Healing and hot-headedness

Dwarven Camp
Several sturdy waggons form a sturdy half-circle to give form to the fire pit, with canvas tents finishing the circle on the far side. Ponies are picketed nearby.

Contents:Immin's Wagon, Thari's Wagon, Frarin's Pack Ponies, Caravan of the Baruk Zirak

    Making the rounds, Eirdis pinches the bridge of her nose, thanking the Maker the caravan has finally made its way home. She still hasn't gone home, though not that anyone would be there who missed her. She is an orphan, her father, mother and older brother all having died.

    Her duty at the moment is to her patients, and to her teacher, Thari. She has been in a foul mood ever since hearing of Ranol and Siv's dinner together, not that she has told anyone why she has been so uncharacteristically grumpy as of late. Muttering to herself under her breath, she trundles along, walking over to the wagon.

    She doesn't notice Gunnarr at first, her eyes downcast as she imagines Siv flaunting her wealth and status at Ranol, while Eirdis, only havig a modest iheritance and a healer-in-training's status, could not possibly offer Ranol anything he couldn't procure for himself.

    Gunnarr has just managed to get a little better. At least better enough to move out of the wagon. Now that Caravan has returned home, he hopes his recovery will be much faster so that he can turn to his much anticipated new duties as clan-karl.         The dwarf is currently sitting in a camp chair beside the wagon where he has been housed for so long during the last leg of the journey. Seeing Eirdis comming towards him with downcast eyes, Gunnarr calls out to her, "Hello Eirdis! How goes it?"

    Eirdis stops in mid-stride, looking around for who called her name. She nods grimly to Gunnarr and offers a tight, stressed smile. "Fine, thank you. How are you feeling today?" Is all she says, her speech abrupt and her voice more rough than would be usual.

    She coughs and clears her throat, "Congratulations on your promotion, cousin Gunnarr. Clan-karl, if am I correct?" The attempt at the cheerfulness she is known for fails miserably, of course. Setting her satchel on the turf beside the clan-karl, she wordlessly takes some supplies out and mixes an ointment in a clay pot.

    Gunnarr notices Eirdis's rough attempt at being cheerful, but chooses to address he congradulations first. "You are correct and thank you very much." He sits up in his chair and takes a drink from a water skin on the ground by his chair. He then frowns a little and asks, "Why so glum Eirdis?" 

    Eirdis snorts and glances up at the cla-karl, "Glum? Oh, not glum, Gunnarr. Simply astounded at the boldness of some Khazad women. Imagine forcing a man into havig dinner with you, expecting him to cook, then of all things," here her voice rises an octave or two and her hands are clenched into fists at her sides, a vein throbbing dangerously at her temple, "Acting as if the man is worth less than a beast of burden to be bought, sold or hired simply to have children withm without any regard to his or even her own happiness!"

    Breathing raggedly, she falls into a coughing spell and is forced to turn away while she rummages through her bag for a small water skin, unstopping it and swallowing some strong ale. Carefully, she straightens up and tries to compose herself, not because she is ashamed of her outburst, but because others might hear her ranting like a lunatic, and may think her unfit to train under Thari.

    Gunnarr looks mightily taken aback by the healer's outburst. "What, You must be talking about Siv... What happened." The karl is confused because, although he has heard some rumors about Siv and Ranol, he didn't think they were close to being true. He was further confused by Eirdis's passion over the affair.

    Eirdis gives a slight shudder as Siv's name is mentioned. "Yes, I speak of -her-." 'her' is spat from the healer-in-training's mouth like a morsel of poisoned food, the woman obviously not in Eirdis' favour. Swallowing hard, she takes a deep breath and murmurs, "I apologise for my outburst, Gunnarr... I surprised myself, in fact... I.. I suppose that I thought Ra-" She trails off, remembering that Gunnarr is Ranol's brother, and he will most likely tell Ranol of all this. Changing the subject, she motions to the clan-karl's chest. "If I may, I'd l-like to check your w-wounds again."

    Gunnarr un-button's his tunic to reveal heavy bandaging. He then sets his crutches down and extends his injured leg a little bit.

    "Poor Ranol, I doubt he enjoyed that. He has been so busy with his new duties, not to mention the fact that acting like a horse breeder with regard to his personal life would not be appealing. He tends to be a romantic."

    He grins at this last thought and wonders if Siv even knows who Ranol's father is. 

    Eirdis shakes her head sadly, then nods in agreement. "Aye, but..." She coughs and actually sniffles a bit.

    "If that is what he wants, he's entitled to it.." She busily cuts the bandages away, revealing the clan-karl's chest and stitches. Examining her previous work, she smiles slightly. "A romantic, eh? Sounds like myself I'd rather be fairly well-off and happy than rich and miserable... Odd, really, I've never met any of Ranol's kin other than you, Gunnarr. If your good self and our lad Ranol are any example, I'd say you family has much to boast about to others." She grins a bit, her mood beginning to lighten.

    "You heal amazingly quickly, you know. I think I could even remove a few sitches.. How is your leg doing? Any feeling in it?" 

    "I have had some feeling. A lot of numbness mixed with frequent tingling sensations." He looks happy at the news that some of his chest stitches can be removed.

    "That's good news I should be up and running on crutches a little more soon I think." He pauses trying to think how to put Ranol's situation best..."Ranol's father, Ranol, is a kind-delinquent gambeler. He spent away all of Ranol's fortune and possible inheritance which gives his specific house some shame."

    He quickly adds, "Anyone who knows Huskarl Ranol knows he is a perfectly respectable person and a good and dutiful warrior, though. I expect however that Siv won't be so excited once she finds out about Ranol's dad."

    Eirdis mutters something probably obscene about Siv under her breath. "Anyone who judges the children only by the acts of the parents is a fool and shallow indeed," is the best she can come up with while still attempting to be polite. "Yes, about those stitches... Can I remove a few now, or would you rather wait?" She blinks and grins, answering her ow question in her mind.

    "Just let me get the knife sterilized and some more ointment, and I'll have at least three-quarters of those wee blasted stitches out in a moment." 

    Gunnarr prepares himself by the usual routine. Relaxing himself as much as he can and waits for the slight discomfort that he has now grown used to.

    Eirdis works quickly and quietly, removing the stitches without any difficulties. She is surprisingly gentle, and has the stitches out in less time than it would take to mount a pony. The lass straightens up amd surveys her work, smiling.

    "Hmf! I do believe I've improved. Now, if you'd stretch out gently, I can make sure everything's still intact. Wouldn't want you disemboweling yourself, eh?" She winks, chuckling softly.

    "Try not to do any heavy lifting, or pulling, or things like that. It'll mean I'll have to stitch you up again if the closed wounds reopen."

    Gunnarr stretches back in his chair much like you wiould see someone stretching after just waking up in bed. The healed wounds don't seem to open at least to him. There is no blood. He smiles brightly. "Looks like its okay for now."

     "Good! Now all you need to do is be careful regarding your leg and you'll be fine. I need to check on the others now, but I appreciate that you listened to what I had to say..." She blinks and wrinkles her nose a bit. "Your brother might do so as well, sometime.." She clears her throat and gives Gunnarr one last look-over, and cleans up her things, packing her satchel and standing to her full height. "As always, its been a pleasure to help and speak with you, Clan-karl Gunnarr."

    "Thank you again for what you have done." Gunnarr looks on at Eirdis and pionders what he has learned from her, Not only about Ranol and Siv, but also her own feelings on the matter. He decides that he will have to learn more once he speaks to Ranol again. For now, however, he decides he will take a long nap before exercizing with his crutches.