eye turning her head with the care of someone who has a headache.
"What?" she croaks from a parched throat. She tries to shift her position with great care. Her bandaged and splinted arm encumbers her and she grits her teeth.
[Frarin] "Oh hush, I'm not arguing with you, am I?" Frarin grunts back gruffly, the irritation in his voice building. "Bloody broken bones, aren't they? And another wretched few weeks cooped up in another wretched infirmiry. By Durin!" Though his voice wavers now and again, and sometimes falters when he accidently shifts his left side and winces, he nonetheless seems to have lost none of his ability to grumble. Only when he hears Hildis' croak in the cot beside him does the silversmith halt his complaining. He awkwardly turns his head to look at her.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's deep laugh starts at Frarin's complaints, building up in volume and making others stir. The healer pushes her hand into his hair atop his head for a little while. Her laughter dies with her smile as Hildis speaks and she turns her head toward the other maid.
A glance at Frarin, and Thari pushes herself up again, shifting toward Hildis's bed. "Would you like a drink?" she asks cheerfully. "Let me look at you, and then I think I can get some mead for you."
[Hildis(#23062)] "Mead, yes. I'd let you rebreak it for something wet. And some food. Now, I'm hungry though my head..." She stops herself when she gets a good look at Frarin.
[Frarin] Frarin glares helplessly at Thari as the healer laughs, then he waves at her at her with a snort. "Easy for you to laugh, I've spent months of my life confined to a bloody bed because of some wretched troll. Oh Durin." After he finishes his rant though, his good hand presses gently at his ribs, then fingers his be-swathed shoulder. There are enough bandages that he could probably use it as another pillow if he want.
But he does not. Still fingering the bandages experimentally, he rolls his head to look at Hildis again. "How are you, lad? he says when he notices the merchant looking at him. All grumble is gone from his tone.
[Hildis(#23062)] "Lad is it now?" she asks with a raised eyebrow and a quick look around the infirmary. "Might say I am better than you though truth be told, I'm not sure." She creaks a smile at him that makes her wince and settle her head back into the pillow with a sigh.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Now Hildis, don't take offense at the 'lad,' you are a good bit younger than Master Frarin." Thari touches Hildis's brow very gently, careful to avoid her wound. "You do look better. Frarin, do you remember that time I had suffered those head wounds? Hildis looks better than I did, doesn't he? I wasn't quite aware at the time," Thari explains in an aside to Hildis.
[Hildis(#23062)] She grumbles sotto voce to Thari, "Well, a lass might be better, didn't know we ...anyway. I do? Look better?" She closes her eyes a moment then opens them tentatively. "Don't think I feel better. So, ah, what happened? I don't remember."
[Frarin] "I'm not -that- old," Frarin grumbles, looking at the ceiling and ceasing to finger his bandages. When Hildis replies though, the silversmith turns quickly to look at her. The unexpected movement earns him a grimace, but he murmurs sharply, "Hildis, hush!" He waves his good hand around the room, specifically towards the back room. "You can't possibly know who might be listening."
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari leans over Hildis and shifts a little, around the corners of the eyes and the press of her lips. 'He is trying to protect you,' she says in silent sign-language. 'Someone guessed my secret in Bree and he wouldn't have a thing to do with me for a month afterwards.'
"Frarin, come now, you're not that old, but you haven't told me what you think of how Master Hildis looks." Her quick grey eyes go back to Frarin. "And don't move so suddenly. You might hurt yourself." Which is quite something for her to say, considering her pant leg is still saturated with plenty of dried blood.
[Hildis(#23062)] "He is old," Hildis mutters with a mischievious smile that costs a wince. "But he's right. Again. Ranol told me a bit about that, you had the luck with you and Frarin."
The merchant focuses for a moment on Thari and squints. "Who is taking care of the caretaker, I wonder?
[Frarin] "Aye, aye," Frarin grumbles," rolling his eyes as if sarcastically agreeing with Hildis. But he does at least look back at her with more seriousness, appraising her from afar. "Aye," he says after a moment. "You'll do fine, Hildis lad. Took a blow to the head, did you? One of the goblins or that bloody troll?"
At the younger merchant's question to Thari, however, Frarin looks sharply at the healer. "Thari? What happened?" His eyes flick to her trouser leg for the first time. "Oh for Durin's sake," he grumbles, attempting to push himself up on his good elbow. His teeth clench as he does so. "Sit down, you fool dwarf. Have you been fussing over everyone else without a second to mind yourself again?"
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's red-rimmed eyes flick between Hildis and Frarin. "Frarin usually looks after me," she answers Hildis, "but this time I was lucky and he hadn't noticed yet." She is grumbling, as if wishing Hildis hadn't brought it to Frarin's attention. "I'll sit down in a moment, after I get Master Hildis a drink."
Thari starts hopping toward the ends of the beds again, not using her right leg at all. "I did stop and stitch myself up on the way down with Hildis. I tried to use your hammer as a crutch as you do, Frarin, and the thing was nearly useless with how heavy it is!"
[Hildis(#23062)] "Well, I was wondering that myself." Fingers explore the bandage covering his brow as he listens to the two of them grumble at one another. "Anyone seen my helmet? Think it was the troll. I've had some strange dreams. Flying and such. I don't fancy flying."
Frowning Hildis watches Thari one-leg-it around the infirmary. "We need more healers from the look of it. And you carried me?"
[Frarin] Frarin almost smirks at Thari's comment about his war hammer. "It is not, it just takes some getting accustomed to. I've a lighter one I picked up off a goblin on the High Pass some weeks ago, use that as a crutch if you fancy." The silversmith looks back to Hildis, smiling faintly, but clearly tired. "You probably -did- fly, if it was the troll. I certainly did." As if reminded of it, he frowns unhappily at the sight of his purple mottled fingers protruding from his bandages. Tentatively, he touches them, snorting again at the unhappy prospect of broken bones.
[Thari(#31038)]
"No, I didn't carry you you walked down fine. We were both a bit slow." Thari rests her right toe on the ground while pouring golden liquid from a pitcher into a mug. "I'm glad you don't remember much, or you wouldn't like me from when I splinted your bones and fixed your elbow."
Carefully, slowly, Thari makes the trip back toward the beds with a full mug and neither leg really working well. "Frarin, stop fiddling with your wounds," she snaps, brow furrowed in concentration. "You'll make yourself heal wrong and I'll have someone else rebreak your bones, you just see if I won't."
[Frarin] Frarin looks up with a dry expression, but stops touching his fingers. Instead he points at Thari. "Then you stop tramping about like a spring daisy and find yourself a bed to lie in for a bit. Besides, if this bloody thing knits back together without flaw, it'll be a miracle anyhow." He glares at his arm and hand as if they are offending additions to his otherwise uninjured body.
[Hildis(#23062)] "Set my elbow? Oh oh. I walked fine?" the merchant shakes his head in disbelief. "Good thing I wasn't myself, I guess. Uh, he's right you know. You need to rest." He ripples his purpled fingers surreptitiously and sighs.
"Thari is good you know." He gives Frarin a quick look then puts an innocent expression on.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari manages to get near enough to set the mug on the table near enough for Hildis to reach with her good hand. Her lips are pressed shut and her eyes are on fire. She turns to Frarin's bed and braces her fists against the mattress, her livid face several inches away from the silversmith's.
"When your hip was set I was not the one who did that work," she says in a low, hard and brittle voice. "And if you think I can do no better then I will leave you to the Beornings! I had no idea you thought I was no better at dwarven healing than a weak Breefolk girl!"
[Hildis(#23062)] Hildis grabs the mug pretending that the only two dwarves about that he trusts and relies on are not having fight. "Ahhhh, I was thirsty. I could eat a mine car of food. A barrel. A wheel barrel. Just give me a shovel." He sneaks at glance at the two.
[Frarin] "Oh stop!" Frarin growls back at Thari, giving as well as he gets. He does keep his voice low, but only just. "If you take every word I say defensively, then I won't say another." He holds up his good hand, wiggling the fingers in front of Thari's livid face. "But if you think every single bone in a hand will knit together properly after being smashed right well, then you have another thing coming." Hildis, alas, is ignored.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari jerks away from Frarin, standing up straight and quivering. "That... that.." she splutters. She puts her fists on her hips and blinks quickly up at the ceiling, taking deep breaths. "'Thank you, Thari, for working so hard and looking after me. I know you've got a long road ahead of you with little sleep but I always rest well knowing you're here.' I'm going to pretend you're saying that instead of the rubbish that keeps coming out of your mouth on accident, because if I hear that you think I can't do it, why should I bother to try?"
[Hildis(#23062)] Hildis is not a small dwarf. He could pretend to be a moderate sized boulder on someone's path. But he tries his best to disappear under the covers as the two go after one another hammer and tongs. One eye peaks over the top of the cover, the splinted arm and puffy fingers still. He starts to speak but thinks better of it and sighs noisily.
[Frarin] "Oh for Durin's sake!" Frarin mutters with an annoyed, exasperated snort that makes him clutch his ribs briefly. "Will you stop, please? Surprise you as it might, not every word out of my mouth is aimed as direct insult at you. I mention one little possibility, one pragmatic consideration, and you jump. Did I -say- don't try? Did I -say- it was useless to hope? Did I bloody -say- you're a rubbish healer with no hope of leaving me anything but a cripple? NO. NO, I -didn't-. And I didn't imply it either, so sit down and stop working yourself up." Teeth clenched, he waves at Hildis, then mutters, "For his sake, if not mine."
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari sits herself down between the two beds and glares up at the ceiling. She folds her arms tight over her beard. After a while, she grits out, "'m sorry Hildis."
[Hildis(#23062)] The eye disappears at the mention of his name. "Oh, boy am I in for it now," he whispers under the covers but he risks a look out after a moment. The sound of Thari's voice brings another green eye out. "Oh, well. It's alright, Thari. I think you're a great healer. We all know you are. It's just...you know how one worries."
[Frarin] Had Frarin the use of both his arms, he would likely be crossing them just as severely as Thari is. As it is though, he simply crosses his right arm over his chest to clutch lightly at his broken ribs and adopts a glowering stare at the far wall. Eyes flick towards Hildis when the merchant answers Thari and Frarin grunts something to the effect of 'Mmhmm' into his beard before looking silently ahead again.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Oh, yes," Thari answers Hildis with a roll of the eye. "Many'd be glad to be related to one of the better healers around as he is, but you know," another exaggerated eyeroll, "daft old curmugeon like he is." Her voice lowers and she doesn't take one glance at Frarin, speaking only to Hildis. "Can't tell you how many times he's been hit in the head. Every day I'm thankful that he's speaking straight, to tell you the truth. It's his thick skull that's saved him, you know."
[Hildis(#23062)] The green eyes widen and Hildis suppresses a sigh which must hurt from the grimace that crosses his face. But bravely or stupidly he answers in a gentle voice. "Then it must be a Barazin thing, the hard heads. I survived. You won't like to hear this Thari but I think you need a rest. We want to go back and get that troll, right?" He swallows and then grabs the remains of the mead and finishes it.
[Frarin] Frarin scowls at the far wall as Thari rants about him as if he were invisible. Only when Hildis speaks does he look back towards the two, nodding once sharply at the merchant's suggestion that Thari take some rest. Then, looking away again, the silversmith mutters into his beard, "Leave Hildis alone, Thari. If you want to shout at me, then at least wait until others are sleeping instead of dragging them into it." Then, with a snort, he turns as best he can to his left. But with his arm and should so thickly wrapped, he only manages to turn the back of his head to the other two.
[Thari(#31038)]
"No we do not want to go back after the troll!" Thari says incredulously while turning her head to glare at Frarin as if trolls are a particular habit of his. She lowers her voice and speaks to her husband. "You're the one who dragged her into it. A fine suggestion, shouting while everyone is sleeping. Hopefully the pillows that would get thrown at us would all be aimed at -your- head." She then falls silent, spending a little while watching him as he is turned away.
[Frarin] Frarin's head snaps back around when Thari refers to Hildis. "Shh!" he hisses, looking fair livid. He doesn't directly reply to Thari's comments, but he does jab a finger in the air at her. "Go to bed before you lose all sense, Thari," he whispers urgently, glowering.
[Hildis(#23062)] "I'm sleepy," Hildis announces. "Just tired. I want Ranol," he adds plaintively. He can't roll but shuts his eyes firmly.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari rolls her eyes and sighs, but does stand up. "Don't say that about Ranol, Hildis," she says, but then makes a hypocrite of herself by running her hand over the livid Frarin's hair. She hobbles to a cot further up the line and lays down.
[Frarin] Frarin is still brooding as Thari finally relents to take some rest and even when she runs her hand through his hair, he is still, glowering at the far wall. "Sleep well," is all he mutters into his beard. But only when he steals a glance at Thari and is certain her eyes are closed does the silversmith suddenly visibly relax, his good shoulder slumping as if released from tension and his face loosening as if winded. But he says nothing, leaning back against his pillow. It is a long time though before his eyes close.
[Hildis(#23062)] One eye opens, green as agate and eyes the two of them. A wistful smile pulls his moustache to one side and Hildis settles himself more comfortably. His face goes slack within seconds and a demur snore (for a dwarf) can be heard as sleep takes him.
Elendor time is: Mid Afternoon (1500) on Hevensday, Day 30 of August 3046.
In the Summer sky, Tonight the moon will be waxing gibbous.
Infirmary
Upon entering this room, one's first impression is that it is small, immediately changed upon further examination. It is the amount of objects in here that creates this pleasant illusion. There are two lines of cots down either side of the wall, terminating at the far wall, where there is a room concealed by a long curtain. In the far right corner, there is a small hearth that provides heat for both cooking and for warming the room. Opposite the hearth on the far wall is a long cabinet and table with marked drawers and shelves, obviously meant for storing herbs and medicines for those who are treated here. The room is lit during the day through the large windows on both sides of the door, granting a fine view of the outside.
Contents:
Thari
Obvious exits:
Back Room and Out
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari and Hildis came in a few hours after everyone else, just as the more hale dwarves were about to go up to look for them. Once Hildis was settled into a cot, Thari located where Frarin was and collapsed into a chair nearby.
And that's where Thari is now. She hasn't slept very much since arriving-- every sound seems to awaken her and she hobbles frequently around to check on wounded dwarves, using the beds as support to keep from using her right leg much. Just now though, as the morning comes, she is in the chair again beside Frarin's bed, looking filthy in the morning light.
[Frarin] Frarin does not perhaps look much better than Thari. He lays with a stack of pillows propped up behind him to make viewing the room easier without having to jostle broken ribs. His left arm is swathed in bandages and held fast in a split that runs all the way from his shoulder to his wrist. His shoulder is liked excessively be-bandaged and he looks pudgy with the bandages that circle his chest. Only the fingers of his left hand protrude from the swirl of white cloth and these are a sickly purple. They are, however, at least straight again.
Frarin sleeps, but sweat beads thick upon his brow and on his cheeks. His face seems to have been dabbed clean by some healer, such that the dirt and blood is most gone. He moves abruptly in his sleep, his head rolling.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari jerks her head up at the sound of Frarin's hair on his pillow and looks over at her husband. Someone else tended to him before she got here, but they must have bandaged him well enough because she hasn't fussed with that yet. She leans over now and rests her hand on his brow.
[Frarin] Beneath Thari's hand, Frarin's brow burns as beads of sweat roll down into his closed eyes. But though a fever no doubt rages, it could certainly be worse. The worst of the damage from the troll club seems to have been limited to his extremities.
The silversmith shifts again when Thari's hand presses against his brow. And then, after a second, one eye flickers open. The other follows after a few moments. His gaze is glassy and blank as his focus takes some time to kick in.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Mahal." Thari's hand is removed and she stands. She leans against Frarin's bed, disturbing the grass-stuffed mattress, and hobbles to the foot, where a basin on a table awaits. A cloth is dampened, and soon she is lurching back toward the head.
[Frarin] Frarin's eyes open only wide enough for a half-lidded stare and slowly his gaze sharpens. But even as it fixes briefly on Thari as she lurches for the end of the bed, the silversmith suddenly groans and scrunches his eyes shut again as if to curse himself for having woken up. His head rolls. "Oh by Durin," he curses messily, words still slurred with drowsiness. Eyes still screwed shut, his unharmed right arm moves, his palm pressing against his brow.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari sits on the edge of his cot and reaches up to try to tug his hand away from his brow and replace it with a cool cloth. "Stop it, stop it," she says in a terse way. "I'm not giving you medicine yet."
Hildis arrives from outside.
Hildis has arrived.
[Frarin] "Like I would take it," Frarin grunts irritatingly. He drops his hand and his eyes flicker open with that same annoyed expression. He lets Thari dab at his brow, but after a moment lines bunch there and his good hand clenches into a fist, which he weakly punches at the side of his cot. "Damnit," he growls faintly to himself.
[Thari(#31038)]
"I wouldn't brook one bit of argument from you, Frarin Forlisson," Thari says in her terse way. She leave the cloth folded on his brow and reaches for his fist. "Stop that. What is it? You're just fine."
[Hildis(#23062)] The dammit wakes Hildis who has slept fitfully since they arrived. She opens one reluctant eye turning her head with the care of someone who has a headache.
"What?" she croaks from a parched throat. She tries to shift her position with great care. Her bandaged and splinted arm encumbers her and she grits her teeth.
[Frarin] "Oh hush, I'm not arguing with you, am I?" Frarin grunts back gruffly, the irritation in his voice building. "Bloody broken bones, aren't they? And another wretched few weeks cooped up in another wretched infirmiry. By Durin!" Though his voice wavers now and again, and sometimes falters when he accidently shifts his left side and winces, he nonetheless seems to have lost none of his ability to grumble. Only when he hears Hildis' croak in the cot beside him does the silversmith halt his complaining. He awkwardly turns his head to look at her.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's deep laugh starts at Frarin's complaints, building up in volume and making others stir. The healer pushes her hand into his hair atop his head for a little while. Her laughter dies with her smile as Hildis speaks and she turns her head toward the other maid.
A glance at Frarin, and Thari pushes herself up again, shifting toward Hildis's bed. "Would you like a drink?" she asks cheerfully. "Let me look at you, and then I think I can get some mead for you."
[Hildis(#23062)] "Mead, yes. I'd let you rebreak it for something wet. And some food. Now, I'm hungry though my head..." She stops herself when she gets a good look at Frarin.
[Frarin] Frarin glares helplessly at Thari as the healer laughs, then he waves at her at her with a snort. "Easy for you to laugh, I've spent months of my life confined to a bloody bed because of some wretched troll. Oh Durin." After he finishes his rant though, his good hand presses gently at his ribs, then fingers his be-swathed shoulder. There are enough bandages that he could probably use it as another pillow if he want.
But he does not. Still fingering the bandages experimentally, he rolls his head to look at Hildis again. "How are you, lad? he says when he notices the merchant looking at him. All grumble is gone from his tone.
[Hildis(#23062)] "Lad is it now?" she asks with a raised eyebrow and a quick look around the infirmary. "Might say I am better than you though truth be told, I'm not sure." She creaks a smile at him that makes her wince and settle her head back into the pillow with a sigh.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Now Hildis, don't take offense at the 'lad,' you are a good bit younger than Master Frarin." Thari touches Hildis's brow very gently, careful to avoid her wound. "You do look better. Frarin, do you remember that time I had suffered those head wounds? Hildis looks better than I did, doesn't he? I wasn't quite aware at the time," Thari explains in an aside to Hildis.
[Hildis(#23062)] She grumbles sotto voce to Thari, "Well, a lass might be better, didn't know we ...anyway. I do? Look better?" She closes her eyes a moment then opens them tentatively. "Don't think I feel better. So, ah, what happened? I don't remember."
[Frarin] "I'm not -that- old," Frarin grumbles, looking at the ceiling and ceasing to finger his bandages. When Hildis replies though, the silversmith turns quickly to look at her. The unexpected movement earns him a grimace, but he murmurs sharply, "Hildis, hush!" He waves his good hand around the room, specifically towards the back room. "You can't possibly know who might be listening."
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari leans over Hildis and shifts a little, around the corners of the eyes and the press of her lips. 'He is trying to protect you,' she says in silent sign-language. 'Someone guessed my secret in Bree and he wouldn't have a thing to do with me for a month afterwards.'
"Frarin, come now, you're not that old, but you haven't told me what you think of how Master Hildis looks." Her quick grey eyes go back to Frarin. "And don't move so suddenly. You might hurt yourself." Which is quite something for her to say, considering her pant leg is still saturated with plenty of dried blood.
[Hildis(#23062)] "He is old," Hildis mutters with a mischievious smile that costs a wince. "But he's right. Again. Ranol told me a bit about that, you had the luck with you and Frarin."
The merchant focuses for a moment on Thari and squints. "Who is taking care of the caretaker, I wonder?
[Frarin] "Aye, aye," Frarin grumbles," rolling his eyes as if sarcastically agreeing with Hildis. But he does at least look back at her with more seriousness, appraising her from afar. "Aye," he says after a moment. "You'll do fine, Hildis lad. Took a blow to the head, did you? One of the goblins or that bloody troll?"
At the younger merchant's question to Thari, however, Frarin looks sharply at the healer. "Thari? What happened?" His eyes flick to her trouser leg for the first time. "Oh for Durin's sake," he grumbles, attempting to push himself up on his good elbow. His teeth clench as he does so. "Sit down, you fool dwarf. Have you been fussing over everyone else without a second to mind yourself again?"
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's red-rimmed eyes flick between Hildis and Frarin. "Frarin usually looks after me," she answers Hildis, "but this time I was lucky and he hadn't noticed yet." She is grumbling, as if wishing Hildis hadn't brought it to Frarin's attention. "I'll sit down in a moment, after I get Master Hildis a drink."
Thari starts hopping toward the ends of the beds again, not using her right leg at all. "I did stop and stitch myself up on the way down with Hildis. I tried to use your hammer as a crutch as you do, Frarin, and the thing was nearly useless with how heavy it is!"
[Hildis(#23062)] "Well, I was wondering that myself." Fingers explore the bandage covering his brow as he listens to the two of them grumble at one another. "Anyone seen my helmet? Think it was the troll. I've had some strange dreams. Flying and such. I don't fancy flying."
Frowning Hildis watches Thari one-leg-it around the infirmary. "We need more healers from the look of it. And you carried me?"
[Frarin] Frarin almost smirks at Thari's comment about his war hammer. "It is not, it just takes some getting accustomed to. I've a lighter one I picked up off a goblin on the High Pass some weeks ago, use that as a crutch if you fancy." The silversmith looks back to Hildis, smiling faintly, but clearly tired. "You probably -did- fly, if it was the troll. I certainly did." As if reminded of it, he frowns unhappily at the sight of his purple mottled fingers protruding from his bandages. Tentatively, he touches them, snorting again at the unhappy prospect of broken bones.
[Thari(#31038)]
"No, I didn't carry you you walked down fine. We were both a bit slow." Thari rests her right toe on the ground while pouring golden liquid from a pitcher into a mug. "I'm glad you don't remember much, or you wouldn't like me from when I splinted your bones and fixed your elbow."
Carefully, slowly, Thari makes the trip back toward the beds with a full mug and neither leg really working well. "Frarin, stop fiddling with your wounds," she snaps, brow furrowed in concentration. "You'll make yourself heal wrong and I'll have someone else rebreak your bones, you just see if I won't."
[Frarin] Frarin looks up with a dry expression, but stops touching his fingers. Instead he points at Thari. "Then you stop tramping about like a spring daisy and find yourself a bed to lie in for a bit. Besides, if this bloody thing knits back together without flaw, it'll be a miracle anyhow." He glares at his arm and hand as if they are offending additions to his otherwise uninjured body.
[Hildis(#23062)] "Set my elbow? Oh oh. I walked fine?" the merchant shakes his head in disbelief. "Good thing I wasn't myself, I guess. Uh, he's right you know. You need to rest." He ripples his purpled fingers surreptitiously and sighs.
"Thari is good you know." He gives Frarin a quick look then puts an innocent expression on.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari manages to get near enough to set the mug on the table near enough for Hildis to reach with her good hand. Her lips are pressed shut and her eyes are on fire. She turns to Frarin's bed and braces her fists against the mattress, her livid face several inches away from the silversmith's.
"When your hip was set I was not the one who did that work," she says in a low, hard and brittle voice. "And if you think I can do no better then I will leave you to the Beornings! I had no idea you thought I was no better at dwarven healing than a weak Breefolk girl!"
[Hildis(#23062)] Hildis grabs the mug pretending that the only two dwarves about that he trusts and relies on are not having fight. "Ahhhh, I was thirsty. I could eat a mine car of food. A barrel. A wheel barrel. Just give me a shovel." He sneaks at glance at the two.
[Frarin] "Oh stop!" Frarin growls back at Thari, giving as well as he gets. He does keep his voice low, but only just. "If you take every word I say defensively, then I won't say another." He holds up his good hand, wiggling the fingers in front of Thari's livid face. "But if you think every single bone in a hand will knit together properly after being smashed right well, then you have another thing coming." Hildis, alas, is ignored.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari jerks away from Frarin, standing up straight and quivering. "That... that.." she splutters. She puts her fists on her hips and blinks quickly up at the ceiling, taking deep breaths. "'Thank you, Thari, for working so hard and looking after me. I know you've got a long road ahead of you with little sleep but I always rest well knowing you're here.' I'm going to pretend you're saying that instead of the rubbish that keeps coming out of your mouth on accident, because if I hear that you think I can't do it, why should I bother to try?"
[Hildis(#23062)] Hildis is not a small dwarf. He could pretend to be a moderate sized boulder on someone's path. But he tries his best to disappear under the covers as the two go after one another hammer and tongs. One eye peaks over the top of the cover, the splinted arm and puffy fingers still. He starts to speak but thinks better of it and sighs noisily.
[Frarin] "Oh for Durin's sake!" Frarin mutters with an annoyed, exasperated snort that makes him clutch his ribs briefly. "Will you stop, please? Surprise you as it might, not every word out of my mouth is aimed as direct insult at you. I mention one little possibility, one pragmatic consideration, and you jump. Did I -say- don't try? Did I -say- it was useless to hope? Did I bloody -say- you're a rubbish healer with no hope of leaving me anything but a cripple? NO. NO, I -didn't-. And I didn't imply it either, so sit down and stop working yourself up." Teeth clenched, he waves at Hildis, then mutters, "For his sake, if not mine."
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari sits herself down between the two beds and glares up at the ceiling. She folds her arms tight over her beard. After a while, she grits out, "'m sorry Hildis."
[Hildis(#23062)] The eye disappears at the mention of his name. "Oh, boy am I in for it now," he whispers under the covers but he risks a look out after a moment. The sound of Thari's voice brings another green eye out. "Oh, well. It's alright, Thari. I think you're a great healer. We all know you are. It's just...you know how one worries."
[Frarin] Had Frarin the use of both his arms, he would likely be crossing them just as severely as Thari is. As it is though, he simply crosses his right arm over his chest to clutch lightly at his broken ribs and adopts a glowering stare at the far wall. Eyes flick towards Hildis when the merchant answers Thari and Frarin grunts something to the effect of 'Mmhmm' into his beard before looking silently ahead again.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Oh, yes," Thari answers Hildis with a roll of the eye. "Many'd be glad to be related to one of the better healers around as he is, but you know," another exaggerated eyeroll, "daft old curmugeon like he is." Her voice lowers and she doesn't take one glance at Frarin, speaking only to Hildis. "Can't tell you how many times he's been hit in the head. Every day I'm thankful that he's speaking straight, to tell you the truth. It's his thick skull that's saved him, you know."
[Hildis(#23062)] The green eyes widen and Hildis suppresses a sigh which must hurt from the grimace that crosses his face. But bravely or stupidly he answers in a gentle voice. "Then it must be a Barazin thing, the hard heads. I survived. You won't like to hear this Thari but I think you need a rest. We want to go back and get that troll, right?" He swallows and then grabs the remains of the mead and finishes it.
[Frarin] Frarin scowls at the far wall as Thari rants about him as if he were invisible. Only when Hildis speaks does he look back towards the two, nodding once sharply at the merchant's suggestion that Thari take some rest. Then, looking away again, the silversmith mutters into his beard, "Leave Hildis alone, Thari. If you want to shout at me, then at least wait until others are sleeping instead of dragging them into it." Then, with a snort, he turns as best he can to his left. But with his arm and should so thickly wrapped, he only manages to turn the back of his head to the other two.
[Thari(#31038)]
"No we do not want to go back after the troll!" Thari says incredulously while turning her head to glare at Frarin as if trolls are a particular habit of his. She lowers her voice and speaks to her husband. "You're the one who dragged her into it. A fine suggestion, shouting while everyone is sleeping. Hopefully the pillows that would get thrown at us would all be aimed at -your- head." She then falls silent, spending a little while watching him as he is turned away.
[Frarin] Frarin's head snaps back around when Thari refers to Hildis. "Shh!" he hisses, looking fair livid. He doesn't directly reply to Thari's comments, but he does jab a finger in the air at her. "Go to bed before you lose all sense, Thari," he whispers urgently, glowering.
[Hildis(#23062)] "I'm sleepy," Hildis announces. "Just tired. I want Ranol," he adds plaintively. He can't roll but shuts his eyes firmly.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari rolls her eyes and sighs, but does stand up. "Don't say that about Ranol, Hildis," she says, but then makes a hypocrite of herself by running her hand over the livid Frarin's hair. She hobbles to a cot further up the line and lays down.
[Frarin] Frarin is still brooding as Thari finally relents to take some rest and even when she runs her hand through his hair, he is still, glowering at the far wall. "Sleep well," is all he mutters into his beard. But only when he steals a glance at Thari and is certain her eyes are closed does the silversmith suddenly visibly relax, his good shoulder slumping as if released from tension and his face loosening as if winded. But he says nothing, leaning back against his pillow. It is a long time though before his eyes close.
[Hildis(#23062)] One eye opens, green as agate and eyes the two of them. A wistful smile pulls his moustache to one side and Hildis settles himself more comfortably. His face goes slack within seconds and a demur snore (for a dwarf) can be heard as sleep takes him.
Players: Frarin, Thari, Hildis
Located in: Erebor
